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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7064-8.txt b/7064-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..663c168 --- /dev/null +++ b/7064-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7319 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Half-Century of Conflict, by Francis Parkman +#5 in our series by Francis Parkman + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: A Half-Century of Conflict, Volume II + +Author: Francis Parkman + +Release Date: December, 2004 [EBook #7064] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on March 5, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT *** + + + + +Produced by Don Kretz, David Moynihan, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT + +BY FRANCIS PARKMAN + +VOL. II + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER XV. + +1697-1741. + +FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. + +French Explorers.--Le Sueur on the St. Peter's.--Canadians on the +Missouri.--Juchereau de Saint-Denis.--Bénard de la Harpe on Red +River.--Adventures of Du Tisné.--Bourgmont visits the Comanches.--The +Brothers Mallet in Colorado and New Mexico.--Fabry de la Bruyère. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +1716-1761. + +SEARCH FOR THE PACIFIC. + +The Western Sea.--Schemes for reaching it.--Journey of Charlevoix.--The +Sioux Mission.--Varennes de la Vérendrye.--His Enterprise.--His +Disasters.--Visits the Mandans.--His Sons.--Their Search for the Western +Sea.--Their Adventures.--The Snake Indians.--A Great War-Party.--The Rocky +Mountains.--A Panic.--Return of the Brothers.--Their Wrongs and their Fate. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +1700-1750. + +THE CHAIN OF POSTS. + +Opposing Claims.--Attitude of the Rival Nations.--America a French +Continent.--England a Usurper.--French Demands.--Magnanimous +Proposals.--Warlike Preparation.--Niagara.--Oswego.--Crown Point.--The +Passes of the West secured. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +1744, 1745. + +A MAD SCHEME. + +War of the Austrian Succession.--The French seize Canseau and attack +Annapolis.--Plan of Reprisal.--William Vanghan.--Governor Shirley.--He +advises an Attack on Louisbourg.--The Assembly refuses, but at last +consents.--Preparation.--William Pepperrell.--George Whitefield.--Parson +Moody.--The Soldiers.--The Provincial Navy.--Commodore Warren.--Shirley as +an Amateur Soldier.--The Fleet sails. + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +1745. + +LOUISBOURG BESIEGED. + +Seth Pomeroy.--The Voyage.--Canseau.--Unexpected Succors.--Delays. +--Louisbourg.--The Landing.--The Grand Battery taken.--French Cannon turned +on the Town.--Weakness of Duchambon.--Sufferings of the Besiegers.--Their +Hardihood.--Their Irregular Proceedings.--Joseph Sherburn.--Amateur +Gunnery.--Camp Frolics.--Sectarian Zeal.--Perplexities of Pepperrell. + + +CHAPTER XX. + +1745. + +LOUISBOURG TAKEN. + +A Rash Resolution.--The Island Battery.--The Volunteers.--The Attack.--The +Repulse.--Capture of the "Vigilant."--A Sortie.--Skirmishes.--Despondency +of the French.--English Camp threatened.--Pepperrell and Warren.--Warren's +Plan.--Preparation for a General Attack.--Flag of Truce.--Capitulation. +--State of the Fortress.--Parson Moody.--Soldiers dissatisfied.--Disorders. +--Army and Navy.--Rejoicings.--England repays Provincial Outlays. + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +1745-1747. + +DUC D'ANVILLE. + +Louisbourg after the Conquest.--Mutiny.--Pestilence.--Stephen +Williams.--His Diary.--Scheme of conquering Canada.--Newcastle's +Promises.--Alarm in Canada.--Promises broken.--Plan against Crown +Point.--Startling News.--D'Anville's Fleet.--Louisbourg to be +avenged.--Disasters of D'Anville.--Storm.--Pestilence.--Famine.--Death of +D'Anville.--Suicide of the Vice-Admiral.--Ruinous Failure.--Return +Voyage.--Defeat of La Jonquière. + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +1745-1747. + +ACADIAN CONFLICTS. + +Efforts of France.--Apathy of Newcastle.--Dilemma of Acadians.--Their +Character.--Danger of the Province.--Plans of Shirley.--Acadian +Priests.--Political Agitators.--Noble's Expedition.--Ramesay at +Beaubassin.--Noble at Grand-Pré.--A Winter March.--Defeat and Death of +Noble.--Grand-Pré re-occupied by the English.--Threats of Ramesay against +the Acadians.--The British Ministry will not protect them. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +1740-1747. + +WAR AND POLITICS. + +Governor and Assembly.--Saratoga destroyed.--William Johnson.--Border +Ravages.--Upper Ashuelot.--French "Military Movements."--Number +Four.--Niverville's Attack.--Phineas Stevens.--The French repulsed. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +1745-1748. + +FORT MASSACHUSETTS. + +Frontier Defence.--Northfield and its Minister.--Military Criticisms of +Rev. Benjamin Doolittle.--Rigaud de Vaudreuil.--His Great War-Party.--He +attacks Fort Massachusetts.--Sergeant Hawks and his Garrison.--A Gallant +Defence.--Capitulation.--Humanity of the French.--Ravages.--Return to Crown +Point.--Peace of Aix-la Chapelle. + +APPENDIX. + +A. FRANCE CLAIMS ALL NORTH AMERICA EXCEPT THE SPANISH COLONIES. + +B. FRENCH VIEWS OF THE SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG. + +C. SHIRLEY'S RELATIONS WITH THE ACADIANS. + + + + +A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +1697-1741. + +FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST. + +FRENCH EXPLORERS.--LE SUEUR ON THE ST. PETER'S.--CANADIANS ON THE +MISSOURI.--JUCHEREAU DE SAINT-DENIS.--BÉNARD DE LA HARPE ON RED +RIVER.--ADVENTURES OF DU TISNÉ.--BOURGMONT VISITS THE COMANCHES.--THE +BROTHERS MALLET IN COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO.--FABRY DE LA BRUYÈRE. + + +The occupation by France of the lower Mississippi gave a strong impulse to +the exploration of the West, by supplying a base for discovery, stimulating +enterprise by the longing to find gold mines, open trade with New Mexico, +and get a fast hold on the countries beyond the Mississippi in anticipation +of Spain; and to these motives was soon added the hope of finding an +overland way to the Pacific. It was the Canadians, with their indomitable +spirit of adventure, who led the way in the path of discovery. + +As a bold and hardy pioneer of the wilderness, the Frenchman in America has +rarely found his match. His civic virtues withered under the despotism of +Versailles, and his mind and conscience were kept in leading-strings by an +absolute Church; but the forest and the prairie offered him an unbridled +liberty, which, lawless as it was, gave scope to his energies, till these +savage wastes became the field of his most noteworthy achievements. + +Canada was divided between two opposing influences. On the one side were +the monarchy and the hierarchy, with their principles of order, +subordination, and obedience; substantially at one in purpose, since both +wished to keep the colony within manageable bounds, domesticate it, and +tame it to soberness, regularity, and obedience. On the other side was the +spirit of liberty, or license, which was in the very air of this wilderness +continent, reinforced in the chiefs of the colony by a spirit of adventure +inherited from the Middle Ages, and by a spirit of trade born of present +opportunities; for every official in Canada hoped to make a profit, if not +a fortune, out of beaverskins. Kindred impulses, in ruder forms, possessed +the humbler colonists, drove them into the forest, and made them hardy +woodsmen and skilful bushfighters, though turbulent and lawless members of +civilized society. + +Time, the decline of the fur-trade, and the influence of the Canadian +Church gradually diminished this erratic spirit, and at the same time +impaired the qualities that were associated with it. The Canadian became a +more stable colonist and a steadier farmer; but for forest journeyings and +forest warfare he was scarcely his former self. At the middle of the +eighteenth century we find complaints that the race of _voyageurs_ is +growing scarce. The taming process was most apparent in the central and +lower parts of the colony, such as the Côte de Beaupré and the opposite +shore of the St. Lawrence, where the hands of the government and of the +Church were strong; while at the head of the colony,--that is, about +Montreal and its neighborhood,--which touched the primeval wilderness, an +uncontrollable spirit of adventure still held its own. Here, at the +beginning of the century, this spirit was as strong as it had ever been, +and achieved a series of explorations and discoveries which revealed the +plains of the Far West long before an Anglo-Saxon foot had pressed their +soil. + +The expedition of one Le Sueur to what is now the State of Minnesota may be +taken as the starting-point of these enterprises. Le Sueur had visited the +country of the Sioux as early as 1683. He returned thither in 1689 with the +famous _voyageur_ Nicolas Perrot. [Footnote: _Journal historique de +l'Etablissement des Français à la Louisiane_, 43.] Four years later, +Count Frontenac sent him to the Sioux country again. The declared purpose +of the mission was to keep those fierce tribes at peace with their +neighbors; but the Governor's enemies declared that a contraband trade in +beaver was the true object, and that Frontenac's secretary was to have half +the profits. [Footnote: _Champigny au Ministre, 4 Nov._ 1693.] Le +Sueur returned after two years, bringing to Montreal a Sioux chief and his +squaw,--the first of the tribe ever seen there. He then went to France, and +represented to the court that he had built a fort at Lake Pepin, on the +upper Mississippi; that he was the only white man who knew the languages of +that region; and that if the French did not speedily seize upon it, the +English, who were already trading upon the Ohio, would be sure to do so. +Thereupon he asked for the command of the upper Mississippi, with all its +tributary waters, together with a monopoly of its fur-trade for ten years, +and permission to work its mines, promising that if his petition were +granted, he would secure the country to France without expense to the King. +The commission was given him. He bought an outfit and sailed for Canada, +but was captured by the English on the way. After the peace he returned to +France and begged for a renewal of his commission. Leave was given him to +work the copper and lead mines, but not to trade in beaver-skins. He now +formed a company to aid him in his enterprise, on which a cry rose in +Canada that under pretence of working mines he meant to trade in +beaver,--which is very likely, since to bring lead and copper in bark +canoes to Montreal from the Mississippi and Lake Superior would cost far +more than the metal was worth. In consequence of this clamor his commission +was revoked. + +Perhaps it was to compensate him for the outlays into which he had been +drawn that the colonial minister presently authorized him to embark for +Louisiana and pursue his enterprise with that infant colony, instead of +Canada, as his base of operations. Thither, therefore, he went; and in +April, 1700, set out for the Sioux country with twenty-five men, in a small +vessel of the kind called a "felucca," still used in the Mediterranean. + +Among the party was an adventurous youth named Penecaut, a ship-carpenter +by trade, who had come to Louisiana with Iberville two years before, and +who has left us an account of his voyage with Le Sueur. [Footnote: +_Relation de Penecaut_. In my possession is a contemporary manuscript +of this narrative, for which I am indebted to the kindness of General J. +Meredith Reade.] + +The party slowly made their way, with sail and oar, against the muddy +current of the Mississippi, till they reached the Arkansas, where they +found an English trader from Carolina. On the 10th of June, spent with +rowing, and half starved, they stopped to rest at a point fifteen leagues +above the mouth of the Ohio. They had staved off famine with the buds and +leaves of trees; but now, by good luck, one of them killed a bear, and, +soon after, the Jesuit Limoges arrived from the neighboring mission of the +Illinois, in a canoe well stored with provisions. Thus refreshed, they +passed the mouth of the Missouri on the 13th of July, and soon after were +met by three Canadians, who brought them a letter from the Jesuit Marest, +warning them that the river was infested by war-parties. In fact, they +presently saw seven canoes of Sioux warriors, bound against the Illinois; +and not long after, five Canadians appeared, one of whom had been badly +wounded in a recent encounter with a band of Outagamies, Sacs, and +Winnebagoes bound against the Sioux. To take one another's scalps had been +for ages the absorbing business and favorite recreation of all these +Western tribes. At or near the expansion of the Mississippi called Lake +Pepin, the voyagers found a fort called Fort Perrot, after its builder; +[Footnote: Penecaut, _Journal. Procès-verbal de la Prise de Possession du +Pays des Nadouessioux, etc., par Nicolas Perrot_, 1689. Fort Perrot +seems to have been built in 1685, and to have stood near the outlet of the +lake, probably on the west side. Perrot afterwards built another fort, +called Fort St. Antoine, a little above, on the east bank. The position of +these forts has been the subject of much discussion, and cannot be +ascertained with precision. It appears by the _Prise de Possession_, +cited above, that there was also, in 1689, a temporary French post near the +mouth of the Wisconsin.] and on an island near the upper end of the lake, +another similar structure, built by Le Sueur himself on his last visit to +the place. These forts were mere stockades, occupied from time to time by +the roving fur-traders as their occasions required. + +Towards the end of September, Le Sueur and his followers reached the mouth +of the St. Peter, which they ascended to Blue Earth River. Pushing a league +up this stream, they found a spot well suited to their purpose, and here +they built a fort, of which there was great need, for they were soon after +joined by seven Canadian traders, plundered and stripped to the skin by the +neighboring Sioux. Le Sueur named the new post Fort l'Huillier. It was a +fence of pickets, enclosing cabins for the men. The neighboring plains were +black with buffalo, of which the party killed four hundred, and cut them +into quarters, which they placed to freeze on scaffolds within the +enclosure. Here they spent the winter, subsisting on the frozen meat, +without bread, vegetables, or salt, and, according to Penecaut, thriving +marvellously, though the surrounding wilderness was buried five feet deep +in snow. + +Band after band of Sioux appeared, with their wolfish dogs and their sturdy +and all-enduring squaws burdened with the heavy hide coverings of their +teepees, or buffalo-skin tents. They professed friendship and begged for +arms. Those of one band had blackened their faces in mourning for a dead +chief, and calling on Le Sueur to share their sorrow, they wept over him, +and wiped their tears on his hair. Another party of warriors arrived with +yet deeper cause of grief, being the remnant of a village half exterminated +by their enemies. They, too, wept profusely over the French commander, and +then sang a dismal song, with heads muffled in their buffalo-robes. +[Footnote: This weeping over strangers was a custom with the Sioux of that +time mentioned by many early writers. La Mothe-Cadillac marvels that a +people so brave and warlike should have such a fountain of tears always at +command.] Le Sueur took the needful precautions against his dangerous +visitors, but got from them a large supply of beaver-skins in exchange for +his goods. + +When spring opened, he set out in search of mines, and found, not far above +the fort, those beds of blue and green earth to which the stream owes its +name. Of this his men dug out a large quantity, and selecting what seemed +the best, stored it in their vessel as a precious commodity. With this and +good store of beaver-skins, Le Sueur now began his return voyage for +Louisiana, leaving a Canadian named D'Éraque and twelve men to keep the +fort till he should come back to reclaim it, promising to send him a +canoe-load of ammunition from the Illinois. But the canoe was wrecked, and +D'Éraque, discouraged, abandoned Fort l'Huillier, and followed his +commander down the Mississippi. [Footnote: In 1702 the geographer De l'Isle +made a remarkable MS. map entitled _Carte de la Rivière du Mississippi, +dressée sur les Mémoires de M. Le Sueur_.] + +Le Sueur, with no authority from government, had opened relations of trade +with the wild Sioux of the Plains, whose westward range stretched to the +Black Hills, and perhaps to the Rocky Mountains. He reached the settlements +of Louisiana in safety, and sailed for France with four thousand pounds of +his worthless blue earth. [Footnote: According to the geologist +Featherstonhaugh, who examined the locality, this earth owes its color to a +bluish-green silicate of iron.] Repairing at once to Versailles, he begged +for help to continue his enterprise. His petition seems to have been +granted. After long delay, he sailed again for Louisiana, fell ill on the +voyage, and died soon after landing. [Footnote: Besides the long and +circumstantial _Relation de Penecaut_, an account of the earlier part +of Le Sueur's voyage up the Mississippi is contained in the _Mémoire du +Chevalier de Beaurain_, which, with other papers relating to this +explorer, including portions of his Journal, will be found in Margry, VI. +See also _Journal historique de l'Etablissement des Français à la +Louisiane_, 38-71.] + +Before 1700, the year when Le Sueur visited the St. Peter, little or +nothing was known of the country west of the Mississippi, except from the +report of Indians. The romances of La Hontan and Matthieu Sagean were +justly set down as impostures by all but the most credulous. In this same +year we find Le Moyne d'Iberville projecting journeys to the upper +Missouri, in hopes of finding a river flowing to the Western Sea. In 1703, +twenty Canadians tried to find their way from the Illinois to New Mexico, +in hope of opening trade with the Spaniards and discovering mines. +[Footnote: _Iberville à ----, 15 Fév. 1703_ (Margry, VI. 180).] In +1704 we find it reported that more than a hundred Canadians are scattered +in small parties along the Mississippi and the Missouri; [Footnote: +_Bienville au Ministre_, 6 _Sept._ 1704.] and in 1705 one Laurain +appeared at the Illinois, declaring that he had been high up the Missouri +and had visited many tribes on its borders. [Footnote: Beaurain, _Journal +historique_.] A few months later, two Canadians told Bienville a similar +story. In 1708 Nicolas de la Salle proposed an expedition of a hundred men +to explore the same mysterious river; and in 1717 one Hubert laid before +the Council of Marine a scheme for following the Missouri to its source, +since, he says, "not only may we find the mines worked by the Spaniards, +but also discover the great river that is said to rise in the mountains +where the Missouri has its source, and is believed to flow to the Western +Sea." And he advises that a hundred and fifty men be sent up the river in +wooden canoes, since bark canoes would be dangerous, by reason of the +multitude of snags. [Footnote: Hubert, _Mémoire envoyé au Conseil de la +Marine._] + +In 1714 Juchereau de Saint-Denis was sent by La Mothe-Cadillac to explore +western Louisiana, and pushed up Red River to a point sixty-eight leagues, +as he reckons, above Natchitoches. In the next year, journeying across +country towards the Spanish settlements, with a view to trade, he was +seized near the Rio Grande and carried to the city of Mexico. The +Spaniards, jealous of French designs, now sent priests and soldiers to +occupy several points in Texas. Juchereau, however, was well treated, and +permitted to marry a Spanish girl with whom he had fallen in love on the +way; but when, in the autumn of 1716, he ventured another journey to the +Mexican borders, still hoping to be allowed to trade, he and his goods were +seized by order of the Mexican viceroy, and, lest worse should befall him, +he fled empty handed, under cover of night. [Footnote: Penecaut, +_Relation_, chaps, xvii., xviii. Le Page du Pratz, _Histoire de la +Louisiane_, I. 13-22. Various documents in Margry, VI. 193-202.] + +In March, 1719, Bénard de la Harpe left the feeble little French post at +Natchitoches with six soldiers and a sergeant [Footnote: For an interesting +contemporary map of the French establishment at Natchitoches, see Thomassy, +_Géologie pratique de la Louisiane._]. His errand was to explore the +country, open trade if possible with the Spaniards, and establish another +post high up Red River. He and his party soon came upon that vast +entanglement of driftwood, or rather of uprooted forests, afterwards known +as the Red River raft, which choked the stream and forced them to make +their way through the inundated jungle that bordered it. As they pushed or +dragged their canoes through the swamp, they saw with disgust and alarm a +good number of snakes, coiled about twigs and boughs on the right and left, +or sometimes over their heads. These were probably the deadly +water-moccason, which in warm weather is accustomed to crawl out of its +favorite element and bask itself in the sun, precisely as described by La +Harpe. Their nerves were further discomposed by the splashing and plunging +of alligators lately wakened from their wintry torpor. Still, they pushed +painfully on, till they reached navigable water again, and at the end of +the month were, as they thought, a hundred and eight leagues above +Natchitoches. In four days more they reached the Nassonites. + +These savages belonged to a group of stationary tribes, only one of which, +the Caddoes, survives to our day as a separate community. Their enemies the +Chickasaws, Osages, Arkansas, and even the distant Illinois, waged such +deadly war against them that, according to La Harpe, the unfortunate +Nassonites were in the way of extinction, their numbers having fallen, +within ten years, from twenty-five hundred souls to four hundred. +[Footnote: Bénard de la Harpe, in Margry, VI. 264.] + +La Harpe stopped among them to refresh his men, and build a house of +cypress-wood as a beginning of the post he was ordered to establish; then, +having heard that a war with Spain had ruined his hopes of trade with New +Mexico, he resolved to pursue his explorations. + +With him went ten men, white, red, and black, with twenty-two horses bought +from the Indians, for his journeyings were henceforth to be by land. The +party moved in a northerly and westerly course, by hills, forests, and +prairies, passed two branches of the Wichita, and on the 3d of September +came to a river which La Harpe calls the southwest branch of the Arkansas, +but which, if his observation of latitude is correct, must have been the +main stream, not far from the site of Fort Mann. Here he was met by seven +Indian chiefs, mounted on excellent horses saddled and bridled after the +Spanish manner. They led him to where, along the plateau of the low, +treeless hills that bordered the valley, he saw a string of Indian +villages, extending for a league and belonging to nine several bands, the +names of which can no longer be recognized, and most of which are no doubt +extinct. He says that they numbered in all six thousand souls; and their +dwellings were high, dome-shaped structures, built of clay mixed with reeds +and straw, resting, doubtless, on a frame of bent poles. [Footnote: +Beaurain says that each of these bands spoke a language of its own. They +had horses in abundance, descended from Spanish stock. Among them appear to +have been the Ouacos, or Huecos, and the Wichitas,--two tribes better known +as the Pawnee Picts. See Marcy, _Exploration of Red River._] With them +were also some of the roving Indians of the plains, with their conical +teepees of dressed buffalo-skin. + +The arrival of the strangers was a great and amazing event for these +savages, few of whom had ever seen a white man. On the day after their +arrival the whole multitude gathered to receive them and offer them the +calumet, with a profusion of songs and speeches. Then warrior after warrior +recounted his exploits and boasted of the scalps he had taken. From eight +in the morning till two hours after midnight the din of drums, songs, +harangues, and dances continued without relenting, with a prospect of +twelve hours more; and La Harpe, in desperation, withdrew to rest himself +on a buffalo-robe, begging another Frenchman to take his place. His hosts +left him in peace for a while; then the chiefs came to find him, painted +his face blue, as a tribute of respect, put a cap of eagle-feathers on his +head, and laid numerous gifts at his feet. When at last the ceremony ended, +some of the performers were so hoarse from incessant singing that they +could hardly speak. [Footnote: Compare the account of La Harpe with that of +the Chevalier de Beaurain; both are in Margry, VI. There is an abstract in +_Journal historique._] + +La Harpe was told by his hosts that the Spanish settlements could be +reached by ascending their river; but to do this was at present impossible. +He began his backward journey, fell desperately ill of a fever, and nearly +died before reaching Natchitoches. + +Having recovered, he made an attempt, two years later, to explore the +Arkansas in canoes, from its mouth, but accomplished little besides killing +a good number of buffalo, bears, deer, and wild turkeys. He was confirmed, +however, in the belief that the Comanches and the Spaniards of New Mexico +might be reached by this route. + +In the year of La Harpe's first exploration, one Du Tisné went up the +Missouri to a point six leagues above Grand River, where stood the village +of the Missouris. He wished to go farther, but they would not let him. He +then returned to the Illinois, whence he set out on horseback with a few +followers across what is now the State of Missouri, till he reached the +village of the Osages, which stood on a hill high up the river Osage. At +first he was well received; but when they found him disposed to push on to +a town of their enemies, the Pawnees, forty leagues distant, they angrily +refused to let him go. His firmness and hardihood prevailed, and at last +they gave him leave. A ride of a few days over rich prairies brought him to +the Pawnees, who, coming as he did from the hated Osages, took him for an +enemy and threatened to kill him. Twice they raised the tomahawk over his +head; but when the intrepid traveller dared them to strike, they began to +treat him as a friend. When, however, he told them that he meant to go +fifteen days' journey farther, to the Padoucas, or Comanches, their deadly +enemies, they fiercely forbade him; and after planting a French flag in +their village, he returned as he had come, guiding his way by compass, and +reaching the Illinois in November, after extreme hardships. [Footnote: +_Relation de Bénard de la Harpe. Autre Relation du même. Du Tisné à +Bienville._ Margry, VI. 309, 310, 313.] + +Early in 1721 two hundred mounted Spaniards, followed by a large body of +Comanche warriors, came from New Mexico to attack the French at the +Illinois, but were met and routed on the Missouri by tribes of that region. +[Footnote: _Bienville au Conseil de Régence, 20 Juillet, 1721._] In +the next year, Bienville was told that they meant to return, punish those +who had defeated them, and establish a post on the river Kansas; whereupon +he ordered Boisbriant, commandant at the Illinois, to anticipate them by +sending troops to build a French fort at or near the same place. But the +West India Company had already sent one Bourgmont on a similar errand, the +object being to trade with the Spaniards in time of peace, and stop their +incursions in time of war. [Footnote: _Instructions au Sieur de +Bourgmont, 17 Jan. 1722._ Margry, VI. 389.] It was hoped also that, in +the interest of trade, peace might be made between the Comanches and the +tribes of the Missouri. [Footnote: The French had at this time gained a +knowledge of the tribes of the Missouri as far up as the Arickaras, who +were not, it seems, many days' journey below the Yellowstone, and who told +them of "prodigiously high mountains,"--evidently the Rocky Mountains. +_Mémoire de la Renaudière_, 1723.] + +Bourgmont was a man of some education, and well acquainted with these +tribes, among whom he had traded for years. In pursuance of his orders he +built a fort, which he named Fort Orléans, and which stood on the Missouri +not far above the mouth of Grand River. Having thus accomplished one part +of his mission, he addressed himself to the other, and prepared to march +for the Comanche villages. + +Leaving a sufficient garrison at the fort, he sent his ensign, Saint-Ange, +with a party of soldiers and Canadians, in wooden canoes, to the villages +of the Kansas higher up the stream, and on the 3d of July set out by land +to join him, with a hundred and nine Missouri Indians and sixty-eight +Osages in his train. A ride of five days brought him again to the banks of +the Missouri, opposite a Kansas town. Saint-Ange had not yet arrived, the +angry and turbid current, joined to fevers among his men, having retarded +his progress. Meanwhile Bourgmont drew from the Kansas a promise that their +warriors should go with him to the Comanches. Saint-Ange at last appeared, +and at daybreak of the 24th the tents were struck and the pack-horses +loaded. At six o'clock the party drew up in battle array on a hill above +the Indian town, and then, with drum beating and flag flying, began their +march. "A fine prairie country," writes Bourgmont, "with hills and dales +and clumps of trees to right and left." Sometimes the landscape quivered +under the sultry sun, and sometimes thunder bellowed over their heads, and +rain fell in floods on the steaming plains. + +Renaudière, engineer of the party, one day stood by the side of the path +and watched the whole procession as it passed him. The white men were about +twenty in all. He counted about three hundred Indian warriors, with as many +squaws, some five hundred children, and a prodigious number of dogs, the +largest and strongest of which dragged heavy loads. The squaws also served +as beasts of burden; and, says the journal, "they will carry as much as a +dog will drag." Horses were less abundant among these tribes than they +afterwards became, so that their work fell largely upon the women. + +On the sixth day the party was within three leagues of the river Kansas, at +a considerable distance above its mouth. Bourgmont had suffered from +dysentery on the march, and an access of the malady made it impossible for +him to go farther. It is easy to conceive the regret with which he saw +himself compelled to return to Fort Orléans. The party retraced their +steps, carrying their helpless commander on a litter. + +First, however, he sent one Gaillard on a perilous errand. Taking with him +two Comanche slaves bought for the purpose from the Kansas, Gaillard was +ordered to go to the Comanche villages with the message that Bourgmont had +been on his way to make them a friendly visit, and though stopped by +illness, hoped soon to try again, with better success. + +Early in September, Bourgmont, who had arrived safely at Fort Orléans, +received news that the mission of Gaillard had completely succeeded; on +which, though not wholly recovered from his illness, he set out again on +his errand of peace, accompanied by his young son, besides Renaudière, a +surgeon, and nine soldiers. On reaching the great village of the Kansas he +found there five Comanche chiefs and warriors, whom Gaillard had induced to +come thither with him. Seven chiefs of the Otoes presently appeared, in +accordance with an invitation of Bourgmont; then six chiefs of the Iowas +and the head chief of the Missouris. With these and the Kansas chiefs a +solemn council was held around a fire before Bourgmont's tent; speeches +were made, the pipe of peace was smoked, and presents were distributed. + +On the 8th of October the march began, the five Comanches and the chiefs of +several other tribes, including the Omahas, joining the cavalade. Gaillard +and another Frenchman named Quesnel were sent in advance to announce their +approach to the Comanches, while Bourgmont and his followers moved up the +north side of the river Kansas till the eleventh, when they forded it at a +point twenty leagues from its mouth, and took a westward and southwestward +course, sometimes threading the grassy valleys of little streams, sometimes +crossing the dry upland prairie, covered with the short, tufted dull-green +herbage since known as "buffalo grass." Wild turkeys clamored along every +watercourse; deer were seen on all sides, buffalo were without number, +sometimes in grazing droves, and sometimes dotting the endless plain as far +as the eye could reach. Ruffian wolves, white and gray, eyed the travellers +askance, keeping a safe distance by day, and howling about the camp all +night. Of the antelope and the elk the journal makes no mention. Bourgmont +chased a buffalo on horseback and shot him with a pistol,--which is +probably the first recorded example of that way of hunting. + +The stretches of high, rolling, treeless prairie grew more vast as the +travellers advanced. On the 17th, they found an abandoned Comanche camp. +On the next day as they stopped to dine, and had just unsaddled their +horses, they saw a distant smoke towards the west, on which they set the +dry grass on fire as an answering signal. Half an hour later a body of wild +horsemen came towards them at full speed, and among them were their two +couriers, Gaillard and Quesnel, waving a French flag. The strangers were +eighty Comanche warriors, with the grand chief of the tribe at their head. +They dashed up to Bourgmont's bivouac and leaped from their horses, when a +general shaking of hands ensued, after which white men and red seated +themselves on the ground and smoked the pipe of peace. Then all rode +together to the Comanche camp, three leagues distant. [Footnote: This +meeting took place a little north of the Arkansas, apparently where that +river makes a northward bend, near the 22d degree of west longitude. The +Comanche villages were several days' journey to the southwest. This tribe +is always mentioned in the early French narratives as the Padoucas,--a name +by which the Comanches are occasionally known to this day. See Whipple and +Turner, _Reports upon Indian Tribes,_ in _Explorations and Surveys +for the Pacific Railroad,_ (Senate Doc., 1853,1854).] + +Bourgmont pitched his tents at a pistol-shot from the Comanche lodges, +whence a crowd of warriors presently came to visit him. They spread +buffalo-robes on the ground, placed upon them the French commander, his +officers, and his young son; then lifted each, with its honored load, and +carried them all, with yells of joy and gratulation, to the lodge of the +Great Chief, where there was a feast of ceremony lasting till nightfall. + +On the next day Bourgmont displayed to his hosts the marvellous store of +gifts he had brought for them--guns, swords, hatchets, kettles, gunpowder, +bullets, red cloth, blue cloth, hand-mirrors, knives, shirts, awls, +scissors, needles, hawks' bells, vermilion, beads, and other enviable +commodities, of the like of which they had never dreamed. Two hundred +savages gathered before the French tents, where Bourgmont, with the gifts +spread on the ground before him, stood with a French flag in his hand, +surrounded by his officers and the Indian chiefs of his party, and +harangued the admiring auditors. + +He told them that he had come to bring them a message from the King, his +master, who was the Great Chief of all the nations of the earth, and whose +will it was that the Comanches should live in peace with his other +children,--the Missouris, Osages, Kansas, Otoes, Omahas, and Pawnees,--with +whom they had long been at war; that the chiefs of these tribes were now +present, ready to renounce their old enmities; that the Comanches should +henceforth regard them as friends, share with them the blessing of alliance +and trade with the French, and give to these last free passage through +their country to trade with the Spaniards of New Mexico. Bourgmont then +gave the French flag to the Great Chief, to be kept forever as a pledge of +that day's compact. The chief took the flag, and promised in behalf of his +people to keep peace inviolate with the Indian children of the King. Then, +with unspeakable delight, he and his tribesmen took and divided the gifts. + +The next two days were spent in feasts and rejoicings. "Is it true that you +are men?" asked the Great Chief. "I have heard wonders of the French, but I +never could have believed what I see this day." Then, taking up a handful +of earth, "The Spaniards are like this; but you are like the sun." And he +offered Bourgmont, in case of need, the aid of his two thousand Comanche +warriors. The pleasing manners of his visitors, and their unparalleled +generosity, had completely won his heart. + +As the object of the expedition was accomplished, or seemed to be so, the +party set out on their return. A ride of ten days brought them again to the +Missouri; they descended in canoes to Fort Orléans, and sang Te Deum in +honor of the peace. [Footnote: _Relation du Voyage du Sieur de Bourgmont, +Juin-Nov._, 1724, in Margry, VI. 398. Le Page du Pratz, III. 141.] + +No farther discovery in this direction was made for the next fifteen years. +Though the French had explored the Missouri as far as the site of Fort +Clark and the Mandan villages, they were possessed by the idea--due, +perhaps, to Indian reports concerning the great tributary river, the +Yellowstone--that in its upper course the main stream bent so far southward +as to form a waterway to New Mexico, with which it was the constant desire +of the authorities of Louisiana to open trade. A way thither was at last +made known by two brothers named Mallet, who with six companions went up +the Platte to its South Fork, which they called River of the Padoucas,--a +name given it on some maps down to the middle of this century. They +followed the South Fork for some distance, and then, turning southward and +southwestward, crossed the plains of Colorado. Here the dried dung of the +buffalo was their only fuel; and it has continued to feed the camp-fire of +the traveller in this treeless region within the memory of many now living. +They crossed the upper Arkansas, and apparently the Cimarron, passed Taos, +and on the 22d of July reached Santa Fé, where they spent the winter. On +the 1st of May, 1740, they began their return journey, three of them +crossing the plains to the Pawnee villages, and the rest descending the +Arkansas to the Mississippi. [Footnote: _Journal du Voyage des Frères +Mallet, présenté à MM. de Bienville et Salmon_. This narrative is meagre +and confused, but serves to establish the main points. _Copie du +Certificat donné à Santa Fé aux sept [huit] Français par le Général +Hurtado, 24 Juillet, 1739. Père Rébald au Père de Beaubois, sans date. +Bienville et Salmon au Ministre, 30 Avril_, 1741, in Margry, VI. +455-468.] + +The bold exploit of the brothers Mallet attracted great attention at New +Orleans, and Bienville resolved to renew it, find if possible a nearer and +better way to Santa Fé, determine the nature and extent of these mysterious +western regions, and satisfy a lingering doubt whether they were not +contiguous to China and Tartary. [Footnote: _Instructions données par +Jean-Baptiste de Bienville à Fabry de la Bruyère, 1 Juin, 1741_. +Bienville was behind his time in geographical knowledge. As early as 1724 +Bénard de la Harpe knew that in ascending the Missouri or the Arkansas one +was moving towards the "Western Sea,"--that is, the Pacific,--and might, +perhaps, find some river flowing into it. See _Routes qu'on peut tenir +pour se rendre à la Mer de l'Ouest,_ in _Journal historique_, +387.] A naval officer, Fabry de la Bruyère, was sent on this errand, with +the brothers Mallet and a few soldiers and Canadians. He ascended the +Canadian Fork of the Arkansas, named by him the St. André, became entangled +in the shallows and quicksands of that difficult river, fell into disputes +with his men, and after protracted efforts, returned unsuccessful. +[Footnote: _Extrait des Lettres du Sieur Fabry._] + +While French enterprise was unveiling the remote Southwest, two indomitable +Canadians were pushing still more noteworthy explorations into more +northern regions of the continent. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +1716-1761. + +SEARCH FOR THE PACIFIC. + +THE WESTERN SEA.--SCHEMES FOR REACHING IT.--JOURNEY OF CHARLEVOIX.--THE +SIOUX MISSION.--VARENNES DE LA VÉRENDRYE.--HIS ENTERPRISE.--HIS +DISASTERS.--VISITS THE MANDANS.--HIS SONS.--THEIR SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN +SEA.--THEIR ADVENTURES.--THE SNAKE INDIANS.--A GREAT WAR-PARTY.--THE ROCKY +MOUNTAINS.--A PANIC.--RETURN OF THE BROTHERS.--THEIR WRONGS AND THEIR FATE. + + +In the disastrous last years of Louis XIV, the court gave little thought to +the New World; but under the regency of the Duke of Orléans interest in +American affairs revived. Plans for reaching the Mer de l'Ouest, or Pacific +Ocean, were laid before the Regent in 1716. It was urged that the best hope +was in sending an expedition across the continent, seeing that every +attempt to find a westward passage by Hudson Bay had failed. As +starting-points and bases of supply for the expedition, it was proposed to +establish three posts, one on the north shore of Lake Superior, at the +mouth of the river Kaministiguia, another at Lac des Cristineaux, now +called Lake of the Woods, and the third at Lake Winnipeg,--the last being +what in American phrase is called the "jumping-off place," or the point +where the expedition was to leave behind the last trace of civilization. +These posts were to cost the Crown nothing; since by a device common in +such cases, those who built and maintained them were to be paid by a +monopoly of the fur-trade in the adjacent countries. It was admitted, +however, that the subsequent exploration must be at the charge of the +government, and would require fifty good men, at 300 francs a year each, +besides equipment and supplies. All things considered, it was reckoned that +an overland way to the Pacific might be found for about 50,000 francs, or +10,000 dollars. [Footnote: _Mémoire fait et arresté par le Conseil de +Marine, 3 Fév. 1717; Mémoire du Roy, 26 Juin, 1717._] + +The Regent approved the scheme so far as to order the preliminary step to +be taken by establishing the three posts, and in this same year, Lieutenant +La Noue, of the colony troops, began the work by building a stockade at the +mouth of the Kaministiguia. Little more was done in furtherance of the +exploration till three years later, when the celebrated Jesuit, Charlevoix, +was ordered by the Duke of Orléans to repair to America and gain all +possible information concerning the Western Sea and the way to it. +[Footnote: _Charlevoix au Comte de Morville, 1 Avril_, 1723.] + +In the next year he went to the Upper Lakes, and questioned missionaries, +officers, _voyageurs,_ and Indians. The results were not satisfactory. +The missionaries and the officers had nothing to tell; the voyagers and +Indians knew no more than they, but invented confused and contradictory +falsehoods to hide their ignorance. Charlevoix made note of everything, and +reported to the Comte de Toulouse that the Pacific probably formed the +western boundary of the country of the Sioux, and that some Indians told +him that they had been to its shores and found white men there different +from the French. + +Believing that these stories were not without foundation, Charlevoix +reported two plans as likely to lead to the coveted discovery. One was to +ascend the Missouri, "the source of which is certainly not far from the +sea, as all the Indians I have met have unanimously assured me;" and the +other was to establish a mission among the Sioux, from whom after +thoroughly learning their language, the missionaries could, as he thinks, +gain all the desired information. [Footnote: The valuable journal of +Charlevoix's western travels, written in the form of letters, was published +in connection with his _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_. After his +visit to the Lakes, he went to New Orleans, intending to return in the +spring and continue his inquiries for the Western Sea; but being unable to +do this, he went back to France at the end of 1722. The official report of +his mission is contained in a letter to the Comte de Toulouse, 20 Jan. +1723.] + +The Regent approved the plan of the mission; but the hostile disposition of +the Sioux and the Outagamies prevented its execution for several years. In +1727 the scheme was revived, and the colonial minister at Versailles +ordered the Governor of Canada to send two missionaries to the Sioux. But +the mission required money, and the King would not give it. Hence the usual +expedient was adopted. A company was formed, and invested with a monopoly +of the Sioux fur-trade, on condition of building a fort, mission-house, and +chapel, and keeping an armed force to guard them. It was specially provided +that none but pious and virtuous persons were to be allowed to join the +Company, "in order," says the document, "to attract the benediction of God +upon them and their business." [Footnote: _Traité de la Compagnie des +Sioux, 6 Juin, 1727._] The prospects of the Company were thought good, +and the Governor himself was one of the shareholders. While the mission was +given the most conspicuous place in the enterprise, its objects were rather +secular than spiritual,--to attach the Sioux to the French interest by the +double ties of religion and trade, and utilize their supposed knowledge to +reach the Pacific. [Footnote: On this scheme, _Vaudreuil et Bégon au +Ministre, 4 Oct. 1723; Longueuil et Bégon au Ministre, 31 Oct. 1725; +Beauharnois et Dupuy au Ministre, 25 Sept. 1727._] + +Father Guignas was made the head of the mission, and Boucher de la Perrière +the military chief. The party left Montreal in June, and journeying to the +Mississippi by way of Michillimackinac, Green Bay, Fox River, and the +Wisconsin, went up the great river to Lake Pepin, where the adventurous +Nicolas Perrot had built two trading-posts more than forty years before. +Even if his timeworn tenements were still standing, La Perrière had no +thought of occupying them. On the north, or rather west, side of the lake +his men found a point of land that seemed fit for their purpose, +disembarked, cut down trees, and made a square stockade enclosing the +necessary buildings. It was near the end of October before they were all +well housed. A large band of Sioux presently appeared, and set up their +teepees hard by. When the birthday of the Governor came, the party +celebrated it with a display of fireworks and vociferous shouts of _Vive +le Roi, Vive Charles de Beauharnois,_ while the Indians yelped in fright +and amazement at the pyrotechnics, or stood pressing their hands upon their +mouths in silent amazement. The French called their fort Fort Beauharnois, +and invited the aid of Saint Michael the Archangel by naming the mission in +his honor. All went well till April, when the water rose with the spring +floods and filled fort, chapel, and houses to the depth of nearly three +feet, ejecting the whole party, and forcing them to encamp on higher ground +till the deluge subsided. [Footnote: _Guignas à Beauharnois, 28 Mai, +1728._] + +Worse enemies than the floods soon found them out. These were the +irrepressible Outagamies, who rose against the intruding French and incited +the Sioux to join them. There was no profit for the Company, and no safety +for its agents. The stockholders became discouraged, and would not support +the enterprise. The fort was abandoned, till in 1731 a new arrangement was +made, followed by another attempt. [Footnote: _Beauharnois et Hocquart au +Ministre, 25 Oct. 1729; Idem, 12 Oct. 1731._] For a time a prosperous +trade was carried on; but, as commonly happened in such cases, the +adventurers seem to have thought more of utilizing their monopoly than of +fulfilling the terms on which they had received it. The wild Sioux of the +plains, instead of being converted and turned into Frenchmen, proved such +dangerous neighbors that in 1737 Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, who then +commanded the post, found himself forced to abandon it. [Footnote: +_Relation du Sieur de Saint-Pierre, 14 Oct. 1737._] The enterprise had +failed in both its aims. The Western Sea was still a mystery, and the Sioux +were not friends, but enemies. Legardeur de Saint-Pierre recommended that +they should be destroyed, benevolent advice easy to give, and impossible to +execute. [Footnote: "Cet officier [Saint-Pierre] a ajouté qu'il seroit +avantageux de detruire cette nation." _Mémoire de Beauharnois, 1738._] + +René Gaultier de Varennes, lieutenant in the regiment of Carignan, married +at Three Rivers, in 1667, the daughter of Pierre Boucher, governor of that +place; the age of the bride, Demoiselle Marie Boucher, being twelve years, +six months, and eighteen days. Varennes succeeded his father-in-law as +governor of Three Rivers, with a salary of twelve hundred francs, to which +he added the profits of a farm of forty acres; and on these modest +resources, reinforced by an illicit trade in furs, he made shift to sustain +the dignity of his office. His wife became the mother of numerous +offspring, among whom was Pierre, born in 1685,--an active and hardy youth, +who, like the rest of the poor but vigorous Canadian _noblesse_, +seemed born for the forest and the fur-trade. When, however, the War of the +Spanish Succession broke out, the young man crossed the sea, obtained the +commission of lieutenant, and was nearly killed at the battle of +Malplaquet, where he was shot through the body, received six sabre-cuts, +and was left for dead on the field. He recovered, and returned to Canada, +when, finding his services slighted, he again took to the woods. He had +assumed the designation of La Vérendrye, and thenceforth his full name was +Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de la Vérendrye. [Footnote: M. Benjamin Sulte +has traced out the family history of the Varennes in the parish registers +of Three Rivers and other trustworthy sources. See _Revue Canadienne_, +X. 781, 849, 935.] + +In 1728, he was in command of a small post on Lake Nipegon, north of Lake +Superior. Here an Indian chief from the River Kaministiguia told him of a +certain great lake which discharged itself by a river flowing westward. The +Indian further declared that he had descended this river till he reached +water that ebbed and flowed, and terrified by the strange phenomenon, had +turned back, though not till he had heard of a great salt lake, bordered +with many villages. Other Indians confirmed and improved the story. "These +people," said La Vérendrye to the Jesuit Degonnor, "are great liars, but +now and then they tell the truth." [Footnote: _Relation du Père Degonnor, +Jésuite, Missionnaire des Sioux, adressée à M. le Marquis de +Beauharnois_.] It seemed to him likely that their stories of a western +river flowing to a western sea were not totally groundless, and that the +true way to the Pacific was not, as had been supposed, through the country +of the Sioux, but farther northward, through that of the Cristineaux and +Assinniboins, or, in other words, through the region now called Manitoba. +In this view he was sustained by his friend Degonnor, who had just returned +from the ill-starred Sioux mission. + +La Vérendrye, fired with the zeal of discovery, offered to search for the +Western Sea if the King would give him one hundred men and supply canoes, +arms, and provisions. [Footnote: _Relation de Degonnor: Beauharnois au +Ministre, 1 Oct_. 1731.] But, as was usual in such cases, the +King would give nothing; and though the Governor, Beauharnois, did all in +his power to promote the enterprise, the burden and the risk were left to +the adventurer himself. La Vérendrye was authorized to find a way to the +Pacific at his own expense, in consideration of a monopoly of the fur-trade +in the regions north and west of Lake Superior. This vast and remote +country was held by tribes who were doubtful friends of the French, and +perpetual enemies of each other. The risks of the trade were as great as +its possible profits, and to reap these, vast outlays must first be made: +forts must be built, manned, provisioned, and stocked with goods brought +through two thousand miles of difficult and perilous wilderness. There were +other dangers, more insidious, and perhaps greater. The exclusive +privileges granted to La Vérendrye would inevitably rouse the intensest +jealousy of the Canadian merchants, and they would spare no effort to ruin +him. Intrigue and calumny would be busy in his absence. If, as was likely, +his patron, Beauharnois, should be recalled, the new governor might be +turned against him, his privileges might be suddenly revoked, the forts he +had built passed over to his rivals, and all his outlays turned to their +profit, as had happened to La Salle on the recall of his patron, Frontenac. +On the other hand, the country was full of the choicest furs, which the +Indians had hitherto carried to the English at Hudson Bay, but which the +proposed trading-posts would secure to the French. La Vérendrye's enemies +pretended that he thought of nothing but beaver-skins, and slighted the +discovery which he had bound himself to undertake; but his conduct proves +that he was true to his engagements, and that ambition to gain honorable +distinction in the service of the King had a large place among the motives +that impelled him. + +As his own resources were of the smallest, he took a number of associates +on conditions most unfavorable to himself. Among them they raised money +enough to begin the enterprise, and on the 8th of June, 1731, La Vérendrye +and three of his sons, together with his nephew, La Jemeraye, the Jesuit +Messager, and a party of Canadians, set out from Montreal. It was late in +August before they reached the great portage of Lake Superior, which led +across the height of land separating the waters of that lake from those +flowing to Lake Winnipeg. The way was long and difficult. The men, who had +perhaps been tampered with, mutinied, and refused to go farther. [Footnote: +_Mémoire du Sieur de la Vérendrye du Sujet des Etablissements pour +parvenir a la Découverte de la Mer de l'Ouest,_ in Margry, VI. 585.] Some of +them, with much ado, consented at last to proceed, and, under the lead of +La Jemeraye, made their way by an intricate and broken chain of lakes and +streams to Rainy Lake, where they built a fort and called it Fort St. +Pierre. La Vérendrye was forced to winter with the rest of the party at the +river Kaministiguia, not far from the great portage. Here months were lost, +during which a crew of useless mutineers had to be fed and paid; and it was +not till the next June that he could get them again into motion towards +Lake Winnipeg. + +This ominous beginning was followed by a train of disasters. His associates +abandoned him; the merchants on whom he depended for supplies would not +send them, and he found himself, in his own words "destitute of +everything." His nephew, La Jemeraye, died. The Jesuit Auneau, bent on +returning to Michillimackinac, set out with La Vérendrye's eldest son and a +party of twenty Canadians. A few days later, they were all found on an +island in the Lake of the Woods, murdered and mangled by the Sioux. +[Footnote: _Beauharnois au Ministre, 14 Oct. 1736; Relation du Massacre +au Lac des Bois, en Juin, 1736; Journal de la Vérendrye, joint à la lettre +de M. de Beauharnois du ---- Oct. 1737_.] The Assinniboins and +Cristineaux, mortal foes of that fierce people, offered to join the French +and avenge the butchery; but a war with the Sioux would have ruined La +Vérendrye's plans of discovery, and exposed to torture and death the French +traders in their country. Therefore he restrained himself and declined the +proffered aid, at the risk of incurring the contempt of those who offered +it. + +Beauharnois twice appealed to the court to give La Vérendrye some little +aid, urging that he was at the end of his resources, and that a grant of +30,000 francs, or 6,000 dollars, would enable him to find a way to the +Pacific. All help was refused, but La Vérendrye was told that he might let +out his forts to other traders, and so raise means to pursue the discovery. + +In 1740 he went for the third time to Montreal, where, instead of aid, he +found a lawsuit. "In spite," he says, "of the derangement of my affairs, +the envy and jealousy of various persons impelled them to write letters to +the court insinuating that I thought of nothing but making my fortune. If +more than forty thousand livres of debt which I have on my shoulders are an +advantage, then I can flatter myself that I am very rich. In all my +misfortunes, I have the consolation of seeing that M. de Beauharnois enters +into my views, recognizes the uprightness of my intentions, and does me +justice in spite of opposition." [Footnote: Mémoire du Sieur de la +Vérendrye au sujet des Etablissements pour parvenir à la Découverte de la +Mer de l'Quest.] + +Meanwhile, under all his difficulties, he had explored a vast region +hitherto unknown, diverted a great and lucrative fur-trade from the English +at Hudson Bay, and secured possession of it by six fortified posts,--Fort +St. Pierre, on Rainy Lake; Fort St. Charles, on the Lake of the Woods; Fort +Maurepas, at the mouth of the river Winnipeg; Fort Bourbon, on the eastern +side of Lake Winnipeg; Fort La Reine, on the Assinniboin; Fort Dauphin, on +Lake Manitoba. Besides these he built another post, called Fort Rouge, on +the site of the city of Winnipeg; and, some time after, another, at the +mouth of the River Poskoiac, or Saskatchawan, neither of which, however, +was long occupied. These various forts were only stockade works flanked +with block-houses; but the difficulty of building and maintaining them in +this remote wilderness was incalculable. [Footnote: _Mémoire en abrégé de +la Carte qui représente les Etablissements faits par le Sieur de la +Vérendrye et ses Enfants_ (Margry, VI. 616); _Carte des Nouvelles +Découvertes dans l'Ouest du Canada dressée sur les Mémoires de Mr. de la +Vérandrie et donnée au Dépôt de la Marine par M. de la Galissonnière,_ +1750; Bellin, _Remarques surla Carte de l'Amérique,_ 1755; +Bougainville, _Mémoire sur l'Etat de la Nouvelle France, _1757. +Most of La Vérendrye's forts were standing during the Seven Years' War, and +were known collectively as _Postes de la Mer de l'Ouest_.] + +He had inquired on all sides for the Pacific. The Assinniboins could tell +him nothing. Nor could any information be expected from them, since their +relatives and mortal enemies, the Sioux, barred their way to the West. The +Cristineaux were equally ignorant; but they supplied the place of knowledge +by invention, and drew maps, some of which seem to have been made with no +other intention than that of amusing themselves by imposing on the +inquirer. They also declared that some of their number had gone down a +river called White River, or River of the West, where they found a plant +that shed drops like blood, and saw serpents of prodigious size. They said +further that on the lower part of this river were walled towns, where dwelt +white men who had knives, hatchets, and cloth, but no firearms. [Footnote: +_Journal de la Vérendrye joint à la Lettre de M. de Beauharnois du ---- +Oct. 1737_.] + +Both Assinniboins and Cristineaux declared that there was a distant tribe +on the Missouri, called Mantannes (Mandans), who knew the way to the +Western Sea, and would guide him to it. Lured by this assurance, and +feeling that he had sufficiently secured his position to enable him to +begin his Western exploration, La Vérendrye left Fort La Reine in October, +1738, with twenty men, and pushed up the River Assinniboin till its rapids +and shallows threatened his bark canoes with destruction. Then, with a band +of Assinniboin Indians who had joined him, he struck across the prairie for +the Mandans, his Indian companions hunting buffalo on the way. They +approached the first Mandan village on the afternoon of the 3d of December, +displaying a French flag and firing three volleys as a salute. The whole +population poured out to see the marvellous visitors, who were conducted +through the staring crowd to the lodge of the principal chief,--a capacious +structure so thronged with the naked and greasy savages that the Frenchmen +were half smothered. What was worse, they lost the bag that held all their +presents for the Mandans, which was snatched away in the confusion, and +hidden in one of the _caches_, called cellars by La Vérendrye, of +which the place was full. The chief seemed much discomposed at this mishap, +and explained it by saying that there were many rascals in the village. +The loss was serious, since without the presents nothing could be done. Nor +was this all; for in the morning La Vérendrye missed his interpreter, and +was told that he had fallen in love with an Assinniboin girl and gone off +in pursuit of her. The French were now without any means of communicating +with the Mandans, from whom, however, before the disappearance of the +interpreter, they had already received a variety of questionable +information, chiefly touching white men cased in iron who were said to live +on the river below at the distance of a whole summer's journey. As they +were impervious to arrows,--so the story ran,--it was necessary to shoot +their horses, after which, being too heavy to run, they were easily caught. +This was probably suggested by the armor of the Spaniards, who had more +than once made incursions as far as the lower Missouri; but the narrators +drew on their imagination for various additional particulars. + +The Mandans seem to have much declined in numbers during the century that +followed this visit of La Vérendrye. He says that they had six villages on +or near the Missouri, of which the one seen by him was the smallest, though +he thinks that it contained a hundred and thirty houses. [Footnote: +_Journal de la Vérendrye_, 1738,1739. This journal, which is +ill-written and sometimes obscure, is printed in Brymner, _Report on +Canadian Archives_, 1889.] As each of these large structures held a +number of families, the population must have been considerable. Yet when +Prince Maximilian visited the Mandans in 1833, he found only two villages, +containing jointly two hundred and forty warriors and a total population of +about a thousand souls. Without having seen the statements of La Vérendrye, +he speaks of the population as greatly reduced by wars and the +small-pox,--a disease which a few years later nearly exterminated the +tribe. [Footnote: Le Prince Maximilien de Wied-Neuwied, _Voyage dans +l'Intérieur de l'Amérique du Nord_, II. 371, 372 (Paris, 1843). When +Captains Lewis and Clark visited the Mandans in 1804, they found them in +two villages, with about three hundred and fifty warriors. They report +that, about forty years before, they lived in nine villages, the ruins of +which the explorers saw about eighty miles below the two villages then +occupied by the tribe. The Mandans had moved up the river in consequence of +the persecutions of the Sioux and the small-pox, which had made great havoc +among them. _Expedition of Lewis and Clark_, I. 129 (ed. Philadelphia, +1814).These nine villages seem to have been above Cannon-ball River, a +tributary of the Missouri.] + +La Vérendrye represents the six villages as surrounded with ditches and +stockades, flanked by a sort of bastion,--defences which, he says, had +nothing savage in their construction. In later times the fortifications +were of a much ruder kind, though Maximilian represents them as having +pointed salients to serve as bastions. La Vérendrye mentions some peculiar +customs of the Mandans which answer exactly to those described by more +recent observers. + +He had intended to winter with the tribe; but the loss of the presents and +the interpreter made it useless to stay, and leaving two men in the village +to learn the language, he began his return to Fort La Reine. "I was very +ill," he writes, "but hoped to get better on the way. The reverse was the +case, for it was the depth of winter. It would be impossible to suffer more +than I did. It seemed that nothing but death could release us from such +miseries." He reached Fort La Reine on the 11th of February, 1739. + +His iron constitution seems to have been severely shaken; but he had sons +worthy of their father. The two men left among the Mandans appeared at Fort +La Reine in September. They reported that they had been well treated, and +that their hosts had parted from them with regret. They also declared that +at the end of spring several Indian tribes, all well supplied with horses, +had come, as was their yearly custom, to the Mandan villages to barter +embroidered buffalo hides and other skins for corn and beans; that they had +encamped, to the number of two hundred lodges, on the farther side of the +Missouri, and that among them was a band said to have come from a distant +country towards the sunset, where there were white men who lived in houses +built of bricks and stones. + +The two Frenchmen crossed over to the camp of these Western strangers, +among whom they found a chief who spoke, or professed to speak, the +language of the mysterious white men, which to the two Frenchmen was +unintelligible. Fortunately, he also spoke the language of the Mandans, of +which the Frenchmen had learned a little during their stay, and hence were +able to gather that the white men in question had beards, and that they +prayed to the Master of Life in great houses, built for the purpose, +holding books, the leaves of which were like husks of Indian corn, singing +together and repeating _Jésus, Marie_. The chief gave many other +particulars, which seemed to show that he had been in contact with +Spaniards,--probably those of California; for he described their houses as +standing near the great lake, of which the water rises and falls and is not +fit to drink. He invited the two Frenchmen to go with him to this strange +country, saying that it could be reached before winter, though a wide +circuit must be made, to avoid a fierce and dangerous tribe called Snake +Indians (_Gens du Serpent_). [Footnote: _Journal du Sieur de la +Vérendrye_, 1740, in Archives de la Marine.] + +On hearing this story, La Vérendrye sent his eldest son, Pierre, to pursue +the discovery with two men, ordering him to hire guides among the Mandans +and make his way to the Western Sea. But no guides were to be found, and in +the next summer the young man returned from his bootless errand. +[Footnote: _Mémoire du Sieur de la Vérendrye, joint à sa lettre du 31 +Oct. 1744_] + +Undaunted by this failure, Pierre set out again in the next spring, 1742, +with his younger brother, the Chevalier de la Vérendrye. Accompanied only +by two Canadians, they left Port La Reine on the 29th of April, and +following, no doubt, the route of the Assinniboin and Mouse River, reached +the chief village of the Mandans in about three weeks. + +Here they found themselves the welcome guests of this singularly +interesting tribe, ruined by the small-pox nearly half a century ago, but +preserved to memory by the skilful pencil of the artist Charles Bodmer, and +the brush of the painter George Catlin, both of whom saw them at a time +when they were little changed in habits and manners since the visit of the +brothers La Vérendrye. [Footnote: Prince Maximilian spent the winter of +1832-33 near the Mandan villages. His artist, with the instinct of genius, +seized the characteristics of the wild life before him, and rendered them +with admirable vigor and truth. Catlin spent a considerable time among the +Mandans soon after the visit of Prince Maximilian, and had unusual +opportunities of studying them. He was an indifferent painter, a shallow +observer, and a garrulous and windy writer; yet his enthusiastic industry +is beyond praise, and his pictures are invaluable as faithful reflections +of aspects of Indian life which are gone forever.] + +[Footnote: Beauharnois calls the Mandans _Blancs Barbus_, and says +that they have been hitherto unknown. _Beauharnois au Ministre, 14 +Août_, 1739. The name Mantannes, or Mandans, is that given them by the +Assinniboins.] + +Thus, though the report of the two brothers is too concise and brief, we +know what they saw when they entered the central area, or public square, of +the village. Around stood the Mandan lodges, looking like round flattened +hillocks of earth, forty or fifty feet wide. On examination they proved to +be framed of strong posts and poles, covered with a thick matting of +intertwined willow-branches, over which was laid a bed of well-compacted +clay or earth two or three feet thick. This heavy roof was supported by +strong interior posts. [Footnote: The Minnetarees and other tribes of the +Missouri built their lodges in a similar way.] The open place which the +dwellings enclosed served for games, dances, and the ghastly religious or +magical ceremonies practised by the tribe. Among the other structures was +the sacred "medicine lodge" distinguished by three or four tall poles +planted before it, each surmounted by an effigy looking much like a +scarecrow, and meant as an offering to the spirits. + +If the two travellers had been less sparing of words, they would doubtless +have told us that as they entered the village square the flattened earthen +domes that surrounded it were thronged with squaws and children,--for this +was always the case on occasions of public interest,--and that they were +forced to undergo a merciless series of feasts in the lodges of the chiefs. +Here, seated by the sunken hearth in the middle, under the large hole in +the roof that served both for window and chimney, they could study at their +ease the domestic economy of their entertainers. Each lodge held a +_gens_, or family connection, whose beds of raw buffalo hide, +stretched on poles, were ranged around the circumference of the building, +while by each stood a post on which hung shields, lances, bows, quivers, +medicine-bags, and masks formed of the skin of a buffalo's head, with the +horns attached, to be used in the magic buffalo dance. + +Every day had its sports to relieve the monotony of savage existence, the +game of the stick and the rolling ring, the archery practice of boys, +horse-racing on the neighboring prairie, and incessant games of chance; +while every evening, in contrast to these gayeties, the long, dismal wail +of women rose from the adjacent cemetery, where the dead of the village, +sewn fast in buffalo hides, lay on scaffolds above the reach of wolves. + +The Mandans did not know the way to the Pacific, but they told the brothers +that they expected a speedy visit from a tribe or band called Horse +Indians, who could guide them thither. It is impossible to identify this +people with any certainty. [Footnote: The Cheyennes have a tradition that +they were the first tribe of this region to have horses. This may perhaps +justify a conjecture that the northern division of this brave and warlike +people were the Horse Indians of La Vérendrye; though an Indian tradition, +unless backed by well-established facts, can never be accepted as +substantial evidence.] The two travellers waited for them in vain till +after midsummer, and then, as the season was too far advanced for longer +delay, they hired two Mandans to conduct them to their customary haunts. + +They set out on horseback, their scanty baggage and their stock of presents +being no doubt carried by pack-animals. Their general course was +west-southwest, with the Black Hills at a distance on their left, and the +upper Missouri on their right. The country was a rolling prairie, well +covered for the most part with grass, and watered by small alkaline streams +creeping towards the Missouri with an opaque, whitish current. Except along +the watercourses, there was little or no wood. "I noticed," says the +Chevalier de la Vérendrye, "earths of different colors, blue, green, red, +or black, white as chalk, or yellowish like ochre." This was probably in +the "bad lands" of the Little Missouri, where these colored earths form a +conspicuous feature in the bare and barren bluffs, carved into fantastic +shapes by the storms. [Footnote: A similar phenomenon occurs farther west +on the face of the perpendicular bluffs that, in one place, border the +valley of the river Rosebud.] + +For twenty days the travellers saw no human being, so scanty was the +population of these plains. Game, however, was abundant. Deer sprang from +the tall, reedy grass of the river bottoms; buffalo tramped by in ponderous +columns, or dotted the swells of the distant prairie with their grazing +thousands; antelope approached, with the curiosity of their species, to +gaze at the passing horsemen, then fled like the wind; and as they neared +the broken uplands towards the Yellowstone, they saw troops of elk and +flocks of mountain-sheep. Sometimes, for miles together, the dry plain was +studded thick with the earthen mounds that marked the burrows of the +curious marmots, called prairie-dogs, from their squeaking bark. Wolves, +white and gray, howled about the camp at night, and their cousin, the +coyote, seated in the dusk of evening upright on the grass, with nose +turned to the sky, saluted them with a complication of yelpings, as if a +score of petulant voices were pouring together from the throat of one small +beast. + +On the 11th of August, after a march of about three weeks, the brothers +reached a hill, or group of hills, apparently west of the Little Missouri, +and perhaps a part of the Powder River Range. It was here that they hoped +to find the Horse Indians, but nobody was to be seen. Arming themselves +with patience, they built a hut, made fires to attract by the smoke any +Indians roaming near, and went every day to the tops of the hills to +reconnoitre. At length, on the 14th of September, they descried a spire of +smoke on the distant prairie. + +One of their Mandan guides had left them and gone back to his village. The +other, with one of the Frenchmen, went towards the smoke, and found a camp +of Indians, whom the journal calls Les Beaux Hommes, and who were probably +Crows, or Apsaroka, a tribe remarkable for stature and symmetry, who long +claimed that region as their own. They treated the visitors well, and sent +for the other Frenchmen to come to their lodges, where they were received +with great rejoicing. The remaining Mandan, however, became +frightened,--for the Beaux Hommes were enemies of his tribe,--and he soon +followed his companion on his solitary march homeward. + +The brothers remained twenty-one days in the camp of the Beaux Hommes, much +perplexed for want of an interpreter. The tribes of the plains have in +common a system of signs by which they communicate with each other, and it +is likely that the brothers had learned it from the Sioux or Assinniboins, +with whom they had been in familiar intercourse. By this or some other +means they made their hosts understand that they wished to find the Horse +Indians; and the Beaux Hommes, being soothed by presents, offered some of +their young men as guides. They set out on the 9th of October, following a +south-southwest course. [Footnote: _Journal du Voyage fait par le +Chevalier de la Vérendrye en 1742._ The copy before me is from the +original in the Depot des Cartes de la Marine. A duplicate, in the Archives +des Affaires Etrangères, is printed by Margry. It gives the above date as +November 9th instead of October 9th. The context shows the latter to be +correct.] + +In two days they met a band of Indians, called by them the Little Foxes, +and on the 15th and 17th two villages of another unrecognizable horde, +named Pioya. From La Vérendrye's time to our own, this name "villages" has +always been given to the encampments of the wandering people of the plains. +All these nomadic communities joined them, and they moved together +southward, till they reached at last the lodges of the long-sought Horse +Indians. They found them in the extremity of distress and terror. Their +camp resounded with howls and wailings; and not without cause, for the +Snakes, or Shoshones,--a formidable people living farther westward,--had +lately destroyed most of their tribe. The Snakes were the terror of that +country. The brothers were told that the year before they had destroyed +seventeen villages, killing the warriors and old women, and carrying off +the young women and children as slaves. + +None of the Horse Indians had ever seen the Pacific; but they knew a people +called Gens de l'Arc, or Bow Indians, who, as they said, had traded not far +from it. To the Bow Indians, therefore, the brothers resolved to go, and by +dint of gifts and promises they persuaded their hosts to show them the way. +After marching southwestward for several days, they saw the distant prairie +covered with the pointed buffalo-skin lodges of a great Indian camp. It was +that of the Bow Indians, who may have been one of the bands of the western +Sioux,--the predominant race in this region. Few or none of them could ever +have seen a white man, and we may imagine their amazement at the arrival of +the strangers, who, followed by staring crowds, were conducted to the lodge +of the chief. "Thus far," says La Vérendrye, "we had been well received in +all the villages we had passed; but this was nothing compared with the +courteous manners of the great chief of the Bow Indians, who, unlike the +others, was not self-interested in the least, and who took excellent care +of everything belonging to us." + +The first inquiry of the travellers was for the Pacific; but neither the +chief nor his tribesmen knew anything of it, except what they had heard +from Snake prisoners taken in war. The Frenchmen were surprised at the +extent of the camp, which consisted of many separate bands. The chief +explained that they had been summoned from far and near for a grand +war-party against that common foe of all,--the Snakes. [Footnote: The +enmity between the Sioux and the Snakes lasted to our own time. When the +writer lived among the western Sioux, one of their chiefs organized a +war-party against the Snakes, and numerous bands came to join the +expedition from a distance in some cases of three hundred miles. Quarrels +broke out among them, and the scheme was ruined.] In fact, the camp +resounded with war-songs and war-dances. "Come with us," said their host; +"we are going towards the mountains, where you can see the great water that +you are looking for." + +At length the camp broke up. The squaws took down the lodges, and the march +began over prairies dreary and brown with the withering touch of autumn. +The spectacle was such as men still young have seen in these Western lands, +but which no man will see again. The vast plain swarmed with the moving +multitude. The tribes of the Missouri and the Yellowstone had by this time +abundance of horses, the best of which were used for war and hunting, and +the others as beasts of burden. These last were equipped in a peculiar +manner. Several of the long poles used to frame the teepees, or lodges, +were secured by one end to each side of a rude saddle, while the other end +trailed on the ground. Crossbars lashed to the poles just behind the horse +kept them three or four feet apart, and formed a firm support, on which was +laid, compactly folded, the buffalo-skin covering of the lodge. On this, +again, sat a mother with her young family, sometimes stowed for safety in a +large open willow basket, with the occasional addition of some domestic +pet,--such as a tame raven, a puppy, or even a small bear cub. Other horses +were laden in the same manner with wooden bowls, stone hammers, and other +utensils, along with stores of dried buffalo-meat packed in cases of +rawhide whitened and painted. Many of the innumerable dogs--whose manners +and appearance strongly suggested their relatives the wolves, to whom, +however, they bore a mortal grudge--were equipped in a similar way, with +shorter poles and lighter loads. Bands of naked boys, noisy and restless, +roamed the prairie, practising their bows and arrows on any small animal +they might find. Gay young squaws--adorned on each cheek with a spot of +ochre or red clay, and arrayed in tunics of fringed buckskin embroidered +with porcupine quills--were mounted on ponies, astride like men; while lean +and tattered hags--the drudges of the tribe, unkempt and hideous--scolded +the lagging horses, or screeched at the disorderly dogs, with voices not +unlike the yell of the great horned owl. Most of the warriors were on +horseback, armed with round, white shields of bull-hide, feathered lances, +war-clubs, bows, and quivers filled with stone-headed arrows; while a few +of the elders, wrapped in robes of buffalo-hide, stalked along in groups +with a stately air, chatting, laughing, and exchanging unseemly jokes. +[Footnote: The above descriptive particulars are drawn from repeated +observation of similar scenes at a time when the primitive condition of +these tribes was essentially unchanged, though with the difference that the +concourse of savages counted by hundreds, and not by thousands.] + +"We continued our march," says La Vérendrye, "sometimes south-southwest, +and now and then northwest; our numbers constantly increasing by villages +of different tribes which joined us." The variations of their course were +probably due to the difficulties of the country, which grew more rugged as +they advanced, with broken hills, tracts of dingy green sage-bushes, and +bright, swift streams, edged with cottonwood and willow, hurrying northward +to join the Yellowstone. At length, on the 1st of January, 1743, they saw +what was probably the Bighorn Range of the Rocky Mountains, a hundred and +twenty miles east of the Yellowstone Park. + +A council of all the allied bands was now called, and the Frenchmen were +asked to take part in it. The questions discussed were how to dispose of +the women and children, and how to attack the enemy. Having settled their +plans, the chiefs begged their white friends not to abandon them; and the +younger of the two, the Chevalier, consented to join the warriors, and aid +them with advice, though not with arms. + +The tribes of the Western plains rarely go on war-parties in winter, and +this great expedition must have been the result of unusual exasperation. +The object was to surprise the Snakes in the security of their winter camp, +and strike a deadly blow, which would have been impossible in summer. + +On the 8th of January the whole body stopped to encamp, choosing, no doubt, +after the invariable winter custom of Western Indians, a place sheltered +from wind, and supplied with water and fuel. Here the squaws and children +were to remain, while most of the warriors advanced against the enemy. By +pegging the lower edge of the lodge-skin to the ground, and piling a ridge +of stones and earth upon it to keep out the air, fastening with wooden +skewers the flap of hide that covered the entrance, and keeping a constant +fire, they could pass a winter endurable to Indians, though smoke, filth, +vermin, bad air, the crowd, and the total absence of privacy, would make it +a purgatory to any civilized white man. + +The Chevalier left his brother to watch over the baggage of the party, +which was stored in the lodge of the great chief, while he himself, with +his two Canadians, joined the advancing warriors. They were on horseback, +marching with a certain order, and sending watchmen to reconnoitre the +country from the tops of the hills. [Footnote: At least this was done by a +band of Sioux with whom the writer once traversed a part of the country +ranged by these same Snakes, who had lately destroyed an entire Sioux +village.] + +Their movements were so slow that it was twelve days before they reached +the foot of the mountains, which, says La Vérendrye, "are for the most part +well wooded, and seem very high." [Footnote: The Bighorn Range, below the +snow line, is in the main well timbered with pine, fir, oak, and juniper.] +He longed to climb their great snow-encumbered peaks, fancying that he +might then see the Pacific, and never dreaming that more than eight hundred +miles of mountains and forests still lay between him and his goal. + +Through the whole of the present century the villages of the Snakes were at +a considerable distance west of the Bighorn Range, and some of them were +even on the upper waters of the Pacific slope. It is likely that they were +so in 1743, in which case the war-party would not only have reached the +Bighorn Mountains, but have pushed farther on to within sight of the great +Wind River Range. Be this as it may, their scouts reached the chief winter +camp of the Snakes, and found it abandoned, with lodges still standing, and +many household possessions left behind. The enemy had discovered their +approach, and fled. Instead of encouraging the allies, this news filled +them with terror, for they feared that the Snake warriors might make a +circuit to the rear, and fall upon the camp where they had left their women +and children. The great chief spent all his eloquence in vain, nobody would +listen to him; and with characteristic fickleness they gave over the +enterprise, and retreated in a panic. "Our advance was made in good order; +but not so our retreat," says the Chevalier's journal. "Everybody fled his +own way. Our horses, though good, were very tired, and got little to eat." +The Chevalier was one day riding with his friend, the great chief, when, +looking behind him, he missed his two French attendants. Hastening back in +alarm, he found them far in the rear, quietly feeding their horses under +the shelter of a clump of trees. He had scarcely joined them when he saw a +party of fifteen hostile Indians stealthily creeping forward, covered by +their bull-hide shields. He and his men let them approach, and then gave +them a few shots; on which they immediately ran off, firearms being to them +an astounding novelty. + +The three Frenchmen now tried to rejoin the great chief and his band, but +the task was not easy. The prairie, bare of snow and hard as flint, showed +no trace of foot or hoof; and it was by rare good fortune that they +succeeded, on the second day, not in overtaking the chief, but in reaching +the camp where the women and children had been left. They found them all in +safety; the Snakes had not attacked them, and the panic of the warriors was +needless. It was the 9th of February. They were scarcely housed when a +blizzard set in, and on the night of the 10th the plains were buried in +snow. The great chief had not appeared. With such of his warriors as he +could persuade to follow him, he had made a wide circuit to find the trail +of the lost Frenchmen, but, to his great distress, had completely failed. +It was not till five days after the arrival of the Chevalier and his men +that the chief reached the camp, "more dead than alive," in the words of +the journal. All his hardships were forgotten when he found his white +friends safe, for he had given them up for lost. "His sorrow turned to joy, +and he could not give us attention and caresses enough." + +The camp broke up, and the allied bands dispersed. The great chief and his +followers moved slowly through the snowdrifts towards the east-southeast, +accompanied by the Frenchmen. Thus they kept on till the 1st of March, when +the two brothers, learning that they were approaching the winter village of +a people called Gens de la Petite Cerise, or Choke-Cherry Indians, sent one +of their men, with a guide, to visit them. The man returned in ten days, +bringing a message from the Choke-Cherry Indians, inviting the Frenchmen to +their lodges. + +The great chief of the Bow Indians, who seems to have regarded his young +friends with mingled affection, respect, and wonder, was grieved at the +thought of losing them, but took comfort when they promised to visit him +again, provided that he would make his abode near a certain river which +they pointed out. To this he readily agreed, and then, with mutual regret, +they parted. [Footnote: The only two tribes of this region who were a match +for the Snakes were the Sioux and the Blackfeet. it is clear that the Bow +Indians could not have been Blackfeet, as in that case, after the war-party +broke up, they would have moved northward towards their own country, +instead of east-southeast into the country of their enemies. Hence I +incline to think the Bow Indians a band of Sioux, or Dakota,--a people +then, as since, predominant in that country.] [Footnote: The banks of the +Missouri, in the part which La Vérendrye would have reached in following an +east-southeast course, were occupied by numerous bands or sub-tribes of +Sioux, such as the Minneconjou, Yankton, Oncpapa, Brulé, and others, +friends and relatives of the Bow Indians, supposing these to have been +Sioux.] + +The Frenchmen repaired to the village of the Choke-Cherry Indians, who, +like the Bow Indians, were probably a band of Sioux. [Footnote: The Sioux, +Cheyennes, and other prairie tribes use the small astringent wild cherry +for food. The squaws pound it, stones and all, and then dry it for winter +use.] Hard by their lodges, which stood near the Missouri, the brothers +buried a plate of lead graven with the royal arms, and raised a pile of +stones in honor of the Governor of Canada. They remained at this place till +April; then, mounting their horses again, followed the Missouri upward to +the village of the Mandans, which they reached on the 18th of May. After +spending a week here, they joined a party of Assinniboins, journeyed with +them towards Fort La Reine, and reached it on the 2d of July,--to the great +relief of their father, who was waiting in suspense, having heard nothing +of them for more than a year. + +Sixty-two years later, when the vast western regions then called Louisiana +had just been ceded to the United States, Captains Lewis and Clark left the +Mandan villages with thirty-two men, traced the Missouri to the mountains, +penetrated the wastes beyond, and made their way to the Pacific. The first +stages of that remarkable exploration were anticipated by the brothers La +Vérendrye. They did not find the Pacific, but they discovered the Rocky +Mountains, or at least the part of them to which the name properly belongs; +for the southern continuation of the great range had long been known to the +Spaniards. Their bold adventure was achieved, not at the charge of a +government, but at their own cost and that of their father,--not with a +band of well-equipped men, but with only two followers. + +The fur-trading privilege which was to have been their compensation had +proved their ruin. They were still pursued without ceasing by the jealousy +of rival traders and the ire of disappointed partners. "Here in Canada more +than anywhere else," the Chevalier wrote, some years after his return, +"envy is the passion _à la mode,_ and there is no escaping it." +[Footnote: Le Chevalier de la Vérendrye au Ministre, 30 Sept. 1750.] It was +the story of La Salle repeated. Beauharnois, however, still stood by them, +encouraged and defended them, and wrote in their favor to the colonial +minister. [Footnote: _La Vérendrye père au Ministre, 1 Nov. 1746,_ in +Margry VI. 611.] It was doubtless through his efforts that the elder La +Vérendrye was at last promoted to a captaincy in the colony troops. +Beauharnois was succeeded in the government by the sagacious and able +Galissonière, and he too befriended the explorers. "It seems to me," he +wrote to the minister, "that what you have been told touching the Sieur de +la Vérendrye, to the effect that he has been more busy with his own +interests than in making discoveries, is totally false, and, moreover, that +any officers employed in such work will always be compelled to give some of +their attention to trade, so long as the King allows them no other means of +subsistence. These discoveries are very costly, and more fatiguing and +dangerous than open war." [Footnote: _La Galissonière au Ministre, 23 +Oct. 1747._] Two years later, the elder La Vérendrye received the cross +of the Order of St. Louis,--an honor much prized in Canada, but which he +did not long enjoy; for he died at Montreal in the following December, when +on the point of again setting out for the West. + +His intrepid sons survived, and they were not idle. One of them, the +Chevalier, had before discovered the river Saskatchawan, and ascended it as +far as the forks. [Footnote: _Mémoire en abrégé des Établissements et +Découvertes faits par le Sieur de la Vérendrye et ses Enfants._] His +intention was to follow it to the mountains, build a fort there, and thence +push westward in another search for the Pacific; but a disastrous event +ruined all his hopes. La Galissonière returned to France, and the Marquis +de la Jonquière succeeded him, with the notorious François Bigot as +intendant. Both were greedy of money,--the one to hoard, and the other to +dissipate it. Clearly there was money to be got from the fur-trade of +Manitoba, for La Vérendrye had made every preparation and incurred every +expense. It seemed that nothing remained but to reap where he had sown. +His commission to find the Pacific, with the privileges connected with it, +was refused to his sons, and conferred on a stranger. La Jonquière wrote to +the minister: "I have charged M. de Saint-Pierre with this business. He +knows these countries better than any officer in all the colony." +[Footnote: _La Jonquière au Ministre, 27 Fev. 1750_.] On the contrary, +he had never seen them. It is difficult not to believe that La Jonquière, +Bigot, and Saint-Pierre were partners in a speculation of which all three +were to share the profits. + +The elder La Vérendrye, not long before his death, had sent a large +quantity of goods to his trading-forts. The brothers begged leave to return +thither and save their property from destruction. They declared themselves +happy to serve under the orders of Saint-Pierre, and asked for the use of +only a single fort of all those which their father had built at his own +cost. The answer was a flat refusal. In short, they were shamefully robbed. +The Chevalier writes: "M. le Marquis de la Jonquière, being pushed hard, +and as I thought even touched, by my representations, told me at last that +M. de Saint-Pierre wanted nothing to do with me or my brothers." "I am a +ruined man," he continues. "I am more than two thousand livres in debt, and +am still only a second ensign. My elder brother's grade is no better than +mine. My younger brother is only a cadet. This is the fruit of all that my +father, my brothers, and I have done. My other brother, whom the Sioux +murdered some years ago, was not the most unfortunate among us. We must +lose all that has cost us so much, unless M. de Saint-Pierre should take +juster views, and prevail on the Marquis de la Jonquière to share them. To +be thus shut out from the West is to be most cruelly robbed of a sort of +inheritance which we had all the pains of acquiring, and of which others +will get all the profit." [Footnote: _Le Chevalier de la Vérendrye au +Ministre, 30 Sept. 1750._] + +His elder brother writes in a similar strain: "We spent our youth and our +property in building up establishments so advantageous to Canada; and after +all, we were doomed to see a stranger gather the fruit we had taken such +pains to plant." And he complains that their goods left in the +trading-posts were wasted, their provisions consumed, and the men in their +pay used to do the work of others. [Footnote: _Mémoire des Services de +Pierre Gautier de la Vérendrye l'aisné, présenté à Mg'r. Rouille, ministre +et secrétaire d'Etat._] + +They got no redress. Saint-Pierre, backed by the Governor and the +Intendant, remained master of the position. The brothers sold a small piece +of land, their last remaining property, to appease their most pressing +creditors. [Footnote: Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, in spite of his treatment +of the La Vérendrye brothers, had merit as an officer. It was he who +received Washington at Fort Le Bœuf in 1754. He was killed in 1755, at the +battle of Lake George. See _Montcalm and Wolfe,_ I. 303.] + +Saint-Pierre set out for Manitoba on the 5th of June, 1750. Though he had +lived more or less in the woods for thirty-six years, and though La +Jonquière had told the minister that he knew the countries to which he was +bound better than anybody else, it is clear from his own journal that he +was now visiting them for the first time. They did not please him. "I was +told," he says, "that the way would grow harder and more dangerous as we +advanced, and I found, in fact, that one must risk life and property every +moment." Finding himself and his men likely to starve, he sent some of +them, under an ensign named Niverville, to the Saskatchawan. They could not +reach it, and nearly perished on the way. "I myself was no more fortunate," +says Saint-Pierre. "Food was so scarce that I sent some of my people into +the woods among the Indians,--which did not save me from a fast so rigorous +that it deranged my health and put it out of my power to do anything +towards accomplishing my mission. Even if I had had strength enough, the +war that broke out among the Indians would have made it impossible to +proceed." + +Niverville, after a winter of misery, tried to fulfil an order which he had +received from his commander. When the Indians guided the two brothers La +Vérendrye to the Rocky Mountains, the course they took tended so far +southward that the Chevalier greatly feared it might lead to Spanish +settlements; and he gave it as his opinion that the next attempt to find +the Pacific should be made farther towards the north. Saint-Pierre had +agreed with him, and had directed Niverville to build a fort on the +Saskatchawan, three hundred leagues above its mouth. Therefore, at the end +of May, 1751, Niverville sent ten men in two canoes on this errand, and +they ascended the Saskatchawan to what Saint-Pierre calls the "Rock +Mountain." Here they built a small stockade fort and called it Fort La +Jonquière. Niverville was to have followed them; but he fell ill, and lay +helpless at the mouth of the river in such a condition that he could not +even write to his commander. + +Saint-Pierre set out in person from Fort La Reine for Fort La Jonquière, +over ice and snow, for it was late in November. Two Frenchmen from +Niverville met him on the way, and reported that the Assinniboins had +slaughtered an entire band of friendly Indians on whom Saint-Pierre had +relied to guide him. On hearing this he gave up the enterprise, and +returned to Fort La Reine. Here the Indians told him idle stories about +white men and a fort in some remote place towards the west; but, he +observes, "nobody could reach it without encountering an infinity of tribes +more savage than it is possible to imagine." + +He spent most of the winter at Fort La Reine. Here, towards the end of +February, 1752, he had with him only five men, having sent out the rest in +search of food. Suddenly, as he sat in his chamber, he saw the fort full of +armed Assinniboins, extremely noisy and insolent. He tried in vain to quiet +them, and they presently broke into the guard-house and seized the arms. A +massacre would have followed, had not Saint-Pierre, who was far from +wanting courage, resorted to an expedient which has more than once proved +effective on such occasions. He knocked out the heads of two barrels of +gunpowder, snatched a firebrand, and told the yelping crowd that he would +blow up them and himself together. At this they all rushed in fright out of +the gate, while Saint-Pierre ran after them, and bolted it fast. There was +great anxiety for the hunters, but they all came back in the evening, +without having met the enemy. The men, however, were so terrified by the +adventure that Saint-Pierre was compelled to abandon the fort, after +recommending it to the care of another band of Assinniboins, who had +professed great friendship. Four days after he was gone they burned it to +the ground. + +He soon came to the conclusion that farther discovery was impossible, +because the English of Hudson Bay had stirred up the Western tribes to +oppose it. Therefore he set out for the settlements, and, reaching Quebec +in the autumn of 1753, placed the journal of his futile enterprise in the +hands of Duquesne, the new governor. [Footnote: _Journal sommaire du +Voyage de Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, chargé de la Découverte de la +Mer de l'Ouest_ (British Museum).] + +Canada was approaching her last agony. In the death-struggle of the Seven +Years' War there was no time for schemes of Western discovery. The brothers +La Vérendrye sank into poverty and neglect. A little before the war broke +out, we find the eldest at the obscure Acadian post of Beauséjour, where he +wrote to the colonial minister a statement of his services, which appears +to have received no attention. After the fall of Canada, the Chevalier de +la Vérendrye, he whose eyes first beheld the snowy peaks of the Rocky +Mountains, perished in the wreck of the ship "Auguste," on the coast of +Cape Breton, in November, 1761. + +[Footnote: The above narrative rests mainly on contemporary documents, +official in character, of which the originals are preserved in the archives +of the French Government. These papers have recently been printed by M. +Pierre Margry, late custodian of the Archives of the Marine and Colonies at +Paris, in the sixth volume of his _Découvertes et Établissements des +Français dans l'Amérique Septentrionale,_--a documentary collection of +great value, published at the expense of the American Government. It was M. +Margry who first drew attention to the achievements of the family of La +Vérendrye, by an article in the _Moniteur_ in 1852. I owe to his +kindness the opportunity of using the above-mentioned documents in advance +of publication. I obtained copies from duplicate originals of some of the +principal among them from the Dépôt des Cartes de la Marine, in 1872. These +answer closely, with rare and trivial variations, to the same documents as +printed from other sources by M. Margry. Some additional papers preserved +in the Archives of the Marine and Colonies have also been used.] + +[Footnote: My friends, Hon. William C. Endicott, then Secretary of War, and +Captain John G. Bourke, Third Cavalry, U. S. A., kindly placed in my hands +a valuable collection of Government maps and surveys of the country between +the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains visited by the brothers La Vérendrye; +and I have received from Captain Bourke, and also from Mr. E. A. Snow, +formerly of the Third Cavalry, much information concerning the same region, +repeatedly traversed by them in peace and war.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +1700-1750. + +THE CHAIN OF POSTS. + +OPPOSING CLAIMS.--ATTITUDE OF THE RIVAL NATIONS.--AMERICA A FRENCH +CONTINENT--ENGLAND A USURPER.--FRENCH DEMANDS.--MAGNANIMOUS +PROPOSALS.--WARLIKE PREPARATION.--NIAGARA.--OSWEGO.--CROWN POINT.--THE +PASSES OF THE WEST SECURED. + + +We have seen that the contest between France and England in America divided +itself, after the Peace of Utrecht, into three parts,--the Acadian contest; +the contest for northern New England; and last, though greatest, the +contest for the West. Nothing is more striking than the difference, or +rather contrast, in the conduct and methods of the rival claimants to this +wild but magnificent domain. Each was strong in its own qualities, and +utterly wanting in the qualities that marked its opponent. + +On maps of British America in the earlier part of the eighteenth century, +one sees the eastern shore, from Maine to Georgia, garnished with ten or +twelve colored patches, very different in shape and size, and defined, more +or less distinctly, by dividing lines which, in some cases, are prolonged +westward till they touch the Mississippi, or even cross it and stretch +indefinitely towards the Pacific. These patches are the British provinces, +and the westward prolongation of their boundary lines represents their +several claims to vast interior tracts, founded on ancient grants, but not +made good by occupation, or vindicated by any exertion of power. + +These English communities took little thought of the region beyond the +Alleghanies. Each lived a life of its own, shut within its own limits, not +dreaming of a future collective greatness to which the possession of the +West would be a necessary condition. No conscious community of aims and +interests held them together, nor was there any authority capable of +uniting their forces and turning them to a common object. Some of the +servants of the Crown had urged the necessity of joining them all under a +strong central government, as the only means of making them loyal subjects +and arresting the encroachments of France; but the scheme was plainly +impracticable. Each province remained in jealous isolation, busied with its +own work, growing in strength, in the capacity of self-rule and the spirit +of independence, and stubbornly resisting all exercise of authority from +without. If the English-speaking populations flowed westward, it was in +obedience to natural laws, for the King did not aid the movement, the royal +governors had no authority to do so, and the colonial assemblies were too +much engrossed with immediate local interests. The power of these colonies +was that of a rising flood slowly invading and conquering, by the +unconscious force of its own growing volume, unless means be found to hold +it back by dams and embankments within appointed limits. + +In the French colonies all was different. Here the representatives of the +Crown were men bred in an atmosphere of broad ambition and masterful and +far-reaching enterprise. Achievement was demanded of them. They recognized +the greatness of the prize, studied the strong and weak points of their +rivals, and with a cautious forecast and a daring energy set themselves to +the task of defeating them. + +If the English colonies were comparatively strong in numbers, their numbers +could not be brought into action; while if the French forces were small, +they were vigorously commanded, and always ready at a word. It was union +confronting division, energy confronting apathy, military centralization +opposed to industrial democracy; and, for a time, the advantage was all on +one side. + +The demands of the French were sufficiently comprehensive. They repented of +their enforced concessions at the Treaty of Utrecht, and in spite of that +compact, maintained that, with a few local and trivial exceptions, the +whole North American continent, except Mexico, was theirs of right; while +their opponents seemed neither to understand the situation, nor see the +greatness of the stakes at issue. + +In 1720 Father Bobé, priest of the Congregation of Missions, drew up a +paper in which he sets forth the claims of France with much distinctness, +beginning with the declaration that "England has usurped from France nearly +everything that she possesses in America," and adding that the +plenipotentiaries at Utrecht did not know what they were about when they +made such concessions to the enemy; that, among other blunders, they gave +Port Royal to England when it belonged to France, who should "insist +vigorously" on its being given back to her. + +He maintains that the voyages of Verrazzano and Ribaut made France owner of +the whole continent, from Florida northward; that England was an interloper +in planting colonies along the Atlantic coast, and will admit as much if +she is honest, since all that country is certainly a part of New France. In +this modest assumption of the point at issue, he ignores John Cabot and his +son Sebastian, who discovered North America more than twenty-five years +before the voyage of Verrazzano, and more than sixty years before that of +Ribaut. + +When the English, proceeds Father Bobé, have restored Port Royal to us, +which they are bound to do, though we ceded it by the treaty, a French +governor should be at once set over it, with a commission to command as far +as Cape Cod, which would include Boston. We should also fortify ourselves, +"in a way to stop the English, who have long tried to seize on French +America, of which they know the importance, and of which," he observes with +much candor, "they would make a better use than the French do...The +Atlantic coast, as far as Florida, was usurped from the French, to whom it +belonged then, and to whom it belongs now." [Footnote: "De maniere qu'on +puisse arreter les Anglois, qui depuis longtems tachent de s'emparer de +l'Amerique françoise, dont ils conoissent l'importance et dont ils feroient +un meillieur usage que celuy qui les françois en font."] England, as he +thinks, is bound in honor to give back these countries to their true owner; +and it is also the part of wisdom to do so, since by grasping at too much, +one often loses all. But France, out of her love of peace, will cede to +England the countries along the Atlantic, from the Kennebec in New France +to the Jordan [Footnote: On the river Jordan, so named by Vasquez de +Ayllon, see _Pioneers of France in the New World_, pp. 11, 39 (revised +edition) _note_. It was probably the Broad River of South Carolina.] +in Carolina, on condition that England will restore to her all that she +gave up by the Treaty of Utrecht. When this is done, France, always +generous, will consent to accept as boundary a line drawn from the mouth of +the Kennebec, passing thence midway between Schenectady and Lake Champlain +and along the ridge of the Alleghanies to the river Jordan, the country +between this line and the sea to belong to England, and the rest of the +continent to France. + +If England does not accept this generous offer, she is to be told that the +King will give to the Compagnie des Indes (Law's Mississippi Company) full +authority to occupy "all the countries which the English have usurped from +France;" and, pursues Father Bobé, "it is certain that the fear of having +to do with so powerful a company will bring the English to our terms." The +company that was thus to strike the British heart with terror was the same +which all the tonics and stimulants of the government could not save from +predestined ruin. But, concludes this ingenious writer, whether England +accepts our offers or not, France ought not only to take a high tone +(_parler avec hauteur_), but also to fortify diligently, and make good +her right by force of arms. [Footnote: _Second Mémoire concernant les +Limites des Colonies présenté en 1720 par Bobé, prêtre de la Congrégation +de la Mission_ (Archives Nationales).] + +Three years later we have another document, this time of an official +character, and still more radical in its demands. It admits that Port Royal +and a part of the Nova Scotian peninsula, under the name of Acadia, were +ceded to England by the treaty, and consents that she shall keep them, but +requires her to restore the part of New France that she has wrongfully +seized,--namely, the whole Atlantic coast from the Kennebec to Florida; +since France never gave England this country, which is hers by the +discovery of Verrazzano in 1524. Here, again, the voyages of the Cabots, in +1497 and 1498, are completely ignored. + +"It will be seen," pursues this curious document, "that our kings have +always preserved sovereignty over the countries between the 30th and the +50th degrees of north latitude. A time will come when they will be in a +position to assert their rights, and then it will be seen that the +dominions of a king of France cannot be usurped with impunity. What we +demand now is that the English make immediate restitution." No doubt, the +paper goes on to say, they will pretend to have prescriptive rights, +because they have settled the country and built towns and cities in it; but +this plea is of no avail, because all that country is a part of New France, +and because England rightfully owns nothing in America except what we, the +French, gave her by the Treaty of Utrecht, which is merely Port Royal and +Acadia. She is bound in honor to give back all the vast countries she has +usurped; but, continues the paper, "the King loves the English nation too +much, and wishes too much to do her kindness, and is too generous to exact +such a restitution. Therefore, provided that England will give us back Port +Royal, Acadia, and everything else that France gave her by the Treaty of +Utrecht, the King will forego his rights, and grant to England the whole +Atlantic coast from the 32d degree of latitude to the Kennebec, to the +extent inland of twenty French leagues [about fifty miles], on condition +that she will solemnly bind herself never to overstep these limits or +encroach in the least on French ground." + +Thus, through the beneficence of France, England, provided that she +renounced all pretension to the rest of the continent, would become the +rightful owner of an attenuated strip of land reaching southward from the +Kennebec along the Atlantic seaboard. The document containing this +magnanimous proposal was preserved in the Château St. Louis at Quebec till +the middle of the eighteenth century, when, the boundary dispute having +reached a crisis, and commissioners of the two powers having been appointed +to settle it, a certified copy of the paper was sent to France for their +instruction. [Footnote: _Demandes de la France_, 1723 (Archives des +Affaires Etrangères).] + +Father Bobé had advised that France should not trust solely to the justice +of her claims, but should back right with might, and build forts on the +Niagara, the Ohio, the Tennessee, and the Alabama, as well as at other +commanding points, to shut out the English from the West. Of these +positions, Niagara was the most important, for the possession of it would +close the access to the Upper Lakes, and stop the Western tribes on their +way to trade at Albany. The Five Nations and the Governor of New York were +jealous of the French designs, which, however, were likely enough to +succeed, through the prevailing apathy and divisions in the British +colonies. "If those not immediately concerned," writes a member of the New +York council, "only stand gazing on while the wolff is murthering other +parts of the flock, it will come to every one's turn at last." The warning +was well founded, but it was not heeded. Again: "It is the policy of the +French to attack one colony at a time, and the others are so besotted as to +sit still." [Footnote: _Colonel Heathcote to Governor Hunter, 8 July_, +1715. _Ibid, to Townshend, 12 July_, 1715.] + +For gaining the consent of the Five Nations to the building of a French +fort at Niagara, Vaudreuil trusted chiefly to his agent among the Senecas, +the bold, skilful, and indefatigable Joncaire, who was naturalized among +that tribe, the strongest of the confederacy. Governor Hunter of New York +sent Peter Schuyler and Philip Livingston to counteract his influence. The +Five Nations, who, conscious of declining power, seemed ready at this time +to be all things to all men, declared that they would prevent the French +from building at Niagara, which, as they said, would "shut them up as in a +prison." [Footnote: _Journal of Schuyler and Livingston_, 1720.] Not +long before, however, they had sent a deputation to Montreal to say that +the English made objection to Joncaire's presence among them, but that they +were masters of their land, and hoped that the French agent would come as +often as he pleased; and they begged that the new King of France would take +them under his protection. [Footnote: _Vaudreuil au Conseil de +Marine_, 24 _Oct._ 1717.] Accordingly, Vaudreuil sent them a +present, with a message to the effect that they might plunder such English +traders as should come among them. [Footnote: _Vaudreuil et Bégon au +Conseil de Marine_, 26 _Oct._ 1719] + +Yet so jealous were the Iroquois of a French fort at Niagara that they sent +three Seneca chiefs to see what was going on there. The chiefs found a few +Frenchmen in a small blockhouse, or loopholed storehouse, which they had +just built near Lewiston Heights. The three Senecas requested them to +demolish it and go away, which the Frenchmen refused to do; on which the +Senecas asked the English envoys, Schuyler and Livingston, to induce the +Governor of New York to destroy the obnoxious building. In short, the Five +Nations wavered incessantly between their two European neighbors, and +changed their minds every day. The skill and perseverance of the French +emissaries so far prevailed at last that the Senecas consented to the +building of a fort at the mouth of the Niagara, where Denonville had built +one in 1687; and thus that important pass was made tolerably secure. + +Meanwhile the English of New York, or rather Burnet, their governor, were +not idle. Burnet was on ill terms with his Assembly, which grudged him all +help in serving the province whose interests it was supposed to represent. +Burnet's plan was to build a fortified trading-house at Oswego, on Lake +Ontario, in the belief that the Western Indians, who greatly preferred +English goods and English prices, would pass Niagara and bring their furs +to the new post. He got leave from the Five Nations to execute his plan, +bought canoes, hired men, and built a loopholed house of stone on the site +of the present city of Oswego. As the Assembly would give no money, Burnet +furnished it himself; and though the object was one of the greatest +importance to the province, he was never fully repaid. [Footnote: "I am +ashamed to confess that he built the fort at his private expense, and that +a balance of above £56 remains due to his estate to this very day." Smith, +_History of New York_, 267 (ed. 1814).] A small garrison for the new +post was drawn from the four independent companies maintained in the +province at the charge of the Crown. + +The establishment of Oswego greatly alarmed and incensed the French, and a +council of war at Quebec resolved to send two thousand men against it; but +Vaudreuil's successor, the Marquis de Beauharnois, learning that the court +was not prepared to provoke a war, contented himself with sending a summons +to the commanding officer to abandon and demolish the place within a +fortnight. [Footnote: _Mémoire de Dupuy_, 1728. Dupuy was intendant of +Canada. The King approved the conduct of Beauharnois in not using force. +_Dépêche du Roy, 14 Mai, 1728._] To this no attention was given; and +as Burnet had foreseen, Oswego became the great centre of Indian trade, +while Niagara, in spite of its more favorable position, was comparatively +slighted by the Western tribes. The chief danger rose from the obstinate +prejudice of the Assembly, which, in its disputes with the Royal Governor, +would give him neither men nor money to defend the new post. + +The Canadian authorities, who saw in Oswego an intrusion on their domain +and a constant injury and menace, could not attack it without bringing on a +war, and therefore tried to persuade the Five Nations to destroy it,--an +attempt which completely failed. [Footnote: When urged by the younger +Longueuil to drive off the English from Oswego, the Indians replied, "Drive +them off thyself." _"Chassez-les toi-même." Longueuil fils au Ministre, +19 Oct. 1728._] They then established a trading-post at Toronto, in the +vain hope of stopping the Northern tribes on their way to the more +profitable English market, and they built two armed vessels at Fort +Frontenac to control the navigation of Lake Ontario. + +Meanwhile, in another quarter the French made an advance far more +threatening to the English colonies than Oswego was to their own. They had +already built a stone fort at Chambly, which covered Montreal from any +English attack by way of Lake Champlain. As that lake was the great highway +between the rival colonies, the importance of gaining full mastery of it +was evident. It was rumored in Canada that the English meant to seize and +fortify the place called Scalp Point (_Pointe à la Chevelure_) by the +French, and Crown Point by the English, where the lake suddenly contracts +to the proportions of a river, so that a few cannon would stop the passage. + +As early as 1726 the French made an attempt to establish themselves on the +east side of the lake opposite Crown Point, but were deterred by the +opposition of Massachusetts. This eastern shore was, however, claimed not +only by Massachusetts, but by her neighbor, New Hampshire, with whom she +presently fell into a dispute about the ownership, and, as a writer of the +time observes, "while they were quarrelling for the bone, the French ran +away with it." [Footnote: Mitchell, _Contest in America_, 22.] + +At length, in 1731, the French took post on the western side of the lake, +and began to intrench themselves at Crown Point, which was within the +bounds claimed by New York; but that province, being then engrossed, not +only by her chronic dispute with her Governor, but by a quarrel with her +next neighbor, New Jersey, slighted the danger from the common enemy, and +left the French to work their will. It was Saint-Luc de la Corne, +Lieutenant du Roy at Montreal, who pointed out the necessity of fortifying +this place, [Footnote: _La Corne au Ministre, 15 Oct. 1730._] in order +to anticipate the English, who, as he imagined, were about to do so,--a +danger which was probably not imminent, since the English colonies, as a +whole, could not and would not unite for such a purpose, while the +individual provinces were too much absorbed in their own internal affairs +and their own jealousies and disputes to make the attempt. La Corne's +suggestion found favor at court, and the Governor of Canada was ordered to +occupy Crown Point. The Sieur de la Fresnière was sent thither with troops +and workmen, and a fort was built, and named Fort Frédéric. It contained a +massive stone tower, mounted with cannon to command the lake, which is here +but a musket-shot wide. Thus was established an advanced post of France,--a +constant menace to New York and New England, both of which denounced it as +an outrageous encroachment on British territory, but could not unite to rid +themselves of it. [Footnote: On the establishment of Crown Point, +_Beauharnois et Hocquart au Roy_, 10 Oct. 1731; _Beauharnois et +Hocquart au Ministre_, 14 Nov. 1731.] + +While making this bold push against their neighbors of the South, the +French did not forget the West; and towards the middle of the century they +had occupied points controlling all the chief waterways between Canada and +Louisiana. Niagara held the passage from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie. Detroit +closed the entrance to Lake Huron, and Michillimackinac guarded the point +where Lake Huron is joined by Lakes Michigan and Superior; while the fort +called La Baye, at the head of Green Bay, stopped the way to the +Mississippi by Marquette's old route of Fox River and the Wisconsin. +Another route to the Mississippi was controlled by a post on the Maumee to +watch the carrying-place between that river and the Wabash, and by another +on the Wabash where Vincennes now stands. La Salle's route, by way of the +Kankakee and the Illinois, was barred by a fort on the St. Joseph; and even +if, in spite of these obstructions, an enemy should reach the Mississippi +by any of its northern affluents, the cannon of Fort Chartres would prevent +him from descending it. + +These various Western forts, except Fort Chartres and Fort Niagara, which +were afterwards rebuilt, the one in stone and the other in earth, were +stockades of no strength against cannon. Slight as they were, their +establishment was costly; and as the King, to whom Canada was a yearly +loss, grudged every franc spent upon it, means were contrived to make them +self-supporting. Each of them was a station of the fur-trade, and the +position of most of them had been determined more or less with a view to +that traffic. + +Hence they had no slight commercial value. In some of them the Crown itself +carried on trade through agents who usually secured a lion's share of the +profits. Others were farmed out to merchants at a fixed sum. In others, +again, the commanding-officer was permitted to trade on condition of +maintaining the post, paying the soldiers, and supporting a missionary; +while in one case, at least, he was subjected to similar obligations, +though not permitted to trade himself, but only to sell trading licenses to +merchants. These methods of keeping up forts and garrisons were of course +open to prodigious abuses, and roused endless jealousies and rivalries. + +France had now occupied the valley of the Mississippi, and joined with +loose and uncertain links her two colonies of Canada and Louisiana. But the +strength of her hold on these regions of unkempt savagery bore no +proportion to the vastness of her claims or the growing power of the rivals +who were soon to contest them. [Footnote: On the claim of France that all +North America, except the Spanish colonies of Mexico and Florida, belonged +to her, see Appendix A.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +1744, 1745. + +A MAD SCHEME. + +WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION.--THE FRENCH SEIZE CANSEAU AND ATTACK +ANNAPOLIS.--PLAN OF REPRISAL.--WILLIAM VAUGHAN.--GOVERNOR SHIRLEY.--HE +ADVISES AN ATTACK ON LOUISBOURG.--THE ASSEMBLY REFUSES, BUT AT LAST +CONSENTS.--PREPARATION.--WILLIAM PEPPERRELL.--GEORGE WHITEFIELD.--PARSON +MOODY.--THE SOLDIERS.--THE PROVINCIAL NAVY.--COMMODORE WARREN.--SHIRLEY AS +AN AMATEUR SOLDIER.--THE FLEET SAILS. + + +The Peace of Utrecht left unsettled the perilous questions of boundary +between the rival powers in North America, and they grew more perilous +every day. Yet the quarrel was not yet quite ripe; and though the French +Governor, Vaudreuil, and perhaps also his successor, Beauharnois, seemed +willing to precipitate it, the courts of London and Versailles still +hesitated to appeal to the sword. Now, as before, it was a European, and +not an American, quarrel that was to set the world on fire. The War of the +Austrian Succession broke out in 1744. When Frederic of Prussia seized +Silesia and began that bloody conflict, it meant that packs of howling +savages would again spread fire and carnage along the New England border. + +News of the declaration of war reached Louisbourg some weeks before it +reached Boston, and the French military Governor, Duquesnel, thought he saw +an opportunity to strike an unexpected blow for the profit of France and +his own great honor. + +One of the French inhabitants of Louisbourg has left us a short sketch of +Duquesnel, whom he calls "capricious, of an uncertain temper, inclined to +drink, and when in his cups neither reasonable nor civil." [Footnote: +_Lettre d'un Habitant de Louisbourg contenant une Relation exacte et +circonstanciée de la Prise de l'Isle Royale par les Anglois._] He adds +that the Governor had offended nearly every officer in the garrison, and +denounces him as the "chief cause of our disasters." When Duquesnel heard +of the declaration of war, his first thought was to strike some blow before +the English were warned. The fishing-station of Canseau was a tempting +prize, being a near and an inconvenient neighbor, at the southern end of +the Strait of Canseau, which separates the Acadian peninsula from the +island of Cape Breton, or Isle Royale, of which Louisbourg was the place of +strength. Nothing was easier than to seize Canseau, which had no defence +but a wooden redoubt built by the fishermen, and occupied by about eighty +Englishmen thinking no danger. Early in May, Duquesnel sent Captain +Duvivier against it, with six hundred, or, as the English say, nine hundred +soldiers and sailors, escorted by two small armed vessels. The English +surrendered, on condition of being sent to Boston, and the miserable +hamlet, with its wooden citadel, was burned to the ground. + +Thus far successful, the Governor addressed himself to the capture of +Annapolis,--which meant the capture of all Acadia. Duvivier was again +appointed to the command. His heart was in the work, for he was a +descendant of La Tour, feudal claimant of Acadia in the preceding century. +Four officers and ninety regular troops were given him, [Footnote: +_Lettre d'un Habitant de Louisbourg._] and from three to four hundred +Micmac and Malecite Indians joined him on the way. The Micmacs, under +command, it is said, of their missionary, Le Loutre, had already tried to +surprise the English fort, but had only succeeded in killing two unarmed +stragglers in the adjacent garden. [Footnote: _Mascarene to the +Besiegers, 3 July,_ 1744. Duquesnel had written to all the missionaries +"d'engager les sauvages à faire quelque coup important sur le fort" +(Annapolis). _Duquesnel à Beauharnois, 1 Juin_, 1744.] + +Annapolis, from the neglect and indifference of the British ministry, was +still in such a state of dilapidation that its sandy ramparts were +crumbling into the ditches, and the cows of the garrison walked over them +at their pleasure. It was held by about a hundred effective men under Major +Mascarene, a French Protestant whose family had been driven into exile by +the persecutions that followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. +Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, sent him a small reinforcement of +militia; but as most of these came without arms, and as Mascarene had few +or none to give them, they proved of doubtful value. + +Duvivier and his followers, white and red, appeared before the fort in +August, made their camp behind the ridge of a hill that overlooked it, and +marched towards the rampart; but being met by a discharge of cannon-shot, +they gave up all thoughts of an immediate assault, began a fusillade under +cover of darkness, and kept the garrison on the alert all night. + +Duvivier had looked for help from the Acadians of the neighboring village, +who were French in blood, faith, and inclination. They would not join him +openly, fearing the consequences if his attack should fail; but they did +what they could without committing themselves, and made a hundred and fifty +scaling-ladders for the besiegers. Duvivier now returned to his first plan +of an assault, which, if made with vigor, could hardly have failed. Before +attempting it, he sent Mascarene a flag of truce to tell him that he hourly +expected two powerful armed ships from Louisbourg, besides a reinforcement +of two hundred and fifty regulars, with cannon, mortars, and other enginery +of war. At the same time he proposed favorable terms of capitulation, not +to take effect till the French war-ships should have appeared. Mascarene +refused all terms, saying that when he saw the French ships, he would +consider what to do, and meanwhile would defend himself as he could. + +The expected ships were the "Ardent" and the "Caribou," then at Louisbourg. +A French writer says that when Duquesnel directed their captains to sail +for Annapolis and aid in its capture, they refused, saying that they had no +orders from the court. [Footnote: _ettre d'un Habitant de +Louisbourg._] Duvivier protracted the parley with Mascarene, and waited +in vain for the promised succor. At length the truce was broken off, and +the garrison, who had profited by it to get rest and sleep, greeted the +renewal of hostilities with three cheers. + +Now followed three weeks of desultory attacks; but there was no assault, +though Duvivier had boasted that he had the means of making a successful +one. He waited for the ships which did not come, and kept the Acadians at +work in making ladders and fire-arrows. At length, instead of aid from +Louisbourg, two small vessels appeared from Boston, bringing Mascarene a +reinforcement of fifty Indian rangers. This discouraged the besiegers, and +towards the end of September they suddenly decamped and vanished. "The +expedition was a failure," writes the _Habitant de Louisbourg_," +though one might have bet everything on its success, so small was the force +that the enemy had to resist us." + +This writer thinks that the seizure of Canseau and the attack of Annapolis +were sources of dire calamity to the French. "Perhaps," he says, "the +English would have let us alone if we had not first insulted them. It was +the interest of the people of New England to live at peace with us, and +they would no doubt have done so, if we had not taken it into our heads to +waken them from their security. They expected that both parties would +merely stand on the defensive, without taking part in this cruel war that +has set Europe in a blaze." + +Whatever might otherwise have been the disposition of the "Bastonnais," or +New England people, the attacks on Canseau and Annapolis alarmed and +exasperated them, and engendered in some heated brains a project of wild +audacity. This was no less than the capture of Louisbourg, reputed the +strongest fortress, French or British, in North America, with the possible +exception of Quebec, which owed its chief strength to nature, and not to +art. + +Louisbourg was a standing menace to all the Northern British colonies. It +was the only French naval station on the continent, and was such a haunt of +privateers that it was called the American Dunkirk. It commanded the chief +entrance of Canada, and threatened to ruin the fisheries, which were nearly +as vital to New England as was the fur-trade to New France. The French +government had spent twenty-five years in fortifying it, and the cost of +its powerful defences--constructed after the system of Vauban--was reckoned +at thirty million livres. + +This was the fortress which William Vaughan of Damariscotta advised +Governor Shirley to attack with fifteen hundred raw New England militia. +[Footnote: Smollett says that the proposal came from Robert Auchmuty, judge +of admiralty in Massachusetts. Hutchinson, Douglas, Belknap, and other +well-informed writers ascribe the scheme to Vaughan, while Pepperrell says +that it originated with Colonel John Bradstreet. In the Public Record +Office there is a letter from Bradstreet, written in 1753, but without +address, in which he declares that he not only planned the siege, but "was +the Principal Person in conducting it,"--assertions which may pass for what +they are worth, Bradstreet being much given to self-assertion.] Vaughan was +born at Portsmouth in 1703, and graduated at Harvard College nineteen years +later. His father, also a graduate of Harvard, was for a time +lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire. Soon after leaving college, the +younger Vaughan--a youth of restless and impetuous activity--established a +fishing-station on the island of Matinicus, off the coast of Maine, and +afterwards became the owner of most of the land on both sides of the little +river Damariscotta, where he built a garrison-house, or wooden fort, +established a considerable settlement, and carried on an extensive trade in +fish and timber. He passed for a man of ability and force, but was accused +of a headstrong rashness, a self-confidence that hesitated at nothing, and +a harebrained contempt of every obstacle in his way. Once, having fitted +out a number of small vessels at Portsmouth for his fishing at Matinicus, +he named a time for sailing. It was a gusty and boisterous March day, the +sea was rough, and old sailors told him that such craft could not carry +sail. Vaughan would not listen, but went on board and ordered his men to +follow. One vessel was wrecked at the mouth of the river; the rest, after +severe buffeting, came safe, with their owner, to Matinicus. + +Being interested in the fisheries, Vaughan was doubly hostile to +Louisbourg,--their worst enemy. He found a willing listener in the +Governor, William Shirley. Shirley was an English barrister who had come to +Massachusetts in 1731 to practise his profession and seek his fortune. +After filling various offices with credit, he was made governor of the +province in 1741, and had discharged his duties with both tact and talent. +He was able, sanguine, and a sincere well-wisher to the province, though +gnawed by an insatiable hunger for distinction. He thought himself a born +strategist, and was possessed by a propensity for contriving military +operations, which finally cost him dear. Vaughan, who knew something of +Louisbourg, told him that in winter the snow-drifts were often banked so +high against the rampart that it could be mounted readily, if the +assailants could but time their arrival at the right moment. This was not +easy, as that rocky and tempestuous coast was often made inaccessible by +fogs and surf; Shirley therefore preferred a plan of his own contriving. +But nothing could be done without first persuading his Assembly to consent. + +On the 9th of January the General Court of Massachusetts--a convention of +grave city merchants and solemn rustics from the country villages--was +astonished by a message from the Governor to the effect that he had a +communication to make, so critical that he wished the whole body to swear +secrecy. The request was novel, but being then on good terms with Shirley, +the Representatives consented, and took the oath. Then, to their amazement, +the Governor invited them to undertake forthwith the reduction of +Louisbourg. The idea of an attack on that redoubtable fortress was not +new. Since the autumn, proposals had been heard to petition the British +ministry to make the attempt, under a promise that the colonies would give +their best aid. But that Massachusetts should venture it alone, or with +such doubtful help as her neighbors might give, at her own charge and risk, +though already insolvent, without the approval or consent of the ministry, +and without experienced officers or trained soldiers, was a startling +suggestion to the sober-minded legislators of the General Court. They +listened, however, with respect to the Governor's reasons, and appointed a +committee of the two houses to consider them. The committee deliberated for +several days, and then made a report adverse to the plan, as was also the +vote of the Court. + +Meanwhile, in spite of the oath, the secret had escaped. It is said that a +country member, more pious than discreet, prayed so loud and fervently, at +his lodgings, for light to guide him on the momentous question, that his +words were overheard, and the mystery of the closed doors was revealed. The +news flew through the town, and soon spread through all the province. + +After his defeat in the Assembly, Shirley returned, vexed and disappointed, +to his house in Roxbury. A few days later, James Gibson, a Boston merchant, +says that he saw him "walking slowly down King Street, with his head bowed +down, as if in a deep study." "He entered my counting-room," pursues the +merchant, "and abruptly said, 'Gibson, do you feel like giving up the +expedition to Louisbourg?'" Gibson replied that he wished the House would +reconsider their vote. "You are the very man I want!" exclaimed the +Governor. [Footnote: Gibson, _Journal of the Siege of Louisbourg_.] +They then drew up a petition for reconsideration, which Gibson signed, +promising to get also the signatures of merchants, not only of Boston, but +of Salem, Marblehead, and other towns along the coast. In this he was +completely successful, as all New England merchants looked on Louisbourg as +an arch-enemy. + +The petition was presented, and the question came again before the +Assembly. There had been much intercourse between Boston and Louisbourg, +which had largely depended on New England for provisions. [Footnote: +_Lettre d'un Habitant de Louisbourg_.] The captured militia-men of +Canseau, who, after some delay, had been sent to Boston, according to the +terms of surrender, had used their opportunities to the utmost, and could +give Shirley much information concerning the fortress. It was reported that +the garrison was mutinous, and that provisions were fallen short, so that +the place could not hold out without supplies from France. These, however, +could be cut off only by blockading the harbor with a stronger naval force +than all the colonies together could supply. The Assembly had before +reached the reasonable conclusion that the capture of Louisbourg was beyond +the strength of Massachusetts, and that the only course was to ask the help +of the mother-country. [Footnote: _Report of Council, 12 Jan. 1745_.] + +The reports of mutiny, it was urged, could not be depended on; raw militia +in the open field were no match for disciplined troops behind ramparts; the +expense would be enormous, and the credit of the province, already sunk +low, would collapse under it; we should fail, and instead of sympathy, get +nothing but ridicule. Such were the arguments of the opposition, to which +there was little to answer, except that if Massachusetts waited for help +from England, Louisbourg would be reinforced and the golden opportunity +lost. The impetuous and irrepressible Vaughan put forth all his energy; the +plan was carried by a single vote. And even this result was said to be due +to the accident of a member in opposition falling and breaking a leg as he +was hastening to the House. + +The die was cast, and now doubt and hesitation vanished. All alike set +themselves to push on the work. Shirley wrote to all the colonies, as far +south as Pennsylvania, to ask for co-operation. All excused themselves +except Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, and the whole burden +fell on the four New England colonies. These, and Massachusetts above all, +blazed with pious zeal; for as the enterprise was directed against Roman +Catholics, it was supposed in a peculiar manner to commend itself to +Heaven. There were prayers without ceasing in churches and families, and +all was ardor, energy, and confidence; while the other colonies looked on +with distrust, dashed with derision. When Benjamin Franklin, in +Philadelphia, heard what was afoot, he wrote to his brother in Boston, +"Fortified towns are hard nuts to crack, and your teeth are not accustomed +to it; but some seem to think that forts are as easy taken as snuff." +[Footnote: Sparks, _Works of Franklin_, VII. 16.] It has been said of +Franklin that while he represented some of the New England qualities, he +had no part in that enthusiasm of which our own time saw a crowning example +when the cannon opened at Fort Sumter, and which pushes to its end without +reckoning chances, counting costs, or heeding the scoffs of ill-wishers. + +The prevailing hope and faith were, it is true, born largely of ignorance, +aided by the contagious zeal of those who first broached the project; for +as usual in such cases, a few individuals supplied the initiate force of +the enterprise. Vaughan the indefatigable rode express to Portsmouth with a +letter from Shirley to Benning Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire. That +pompous and self-important personage admired the Massachusetts Governor, +who far surpassed him in talents and acquirements, and who at the same time +knew how to soothe his vanity. Wentworth was ready to do his part, but his +province had no money, and the King had ordered him to permit the issue of +no more paper currency. The same prohibition had been laid upon Shirley; +but he, with sagacious forecast, had persuaded his masters to relent so far +as to permit the issue of £50,000 in what were called bills of credit to +meet any pressing exigency of war. He told this to Wentworth, and succeeded +in convincing him that his province might stretch her credit like +Massachusetts, in case of similar military need. New Hampshire was thus +enabled to raise a regiment of five hundred men out of her scanty +population, with the condition that a hundred and fifty of them should be +paid and fed by Massachusetts. [Footnote: Correspondence of Shirley and +Wentworth, in _Belknap Papers, Provincial Papers of New Hampshire_, +V.] + +Shirley was less fortunate in Rhode Island. The Governor of that little +colony called Massachusetts "our avowed enemy, always trying to defame us." +[Footnote: _Governor Wanton to the Agent of Rhode Island, 20 Dec. +1745,_ in _Colony Records of Rhode Island_, V.] There was a grudge +between the neighbors, due partly to notorious ill-treatment by the +Massachusetts Puritans of Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island, and +partly to one of those boundary disputes which often produced ill-blood +among the colonies. The Representatives of Rhode Island, forgetting past +differences, voted to raise a hundred and fifty men for the expedition, +till, learning that the project was neither ordered nor approved by the +Home Government, they prudently reconsidered their action. They voted, +however, that the colony sloop "Tartar," carrying fourteen cannon and +twelve swivels, should be equipped and manned for the service, and that the +Governor should be instructed to find and commission a captain and a +lieutenant to command her. [Footnote: _Colony Records of Rhode +Island_, V. (_Feb._ 1745).] + +Connecticut promised five hundred and sixteen men and officers, on +condition that Roger Wolcott, their commander, should have the second rank +in the expedition. Shirley accordingly commissioned him as major-general. +As Massachusetts was to supply above three thousand men, or more than three +quarters of the whole force, she had a natural right to name a +Commander-in-chief. + +It was not easy to choose one. The colony had been at peace for twenty +years, and except some grizzled Indian fighters of the last war, and some +survivors of the Carthagena expedition, nobody had seen service. Few knew +well what a fortress was, and nobody knew how to attack one. Courage, +energy, good sense, and popularity were the best qualities to be hoped for +in the leader. Popularity was indispensable, for the soldiers were all to +be volunteers, and they would not enlist under a commander whom they did +not like. Shirley's choice was William Pepperrell, a merchant of Kittery. +Knowing that Benning Wentworth thought himself the man for the place, he +made an effort to placate him, and wrote that he would gladly have given +him the chief command, but for his gouty legs. Wentworth took fire at the +suggestion, forgot his gout, and declared himself ready to serve his +country and assume the burden of command. The position was awkward, and +Shirley was forced to reply, "On communicating your offer to two or three +gentlemen in whose judgment I most confide, I found them clearly of opinion +that any alteration of the present command would be attended with great +risk, both with respect to our Assembly and the soldiers being entirely +disgusted." [Footnote: _Shirley to Wentworth, 16 Feb._ 1745.] + +The painter Smibert has left us a portrait of Pepperrell,--a good bourgeois +face, not without dignity, though with no suggestion of the soldier. His +spacious house at Kittery Point still stands, sound and firm, though +curtailed in some of its proportions. Not far distant is another noted +relic of colonial times, the not less spacious mansion built by the +disappointed Wentworth at Little Harbor. I write these lines at a window of +this curious old house, and before me spreads the scene familiar to +Pepperrell from childhood. Here the river Piscataqua widens to join the +sea, holding in its gaping mouth the large island of Newcastle, with +attendant groups of islets and island rocks, battered with the rack of +ages, studded with dwarf savins, or half clad with patches of whortleberry +bushes, sumac, and the shining wax-myrtle, green in summer, red with the +touch of October. The flood tide pours strong and full around them, only to +ebb away and lay bare a desolation of rocks and stones buried in a shock of +brown drenched seaweed, broad tracts of glistening mud, sandbanks black +with mussel-beds, and half-submerged meadows of eel-grass, with myriads of +minute shellfish clinging to its long lank tresses. Beyond all these lies +the main, or northern channel, more than deep enough, even when the tide is +out, to float a line-of-battle-ship. On its farther bank stands the old +house of the Pepperrells, wearing even now an air of dingy respectability. +Looking through its small, quaint window-panes, one could see across the +water the rude dwellings of fishermen along the shore of Newcastle, and the +neglected earthwork called Fort William and Mary, that feebly guarded the +river's mouth. In front, the Piscataqua, curving southward, widened to meet +the Atlantic between rocky headlands and foaming reefs, and in dim distance +the Isles of Shoals seemed floating on the pale gray sea. + +Behind the Pepperrell house was a garden, probably more useful than +ornamental, and at the foot of it were the owner's wharves, with +storehouses for salt-fish, naval stores, and imported goods for the country +trade. + +Pepperrell was the son of a Welshman [Footnote: "A native of Ravistock +Parish, in Wales" Parsons, _Life of Pepperrell_. Mrs. Adelaide Cilley +Waldron, a descendant of Pepperrell, assures me, however, that his father, +the emigrant, came, not from Wales, but from Devonshire.] who migrated in +early life to the Isles of Shoals, and thence to Kittery, where by trade, +ship-building, and the fisheries, he made a fortune, most of which he left +to his son William. The young Pepperrell learned what little was taught at +the village school, supplemented by a private tutor, whose instructions, +however, did not perfect him in English grammar. In the eyes of his +self-made father, education was valuable only so far as it could make a +successful trader; and on this point he had reason to be satisfied, as his +son passed for many years as the chief merchant in New England. He dealt +in ships, timber, naval stores, fish, and miscellaneous goods brought from +England; and he also greatly prospered by successful land purchases, +becoming owner of the greater part of the growing towns of Saco and +Scarborough. When scarcely twenty-one, he was made justice of the peace, on +which he ordered from London what his biographer calls a law library, +consisting of a law dictionary, Danvers' "Abridgment of the Common Law," +the "Complete Solicitor," and several other books. In law as in war, his +best qualities were good sense and good will. About the time when he was +made a justice, he was commissioned captain of militia, then major, then +lieutenant-colonel, and at last colonel, commanding all the militia of +Maine. The town of Kittery chose him to represent her in the General Court, +Maine being then a part of Massachusetts. Finally, he was made a member of +the Governor's Council,--a post which he held for thirty-two years, during +eighteen of which he was president of the board. + +These civil dignities served him as educators better than tutor or village +school; for they brought him into close contact with the chief men of the +province; and in the Massachusetts of that time, so different from our own, +the best education and breeding were found in the official class. At once a +provincial magnate and the great man of a small rustic village, his manners +are said to have answered to both positions,--certainly they were such as +to make him popular. But whatever he became as a man, he learned nothing +to fit him to command an army and lay siege to Louisbourg. Perhaps he felt +this, and thought, with the Governor of Rhode Island, that "the attempt to +reduce that prodigiously strong town was too much for New England, which +had not one officer of experience, nor even an engineer." [Footnote: +_Governor Wanton to the Agent of Rhode Island in London, 20 Dec. +1745._] Moreover, he was unwilling to leave his wife, children, and +business. He was of a religious turn of mind, and partial to the clergy, +who, on their part, held him in high favor. One of them, the famous +preacher, George Whitefield, was a guest at his house when he heard that +Shirley had appointed him to command the expedition against Louisbourg. +Whitefield had been the leading spirit in the recent religious fermentation +called the Great Awakening, which, though it produced bitter quarrels among +the ministers, besides other undesirable results, was imagined by many to +make for righteousness. So thought the Reverend Thomas Prince, who mourned +over the subsiding delirium of his flock as a sign of back-sliding. "The +heavenly shower was over," he sadly exclaims; "from fighting the devil they +must turn to fighting the French." Pepperrell, always inclined to the +clergy, and now in great perplexity and doubt, asked his guest Whitefield +whether or not he had better accept the command. Whitefield gave him cold +comfort, told him that the enterprise was not very promising, and that if +he undertook it, he must do so "with a single eye," prepared for obloquy if +he failed, and envy if he succeeded. [Footnote: Parsons, _Life of +Pepperrell,_ 51.] + +Henry Sherburn, commissary of the New Hampshire regiment, begged Whitefield +to furnish a motto for the flag. The preacher, who, zealot as he was, +seemed unwilling to mix himself with so madcap a business, hesitated at +first, but at length consented, and suggested the words, _Nil desperandum +Christo duce_, which, being adopted, gave the enterprise the air of a +crusade. It had, in fact, something of the character of one. The cause was +imagined to be the cause of Heaven, crowned with celestial benediction. It +had the fervent support of the ministers, not only by prayers and sermons, +but, in one case, by counsels wholly temporal. A certain pastor, much +esteemed for benevolence, proposed to Pepperrell, who had at last accepted +the command, a plan, unknown to Vauban, for confounding the devices of the +enemy. He advised that two trustworthy persons should cautiously walk +together along the front of the French ramparts under cover of night, one +of them carrying a mallet, with which he was to hammer the ground at short +intervals. The French sentinels, it seems to have been supposed, on hearing +this mysterious thumping, would be so bewildered as to give no alarm. While +one of the two partners was thus employed, the other was to lay his ear to +the ground, which, as the adviser thought, would return a hollow sound if +the artful foe had dug a mine under it; and whenever such secret danger was +detected, a mark was to be set on the spot, to warn off the soldiers. +[Footnote: Belknap, _Hist. New Hampshire_, II. 208.] + +Equally zealous, after another fashion, was the Reverend Samuel Moody, +popularly known as Father Moody, or Parson Moody, minister of York and +senior chaplain of the expedition. Though about seventy years old, he was +amazingly tough and sturdy. He still lives in the traditions of York as the +spiritual despot of the settlement and the uncompromising guardian of its +manners and doctrine, predominating over it like a rough little village +pope. The comparison would have kindled his burning wrath, for he abhorred +the Holy Father as an embodied Antichrist. Many are the stories told of +him by the descendants of those who lived under his rod, and sometimes felt +its weight; for he was known to have corrected offending parishioners with +his cane. [Footnote: Tradition told me at York by Mr. N. Marshall.] When +some one of his flock, nettled by his strictures from the pulpit, walked in +dudgeon towards the church door, Moody would shout after him, "Come back, +you graceless sinner, come back!" or if any ventured to the alehouse of a +Saturday night, the strenuous pastor would go in after them, collar them, +drag them out, and send them home with rousing admonition. [Footnote: +Lecture of Ralph Waldo Emerson, quoted by Cabot, Memoir of Emerson, I. 10. +] Few dared gainsay him, by reason both of his irritable temper and of the +thick-skinned insensibility that encased him like armor of proof. And while +his pachydermatous nature made him invulnerable as a rhinoceros, he had at +the same time a rough and ready humor that supplied keen weapons for the +warfare of words and made him a formidable antagonist. This commended him +to the rude borderers, who also relished the sulphurous theology of their +spiritual dictator, just as they liked the raw and fiery liquors that would +have scorched more susceptible stomachs. What they did not like was the +pitiless length of his prayers, which sometimes kept them afoot above two +hours shivering in the polar cold of the unheated meeting-house, and which +were followed by sermons of equal endurance; for the old man's lungs were +of brass, and his nerves of hammered iron. Some of the sufferers ventured +to remonstrate; but this only exasperated him, till one parishioner, more +worldly wise than the rest, accompanied his modest petition for mercy with +the gift of a barrel of cider, after which the Parson's ministrations were +perceptibly less exhausting than before. He had an irrepressible conscience +and a highly aggressive sense of duty, which made him an intolerable +meddler in the affairs of other people, and which, joined to an underlying +kindness of heart, made him so indiscreet in his charities that his wife +and children were often driven to vain protest against the excesses of his +almsgiving. The old Puritan fanaticism was rampant in him; and when he +sailed for Louisbourg, he took with him an axe, intended, as he said, to +hew down the altars of Antichrist and demolish his idols. [Footnote: Moody +found sympathizers in his iconoclastic zeal. Deacon John Gray of Biddeford +wrote to Pepperrell: "Oh that I could be with you and dear Parson Moody in +that church [at Louisbourg] to destroy the images there set up, and hear +the true Gospel of our Lord and Saviour there preached!"] + +Shirley's choice of a commander was perhaps the best that could have been +made; for Pepperrell joined to an unusual popularity as little military +incompetency as anybody else who could be had. Popularity, we have seen, +was indispensable, and even company officers were appointed with an eye to +it. Many of these were well-known men in rustic neighborhoods, who had +raised companies in the hope of being commissioned to command them. Others +were militia officers recruiting under orders of the Governor. Thus, John +Storer, major in the Maine militia, raised in a single day, it is said, a +company of sixty-one, the eldest being sixty years old, and the youngest +sixteen. [Footnote: Bourne, _Hist, of Wells and Kennebunk_, 371.] They +formed about a quarter of the fencible population of the town of Wells, one +of the most exposed places on the border. Volunteers offered themselves +readily everywhere; though the pay was meagre, especially in Maine and +Massachusetts, where in the new provincial currency it was twenty-five +shillings a month,--then equal to fourteen shillings sterling, or less than +sixpence a day, [Footnote: Gibson, _Journal; Records of Rhode Island_, +V. Governor Wanton, of that province, says, with complacency, that the pay +of Rhode Island was twice that of Massachusetts.] the soldier furnishing +his own clothing and bringing his own gun. A full third of the +Massachusetts contingent, or more than a thousand men, are reported to have +come from the hardy population of Maine, whose entire fighting force, as +shown by the muster-rolls, was then but 2,855. [Footnote: Parsons, _Life +of Pepperrell_, 54.] Perhaps there was not one officer among them whose +experience of war extended beyond a drill on muster day and the sham fight +that closed the performance, when it generally happened that the rustic +warriors were treated with rum at the charge of their captain, to put them +in good humor, and so induce them to obey the word of command. + +As the three provinces contributing soldiers recognized no common authority +nearer than the King, Pepperrell received three several commissions as +lieutenant-general,--one from the Governor of Massachusetts, and the others +from the Governors of Connecticut and New Hampshire; while Wolcott, +commander of the Connecticut forces, was commissioned as major-general by +both the Governor of his own province and that of Massachusetts. When the +levies were complete, it was found that Massachusetts had contributed about +3,300 men, Connecticut 516, and New Hampshire 304 in her own pay, besides +150 paid by her wealthier neighbor. [Footnote: Of the Massachusetts +contingent, three hundred men were raised and maintained at the charge of +the merchant James Gibson.] Rhode Island had lost faith and disbanded her +150 men; but afterwards raised them again, though too late to take part in +the siege. + +Each of the four New England colonies had a little navy of its own, +consisting of from one to three or four small armed vessels; and as +privateering--which was sometimes a euphemism for piracy where Frenchmen +and Spaniards were concerned--a favorite occupation, it was possible to +extemporize an additional force in case of need. For a naval commander, +Shirley chose Captain Edward Tyng, who had signalized himself in the past +summer by capturing a French privateer of greater strength than his own. +Shirley authorized him to buy for the province the best ship he could find, +equip her for fighting, and take command of her. Tyng soon found a brig to +his mind, on the stocks nearly ready for launching. She was rapidly fitted +for her new destination, converted into a frigate, mounted with 24 guns, +and named the "Massachusetts." The rest of the naval force consisted of the +ship "Cæsar," of 20 guns; a vessel called the "Shirley," commanded by +Captain Rous, and also carrying 20 guns; another, of the kind called a +"snow," carrying 16 guns; one sloop of 12 guns, and two of 8 guns each; the +"Boston Packet" of 16 guns; two sloops from Connecticut of 16 guns each; a +privateer hired in Rhode Island, of 20 guns; the government sloop "Tartar" +of the same colony, carrying 14 carriage guns and 12 swivels; and, finally, +the sloop of 14 guns which formed the navy of New Hampshire. [Footnote: The +list is given by Williamson, II. 227.] + +It was said, with apparent reason, that one or two heavy French +ships-of-war--and a number of such was expected in the spring--would +outmatch the whole colonial squadron, and, after mastering it, would hold +all the transports at mercy; so that the troops on shore, having no means +of return and no hope of succor, would be forced to surrender or starve. +The danger was real and serious, and Shirley felt the necessity of help +from a few British ships-of-war. Commodore Peter Warren was then with a +small squadron at Antigua. Shirley sent an express boat to him with a +letter stating the situation and asking his aid. Warren, who had married +an American woman and who owned large tracts of land on the Mohawk, was +known to be a warm friend to the provinces. It is clear that he would +gladly have complied with Shirley's request; but when he laid the question +before a council of officers, they were of one mind that without orders +from the Admiralty he would not be justified in supporting an attempt made +without the approval of the King. [Footnote: _Memoirs of the Principal +Transactions of the Last War_, 44.] + +He therefore saw no choice but to decline. Shirley, fearing that his +refusal would be too discouraging, kept it secret from all but Pepperrell +and General Wolcott, or, as others say, Brigadier Waldo. He had written to +the Duke of Newcastle in the preceding autumn that Acadia and the fisheries +were in great danger, and that ships-of-war were needed for their +protection. On this, the Duke had written to Warren, ordering him to sail +for Boston and concert measures with Shirley "for the annoyance of the +enemy, and his Majesty's service in North America." [Footnote: +_Ibid., 46. Letters of Shirley_ (Public Record Office).] +Newcastle's letter reached Warren only two or three days after he had sent +back his refusal of Shirley's request. Thinking himself now sufficiently +authorized to give the desired aid, he made all sail for Boston with his +three ships, the "Superbe," "Mermaid," and "Launceston." On the way he met +a schooner from Boston, and learned from its officers that the expedition +had already sailed; on which, detaining the master as a pilot, he changed +his course and made directly for Canseau,--the place of rendezvous of the +expedition,--and at the same time sent orders by the schooner that any +King's ships that might arrive at Boston should immediately join him. + +Within seven weeks after Shirley issued his proclamation for volunteers, +the preparations were all made, and the unique armament was afloat. +Transports, such as they were, could be had in abundance; for the harbors +of Salem and Marblehead were full of fishing-vessels thrown out of +employment by the war. These were hired and insured by the province for the +security of the owners. There was a great dearth of cannon. The few that +could be had were too light, the heaviest being of twenty-two-pound +calibre. New York lent ten eighteen-pounders to the expedition. But the +adventurers looked to the French for their chief supply. A detached work +near Louisbourg, called the Grand, or Royal, Battery, was known to be armed +with thirty heavy pieces; and these it was proposed to capture and turn +against the town,--which, as Hutchinson remarks, was "like selling the skin +of the bear before catching him." + +It was clear that the expedition must run for luck against risks of all +kinds. Those whose hopes were highest, based them on a belief in the +special and direct interposition of Providence; others were sanguine +through ignorance and provincial self-conceit. As soon as the troops were +embarked, Shirley wrote to the ministers of what was going on, telling them +that, accidents apart, four thousand New England men would land on Cape +Breton in April, and that, even should they fail to capture Louisbourg, he +would answer for it that they would lay the town in ruins, retake Canseau, +do other good service to his Majesty, and then come safe home. [Footnote: +_Shirley to Newcastle, 24 March_, 1745. The ministry was not wholly +unprepared for this announcement, as Shirley had before reported to it the +vote of his Assembly consenting to the expedition. _Shirley to Newcastle, +1 Feb_. 1745.] On receiving this communication, the Government +resolved to aid the enterprise if there should yet be time, and accordingly +ordered several ships-of-war to sail for Louisbourg. + +The sarcastic Dr. Douglas, then living at Boston, writes that the +expedition had a lawyer for contriver, a merchant for general, and farmers, +fishermen, and mechanics for soldiers. In fact, it had something of the +character of broad farce, to which Shirley himself, with all his ability +and general good sense, was a chief contributor. He wrote to the Duke of +Newcastle that though the officers had no experience and the men no +discipline, he would take care to provide against these defects,--meaning +that he would give exact directions how to take Louisbourg. Accordingly, he +drew up copious instructions to that effect. These seem to have undergone a +process of evolution, for several distinct drafts of them are preserved. +[Footnote: The first draft of Shirley's instructions for taking Louisbourg +is in the large manuscript volume entitled _Siege of Louisbourg_, in +the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The document is called +_Memo for the attacking of Louisbourg this Spring by Surprise_. After +giving minute instructions for every movement, it goes on to say that, as +the surprise may possibly fail, it will be necessary to send two small +mortars and twelve cannon carrying nine-pound balls, "so as to bombard them +and endeavour to make Breaches in their walls and then to Storm them." +Shirley was soon to discover the absurdity of trying to breach the walls of +Louisbourg with nine-pounders.] The complete and final one is among the +Pepperrell Papers, copied entire in the neat, commercial hand of the +General himself. [Footnote: It is printed in the first volume of the +_Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society_. Shirley was so +well pleased with it that he sent it to the Duke of Newcastle enclosed in +his letter of 1 Feb. 1745 (Public Record Office).] It seems to assume +that Providence would work a continued miracle, and on every occasion +supply the expedition with weather precisely suited to its wants. "It is +thought," says this singular document, "that Louisbourg may be surprised if +they [the French] have no advice of your coming. To effect it you must time +your arrival about nine of the clock in the evening, taking care that the +fleet be far enough in the offing to prevent their being seen from the town +in the daytime." He then goes on to prescribe how the troops are to land, +after dark, at a place called Flat Point Cove, in four divisions, three of +which are to march to the back of certain hills a mile and a half west of +the town, where two of the three "are to halt and keep a profound silence;" +the third continuing its march "under cover of the said hills," till it +comes opposite the Grand Battery, which it will attack at a concerted +signal; while one of the two divisions behind the hills assaults the west +gate, and the other moves up to support the attack. + +While this is going on, the soldiers of the fourth division are to march +with all speed along the shore till they come to a certain part of the town +wall, which they are to scale; then proceed "as fast as can be" to the +citadel and "secure the windows of the Governor's apartments." After this +follow page after page of complicated details which must have stricken the +General with stupefaction. The rocks, surf, fogs, and gales of that +tempestuous coast are all left out of the account; and so, too, is the +nature of the country, which consists of deep marshes, rocky hills, and +hollows choked with evergreen thickets. Yet a series of complex and +mutually dependent operations, involving long marches through this rugged +and pathless region, was to be accomplished, in the darkness of one April +night, by raw soldiers who knew nothing of the country. This rare specimen +of amateur soldiering is redeemed in some measure by a postscript in which +the Governor sets free the hands of the General, thus: "Notwithstanding the +instructions you have received from me, I must leave you to act, upon +unforeseen emergencies, according to your best discretion." + +On the 24th of March, the fleet, consisting of about ninety transports, +escorted by the provincial cruisers, sailed from Nantasket Roads, followed +by prayers and benedictions, and also by toasts drunk with cheers, in +bumpers of rum punch. + +[Footnote: The following letter from John Payne of Boston to Colonel Robert +Hale, of the Essex regiment, while it gives no sign of the prevailing +religious feeling, illustrates the ardor of the New England people towards +their rash adventure:-- + +BOSTON, Apr. 24, 1745. + +Sir, + +I hope this will find you at Louisbourg with a Bowl of Punch a Pipe and a +P--k of C--ds in your hand and whatever else you desire (I had forgot to +mention a Pretty French Madammoselle). We are very Impatiently expecting to +hear from you, your Friend Luke has lost several Beaver Hatts already +concerning the Expedition, he is so very zealous about it that he has +turned Poor Boutier out of his House for saying he believed you would not +Take the Place.--Damn his Blood says Luke, let him be an Englishman or a +Frenchman and not pretend to be an Englishman when he is a Frenchman in his +Heart. If drinking to your success would Take Cape Briton, you must be in +Possession of it now, for it's a standing Toast. I think the least thing +you Military Gent'n can do is to send us some arrack when you take ye Place +to celebrate your Victory and not to force us to do it in Rum Punch or +Luke's bad wine or sour cyder. + +To Collonell Robert Hale + at (or near) Louisbourg. + +I am indebted for a copy of this curious letter to Robert Hale Bancroft, +Esq., a descendant of Colonel Hale.] + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +1745. + +LOUISBOURG BESIEGED. + +SETH POMEROY.--THE VOYAGE.--CANSEAU.--UNEXPECTED SUCCORS.--DELAYS. +--LOUISBOURG.--THE LANDING.--THE GRAND BATTERY TAKEN.--FRENCH CANNON TURNED +ON THE TOWN.--WEAKNESS OF DUCHAMBON.--SUFFERINGS OF THE BESIEGERS.--THEIR +HARDIHOOD.--THEIR IRREGULAR PROCEEDINGS.-JOSEPH SHERBURN.--AMATEUR GUNNERY. +--CAMP FROLICS.--SECTARIAN ZEAL.--PERPLEXITIES OF PEPPERRELL. + + +On board one of the transports was Seth Pomeroy, gunsmith at Northampton, +and now major of Willard's Massachusetts regiment. He had a turn for +soldiering, and fought, ten years later, in the battle of Lake George. +Again, twenty years later still, when Northampton was astir with rumors of +war from Boston, he borrowed a neighbor's horse, rode a hundred miles, +reached Cambridge on the morning of the battle of Bunker Hill, left his +borrowed horse out of the way of harm, walked over Charlestown Neck, then +swept by the fire of the ships-of-war, and reached the scene of action as +the British were forming for the attack. When Israel Putnam, his comrade in +the last war, saw from the rebel breastwork the old man striding, gun in +hand, up the hill, he shouted, "By God, Pomeroy, you here! A cannon-shot +would waken you out of your grave!" + +But Pomeroy, with other landsmen, crowded in the small and malodorous +fishing-vessels that were made to serve as transports, was now in the gripe +of the most unheroic of maladies. "A terrible northeast storm" had fallen +upon them, and, he says, "we lay rolling in the seas, with our sails +furled, among prodigious waves." "Sick, day and night," writes the +miserable gunsmith, "so bad that I have not words to set it forth." +[Footnote: Diary of Major Seth Pomeroy. I owe the copy before me to the +kindness of his descendant, Theodore Pomeroy, Esq.] The gale increased +and the fleet was scattered, there being, as a Massachusetts private +soldier writes in his diary, "a very fierse Storm of Snow, som Rain and +very Dangerous weather to be so nigh ye Shore as we was; but we escaped the +Rocks, and that was all." [Footnote: Diary of a Massachusetts soldier in +Captain Richardson's company (Papers of Dr. Belknap).] + +On Friday, April 5th, Pomeroy's vessel entered the harbor of Canseau, about +fifty miles from Louisbourg. Here was the English fishing-hamlet, the +seizure of which by the French had first provoked the expedition. The place +now quietly changed hands again. Sixty-eight of the transports lay here at +anchor, and the rest came dropping in from day to day, sorely buffeted, but +all safe. On Sunday there was a great concourse to hear Parson Moody preach +an open-air sermon from the text, "Thy people shall be willing in the day +of thy power," concerning which occasion the soldier diarist +observes,--"Several sorts of Busnesses was Going on, Som a Exercising, Som +a Hearing Preaching." The attention of Parson Moody's listeners was, in +fact, distracted by shouts of command and the awkward drill of squads of +homespun soldiers on the adjacent pasture. + +Captain Ammi Cutter, with two companies, was ordered to remain at Canseau +and defend it from farther vicissitudes; to which end a blockhouse was also +built, and mounted with eight small cannon. Some of the armed vessels had +been sent to cruise off Louisbourg, which they did to good purpose, and +presently brought in six French prizes, with supplies for the fortress. On +the other hand, they brought the ominous news that Louisbourg and the +adjoining bay were so blocked with ice that landing was impossible. This +was a serious misfortune, involving long delay, and perhaps ruin to the +expedition, as the expected ships-of-war might arrive meanwhile from +France. Indeed, they had already begun to appear. On Thursday, the 18th, +heavy cannonading was heard far out at sea, and again on Friday "the +cannon," says Pomeroy, "fired at a great rate till about 2 of the clock." +It was the provincial cruisers attacking a French frigate, the "Renommée," +of thirty-six guns. As their united force was too much for her, she kept up +a running fight, outsailed them, and escaped after a chase of more than +thirty hours, being, as Pomeroy quaintly observes, "a smart ship." She +carried despatches to the Governor of Louisbourg, and being unable to +deliver them, sailed back for France to report what she had seen. + +On Monday, the 22d, a clear, cold, windy day, a large ship, under British +colors, sailed into the harbor, and proved to be the frigate "Eltham," +escort to the annual mast fleet from New England. On orders from Commander +Warren she had left her charge in waiting, and sailed for Canseau to join +the expedition, bringing the unexpected and welcome news that Warren +himself would soon follow. On the next day, to the delight of all, he +appeared in the ship "Superbe," of sixty guns, accompanied by the +"Launceston" and the "Mermaid," of forty guns each. Here was force enough +to oppose any ships likely to come to the aid of Louisbourg; and Warren, +after communicating with Pepperrell, sailed to blockade the port, along +with the provincial cruisers, which, by order of Shirley, were placed under +his command. + +The transports lay at Canseau nearly three weeks, waiting for the ice to +break up. The time was passed in drilling the raw soldiers and forming them +into divisions of four and six hundred each, according to the directions of +Shirley. At length, on Friday, the 27th, they heard that Gabarus Bay was +free from ice, and on the morning of the 29th, with the first fair wind, +they sailed out of Canseau harbor, expecting to reach Louisbourg at nine in +the evening, as prescribed in the Governor's receipt for taking Louisbourg +"while the enemy were asleep." [Footnote: The words quoted are used by +General Wolcott in his journal.] But a lull in the wind defeated this +plan; and after sailing all day, they found themselves becalmed towards +night. It was not till the next morning that they could see the town,--no +very imposing spectacle, for the buildings, with a few exceptions, were +small, and the massive ramparts that belted them round rose to no +conspicuous height. + +Louisbourg stood on a tongue of land which lay between its harbor and the +sea, and the end of which was prolonged eastward by reefs and shoals that +partly barred the entrance to the port, leaving a navigable passage not +half a mile wide. This passage was commanded by a powerful battery called +the "Island Battery," being upon a small rocky island at the west side of +the channel, and was also secured by another detached work called the +"Grand," or "Royal Battery," which stood on the shore of the harbor, +opposite the entrance, and more than a mile from the town. Thus a hostile +squadron trying to force its way in would receive a flank fire from the one +battery, and a front fire from the other. The strongest line of defence of +the fortress was drawn across the base of the tongue of land from the +harbor on one side to the sea on the other,--a distance of about twelve +hundred yards. The ditch was eighty feet wide and from thirty to thirty-six +feet deep; and the rampart, of earth faced with masonry, was about sixty +feet thick. The glacis sloped down to a vast marsh, which formed one of the +best defences of the place. The fortress, without counting its outworks, +had embrasures for one hundred and forty-eight cannon; but the number in +position was much less, and is variously stated. Pomeroy says that at the +end of the siege a little above ninety were found, with "a great number of +swivels;" others say seventy-six. [Footnote: Brown, _Cape Breton_, +183. Parsons, _Life of Pepperrell_, 103. An anonymous letter, dated +Louisbourg, 4 July, 1745, says that eighty-five cannon and six mortars have +been found in the town.] In the Grand and Island batteries there were sixty +heavy pieces more. Against this formidable armament the assailants had +brought thirty-four cannon and mortars, of much inferior weight, to be used +in bombarding the fortress, should they chance to fail of carrying it by +surprise, "while the enemy were asleep." [Footnote: _Memoirs of the +Principal Transactions of the Last War_, 40.] Apparently they +distrusted the efficacy of their siege-train, though it was far stronger +than Shirley had at first thought sufficient; for they brought with them +good store of balls of forty-two pounds, to be used in French cannon of +that calibre which they expected to capture, their own largest pieces being +but twenty-two-pounders. + +According to the _Habitant de Louisbourg_, the garrison consisted of +five hundred and sixty regular troops, of whom several companies were +Swiss, besides some thirteen or fourteen hundred militia, inhabitants +partly of the town, and partly of neighboring settlements. [Footnote: "On +fit venir cinq ou six cens Miliciens aux Habitans des environs; ce que, +avec ceux de la Ville, pouvoit former treize à quatorze cens +hommes."--_Lettre d'un Habitant de Louisbourg_. This writer says that +three or four hundred more might have been had from Niganiche and its +neighborhood, if they had been summoned in time. The number of militia just +after the siege is set by English reports at 1,310. Parsons, 103.] The +regulars were in bad condition. About the preceding Christmas they had +broken into mutiny, being discontented with their rations and exasperated +with getting no extra pay for work on the fortifications. The affair was so +serious that though order was restored, some of the officers lost all +confidence in the soldiers; and this distrust proved most unfortunate +during the siege. The Governor, Chevalier Duchambon, successor of +Duquesnel, who had died in the autumn, was not a man to grapple with a +crisis, being deficient in decision of character, if not in capacity. + +He expected an attack. "We were informed of the preparations from the +first," says the _Habitant de Louisburg_. Some Indians, who had been +to Boston, carried to Canada the news of what was going on there; but it +was not believed, and excited no alarm. [Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, +17 June, 1745,_ citing letters captured on board a ship from Quebec.] It +was not so at Louisbourg, where, says the French writer just quoted, "we +lost precious moments in useless deliberations and resolutions no sooner +made than broken. Nothing to the purpose was done, so that we were as much +taken by surprise as if the enemy had pounced upon us unawares." + +It was about the 25th of March [Footnote: 14 March, old style.] when the +garrison first saw the provincial cruisers hovering off the mouth of the +harbor. They continued to do so at intervals till daybreak of the 30th of +April, when the whole fleet of transports appeared standing towards Flat +Point, which projects into Gabarus Bay, three miles west of the town. +[Footnote: Gabarus Bay, sometimes called "Chapeau Rouge" Bay, is a spacious +outer harbor, immediately adjoining Louisbourg.] On this, Duchambon sent +Morpain, captain of a privateer, or "corsair," to oppose the landing. He +had with him eighty men, and was to be joined by forty more, already on the +watch near the supposed point of disembarkation. [Footnote: _Bigot au +Ministre, 1 Aout, 1745._] At the same time cannon were fired and +alarm bells rung in Louisbourg, to call in the militia of the neighborhood. + +Pepperrell managed the critical work of landing with creditable skill. The +rocks and the surf were more dangerous than the enemy. Several boats, +filled with men, rowed towards Flat Point; but on a signal from the +flagship "Shirley," rowed back again, Morpain flattering himself that his +appearance had frightened them off. Being joined by several other boats, +the united party, a hundred men in all, pulled for another landing-place +called Fresh-water Cove, or Anse de la Cormorandière, two miles farther up +Gabarus Bay. Morpain and his party ran to meet them; but the boats were +first in the race, and as soon as the New England men got ashore, they +rushed upon the French, killed six of them, captured as many more, +including an officer named Boularderie, and put the rest to flight, with +the loss, on their own side, of two men slightly wounded. +[Footnote: _Pepperrell to Shirley, 12 May 1745. Shirley to +Newcastle, 28 Oct. 1745. Journal of the Siege,_ attested +by Pepperrell and four other chief officers (London, 1746).] Further +resistance to the landing was impossible, for a swarm of boats pushed +against the rough and stony beach, the men dashing through the surf, till +before night about two thousand were on shore. [Footnote: Bigot says six +thousand, or two thousand more than the whole New England force, which was +constantly overestimated by the French.] The rest, or about two thousand +more, landed at their leisure on the next day. + +On the 2d of May Vaughan led four hundred men to the hills near the town, +and saluted it with three cheers,--somewhat to the discomposure of the +French, though they describe the unwelcome visitors as a disorderly crowd. +Vaughan's next proceeding pleased them still less. He marched behind the +hills, in rear of the Grand Battery, to the northeast arm of the harbor, +where there were extensive magazines of naval stores. These his men set on +fire, and the pitch, tar, and other combustibles made a prodigious smoke. +He was returning, in the morning, with a small party of followers behind +the hills, when coming opposite the Grand Battery, and observing it from +the ridge, he saw neither flag on the flagstaff, nor smoke from the barrack +chimneys. One of his party was a Cape Cod Indian. Vaughan bribed him with a +flask of brandy which he had in his pocket,--though, as the clerical +historian takes pains to assure us, he never used it himself,--and the +Indian, pretending to be drunk, or, as some say, mad, staggered towards the +battery to reconnoitre. [Footnote: Belknap, II.] All was quiet. He +clambered in at an embrasure, and found the place empty. The rest of the +party followed, and one of them, William Tufts, of Medford, a boy of +eighteen, climbed the flagstaff, holding in his teeth his red coat, which +he made fast at the top, as a substitute for the British flag,--a +proceeding that drew upon him a volley of unsuccessful cannon-shot from the +town batteries. [Footnote: John Langdon Sibley, in _N. E. Hist, and Gen. +Register_, XXV. 377. The _Boston Gazette_ of 3 June, 1771, has a +notice of Tufts's recent death, with an exaggerated account of his exploit, +and an appeal for aid to his destitute family.] + +Vaughan then sent this hasty note to Pepperrell: "May it please your Honour +to be informed that by the grace of God and the courage of 13 men, I +entered the Royal Battery about 9 o'clock, and am waiting for a +reinforcement and a flag." Soon after, four boats, filled with men, +approached from the town to re-occupy the battery,--no doubt in order to +save the munitions and stores, and complete the destruction of the cannon. +Vaughan and his thirteen men, standing on the open beach, under the fire of +the town and the Island Battery, plied the boats with musketry, and kept +them from landing, till Lieutenant-Colonel Bradstreet appeared with a +reinforcement, on which the French pulled back to Louisbourg. [Footnote: +Vaughan's party seems to have consisted in all of sixteen men, three of +whom took no part in this affair.] + +The English supposed that the French in the battery, when the clouds of +smoke drifted over them from the burning storehouses, thought that they +were to be attacked in force, and abandoned their post in a panic. This was +not the case. "A detachment of the enemy," writes the _Habitant de +Louisbourg_, "advanced to the neighborhood of the Royal Battery." This +was Vaughan's four hundred on their way to burn the storehouses. "At once +we were all seized with fright," pursues this candid writer, "and on the +instant it was proposed to abandon this magnificent battery, which would +have been our best defence, if one had known how to use it. Various +councils were held, in a tumultuous way. It would be hard to tell the +reasons for such a strange proceeding. Not one shot had yet been fired at +the battery, which the enemy could not take, except by making regular +approaches, as if against the town itself, and by besieging it, so to +speak, in form. Some persons remonstrated, but in vain; and so a battery of +thirty cannon, which had cost the King immense sums, was abandoned before +it was attacked." + +Duchambon says that soon after the English landed, he got a letter from +Thierry, the captain in command of the Royal Battery, advising that the +cannon should be spiked and the works blown up. It was then, according to +the Governor, that the council was called, and a unanimous vote passed to +follow Thierry's advice, on the ground that the defences of the battery +were in bad condition, and that the four hundred men posted there could not +stand against three or four thousand. [Footnote: _Duchambon au Ministre, +2 Sept. 1745_. This is the Governor's official report. "Four hundred +men" is perhaps a copyist's error, the actual number in the battery being +not above two hundred.] The engineer, Verrier, opposed the blowing up of +the works, and they were therefore left untouched. Thierry and his +garrison came off in boats, after spiking the cannon in a hasty way, +without stopping to knock off the trunnions or burn the carriages. They +threw their loose gunpowder into the well, but left behind a good number of +cannon cartridges, two hundred and eighty large bombshells, and other +ordnance stores, invaluable both to the enemy and to themselves. Brigadier +Waldo was sent to occupy the battery with his regiment, and Major Seth +Pomeroy, the gunsmith, with twenty soldier-mechanics, was set at drilling +out the spiked touch-holes of the cannon. These were twenty-eight +forty-two-pounders, and two eighteen-pounders. Several were ready for use +the next morning, and immediately opened on the town,--which, writes a +soldier in his diary, "damaged the houses and made the women cry." "The +enemy," says the _Habitant de Louisbourg_, "saluted us with our own +cannon, and made a terrific fire, smashing everything within range." +[Footnote: _Waldo to Shirley, 12 May, 1745_. Some of the French +writers say twenty-eight thirty-six-pounders, while all the English call +them forty-twos,--which they must have been, as the forty-two-pound shot +brought from Boston fitted them.] [Footnote: Mr. Theodore Roosevelt draws +my attention to the fact that cannon were differently rated in the French +and English navies of the seventeenth century, and that a French thirty-six +carried a ball as large as an English forty-two, or even a little larger.] + +The English occupation of the Grand Battery may be called the decisive +event of the siege. There seems no doubt that the French could have +averted the disaster long enough to make it of little help to the invaders. +The water-front of the battery was impregnable. The rear defences consisted +of a loopholed wall of masonry, with a ditch ten feet deep and twelve feet +wide, and also a covered way and glacis, which General Wolcott describes as +unfinished. In this he mistook. They were not unfinished, but had been +partly demolished, with a view to reconstruction. The rear wall was flanked +by two towers, which, says Duchambon, were demolished; but General Wolcott +declares that swivels were still mounted on them, [Footnote: _Journal of +Major-General Wolcott_.] and he adds that "two hundred men might hold +the battery against five thousand without cannon." The English landed their +cannon near Flat Point; and before they could be turned against the Grand +Battery, they must be dragged four miles over hills and rocks, through +spongy marshes and jungles of matted evergreens. This would have required a +week or more. The alternative was an escalade, in which the undisciplined +assailants would no doubt have met a bloody rebuff. Thus this Grand +Battery, which, says Wolcott, "is in fact a fort," might at least have been +held long enough to save the munitions and stores, and effectually disable +the cannon, which supplied the English with the only artillery they had, +competent to the work before them. The hasty abandonment of this important +post was not Duchambon's only blunder, but it was the worst of them all. + +On the night after their landing, the New England men slept in the woods, +wet or dry, with or without blankets, as the case might be, and in the +morning set themselves to encamping with as much order as they were capable +of. A brook ran down from the hills and entered the sea two miles or more +from the town. The ground on each side, though rough, was high and dry, and +here most of the regiments made their quarters,--Willard's, Moulton's, and +Moore's on the east side, and Burr's and Pepperrell's on the west. Those on +the east, in some cases, saw fit to extend themselves towards Louisbourg as +far as the edge of the intervening marsh; but were soon forced back to a +safer position by the cannon-balls of the fortress, which came bowling +amongst them. This marsh was that green, flat sponge of mud and moss that +stretched from this point to the glacis of Louisbourg. + +There was great want of tents, for material to make them was scarce in New +England. Old sails were often used instead, being stretched over +poles,--perhaps after the fashion of a Sioux teepee. When these could not +be had, the men built huts of sods, with roofs of spruce-boughs overlapping +like a thatch; for at that early season, bark would not peel from the +trees. The landing of guns, munitions, and stores was a formidable task, +consuming many days and destroying many boats, as happened again when +Amherst landed his cannon at this same place. Large flat boats, brought +from Boston, were used for the purpose, and the loads were carried ashore +on the heads of the men, wading through ice-cold surf to the waist, after +which, having no change of clothing, they slept on the ground through the +chill and foggy nights, reckless of future rheumatisms. [Footnote: The +author of _The Importance and Advantage of Cape Breton_ says: "When +the hardships they were exposed to come to be considered, the behaviour of +these men will hardly gain credit. They went ashore wet, had no [dry] +clothes to cover them, were exposed in this condition to cold, foggy +nights, and yet cheerfully underwent these difficulties for the sake of +executing a project they had voluntarily undertaken."] + +A worse task was before them. The cannon were to be dragged over the marsh +to Green Hill, a spur of the line of rough heights that half encircled the +town and harbor. Here the first battery was to be planted; and from this +point other guns were to be dragged onward to more advanced stations,--a +distance in all of more than two miles, thought by the French to be +impassable. So, in fact, it seemed; for at the first attempt, the wheels +of the cannon sank to the hubs in mud and moss, then the carriage, and +finally the piece itself slowly disappeared. Lieutenant-Colonel Meserve, of +the New Hampshire regiment, a ship-builder by trade, presently overcame the +difficulty. By his direction sledges of timber were made, sixteen feet long +and five feet wide; a cannon was placed on each of these, and it was then +dragged over the marsh by a team of two hundred men, harnessed with +rope-traces and breast-straps, and wading to the knees. Horses or oxen +would have foundered in the mire. The way had often to be changed, as the +mossy surface was soon churned into a hopeless slough along the line of +march. The work could be done only at night or in thick fog, the men being +completely exposed to the cannon of the town. Thirteen years after, when +General Amherst besieged Louisbourg again, he dragged his cannon to the +same hill over the same marsh; but having at his command, instead of four +thousand militiamen, eleven thousand British regulars, with all appliances +and means to boot, he made a road, with prodigious labor, through the mire, +and protected it from the French shot by an epaulement, or lateral +earthwork. [Footnote: See _Montcalm and Wolfe_, chap. xix.] + +Pepperrell writes in ardent words of the cheerfulness of his men "under +almost incredible hardships." Shoes and clothing failed, till many were in +tatters and many barefooted; [Footnote: _Pepperrell to Newcastle, 28 +June, 1745._] yet they toiled on with unconquerable spirit, and +within four days had planted a battery of six guns on Green Hill, which was +about a mile from the King's Bastion of Louisbourg. In another week they +had dragged four twenty-two-pound cannon and ten coehorns--gravely called +"cowhorns" by the bucolic Pomeroy--six or seven hundred yards farther, and +planted them within easy range of the citadel. Two of the cannon burst, and +were replaced by four more and a large mortar, which burst in its turn, and +Shirley was begged to send another. Meanwhile a battery, chiefly of +coehorns, had been planted on a hillock four hundred and forty yards from +the West Gate, where it greatly annoyed the French; and on the next night +an advanced battery was placed just opposite the same gate, and scarcely +two hundred and fifty yards from it. This West Gate, the principal gate of +Louisbourg, opened upon the tract of high, firm ground that lay on the left +of the besiegers, between the marsh and the harbor, an arm of which here +extended westward beyond the town, into what was called the Barachois, a +salt pond formed by a projecting spit of sand. On the side of the Barachois +farthest from the town was a hillock on which stood the house of an +_habitant_ named Martissan. Here, on the 20th of May, a fifth battery +was planted, consisting of two of the French forty-two-pounders taken in +the Grand Battery, to which three others were afterwards added. Each of +these heavy pieces was dragged to its destination by a team of three +hundred men over rough and rocky ground swept by the French artillery. This +fifth battery, called the Northwest, or Titcomb's, proved most destructive +to the fortress. [Footnote: _Journal of the Siege_, appended to +Shirley's report to Newcastle; _Duchambon au Ministre_, 2 Sept. 1745; +_Lettre d'un Habitant_; Pomeroy, etc.] + +All these operations were accomplished with the utmost ardor and energy, +but with a scorn of rule and precedent that astonished and bewildered the +French. The raw New England men went their own way, laughed at trenches and +zigzags, and persisted in trusting their lives to the night and the fog. +Several writers say that the English engineer Bastide tried to teach them +discretion; but this could hardly be, for Bastide, whose station was +Annapolis, did not reach Louisbourg till the 5th of June, when the +batteries were finished and the siege was nearly ended. A recent French +writer makes the curious assertion that it was one of the ministers, or +army chaplains, who took upon him the vain task of instruction in the art +of war on this occasion. [Footnote: Ferland, _Cours d'Histoire du +Canada_, II. 477. "L'ennemi ne nous attaquoit point dans les formes, et +ne pratiquoit point aucun retranchement pour se couvrir." _Habitant de +Louisbourg_.] + +This ignorant and self-satisfied recklessness might have cost the besiegers +dear if the French, instead of being perplexed and startled at the novelty +of their proceedings, had taken advantage of it; but Duchambon and some of +his officers, remembering the mutiny of the past winter, feared to make +sorties, lest the soldiers might desert or take part with the enemy. The +danger of this appears to have been small. Warren speaks with wonder in his +letters of the rarity of desertions, of which there appear to have been but +three during the siege,--one being that of a half-idiot, from whom no +information could be got. A bolder commander would not have stood idle +while his own cannon were planted by the enemy to batter down his walls; +and whatever the risks of a sortie, the risks of not making one were +greater. "Both troops and militia eagerly demanded it, and I believe it +would have succeeded," writes the Intendant, Bigot. [Footnote: _Bigot au +Ministre, 1 Août, 1745._] The attempt was actually made more than +once in a half-hearted way,--notably on the 8th of May, when the French +attacked the most advanced battery, and were repulsed, with little loss on +either side. + +The _Habitant de Louisbourg_ says: "The enemy did not attack us with +any regularity, and made no intrenchments to cover themselves." This last +is not exact. Not being wholly demented, they made intrenchments, such as +they were,--at least at the advanced battery; [Footnote: _Diary of Joseph +Sherburn, Captain at the Advanced Battery._] as they would otherwise +have been swept out of existence, being under the concentred fire of +several French batteries, two of which were within the range of a musket +shot. + +The scarcity of good gunners was one of the chief difficulties of the +besiegers. As privateering, and piracy also, against Frenchmen and +Spaniards was a favorite pursuit in New England, there were men in +Pepperrell's army who knew how to handle cannon; but their number was +insufficient, and the General sent a note to Warren, begging that he would +lend him a few experienced gunners to teach their trade to the raw hands at +the batteries. Three or four were sent, and they found apt pupils. + +Pepperrell placed the advanced battery in charge of Captain Joseph +[Footnote: He signs his name Jos. Sherburn; but in a list of the officers +of the New Hampshire Regiment it appears in full as Joseph.] Sherburn, +telling him to enlist as many gunners as he could. On the next day Sherburn +reported that he had found six, one of whom seems to have been sent by +Warren. With these and a number of raw men he repaired to his perilous +station, where "I found," he says, "a very poor intrenchment. Our best +shelter from the French fire, which was very hot, was hogsheads filled with +earth." He and his men made the West Gate their chief mark; but before they +could get a fair sight of it, they were forced to shoot down the +fish-flakes, or stages for drying cod, that obstructed the view. Some of +their party were soon killed,--Captain Pierce by a cannon-ball, Thomas Ash +by a "bumb," and others by musketry. In the night they improved their +defences, and mounted on them three more guns, one of eighteen-pound +calibre, and the others of forty-two,--French pieces dragged from the Grand +Battery, a mile and three quarters round the Barachois. + +The cannon could be loaded only under a constant fire of musketry, which +the enemy briskly returned. The French practice was excellent. A soldier +who in bravado mounted the rampart and stood there for a moment, was shot +dead with five bullets. The men on both sides called to each other in +scraps of bad French or broken English; while the French drank ironical +healths to the New England men, and gave them bantering invitations to +breakfast. + +Sherburn continues his diary. "Sunday morning. Began our fire with as much +fury as possible, and the French returned it as warmly from the Citidale +[citadel], West Gate, and North East Battery with Cannon, Mortars, and +continual showers of musket balls; but by 11 o'clock we had beat them all +from their guns." He goes on to say that at noon his men were forced to +stop firing from want of powder, that he went with his gunners to get some, +and that while they were gone, somebody, said to be Mr. Vaughan, brought a +supply, on which the men loaded the forty-two-pounders in a bungling way, +and fired them. One was dismounted, and the other burst; a barrel and a +half-barrel of powder blew up, killed two men, and injured two more. Again: +"Wednesday. Hot fire on both sides, till the French were beat from all +their guns. May 29th went to 2 Gun [Titcomb's] Battery to give the gunners +some directions; then returned to my own station, where I spent the rest of +the day with pleasure, seeing our Shott Tumble down their walls and Flagg +Staff." + +The following is the Intendant Bigot's account of the effect of the New +England fire: "The enemy established their batteries to such effect that +they soon destroyed the greater part of the town, broke the right flank of +the King's Bastion, ruined the Dauphin Battery with its spur, and made a +breach at the Porte Dauphine [West Gate], the neighboring wall, and the +sort of redan adjacent." [Footnote: _Bigot au Ministre, 1 Août, +1745._] Duchambon says in addition that the cannon of the right flank of +the King's Bastion could not be served, by reason of the continual fire of +the enemy, which broke the embrasures to pieces; that when he had them +repaired, they were broken to pieces (_démantibulès_) again,--and +nobody could keep his ground behind the wall of the quay, which was shot +through and through and completely riddled. [Footnote: _Duchambon au +Ministre, 2 Sept. 1745._] The town was ploughed with cannon-balls, the +streets were raked from end to end, nearly all the houses damaged, and the +people driven for refuge into the stifling casemates. The results were +creditable to novices in gunnery. + +The repeated accidents from the bursting of cannon were no doubt largely +due to unskilful loading and the practice of double-shotting, to which the +over-zealous artillerists are said to have often resorted. [Footnote: +"Another forty-two-pound gun burst at the Grand Battery. All the guns are +in danger of going the same way, by double-shotting them, unless under +better regulation than at present." _Waldo to Pepperrell, 20 May, +1745_.] [Footnote: Waldo had written four days before: "Captain Hale, of +my regiment, is dangerously hurt by the bursting of another gun. He was our +mainstay for gunnery since Captain Rhodes's misfortune" (also caused by the +bursting of a cannon). _Waldo to Pepperrell, 16 May, 1745._] + +It is said, in proof of the orderly conduct of the men, that not one of +them was punished during all the siege; but this shows the mild and +conciliating character of the General quite as much as any peculiar merit +of the soldiers. The state of things in and about the camp was compared by +the caustic Dr. Douglas to "a Cambridge Commencement," which academic +festival was then attended by much rough frolic and boisterous horseplay +among the disorderly crowds, white and black, bond and free, who swarmed +among the booths on Cambridge Common. The careful and scrupulous Belknap, +who knew many who took part in the siege, says: "Those who were on the spot +have frequently, in my hearing, laughed at the recital of their own +irregularities, and expressed their admiration when they reflected on the +almost miraculous preservation of the army from destruction." While the +cannon bellowed in the front, frolic and confusion reigned at the camp, +where the men raced, wrestled, pitched quoits, fired at marks,--though +there was no ammunition to spare,--and ran after the French cannon-balls, +which were carried to the batteries, to be returned to those who sent them. +Nor were calmer recreations wanting. "Some of our men went a fishing, about +2 miles off," writes Lieutenant Benjamin Cleaves in his diary: "caught 6 +Troutts." And, on the same day, "Our men went to catch Lobsters: caught +30." In view of this truant disposition, it is not surprising that the +besiegers now and then lost their scalps at the hands of prowling Indians +who infested the neighborhood. Yet through all these gambols ran an +undertow of enthusiasm, born in brains still fevered from the "Great +Awakening." The New England soldier, a growth of sectarian hotbeds, fancied +that he was doing the work of God. The army was Israel, and the French were +Canaanitish idolaters. Red-hot Calvinism, acting through generations, had +modified the transplanted Englishman; and the descendant of the Puritans +was never so well pleased as when teaching their duty to other people, +whether by pen, voice, or bombshells. The ragged artillerymen, battering +the walls of papistical Louisbourg, flattered themselves with the notion +that they were champions of gospel truth. + +Barefoot and tattered, they toiled on with indomitable pluck and +cheerfulness, doing the work which oxen could not do, with no comfort but +their daily dram of New England rum, as they plodded through the marsh and +over rocks, dragging the ponderous guns through fog and darkness. Their +spirit could not save them from the effects of excessive fatigue and +exposure. They were ravaged with diarrœa and fever, till fifteen hundred +men were at one time on the sick-list, and at another, Pepperrell reported +that of the four thousand only about twenty-one hundred were fit for duty. +[Footnote: _Pepperrell to Warren, 28 May, 1745._] Nearly all at +last recovered, for the weather was unusually good; yet the number fit for +service was absurdly small. Pepperrell begged for reinforcements, but got +none till the siege was ended. + +It was not his nature to rule with a stiff hand,--and this, perhaps, was +fortunate. Order and discipline, the sinews of an army, were out of the +question; and it remained to do as well as might be without them, keep men +and officers in good-humor, and avoid all that could dash their ardor. For +this, at least, the merchant-general was well fitted. His popularity had +helped to raise the army, and perhaps it helped now to make it efficient. +His position was no bed of roses. Worries, small and great, pursued him +without end. He made friends of his officers, kept a bountiful table at his +tent, and labored to soothe their disputes and jealousies, and satisfy +their complaints. So generous were his contributions to the common cause +that according to a British officer who speaks highly of his services, he +gave to it, in one form or another, £10,000 out of his own pocket. +[Footnote: _Letter from an Officer of Marines_, appended to _A +particular Account of the Taking of Cape Breton_ (London, 1745).] + +His letter-books reveal a swarm of petty annoyances, which may have tried +his strength and patience as much as more serious cares. The soldiers +complained that they were left without clothing, shoes, or rum; and when he +implored the Committee of War to send them, Osborne, the chairman, replied +with explanations why it could not be done. Letters came from wives and +fathers entreating that husbands and sons who had gone to the war should be +sent back. At the end of the siege a captain "humble begs leave for to go +home" because he lives in a very dangerous country, and his wife and +children are "in a declining way" without him. Then two entire companies +raised on the frontier offered the same petition on similar grounds. +Sometimes Pepperrell was beset with prayers for favors and promotion; +sometimes with complaints from one corps or another that an undue share of +work had been imposed on it. One Morris, of Cambridge, writes a moving +petition that his slave "Cuffee," who had joined the army, should be +restored to him, his lawful master. One John Alford sends the General a +number of copies of the Reverend Mr. Prentice's late sermon, for +distribution, assuring him that "it will please your whole army of +volunteers, as he has shown them the way to gain by their gallantry the +hearts and affections of the Ladys." The end of the siege brought countless +letters of congratulation, which, whether lay or clerical, never failed to +remind him, in set phrases, that he was but an instrument in the hands of +Providence. + +One of his most persistent correspondents was his son-in-law, Nathaniel +Sparhawk, a thrifty merchant, with a constant eye to business, who +generally began his long-winded epistles with a bulletin concerning the +health of "Mother Pepperrell," and rarely ended them without charging his +father-in-law with some commission, such as buying for him the cargo of a +French prize, if he could get it cheap. Or thus: "If you would procure for +me a hogshead of the best Clarett, and a hogshead of the best white wine, +at a reasonable rate, it would be very grateful to me." After pestering him +with a few other commissions, he tells him that "Andrew and Bettsy +[children of Pepperrell] send their proper compliments," and signs himself, +with the starched flourish of provincial breeding, "With all possible +Respect, Honoured Sir, Your Obedient Son and Servant." [Footnote: +_Sparhawk to Pepperrell,-June_, 1745. This is but one of many letters +from Sparhawk.] Pepperrell was much annoyed by the conduct of the +masters of the transports, of whom he wrote: "The unaccountable irregular +behaviour of these fellows is the greatest fatigue I meet with;" but it may +be doubted whether his son-in-law did not prove an equally efficient +persecutor. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +1745. + +LOUISBOURG TAKEN. + +A RASH RESOLUTION.--THE ISLAND BATTERY.--THE VOLUNTEERS.--THE ATTACK.--THE +REPULSE.--CAPTURE OF THE "VIGILANT."--A SORTIE.--SKIRMISHES.--DESPONDENCY +OF THE FRENCH.--ENGLISH CAMP THREATENED.--PEPPERRELL AND WARREN.--WARREN'S +PLAN.--PREPARATION FOR A GENERAL ATTACK.--FLAG OF TRUCE.--CAPITULATION. +--STATE OF THE FORTRESS.--PARSON MOODY.--SOLDIERS DISSATISFIED.--DISORDERS. +--ARMY AND NAVY.--REJOICINGS.--ENGLAND REPAYS PROVINCIAL OUTLAYS. + + +Frequent councils of war were held in solemn form at headquarters. On the +7th of May a summons to surrender was sent to Duchambon, who replied that +he would answer with his cannon. Two days after, we find in the record of +the council the following startling entry: "Advised unanimously that the +Town of Louisbourg be attacked by storm this Night." Vaughan was a member +of the board, and perhaps his impetuous rashness had turned the heads of +his colleagues. To storm the fortress at that time would have been a +desperate attempt for the best-trained and best-led troops. There was as +yet no breach in the walls, nor the beginning of one; and the French were +so confident in the strength of their fortifications that they boasted that +women alone could defend them. Nine in ten of the men had no bayonets, +[Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, 7 June, 1745._] many had no shoes, +and it is said that the scaling-ladders they had brought from Boston were +ten feet too short. [Footnote: Douglas, _Summary_, I. 347.] Perhaps it +was unfortunate for the French that the army was more prudent than its +leaders; and another council being called on the same day, it was "Advised, +That, inasmuch as there appears a great Dissatisfaction in many of the +officers and Soldiers at the designed attack of the Town by Storm this +Night, the said Attack be deferred for the present." [Footnote: _Record +of the Council of War, 9 May, 1745._] + +Another plan was adopted, hardly less critical, though it found favor with +the army. This was the assault of the Island Battery, which closed the +entrance of the harbor to the British squadron, and kept it open to ships +from France. Nobody knew precisely how to find the two landing-places of +this formidable work, which were narrow gaps between rocks lashed with +almost constant surf; but Vaughan would see no difficulties, and wrote to +Pepperrell that if he would give him the command and leave him to manage +the attack in his own way, he would engage to send the French flag to +headquarters within forty-eight hours. [Footnote: _Vaughan to Pepperell, +11 May, 1745._] On the next day he seems to have thought the command +assured to him, and writes from the Grand Battery that the carpenters are +at work mending whale-boats and making paddles, asking at the same time for +plenty of pistols and one hundred hand-grenades, with men who know how to +use them. [Footnote: _Vaughan to Pepperell, 12 May, 1745._] The +weather proved bad, and the attempt was deferred. This happened several +times, till Warren grew impatient, and offered to support the attack with +two hundred sailors. + +At length, on the 23d, the volunteers for the perilous enterprise mustered +at the Grand Battery, whence the boats were to set out. Brigadier Waldo, +who still commanded there, saw them with concern and anxiety, as they came +dropping in in small squads, without officers, noisy, disorderly, and, in +some cases, more or less drunk. "I doubt," he told the General, "whether +straggling fellows, three, four, or seven out of a company, ought to go on +such a service." [Footnote: _Waldo to Pepperell, 23 May, 1745._] A +bright moon and northern lights again put off the attack. The volunteers +remained at the Grand Battery, waiting for better luck. "They seem to be +impatient for action," writes Waldo. "If there were a more regular +appearance, it would give me greater sattysfaction." [Footnote: _Ibid., +26 May, 1745._] On the 26th their wish for action was fully gratified. +The night was still and dark, and the boats put out from the battery +towards twelve o'clock, with about three hundred men on board. [Footnote: +"There is scarce three hundred men on this atact [attack], so there will be +a sufficient number of Whail boats." _Ibid., 26 May, 10-1/2 p.m._] +These were to be joined by a hundred or a hundred and fifty more from +Gorham's regiment, then stationed at Lighthouse Point. The commander was +not Vaughan, but one Brooks,--the choice of the men themselves, as were +also his subordinates. [Footnote: The list of a company of forty-two +"subscribers to go voluntarily upon an attack against the Island Battery" +is preserved. It includes a negro called "Ruben." The captain, chosen by +the men, was Daniel Bacon. The fact that neither this name nor that of +Brooks, the chief commander, is to be found in the list of commissioned +officers of Pepperrell's little army (see Parsons, _Life of Pepperell, +Appendix_) suggests the conclusion that the "subscribers" were permitted +to choose officers from their own ranks. This list, however is not quite +complete.] They moved slowly, the boats being propelled, not by oars, but +by paddles, which, if skilfully used, would make no noise. The wind +presently rose; and when they found a landing-place, the surf was lashing +the rocks with even more than usual fury. There was room for but three +boats at once between the breakers on each hand. They pushed in, and the +men scrambled ashore with what speed they might. + +The Island Battery was a strong work, walled in on all sides, garrisoned by +a hundred and eighty men, and armed with thirty cannon, seven swivels, and +two mortars. [Footnote: _Journal of the Siege_, appended to Shirley's +report.] It was now a little after midnight. Captain d'Aillebout, the +commandant, was on the wratch, pacing the battery platform; but he seems to +have seen nothing unusual till about a hundred and fifty men had got on +shore, when they had the folly to announce their presence by three cheers. +Then, in the words of General Wolcott, the battery "blazed with cannon, +swivels, and small-arms." The crowd of boats, dimly visible through the +darkness, as they lay just off the landing, waiting their turn to go in, +were at once the target for volleys of grape-shot, langrage-shot, and +musket-balls, of which the men on shore had also their share. These +succeeded, however, in planting twelve scaling-ladders against the wall. +[Footnote: _Duchambon au Ministre, 2 Sept. 1745. Bigot au +Ministre, 1 Août. 1745._] It is said that some of them climbed +into the place, and the improbable story is told that Brooks, their +commander, was hauling down the French flag when a Swiss grenadier cut him +down with a cutlass. [Footnote: The exploit of the boy William Tufts in +climbing the French flag-staff and hanging his red coat at the top as a +substitute for the British flag, has also been said to have taken place on +this occasion. It was, as before mentioned, at the Grand Battery.] Many of +the boats were shattered or sunk, while those in the rear, seeing the state +of things, appear to have sheered off. The affair was soon reduced to an +exchange of shots between the garrison and the men who had landed, and who, +standing on the open ground without the walls, were not wholly invisible, +while the French, behind their ramparts, were completely hidden. "The fire +of the English," says Bigot, "was extremely obstinate, but without effect, +as they could not see to take aim." They kept it up till daybreak, or about +two hours and a half; and then, seeing themselves at the mercy of the +French, surrendered to the number of one hundred and nineteen, including +the wounded, three or more of whom died almost immediately. By the most +trustworthy accounts the English loss in killed, drowned, and captured was +one hundred and eighty-nine; or, in the words of Pepperrell, "nearly half +our party." [Footnote: Douglas makes it a little less. "We lost in this mad +frolic sixty men killed and drowned, and one hundred and sixteen +prisoners." _Summary_, i. 353.] Disorder, precipitation, and weak +leadership ruined what hopes the attempt ever had. + +As this was the only French success during the siege, Duchambon makes the +most of it. He reports that the battery was attacked by a thousand men, +supported by eight hundred more, who were afraid to show themselves; and, +farther, that there were thirty-five boats, all of which were destroyed or +sunk, [Footnote: "Toutes les barques furent brisées ou coulées à fond; le +feu fut continuel depuis environ minuit jusqu'à trois heures du matin." +_Duchambon au Ministre, 2 Sept. 1745_.]--though he afterwards says +that two of them got away with thirty men, being all that were left of the +thousand. Bigot, more moderate, puts the number of assailants at five +hundred, of whom he says that all perished, except the one hundred and +nineteen who were captured. [Footnote: _Bigot au Ministre, 1 Août, +1745_.] + +At daybreak Louisbourg rang with shouts of triumph. It was plain that a +disorderly militia could not capture the Island Battery. Yet captured or +silenced it must be; and orders were given to plant a battery against it at +Lighthouse Point, on the eastern side of the harbor's mouth, at the +distance of a short half mile. The neighboring shore was rocky and almost +inaccessible. Cannon and mortars were carried in boats to the nearest +landing-place, hauled up a steep cliff, and dragged a mile and a quarter to +the chosen spot, where they were planted under the orders of Colonel +Gridley, who thirty years after directed the earthworks on Bunker Hill. The +new battery soon opened fire with deadly effect. + +The French, much encouraged by their late success, were plunged again into +despondency by a disaster which had happened a week before the affair of +the Island Battery, but did not come to their knowledge till some time +after. On the 19th of May a fierce cannonade was heard from the harbor, and +a large French ship-of-war was seen hotly engaged with several vessels of +the squadron. She was the "Vigilant," carrying 64 guns and 560 men, and +commanded by the Marquis de la Maisonfort. She had come from France with +munitions and stores, when on approaching Louisbourg she met one of the +English cruisers,--some say the "Mermaid," of 40 guns, and others the +"Shirley," of 20. Being no match for her, the British or provincial frigate +kept up a running fight and led her towards the English fleet. The +"Vigilant" soon found herself beset by several other vessels, and after a +gallant resistance and the loss of eighty men, struck her colors. Nothing +could be more timely for the New England army, whose ammunition and +provisions had sunk perilously low. The French prize now supplied their +needs, and drew from the _Habitant de Louisbourg_ the mournful +comment, "We were victims devoted to appease the wrath of Heaven, which +turned our own arms into weapons for our enemies." + +Nor was this the last time when the defenders of Louisbourg supplied the +instruments of their own destruction; for ten cannon were presently +unearthed at low tide from the flats near the careening wharf in the +northeast arm of the harbor, where they had been hidden by the French some +time before. Most of them proved sound; and being mounted at Lighthouse +Point, they were turned against their late owners at the Island Battery. + +When Gorham's regiment first took post at Lighthouse Point, Duchambon +thought the movement so threatening that he forgot his former doubts, and +ordered a sortie against it, under the Sieur de Beaubassin. Beaubassin +landed, with a hundred men, at a place called Lorembec, and advanced to +surprise the English detachment; but was discovered by an outpost of forty +men, who attacked and routed his party. [Footnote: _Journal of the +Siege_, appended to Shirley's report. Pomeroy, _Journal_.] Being +then joined by eighty Indians, Beaubassin had several other skirmishes with +English scouting-parties, till, pushed by superior numbers, and their +leader severely wounded, his men regained Louisbourg by sea, escaping with +difficulty from the guard-boats of the squadron. The Sieur de la Valliere, +with a considerable party of men, tried to burn Pepperrell's storehouses, +near Flat Point Cove; but ten or twelve of his followers were captured, and +nearly all the rest wounded. Various other petty encounters took place +between English scouting-parties and roving bands of French and Indians, +always ending, according to Pepperrell, in the discomfiture of the latter. +To this, however, there was at least one exception. Twenty English were +waylaid and surrounded near Petit Lorembec by forty or fifty Indians, +accompanied by two or three Frenchmen. Most of the English were shot down, +several escaped, and the rest surrendered on promise of life; upon which +the Indians, in cold blood, shot or speared some of them, and atrociously +tortured others. + +This suggested to Warren a device which had two objects,--to prevent such +outrages in future, and to make known to the French that the ship +"Vigilant," the mainstay of their hopes, was in English hands. The +treatment of the captives was told to the Marquis de la Maisonfort, late +captain of the "Vigilant," now a prisoner on board the ship he had +commanded, and he was requested to lay the facts before Duchambon. This he +did with great readiness, in a letter containing these words: "It is well +that you should be informed that the captains and officers of this squadron +treat us, not as their prisoners, but as their good friends, and take +particular pains that my officers and crew should want for nothing; +therefore it seems to me just to treat them in like manner, and to punish +those who do otherwise and offer any insult to the prisoners who may fall +into your hands." + +Captain M'Donald, of the marines, carried this letter to Duchambon under a +flag-of-truce. Though familiar with the French language, he spoke to the +Governor through an interpreter, so that the French officers present, who +hitherto had only known that a large ship had been taken, expressed to each +other without reserve their discouragement and dismay when they learned +that the prize was no other than the "Vigilant". Duchambon replied to La +Maisonfort's letter that the Indians alone were answerable for the +cruelties in question, and that he would forbid such conduct for the +future. [Footnote: _De la Maisonfort à Duchambon, 18 Juin_ (new +style), 1745. _Duchambon à de la Maisonfort, 19 Juin_ (new style), +1745.] + +The besiegers were now threatened by a new danger. We have seen that in the +last summer the Sieur Duvivier had attacked Annapolis. Undaunted by +ill-luck, he had gone to France to beg for help to attack it again; two +thousand men were promised him, and in anticipation of their arrival the +Governor of Canada sent a body of French and Indians, under the noted +partisan Marin, to meet and co-operate with them. Marin was ordered to wait +at Les Mines till he heard of the arrival of the troops from France; but he +grew impatient, and resolved to attack Annapolis without them. Accordingly, +he laid siege to it with the six or seven hundred whites and Indians of his +party, aided by the so-called Acadian neutrals. Mascarene, the governor, +kept them at bay till the 24th of May, when, to his surprise, they all +disappeared. Duchambon had sent them an order to make all haste to the aid +of Louisbourg. As the report of this reached the besiegers, multiplying +Marin's force four-fold, they expected to be attacked by numbers more than +equal to those of their own effective men. This wrought a wholesome reform. +Order was established in the camp, which was now fenced with palisades and +watched by sentinels and scouting-parties. + +Another tribulation fell upon the General. Shirley had enjoined it upon +him to keep in perfect harmony with the naval commander, and the injunction +was in accord with Pepperrell's conciliating temper. Warren was no less +earnest than he for the success of the enterprise, lent him ammunition in +time of need, and offered every aid in his power, while Pepperrell in +letters to Shirley and Newcastle praised his colleague without stint. But +in habits and character the two men differed widely. Warren was in the +prime of life, and the ardor of youth still burned in him. He was impatient +at the slow movement of the siege. Prisoners told him of a squadron +expected from Brest, of which the "Vigilant" was the forerunner; and he +feared that even if it could not defeat him, it might elude the blockade, +and with the help of the continual fogs, get into Louisbourg in spite of +him, thus making its capture impossible. Therefore he called a council of +his captains on board his flagship, the "Superbe," and proposed a plan for +taking the place without further delay. On the same day he laid it before +Pepperrell. It was to the effect that all the king's ships and provincial +cruisers should enter the harbor, after taking on board sixteen hundred of +Pepperrell's men, and attack the town from the water side, while what was +left of the army should assault it by land. [Footnote: _Report of a +Consultation of Officers on board his Majesty's ship "Superbe,"_ +enclosed in a letter of _Warren to Pepperrell, 24 May, 1745._] To +accept the proposal would have been to pass over the command to Warren, +only about twenty-one hundred of the New England men being fit for service +at the time, while of these the General informs Warren that "six hundred +are gone in quest of two bodies of French and Indians, who, we are +informed, are gathering, one to the eastward, and the other to the +westward." [Footnote: _Pepperrell to Warren, 28 May, 1745._] + +To this Warren replies, with some appearance of pique, "I am very sorry +that no one plan of mine, though approved by all my captains, has been so +fortunate as to meet your approbation or have any weight with you." And to +show his title to consideration, he gives an extract from a letter written +to him by Shirley, in which that inveterate flatterer hints his regret +that, by reason of other employments, Warren could not take command of the +whole expedition,--"which I doubt not," says the Governor, "would be a most +happy event for his Majesty's service." [Footnote: _Warren to Pepperrell, +29 May, 1745._] + +Pepperrell kept his temper under this thrust, and wrote to the commodore +with invincible courtesy: "Am extremely sorry the fogs prevent me from the +pleasure of waiting on you on board your ship," adding that six hundred men +should be furnished from the army and the transports to man the "Vigilant," +which was now the most powerful ship in the squadron. In short, he showed +every disposition to meet Warren half way. But the Commodore was beginning +to feel some doubts as to the expediency of the bold action he had +proposed, and informed Pepperrell that his pilots thought it impossible to +go into the harbor until the Island Battery was silenced. In fact, there +was danger that if the ships got in while that battery was still alive and +active, they would never get out again, but be kept there as in a trap, +under the fire from the town ramparts. + +Gridley's artillery at Lighthouse Point had been doing its best, dropping +bombshells with such precision into the Island Battery that the French +soldiers were sometimes seen running into the sea to escape the explosions. +Many of the Island guns were dismounted, and the place was fast becoming +untenable. At the same time the English batteries on the land side were +pushing their work of destruction with relentless industry, and walls and +bastions crumbled under their fire. The French labored with energy under +cover of night to repair the mischief; closed the shattered West Gate with +a wall of stone and earth twenty feet thick, made an epaulement to protect +what was left of the formidable Circular Battery,--all but three of whose +sixteen guns had been dismounted,--stopped the throat of the Dauphin's +Bastion with a barricade of stone, and built a cavalier, or raised battery, +on the King's Bastion,--where, however, the English fire soon ruined it. +Against that near and peculiarly dangerous neighbor, the advanced battery, +or, as they called it, the _Batterie de Francœur_, they planted +three heavy cannon to take it in flank. "These," says Duchambon, "produced +a marvellous effect, dismounted one of the cannon of the Bastonnais, and +damaged all their embrasures,--which," concludes the Governor, "did not +prevent them from keeping up a constant fire; and they repaired by night +the mischief we did them by day." [Footnote: _Duchambon au Ministre, 2 +Sept._ 1745.] + +Pepperrell and Warren at length came to an understanding as to a joint +attack by land and water. The Island Battery was by this time crippled, and +the town batteries that commanded the interior of the harbor were nearly +destroyed. It was agreed that Warren, whose squadron was now increased by +recent arrivals to eleven ships, besides the provincial cruisers, should +enter the harbor with the first fair wind, cannonade the town and attack it +in boats, while Pepperrell stormed it from the land side. Warren was to +hoist a Dutch flag under his pennant, at his main-top-gallant mast-head, as +a signal that he was about to sail in; and Pepperrell was to answer by +three columns of smoke, marching at the same time towards the walls with +drums beating and colors flying. [Footnote: _Warren to Pepperrell, 11 +June, 1745. Pepperrell to Warren, 13 June, 1745._] + +The French saw with dismay a large quantity of fascines carried to the foot +of the glacis, ready to fill the ditch, and their scouts came in with +reports that more than a thousand scaling-ladders were lying behind the +ridge of the nearest hill. Toil, loss of sleep, and the stifling air of +the casemates, in which they were forced to take refuge, had sapped the +strength of the besieged. The town was a ruin; only one house was +untouched by shot or shell. "We could have borne all this," writes the +Intendant, Bigot; "but the scarcity of powder, the loss of the 'Vigilant,' +the presence of the squadron, and the absence of any news from Marin, who +had been ordered to join us with his Canadians and Indians, spread terror +among troops and inhabitants. The townspeople said that they did not want +to be put to the sword, and were not strong enough to resist a general +assault." [Footnote: _Bigot au Ministre, 1 Août, 1745_.] On the 15th +of June they brought a petition to Duchambon, begging him to capitulate. +[Footnote: _Duchambon au Ministre, 2 Sept. 1745_.] + +On that day Captain Sherburn, at the advanced battery, wrote in his diary: +"By 12 o'clock we had got all our platforms laid, embrazures mended, guns +in order, shot in place, cartridges ready, dined, gunners quartered, +matches lighted to return their last favours, when we heard their drums +beat a parley; and soon appeared a flag of truce, which I received midway +between our battery and their walls, conducted the officer to Green Hill, +and delivered him to Colonel Richman [Richmond]." + +La Perelle, the French officer, delivered a note from Duchambon, directed +to both Pepperrell and Warren, and asking for a suspension of arms to +enable him to draw up proposals for capitulation. [Footnote: _Duchambon à +Pepperrell et Warren, 26 Juin_ (new style), 1745.] Warren chanced to be +on shore when the note came; and the two commanders answered jointly that +it had come in good time, as they had just resolved on a general attack, +and that they would give the Governor till eight o'clock of the next +morning to make his proposals. [Footnote: _Warren and Pepperrell to +Duchambon, 15 June_, 1745.] + +They came in due time, but were of such a nature that Pepperrell refused to +listen to them, and sent back Bonaventure, the officer who brought them, +with counter-proposals. These were the terms which Duchambon had rejected +on the 7th of May, with added conditions; as, among others, that no +officer, soldier, or inhabitant of Louisbourg should bear arms against the +King of England or any of his allies for the space of a year. Duchambon +stipulated, as the condition of his acceptance, that his troops should +march out of the fortress with their arms and colors. [Footnote: +_Duchambon à Warren et Pepperrell, 27 Juin_ (new style), 1745.] To +this both the English commanders consented, Warren observing to Pepperrell +"the uncertainty of our affairs, that depend so much on wind and weather, +makes it necessary not to stickle at trifles." [Footnote: _Pepperrell to +Warren, 16 June, 1745, Warren to Pepperrell, 16 June, 1745._] The +articles were signed on both sides, and on the 17th the ships sailed +peacefully into the harbor, while Pepperrell with a part of his ragged army +entered the south gate of the town. + +"Never was a place more mal'd [mauled] with cannon and shells," he writes +to Shirley; "neither have I red in History of any troops behaving with +greater courage. We gave them about nine thousand cannon-balls and six +hundred bombs." [Footnote: _Pepperrell to Shirley, 18 June_ (old +style,) 1745. _Ibid._, 4 July, 1745.] Thus this unique military +performance ended in complete and astonishing success. + +According to English accounts, the French had lost about three hundred men +during the siege; but their real loss seems to have been not much above a +third of that number. On the side of the besiegers, the deaths from all +causes were only a hundred and thirty, about thirty of which were from +disease. The French used their muskets to good purpose; but their mortar +practice was bad, and close as was the advanced battery to their walls, +they often failed to hit it, while the ground on both sides of it looked +like a ploughed field, from the bursting of their shells. Their surrender +was largely determined by want of ammunition, as, according to one account, +the French had but thirty-seven barrels of gunpowder left, [Footnote: +_Habitant de Louisbourg._]--in which particular the besiegers fared +little better. [Footnote: Pepperrell more than once complains of a total +want of both powder and balls. Warren writes to him on May 29th: "It is +very lucky that we could spare you some powder; I am told you had not a +grain left."] + +The New England men had been full of confidence in the result of the +proposed assault, and a French writer says that the timely capitulation +saved Louisbourg from a terrible catastrophe; [Footnote: "C'est par une +protection visible de la Providence que nous avons prévenu une journée qui +nous auroit été si funeste." _Lettre d'un Habitant de Louisbourg._] +yet, ill-armed and disorderly as the besiegers were, it may be doubted +whether the quiet ending of the siege was not as fortunate for them as for +their foes. The discouragement of the French was increased by greatly +exaggerated ideas of the force of the "Bastonnais." The _Habitant de +Louisbourg_ places the land-force alone at eight or nine thousand men, +and Duchambon reports to the minister D'Argenson that he was attacked in +all by thirteen thousand. His mortifying position was a sharp temptation to +exaggerate; but his conduct can only be explained by a belief that the +force of his enemy was far greater than it was in fact. + +Warren thought that the proposed assault would succeed, and wrote to +Pepperrell that he hoped they would "soon keep a good house together, and +give the Ladys of Louisbourg a Gallant Ball." [Footnote: _Warren to +Pepperrell, 10 June, 1745._] During his visit to the camp on the +day when the flag of truce came out, he made a speech to the New England +soldiers, exhorting them to behave like true Englishmen; at which they +cheered lustily. Making a visit to the Grand Battery on the same day, he +won high favor with the regiment stationed there by the gift of a hogshead +of rum to drink his health. + +Whether Warren's "gallant ball" ever took place in Louisbourg does not +clearly appear. Pepperrell, on his part, celebrated the victory by a dinner +to the commodore and his officers. As the redoubtable Parson Moody was the +general's chaplain and the oldest man in the army, he expected to ask a +blessing at the board, and was, in fact, invited to do so,--to the great +concern of those who knew his habitual prolixity, and dreaded its effect on +the guests. At the same time, not one of them dared rasp his irritable +temper by any suggestion of brevity; and hence they came in terror to the +feast, expecting an invocation of a good half-hour, ended by open revolt of +the hungry Britons; when, to their surprise and relief, Moody said: "Good +Lord, we have so much to thank thee for, that time will be too short, and +we must leave it for eternity. Bless our food and fellowship upon this +joyful occasion, for the sake of Christ our Lord, Amen." And with that he +sat down. [Footnote: _Collection of Mass. Hist. Society. I. 49_] + +It is said that he had been seen in the French church hewing at the altar +and images with the axe that he had brought for that purpose; and perhaps +this iconoclastic performance had eased the high pressure of his zeal. +[Footnote: A descendant of Moody, at the village of York, told me that he +was found in the church busy in the work of demolition.] + +Amazing as their triumph was, Pepperrell's soldiers were not satisfied with +the capitulation, and one of them utters his disapproval in his diary thus: +"Sabbath Day, ye 16th June. They came to Termes for us to enter ye Sitty to +morrow, and Poore Termes they Bee too." + +The occasion of discontent was the security of property assured to the +inhabitants, "by which means," says that dull chronicler, Niles, "the poor +soldiers lost all their hopes and just demerit [desert] of plunder promised +them." In the meagreness of their pay they thought themselves entitled to +the plunder of Louisbourg, which they imagined to be a seat of wealth and +luxury. Nathaniel Sparhawk, Pepperrell's thrifty son-in-law, shared this +illusion, and begged the General to get for him (at a low price) a handsome +service of silver plate. When the volunteers exchanged their wet and dreary +camp for what they expected to be the comfortable quarters of the town, +they were disgusted to see the houses still occupied by the owners, and to +find themselves forced to stand guard at the doors, to protect them. +[Footnote: "Thursday, ye 21st. Ye French keep possession yet, and we are +forsed to stand at their Dores to gard them." _Diary of a Soldier, +anonymous._] "A great Noys and hubbub a mongst ye Solders a bout ye +Plunder; Som Cursing, som a Swarein," writes one of the disgusted victors. + +They were not, and perhaps could not be, long kept in order; and when, in +accordance with the capitulation, the inhabitants had been sent on board +vessels for transportation to France, discipline gave way, and General +Wolcott records that, while Moody was preaching on a Sunday in the +garrison-chapel, there was "excessive stealing in every part of the town." +Little, however, was left to steal. + +But if the army found but meagre gleanings, the navy reaped a rich harvest. +French ships, instead of being barred out of the harbor, were now lured to +enter it. The French flag was kept flying over the town, and in this way +prizes were entrapped to the estimated value of a million sterling, half of +which went to the Crown, and the rest to the British officers and crews, +the army getting no share whatever. + +Now rose the vexed question of the relative part borne by the colonies and +the Crown, the army and the navy, in the capture of Louisbourg; and here it +may be well to observe the impressions of a French witness of the siege. +"It was an enterprise less of the English nation and its King than of the +inhabitants of New England alone. This singular people have their own laws +and administration, and their governor plays the sovereign. Admiral +[Commodore] Warren had no authority over the troops sent by the Governor of +Boston, and he was only a spectator.... Nobody would have said that their +sea and land forces were of the same nation and under the same prince. No +nation but the English is capable of such eccentricities +(_bizarreries_),--which, nevertheless, are a part of the precious +liberty of which they show themselves so jealous." [Footnote: _Lettre +d'un Habitant de Louisbourg_.] + +The French writer is correct when he says that the land and sea forces were +under separate commands, and it is equally true that but for the +conciliating temper of Pepperrell, harmony could not have been preserved +between the two chiefs; but when he calls Warren a mere spectator, he does +glaring injustice to that gallant officer, whose activity and that of his +captains was incessant, and whose services were invaluable. They +maintained, with slight lapses, an almost impossible blockade, without +which the siege must have failed. Two or three small vessels got into the +harbor; but the capture of the "Vigilant," more than any other event of the +siege, discouraged the French and prepared them for surrender. + +Several English writers speak of Warren and the navy as the captors of +Louisbourg, and all New England writers give the chief honor to Pepperrell +and the army. Neither army nor navy would have been successful without the +other. Warren and his officers, in a council of war, had determined that so +long as the Island Battery and the water batteries of the town remained in +an efficient state, the ships could not enter the harbor; and Warren had +personally expressed the same opinion. [Footnote: _Report of Consultation +on board the "Superbe" 7 June, 1745_. "Commodore Warren did say +publickly that before the Circular Battery was reduced he would not venture +in here with three times ye sea force he had with him, and, through divine +assistance, we tore that [battery] and this city almost to pieces." +_Pepperrell to Shirley, 4 July, 1745_.] He did not mean to enter till +all the batteries which had made the attempt impracticable, including the +Circular Battery, which was the most formidable of all, had been silenced +or crippled by the army, and by the army alone. The whole work of the siege +fell upon the land forces; and though it had been proposed to send a body +of marines on shore, this was not done. [Footnote: Warren had no men to +spare. He says: "If it should be thought necessary to join your troops with +any men from our ships, it should only be done for some sudden attack that +may be executed in one day or night." _Warren to Pepperrell, 11 May, +1745._ No such occasion arose.] Three or four gunners, "to put your men +in the way of loading cannon," [Footnote: _Ibid., 13 May, 1745._ On +the 19th of May, 1746, Warren made a parting speech to the New England men +at Louisbourg, in which he tells them that it was they who conquered the +country, and expresses the hope that should the French try to recover it, +"the same Spirit that induced you to make this Conquest will prompt you to +protect it." See the speech in _Beamish-Murdoch_, II. 100-102.] was +Warren's contribution to the operations of the siege; though the fear of +attack by the ships, jointly with the land force, no doubt hastened the +surrender. Beauharnois, governor of Canada, ascribes the defeat to the +extreme activity with which the New England men pushed their attacks. + +The _Habitant de Louisbourg_ says that each of the two commanders was +eager that the keys of the fortress should be delivered to him, and not to +his colleague; that before the surrender, Warren sent an officer to +persuade the French that it would be for their advantage to make their +submission to him rather than to Pepperrell; and that it was in fact so +made. Wolcott, on the other hand, with the best means of learning the +truth, says in his diary that Pepperrell received the keys at the South +Gate. The report that it was the British commodore, and not their own +general, to whom Louisbourg surrendered, made a prodigious stir among the +inhabitants of New England, who had the touchiness common to small and +ambitious peoples, and as they had begun the enterprise and borne most of +its burdens and dangers, they thought themselves entitled to the chief +credit of it. Pepperrell was blamed as lukewarm for the honor of his +country because he did not demand the keys and reject the capitulation if +they were refused. After all this ebullition it appeared that the keys were +in his hands, for when, soon after the siege, Shirley came to Louisbourg, +Pepperrell formally presented them to him, in presence of the soldiers. + +Warren no doubt thought that he had a right to precedence, as being an +officer of the King in regular standing, while Pepperrell was but a +civilian, clothed with temporary rank by the appointment of a provincial +governor. Warren was an impetuous sailor accustomed to command, and +Pepperrell was a merchant accustomed to manage and persuade. The difference +appears in their correspondence during the siege. Warren is sometimes +brusque and almost peremptory; Pepperrell is forbearing and considerate to +the last degree. He liked Warren, and, to the last, continued to praise him +highly in letters to Shirley and other provincial governors; [Footnote: See +extracts in Parson, 105,106. The _Habitant de Louisbourg_ extols +Warren, but is not partial to Pepperrell, whom he calls, incorrectly, "the +son of a Boston shoemaker."] while Warren, on occasion of Shirley's arrival +at Louisbourg, made a speech highly complimentary to both the General and +his soldiers. + +The news that Louisbourg was taken, reached Boston at one o'clock in the +morning of the 3d of July by a vessel sent express. A din of bells and +cannon proclaimed it to the slumbering townsmen, and before the sun rose, +the streets were filled with shouting crowds. At night every window shone +with lamps, and the town was ablaze with fireworks and bonfires. The next +Thursday was appointed a day of general thanksgiving for a victory believed +to be the direct work of Providence. New York and Philadelphia also hailed +the great news with illuminations, ringing of bells, and firing of cannon. + +In England the tidings were received with astonishment and a joy that was +dashed with reflections on the strength and mettle of colonists supposed +already to aspire to independence. Pepperrell was made a baronet, and +Warren an admiral. The merchant soldier was commissioned colonel in the +British army; a regiment was given him, to be raised in America and +maintained by the King, while a similar recognition was granted to the +lawyer Shirley. [Footnote: To Rous, captain of a provincial cruiser, whom +Warren had commended for conduct and courage, was given the command of a +ship in the royal navy. "Tell your Council and Assembly, in his Majesty's +name," writes Newcastle to Shirley, "that their conduct will always entitle +them, in a particular manner, to his royal favor and protection." +_Newcastle to Shirley, 10 Aug. 1745._] + +A question vital to Massachusetts worried her in the midst of her triumph. +She had been bankrupt for many years, and of the large volume of her +outstanding obligations, a part was not worth eightpence in the pound. +Added to her load of debt, she had spent £183,649 sterling on the +Louisbourg expedition. That which Smollett calls "the most important +achievement of the war" would never have taken place but for her, and Old +England, and not New, was to reap the profit; for Louisbourg, conquered by +arms, was to be restored by diplomacy. If the money she had spent for the +mother-country were not repaid, her ruin was certain. William Bollan, +English by birth and a son-in-law of Shirley, was sent out to urge the just +claim of the province, and after long and vigorous solicitation, he +succeeded. The full amount, in sterling value, was paid to Massachusetts, +and the expenditures of New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were +also reimbursed. [Footnote: £183,649 to Massachusetts; £16,355 to New +Hampshire; £28,863 to Connecticut; £6,332 to Rhode Island.] The people of +Boston saw twenty-seven of those long, unwieldy trucks which many elders of +the place still remember as used in their youth, rumbling up King Street to +the treasury, loaded with 217 chests of Spanish dollars, and a hundred +barrels of copper coin. A pound sterling was worth eleven pounds of the +old-tenor currency of Massachusetts, and thirty shillings of the new-tenor. +Those beneficent trucks carried enough to buy in at a stroke nine tenths of +the old-tenor notes of the province,--nominally worth above two millions. +A stringent tax, laid on by the Assembly, paid the remaining tenth, and +Massachusetts was restored to financial health. + +[Footnote: Palfrey, _New England_, V. 101-109; Shirley, _Report to +the Board of Trade. Bollan to Secretary Willard_, in _Coll. Mass. +Hist. Soc.,_ I. 53; Hutchinson, _Hist. Mass.,_ II. 391-395. +_Letters of Bollan_ in Massachusetts Archives. + +It was through the exertions of the much-abused Thomas Hutchinson, +Speaker of the Assembly and historian of Massachusetts, that +the money was used for the laudable purpose of extinguishing the old debt. + +Shirley did his utmost to support Bollan in his efforts to obtain +compensation, and after highly praising the zeal and loyalty of the people +of his province, he writes to Newcastle: "Justice, as well as the affection +which I bear to 'em, constrains me to beseech your Grace to recommend their +Case to his Majesty's paternal Care & Tenderness in the Strongest manner." +_Shirley to Newcastle, 6 Nov. 1745._ + +The English documents on the siege of Louisbourg are many and voluminous. +The Pepperrell Papers and the Belknap Papers, both in the library of the +Massachusetts Historical Society, afford a vast number of contemporary +letters and documents on the subject. The large volume entitled _Siege of +Louisbourg_, in the same repository, contains many more, including a +number of autograph diaries of soldiers and others. To these are to be +added the journals of General Wolcott, James Gibson, Benjamin Cleaves, Seth +Pomeroy, and several others, in print or manuscript, among which is +especially to be noted the journal appended to Shirley's Letter to the Duke +of Newcastle of Oct. 28, 1745, and bearing the names of Pepperrell, +Brigadier Waldo, Colonel Moore, and Lieutenant-Colonels Lothrop and +Gridley, who attest its accuracy. Many papers have also been drawn from the +Public Record Office of London. + +Accounts of this affair have hitherto rested, with but slight exceptions, +on English sources alone. The archives of France have furnished useful +material to the foregoing narrative, notably the long report of the +Governor, Duchambon, to the Minister of War, and the letter of the +Intendant, Bigot, to the same personage, within about six weeks after the +surrender. But the most curious French evidence respecting the siege is the +_Lettre d'un Habitant de Louisbourg contenant une Relation exacte & +circonstanciée de la Prise de l'Isle-Royale par les Anglois. A Québec, chez +Guillaume le Sincère, à l'Image de la Vérité_, 1745. This little work, +of eighty-one printed pages, is extremely rare. I could study it only by +having a _literatim_ transcript made from the copy in the Bibliothèque +Nationale, as it was not in the British Museum. It bears the signature B. +L. N., and is dated _à ... ce 28 Août, 1745._ The imprint of Québec, +etc., is certainly a mask, the book having no doubt been printed in France. +It severely criticises Duchambon, and makes him mainly answerable for the +disaster. + +For French views of the siege of Louisbourg, _see_ Appendix B.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +1745-1747. + +DUC D'ANVILLE. + +LOUISBOURG AFTER THE CONQUEST.--MUTINY.--PESTILENCE.--STEPHEN +WILLIAMS.--HIS DIARY.--SCHEME OF CONQUERING CANADA.--NEWCASTLE'S +PROMISES.--ALARM IN CANADA.--PROMISES BROKEN.--PLAN AGAINST CROWN +POINT.--STARTLING NEWS.--D'ANVILLE'S FLEET.--LOUISBOURG TO BE +AVENGED.--DISASTERS OF D'ANVILLE.--STORM.--PESTILENCE.--FAMINE.--DEATH OF +D'ANVILLE.--SUICIDE OF THE VICE-ADMIRAL.--RUINOUS FAILURE.--RETURN +VOYAGE.--DEFEAT OF LA JONQUIÈRE. + + +The troops and inhabitants of Louisbourg were all embarked for France, and +the town was at last in full possession of the victors. The serious-minded +among them--and there were few who did not bear the stamp of hereditary +Puritanism--now saw a fresh proof that they were the peculiar care of an +approving Providence. While they were in camp the weather had been +favorable; but they were scarcely housed when a cold, persistent rain +poured down in floods that would have drenched their flimsy tents and +turned their huts of turf into mud-heaps, robbing the sick of every hope of +recovery. Even now they got little comfort from the shattered tenements of +Louisbourg. The siege had left the town in so filthy a condition that the +wells were infected and the water was poisoned. + +The soldiers clamored for discharge, having enlisted to serve only till the +end of the expedition; and Shirley insisted that faith must be kept with +them, or no more would enlist. [Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, 27 +Sept. 1745._] Pepperrell, much to the dissatisfaction of Warren, sent +home about seven hundred men, some of whom were on the sick list, while the +rest had families in distress and danger on the exposed frontier. At the +same time he begged hard for reinforcements, expecting a visit from the +French and a desperate attempt to recover Louisbourg. He and Warren +governed the place jointly, under martial law, and they both passed half +their time in holding courts-martial; for disorder reigned among the +disgusted militia, and no less among the crowd of hungry speculators, who +flocked like vultures to the conquered town to buy the cargoes of captured +ships, or seek for other prey. The Massachusetts soldiers, whose pay was +the smallest, and who had counted on being at their homes by the end of +July, were the most turbulent; but all alike were on the brink of mutiny. +Excited by their ringleaders, they one day marched in a body to the parade +and threw down their arms; but probably soon picked them up again, as in +most cases the guns were hunting-pieces belonging to those who carried +them. Pepperrell begged Shirley to come to Louisbourg and bring the +mutineers back to duty. Accordingly, on the 16th of August he arrived in a +ship-of-war, accompanied by Mrs. Shirley and Mrs. Warren, wife of the +Commodore. The soldiers duly fell into line to receive him. As it was not +his habit to hide his own merits, he tells the Duke of Newcastle that +nobody but he could have quieted the malcontents,--which is probably true, +as nobody else had power to raise their pay. He made them a speech, +promised them forty shillings in Massachusetts new-tenor currency a month, +instead of twenty-five, and ended with ordering for each man half a pint of +rum to drink the King's health. Though potations so generous might be +thought to promise effects not wholly sedative, the mutineers were brought +to reason, and some even consented to remain in garrison till the next +June. [Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, 4 Dec 1745._] + +Small reinforcements came from New England to hold the place till the +arrival of troops from Gibraltar, promised by the ministry. The two +regiments raised in the colonies, and commanded by Shirley and Pepperrell, +were also intended to form a part of the garrison; but difficulty was found +in filling the ranks, because, says Shirley, some commissions have been +given to Englishmen, and men will not enlist here except under American +officers. + +Nothing could be more dismal than the condition of Louisbourg, as reflected +in the diaries of soldiers and others who spent there the winter that +followed its capture. Among these diaries is that of the worthy Benjamin +Crafts, private in Hale's Essex regiment, who to the entry of each day adds +a pious invocation, sincere in its way, no doubt, though hackneyed, and +sometimes in strange company. Thus, after noting down Shirley's gift of +half a pint of rum to every man to drink the King's health, he adds +immediately: "The Lord Look upon us and enable us to trust in him & may he +prepare us for his holy Day." On "September ye 1, being Sabath," we find +the following record: "I am much out of order. This forenoon heard Mr. +Stephen Williams preach from ye 18 Luke 9 verse in the afternoon from ye 8 +of Ecles: 8 verse: Blessed be the Lord that has given us to enjoy another +Sabath and opertunity to hear his Word Dispensed." On the next day, "being +Monday," he continues, "Last night I was taken very Bad: the Lord be +pleased to strengthen my inner man that I may put my whole Trust in him. +May we all be prepared for his holy will. Red part of plunder, 9 small +tooth combs." Crafts died in the spring, of the prevailing distemper, after +doing good service in the commissary department of his regiment. + +Stephen Williams, the preacher whose sermons had comforted Crafts in his +trouble, was a son of Rev. John Williams, captured by the Indians at +Deerfield in 1704, and was now minister of Long Meadow, Massachusetts. He +had joined the anti-papal crusade as one of its chaplains, and passed for a +man of ability,--a point on which those who read his diary will probably +have doubts. The lot of the army chaplains was of the hardest. A pestilence +had fallen upon Louisbourg, and turned the fortress into a hospital. "After +we got into the town," says the sarcastic Dr. Douglas, whose pleasure it is +to put everything in its worst light, "a sordid indolence or sloth, for +want of discipline, induced putrid fevers and dysenteries, which at length +in August became contagious, and the people died like rotten sheep." From +fourteen to twenty-seven were buried every day in the cemetery behind the +town, outside the Maurepas Gate, by the old lime-kiln, on Rochefort Point; +and the forgotten bones of above five hundred New England men lie there to +this day under the coarse, neglected grass. The chaplain's diary is little +but a dismal record of sickness, death, sermons, funerals, and prayers with +the dying ten times a day. "Prayed at Hospital;--Prayed at +Citadel;--Preached at Grand Eatery;--Visited Capt. [illegible], very +sick;--One of Capt. ----'s company dyd--Am but poorly myself, but able to +keep about." Now and then there is a momentary change of note, as when he +writes: "July 29th. One of ye Captains of ye men of war caind a soldier who +struck ye capt. again. A great tumult. Swords were drawn; no life lost, but +great uneasiness is caused." Or when he sets down the "say" of some Briton, +apparently a naval officer, "that he had tho't ye New England men were +Cowards--but now he tho't yt if they had a pick axe & spade, they w'd dig +ye way to Hell & storm it." [Footnote: The autograph diary of Rev. Stephen +Williams is in my possession. The handwriting is detestable.] + +Williams was sorely smitten with homesickness, but he sturdily kept his +post, in spite of grievous yearnings for family and flock. The pestilence +slowly abated, till at length the burying-parties that passed the Maurepas +Gate counted only three or four a day. At the end of January five hundred +and sixty-one men had died, eleven hundred were on the sick list, and about +one thousand fit for duty. [Footnote: On May 10th, 1746, Shirley writes to +Newcastle that eight hundred and ninety men had died during the winter. The +sufferings of the garrison from cold were extreme.] The promised regiments +from Gibraltar had not come. Could the French have struck then, Louisbourg +might have changed hands again. The Gibraltar regiments had arrived so +late upon that rude coast that they turned southward to the milder shores +of Virginia, spent the winter there, and did not appear at Louisbourg till +April. They brought with them a commission for Warren as governor of the +fortress. He made a speech of thanks to the New England garrison, now +reduced to less than nineteen hundred men, sick and well, and they sailed +at last for home, Louisbourg being now thought safe from any attempt of +France. + +To the zealous and energetic Shirley the capture of the fortress was but a +beginning of greater triumphs. Scarcely had the New England militia sailed +from Boston on their desperate venture, when he wrote to the Duke of +Newcastle that should the expedition succeed, all New England would be on +fire to attack Canada, and the other colonies would take part with them, if +ordered to do so by the ministry. [Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, 4 +April, 1745._] And, some months later, after Louisbourg was taken, he +urged the policy of striking while the iron was hot, and invading Canada at +once. The colonists, he said, were ready, and it would be easier to raise +ten thousand men for such an attack than one thousand to lie idle in +garrison at Louisbourg or anywhere else. France and England, he thinks, +cannot live on the same continent. If we were rid of the French, he +continues, England would soon control America, which would make her first +among the nations; and he ventures what now seems the modest prediction +that in one or two centuries the British colonies would rival France in +population. Even now, he is sure that they would raise twenty thousand men +to capture Canada, if the King required it of them, and Warren would be an +acceptable commander for the naval part of the expedition; "but," concludes +the Governor, "I will take no step without orders from his Majesty." +[Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, 29 Oct. 1745._] + +The Duke of Newcastle was now at the head of the Government. Smollett and +Horace Walpole have made his absurdities familiar, in anecdotes which, true +or not, do no injustice to his character; yet he had talents that were +great in their way, though their way was a mean one. They were talents, not +of the statesman, but of the political manager, and their object was to win +office and keep it. + +Newcastle, whatever his motives, listened to the counsels of Shirley, and +directed him to consult with Warren as to the proposed attack on Canada. +At the same time he sent a circular letter to the governors of the +provinces from New England to North Carolina, directing them, should the +invasion be ordered, to call upon their assemblies for as many men as they +would grant. [Footnote: _Newcastle to the Provincial Governors, 14 March, +1746; Shirley to Newcastle, 31 May, 1746; Proclamation of Shirley, 2 June, +1746._] Shirley's views were cordially supported by Warren, and the +levies were made accordingly, though not in proportion to the strength of +the several colonies; for those south of New York felt little interest in +the plan. Shirley was told to "dispose Massachusetts to do its part;" but +neither he nor his province needed prompting. Taking his cue from the Roman +senator, he exclaimed to his Assembly, "_Delenda est Canada;_" and the +Assembly responded by voting to raise thirty-five hundred men, and offering +a bounty equivalent to £4 sterling to each volunteer, besides a blanket for +every one, and a bed for every two. New Hampshire contributed five hundred +men, Rhode Island three hundred, Connecticut one thousand, New York sixteen +hundred, New Jersey five hundred, Maryland three hundred, and Virginia one +hundred. The Pennsylvania Assembly, controlled by Quaker non-combatants, +would give no soldiers; but, by a popular movement, the province furnished +four hundred men, without the help of its representatives. [Footnote: +Hutchinson, II. 381, _note._ Compare _Memoirs of the Principal +Transactions of the Late War._] + +As usual in the English attempts against Canada, the campaign was to be a +double one. The main body of troops, composed of British regulars and New +England militia, was to sail up the St. Lawrence and attack Quebec, while +the levies of New York and the provinces farther south, aided, it was +hoped, by the warriors of the Iroquois, were to advance on Montreal by way +of Lake Champlain. + +Newcastle promised eight battalions of British troops under +Lieutenant-General Saint Clair. They were to meet the New England men at +Louisbourg, and all were then to sail together for Quebec, under the escort +of a squadron commanded by Warren. Shirley also was to go to Louisbourg, +and arrange the plan of the campaign with the General and the Admiral. +Thus, without loss of time, the captured fortress was to be made a base of +operations against its late owners. + +Canada was wild with alarm at reports of English preparation. There were +about fifty English prisoners in barracks at Quebec, and every device was +tried to get information from them; but being chiefly rustics caught on the +frontiers by Indian war-parties, they had little news to give, and often +refused to give even this. One of them, who had been taken long before and +gained over by the French, [Footnote: "Un ancien prisonnier affidé que l'on +a mis dans nos interests."] was used as an agent to extract information +from his countrymen, and was called _"notre homme de confiance."_ At +the same time the prisoners were freely supplied with writing materials, +and their letters to their friends being then opened, it appeared that they +were all in expectation of speedy deliverance. [Footnote: _Extrait en +forme de Journal de ce quie s'est passé dans la Colonie depuis ...le 1 +Déc. 1745, jusqu'au 9 Nov. 1746, signé Beauharnois et Hocquart._] + +In July a report came from Acadia that from forty to fifty thousand men +were to attack Canada; and on the 1st of August a prisoner lately taken at +Saratoga declared that there were thirty-two warships at Boston ready to +sail against Quebec, and that thirteen thousand men were to march at once +from Albany against Montreal. "If all these stories are true," writes the +Canadian journalist, "all the English on this continent must be in arms." + +Preparations for defence were pushed with feverish energy. Fireships were +made ready at Quebec, and fire-rafts at Isle-aux-Coudres; provisions were +gathered, and ammunition was distributed; reconnoitring parties were sent +to watch the Gulf and the River; and bands of Canadians and Indians lately +sent to Acadia were ordered to hasten back. + +Thanks to the Duke of Newcastle, all these alarms were needless. The +Massachusetts levies were ready within six weeks, and Shirley, eager and +impatient, waited in vain for the squadron from England and the promised +eight battalions of regulars. They did not come; and in August he wrote to +Newcastle that it would now be impossible to reach Quebec before October, +which would be too late. [Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, 22 Aug. +1746._] The eight battalions had been sent to Portsmouth for +embarkation, ordered on board the transports, then ordered ashore again, +and finally sent on an abortive expedition against the coast of France. +There were those who thought that this had been their destination from the +first, and that the proposed attack on Canada was only a pretence to +deceive the enemy. It was not till the next spring that Newcastle tried to +explain the miscarriage to Shirley. He wrote that the troops had been +detained by head-winds till General Saint Clair and Admiral Lestock thought +it too late; to which he added that the demands of the European war made +the Canadian expedition impracticable, and that Shirley was to stand on the +defensive and attempt no further conquests. As for the provincial soldiers, +who this time were in the pay of the Crown, he says that they were "very +expensive," and orders the Governor to get rid of them "as cheap as +possible." [Footnote: _Newcastle to Shirley, 30 May 1747._] +Thus, not for the first time, the hopes of the colonies were brought to +nought by the failure of the British ministers to keep their promises. + +When, in the autumn of 1746, Shirley said that for the present Canada was +to be let alone, he bethought him of a less decisive conquest, and proposed +to employ the provincial troops for an attack on Crown Point, which formed +a half-way station between Albany and Montreal, and was the constant +rendezvous of war-parties against New York, New Hampshire, and +Massachusetts, whose discords and jealousies had prevented them from +combining to attack it. The Dutch of Albany, too, had strong commercial +reasons for not coming to blows with the Canadians. Of late, however, +Massachusetts and New York had suffered so much from this inconvenient +neighbor that it was possible to unite them against it; and as Clinton, +governor of New York, was scarcely less earnest to get possession of Crown +Point than was Shirley himself, a plan of operations was soon settled. By +the middle of October fifteen hundred Massachusetts troops were on their +way to join the New York levies, and then advance upon the obnoxious post. +[Footnote: _Memoirs of the Principal Transactions of the Last War._] + +Even this modest enterprise was destined to fail. Astounding tidings +reached New England, and startled her like a thunder-clap from dreams of +conquest. It was reported that a great French fleet and army were on their +way to retake Louisbourg, reconquer Acadia, burn Boston, and lay waste the +other seaboard towns. The Massachusetts troops marching for Crown Point +were recalled, and the country militia were mustered in arms. In a few days +the narrow, crooked streets of the Puritan capital were crowded with more +than eight thousand armed rustics from the farms and villages of Middlesex, +Essex, Norfolk, and Worcester, and Connecticut promised six thousand more +as soon as the hostile fleet should appear. The defences of Castle William +were enlarged and strengthened, and cannon were planted on the islands at +the mouth of the harbor; hulks were sunk in the channel, and a boom was +laid across it under the guns of the castle. [Footnote: _Shirley to +Newcastle, 29 Sept. 1746._ Shirley says that though the French +may bombard the town, he does not think they could make a landing, as he +shall have fifteen thousand good men within call to oppose them.] The alarm +was compared to that which filled England on the approach of the Spanish +Armada. [Footnote: Hutchinson, II. 382.] + +Canada heard the news of the coming armament with an exultation that was +dashed with misgiving as weeks and months passed and the fleet did not +appear. At length in September a vessel put in to an Acadian harbor with +the report that she had met the ships in mid-ocean, and that they counted a +hundred and fifty sail. Some weeks later the Governor and Intendant of +Canada wrote that on the 14th of October they received a letter from +Chibucto with "the agreeable news" that the Duc d'Anville and his fleet had +arrived there about three weeks before. Had they known more, they would +have rejoiced less. + +That her great American fortress should have been snatched from her by a +despised militia was more than France could bear; and in the midst of a +burdensome war she made a crowning effort to retrieve her honor and pay the +debt with usury. It was computed that nearly half the French navy was +gathered at Brest under command of the Duc d'Anville. By one account his +force consisted of eleven ships of the line, twenty frigates, and +thirty-four transports and fireships, or sixty-five in all. Another list +gives a total of sixty-six, of which ten were ships of the line, twenty-two +were frigates and fireships, and thirty-four were transports. [Footnote: +This list is in the journal of a captured French officer called by Shirley +M. Rebateau.] These last carried the regiment of Ponthieu, with other +veteran troops, to the number in all of three thousand one hundred and +fifty. The fleet was to be joined at Chibucto, now Halifax, by four heavy +ships-of-war lately sent to the West Indies under M. de Conflans. + +From Brest D'Anville sailed for some reason to Rochelle, and here the ships +were kept so long by head-winds that it was the 20th of June before they +could put to sea. From the first the omens were sinister. The Admiral was +beset with questions as to the destination of the fleet, which was known to +him alone; and when, for the sake of peace, he told it to his officers, +their discontent redoubled. The Bay of Biscay was rough and boisterous, and +spars, sails, and bowsprits were carried away. After they had been a week +at sea, some of the ships, being dull sailers, lagged behind, and the rest +were forced to shorten sail and wait for them. In the longitude of the +Azores there was a dead calm, and the whole fleet lay idle for days. Then +came a squall, with lightning. Several ships were struck. On one of them +six men were killed, and on the seventy-gun ship "Mars" a box of musket and +cannon cartridges blew up, killed ten men, and wounded twenty-one. A +storeship which proved to be sinking was abandoned and burned. Then a +pestilence broke out, and in some of the ships there were more sick than in +health. + +On the 14th of September they neared the coast of Nova Scotia, and were in +dread of the dangerous shoals of Sable Island, the position of which they +did not exactly know. They groped their way in fogs till a fearful storm, +with thunder and lightning, fell upon them. The journalist of the voyage, a +captain in the regiment of Ponthieu, says, with the exaggeration common in +such cases, that the waves ran as high as the masts; and such was their +violence that a transport, dashing against the ship "Amazone," immediately +went down, with all on board. The crew of the "Prince d'Orange," half +blinded by wind and spray, saw the great ship "Caribou," without bowsprit +or main-topmast, driving towards them before the gale, and held their +breath in expectation of the shock as she swept close alongside and +vanished in the storm. [Footnote: _Journal historique du Voyage de la +Flotte commandée par M. le Duc d'Enville._ The writer was on board the +"Prince d'Orange," and describes what he saw (Archives du Séminaire de +Québec; printed in _Le Canada Français._)] The tempest raged all +night, and the fleet became so scattered that there was no more danger of +collision. In the morning the journalist could see but five sail; but as +the day advanced the rest began to reappear, and at three o'clock he +counted thirty-one from the deck of the "Prince d'Orange." The gale was +subsiding, but its effects were seen in hencoops, casks, and chests +floating on the surges and telling the fate of one or more of the fleet. +The "Argonaut" was rolling helpless, without masts or rudder; the "Caribou" +had thrown overboard all the starboard guns of her upper deck; and the +vice-admiral's ship, the "Trident," was in scarcely better condition. + +On the 23d they were wrapped in thick fog and lay firing guns, ringing +bells, and beating drums to prevent collisions. When the weather cleared, +they looked in vain for the Admiral's ship, the "Northumberland." +[Footnote: The "Northumberland" was an English prize captured by Captains +Serier and Conflans in 1744.] She was not lost, however, but with two other +ships was far ahead of the fleet and near Chibucto, though in great +perplexity, having no pilot who knew the coast. She soon after had the good +fortune to capture a small English vessel with a man on board well +acquainted with Chibucto harbor. D'Anville offered him his liberty and a +hundred louis if he would pilot the ship in. To this he agreed; but when he +rejoined his fellow-prisoners they called him a traitor to his country, on +which he retracted his promise. D'Anville was sorely perplexed; but +Duperrier, captain of the "Northumberland," less considerate of the +prisoner's feelings, told him that unless he kept his word he should be +thrown into the sea, with a pair of cannon-balls made fast to his feet. At +this his scruples gave way, and before night the "Northumberland" was safe +in Chibucto Bay. D'Anville had hoped to find here the four ships of +Conflans which were to have met him from the West Indies at this, the +appointed rendezvous; but he saw only a solitary transport of his own +fleet. Hills covered with forests stood lonely and savage round what is now +the harbor of Halifax. Conflans and his four ships had arrived early in the +month, and finding nobody, though it was nearly three months since +D'Anville left Rochelle, he cruised among the fogs for a while, and then +sailed for France a few days before the Admiral's arrival. + +D'Anville was ignorant of the fate of his fleet; but he knew that the two +ships which had reached Chibucto with him were full of sick men, that their +provisions were nearly spent, and that there was every reason to believe +such of the fleet as the storm might have spared to be in no better case. +An officer of the expedition describes D'Anville as a man "made to command +and worthy to be loved," and says that he had borne the disasters of the +voyage with the utmost fortitude and serenity. [Footnote: _Journal +historique du Voyage._] Yet suspense and distress wrought fatally upon +him, and at two o'clock in the morning of the 27th he died,--of apoplexy, +by the best accounts; though it was whispered among the crews that he had +ended his troubles by poison. [Footnote: _Declaration of H. Kannan and +D. Deas, 23 Oct. 1746. Deposition of Joseph Foster, 24 Oct. 1746, sworn to +before Jacob Wendell, J. P._ These were prisoners in the ships at +Chibucto.] + +At six o'clock in the afternoon of the same day D'Estournel, the +vice-admiral, with such ships as remained with him, entered the harbor and +learned what had happened. He saw with dismay that he was doomed to bear +the burden of command over a ruined enterprise and a shattered fleet. The +long voyage had consumed the provisions, and in some of the ships the crews +were starving. The pestilence grew worse, and men were dying in numbers +every day. On the 28th, D'Anville was buried without ceremony on a small +island in the harbor. The officers met in council, and the papers of the +dead commander were examined. Among them was a letter from the King in +which he urged the recapture of Louisbourg as the first object of the +expedition; but this was thought impracticable, and the council resolved to +turn against Annapolis all the force that was left. It is said that +D'Estournel opposed the attempt, insisting that it was hopeless, and that +there was no alternative but to return to France. The debate was long and +hot, and the decision was against him. [Footnote: This is said by all the +writers except the author of the _Journal historique_, who merely +states that the council decided to attack Annapolis, and to detach some +soldiers to the aid of Quebec. This last vote was reconsidered.] The +council dissolved, and he was seen to enter his cabin in evident distress +and agitation. An unusual sound was presently heard, followed by groans. +His door was fastened by two bolts, put on the evening before by his order. +It was burst open, and the unfortunate commander was found lying in a pool +of blood, transfixed with his own sword. Enraged and mortified, he had +thrown himself upon it in a fit of desperation. The surgeon drew out the +blade, but it was only on the urgent persuasion of two Jesuits that the +dying man would permit the wound to be dressed. He then ordered all the +captains to the side of his berth, and said, "Gentlemen, I beg pardon of +God and the King for what I have done, and I protest to the King that my +only object was to prevent my enemies from saying that I had not executed +his orders;" and he named M. de la Jonquière to command in his place. In +fact, La Jonquière's rank entitled him to do so. He was afterwards well +known as governor of Canada, and was reputed a brave and able sea-officer. + +La Jonquière remained at Chibucto till late in October. Messengers were +sent to the Acadian settlements to ask for provisions, of which there was +desperate need; and as payment was promised in good metal, and not in +paper, the Acadians brought in a considerable supply. The men were encamped +on shore, yet the pestilence continued its ravages. Two English prisoners +were told that between twenty-three and twenty-four hundred men had been +buried by sea or land since the fleet left France; and another declares +that eleven hundred and thirty-five burials took place while he was at +Chibucto. [Footnote: _Declaration of Kannan and Deas. Deposition of +Joseph Foster._] The survivors used the clothing of the dead as gifts to +the neighboring Indians, who in consequence were attacked with such +virulence by the disease that of the band at Cape Sable three fourths are +said to have perished. The English, meanwhile, learned something of the +condition of their enemies. Towards the end of September Captain Sylvanus +Cobb, in a sloop from Boston, boldly entered Chibucto Harbor, took note of +the ships lying there, and though pursued, ran out to sea and carried the +results of his observations to Louisbourg. [Footnote: _Report of Captain +Cobb,_ in _Shirley to Newcastle, 13 Oct. 1746._] A more thorough +reconnoissance was afterwards made by a vessel from Louisbourg bringing +French prisoners for exchange under a flag of truce; and it soon became +evident that the British colonies had now nothing to fear. + +La Jonquière still clung to the hope of a successful stroke at Annapolis, +till in October an Acadian brought him the report that the garrison of that +place had received a reinforcement of twelve hundred men. The reinforcement +consisted in reality of three small companies of militia sent from Boston +by Shirley. La Jonquière called a secret council, and the result seems to +have been adverse to any further attempt. The journalist reports that only +a thousand men were left in fighting condition, and that even of these some +were dying every day. + +La Jonquière, however, would not yet despair. The troops were re-embarked; +five hospital ships were devoted to the sick; the "Parfait," a fifty-gun +ship no longer serviceable, was burned, as were several smaller vessels, +and on the 4th of October what was left of the fleet sailed out of Chibucto +Harbor and steered for Annapolis, piloted by Acadians. The flag of truce +from Louisbourg was compelled for a time to bear them company, and Joseph +Foster of Beverly, an exchanged prisoner on board of her, deposed that as +the fleet held its way, he saw "a great number of dead persons" dropped +into the sea every day. Ill-luck still pursued the French. A storm off Cape +Sable dispersed the ships, two of which some days later made their way to +Annapolis Basin in expectation of finding some of their companions there. +They found instead the British fifty-gun ship "Chester" and the +Massachusetts frigate "Shirley" anchored before the fort, on which the two +Frenchmen retired as they had come; and so ended the last aggressive +movement on the part of the great armament. + +The journalist reports that on the night of the 27th there was a council of +officers on board the "Northumberland," at which it was resolved that no +choice was left but to return to France with the ships that still kept +together. On the 4th of November there was another storm, and when it +subsided, the "Prince d'Orange" found herself with but nine companions, all +of which were transports. These had on board eleven companies of soldiers, +of whom their senior officer reports that only ninety-one were in health. +The pestilence made such ravages among the crews that four or five corpses +were thrown into the sea every day, and there was fear that the vessels +would be left helpless in mid-ocean for want of sailors to work them. +[Footnote: _Journal historique._] At last, on the 7th of December, +after narrowly escaping an English squadron, they reached Port Louis in +Brittany, where several ships of the fleet had arrived before them. Among +these was the frigate "La Palme." "Yesterday," says the journalist, "I +supped with M. Destrahoudal, who commands this frigate; and he told me +things which from anybody else would have been incredible. This is his +story, exactly as I had it from him." And he goes on to the following +effect. + +After the storm of the 14th of September, provisions being almost spent, it +was thought that there was no hope for "La Palme" and her crew but in +giving up the enterprise and making all sail at once for home, since France +now had no port of refuge on the western continent nearer than Quebec. +Rations were reduced to three ounces of biscuit and three of salt meat a +day; and after a time half of this pittance was cut off. There was diligent +hunting for rats in the hold; and when this game failed, the crew, crazed +with famine, demanded of their captain that five English prisoners who were +on board should be butchered to appease the frenzy of their hunger. The +captain consulted his officers, and they were of opinion that if he did not +give his consent, the crew would work their will without it. The ship's +butcher was accordingly ordered to bind one of the prisoners, carry him to +the bottom of the hold, put him to death, and distribute his flesh to the +men in portions of three ounces each. The captain, walking the deck in +great agitation all night, found a pretext for deferring the deed till +morning, when a watchman sent aloft at daylight cried, "A sail!" The +providential stranger was a Portuguese ship; and as Portugal was neutral in +the war, she let the frigate approach to within hailing distance. The +Portuguese captain soon came alongside in a boat, "accompanied," in the +words of the narrator, "by five sheep." These were eagerly welcomed by the +starving crew as agreeable substitutes for the five Englishmen; and being +forthwith slaughtered, were parcelled out among the men, who would not wait +till the flesh was cooked, but devoured it raw. Provisions enough were +obtained from the Portuguese to keep the frigate's company alive till they +reached Port Louis. [Footnote: _Relation du Voyage de Retour de M. +Destrahoudal après la Tempête du 14 Septembre,_ in _Journal +historique._] + +There are no sufficient means of judging how far the disasters of +D'Anville's fleet were due to a neglect of sanitary precautions or to +deficient seamanship. Certain it is that there were many in self-righteous +New England who would have held it impious to doubt that God had summoned +the pestilence and the storm to fight the battles of his modern Israel. + +Undaunted by disastrous failure, the French court equipped another fleet, +not equal to that of D'Anville, yet still formidable, and placed it under +La Jonquière, for the conquest of Acadia and Louisbourg. La Jonquière +sailed from Rochelle on the 10th of May, 1747, and on the 14th was met by +an English fleet stronger than his own and commanded by Admirals Anson and +Warren. A fight ensued, in which, after brave resistance, the French were +totally defeated. Six ships-of-war, including the flag-ship, were captured, +with a host of prisoners, among whom was La Jonquière himself. [Footnote: +_Relation du Combat rendu le 14 Mai _(new style)_, par l'Escadre du +Roy commandée par M. de la Jonquiere, _in_ Le Canada Français, +Supplément de Documents inédits, 33. Newcastle to Shirley, 30 May, +1747._] + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +1745-1747. + +ACADIAN CONFLICTS. + +EFFORTS OF FRANCE.--APATHY OF NEWCASTLE.--DILEMMA OF ACADIANS.--THEIR +CHARACTER.--DANGER OF THE PROVINCE.--PLANS OF SHIRLEY.--ACADIAN +PRIESTS.--POLITICAL AGITATORS.--NOBLE'S EXPEDITION.--RAMESAY AT +BEAUBASSIN.--NOBLE AT GRAND PRÉ.--A WINTER MARCH.--DEFEAT AND DEATH OF +NOBLE.--GRAND PRÉ RE-OCCUPIED BY THE ENGLISH.--THREATS OF RAMESAY AGAINST +THE ACADIANS.--THE BRITISH MINISTRY WILL NOT PROTECT THEM. + + +Since the capture of Louisbourg, France had held constantly in view, as an +object of prime importance, the recovery of her lost colony of Acadia. +This was one of the chief aims of D'Anville's expedition, and of that of La +Jonquière in the next year. And to make assurance still more sure, a large +body of Canadians, under M. de Ramesay, had been sent to Acadia to +co-operate with D'Anville's force; but the greater part of them had been +recalled to aid in defending Quebec against the expected attack of the +English. They returned when the news came that D'Anville was at Chibucto, +and Ramesay, with a part of his command, advanced upon Port Royal, or +Annapolis, in order to support the fleet in its promised attack on that +place. He encamped at a little distance from the English fort, till he +heard of the disasters that had ruined the fleet, [Footnote: _Journal de +Beaujeu_, in _Le Canada Francçais, Documents_, 53.] and then fell +back to Chignecto, on the neck of the Acadian peninsula, where he made his +quarters, with a force which, including Micmac, Malecite, and Penobscot +Indians, amounted, at one time, to about sixteen hundred men. + +If France was bent on recovering Acadia, Shirley was no less resolved to +keep it, if he could. In his belief, it was the key of the British +American colonies, and again and again he urged the Duke of Newcastle to +protect it. But Newcastle seems scarcely to have known where Acadia was, +being ignorant of most things except the art of managing the House of +Commons, and careless of all things that could not help his party and +himself. Hence Shirley's hyperboles, though never without a basis of truth, +were lost upon him. Once, it is true, he sent three hundred men to +Annapolis; but one hundred and eighty of them died on the voyage, or lay +helpless in Boston hospitals, and the rest could better have been spared, +some being recruits from English jails, and others Irish Catholics, several +of whom deserted to the French, with information of the state of the +garrison. + +The defence of Acadia was left to Shirley and his Assembly, who in time of +need sent companies of militia and rangers to Annapolis, and thus on +several occasions saved it from returning to France. Shirley was the most +watchful and strenuous defender of British interests on the continent; and +in the present crisis British and colonial interests were one. He held that +if Acadia were lost, the peace and safety of all the other colonies would +be in peril; and in spite of the immense efforts made by the French court +to recover it, he felt that the chief danger of the province was not from +without, but from within. "If a thousand French troops should land in Nova +Scotia," he writes to Newcastle, "all the people would rise to join them, +besides all the Indians." [Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, 29 Oct. +1745._] So, too, thought the French officials in America. The Governor +and Intendant of Canada wrote to the colonial minister: "The inhabitants, +with few exceptions, wish to return under the French dominion, and will not +hesitate to take up arms as soon as they see themselves free to do so; that +is, as soon as we become masters of Port Royal, or they have powder and +other munitions of war, and are backed by troops for their protection +against the resentment of the English." [Footnote: _Beauharnois et +Hocquart au Ministre, 12 Sept. 1745._] Up to this time, however, though +they had aided Duvivier in his attack on Annapolis so far as was possible +without seeming to do so, they had not openly taken arms, and their refusal +to fight for the besiegers is one among several causes to which Mascarene +ascribes the success of his defence. While the greater part remained +attached to France, some leaned to the English, who bought their produce +and paid them in ready coin. Money was rare with the Acadians, who loved +it, and were so addicted to hoarding it that the French authorities were +led to speculate as to what might be the object of these careful savings. +[Footnote: _Beauharnois et Hocquart au Ministre_, 12 Sept. 1745.] + +Though the Acadians loved France, they were not always ready to sacrifice +their interests to her. They would not supply Ramesay's force with +provisions in exchange for his promissory notes, but demanded hard cash. +[Footnote: _Ibid_.] This he had not to give, and was near being +compelled to abandon his position in consequence. At the same time, in +consideration of specie payment, the inhabitants brought in fuel for the +English garrison at Louisbourg, and worked at repairing the rotten +_chevaux de frise_ of Annapolis. [Footnote: _Admiral Knowles à ---- +1746._ Mascarene in _Le Canada Français, Documents_, 82] + +Mascarene, commandant at that place, being of French descent, was disposed +at first to sympathize with the Acadians and treat them with a lenity that +to the members of his council seemed neither fitting nor prudent. He wrote +to Shirley: "The French inhabitants are certainly in a very perilous +situation, those who pretend to be their friends and old masters having let +loose a parcel of banditti to plunder them; whilst, on the other hand, they +see themselves threatened with ruin if they fail in their allegiance to the +British Government." [Footnote: Mascarene, in _Le Canada Français, +Documents_, 81.] + +This unhappy people were in fact between two fires. France claimed them on +one side, and England on the other, and each demanded their adhesion, +without regard to their feelings or their wrelfare. The banditti of whom +Mascarene speaks were the Micmac Indians, who were completely under the +control of their missionary, Le Loutre, and were used by him to terrify the +inhabitants into renouncing their English allegiance and actively +supporting the French cause. By the Treaty of Utrecht France had +transferred Acadia to Great Britain, and the inhabitants had afterwards +taken an oath of fidelity to King George. Thus they were British subjects; +but as their oath had been accompanied by a promise, or at least a clear +understanding, that they should not be required to take arms against +Frenchmen or Indians, they had become known as the "Neutral French." This +name tended to perplex them, and in their ignorance and simplicity they +hardly knew to which side they owed allegiance. Their illiteracy was +extreme. Few of them could sign their names, and a contemporary well +acquainted with them declares that he knew but a single Acadian who could +read and write. [Footnote: Moïse des Derniers, in _Le Canada +Français_, I. 118.] This was probably the notary, Le Blanc, whose +compositions are crude and illiterate. Ignorant of books and isolated in a +wild and remote corner of the world, the Acadians knew nothing of affairs, +and were totally incompetent to meet the crisis that was soon to come upon +them. In activity and enterprise they were far behind the Canadians, who +looked on them as inferiors. Their pleasures were those of the humblest and +simplest peasants; they were contented with their lot, and asked only to be +let alone. Their intercourse was unceremonious to such a point that they +never addressed each other, or, it is said, even strangers, as +_monsieur_. They had the social equality which can exist only in the +humblest conditions of society, and presented the phenomenon of a primitive +little democracy, hatched under the wing of an absolute monarchy. Each was +as good as his neighbor; they had no natural leaders, nor any to advise or +guide them, except the missionary priest, who in every case was expected by +his superiors to influence them in the interest of France, and who, in +fact, constantly did so. While one observer represents them as living in a +state of primeval innocence, another describes both men and women as +extremely foul of speech; from which he draws inferences unfavorable to +their domestic morals, [Footnote: _Journal de Franquet_, Part II.] +which, nevertheless, were commendable. As is usual with a well-fed and +unambitious peasantry, they were very prolific, and are said to have +doubled their number every sixteen years. In 1748 they counted in the +peninsula of Nova Scotia between twelve and thirteen thousand souls. +[Footnote: _Description de l'Acadie, avec le Nom des Paroisses et le +Nombre des Habitants_, 1748.] The English rule had been of the +lightest,--so light that it could scarcely be felt; and this was not +surprising, since the only instruments for enforcing it over a population +wholly French were some two hundred disorderly soldiers in the crumbling +little fort of Annapolis; and the province was left, perforce, to take care +of itself. + +The appearance of D'Anville's fleet caused great excitement among the +Acadians, who thought that they were about to pass again under the Crown of +France. Fifty of them went on board the French ships at Chibucto to pilot +them to the attack of Annapolis, and to their dismay found that no attack +was to be made. When Ramesay, with his Canadians and Indians, took post at +Chignecto and built a fort at Baye Verte, on the neck of the peninsula of +Nova Scotia, the English power in that part of the colony seemed at an end. +The inhabitants cut off all communication with Annapolis, and detained the +officers whom Mascarene sent for intelligence. + +From the first outbreak of the war it was evident that the French built +their hopes of recovering Acadia largely on a rising of the Acadians +against the English rule, and that they spared no efforts to excite such a +rising. Early in 1745 a violent and cruel precaution against this danger +was suggested. William Shirreff, provincial secretary, gave it as his +opinion that the Acadians ought to be removed, being a standing menace to +the colony. [Footnote: _Shirreff to K. Gould, agent of Phillips's +Regiment, March, 1745._] This is the first proposal of such a nature +that I find. Some months later, Shirley writes that, on a false report of +the capture of Annapolis by the French, the Acadians sang _Te Deum,_ +and that every sign indicates that there will be an attempt in the spring +to capture Annapolis, with their help. [Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, +14 Dec. 1745._] Again, Shirley informs Newcastle that the French will +get possession of Acadia unless the most dangerous of the inhabitants are +removed, and English settlers put in their place. [Footnote: _Ibid., 10 +May, 1746._] He adds that there are not two hundred and twenty soldiers +at Annapolis to defend the province against the whole body of Acadians and +Indians, and he tells the minister that unless the expedition against +Canada should end in the conquest of that country, the removal of some of +the Acadians will be a necessity. He means those of Chignecto, who were +kept in a threatening attitude by the presence of Ramesay and his +Canadians, and who, as he thinks, had forfeited their lands by treasonable +conduct. Shirley believes that families from New England might be induced +to take their place, and that these, if settled under suitable regulations, +would form a military frontier to the province of Nova Scotia "strong +enough to keep the Canadians out," and hold the Acadians to their +allegiance. [Footnote: _Ibid., 8 July, 1747._] The Duke of Bedford +thinks the plan a good one, but objects to the expense. [Footnote: +_Bedford to Newcastle, 11 Sept. 1747._] Commodore Knowles, then +governor of Louisbourg, who, being threatened with consumption and +convinced that the climate was killing him, vented his feelings in +strictures against everything and everybody, was of opinion that the +Acadians, having broken their neutrality, ought to be expelled at once, and +expresses the amiable hope that should his Majesty adopt this plan, he will +charge him with executing it. [Footnote: _Knowles to Newcastle, 8 Nov. +1746._] + +Shirley's energetic nature inclined him to trenchant measures, and he had +nothing of modern humanitarianism; but he was not inhuman, and he shrank +from the cruelty of forcing whole communities into exile. While Knowles and +others called for wholesale expatriation, he still held that it was +possible to turn the greater part of the Acadians into safe subjects of the +British Crown; [Footnote: Shirley says that the indiscriminate removal of +the Acadians would be "unjust" and "too rigorous". Knowles had proposed to +put Catholic Jacobites from the Scotch Highlands into their place. Shirley +thinks this inexpedient, but believes that Protestants from Germany and +Ulster might safely be trusted. The best plan of all, in his opinion, is +that of "treating the Acadians as subjects, confining their punishment to +the most guilty and dangerous among 'em, and keeping the rest in the +country and endeavoring to make them useful members of society under his +Majesty's Government." _Shirley to Newcastle, 21 Nov. 1746._ If the +Newcastle Government had vigorously carried his recommendations into +effect, the removal of the Acadians in 1755 would not have taken place.] +and to this end he advised the planting of a fortified town where Halifax +now stands, and securing by forts and garrisons the neck of the Acadian +peninsula, where the population was most numerous and most disaffected. The +garrisons, he thought, would not only impose respect, but would furnish the +Acadians with what they wanted most,--ready markets for their produce,--and +thus bind them to the British by strong ties of interest. Newcastle thought +the plan good, but wrote that its execution must be deferred to a future +day. Three years later it was partly carried into effect by the foundation +of Halifax; but at that time the disaffection of the Acadians had so +increased, and the hope of regaining the province for France had risen so +high, that this partial and tardy assertion of British authority only +spurred the French agents to redoubled efforts to draw the inhabitants from +the allegiance they had sworn to the Crown of England. + +Shirley had also other plans in view for turning the Acadians into good +British subjects. He proposed, as a measure of prime necessity, to exclude +French priests from the province. The free exercise of their religion had +been insured to the inhabitants by the Treaty of Utrecht, and on this point +the English authorities had given no just cause of complaint. A priest had +occasionally been warned, suspended, or removed; but without a single +exception, so far as appears, this was in consequence of conduct which +tended to excite disaffection, and which would have incurred equal or +greater penalties in the case of a layman. [Footnote: There was afterwards +sharp correspondence between Shirley and the Governor of Canada touching +the Acadian priests. Thus, Shirley writes: "I can't avoid now, Sir, +expressing great surprise at the other parts of your letter, whereby you +take upon you to call Mr. Mascarene to account for expelling the missionary +from Minas for being guilty of such treasonable practices within His +Majesty's government as merited a much severer Punishment." _Shirley à +Galissonière, 9 Mai 1749._ Shirley writes to Newcastle that the Acadians +"are greatly under the influence of their priests, who continually receive +their directions from the Bishop of Qeubec, and are the instruments by +which the Governor of Canada makes all his attempts for the reduction of +the province to the French Crown." _Shirley to Newcastle, 20 Oct. +1747._ He proceeds to give facts in proof of his assertion. Compare +_Moncalm and Wolfe_, I. 106, 107, 266, _note_.] The sentence was +directed, not against the priest, but against the political agitator. +Shirley's plan of excluding French priests from the province would not have +violated the provisions of the treaty, provided that the inhabitants were +supplied with other priests, not French subjects, and therefore not +politically dangerous; but though such a measure was several times proposed +by the provincial authorities, the exasperating apathy of the Newcastle +Government gave no hope that it could be accomplished. + +The influences most dangerous to British rule did not proceed from love of +France or sympathy of race, but from the power of religion over a simple +and ignorant people, trained in profound love and awe of their Church and +its ministers, who were used by the representatives of Louis XV. as agents +to alienate the Acadians from England. + +The most strenuous of these clerical agitators was Abbé Le Loutre, +missionary to the Micmacs, and after 1753 vicar-general of Acadia. He was a +fiery and enterprising zealot, inclined by temperament to methods of +violence, detesting the English, and restrained neither by pity nor scruple +from using threats of damnation and the Micmac tomahawk to frighten the +Acadians into doing his bidding. The worst charge against him, that of +exciting the Indians of his mission to murder Captain Howe, an English +officer, has not been proved; but it would not have been brought against +him by his own countrymen if his character and past conduct had gained him +their esteem. + +The other Acadian priests were far from sharing Le Loutre's violence; but +their influence was always directed to alienating the inhabitants from +their allegiance to King George. Hence Shirley regarded the conversion of +the Acadians to Protestantism as a political measure of the first +importance, and proposed the establishment of schools in the province to +that end. Thus far his recommendations are perfectly legitimate; but when +he adds that rewards ought to be given to Acadians who renounce their +faith, few will venture to defend him. + +Newcastle would trouble himself with none of his schemes, and Acadia was +left to drift with the tide, as before. "I shall finish my troubleing your +Grace upon the affairs of Nova Scotia with this letter," writes the +persevering Shirley. And he proceeds to ask, "as a proper Scheme for better +securing the Subjection of the French inhabitants and Indians there," that +the Governor and Council at Annapolis have special authority and direction +from the King to arrest and examine such Acadians as shall be "most +obnoxious and dangerous to his Majesty's Government;" and if found guilty +of treasonable correspondence with the enemy, to dispose of them and their +estates in such manner as his Majesty shall order, at the same time +promising indemnity to the rest for past offences, upon their taking or +renewing the oath of allegiance. [Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, 15 +Aug. 1746._] + +To this it does not appear that Newcastle made any answer except to direct +Shirley, eight or nine months later, to tell the Acadians that so long as +they were peaceable subjects, they should be protected in property and +religion. [Footnote: _Newcastle to Shirley, 30 May, 1747._ Shirley had +some time before directed Mascarene to tell the Acadians that while they +behave peaceably and do not correspond with the enemy, their property will +be safe, but that such as turn traitors will be treated accordingly. +_Shirley to Mascarene, 16 Sept. 1746._] Thus left to struggle unaided +with a most difficult problem, entirely outside of his functions as +governor of Massachusetts, Shirley did what he could. The most pressing +danger, as he thought, rose from the presence of Ramesay and and his +Canadians at Chignecto; for that officer spared no pains to induce the +Acadians to join him in another attempt against Annapolis, telling them +that if they did not drive out the English, the English would drive them +out. He was now at Mines, trying to raise the inhabitants in arms for +France. Shirley thought it necessary to counteract him, and force him and +his Canadians back to the isthmus whence they had come; but as the ministry +would give no soldiers, he was compelled to draw them from New England. The +defence of Acadia was the business of the Home Government, and not of the +colonies; but as they were deeply interested in the preservation of the +endangered province, Massachusetts gave five hundred men in response to +Shirley's call, and Rhode Island and New Hampshire added, between them, as +many more. Less than half of these levies reached Acadia. It was the +stormy season. The Rhode Island vessels were wrecked near Martha's +Vineyard. A New Hampshire transport sloop was intercepted by a French armed +vessel, and ran back to Portsmouth. Four hundred and seventy men from +Massachusetts, under Colonel Arthur Noble, were all who reached Annapolis, +whence they sailed for Mines, accompanied by a few soldiers of the +garrison. Storms, drifting ice, and the furious tides of the Bay of Fundy +made their progress so difficult and uncertain that Noble resolved to +finish the journey by land; and on the 4th of December he disembarked near +the place now called French Cross, at the foot of the North Mountain,--a +lofty barrier of rock and forest extending along the southern shore of the +Bay of Fundy. Without a path and without guides, the party climbed the +snow-encumbered heights and toiled towards their destination, each man +carrying provisions for fourteen days in his haversack. After sleeping +eight nights without shelter among the snowdrifts, they reached the Acadian +village of Grand Pré, the chief settlement of the district of Mines. +Ramesay and his Canadians were gone. On learning the approach of an English +force, he had tried to persuade the Acadians that they were to be driven +from their homes, and that their only hope was in joining with him to meet +force by force; but they trusted Shirley's recent assurance of protection, +and replied that they would not break their oath of fidelity to King +George. On this, Ramesay retreated to his old station at Chignecto, and +Noble and his men occupied Grand Pré without opposition. + +The village consisted of small, low wooden houses, scattered at intervals +for the distance of a mile and a half, and therefore ill fitted for +defence. The English had the frame of a blockhouse, or, as some say, of +two blockhouses, ready to be set up on their arrival; but as the ground was +hard frozen it was difficult to make a foundation, and the frames were +therefore stored in outbuildings of the village, with the intention of +raising them in the spring. The vessels which had brought them, together +with stores, ammunition, five small cannon, and a good supply of +snow-shoes, had just arrived at the landing-place,--and here, with +incredible fatuity, were allowed to remain, with most of their +indispensable contents still on board. The men, meanwhile, were quartered +in the Acadian houses. + +Noble's position was critical, but he was assured that he could not be +reached from Chignecto in such a bitter season; and this he was too ready +to believe, though he himself had just made a march, which, if not so long, +was quite as arduous. Yet he did not neglect every precaution, but kept +out scouting-parties to range the surrounding country, while the rest of +his men took their ease in the Acadian houses, living on the provisions of +the villagers, for which payment was afterwards made. Some of the +inhabitants, who had openly favored Ramesay and his followers, fled to the +woods, in fear of the consequences; but the greater part remained quietly +in the village. + +At the head of the Bay of Fundy its waters form a fork, consisting of +Chignecto Bay on the one hand, and Mines Basin on the other. At the head of +Chignecto Bay was the Acadian settlement of Chignecto, or Beaubassin, in +the houses of which Ramesay had quartered his Canadians. Here the neck of +the Acadian peninsula is at its narrowest, the distance across to Baye +Verte, where Ramesay had built a fort, being little more than twelve miles. +Thus he controlled the isthmus,--from which, however, Noble hoped to +dislodge him in the spring. + +In the afternoon of the 8th of January an Acadian who had been sent to +Mines by the missionary Germain, came to Beaubassin with the news that two +hundred and twenty English were at Grand Pré, and that more were expected. +[Footnote: Beaujeu, _Journal de la Campagne du Détachement de Canada à +l'Acadie_, in _Le Canada Français_, II. _Documents_, 16.] Ramesay +instantly formed a plan of extraordinary hardihood, and resolved, by a +rapid march and a night attack, to surprise the new-comers. His party was +greatly reduced by disease, and to recruit it he wrote to La Corne, +Récollet missionary at Miramichi, to join him with his Indians; writing at +the same time to Maillard, former colleague of Le Loutre at the mission of +Shubenacadie, and to Girard, priest of Cobequid, to muster Indians, collect +provisions, and gather information concerning the English. Meanwhile his +Canadians busied themselves with making snow-shoes and dog-sledges for the +march. + +Ramesay could not command the expedition in person, as an accident to one +of his knees had disabled him from marching. This was less to be regretted, +in view of the quality of his officers, for he had with him the flower of +the warlike Canadian _noblesse_,--Coulon de Villiers, who, seven +years later, defeated Washington at Fort Necessity; Beaujeu, the future +hero of the Monongahela, in appearance a carpet knight, in reality a bold +and determined warrior; the Chevalier de la Corne, a model of bodily and +mental hardihood; Saint-Pierre, Lanaudière, Saint-Ours, Desligneris, +Courtemanche, Repentigny, Boishébert, Gaspé, Colombière, Marin, +Lusignan,--all adepts in the warfare of surprise and sudden onslaught in +which the Canadians excelled. + +Coulon de Villiers commanded in Ramesay's place; and on the 21st of January +he and the other officers led their men across the isthmus from Beaubassin +to Baye Verte, where they all encamped in the woods, and where they were +joined by a party of Indians and some Acadians from Beaubassin and Isle St. +Jean. [Footnote: _Mascarene to Shirley, 8 Feb. 1746_ (1747, new +style).] Provisions, ammunition, and other requisites were distributed, and +at noon of the 23d they broke up their camp, marched three leagues, and +bivouacked towards evening. On the next morning they marched again at +daybreak. There was sharp cold, with a storm of snow,--not the large, +moist, lazy flakes that fall peacefully and harmlessly, but those small +crystalline particles that drive spitefully before the wind, and prick the +cheek like needles. It was the kind of snowstorm called in Canada _la +poudrerie_. They had hoped to make a long day's march; but feet and +faces were freezing, and they were forced to stop, at noon, under such +shelter as the thick woods of pine, spruce, and fir could supply. In the +morning they marched again, following the border of the sea, their +dog-teams dragging provisions and baggage over the broken ice of creeks and +inlets, which they sometimes avoided by hewing paths through the forest. +After a day of extreme fatigue they stopped at the small bay where the town +of Wallace now stands. Beaujeu says: "While we were digging out the snow to +make our huts, there came two Acadians with letters from MM. Maillard and +Girard." The two priests sent a mixture of good and evil news. On one hand +the English were more numerous than had been reported; on the other, they +had not set up the blockhouses they had brought with them. Some Acadians +of the neighboring settlement joined the party at this camp, as also did a +few Indians. + +On the next morning, January 27th, the adventurers stopped at the village +of Tatmagouche, where they were again joined by a number of Acadians. After +mending their broken sledges they resumed their march, and at five in the +afternoon reached a place called Bacouel, at the beginning of the portage +that led some twenty-five miles across the country to Cobequid, now Truro, +at the head of Mines Basin. Here they were met by Girard, priest of +Cobequid, from whom Coulon exacted a promise to meet him again at that +village in two days. Girard gave the promise unwillingly, fearing, says +Beaujeu, to embroil himself with the English authorities. He reported that +the force at Grand Pré counted at least four hundred and fifty, or, as some +said, more than five hundred. This startling news ran through the camp; but +the men were not daunted. "The more there are," they said, "the more we +shall kill." + +The party spent the 28th in mending their damaged sledges, and in the +afternoon they were joined by more Acadians and Indians. Thus reinforced, +they marched again, and towards evening reached a village on the outskirts +of Cobequid. Here the missionary Maillard joined them,--to the great +satisfaction of Coulon, who relied on him and his brother priest Girard to +procure supplies of provisions. Maillard promised to go himself to Grand +Pré with the Indians of his mission. + +The party rested for a day, and set out again on the 1st of February, +stopped at Maillard's house in Cobequid for the provisions he had collected +for them, and then pushed on towards the river Shubenacadie, which runs +from the south into Cobequid Bay, the head of Mines Basin. When they +reached the river they found it impassable from floating ice, which forced +them to seek a passage at some distance above. Coulon was resolved, +however, that at any risk a detachment should cross at once, to stop the +roads to Grand Pré, and prevent the English from being warned of his +approach; for though the Acadians inclined to the French, and were eager to +serve them when the risk was not too great, there were some of them who, +from interest or fear, were ready to make favor with the English by +carrying them intelligence. Boishébert, with ten Canadians, put out from +shore in a canoe, and were near perishing among the drifting ice; but they +gained the farther shore at last, and guarded every path to Grand Pré. The +main body filed on snowshoes up the east bank of the Shubenacadie, where +the forests were choked with snow and encumbered with fallen trees, over +which the sledges were to be dragged, to their great detriment. On this +day, the 3d, they made five leagues; on the next only two, which brought +them within half a league of Le Loutre's Micmac mission. Not far from this +place the river was easily passable on the ice, and they continued their +march westward across the country to the river Kennetcook by ways so +difficult that their Indian guide lost the path, and for a time led them +astray. On the 7th, Boishébert and his party rejoined them, and brought a +reinforcement of sixteen Indians, whom the Acadians had furnished with +arms. Provisions were failing, till on the 8th, as they approached the +village of Pisiquid, now Windsor, the Acadians, with great zeal, brought +them a supply. They told them, too, that the English at Grand Pré were +perfectly secure, suspecting no danger. + +On the 9th, in spite of a cold, dry storm of snow, they reached the west +branch of the river Avon. It was but seven French leagues to Grand Pré, +which they hoped to reach before night; but fatigue compelled them to rest +till the 10th. At noon of that day, the storm still continuing, they +marched again, though they could hardly see their way for the driving snow. +They soon came to a small stream, along the frozen surface of which they +drew up in order, and, by command of Coulon, Beaujen divided them all into +ten parties, for simultaneous attacks on as many houses occupied by the +English. Then, marching slowly, lest they should arrive too soon, they +reached the river Gaspereau, which enters Mines Basin at Grand Pré. They +were now but half a league from their destination. Here they stopped an +hour in the storm, shivering and half frozen, waiting for nightfall. When +it grew dark they moved again, and soon came to a number of houses on the +river-bank. Each of the ten parties took possession of one of these, making +great fires to warm themselves and dry their guns. + +It chanced that in the house where Coulon and his band sought shelter, a +wedding-feast was going on. The guests were much startled at this sudden +irruption of armed men; but to the Canadians and their chief the festival +was a stroke of amazing good luck, for most of the guests were inhabitants +of Grand Pré, who knew perfectly the houses occupied by the English, and +could tell with precision where the officers were quartered. This was a +point of extreme importance. The English were distributed among twenty-four +houses, scattered, as before mentioned, for the distance of a mile and a +half. [Footnote: _Goldthwait to Shirley, 2 March, 1746 (1747)_. +Captain Benjamin Goldthwait was second in command of the English +detachment.] The assailants were too few to attack all these houses at +once; but if those where the chief officers lodged could be surprised and +captured with their inmates, the rest could make little resistance. Hence +it was that Coulon had divided his followers into ten parties, each with +one or more chosen officers; these officers were now called together at the +house of the interrupted festivity, and the late guests having given full +information as to the position of the English quarters and the military +quality of their inmates, a special object of attack was assigned to the +officer of each party, with Acadian guides to conduct him to it. The +principal party, consisting of fifty, or, as another account says, of +seventy-five men, was led by Coulon himself, with Beaujeu, Desligneris, +Mercier, Léry, and Lusignan as his officers. This party was to attack a +stone house near the middle of the village, where the main guard was +stationed,--a building somewhat larger than the rest, and the only one at +all suited for defence. The second party, of forty men, commanded by La +Corne, with Riganville, Lagny, and Villemont, was to attack a neighboring +house, the quarters of Colonel Noble, his brother, Ensign Noble, and +several other officers. The remaining parties, of twenty-five men each +according to Beaujeu, or twenty-eight according to La Corne, were to make a +dash, as nearly as possible at the same time, at other houses which it was +thought most important to secure. All had Acadian guides, whose services in +that capacity were invaluable; though Beaujeu complains that they were of +no use in the attack. He says that the united force was about three hundred +men, while the English Captain Goldthwait puts it, including Acadians and +Indians, at from five to six hundred. That of the English was a little +above five hundred in all. Every arrangement being made, and his part +assigned to each officer, the whole body was drawn up in the storm, and the +chaplain pronounced a general absolution. Then each of the ten parties, +guided by one or more Acadians, took the path for its destination, every +man on snow-shoes, with the lock of his gun well sheltered under his +capote. + +The largest party, under Coulon, was, as we have seen, to attack the stone +house in the middle of the village; but their guide went astray, and about +three in the morning they approached a small wooden house not far from +their true object. A guard was posted here, as at all the English +quarters. The night was dark and the snow was still falling, as it had done +without ceasing for the past thirty hours. The English sentinel descried +through the darkness and the storm what seemed the shadows of an advancing +crowd of men. He cried, "Who goes there?" and then shouted, "To arms!" A +door was flung open, and the guard appeared in the entrance. But at that +moment the moving shadows vanished from before the eyes of the sentinel. +The French, one and all, had thrown themselves flat in the soft, light +snow, and nothing was to be seen or heard. The English thought it a false +alarm, and the house was quiet again. Then Coulon and his men rose and +dashed forward. Again, in a loud and startled voice, the sentinel shouted, +"To arms!" A great light, as of a blazing fire, shone through the open +doorway, and men were seen within in hurried movement. Coulon, who was in +the front, said to Beaujeu, who was close at his side, that the house was +not the one they were to attack. Beaujeu replied that it was no time to +change, and Coulon dashed forward again. Beaujeu aimed at the sentinel and +shot him dead. There was the flash and report of muskets from the house, +and Coulon dropped in the snow, severely wounded. The young cadet, +Lusignan, was hit in the shoulder; but he still pushed on, when a second +shot shattered his thigh. "Friends," cried the gallant youth, as he fell by +the side of his commander, "don't let two dead men discourage you." The +Canadians, powdered from head to foot with snow, burst into the house. +Within ten minutes, all resistance was overpowered. Of twenty-four +Englishmen, twenty-one were killed, and three made prisoners. [Footnote: +Beaujeu, _Journal_.] + +Meanwhile, La Corne, with his party of forty men, had attacked the house +where were quartered Colonel Noble and his brother, with Captain Howe and +several other officers. Noble had lately transferred the main guard to the +stone house, but had not yet removed thither himself, and the guard in the +house which he occupied was small. The French burst the door with axes, and +rushed in. Colonel Noble, startled from sleep, sprang from his bed, +receiving two musket-balls in the body as he did so. He seems to have had +pistols, for he returned the fire several times. His servant, who was in +the house, testified that the French called to the Colonel through a window +and promised him quarter if he would surrender; but that he refused, on +which they fired again, and a bullet, striking his forehead, killed him +instantly. His brother, Ensign Noble, was also shot down, fighting in his +shirt. Lieutenants Pickering and Lechmere lay in bed dangerously ill, and +were killed there. Lieutenant Jones, after, as the narrator says, "ridding +himself of some of the enemy," tried to break through the rest and escape, +but was run through the heart with a bayonet. Captain Howe was severely +wounded and made prisoner. + +Coulon and Lusignan, disabled by their wounds, were carried back to the +houses on the Gaspereau, where the French surgeon had remained. Coulon's +party, now commanded by Beaujeu, having met and joined the smaller party +under Lotbinière, proceeded to the aid of others who might need their help; +for while they heard a great noise of musketry from far and near, and could +discern bodies of men in motion here and there, they could not see whether +these were friends or foes, or discern which side fortune favored. They +presently met the party of Marin, composed of twenty-five Indians, who had +just been repulsed with loss from the house which they had attacked. By +this time there was a gleam of daylight, and as they plodded wearily over +the snow-drifts, they no longer groped in darkness. The two parties of +Colombière and Boishébert soon joined them, with the agreeable news that +each had captured a house; and the united force now proceeded to make a +successful attack on two buildings where the English had stored the frames +of their blockhouses. Here the assailants captured ten prisoners. It was +now broad day, but they could not see through the falling snow whether the +enterprise, as a whole, had prospered or failed. Therefore Beaujeu sent +Marin to find La Corne, who, in the absence of Coulon, held the chief +command. Marin was gone two hours. At length he returned, and reported that +the English in the houses which had not been attacked, together with such +others as had not been killed or captured, had drawn together at the stone +house in the middle of the village, that La Corne was blockading them +there, and that he ordered Beaujeu and his party to join him at once. + +When Beaujeu reached the place he found La Corne posted at the house where +Noble had been killed, and which was within easy musket-shot of the stone +house occupied by the English, against whom a spattering fire was kept up +by the French from the cover of neighboring buildings. Those in the stone +house returned the fire; but no great harm was done on either side, till +the English, now commanded by Captain Goldthwait, attempted to recapture +the house where La Corne and his party were posted. Two companies made a +sally; but they had among them only eighteen pairs of snow-shoes, the rest +having been left on board the two vessels which had brought the stores of +the detachment from Annapolis, and which now lay moored hard by, in the +power of the enemy, at or near the mouth of the Gaspereau. Hence the +sallying party floundered helpless among the drifts, plunging so deep in +the dry snow that they could not use their guns and could scarcely move, +while bullets showered upon them from La Corne's men in the house and +others hovering about them on snow-shoes. The attempt was hopeless, and +after some loss the two companies fell back. The firing continued, as +before, till noon, or, according to Beaujeu, till three in the afternoon, +when a French officer, carrying a flag of truce, came out of La Corne's +house. The occasion of the overture was this. + +Captain Howe, who, as before mentioned, had been badly wounded at the +capture of this house, was still there, a prisoner, without surgical aid, +the French surgeon being at the houses on the Gaspereau, in charge of +Coulon and other wounded men. "Though," says Beaujeu, "M. Howe was a firm +man, he begged the Chevalier La Corne not to let him bleed to death for +want of aid, but permit him to send for an English surgeon." To this La +Corne, after consulting with his officers, consented, and Marin went to the +English with a white flag and a note from Howe explaining the situation. +The surgeon was sent, and Howe's wound was dressed, Marin remaining as a +hostage. A suspension of arms took place till the surgeon's return; after +which it was prolonged till nine o'clock of the next morning, at the +instance, according to French accounts, of the English, and, according to +English accounts, of the French. In either case, the truce was welcome to +both sides. The English, who were in the stone house to the number of +nearly three hundred and fifty, crowded to suffocation, had five small +cannon, two of which were four-pounders, and three were swivels; but these +were probably not in position, as it does not appear that any use was made +of them. There was no ammunition except what the men had in their +powder-horns and bullet-pouches, the main stock having been left, with +other necessaries, on board the schooner and sloop now in the hands of the +French. It was found, on examination, that they had ammunition for eight +shots each, and provisions for one day. Water was only to be had by +bringing it from a neighboring brook. As there were snow-shoes for only +about one man in twenty, sorties were out of the question; and the house +was commanded by high ground on three sides. + +Though their number was still considerable, their position was growing +desperate. Thus it happened that when the truce expired, Goldthwait, the +English commander, with another officer, who seems to have been Captain +Preble, came with a white flag to the house where La Corne was posted, and +proposed terms of capitulation, Howe, who spoke French, acting as +interpreter. La Corne made proposals on his side, and as neither party was +anxious to continue the fray, they soon came to an understanding. + +It was agreed that within forty-eight hours the English should march for +Annapolis with the honors of war; that the prisoners taken by the French +should remain in their hands; that the Indians, who had been the only +plunderers, should keep the plunder they had taken; that the English sick +and wounded should be left, till their recovery, at the neighboring +settlement of Rivière-aux-Canards, protected by a French guard, and that +the English engaged in the affair at Grand Pré should not bear arms during +the next six months within the district about the head of the Bay of Fundy, +including Chignecto, Grand Pré, and the neighboring settlements. + +Captain Howe was released on parole, with the condition that he should send +back in exchange one Lacroix, a French prisoner at Boston,--"which," says +La Corne, "he faithfully did." + +Thus ended one of the most gallant exploits in French-Canadian annals. As +respects the losses on each side, the French and English accounts are +irreconcilable; nor are the statements of either party consistent with +themselves. Mascarene reports to Shirley that seventy English were killed, +and above sixty captured; though he afterwards reduces these numbers, +having, as he says, received farther information. On the French side he +says that four officers and about forty men were killed, and that many +wounded were carried off in carts during the fight. Beaujeu, on the other +hand, sets the English loss at one hundred and thirty killed, fifteen +wounded, and fifty captured; and the French loss at seven killed and +fifteen wounded. As for the numbers engaged, the statements are scarcely +less divergent. It seems clear, however, that when Coulon began his march +from Baye Verte, his party consisted of about three hundred Canadians and +Indians, without reckoning some Acadians who had joined him from Beaubassin +and Isle St. Jean. Others joined him on the way to Grand Pré, counting a +hundred and fifty according to Shirley,--which appears to be much too +large an estimate. The English, by their own showing, numbered five +hundred, or five hundred and twenty-five. Of eleven houses attacked, ten +were surprised and carried, with the help of the darkness and storm and the +skilful management of the assailants. + +"No sooner was the capitulation signed," says Beaujeu, "than we became in +appearance the best of friends." La Corne directed military honors to be +rendered to the remains of the brothers Noble; and in all points the +Canadians, both officers and men, treated the English with kindness and +courtesy. "The English commandant," again says Beaujeu, "invited us all to +dine with him and his officers, so that we might have the pleasure of +making acquaintance over a bowl of punch." The repast being served after +such a fashion as circumstances permitted, victors and vanquished sat down +together; when, says Beaujeu, "we received on the part of our hosts many +compliments on our polite manners and our skill in making war." And the +compliments were well deserved. + +At eight o'clock on the morning of the 14th of February the English filed +out of the stone house, and with arms shouldered, drums beating, and colors +flying, marched between two ranks of the French, and took the road for +Annapolis. The English sick and wounded were sent to the settlement of +Rivière-aux-Canards, where, protected by a French guard and attended by an +English surgeon, they were to remain till able to reach the British fort. + +La Corne called a council of war, and in view of the scarcity of food and +other reasons it was resolved to return to Beaubassin. Many of the French +had fallen ill. Some of the sick and wounded were left at Grand Pré, others +at Cobequid, and the Acadians were required to supply means of carrying the +rest. Coulon's party left Grand Pré on the 23d of February, and on the 8th +of March reached Beaubassin. [Footnote: The dates are of the new style, +which the French had adopted, while the English still clung to the old +style.] [Footnote: By far the best account of this French victory at Mines +is that of Beaujeu, in his _Journal de la Campagne du Détachement de +Canada à l'Acadie et aux Mines en 1746-47._ It is preserved in the +Archives de la Marine et des Colonies, and is printed in the documentary +supplement of _Le Canada Français_, Vol. II. It supplies the means of +correcting many errors and much confusion in some recent accounts of the +affair. The report of Chevalier de la Corne, also printed in _Le Canada +Français_, though much shorter, is necessary to a clear understanding of +the matter. Letters of Lusignan fils to the minister Maurepas, 10 Oct. +1747, of Bishop Pontbriand (to Maurepas?), 10 July, 1747, and of Lusignan +père to Maurepas, 10 Oct. 1747, give some additional incidents. The +principal document on the English side is the report of Captain Benjamin +Goldthwait, who succeeded Noble in command. A copy of the original, in the +Public Record Office, is before me. The substance of it is correctly given +in _The Boston Post Boy_ of 2 March, 1747, and in _N. E. Hist. Gen. +Reg._, X. 108. Various letters from Mascarene and Shirley (Public Record +Office) contain accounts derived from returned officers and soldiers. The +_Notice of Colonel Arthur Noble_, by William Goold (_Collections +Maine Historical Soc., 1881_), may also be consulted.] + +Ramesay did not fail to use the success at Grand Pré to influence the minds +of the Acadians. He sent a circular letter to the inhabitants of the +various districts, and especially to those of Mines, in which he told them +that their country had been reconquered by the arms of the King of France, +to whom he commanded them to be faithful subjects, holding no intercourse +with the English under any pretence whatever, on pain of the severest +punishment. "If," he concludes, "we have withdrawn our soldiers from among +you, it is for reasons known to us alone, and with a view to your +advantage." [Footnote: _Ramesay aux Députés et Habitants des Mines, 31 +Mars, 1747_. At the end is written "A true copy, with the misspellings: +signed W. Shirley."] + +Unfortunately for the effect of this message, Shirley had no sooner heard +of the disaster at Grand Pré than he sent a body of Massachusetts soldiers +to reoccupy the place. [Footnote: _Shirley to Newcastle, 24 Aug. +1747._] This they did in April. The Acadians thus found themselves, as +usual, between two dangers; and unable to see which horn of the dilemma was +the worse, they tried to avoid both by conciliating French and English +alike, and assuring each of their devoted attachment. They sent a pathetic +letter to Ramesay, telling him that their hearts were always French, and +begging him at the same time to remember that they were a poor, helpless +people, burdened with large families, and in danger of expulsion and ruin +if they offended their masters, the English. [Footnote: "Ainsis Monsieur +nous vous prions de regarder notre bon Coeur et en même Temps notre +Impuissance pauvre Peuple chargez la plus part de familles nombreuse point +de Recours sil falois evacuer a quoy nous sommes menacez tous les jours qui +nous tien dans une Crainte perpetuelle en nous voyant a la proximitet de +nos maitre depuis un sy grand nombre dannes" (printed _literatim_). +_Deputés des Mines à Ramesay, 24 Mai, 1747._] They wrote at the same +time to Mascarene at Annapolis, sending him, to explain the situation, a +copy of Ramesay's threatening letter to them; [Footnote: This probably +explains the bad spelling of the letter, the copy before me having been +made from the Acadian transcript sent to Mascarene, and now in the Public +Record Office.] begging him to consider that they could not without danger +dispense with answering it; at the same time they protested their entire +fidelity to King George. [Footnote: _Les Habitants a l'honorable +gouverneur au for d'anapolisse royal_ [sic], _Mai_(?), 1747. On the +27th of June the inhabitants of Cobequid wrote again to Mascarene: +"Monsieur nous prenons la Liberte de vous recrire celle icy pour vous +assurer de nos tres humble Respect et d'un entiere Sou-mission a vos +Ordres" (_literatim_).] + +Ramesay, not satisfied with the results of his first letter, wrote again to +the Acadians, ordering them, in the name of the Governor-General of New +France, to take up arms against the English, and enclosing for their +instruction an extract from a letter of the French Governor. "These," says +Ramesay, "are his words: 'We consider ourself as master of Beaubassin and +Mines, since we have driven off the English. Therefore there is no +difficulty in forcing the Acadians to take arms for us; to which end we +declare to them that they are discharged from the oath that they formerly +took to the English, by which they are bound no longer, as has been decided +by the authorities of Canada and Monseigneur our Bishop.'" [Footnote: "Nous +nous regardons aujourdhuy Maistre de Beaubassin et des Mines puisque nous +en avons Chassé les Anglois; ainsi il ny a aucune difficulté de forcer les +Accadiens à prendre les armes pour nous, et de les y Contraindre; leur +declarons à cet effêt qu'ils sont dechargé [sic] du Serment preté, cy +devant, à l'Anglois, auquel ils ne sont plus obligé [sic] comme il y a été +decidé par nos puissances de Canada et de Monseigneur notre Evesque" +(_literatim_).] + +"In view of the above," continues Ramesay, "we order all the inhabitants of +Memeramcook to come to this place [Beaubassin] as soon as they see the +signal-fires lighted, or discover the approach of the enemy; and this on +pain of death, confiscation of all their goods, burning of their houses, +and the punishment due to rebels against the King." [Footnote: _Ramesay +aux Habitants de Chignecto, etc., 25 Mai, 1747._ A few months +later, the deputies of Rivière-aux-Canards wrote to Shirley, thanking him +for kindness which they said was undeserved, promising to do their duty +thenceforth, but begging him to excuse them from giving up persons who had +acted "contraire aux Interests de leur devoire," representing the +difficulty of their position, and protesting "une Soumission parfaite et en +touts Respects." The letter is signed by four deputies, of whom one writes +his name, and three sign with crosses.] + +The position of the Acadians was deplorable. By the Treaty of Utrecht, +France had transferred them to the British Crown; yet French officers +denounced them as rebels and threatened them with death if they did not +fight at their bidding against England; and English officers threatened +them with expulsion from the country if they broke their oath of allegiance +to King George. It was the duty of the British ministry to occupy the +province with a force sufficient to protect the inhabitants against French +terrorism, and leave no doubt that the King of England was master of Acadia +in fact as well as in name. This alone could have averted the danger of +Acadian revolt, and the harsh measures to which it afterwards gave rise. +The ministry sent no aid, but left to Shirley and Massachusetts the task of +keeping the province for King George. Shirley and Massachusetts did what +they could; but they could not do all that the emergency demanded. + +Shirley courageously spoke his mind to the ministry, on whose favor he was +dependent. "The fluctuating state of the inhabitants of Acadia," he wrote +to Newcastle, "seems, my lord, naturally to arise from their finding a want +of due protection from his Majesty's Government." [Footnote: _Shirley to +Newcastle, 29 April, 1747._ On Shirley's relations with the Acadians, +see Appendix C.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +1740-1747. + +WAR AND POLITICS. + +GOVERNOR AND ASSEMBLY.--SARATOGA DESTROYED.--WILLIAM JOHNSON.--BORDER +RAVAGES.--UPPER ASHUELOT.--FRENCH "MILITARY MOVEMENTS."--NUMBER +FOUR.--NIVERVILLE'S ATTACK.--PHINEAS STEVENS.--THE FRENCH REPULSED. + + +From the East we turn to the West, for the province of New York passed for +the West at that day. Here a vital question was what would be the attitude +of the Five Nations of the Iroquois towards the rival European colonies, +their neighbors. The Treaty of Utrecht called them British subjects. What +the word "subjects" meant, they themselves hardly knew. The English told +them that it meant children; the French that it meant dogs and slaves. +Events had tamed the fierce confederates; and now, though, like all +savages, unstable as children, they leaned in their soberer moments to a +position of neutrality between their European neighbors, watching with +jealous eyes against the encroachments of both. The French would gladly +have enlisted them and their tomahawks in the war; but seeing little hope +of this, were generally content if they could prevent them from siding with +the English, who on their part regarded them as their Indians, and were +satisfied with nothing less than active alliance. + +When Shirley's plan for the invasion of Canada was afoot, Clinton, governor +of New York, with much ado succeeded in convening the deputies of the +confederacy at Albany, and by dint of speeches and presents induced them to +sing the war-song and take up the hatchet for England. The Iroquois were +disgusted when the scheme came to nought, their warlike ardor cooled, and +they conceived a low opinion of English prowess. + +The condition of New York as respects military efficiency was deplorable. +She was divided against herself, and, as usual in such cases, party passion +was stronger than the demands of war. The province was in the midst of one +of those disputes with the representative of the Crown, which, in one +degree or another, crippled or paralyzed the military activity of nearly +all the British colonies. Twenty years or more earlier, when Massachusetts +was at blows with the Indians on her borders, she suffered from the same +disorders; but her Governor and Assembly were of one mind as to urging on +the war, and quarrelled only on the questions in what way and under what +command it should be waged. But in New York there was a strong party that +opposed the war, being interested in the contraband trade long carried on +with Canada. Clinton, the governor, had, too, an enemy in the person of the +Chief Justice, James de Lancey, with whom he had had an after-dinner +dispute, ending in a threat on the part of De Lancey that he would make the +Governor's seat uncomfortable. To marked abilities, better education, and +more knowledge of the world than was often found in the provinces, ready +wit, and conspicuous social position, the Chief Justice joined a restless +ambition and the arts of a demagogue. + +He made good his threat, headed the opposition to the Governor, and proved +his most formidable antagonist. If either Clinton or Shirley had had the +independent authority of a Canadian governor, the conduct of the war would +have been widely different. Clinton was hampered at every turn. The +Assembly held him at advantage; for it was they, and not the King, who paid +his salary, and they could withhold or retrench it when he displeased them. +The people sympathized with their representatives and backed them in +opposition,--at least when not under the stress of imminent danger. + +A body of provincials, in the pay of the King, had been mustered at Albany +for the proposed Canada expedition; and after that plan was abandoned, +Clinton wished to use them for protecting the northern frontier and +capturing that standing menace to the province, Crown Point. The Assembly, +bent on crossing him at any price, refused to provide for transporting +supplies farther than Albany. As the furnishing of provisions and +transportation depended on that body, they could stop the movement of +troops and defeat the Governor's military plans at their pleasure. In vain +he told them, "If you deny me the necessary supplies, all my endeavors must +become fruitless; I must wash my own hands, and leave at your doors the +blood of the innocent people." [Footnote: _Extract from the Governor's +Message_, in Smith, _History of New York_, II. 124 (1830).] + +He urged upon them the necessity of building forts on the two +carrying-places between the Hudson and Lakes George and Champlain, thus +blocking the path of war-parties from Canada. They would do nothing, +insisting that the neighboring colonies, to whom the forts would also be +useful, ought to help in building them; and when it was found that these +colonies were ready to do their part, the Assembly still refused. +Passionate opposition to the royal Governor seemed to blind them to the +interests of the province. Nor was the fault all on their side; for the +Governor, though he generally showed more self-control and moderation than +could have been expected, sometimes lost temper and betrayed scorn for his +opponents, many of whom were but the instruments of leaders urged by +personal animosities and small but intense ambitions. They accused him of +treating them with contempt, and of embezzling public money; while he +retorted by charging them with encroaching on the royal prerogative and +treating the representative of the King with indecency. Under such +conditions an efficient conduct of the war was out of the question. + +Once, when the frontier was seriously threatened, Clinton, as +commander-in-chief, called out the militia to defend it; but they refused +to obey, on the ground that no Act of the Assembly required them to do so. +[Footnote: _Clinton to the Lords of Trade_, 10 Nov. 1747.] + +Clinton sent home bitter complaints to Newcastle and the Lords of Trade. +"They [the Assembly] are selfish, jealous of the power of the Crown, and of +such levelling principles that they are constantly attacking its +prerogative.... I find that neither dissolutions nor fair means can produce +from them such Effects as will tend to a publick good or their own +preservation. They will neither act for themselves nor assist their +neighbors.... Few but hirelings have a seat in the Assembly, who protract +time for the sake of their wages, at a great expence to the Province, +without contributing anything material for its welfare, credit, or safety." +And he declares that unless Parliament takes them in hand he can do nothing +for the service of the King or the good of the province, [Footnote: +_Clinton to the Lords of Trade_, 30 Nov. 1745.] for they want to usurp +the whole administration, both civil and military. [Footnote: _Remarks on +the Representation of the Assembly of New York, May, 1747_, in _N. Y. +Col. Docs._, VI. 365. On the disputes of the Governor and Assembly, see +also Smith, _History of New York_, II. (1830), and Stone, _Life and +Times of Sir William Johnson_, I. _N.Y. Colonial Documents,_ VI., +contains many papers on the subject, chiefly on the Governor's side.] + +At Saratoga there was a small settlement of Dutch farmers, with a stockade +fort for their protection. This was the farthest outpost of the colony, and +the only defence of Albany in the direction of Canada. It was occupied by a +sergeant, a corporal, and ten soldiers, who testified before a court of +inquiry that it was in such condition that in rainy weather neither they +nor their ammunition could be kept dry. As neither the Assembly nor the +merchants of Albany would make it tenable, the garrison was withdrawn +before winter by order of the Governor. [Footnote: _Examinations at a +Court of Inquiry at Albany, 11 Dec. 1745,_ in _N. Y. Col Docs.,_ +VI. 374.] + +Scarcely was this done when five hundred French and, Indians, under the +partisan Marin, surprised the settlement in the night of the 28th of +November, burned fort, houses, mills, and stables, killed thirty persons, +and carried off about a hundred prisoners. [Footnote: The best account of +this affair is in the journal of a French officer in Schuyler, _Colonial +New York,_ II. 115. The dates, being in new style, differ by eleven days +from those of the English accounts. The Dutch hamlet of Saratoga, surprised +by Marin, was near the mouth of the Fish Kill, on the west side of the +Hudson. There was also a small fort on the east side, a little below the +mouth of the Batten Kill.] Albany was left uncovered, and the Assembly +voted £150 in provincial currency to rebuild the ruined fort. A feeble +palisade work was accordingly set up, but it was neglected like its +predecessor. Colonel Peter Schuyler was stationed there with his regiment +in 1747, but was forced to abandon his post for want of supplies. Clinton +then directed Colonel Roberts, commanding at Albany, to examine the fort, +and if he found it indefensible, to burn it,--which he did, much to the +astonishment of a French war-party, who visited the place soon after, and +found nothing but ashes. [Footnote: Schuyler, _Colonial New York,_ II. +121.] + +The burning of Saratoga, first by the French and then by its own masters, +made a deep impression on the Five Nations, and a few years later they +taunted their white neighbors with these shortcomings in no measured terms. +"You burned your own fort at Seraghtoga and ran away from it, which was a +shame and a scandal to you." [Footnote: _Report of a Council with the +Indians at Albany, 28 June, 1754._] Uninitiated as they were in party +politics and faction quarrels, they could see nothing in this and other +military lapses but proof of a want of martial spirit, if not of cowardice. +Hence the difficulty of gaining their active alliance against the French +was redoubled. Fortunately for the province, the adverse influence was in +some measure counteracted by the character and conduct of one man. Up to +this time the French had far surpassed the rival nation in the possession +of men ready and able to deal with the Indians and mould them to their +will. Eminent among such was Joncaire, French emissary among the Senecas in +western New York, who, with admirable skill, held back that powerful member +of the Iroquois league from siding with the English. But now, among the +Mohawks of eastern New York, Joncaire found his match in the person of +William Johnson, a vigorous and intelligent young Irishman, nephew of +Admiral Warren, and his agent in the management of his estates on the +Mohawk. Johnson soon became intimate with his Indian neighbors, spoke their +language, joined in their games and dances, sometimes borrowed their dress +and their paint, and whooped, yelped, and stamped like one of themselves. A +white man thus playing the Indian usually gains nothing in the esteem of +those he imitates; but, as before in the case of the redoubtable Count +Frontenac, Johnson's adoption of their ways increased their liking for him +and did not diminish their respect. The Mohawks adopted him into their +tribe and made him a war-chief. Clinton saw his value; and as the Albany +commissioners hitherto charged with Indian affairs had proved wholly +inefficient, he transferred their functions to Johnson; whence arose more +heart-burnings. The favor of the Governor cost the new functionary the +support of the Assembly, who refused the indispensable presents to the +Indians, and thus vastly increased the difficulty of his task. Yet the Five +Nations promised to take up the hatchet against the French, and their +orator said, in a conference at Albany, "Should any French priests now dare +to come among us, we know no use for them but to roast them." [Footnote: +_Answer of the Six [Five] Nations to His Excellency the Governor at +Albany, 23 Aug. 1746._] Johnson's present difficulties, however, sprang +more from Dutch and English traders than from French priests, and he begs +that an Act may be passed against the selling of liquor to the Indians, "as +it is impossible to do anything with them while there is such a plenty to +be had all round the neighborhood, being forever drunk." And he complains +especially of one Clement, who sells liquor within twenty yards of +Johnson's house, and immediately gets from the Indians all the bounty money +they receive for scalps, "which leaves them as poor as ratts," and +therefore refractory and unmanageable. Johnson says further: "There is +another grand villain, George Clock, who lives by Conajoharie Castle, and +robs the Indians of all their cloaths, etc." The chiefs complained, "upon +which I wrote him twice to give over that custom of selling liquor to the +Indians; the answer was he gave the bearer, I might hang myself." +[Footnote: _Johnson to Clinton, 7 May, 1747._] Indian affairs, it will +be seen, were no better regulated then than now. + +Meanwhile the French Indians were ravaging the frontiers and burning +farm-houses to within sight of Albany. The Assembly offered rewards for the +scalps of the marauders, but were slow in sending money to pay them,--to +the great discontent of the Mohawks, who, however, at Johnson's +instigation, sent out various war-parties, two of which, accompanied by a +few whites, made raids as far as the island of Montreal, and somewhat +checked the incursions of the mission Indians by giving them work near +home. The check was but momentary. Heathen Indians from the West joined the +Canadian converts, and the frontiers of New York and New England, from the +Mohawk to beyond the Kennebec, were stung through all their length by +innumerable nocturnal surprises and petty attacks. The details of this +murderous though ineffective partisan war would fill volumes, if they were +worth recording. One or two examples will show the nature of all. + +In the valley of the little river Ashuelot, a New Hampshire affluent of the +Connecticut, was a rude border-settlement which later years transformed +into a town noted in rural New England for kindly hospitality, culture +without pretence, and good-breeding without conventionality. [Footnote: +Keene, originally called Upper Ashuelot. On the same stream, a few miles +below, was a similar settlement, called Lower Ashuelot--the germ of the +present Swanzey. This, too, suffered greatly from Indian attacks.] In 1746 +the place was in all the rawness and ugliness of a backwoods hamlet. The +rough fields, lately won from the virgin forest, showed here and there, +among the stumps, a few log-cabins, roofed with slabs of pine, spruce, or +hemlock. Near by was a wooden fort, made, no doubt, after the common +frontier pattern, of a stockade fence ten or twelve feet high, enclosing +cabins to shelter the settlers in case of alarm, and furnished at the +corners with what were called flankers, which were boxes of thick plank +large enough to hold two or more men, raised above the ground on posts, and +pierced with loopholes, so that each face of the stockade could be swept by +a flank fire. One corner of this fort at Ashuelot was, however, guarded by +a solid blockhouse, or, as it was commonly called, a "mount." + +On the 23d of April a band of sixty, or, by another account, a hundred +Indians, approached the settlement before daybreak, and hid in the +neighboring thickets to cut off the men in the fort as they came out to +their morning work. One of the men, Ephraim Dorman, chanced to go out +earlier than the rest. The Indians did not fire on him, but, not to give an +alarm, tried to capture or kill him without noise. Several of them suddenly +showed themselves, on which he threw down his gun in pretended submission. +One of them came up to him with hatchet raised; but the nimble and sturdy +borderer suddenly struck him with his fist a blow in the head that knocked +him flat, then snatched up his own gun, and, as some say, the blanket of +the half-stunned savage also, sprang off, reached the fort unhurt, and gave +the alarm. Some of the families of the place were living in the fort; but +the bolder or more careless still remained in their farm-houses, and if +nothing were done for their relief, their fate was sealed. Therefore the +men sallied in a body, and a sharp fight ensued, giving the frightened +settlers time to take refuge within the stockade. It was not too soon, for +the work of havoc had already begun. Six houses and a barn were on fire, +and twenty-three cattle had been killed. The Indians fought fiercely, +killed John Bullard and captured Nathan Blake, but at last retreated; and +after they were gone, the charred remains of several of them were found +among the ruins of one of the burned cabins, where they had probably been +thrown to prevent their being scalped. + +Before Dorman had given the alarm, an old woman, Mrs. McKenney, went from +the fort to milk her cow in a neighboring barn. As she was returning, with +her full milk-pail, a naked Indian was seen to spring from a clump of +bushes, plunge a long knife into her back, and dart away without stopping +to take the gray scalp of his victim. She tried feebly to reach the fort; +but from age, corpulence, and a mortal wound she moved but slowly, and when +a few steps from the gate, fell and died. + +Ten days after, a party of Indians hid themselves at night by this same +fort, and sent one of their number to gain admission under pretence of +friendship, intending, no doubt, to rush in when the gate should be opened; +but the man on guard detected the trick, and instead of opening the gate, +fired through it, mortally wounding the Indian, on which his confederates +made off. Again, at the same place, Deacon Josiah Foster, who had taken +refuge in the fort, ventured out on a July morning to drive his cows to +pasture. A gun-shot was heard; and the men who went out to learn the cause, +found the Deacon lying in the wood-road, dead and scalped. An ambushed +Indian had killed him and vanished. Such petty attacks were without number. + +There is a French paper, called a record of "military movements," which +gives a list of war-parties sent from Montreal against the English border +between the 29th of March, 1746, and the 21st of June in the same year. +They number thirty-five distinct bands, nearly all composed of mission +Indians living in or near the settled parts of Canada,--Abenakis, Iroquois +of the Lake of Two Mountains and of Sault St. Louis (Caughnawaga), +Algonkins of the Ottawa, and others, in parties rarely of more than thirty, +and often of no more than six, yet enough for waylaying travellers or +killing women in kitchens or cow-sheds, and solitary laborers in the +fields. This record is accompanied by a list of wild Western Indians who +came down to Montreal in the summer of 1746 to share in these "military +movements." [Footnote: _Extrait sur les différents Mouvements Militaires +qui se sont faits à Montréal à l'occasion de la Guerre, 1745, 1746._ +There is a translation in _N. Y. Col. Docs._] + +No part of the country suffered more than the western borders of +Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and here were seen too plainly the evils +of the prevailing want of concert among the British colonies. Massachusetts +claimed extensive tracts north of her present northern boundary, and in the +belief that her claim would hold good, had built a small wooden fort, +called Fort Dummer, on the Connecticut, for the protection of settlers. +New Hampshire disputed the title, and the question, being referred to the +Crown, was decided in her favor. On this, Massachusetts withdrew the +garrison of Fort Dummer and left New Hampshire to defend her own. This the +Assembly of that province refused to do, on the ground that the fort was +fifty miles from any settlement made by New Hampshire people, and was +therefore useless to them, though of great value to Massachusetts as a +cover to Northfield and other of her settlements lower down the +Connecticut, to protect which was no business of New Hampshire. [Footnote: +_Journal of the Assembly of New Hampshire,_ quoted in Saunderson, +_History of Charlestown, N. H.,_ 20.] But some years before, in 1740, +three brothers, Samuel, David, and Stephen Farnsworth, natives of Groton, +Massachusetts, had begun a new settlement on the Connecticut about +forty-five miles north of the Massachusetts line and on ground which was +soon to be assigned to New Hampshire. They were followed by five or six +others. They acted on the belief that their settlement was within the +jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and that she could and would protect them. +The place was one of extreme exposure, not only from its isolation, far +from help, but because it was on the banks of a wild and lonely river, the +customary highway of war-parties on their descent from Canada. Number +Four--for so the new settlement was called, because it was the fourth in a +range of townships recently marked out along the Connecticut, but, with one +or two exceptions, wholly unoccupied as yet--was a rude little outpost of +civilization, buried in forests that spread unbroken to the banks of the +St. Lawrence, while its nearest English neighbor was nearly thirty miles +away. As may be supposed, it grew slowly, and in 1744 it had but nine or +ten families. In the preceding year, when war seemed imminent, and it was +clear that neither Massachusetts nor New Hampshire would lend a helping +hand, the settlers of Number Four, seeing that their only resource was in +themselves, called a meeting to consider the situation and determine what +should be done. The meeting was held at the house, or log-cabin, of John +Spafford, Jr., and being duly called to order, the following resolutions +were adopted: that a fort be built at the charge of the proprietors of the +said township of Number Four; that John Hastings, John Spafford, and John +Avery be a committee to direct the building; that each carpenter be allowed +nine shillings, old tenor, a day, each laborer seven shillings, and each +pair of oxen three shillings and sixpence; that the proprietors of the +township be taxed in the sum of three hundred pounds, old tenor, for +building the fort; that John Spafford, Phineas Stevens, and John Hastings +be assessors to assess the same, and Samuel Farnsworth collector to collect +it. [Footnote: Extracts from the Town Record, in Saunderson, _History of +Charlestown, N.H. (Number Four)_, 17,18.] And to the end that their fort +should be a good and creditable one, they are said to have engaged the +services of John Stoddard, accounted the foremost man of western +Massachusetts, Superintendent of Defence, Colonel of Militia, Judge of +Probate, Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, a reputed authority in +the construction of backwoods fortifications, and the admired owner of the +only gold watch in Northampton. + +Timber was abundant and could be had for the asking; for the frontiersman +usually regarded a tree less as a valuable possession than as a natural +enemy, to be got rid of by fair means or foul. The only cost was the labor. +The fort rose rapidly. It was a square enclosing about three quarters of an +acre, each side measuring a hundred and eighty feet. The wall was not of +palisades, as was more usual, but of squared logs laid one upon another, +and interlocked at the corners after the fashion of a log-cabin. Within +were several houses, which had been built close together, for mutual +protection, before the fort was begun, and which belonged to Stevens, +Spafford, and other settlers. Apparently they were small log-cabins; for +they were valued at only from eight to thirty-five pounds each, in old +tenor currency wofully attenuated by depreciation; and these sums being +paid to the owners out of the three hundred pounds collected for building +the fort, the cabins became public property. Either they were built in a +straight line, or they were moved to form one, for when the fort was +finished, they all backed against the outer wall, so that their low roofs +served to fire from. The usual flankers completed the work, and the +settlers of Number Four were so well pleased with it that they proudly +declared their fort a better one than Fort Dummer, its nearest neighbor, +which had been built by public authority at the charge of the province. + +But a fort must have a garrison, and the ten or twelve men of Number Four +would hardly be a sufficient one. Sooner or later an attack was certain; +for the place was a backwoods Castle Dangerous, lying in the path of +war-parties from Canada, whether coming down the Connecticut from Lake +Memphremagog, or up Otter Creek from Lake Champlain, then over the +mountains to Black River, and so down that stream, which would bring them +directly to Number Four. New Hampshire would do nothing for them, and their +only hope was in Massachusetts, of which most of them were natives, and +which had good reasons for helping them to hold their ground, as a cover to +its own settlements below. The Governor and Assembly of Massachusetts did, +in fact, send small parties of armed men from time to time to defend the +endangered outpost, and the succor was timely; for though, during the first +year of the war, Number Four was left in peace, yet from the 19th of April +to the 19th of June, 1746, it was attacked by Indians five times, with some +loss of scalps, and more of cattle, horses, and hogs. On the last occasion +there was a hot fight in the woods, ending in the retreat of the Indians, +said to have numbered a hundred and fifty, into a swamp, leaving behind +them guns, blankets, hatchets, spears, and other things, valued at forty +pounds, old tenor,--which, says the chronicle, "was reckoned a great booty +for such beggarly enemies." [Footnote: Saunderson, _History of +Charlestown, N. H._, 29. Doolittle, _Narrative of Mischief done by the +Indian Enemy_,--a contempory chronicle.] + +But Massachusetts grew tired of defending lands that had been adjudged to +New Hampshire, and as the season drew towards an end, Number Four was left +again to its own keeping. The settlers saw no choice but to abandon a place +which they were too few to defend, and accordingly withdrew to the older +settlements, after burying such of their effects as would bear it, and +leaving others to their fate. Six men, a dog, and a cat remained to keep +the fort. Towards midwinter the human part of the garrison also withdrew, +and the two uncongenial quadrupeds were left alone. + +When the authorities of Massachusetts saw that a place so useful to bear +the brunt of attack was left to certain destruction, they repented of their +late withdrawal, and sent Captain Phineas Stevens, with thirty men, to +re-occupy it. Stevens, a native of Sudbury, Massachusetts, one of the +earliest settlers of Number Four, and one of its chief proprietors, was a +bold, intelligent, and determined man, well fitted for the work before him. +He and his band reached the fort on the 27th of March, 1747, and their +arrival gave peculiar pleasure to its tenants, the dog and cat, the former +of whom met them with lively demonstrations of joy. The pair had apparently +lived in harmony, and found means of subsistence, as they are reported to +have been in tolerable condition. + +Stevens had brought with him a number of other dogs,--animals found useful +for detecting the presence of Indians and tracking them to their +lurking-places. A week or more after the arrival of the party, these +canine allies showed great uneasiness and barked without ceasing; on which +Stevens ordered a strict watch to be kept, and great precaution to be used +in opening the gate of the fort. It was time, for the surrounding forest +concealed what the New England chroniclers call an "army," commanded by +General Debeline. It scarcely need be said that Canada had no General +Debeline, and that no such name is to be found in Canadian annals. The +"army" was a large war-party of both French and Indians, and a French +record shows that its commander was Boucher de Niverville, ensign in the +colony troops. [Footnote: _Extrait en forme de Journal de ce qui s'est +passé d'intéressant dans la Colonie à l'occasion des Mouvements de Guerre, +etc., 1746, 1747_.] + +The behavior of the dogs was as yet the only sign of danger, when, about +nine o'clock on the morning of the 7th of April, one of Stevens's men took +it upon him to go out and find what was amiss. Accompanied by two or three +of the dogs, he advanced, gun in hand, into the clearing, peering at every +stump, lest an Indian should lurk behind it. When about twenty rods from +the gate, he saw a large log, or trunk of a fallen tree, not far before +him, and approached it cautiously, setting on the dogs, or, as Stevens +whimsically phrases it, "saying _Choboy!_" to them. They ran forward +barking, on which several heads appeared above the log, and several guns +were fired at him. He was slightly wounded, but escaped to the fort. Then, +all around, the air rang with war-whoops, and a storm of bullets flew from +the tangle of bushes that edged the clearing, and rapped spitefully, but +harmlessly, against the wooden wall. At a little distance on the windward +side was a log-house, to which, with adjacent fences, the assailants +presently set fire, in the hope that, as the wind was strong, the flames +would catch the fort. When Stevens saw what they were doing, he set himself +to thwart them; and while some of his men kept them at bay with their guns, +the rest fell to work digging a number of short trenches under the wall, on +the side towards the fire. As each trench was six or seven feet deep, a man +could stand in it outside the wall, sheltered from bullets, and dash +buckets of water, passed to him from within, against the scorching timbers. +Eleven such trenches were dug, and eleven men were stationed in them, so +that the whole exposed front of the wall was kept wet. [Footnote: "Those +who were not employed in firing at the enemy were employed in digging +trenches under the bottom of the fort. We dug no less than eleven of them, +so deep that a man could go and stand upright on the outside and not +endanger himself; so that when these trenches were finished, we could wet +all the outside of the fort, which we did, and kept it wet all night. We +drew some hundreds of barrels of water; and to undergo all this hard +service there were but thirty men." _Stevens to Colonel W. +Williams,--April, 1747._] Thus, though clouds of smoke drifted over the +fort, and burning cinders showered upon it, no harm was done, and the enemy +was forced to other devices. They found a wagon, which they protected from +water and bullets by a shield of planks,--for there was a saw-mill hard +by,--and loaded it with dry fagots, thinking to set them on fire and push +the blazing machine against a dry part of the fort wall; but the task +proved too dangerous, "for," says Stevens, "instead of performing what they +threatened and seemed to be immediately going to undertake, they called to +us and desired a cessation of arms till sunrise the next morning, which was +granted, at which time they said they would come to a parley." In fact, the +French commander, with about sixty of his men, came in the morning with a +flag of truce, which he stuck in the ground at a musket-shot from the fort, +and, in the words of Stevens, "said, if we would send three men to him, he +would send as many to us." Stevens agreed to this, on which two Frenchmen +and an Indian came to the fort, and three soldiers went out in return. The +two Frenchmen demanded, on the part of their commander, that the garrison +should surrender, under a promise of life, and be carried prisoners to +Quebec; and they farther required that Stevens should give his answer to +the French officer in person. + +Wisely or unwisely, Stevens went out at the gate, and was at once joined by +Niverville, attended, no doubt, by an interpreter. "Upon meeting the +Monsieur," says the English captain, "he did not wait for me to give him an +answer," but said, in a manner sufficiently peremptory, that he had seven +hundred men with him, and that if his terms were refused, he would storm +the fort, "run over it," burn it to the ground, and if resistance were +offered, put all in it to the sword; adding that he would have it or die, +and that Stevens might fight or not as he pleased, for it was all one to +him. His terms being refused, he said, as Stevens reports, "Well, go back +to your fort and see if your men dare fight any more, and give me an answer +quickly; for my men want to be fighting." Stevens now acted as if he had +been the moderator of a town-meeting. "I went into the fort and called the +men together, and informed them what the General said, and then put it to +vote whether they would fight or resign; and they voted to a man to stand +it out, and also declared that they would fight as long as they had life." +[Footnote: _Stevens to Colonel William Williams,--April, 1747._] + +Answer was made accordingly, but Niverville's promise to storm the fort and +"run over it" was not kept. Stevens says that his enemies had not the +courage to do this, or even to bring up their "fortification," meaning +their fire-wagon with its shield of planks. In fact, an open assault upon a +fortified place was a thing unknown in this border warfare, whether waged +by Indians alone, or by French and Indians together. The assailants only +raised the war-whoop again, and fired, as before, from behind stumps, logs, +and bushes. This amusement they kept up from two o'clock till night, when +they grew bolder, approached nearer, and shot flights of fire-arrows into +the fort, which, water being abundant, were harmless as their bullets. At +daylight they gave over this exercise, called out "Good morning!" to the +garrison, and asked for a suspension of arms for two hours. This being +agreed to, another flag of truce presently appeared, carried by two +Indians, who planted it in the ground within a stone's throw of the fort, +and asked that two men should be sent out to confer with them. This was +done, and the men soon came back with a proposal that Stevens should sell +provisions to his besiegers, under a promise on their part that they would +give him no farther trouble. He answered that he would not sell them +provisions for money, but would exchange them for prisoners, and give five +bushels of Indian corn for every hostage placed in his hands as security +for the release of an English captive in Canada. To this their only answer +was firing a few shots against the fort, after which they all disappeared, +and were seen no more. The garrison had scarcely eaten or slept for three +days. "I believe men were never known to hold out with better resolution," +writes Stevens; and "though there were some thousands of guns shot at us, +we had but two men slightly wounded, John Brown and Joseph Ely." [Footnote: +_Stevens to Colonel W. Williams,--April, 1747._] + +Niverville and his party, disappointed and hungry, now made a tour among +the scattered farms and hamlets of the country below, which, incapable of +resisting such an inroad, were abandoned at their approach. Thus they took +an easy revenge for their rebuff at Number Four, and in a march of thirty +or forty leagues, burned five small deserted forts or stockaded houses, +"three meeting-houses, several fine barns, about one hundred dwellings, +mostly of two stories, furnished even to chests of drawers, and killed five +to six hundred sheep and hogs, and about thirty horned cattle. This +devastation is well worth a few prisoners or scalps." [Footnote: _N. Y. +Col. Docs._, X. 97.] It is curious to find such exploits mentioned with +complacency, as evidence of prowess. + +The successful defence of the most exposed place on the frontier was +welcome news throughout New England, and Commodore Charles Knowles, who was +then at Boston, sent Stevens a silver-hilted sword in recognition of his +conduct. The settlers of Number Four, who soon returned to their backwoods +home, were so well pleased with this compliment to one of their fellows +that they gave to the settlement the baptismal name of the Commodore, and +the town that has succeeded the hamlet of Number Four is Charlestown to +this day. [Footnote: Just after the withdrawal of the French and Indians, +Stevens wrote two letters giving an account of the affair, one to Governor +Shirley, and the other to Colonel William Williams, who seems to have been +his immediate military superior. At most points they are substantially the +same; but that to Williams contains some passages not found in the other. +The letter to Shirley is printed in Saunderson, _History of Charlestown, +N. H._, 34-37, and that to Williams in _Collections of the New +Hampshire Historical Society_, IV. 109-113. Stevens also kept a diary, +which was long in possession of his descendants. One of these, Mr. B. F. +Stevens, kindly made a search for it, at my request, and learned that it +had been unfortunately destroyed by fire, in 1856. Doolittle, in his +_Narrative of Mischief_, and Hoyt, in his _Antiquarian Researches_, +give other accounts. The French notices of the affair are few and short, as +usual in cases of failure. For the principal one, see _N. Y. Col. Docs.,_ +X. 97. It is here said that Stevens asked for a parley, in order to +capitulate; but all the English accounts say that the French made the first +advances.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +1745-1748. + +FORT MASSACHUSETTS. + +FRONTIER DEFENCE.--NORTHFIELD AND ITS MINISTER.--MILITARY CRITICISMS OF +REV. BENJAMIN DOOLITTLE.--RIGAUD DE VAUDREUIL.--HIS GREAT WAR-PARTY.--HE +ATTACKS FORT MASSACHUSETTS.--SERGEANT HAWKS AND HIS GARRISON.--A GALLANT +DEFENCE.--CAPITULATION.--HUMANITY OF THE FRENCH.--RAVAGES.--RETURN TO CROWN +POINT.--PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. + + +Since the last war, the settlements of Massachusetts had pushed westward +and begun to invade the beautiful region of mountains and valleys that now +forms Berkshire. Villages, or rudiments of villages, had grown up on the +Housatonic, and an establishment had been attempted at Pontoosuc, now +Pittsfield, on the extreme western limits of the province. The position of +these new settlements was critical, for the enemy could reach them with +little difficulty by way of Lake Champlain and Wood Creek. The +Massachusetts Government was not unmindful of them, and when war again +broke out, three wooden forts were built for their protection, forming a +line of defence westward from Northfield on the northern frontier of the +province. One of these forts was in the present town of Heath, and was +called Fort Shirley; another, named Fort Pelham, was in the present town of +Rowe; while the third, Fort Massachusetts, was farther westward, in what is +now the town of Adams, then known as East Hoosac. Two hundred men from the +militia were taken into pay to hold these posts and patrol the intervening +forests. Other defensive works were made here and there, sometimes by the +votes of town meetings, and sometimes by individuals, at their own cost. +These works consisted of a fence of palisades enclosing a farm-house, or +sometimes of a blockhouse of timber or heavy planks. Thus, at Northfield, +Deacon Ebenezer Alexander, a veteran of sixty who had served at Louisbourg, +built a "mount," or blockhouse, on the knoll behind his house, and carried +a stockade from it to enclose the dwelling, shed, and barn, the whole at +the cost of thirty-six pounds, one shilling, and sixpence, in Massachusetts +currency, which the town repaid him, his fortifications being of public +utility as a place of refuge for families in case of attack. [Footnote: +Temple and Sheldon, _History of Northfield_, 237, give the items from +the original account. This is one of the best of the innumerable +town-histories of New England.] Northfield was a place notoriously +dangerous, and military methods were in vogue there in season and out of +season. Thus, by a vote of the town, the people were called to the Sunday +sermon by beat of drum, and Eleazer Holton was elected to sound the call in +consideration of one pound and ten shillings a year, the drum being hired +of Ensign Field, its fortunate possessor, for the farther sum of three +shillings. This was in the earlier days of Northfield. In 1734 the Sunday +drum-beat was stopped, and the worshippers were summoned by the less +obstreperous method of "hanging out a flagg," for the faithful discharge of +which function Daniel Wright received in 1744 one pound and five shillings. +[Footnote: Temple and Sheldon, _History of Northfield_, 218.] + +The various fortifications, public and private, were garrisoned, sometimes +by the owner and his neighbors, sometimes by men in pay of the provincial +Assembly. As was to be expected from a legislative body undertaking warlike +operations, the work of defence was but indifferently conducted. John +Stoddard, the village magnate of Northampton, was charged, among the rest +of his multifarious employments, with the locating and construction of +forts; Captain Ephraim Williams was assigned to the general command on the +western frontier, with headquarters at Fort Shirley and afterwards at Fort +Massachusetts; and Major Israel Williams, of Hatfield, was made commissary. + +At Northfield dwelt the Reverend Benjamin Doolittle, minister, apothecary, +physician, and surgeon of the village; for he had studied medicine no less +than theology. His parishioners thought that his cure of bodies encroached +on his cure of souls, and requested him to confine his attention to his +spiritual charge; to which he replied that he could not afford it, his +salary as minister being seventy-five pounds in irredeemable Massachusetts +paper, while his medical and surgical practice brought him full four +hundred a year. He offered to comply with the wishes of his flock if they +would add that amount to his salary,--which they were not prepared to do, +and the minister continued his heterogeneous labors as before. + +As the position of his house on the village street seems to have been +regarded as strategic, the town voted to fortify it with a blockhouse and a +stockade, for the benefit both of the occupant and of all the villagers. +This was accordingly done, at the cost of eighteen pounds, seven shillings, +and sixpence for the blockhouse, and a farther charge for the stockade; and +thenceforth Mr. Doolittle could write his sermons and mix his doses in +peace. To his other callings he added that of historiographer. When, after +a ministry of thirty-six years, the thrifty pastor was busied one day with +hammer and nails in mending the fence of his yard, he suddenly dropped dead +from a stroke of heart-disease,--to the grief of all Northfield; and his +papers being searched, a record was found in his handwriting of the inroads +of the enemy that had happened in his time on or near the Massachusetts +border. Being rightly thought worthy of publication, it was printed at +Boston in a dingy pamphlet, now extremely rare, and much prized by +antiquarians. [Footnote: _A short Narrative of Mischief done by the +French and Indian Enemy on the Western Frontiers of the Province of the +Massachusetts Bay; from the Beginning of the French War, proclaimed by the +King of France, March 15th, 1743-4; and by the King of Great Britain, March +29th, 1744, to August 2nd, 1748. Drawn up by the Rev. Mr. Doolittle, of +Northfield, in the County of Hampshire; and found among his Manuscripts +after his Death. And at the Desire of some is now Published, with some +small Additions to render it more perfect. Boston; Printed and sold by S. +Kneeland, in Queen Street. MDCCL._ The facts above given concerning Mr. +Doolittle are drawn from the excellent _History of Northfield_ by +Temple and Sheldon, and the introduction to the _Particular History of +the Five Years' French and Indian War,_ by S. G. Drake.] + +Appended to it are the remarks of the author on the conduct of the war. He +complains that plans are changed so often that none of them take effect; +that terms of enlistment are so short that the commissary can hardly serve +out provisions to the men before their time is expired; that neither bread, +meat, shoes, nor blankets are kept on hand for an emergency, so that the +enemy escape while the soldiers are getting ready to pursue them; that the +pay of a drafted man is so small that twice as much would not hire a +laborer to take care of his farm in his absence; and that untried and unfit +persons are commissioned as officers: in all of which strictures there is +no doubt much truth. + +Mr. Doolittle's rueful narrative treats mainly of miscellaneous murders and +scalpings, interesting only to the sufferers and their friends; but he also +chronicles briefly a formidable inroad that still holds a place in New +England history. + +It may be remembered that Shirley had devised a plan for capturing Fort +Frédéric, or Crown Point, built by the French at the narrows of Lake +Champlain, and commanding ready access for warparties to New York and New +England. + +The approach of D'Anville's fleet had defeated the plan; but rumors of it +had reached Canada, and excited great alarm. Large bodies of men were +ordered to Lake Champlain to protect the threatened fort. The two brothers +De Muy were already on the lake with a numerous party of Canadians and +Indians, both Christian and heathen, and Rigaud de Vaudreuil, town-major of +Three Rivers, was ordered to follow with a still larger force, repel any +English attack, or, if none should be made, take the offensive and strike a +blow at the English frontier. [Footnote: French writers always call him +Rigaud, to distinguish him from his brother, Pierre Rigaud de +Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, afterwards governor of Canada, who is usually mentioned +as Vaudreuil.] On the 3d of August, Rigaud left Montreal with a fleet of +canoes carrying what he calls his army, and on the 12th he encamped on the +east side of the lake, at the mouth of Otter Creek. There was rain, +thunder, and a violent wind all night; but the storm ceased at daybreak, +and, embarking again, they soon saw the octagonal stone tower of Fort +Frédéric. + +The party set up their tents and wigwams near the fort, and on the morning +of the 16th the elder De Muy arrived with a reinforcement of sixty +Frenchmen and a band of Indians. They had just returned from an incursion +towards Albany, and reported that all was quiet in those parts, and that +Fort Frédéric was in no danger. Now, to their great satisfaction, Rigaud +and his band saw themselves free to take the offensive. The question was, +where to strike. The Indians held council after council, made speech after +speech, and agreed on nothing. Rigaud gave them a wampum-belt, and told +them that he meant to attack Corlaer,--that is, Schenectady; at which they +seemed well pleased, and sang war-songs all night. In the morning they +changed their minds, and begged him to call the whole army to a council for +debating the question. It appeared that some of them, especially the +Iroquois converts of Caughnawaga, disapproved of attacking Schenectady, +because some of their Mohawk relatives were always making visits there, and +might be inadvertently killed by the wild Western Indians of Rigaud's +party. Now all was doubt again, for as Indians are unstable as water, it +was no easy task to hold them to any plan of action. + +The Abenakis proposed a solution of the difficulty. They knew the New +England border well, for many of them had lived upon it before the war, on +terms of friendly intercourse with the settlers. They now drew upon the +floor of the council-room a rough map of the country, on which was seen a +certain river, and on its upper waters a fort which they recommended as a +proper object of attack. The river was that eastern tributary of the Hudson +which the French called the Kaské-kouké, the Dutch the Schaticook, and the +English the Hoosac. The fort was Fort Massachusetts, the most westerly of +the three posts lately built to guard the frontier. "My Father," said the +Abenaki spokesman to Rigaud, "it will be easy to take this fort, and make +great havoc on the lands of the English. Deign to listen to your children +and follow our advice." [Footnote: _Journal de la Campagne de Rigaud de +Vaudreuil en 1746...présenté à Monseigneur le Comte de Maurepas, Ministre +et Secrétaire d'Etat_ (written by Rigaud).] One Cadenaret, an Abenaki +chief, had been killed near Fort Massachusetts in the last spring, and his +tribesmen were keen to revenge him. Seeing his Indians pleased with the +proposal to march for the Hoosac, Rigaud gladly accepted it; on which +whoops, yelps, and war-songs filled the air. Hardly, however, was the party +on its way when the Indians changed their minds again, and wanted to attack +Saratoga; but Rigaud told them that they had made their choice and must +abide by it, to which they assented, and gave him no farther trouble. + +On the 20th of August they all embarked and paddled southward, passed the +lonely promontory where Fort Ticonderoga was afterwards built, and held +their course till the lake dwindled to a mere canal creeping through the +weedy marsh then called the Drowned Lands. Here, nine summers later, passed +the flotilla of Baron Dieskau, bound to defeat and ruin by the shores of +Lake George. Rigaud stopped at a place known as East Bay, at the mouth of +a stream that joins Wood Creek, just north of the present town of +Whitehall. Here he left the younger De Muy, with thirty men, to guard the +canoes. The rest of the party, guided by a brother of the slain Cadenaret, +filed southward on foot along the base of Skene Mountain, that overlooks +Whitehall. They counted about seven hundred men, of whom five hundred were +French, and a little above two hundred were Indians. [Footnote: "Le 19, +ayant fait passer l'armée en Revue qui se trouva de 700 hommes, scavoir 500 +françois environ et 200 quelques sauvages." _Journal de Rigaud_.] Some +other French reports put the whole number at eleven hundred, or even twelve +hundred, [Footnote: See _N. Y. Col. Docs._, X. 103, 132.] while +several English accounts make it eight hundred or nine hundred. The +Frenchmen of the party included both regulars and Canadians, with six +regular officers and ten cadets, eighteen militia officers, two +chaplains,--one for the whites and one for the Indians,--and a surgeon. +[Footnote: _Ibid._, X. 35.] + +After a march of four days, they encamped on the 26th by a stream which ran +into the Hudson, and was no doubt the Batten Kill, known to the French as +_la rivière de Saratogue_. Being nearly opposite Saratoga, where there +was then a garrison, they changed their course, on the 27th, from south to +southeast, the better to avoid scouting-parties, which might discover their +trail and defeat their plan of surprise. Early on the next day they reached +the Hoosac, far above its mouth; and now their march was easier, "for," +says Rigaud, "we got out of the woods and followed a large road that led up +the river." In fact, there seem to have been two roads, one on each side of +the Hoosac; for the French were formed into two brigades, one of which, +under the Sieur de la Valterie, filed along the right bank of the stream, +and the other, under the Sieur de Sabrevois, along the left; while the +Indians marched on the front, flanks, and rear. They passed deserted houses +and farms belonging to Dutch settlers from the Hudson; for the Hoosac, in +this part of its course, was in the province of New York. [Footnote: These +Dutch settlements on the Hoosac were made under what was called the "Hoosac +Patent," granted by Governor Dongan of New York in 1688. The settlements +were not begun till nearly forty years after the grant was made. For +evidence on this point I am indebted to Professor A. L. Perry, of Williams +College.] They did not stop to burn barns and houses, but they killed +poultry, hogs, a cow, and a horse, to supply themselves with meat. Before +night they had passed the New York line, and they made their camp in or +near the valley where Williamstown and Williams College now stand. Here +they were joined by the Sieurs Beaubassin and La Force, who had gone +forward, with eight Indians, to reconnoitre. Beaubassin had watched Fort +Massachusetts from a distance, and had seen a man go up into the +watch-tower, but could discover no other sign of alarm. Apparently, the +fugitive Dutch farmers had not taken pains to warn the English garrison of +the coming danger, for there was a coolness between the neighbors. + +Before breaking up camp in the morning, Rigaud called the Indian chiefs +together and said to them: "My children, the time is near when we must get +other meat than fresh pork, and we will all eat it together." "Meat," in +Indian parlance, meant prisoners; and as these were valuable by reason of +the ransoms paid for them, and as the Indians had suspected that the French +meant to keep them all, they were well pleased with this figurative +assurance of Rigaud that they should have their share. [Footnote: "Mes +enfans, leur dis-je, le temps approche où il faut faire d'autre viande que +le pore frais; au reste, nous la mangerons tous eusemble; ce mot les flatta +dans la crainte qu'ils avoient qu'après la prise du fort nous ne nous +réservâmes tous les prisonniers" _Journal de Rigaud_.] + +The chaplain said mass, and the party marched in a brisk rain up the +Williamstown valley, till after advancing about ten miles they encamped +again. Fort Massachusetts was only three or four miles distant. Rigaud held +a talk with the Abenaki chiefs who had acted as guides, and it was agreed +that the party should stop in the woods near the fort, make +scaling-ladders, battering-rams to burst the gates, and other things +needful for a grand assault, to take place before daylight; but their plan +came to nought through the impetuosity of the young Indians and Canadians, +who were so excited at the first glimpse of the watch-tower of the fort +that they dashed forward, as Rigaud says, "like lions." Hence one might +fairly expect to see the fort assaulted at once; but by the maxims of +forest war this would have been reprehensible rashness, and nothing of the +kind was attempted. The assailants spread to right and left, squatted +behind stumps, and opened a distant and harmless fire, accompanied with +unearthly yells and howlings. + +Fort Massachusetts was a wooden enclosure formed, like the fort at Number +Four, of beams laid one upon another, and interlocked at the angles. This +wooden wall seems to have rested, not immediately upon the ground, but upon +a foundation of stone, designated by Mr. Norton, the chaplain, as the +"underpinning,"--a name usually given in New England to foundations of the +kind. At the northwest corner was a blockhouse, crowned with the +watch-tower, the sight of which had prematurely kindled the martial fire of +the Canadians and Indians. [Footnote: The term "blockhouse" was loosely +used, and was even sometimes applied to an entire fort when constructed of +hewn logs, and not of palisades. The true blockhouse of the New England +frontier was a solid wooden structure about twenty feet high, with a +projecting upper story and loopholes above and below.] This wooden +structure, at the apex of the blockhouse, served as a lookout, and also +supplied means of throwing water to extinguish fire-arrows shot upon the +roof. There were other buildings in the enclosure, especially a large +log-house on the south side, which seems to have overlooked the outer wall, +and was no doubt loopholed for musketry. On the east side there was a well, +furnished probably with one of those long well-sweeps universal in +primitive New England. The garrison, when complete, consisted of fifty-one +men under Captain Ephraim Williams, who has left his name to Williamstown +and Williams College, of the latter of which he was the founder. He was +born at Newton, near Boston; was a man vigorous in body and mind; better +acquainted with the world than most of his countrymen, having followed the +seas in his youth, and visited England, Spain, and Holland; frank and +agreeable in manners, well fitted for such a command, and respected and +loved by his men. [Footnote: See the notice of Williams in _Mass. Hist. +Coll._, VIII. 47. He was killed in the bloody skirmish that preceded the +Battle of Lake George in 1755. _Montcalm and Wolfe_, chap. ix.] When +the proposed invasion of Canada was preparing, he and some of his men went +to take part in it, and had not yet returned. The fort was left in charge +of a sergeant, John Hawks, of Deerfield, with men too few for the extent of +the works, and a supply of ammunition nearly exhausted. Canada being then +put on the defensive, the frontier forts were thought safe for a time. On +the Saturday before Rigaud's arrival, Hawks had sent Thomas Williams, the +surgeon, brother of the absent captain, to Deerfield, with a detachment of +fourteen men, to get a supply of powder and lead. This detachment reduced +the entire force, including Hawks himself and Norton, the chaplain, to +twenty-two men, half of whom were disabled with dysentery, from which few +of the rest were wholly free. [Footnote: "Lord's Day and Monday...the +sickness was very distressing.... Eleven of our men were sick, and scarcely +one of us in perfect health; almost every man was troubled with the griping +and flux." Norton, _The Redeemed Captive_.] There were also in the +fort three women and five children. [Footnote: Rigaud erroneously makes the +garrison a little larger. "La garnison se trouva de 24 hommes, entre +lesquels il y avoit un ministre, 3 femmes, et 5 enfans." The names and +residence of all the men in the fort when the attack began are preserved. +Hawks made his report to the provincial government under the title _"An +Account of the Company in his Majesty's Service under the command of Serg't +John Hawks...at Fort Massachusetts, Aug. 20_ [31, new style], +_1746._" The roll is attested on oath "Before William Williams, +_Just. Pacis._" The number of men is 22, including Hawks and Norton. +Each man brought his own gun. I am indebted to the kindness of Professor A. +L. Perry for a copy of Hawks's report, which is addressed to "the Honble. +Spencer Phipps, Esq., Lieut. Gov'r and Commander in Chief [and] the +Hon'ble. his Majesty's Council and House of Representatives in General +Court assembled."] + +The site of Fort Massachusetts is now a meadow by the banks of the Hoosac. +Then it was a rough clearing, encumbered with the stumps and refuse of the +primeval forest, whose living hosts stood grimly around it, and spread, +untouched by the axe, up the sides of the neighboring Saddleback Mountain. +The position of the fort was bad, being commanded by high ground, from +which, as the chaplain tells us, "the enemy could shoot over the north side +into the middle of the parade,"--for which serious defect, John Stoddard, +of Northampton, legist, capitalist, colonel of militia, and "Superintendent +of Defence," was probably answerable. These frontier forts were, however, +often placed on low ground with a view to an abundant supply of water, fire +being the most dreaded enemy in Indian warfare. [Footnote: When I visited +the place as a college student, no trace of the fort was to be seen except +a hollow, which may have been the remains of a cellar, and a thriving +growth of horse-radish,--a relic of the garrison garden. My friend Dr. D. +D. Slade has given an interesting account of the spot in the _Magazine of +American History_ for October, 1888.] + +Sergeant Hawks, the provisional commander, was, according to tradition, a +tall man with sun-burnt features, erect, spare, very sinewy and strong, and +of a bold and resolute temper. He had need to be so, for counting every man +in the fort, lay and clerical, sick and well, he was beset by more than +thirty times his own number; or, counting only his effective men, by more +than sixty times,--and this at the lowest report of the attacking force. As +there was nothing but a log fence between him and his enemy, it was clear +that they could hew or burn a way through it, or climb over it with no +surprising effort of valor. Rigaud, as we have seen, had planned a general +assault under cover of night, but had been thwarted by the precipitancy of +the young Indians and Canadians. These now showed no inclination to depart +from the cautious maxims of forest warfare. They made a terrific noise, +but when they came within gunshot of the fort, it was by darting from stump +to stump with a quick, zigzag movement that made them more difficult to hit +than birds on the wing. The best moment for a shot was when they reached a +stump, and stopped for an instant to duck and hide behind it. By seizing +this fleeting opportunity, Hawks himself put a bullet into the breast of an +Abenaki chief from St. Francis,--"which ended his days," says the chaplain. +In view of the nimbleness of the assailants, a charge of buckshot was found +more to the purpose than a bullet. Besides the slain Abenaki, Rigaud +reports sixteen Indians and Frenchmen wounded, [Footnote: "L'Ennemi me tua +un abenakis et me blessa 16 hommes, tant Iroquois qu'Abenaquis, nipissings +et françois." _Journal de Rigaud_.]--which, under the circumstances, +was good execution for ten farmers and a minister; for Chaplain Norton +loaded and fired with the rest. Rigaud himself was one of the wounded, +having been hit in the arm and sent to the rear, as he stood giving orders +on the rocky hill about forty rods from the fort. Probably it was a chance +shot, since, though rifles were invented long before, they were not yet in +general use, and the yeoman garrison were armed with nothing but their own +smooth-bore hunting-pieces, not to be trusted at long range. The supply of +ammunition had sunk so low that Hawks was forced to give the discouraging +order not to fire except when necessary to keep the enemy in check, or when +the chance of hitting him should be unusually good. Such of the sick men as +were strong enough aided the defence by casting bullets and buckshot. + +The outrageous noise lasted till towards nine in the evening, when the +assailants greeted the fort with a general war-whoop, and repeated it three +or four times; then a line of sentinels was placed around it to prevent +messengers from carrying the alarm to Albany or Deerfield. The evening was +dark and cloudy. The lights of a camp could be seen by the river towards +the southeast, and those of another near the swamp towards the west. There +was a sound of axes, as if the enemy were making scaling-ladders for a +night assault; but it was found that they were cutting fagots to burn the +wall. Hawks ordered every tub and bucket to be filled with water, in +preparation for the crisis. Two men, John Aldrich and Jonathan Bridgman, +had been wounded, thus farther reducing the strength of the defenders. The +chaplain says: "Of those that were in health, some were ordered to keep the +watch, and some lay down and endeavored to get some rest, lying down in our +clothes with our arms by us.... We got little or no rest; the enemy +frequently raised us by their hideous outcries, as though they were about +to attack us. The latter part of the night I kept the watch." + +Rigaud spent the night in preparing for a decisive attack, "being resolved +to open trenches two hours before sunrise, and push them to the foot of the +palisade, so as to place fagots against it, set them on fire, and deliver +the fort a prey to the fury of the flames." [Footnote: "Je passay la nuit à +conduire l'ouvrage auquel j'avois destiné le jour précédent, résolu à faire +ouvrir la tranchée deux heures avant le lever du soleil, et de la pousser +jusqu'au pied de la palissade, pour y placer les fascines, y appliquer +l'artifice, et livrer le fort en proye à la fureur du feu." _Journal de +Rigaud_. He mistakes in calling the log wall of the fort a palisade.] It +began to rain, and he determined to wait till morning. That the commander +of seven hundred French and Indians should resort to such elaborate devices +to subdue a sergeant, seven militia-men, and a minister,--for this was now +the effective strength of the besieged,--was no small compliment to the +spirit of the defence. + +The firing was renewed in the morning, but there was no attempt to open +trenches by daylight. Two men were sent up into the watchtower, and about +eleven o'clock one of them, Thomas Knowlton, was shot through the head. +The number of effectives was thus reduced to eight, including the chaplain. +Up to this time the French and English witnesses are in tolerable accord; +but now there is conflict of evidence. Rigaud says that when he was about +to carry his plan of attack into execution, he saw a white flag hung out, +and sent the elder De Muy, with Montigny and D'Auteuil, to hear what the +English commandant--whose humble rank he nowhere mentions--had to say. On +the other hand, Norton, the chaplain, says that about noon the French +"desired to parley," and that "we agreed to it." He says farther that the +sergeant, with himself and one or two others, met Rigaud outside the gate, +and that the French commander promised "good quarter" to the besieged if +they would surrender, with the alternative of an assault if they would not. +This account is sustained by Hawks, who says that at twelve o'clock an +Indian came forward with a flag of truce, and that he, Hawks, with two or +three others, went to meet Rigaud, who then offered honorable terms of +capitulation. [Footnote: _Journal of Sergeant Hawks_, cited by William +L. Stone, _Life and Times of Sir William Johnson_, I. 227. What seems +conclusive is that the French permitted Norton to nail to a post of the +fort a short account of its capture, in which it is plainly stated that the +first advances were made by Rigaud.] The sergeant promised an answer within +two hours; and going back to the fort with his companions, examined their +means of defence. He found that they had left but three or four pounds of +gunpowder, and about as much lead. Hawks called a council of his effective +men. Norton prayed for divine aid and guidance, and then they fell to +considering the situation. "Had we all been in health, or had there been +only those eight of us that were in health, I believe every man would +willingly have stood it out to the last. For my part, I should," writes +the manful chaplain. But besides the sick and wounded, there were three +women and five children, who, if the fort were taken by assault, would no +doubt be butchered by the Indians, but who might be saved by a +capitulation. Hawks therefore resolved to make the best terms he could. He +had defended his post against prodigious odds for twenty-eight hours. +Rigaud promised that all in the fort should be treated with humanity as +prisoners of war, and exchanged at the first opportunity. He also promised +that none of them should be given to the Indians, though he had lately +assured his savage allies that they should have their share of the +prisoners. + +At three o'clock the principal French officers were admitted into the fort, +and the French flag was raised over it. The Indians and Canadians were +excluded; on which some of the Indians pulled out several of the stones +that formed the foundation of the wall, crawled through, opened the gate, +and let in the whole crew. They raised a yell when they saw the blood of +Thomas Knowlton trickling from the watch-tower where he had been shot, then +rushed up to where the corpse lay, brought it down, scalped it, and cut off +the head and arms. The fort was then plundered, set on fire, and burned to +the ground. + +The prisoners were led to the French camp; and here the chaplain was +presently accosted by one Doty, Rigaud's interpreter, who begged him to +persuade some of the prisoners to go with the Indians. Norton replied that +it had been agreed that they should all remain with the French; and that to +give up any of them to the Indians would be a breach of the capitulation. +Doty then appealed to the men themselves, who all insisted on being left +with the French, according to the terms stipulated. Some of them, however, +were given to the Indians, who, after Rigaud's promise to them, could have +been pacified in no other way. His fault was in making a stipulation that +he could not keep. Hawks and Norton, with all the women and children, +remained in the French camp. + +Hearing that men were expected from Deerfield to take the places of the +sick, Rigaud sent sixty Indians to cut them off. They lay in wait for the +English reinforcement, which consisted of nineteen men, gave them a close +fire, shot down fifteen of them, and captured the rest. [Footnote: One +French account says that the Indians failed to meet the English party. +_N. Y. Col. Docs,_ X. 35.] This or another party of Rigaud's Indians +pushed as far as Deerfield and tried to waylay the farmers as they went to +their work on a Monday morning. The Indians hid in a growth of alder-bushes +along the edge of a meadow where men were making hay, accompanied by some +children. One Ebenezer Hawks, shooting partridges, came so near the +ambushed warriors that they could not resist the temptation of killing and +scalping him. This alarmed the haymakers and the children, who ran for +their lives towards a mill on a brook that entered Deerfield River, +fiercely pursued by about fifty Indians, who caught and scalped a boy named +Amsden. Three men, Allen, Sadler, and Gillet, got under the bank of the +river and fired on the pursuers. Allen and Gillet were soon killed, but +Sadler escaped unhurt to an island. Three children of Allen--Eunice, +Samuel, and Caleb--were also chased by the Indians, who knocked down Eunice +with a tomahawk, but were in too much haste to stop and scalp her, and she +lived to a good old age. Her brother Samuel was caught and dragged off, but +Caleb ran into a field of tall maize, and escaped. + +The firing was heard in the village, and a few armed men, under Lieutenant +Clesson, hastened to the rescue; but when they reached the spot the Indians +were gone, carrying the boy Samuel Allen with them, and leaving two of +their own number dead. Clesson, with such men as he had, followed their +trail up Deerfield River, but could not overtake the light-footed savages. + +Meanwhile, the prisoners at Fort Massachusetts spent the first night, well +guarded, in the French and Indian camps. In the morning, Norton, +accompanied by a Frenchman and several Indians, was permitted to nail to +one of the charred posts of the fort a note to tell what had happened to +him and his companions. [Footnote: The note was as follows: "August 20 [31, +new style], 1746. These are to inform you that yesterday, about 9 of the +clock, we were besieged by, as they say, seven hundred French and Indians. +They have wounded two men and killed one Knowlton. The General de Vaudreuil +desired capitulations, and we were so distressed that we complied with his +terms. We are the French's prisoners, and have it under the general's hand +that every man, woman, and child shall be exchanged for French prisoners."] +The victors then marched back as they had come, along the Hoosac road. +They moved slowly, encumbered as they were by the sick and wounded. Rigaud +gave the Indians presents, to induce them to treat their prisoners with +humanity. Norton was in charge of De Muy, and after walking four miles sat +down with him to rest in Williamstown valley. There was a yell from the +Indians in the rear. "I trembled," writes Norton, "thinking they had +murdered some of our people, but was filled with admiration when I saw all +our prisoners come up with us, and John Aldrich carried on the back of his +Indian master." Aldrich had been shot in the foot, and could not walk. "We +set out again, and had gone but a little way before we came up with Josiah +Reed." Reed was extremely ill, and could go no farther. Norton thought that +the Indians would kill him, instead of which one of them carried him on his +back. They were said to have killed him soon after, but there is good +reason to think that he died of disease. "I saw John Perry's wife," pursues +the chaplain; "she complained that she was almost ready to give out." The +Indians threatened her, but Hawks spoke in her behalf to Rigaud, who +remonstrated with them, and they afterwards treated her well. The wife of +another soldier, John Smead, was near her time, and had lingered behind. +The French showed her great kindness. "Some of them made a seat for her to +sit upon, and brought her to the camp, where, about ten o'clock, she was +graciously delivered of a daughter, and was remarkably well.... Friday: +this morning I baptized John Smead's child. He called its name +_Captivity_." The French made a litter of poles, spread over it a +deer-skin and a bear-skin, on which they placed the mother and child, and +so carried them forward. Three days after, there was a heavy rain, and the +mother was completely drenched, but suffered no harm, though "Miriam, the +wife of Moses Scott, hereby catched a grievous cold." John Perry was +relieved of his pack, so that he might help his wife and carry her when her +strength failed. Several horses were found at the farms along the way, and +the sick Benjamin Simons and the wounded John Aldrich were allowed to use +two of them. Rarely, indeed, in these dismal border-raids were prisoners +treated so humanely; and the credit seems chiefly due to the efforts of +Rigaud and his officers. The hardships of the march were shared by the +victors, some of whom were sorely wounded; and four Indians died within a +few days. + +"I divided my army between the two sides of the Kaskékouké" (Hoosac), says +Rigaud, "and ordered them to do what I had not permitted to be done before +we reached Fort Massachusetts. Every house was set on fire, and numbers of +domestic animals of all sorts were killed. French and Indians vied with +each other in pillage, and I made them enter the [valleys of all the] +little streams that flow into the Kaskékouké and lay waste everything +there.... Wherever we went we made the same havoc, laid waste both sides of +the river, through twelve leagues of fertile country, burned houses, barns, +stables, and even a meeting-house,--in all, above two hundred +establishments,--killed all the cattle, and ruined all the crops. Such, +Monseigneur, was the damage I did our enemies during the eight or nine days +I was in their country." [Footnote: _Journal de Riguad._] As the Dutch +settlers had escaped, there was no resistance. + +The French and their allies left the Hoosac at the point where they had +reached it, and retraced their steps northward through the forest, where +there was an old Indian trail. Recrossing the Batten Kill, or "River of +Saratoga," and some branches of Wood Creek, they reached the place where +they had left their canoes, and found them safe. Rigaud says: "I gave leave +to the Indians, at their request, to continue their fighting and ravaging, +in small parties, towards Albany, Schenectady, Deerfield, Saratoga, or +wherever they pleased, and I even gave them a few officers and cadets to +lead them." These small ventures were more or less successful, and +produced, in due time, a good return of scalps. + +The main body, now afloat again, sailed and paddled northward till they +reached Crown Point. Rigaud rejoiced at finding a haven of refuge, for his +wounded arm was greatly inflamed: "and it was time I should reach a place +of repose." He and his men encamped by the fort and remained there for some +time. An epidemic, apparently like that at Fort Massachusetts, had broken +out among them, and great numbers were seriously ill. + +Norton was lodged in a French house on the east side of the lake, at what +is now called Chimney Point; and one day his guardian, De Muy, either +thinking to impress him with the strength of the place, or with an amusing +confidence in the minister's incapacity for making inconvenient military +observations, invited him to visit the fort. He accepted the invitation, +crossed over with the courteous officer, and reports the ramparts to have +been twenty feet thick, about twenty feet high, and mounted with above +twenty cannon. The octagonal tower which overlooked the ramparts, and +answered in some sort to the donjon of a feudal castle, was a bomb-proof +structure in vaulted masonry, of the slaty black limestone of the +neighborhood, three stories in height, and armed with nine or ten cannon, +besides a great number of patereroes,--a kind of pivot-gun much like a +swivel. [Footnote: Kalm also describes the fort and its tower. Little trace +of either now remains. Amherst demolished them in 1759, when he built the +larger fort, of which the ruins still stand on the higher ground behind the +site of its predecessor.] + +In due time the prisoners reached Montreal, whence they were sent to +Quebec; and in the course of the next year those who remained alive were +exchanged and returned to New England. [Footnote: Of the twenty-two men in +the fort when attacked, one, Knowlton, was killed by a bullet; one, Reed, +died just after the surrender; ten died in Canada, and ten returned home. +_Report of Sergeant Hawks._] Mrs. Smead and her infant daughter +"Captivity" died in Canada, and, by a singular fatality, her husband had +scarcely returned home when he was waylaid and killed by Indians. Fort +Massachusetts was soon rebuilt by the province, and held its own +thenceforth till the war was over. Sergeant Hawks became a +lieutenant-colonel, and took a creditable part in the last French war. + +For two years after the incursion of Rigaud the New England borders were +scourged with partisan warfare, bloody, monotonous, and futile, with no +event that needs recording, and no result beyond a momentary check to the +progress of settlement. At length, in July, 1748, news came that the chief +contending powers in Europe had come to terms of agreement, and in the next +October the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed. Both nations were tired of +the weary and barren conflict, with its enormous cost and its vast entail +of debt. It was agreed that conquests should be mutually restored. The +chief conquest of England was Louisbourg, with the island of Cape +Breton,--won for her by the farmers and fishermen of New England. When the +preliminaries of peace were under discussion, Louis XV. had demanded the +restitution of the lost fortress; and George II. is said to have replied +that it was not his to give, having been captured by the people of Boston. +[Footnote: _N.Y. Col. Docs._, X. 147.] But his sense of justice was +forced to yield to diplomatic necessity, for Louisbourg was the +indispensable price of peace. To the indignation of the Northern provinces, +it was restored to its former owners. "The British ministers," says +Smollett, "gave up the important island of Cape Breton in exchange for a +petty factory in the East Indies" (Madras), and the King deigned to send +two English noblemen to the French court as security for the bargain. + +Peace returned to the tormented borders; the settlements advanced again, +and the colonists found a short breathing space against the great +conclusive struggle of the Seven Years' War. + + + + +APPENDIX A. + +CHAPTER XVII. ENGLAND HAS NO RIGHTFUL TITLES TO NORTH AMERICA, EXCEPT THOSE +WHICH MAY BE GRANTED HER BY FRANCE. + +_Second Memoire concernant les limites des Colonies presenté en 1720, par + Bobé prêtre de la congregation de la Mission. à Versailles._ Archives + Nationales. + (_Extracts, printed literatim._) + +"L'année Dernier 1719 je presenté un Memoire Concernant les prétensions +reciproques de la grande bretagne et de la france par Raport aux Colonies +des deux Nations dans L'Amerique, et au Reglement des limites des dites +Colonies. + +"Je ne repete pas ce que j'ay dit dans ce memoire, je prie seulement que +l'on pese bien tout ce que j'y dis pour Aneantir les prétensions des +Anglois, et pour les Convaincre, s'ils veullent être de bonne foy, qu'elles +sont des plus mal fondées, trés Exorbitantes, et mêmes injustes, qu'ayant +usurpé sur La france presque tout ce qu'ils possedent en Amerique, ils +deveroient luy rendre au lieu de luy demander, et qu'ils deveroient estimer +Comme un tres grand avantage pour Eux, la Compensation que j'y propose pour +finir cette affaire, laqu'elle, sans cette Compensation, renaitra toujours +jusqu'a ce qu'enfin la france soit rentrée en paisible possession de tout +ce qui luy appartient légitimement, et dont on ne L'a depoüilleé que par la +force et La malheureuse Conjoncture des tems, qui sans doute tôt ou tard +luy seront plus favorables. + +"Il Est surprenant que les Anglois entendus Comme ils sont par Raport à +leurs Interests, ne fassent pas attention qu'il Leurs est infiniment plus +Avantageux de s'assurer, par un traité raisonnable, la tranquille et +perpetuelle possession des payis ou ils etoient établis avant la paix +D'utrecht, que de vouloir profiter des Conjonctures pour oster aux françois +des payis qu'ils ne Cederont jamais de bon Coeur, et dont ils se +rempareront quand ils trouveront l'occasion favorable pour Cela, se +persuadant qu'il leur sera alors permis de reprendre par force, ce que par +force on leurs à pris, et ce qu'ils ont été obligé de Ceder a Utrecht; et +même de reprendre au moins une partie des payis que l'angleterre à usurpez +sur la france, qui ne les à jamais cedez par aucun traité que je scache.... + +"Jean Verazan par ordre de françois 1er fit La decouverte de tous les +payis et Costes qui sont Entre le 33e et le 47e Degre de latitude, et y +fit deux voyages dont le dernier fut en 1523 et par ordre et au nom du dit +Roy francois 1er il prit possession de toute cette Coste et de tous ces +payis, bien long tems avant que les Anglois y Eussent Eté. + +"L'an 1562 Les françois s'établirent dans La Caroline. Champlain à La fin +de la relation de ses voyages fait un chapitre exprez Dans lequel il +prouve. + +"1. Que La france a pris possession de toutes les Costes et payis depuis la +floride inclusivement jusqu'au fleuve St. Laurent inclusivem't, avant tout +autre prince chrêtien. + +2. Que nos roys ont eu, dez le Commancement des decouvertes des lieutenans +generaux Dans ces payis et Costes. + +3. Que Les françois les ont habitez avant les Anglois. + +4. Que Les prétensions des Anglois sont Mal fondées. + +"La Lecture De ce chapitre fait voir que Champlain prouve invinciblement +tous ces chefs, et de maniere que les Anglois n'ont rien de bon à y +repondre, de sorte que s'ils veullent être de bonne foy, ils doivent +Convenir que tous ces payis appartiennent Légitimement à la france qu'ils +s'en sont emparez et qu'ils les Retiennent Contre toute justice.... + +"Il Est A Remarquer que quoyque par le traité de St. germain l'angleterre +dut restituer tout ce qu'elle Avoit occupé dans la Nouvelle france, et par +Consequent toute la Coste depuis baston jusqu'a la virginie inclusivement +(car alors les Anglois ne s'etoient pas encore emparez de la Caroline) +laqu'elle Coste est Certainement partie de la Nouvelle france, les Anglois +ne l'ont pas Cependant restituée et la gardent encore a present Contre la +teneur du traité de St. Germain, quoy que la france ne L'ait point Cedée a +L'angleterre ni par le dit traité ni par Aucun Autre que je scache. + +"Cecy Merite La plus serieuse attention de la france, et qu'elle fasse +Entendre serieusement aux Anglois que par le traité de St. germain ils se +sont obligez de luy rendre toutte cette Coste, qui incontestablement est +partie de la Nouvelle france, Comme je L'ay prouvé cy devant et encore plus +au long dans mon 1r memoire et Comme le prouvent Verazan, Champlain, +Denis, et toutes les plus ancienes Cartes de l'amerique septentrionale.... + +"Or Le Commun Consentement de toute l'Europe est de depeindre la Nouvelle +france S'étendant au moins au 35e et 36e degrez de latitude Ainsy qu'il +appert par les mappemondes imprimées en Espagne, Italie, hollande, +flandres, allemagne Et Angleterre même, Sinon depuis que les Anglois se +sont Emparez des Costes de la Nouvelle france, ou est L'Acadie, Etechemains +L'almouchicois, et la grande riviere de St. l'aurens, ou ils ont imposé a +leur fantaisie des Noms de nouvelle Angleterre, Ecosse, et autres, mais il +est mal aisé de pouvoir Effacer une chose qui est Connué De toute la +Chretienteé D'ou je Conclus, + +"1. Quavant L'Usurpation faite par les Anglois, toute Cette Coste jusqu'au +35e Degre s'appelloit Nouvelle france, laquelle Comprenoit outre plusieurs +autres provinces, l'Etechemains, L'almouchicois, et L'acadie.... + +"Les Anglois Doivent remettre à La france le Port Royal, et La france doit +insister vigoureusement sur cette restitution, et ordonner aux françois de +Port Royal, Des Mines, et de Beaubassin, et autres lieux De reconaitre sa +Majesté tres Chretiene pour leur Souverain, et leur deffendre d'obeir a +aucun autre; de plus Commander a tous ces lieux et payis, et a toute la +partie Septentrionale de la Peninsule, ainsi qu'aux payis des Almouchicois +et des Etechemains [_Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts_], de +Reconaitre le gouverneur de l'isle Royale pour leur Gouverneur. + +"Il Est même apropos De Comprendre Dans le Brevet de gouverneur de L'isle +Royale tous ces payis jusqu'au Cap Cod.... + +"Que La france ne doit point souffrir que les Anglois s'etablissent Dans +les payis qu'elle n'a pas Cedez. + +"Qu'elle Doit incessament s'en remettre en possession, y Envoyer quantite +D'habitans, et s'y fortifier de maniere qu'on puisse Arrêter les Anglois +que depuis long tems tachent de s'emparer de l'amerique francoise dont ils +Conaissent L'importance, et dont ils feroient un meilleur usage que celuy +que les francois en font.... + +"Si les Anglois disent que les payis qui sont entre les rivieres de +quinibequi [_Kennebec_] et de Ste. Croix font partie de la Nouvelle +Angleterre. + +JE LEURS REPONS + +"1. Qu'ils scavent bien le Contraire, que Ces payis ont toujours fait +partie de la Nouvelle france, que Les francois les ont toujours possedez et +habitez, que Mons'r De St. Castin gentilhomme francois a toujours eu, et a +encore son habitation entre la Riviere de Quinibequi et celle de Pentagoet +[_Penobscot_] (que même depuis les usurpations des anglois et leurs +etablissements, dans leur Prétenduë Nouvelle Angleterre) les francois ont +toujours prétendu que la Nouvelle france s'etend qusqu'au Cap Cod et qu'il +en est fait mention dans toutes les patentes de gouverneurs francois. + +"2. Que De L'aveu même des Anglois, la Nouvelle Angleterre a une tres +petite Etenduë du Costé de L'est, il est facile de le prouver par eux +mêmes. + +"J'ay Lu une description de la Nouvelle Angleterre et des autres Colonies +Angloises, Composée par un Anglois, traduite en francois, imprimée à Paris +en 1674 par Loüis Billaine, voicy les propres termes de Cet autheur +Anglois, La Nouvelle Angleterre est au Septentrion de Marylande, au raport +du Capitaine Smith, elle a prez de 25 Lieuës de Coste de mer. + +"Ainsi selon les Anglois qui sont de Bonne foy, la Nouvelle Angleterre, qui +n'a que prez de 25 lieuës de Coste de mer, ne scauroit s'etendre jusqu'e á +La Riviere de Quinebequi. C'est tout au plus si elle s'etend jusqu'a deux +ou trois lieuës à l'est De Baston. + +"Il Semble même que les Anglois ont basti Baston, et en ont fait une ville +Considerable à l'extremeté de leur pretenduë Nouvelle Angleterre. + +"1. Pour être a portée et en Etat de s'emparer sur les francois de tout ce +qui est à L'est de Baston. + +"2. Pour être en Etat d'Empecher les francois de s'etablir sur toute Cette +Coste jusqu à La Karoline inclusivement, laquelle Coste etant de Notorieté +publique de la Nouvelle france, à eté usurpez sur La france a qui elle +appartenoit alors, et luy appartient Encore, ne L'ayant jamais cedeé. C'est +ce que je vais prouver. + +"Apres Avoir Invinciblement Convaincu les Anglois que tout ce qui est a +L'est de quinibequi a Toujours appartenu et appartient encore à La france, +excepté L'Acadie selon ses Ancienes limites, qu'elle a Cedée par force a +L'Angleterre par La paix d'utrecht. + +"Il faut Que Presentement je prouve que toute La Coste depuis la Riviere +quinibequi jusqu' à La Caroline inclusivement appartient par toutes sortes +de droits à La france. Sur qui les Anglois L'ont usurpeé, voicy une partie +de mes preuves. + +"Les françois ont decouvert tous ces payis Avant les Anglois, et en ont +pris possession avant Eux. Les Roys de france ont nommé ces payis Caroline +et Nouvelle france avant que les Anglois leurs eussent donné des Noms á +leur mode pour faire oublier les Noms que les francois Leurs avoient +imposez. Et que ces payis Appartenoient à La france. + +"Les Roys de france ont Donné des lettres patentes à leurs sujets pour +posseder et habiter ces payis, avant que Jacques 1r et Charles 1r Roys +d'Angleterre en eussent donne à Leurs sujets. + +"Pour Convaincre les Anglois de ces veritées il faut Lire avec attention ce +qu'en ont Ecrit Jean verazan, Champlain, Laet, Denis. + +"Les traitez faits Entre La france et L'Angleterre, et Le memoire que j'ay +presenté L'anneé Dernier 1719. + +"On y Trouvera tant de Choses, lesquelles il seroit trop long de Copier +icy, qui prouvent que ces payis ont toujours appartenu de droit a La +france, et que les Anglois s'en sont emparez par force, que La france ne +les a jamais Cedez à l'angleterre par aucun traité, que je scache. + +"Et Partant que La france Conserve toujours son droit sur tous ces payis, +et qu'elle a droit de les redemander à l'Angleterre. Comme elle les +redemande présentement, ou Bien un Equivalent. + +"L'Equivalent que la france demande et dont elle veut bien se Contenter, +C'est la restitution de tout ce qu'elle a Cedéé par force à L'Angleterre +par Le traité D'utrecht. + +"Il Est De l'honeur et de l'interest de l'angleterre d'accorder à la france +cette Equivalent. + +"1. Parceque n'y ayant point D'honeur à profiter des Malheurs D'un Roy pour +Luy faire Ceder par force les payis qui luy appartiennent, il est de +l'honeur de L'Angleterre de rendre a la france, ce qu'elle a eté Contrainte +de luy ceder, et qu'elle ne possede qu'a ce mauvais tiltre. + +"2. Il est aussi Contre la justice et l'honeur de l'angleterre de posseder +sans aucun Tiltre, et Contre toute justice les payis qui sont depuis la +Riviere de quinibequi jusqu'à la Caroline inclusivement. + +"3. Il N'est pas moins de l'honeur et de l'interest de l'angleterre de +profiter du moyen que la france veut bien luy presenter, pour sassurer a +perpetuite toute Cette Coste, et pour la posseder justem't par la Cession +que la france en fera, et de tous ses droits sur ces payis moyennant +L'Equivalent proposé. + +"4. Parceque L'Angleterre doit Craindre que la france, dont elle ne Doit +mepriser ni le Ressentiment ni la puissance, ne trouve une Conjoncture +favorable pour faire valoir ses pretensions et ses droits, et pour Rentrer +en possession de tout ce que L'Angleterre Luy a usurpée, et de tout ce +qu'elle l'a obligé par force de luy Ceder. + +"5. Quand on veut trop avoir, souvent on n'a Rien, et même on perd ce que +L'on Avoit. Il est donc de la sagesse Et de l'interest de l'Angleterre de +ne pas pousser trop loin ses demandes, et de Convenir avec La france de +sorte qu'elle puisse posseder Avec justice et tranquillement des payis que +la france Aura toujours droit de reprendre jusqu'a ce qu'elle en ait fait +une Cession libre et volontaire, et qu'il paroisse que L'Angleterre En +faveur de Cette Cession luy ait donné un Equivalent. + +"La france s'offre donc pour vivre en paix avec l'Angleterre de luy Ceder +tous ses droits sur toute la Coste qui est entre la riviere de quinibequi +dans la Nouvelle france jusqu'a la Riviere Jourdain, dans la Caroline, de +sorte que ces deux rivieres servent de limites aux francois et aux Anglois. + +"La france Demande pour Equivalent de la Cession de tant de payis, si +grands, si beaux, et si a sa biensceance que l'Angleterre luy rende Et +restituë tout ce qu'elle luy á cedé par le traité Dutrecht. + +"Si La france ne peut pas engager L'Angleterre à convenir de Cet +Equivalent, Elle pouroit (mais Ce ne doit être qu'a L'extremité) Ceder +Encore à l'Angleterre la Caroline francoise, C'est a dire, ce qui est au +sud de la Riviere Jourdain, Ou bien Ce qui est Entre la Riviere quinibequi, +et Celle de Pentagoet. Ou bien leur offrir une somme D'argent. + +"Il Semble que L'Angleterre doive estimer Comme un grand Avantage pour +Elle, que La france veuille bien Convenir de Cet Equivalent, qui Assure Aux +Anglois et leur rend legitime La possession de Cette grande etenduë de +Costes qu'ils ont usurpez sur La france, qui ne les a jamais Cedez, qui ne +les Cedera jamais, et sur lesqu'elles elle Conservera toujours ses +legitimes droit et pretensions, jusqu'a ce qu'elle les ait Cédeés a +L'angleterre moyennant un Equivalent raisonnable tel qu'est la Restitution +de tout ce que La France luy a Cedé par force a Utrecht. + +LIMITES. + +"Suposeé L'acceptation de Cet Equivalent par L'une et l'autre Nation. + +"La france toujours genereuse Consentira pour vivre en paix avec les +Anglois, qu'une ligne tirée depuis l'embouchure de la Riviere de +quinibequi, ou bien, depuis l'embouchure de la Riviere de Pentagoet, qui +ira tout droit passer á egale distance entre Corlard [_Schenectady_] +et les lacs de Champlain et du Saint Sacrement, et joindre la ligne par +laqu'elle le sieur de L'isle geographe termine les terres Angloises, +jusqu'a la Riviere Jourdain, ou bien jusqu'a La Caroline inclusivem't. La +france dis-je Consentira que cette ligne serve De borne et limites aux +terres des deux Nations, de sorte que tous les payis et terres qui sont +entre Cette ligne et la mer appartiendront à L'Angleterre, et que tout ce +qui sera au dela de cette ligne appartiendra a La france. + +"Dans Le fond il est avantageux a la france de faire incessament regler les +limites, tant pour Empecher les Anglois d'empieter toujours de plus en plus +sous pretexte de limites Non regleés, que parcequ'il est assuré que si le +droit de la france est bien soutenu le réglement lui sera Avantageux, aussi +bien que l'equivalent que j'ay proposé. + +"Mais il pouroit arriver que les Anglois qui ont demandé le Reglement des +limites, voyant qu'il ne doit pas leur etre favorable s'il est fait selon +la justice, pourroient bien eux mêmes l'eloigner, afin de pouvoir toujours +empieter sur les francois sous pretexte de limites non regleés, et de se +mettre toujours en possession des payis Appartenans à la france. + +"En ce Cas et aussi au Cas que les Anglois ne veullent pas restituer a la +france leur Nouvelle Angleterre et autres payis jusqu'a la Caroline +inclusivement qu'ils luy ont usurpez, ou bien leur rendre L'Acadie &c pour +l'equivalent Dont j'ay parlé. + +"1. Il faut que la france mette incessament quantité d'habitans dans le +payis qui est entre la riviere de quinibequi et Celle de Ste. Croix, lequel +payis qui selon les Anglois N'est point en Litige, ni partie de la +pretenduë Nouvelle Ecosse, même, selon l'etendue imaginaire que luy á +donnée leur Roy Jacques 1er qui ne la fait Commancer qu'a La riviere Ste. +Croix, et Celle de quinibequi N'ayant jamais eté Cedé ni par le traite +D'utrecht ni par Aucun autre que je scache, et ce payis Ayant toujours +appartenu a La france, et eté par elle possedez et habité, Mr. de St. +Castin gentilhomme francois ayant son habitation entre la riviere de +Pentagoet et Celle de quinibequi comme je l'ay Deja dit. + +"2. On peut même faire entendre a L'Angleterre que Le Roy donnera Ce payis +a la Compagnie des Indes qui scaura bien le deffendre et le faire valoir. + +"Que Le Roy donnera aussi a la Compagnie des Indes la Caroline francoise, +Comme depandance et province de la loüisiane, a Condition qu'elle y mettera +des habitans, et y fera bâtir de bons forts, et une bonne Citadelle pour +soutenir et deffendre ce beau payis Contre les Anglois. + +"Il Est Certain que si le Roy fait entendre serieusement qu'il est resolu +de donner à la Compagnie des Indes non seulement La Caroline francoise, et +le payis qui est entre les Rivieres de quinibequi et de Ste. Croix, mais +aussi de luy Ceder et abandonner tous ses droits sur tous les payis que les +Anglois ont usurpez sur la france. + +"Il Est Certain Dis je, que les Anglois, Crainte D'Avoir affaire avec une +Compagnie si puissante, se resoudront au Reglement des limites, tel que je +l'ay proposé, et à rendre a la france toute la Nouvelle Ecosse ou Acadie +selon ses Ancienes limites, Enfin tout ce que la france leur à Cedez a +Utrecht, moyennant une somme D'Argent, ou bien L'equivalent que j'ay Aussi +proposé. + +"Je finis Ce memoire en priant de faire une tres serieuse attention aux +Exorbitantes prétensions des Anglois et a tout ce qu'ils ont fait Et font +encore pour se rendre maitres de la pesche la Moluë, et de L'Amerique +francoise. + +"En Effet il est tres important que quand on traitera du reglement des +limites, La france attaque les Anglois au lieu d'etre sur La defensive, +C'est a dire, qu'elle doit demander aux Anglois tout ce qu'ils ont usurpez +sur Elle, et le demander vigoureusement. + +"C'est peut être le meilleur moyen de les mettre a la Raison, il est même +apropos qu'elle les presse de finir Cette affaire, Dont sans doute La +Conclusion luy sera Avantageuse, si on luy rend justice." + + +II. + +DEMANDES DE LA FRANCE (1723). + +_Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères. + +(Literatim.)_ + +"Pour tous les Raisons deduites cy devant La france demande a Langleterre. + +"1. Qu'Elle laisse jouir Tranquillement la france de Tous les pays qui sont +a L'Est de la riviere Quinibequi ou de Celle de St. Georges excepté de la +seulle ville de Port Royal avec sa banlieüe et de L'accadie selon ses +anciennes Limites, C'Est a dire La partie Meridionale de la Peninsule +depuis le Cap fourchu jusqua Camseau Exclusivement, Que la france a cedée +par la traite d'Utrecht, Tout le reste qui est a L'Est de Quinibequi +[_Kennebec_], appartenant a La France en tout souveraineté depuis L'an +1524. Laquélle ne la jamais cedé ny par le Traitté d'Utrecht ny par aucun +autre traitté. + +"2. Que les Anglois Laissent Vivre Tranquillement sous la domination du Roy +les nations Sauvages qui sont dans Les payis a L'Est de Quinibequi et +qu'ils Ninquietent point les Missionnaires qui demeureront Chés les d. +Nations Ny les françois qui Iront Chés Elles. + +"3. Que Les Anglois restituent a la france ce qu'ils ont occupé a L'Est de +Quinibequi et qu'ils ne Trouvent pas mauvais que les françois prennent +detruisent ou gardent les forts Postes et habitations, que les Anglois ont +Etablis, ou Etabliront dans tous les Pays a L'Est de Quinibiqui, ou de la + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Half-Century of Conflict, by Francis Parkman + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT *** + +This file should be named 7064-8.txt or 7064-8.zip + +Produced by Don Kretz, David Moynihan, Charles Franks +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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