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listorital  Sotittji  ai  |tnnsglljania. 


BRADDOCK'S     EXPEDITION: 
A    MONOGEAPH. 


Stfin  que  lea  ftonnorables  etnprfses  U  nobles  auentures  fc  fafcts  i'armes,  par  le» 
auevres  tie  Stance  ^  ti'^nflletetrc,  sofcnt  notablemet  cnreflfstrej  &  mfs  en  memofve 
perpetud,  parquoB  Ics  pveu);  ajjent  ejreplc  Vtu]:  encourafler  en  ifen  faisant,  fe  bueil 

trafcter  U  recorder  Mistolxc  tie  QtmV  louanfle. ®n  tilt,  $(  n  est  braj,  que  tous 

cTiiflcrs  sont  massonncj  «?  ouubtej  Ire  plusfeurs  sortcs  tie  pferres,  &  toutes  ijrosses 
tfuferes  sont  fafctcs  &  vasscmblees  tie  plusfcuts  surflcons.  ^ussf  les  sciences  sont 
eptrafctes  &:  compilees  tie  plusfcurs  ©Icrcs:  &  ce,  que  nn  sjait  I'autre  rfflnore. 

Non  pourtant  rfrn  n'est,  quf  nc  soft  sccu,  ou  lofnfl  ou  pecs. %cs  OTconfqbes  tie 

itAesshe  Jean  iFvoissart :  ^Srol : 


THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


AfTOH,  LENdX  AN* 
TtLBEN  F»<jNOATieN». 


.> 


•^"^m^im '  <  ^^^'. 


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•  -f  ifi 


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THE 


HISTORY 


oi- 


AN    EXPEDITION 

AGAIXST 

FORT    DU    QUESNE, 

IN   1755; 


MAJOR-GENERAL   EDWARD  BRADDOCK, 

GENERALISSIMO    OF   H.  B.  M.   FORCES   IN   AMERICA. 
EDITED 

FKOM  THE  ORIGINAL  MANUSCRIPTS, 


WINTHROP    SARGENT,   M.A., 

MEMBER     OF     THE     H  1  S  W  H  I  .J^A  «    S  0  0  I  E  T  y,     O  f     P  E  N  N  S  V  L  V  A  M  A. 


' '   '  If  I   -  ,  ,    ^    >^J — 

PHILADELPHIA: 
J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT    &    CO 

FOR    THE 

HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  TENNSYLVANIA. 

>  1856. 


Jhi* 


ipUBLIC  U»KAr>> 

^g.OR.    t-ENOX    *MC 
TILOfcN    fOUNDATlONI 
»  1912  ^ 


On  the  13th  of  February,  1854,  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania 
established  a  Publication  Fund ;  by  the  terms  of  which  any  person  what- 
ever, on  the  payment  of  twenty  dollars,  becomes  entitled  to  receive  a  copy 
of  all  of  its  future  publications  during  the  term  of  his  life.  The  money 
thus  received  is  invested  on  a  special  trust,  and  the  interest  alone  is  ap- 
plied to  purposes  of  publication.  It  already  amounts  to  four  thousand 
dollars.  The  present  volume  is  the  first  fruit  of  this  undertaking,  and  it 
is  proposed  to  follow  it  with  others  of  a  like  character.  It  is  proper  to 
add,  that  considerable  aid  is  derived  from  the  Society  itself,  and  from  the 
anticipated  sale  of  the  works  thus  produced. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1855,  by 

THE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


MEMOIES 


OF     THE 


HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


VOL.    V. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
J.    B.    L  I  P  P  I  N  C  0  T  T    &    CO., 

FOR   THE 

HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   OF   PENNSYLVANIA. 

1855. 


THEKEWYORKl 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY! 

531U)S5 

«T6ft,  LENOX  AND 
TiLOeN  FOUNDATIONS. 

fi  1912  L 


TO 

JOSEPH    R.    INGERSOLL; 

THROUGH  WHOSE  PUBLIC  SPIRIT 

THE  MATTER  WHICH  FORMS  ITS  BASIS  WAS  PROCURED, 

THIS    VOLUME 

IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

Introductory  Memoir 15 

Captain  Orme's  Journal 281 

The  Morris  Journal 359 

Braddock's  iNSTRVCTioviS,  &c.  (Ajypendix)  393 

Fanny  Braddock  (Appendix) 401 

GtEorge  Croghan's  Statement  (^Appendix') 407 

French  Reports  op  the  Battle  (Appendix) 409 

Verses  on  Braddock  (Appendix) 414 

Braddock's  last  Night  in  London  (Appendix) 417 

Index 419 


(vii) 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


View  of  the  Scene  op  Braddock's  Defeat Frontispiece. 

Fort  Du  Quesne Page  182 

Braddock's  Route 198 

Plan  of  the  Battle-Field 219 

Braddock's  Grave 280 

Map  of  the  Country  between   Forts  Cumberland   and  Du 

QuESNE 283 

Line  of  March  with  all  the  Baggage 317 

Line  of  March  op  Detachment  from  Little  Meadows 336 

Encampment  of  Detachment  from  Little  Meadows 336 

Distribution  of  Advanced  Party 353 

Plan  of  Battle 354 


(ix) 


PEEFACE. 


During  the  term  of  Mr.  J.  R.  Ingersoll's  official 
residence  at  London,  he  procured,  for  the  Historical 
Society  of  Pennsylvania,  copies  of  the  three  jour- 
nals which  constitute  the  basis  of  this  volume.  A 
few  months  since,  these  were  committed  by  the  So- 
ciety to  the  hands  of  the  editor,  with  a  request  to 
prepare  therefrom  such  a  work  as  he  now  has  the 
honour  to  lay  before  it  and  the  public. 

It  is  a  matter  of  reasonable  surprise,  that  the 
narrative  of  what  Mr.  Sparks  has  justly  styled 
"one  of  the  most  remarkable  events  in  American 
history,"  has  never  before  been  formally  and  cir- 
cumstantially related.  Perhaps  the  secret  rests  in 
the  fact  that  much  of  the  original  material  neces- 
sary to  such  an  undertaking  has  hitherto  slumbered 
in  undisturbed  repose,  its  very  existence  almost  for- 
gotten, upon  the  shelves  of  State-Paper  Offices 
and  public  libraries  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 


XU  PREFACE. 

A  sketch  of  the  combat,  brief,  but  admirably  exact, 
is  given  by  the  distinguished  author  before  cited  in 
the  Appendix  to  the  second  volume  of  the  Writings 
of  Washington;  and  other  notices,  incidental  and 
of  less  value,  are  to  be  found  in  numerous  historical 
works.     There  are  also  two  obscure  and  obsolete 
contemporaneous  pamphlets,  professing  to  give  an 
account  of  Braddock's  defeat,  which,  although  not 
so  rare  as  to  be  unknown  to  Rich,  are  hardly  pos- 
sessed of  sufficient  worth  to  save  them  from  the 
limbo  of  Ariosto.     The  first  of  these  is  "  A  Letter 
to  a  Friend;    giving  a  concise  but  just  Account, 
according  to  the  Advices  hitherto  received,  of  the 
Ohio   Defeat,"    &c.   (Boston,   printed;   Bristol,  re- 
printed, 1755;  8vo.,  pp.  30.)     The  second,  to  which 
the  editor  has  had  access  only  since  the  body  of  his 
volume  was  stereotyped,  is  entitled  "The  Expedi- 
tion of  Major-General  Edward  Braddock  to  Virginia, 
with  the  two  Regiments  of  Hacket  and  Dunbar. 
Being  Extracts  of  Letters  from  an  Officer  in  one  of 
those  Regiments  to  his  Friend  in  London,"  &c.  (Lon- 
don, 1755;  8vo.,  pp.  29.)     This  seems  to  be  a  mere 
catch-penny  production,  made  up,  perhaps,  from  the 
reports  of  some  ignorant  camp-follower.     The  pri- 
vations and  insubordination  of  the  army,  and  the 
paltry  and  despicable  character  of  the  colonists  and 
their  country  form  the  burthen  of  his  strain.     The 
only  facts  he  relates  concerning  the  expedition  that 


PREFACE.  Xni 

we  do  not  find  elsewhere,  are  that  the  General  was 
somewhat  of  a  bon  vivant,  and  had  with  him  "two 
good  Cooks  who  could  make  an  excellent  Ragout 
out  of  a  pair  of  Boots,  had  they  but  Materials  to 
toss  them  up  with;"  and  that  the  soldiers,  for  lack 
of  ovens,  were  compelled  to  bake  their  maize  bread 
in  holes  in  the  ground. 

Of  a  very  different  value  are  the  copies  of  the 
French  official  reports  of  the  action  of  the  9th  of 
July,  1755,  so  kindly  placed  at  the  editor's  disposal 
by  Mr.  Sparks;  to  whom  the  Society  is  also  indebted 
for  the  use  of  the  copper-plate  from  which  the  plan 
of  the  battle-field  is  taken.  To  Mr.  Neville  B. 
Craig,  of  Pittsburg,  it  is  under  like  obligations  for 
the  plate  of  Braddock's  route ;  and  to  Mr.  Paul  We- 
ber, of  Philadelphia,  for  the  drawing  of  the  wood-cut 
of  Braddock's  grave,  and  for  the  elegant  original 
landscape  painting  engraved  as  a  frontispiece  to 
this  volume.  To  these  gentlemen,  and  to  Mr.  John 
Jordan,  junior,  of  Philadelphia,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Fran- 
cis-Orpen  Morris,  of  Nunburnholme  Rectory,  York- 
shire, England,  Dr.  William  M.  Darlington,  of  Pitts- 
burg, and  Mr:  Edward  D.  Ingraham,  of  Philadel- 
phia, both  the  Society  and  the  editor  must  confess 
their  obligations.  To  Mr.  Ingersoll  and  Mr.  Bucha- 
nan, the  late  and  present  Ministers  to  England,  and 
to  Mr.  Townsend  Ward,  the  Librarian  of  the  Society, 


XIV  PREFACE. 


acknowledgments  are  also  due  for  the  valuable  as- 
sistance they  have,  in  various  ways,  rendered  him. 
So  far  as  regards  the  manner  in  which  the  editor 
has  accomplished  his  task,  he  has  only  to  say  that, 
within  the  limits  prescribed  him,  he  has  carefully 
endeavored  to  fulfil  his  duty.  The  Introductory 
Memoir  was  considered,  by  those  whose  views  he 
felt  called  upon  to  regard,  desirable  to  Jbring  clearly 
before  the  reader's  mind  the  origin  and  ulterior 
causes  of  this  campaign ;  which  was,  in  fact,  but 
the  prologue  to  the  Seven  Years'  War.  An  Appen- 
dix is  also  added,  in  which  will  be  found  much 
matter  bearing  more  or  less  directly  upon  the  sub- 
ject in  hand.  It  may  be  objected  that  the  notes 
abound  too  much  in  "  matter  needless,  of  importless 
burthen;"  yet  in  such  a  place,  it  is  submitted  that 
no  unimportant  part  of  an  editor's  duty  consists  in 
elucidating  neglected  facts;  nor  should  he  spare  to 
dwell  upon  the  personal  history  of  the  obscurest 
name  upon  the  roll : 

il  figlio 


Del  tale,  ed  il  nipote  del  cotale 
Nato  per  madre  della  tale. 


INTRODUCTORY  MEMOIR. 


On  the  night  of  the  30th  of  April,  1748,  the  preliminar 
ries  of  what  was  boldly  asserted  to  be  a  definitive  and 
lasting  peace,  were  signed  by  the  diplomatic  representatives 
of  England,  Holland,  and  France,  at  the  city  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle.  Exhausted  by  the  fatigues  of  a  long,  harassing, 
and  unsatisfactory  struggle,  the  two  great  parties  in  this 
arrangement  embraced,  if  not  eagerly,  at  least  without 
reluctance,  a  scheme  which  would  give  to  each  an  oppor- 
tunity to  extricate  itself  from  any  unprofitable  enterprise 
or  dangerous  dilemma  in  which  it  had  become  involved, 
and  to  prepare,  at  leisure,  plans  for  a  future  and  more 
successful  war.  "Never,"  says  Lord  Mahon,  "never, 
perhaps,  did  any  war,  after  so  many  great  events,  and  so 
large  a  loss  of  blood  and  treasure,  end  in  replacing  the 
nations  engaged  in  it  in  nearly  the  same  situation  as  they 
held  at  first."  The  Earl  of  Chesterfield  —  the  only  man 
in  the  British  Cabinet  possessed  of  sufficient  energy  and 
capacity  to  have  directed  more  successfully  hostile  measures, 
or  to  have  procured  more  advantageous  terms  of  peace  — • 

(15) 


16  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

had  been  compelled  to  withdraw  from  power  six  months 
before :  and  to  the  ignorant  or  feeble  hands  which  con- 
tinued to  hold  the  reins  of  government,  much  of  the 
future,  as  well  as  the  then  existing  blunders  in  the  policy 
of  the  Crown  —  at  least,  so  far  as  America  was  concerned 
—  may  safely  be  attributed.^ 

Certainly,  no  one  versed  in  the  political  secrets  of  the 
day  could,  by  any  possibility,  have  believed  that  this  peace 
was  to  be  a  lasting  one.  It  was  deficient  in  every  element 
of  coherence.  Nothing  was  settled  by  the  treaty :  con- 
quests all  over  the  world  were  to  be  mutually  restored ; 
some  trifling  shiftings  of  territorial  proprietorship  on  the 
part  of  the  Italian  and  other  minor  princes  engaged  in  the 
war  were  agreed  upon;  a  few  other  articles,  relative  to 
European  aflairs,  of  little  or  no  consequence  in  proportion 
to  the  cost  at  which  they  were  effected,  were  inserted ;  and 
the  treaty  of  Utrecht,  as  well  as  all  former  treaties,  con- 
firmed in  existence.  In  short,  matters  were  essentially 
placed  in  statu  quo  ante  helium,  at  a  cost  to  England  of 
£110,000,000.  But  there  were  two  circumstances,  con- 
nected with  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  galling  in  the 
last  degree  to  British  pride  and  British  interest:  these 
were  the  surrender  of  Cape  Breton  to  its  former  possessors, 
and  the  delivery  of  hostages  until  that  was  done.  Accord- 
ingly,  whilst   the   Earl   of    Sussex    and    Lord   Cathcart 

'  II.  Hist,  of  Eng  from  Peace  of  Utrecht,  &c.,  290.  So  keenly  was  their 
disgrace  felt  by  the  English,  that  Charles  Edward  himself,  then  residing  at 
Paris,  could  not  view  it  without  indignation.  ''  If  ever  I  ascend  the  throne 
of  my  ancestors,"  he  exclaimed,  "Europe  shall  see  me  use  my  utmost 
endeavors  to  force  France,  in  her  turn,  to  send  hostages  to  England." 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  17 

awaited,  at  Paris,  in  easy  but  dishonourable  captivity,  the 
tardy  messengers  whose  return  sliould  announce  that  once 
more  the  UHes  were  planted  upon  the  bastions  of  Louis- 
bourg,  there  glowed  in  the  breast  of  every  true  Briton  the 
burning  embers  of  mortified  vanity,  the  but  half-smothered 
lust  of  fierce  revenge.  From  the  throng  of  Hanoverian 
favorites  around  their  alienigenate  king,  down  to  the 
hardy  New  England  fisherman  who  trimmed  his  light  sail 
as  he  glided  within  sight  of  that  apple  of  the  American 
eye,  curses  both  loud  and  deep  were  vented  against  the 
degrading  terms  they  had  submitted  to.  They  had  suffered 
not  only  disgrace  and  dishonor,  but  infinite  loss ;  and  they 
anxiously  awaited  the  hour  of  vengeance.  That  hour  was 
not  fated  to  be  long  delayed. 

It  has  been  observed,  that  the  treaty  of  1748  left 
England  in  a  state  of  mind  but  too  ready  to  seize,  with 
avidity,  upon  the  first  pretext  for  bettering  its  condition, 
and  restoring  to  itself  those  rights  which  it  had  unjustly 
perilled  in  that  compact.  Unfortunately  for  the  peace  of 
humanity,  circumstances  not  so  weak  as  to  be  considered 
mere  pretexts,  soon  presented  themselves,  to  provoke  a 
renewal  of  the  strife.  It  is,  perhaps,  not  very  expedient 
to  go  back  to  the  ultimate  causes  of  the  war,  and  tracing 
their  progress,  event  by  event,  finally,  after  the  fashion  of 
an  inverted  pyramid,  taper  this  narrative  down  to  the 
story  of  the  single  battle  by  which  its  epiphany  was  sig- 
nalized. But  a  few  brief  comments  upon  the  immediate 
and  most  glaring  inducements  to  a  contest  so  important 
in  its  conduct,  so  momentous  in  its  results,  may  not  be  out 
of  place. 
2 


18  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

If  ever  there  was  a  just  cause  of  war,  England  had  it  in 
1755.  By  the  treaty  of  October,  1748,  (Art.  III.,)  that 
of  Utrecht  (1713),  and  numerous  others,  were  recognised 
and  confirmed  in  all  their  parts ;  save,  of  course,  such  as 
might  be  modified  by  the  pact  in  question  —  and  were 
formally  constituted  its  basis.  By  the  treaty  of  Utrecht 
(Art.  XII.,)  "  all  Nova  Scotia  or  Acadia,  with  its  ancient 
limits,  and  all  its  dependencies,  was  ceded  to  the  crown  of 
Great  Britain;"^  and,  furthermore,  it  was  provided  (Art. 
XV.,)  that  "  the  subjects  of  France,  inhabitants  of  Canada 
and  elsewhere,  should  not  disturb  or  molest  in  any  manner 
whatever  the  five  Indian  nations  which  are  subject  to 
Great  Britain,  nor  its  other  American  allies."  These 
articles  were  certainly  incorporated  into  the  treaty  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle ;  but  with  neither  stipulation  were  the  French 
willing  to  comply.    The  last  clause  would  evidently  always 

'  "  Dominus  Rex  Christianissimus  eodum  quse  pacis  praesentis  Ratihabi- 
tationes  commutabuntur  die,  Dominae  Reginae  Magnae  Brittaniae  literas, 
tabulasve  solenne  et  autbenticas  tradendas  curabit,  quarum  vigore,  insulam 
Sancti  Christopbori,  per  subditos  Britannicos  sigillatim  dehinc  possidendam  j 
Novam  Scotiara  quoque,  sive  Acadiam  totam,  limitibus  suis  antiquis  com- 
prebensam,  ut  et  portus  Portus  Regii  urbem,  nunc  Annapolin  regiam 
dictam,  caeteraque  omnia  in  istis  regionibus  quae  ab  iisdem  terris  et  insulis 
pendent,  unacum  earundarum  insularum,  terrarum  et  locorum  dominio,  pro- 
prietate,  possessione,  et  quocunque  jure  sive  per  pacta,  sive  alio  niodo  quje- 
sito,  quod  Rex  Cbristianissimus,  corona  Galliae,  aut  ejusdem  subditi 
quicunque  ad  dictas  insulas,  terras  et  loca,  eorumque  incolas,  bactenus 
habuerunt,  Reginae  Magnje  Britanniae,  ejusdemque  coronae  in  perpetuum 
cedi  constabit  et  transferri,  prout  eadem  omnia  nunc  cedit  ac  transfert  Rex 
Christianissimus;  idque  tam  amplis  modo  et  forma  ut  Regis  Christianissimi 
subditis  in  dictis  maribus,  sinubus,  aliisque  locis  ad  littora  Novae  Scotiae,  ea 
nempe  quae  Eurum  respiciunt,  intra  triginta  leucas,  incipiendo  ab  insula, 
vulgo  Sdhle  dicta,  eaque  inclusa  et  Africum  versus  pergendo  omni  picatura  in 
posterium  intcrdicatur."     Vide  also  Mem.  dcs  Comm.  cle  S.  M.  T.  C,  &c. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  19 

open  to  Great  Britain  a  casus  belli ;  for  it  was  impossible 
for  a  year  at  a  time  to  pass  by  without  some  troubles 
between  the  Iroquois  and  their  Canadian  neighbors ;  and 
in  such  cases  each  party,  on  the  showing  of  the  other,  is 
inevitably  the  aggressor.  But  the  provision  respecting 
Nova  Scotia  was  widely  different.  The  restoration  of 
Louisbourg,  as  matters  then  stood,  was  a  point  of  equal 
importance  to  the  settlers  in  Canada  and  the  colonists  of 
New  England.  Under  its  ancient  lords,  this  nursing-mother 
of  privateers  would  be  powerful  alike  to  preserve  the 
French,  and  to  destroy  the  English  trade  and  fisheries  in 
that  part  of  the  world.  The  annoyance,  therefore,  of  the 
New  England  people  was  extreme  and  well  founded ;  and 
at  their  earnest  representations,  the  Home  Government 
was  finally  instigated  to  adopt  the  only  practical  method 
left  of  peaceably  dissipating  the  dangers  with  which  they 
were  threatened  by  the  constantly  increasing  power  and 
malignity  of  the  French.  The  armed  occupation  and 
settlement  of  the  province  of  Nova  Scotia,  till  then  un- 
noticed or  disregarded  by  the  Ministry,  became  now  a 
subject  of  consideration.  In  the  spring  of  1748,  and 
during  that  and  the  ensuing  year,  several  thousand  colo- 
nists were  sent  thither  by  the  government,  at  an  expense 
of  £70,000,  and  the  town  of  Halifiix  was  founded.  But 
the  French,  who  had  hitherto  evaded  or  disingenuously 
dallied  with  their  obligations  to  yield  up  the  peninsula  — 
suppressing,  wherever  they  could,  the  settlements  of  the 
English  there,  and  constantly  increasing  their  own  strength 
by  reinforcements  —  now  openly  resisted,  under  M.  de  la 
Corne,  the  progress  of  their  rivals.     Thus  commenced  that 


20  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

scene  of  constant  dissension  and  strife  which  ensued 
between  the  original  settlers,  scattered  over  the  land,  and 
the  subjects  of  the  crown  to  which  it  lawfully  pertained ; 
whose  melancholy  termination  was  that  enforced  expatria- 
tion which  posterity  has  consecrated  to  sorrow  in  the  pages 
of  Evangeline.  That  the  Court  of  Versailles,  through  its 
subordinate  officers,  promoted  and  encouraged  the  sturdy 
denial  of  British  sovereignty  by  these  loyal-hearted  Aca- 
dians,  cannot  at  this  day  be  doubted  or  denied;  but  the 
result  of  such  a  course  was  as  fatal  to  the  fair  fame  of  the 
conquerors,  as  to  the  happiness  of  the  conquered. 

Nor  did  the  French  government  confine  itself  to  an 
unavowed  but  well-supported  resistance  to  the  progress  of 
Anglo-American  power  in  the  north  only.  Thirty  years 
before,  its  grand  scheme  for  uniting  its  colonies,  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  by  a  chain  of  posts 
along  the  Mississippi,  the  Ohio,  and  the  Lakes,  had  begun 
to  be  tangibly  developed :  ever  bent  upon  the  fulfilment 
of  these  cherished  ideas,  already  its  encroaching  grasp  was 
extended,  with  many  ramifications,  from  Canada  to  the 
Lower  Mississippi.  Li  1731,  Crown  Point  was  unlawfully 
erected  by  the  French  within  the  Hmits  of  the  Five 
Nations,  and  of  New  York  :  Niagara  had  been  seized  on  in 
1720.  In  truth,  their  policy  seemed  both  rational  and 
feasible.  During  a  large  portion  of  the  year,  the  natural 
outlets  of  Canada  were  efiectually  sealed  by  the  angry 
elements :  supplies  of  troops  or  provisions — in  fact,  almost 
every  intercourse  whatever  with  Europe  —  were  utterly 
shut  out  from  its  ports.  The  facility  of  water  communi- 
cation between  Canada    and    New  Orleans,  by  the    lakes 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  21 

and  rivers  of  the  West  would,  if  made  properly  available, 
not  only  facilitate  the  secure  transmission  of  supplies, 
but  would  inevitably  throw  the  whole  peltry  trade  of 
those  regions  into  the  hands  of  the  French.  It  is  no 
wonder,  then,  that  they  were  desirous  of  procuring 
so  manifest  an  advantage ;  but,  unhappily  for  themselves, 
they  grasped  at  too  much,  and  lost  the  whole.  Like  the 
dog  in  the  fable,  they  sacrificed  not  only  the  hoped-for 
gain,  but  all  their  present  good,  in  the  endeavor.^ 

To  have  opened  a  communication  between  their  widely- 
separated  establishments,  by  the  way  of  the  western  lakes 
and  the  Illinois,  would  have  been  a  comparatively  safe, 
and  by  far  the  wiser  mode  of  procedure  for  the  French, 
under  the  circumstances  of  their  position.  So  far  as  its 
ostensible  objects  were  concerned,  it  would  have  23erfectly 
answered  the  purpose,  and  the  trade  it  would  secure  would 
have  been  prodigious :  nor  could  the  English,  everything 
considered,  have  made  any  very  effectual  opposition.  But 
to  adopt  this  route  would  have  left  too  wide  a  margin  for 
British  enterprise.  The  warlike  tribes  seated  between  the 
Illinois  and  the  Alleghanies  —  the  broad  lands  watered  by 
the  Muskingum,  the  Scioto,  and  other  kindred  streams,  by 
whose  marge  arose  the  bark  lodges  of  the  Shawanoes  and 
the  Delawares  —  the  gloomy  forests,  where 

Beneath  the  shade  of  melancholy  boughs, 

'  That  the  designs  of  the  French  were  perfectly  comprehended  in  the 
English  colonies,  is  abundantly  proved  by  Gov.  Shirley's  letter  to  Gov. 
Hamilton,  of  March  4th,  1754,  printed  in  the  Minutes  of  the  Provincial 
Council  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  16.  And  see  also  I.  Entick,  105, 
and  The  Contest  in  America  beitveen  Great  Britain  and  France.  (Lond 
1757.) 


22  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

the  Six  Nations  wandered  on  their  distant  hunting-parties 
—  these  would  have  still  remained  open  to  the  visits  — 
subjected  to  the  influence  of  their  hated  rivals.  The 
notion  of  occupying  the  head-waters  of  the  Ohio,  and  of 
planting  a  line  of  forts  from  Lake  Erie,  by  the  Le  Boeuf, 
to  the  Alleghany,  and  thence  down  the  Ohio  to  the  Missis- 
sippi, was  a  more  dangerous  but  a  more  fascinating  vision. 
Its  execution  would  probably  be  fraught  with  much  hazard, 
but  its  results,  if  successful,  were  too  precious  to  suffer  the 
powers  that  were  to  resist  the  temptation.  Out  of  the 
nettle  danger  they  hoped  to  pluck  the  flower  safety ;  and, 
at  one  time,  it  really  seemed  as  though  all  their  anticipa- 
tions were  to  have  been  crowned  with  success.  But  the 
wisdom  of  Almighty  Providence  had  ordered  the  event 
otherwise. 

In  an  evil  hour,  then,  for  themselves,  the  French  decided 
to  persevere  in  the  latter  plan.  While  the  Appallachian 
chain,  it  was  thought,  would  serve  at  the  same  time  as  a 
bulwark  against  the  British  colg>nies,  and  as  a  well-marked 
and  palpable  boundary  between  the  two  nations,  the  whole 
body  of  the  Western  Indians  would  be  thrown  completely 
under  their  control.  Already  game  had  begun  to  be 
scarce,  or  to  disappear  utterly,  east  of  the  mountains,  and 
the  best  furs  were  to  be  found  upon  the  further  side. 
With  forts  and  trading-houses  once  established  in  their 
midst,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  prevent  the  savages  from 
supplying  the  English  dealers,  or  receiving  in  turn  their 
commodities.  The  peltry  traffic,  so  profitable  to  European 
commerce,  had  already  to  be  pursued  on  the  frontiers ;  and 
it  was  not  probable  that  the  Indians  would  go  thither  to 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  23 

seek  no  better  market  than  they  could  find  at  home.  The 
certain  consequences,  too,  of  thus  virtually  monopolizing 
the  right  to  buy  and  sell  with  the  savages,  would  be  to 
secure,  beyond  a  peradventure,  their  services  against  the 
English,  in  any  difficulty  that  might  occur.  There  is 
nothing  the  American  aborigine  learns  more  quickly  than 
to  abandon  his  rude  native  weapons  of  the  chase — the  bow 
or  the  flint-headed  spear  —  for  the  fusil  and  gunpowder  of 
the  whites ;  and  having  become  thus  dependent  on  his 
neighbors  for  the  means  of  subsistence,  it  has  never  been 
found  difficult  to  point  out  other  and  less  innocent  employ- 
ment for  his  arms.  By  thus  building  up  a  mighty  power 
behind  the  English  settlements,  they  would  not  only  be  in 
a  position  to  terribly  annoy,  if  not  to  entirely  overcome 
them,  in  the  event  of  war,  but  also  to  clog  and  embarrass 
their  prosperity  during  time  of  peace.  A  very  great  staple 
of  that  commerce  which  made  America  so  valuable  to 
Great  Britain  being  utterly  destroyed,  its  domestic  increase, 
its  foreign  influence,  would  be  materially  affected.  The 
agricultural  productions  of  the  colonies  would  likewise  be 
touched;  for,  with  the  constant  necessity,  through  an 
imminent  danger,  there  must  likewise  be  the  constant 
presence  of  a  portion  of  the  population  in  arms ;  and  thus 
the  tobacco  plantations  and  the  fields  of  maize  would  miss 
a  master's  hand,  and  yield  a  diminished  crop.  It  is  unne- 
cessary to  consider  here  how  many  millions  of  money  were 
yearly  employed  at  this  period  in  the  trade  between  the 
mother  country  and  her  colonies — to  how  many  thousands 
of  souls  it  gave  a  supj^ort :  nothing  can  be  more  evident 
than  that  such  an  attack  u^^on  the  productiveness  of  the 


24  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

one  must  at  once  affect  their  value  to  the  other,  and  thus 
render  them,  day  by  day,  less  important,  and  less  self- 
capable  of  preservation.  In  short,  as  was  well  said  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  the  French  held  the  colonies  within 
their  range  of  posts  as  in  the  two  ends  of  a  net,  which,  if 
tightened  by  degrees,  would  get  them  all  into  the  body  of 
it,  and  then  drown  them  in  the  sea.^ 

It  will  be  recollected,  that  for  a  long  period  the  unde- 
fined western  limits  of  the  two  English  colonies  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  Virginia  had  occasioned  much  controversy, 
and  had  induced  considerable  ill-feeling  between  those 
provinces.  Their  claims  were  conflicting;  and  no  autho- 
rized power  had  yet  reconciled  their  demands,  and  assigned 
to  each  sovereignty  final  and  determinate  territorial  bounds. 
So  long,  therefore,  as  the  question  remained  open,  and  the 
precise  confines  of  either  province  unestablished,  it  was 
impossible  for  settlers  to  know  from  which  government 
they  could  procure  a  good  title.  For  this  reason,  chiefly, 
the  lands  lying  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  and  upon  the 
streams  which  unite  to  form  the  Ohio,  had  remained 
unvisited  by  any  other  Englishmen  than  the  few  traders 
who  found  their  annual  j^rofit  in  selling  to  the  savages  in 
the  neighborhood  of  their  homes.  To  perplex  matters  still 
more,  the  associates  known  as  the  Ohio  Company  obtained, 
in  1749,  a  vague  grant  from  the  crown,  vesting  in  them 
vast  but  undefined  tracts  of  land  bordering  on,  if  not 
actually  embracing,  the  very  territory  in  dispute  between 

'  I.  Entick,  126. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  25 

Virginia  and  Pennsylvania.'  All  these  circumstances 
combined  to  render  more  easy  of  execution  the  manoeuvres 
of  the  French  in  regard  to  the  occupation  of  the  forks  of 
the  Ohio,  and  they  were  availed  of  without  delay.  The 
history  of  their  first  settlement  in  that  vicinity;  of  the 
unsuccessful  mission  of  Washington  to  procure  their 
departure;  of  the  consequent  collision  that  ensued 
between  the  two  parties ;  and  the  English  defeat  at  Fort 
Necessity ;  are  prominent  passages  in  history.  It  is  from 
these  occurrences  that  we  are  to  date  the  original  concep- 
tion, the  organization  and  execution,  and  the  disastrous 
results,  of  the  expedition  commanded  by  Major-General 
Braddock. 

It  is  very  true,  that  at  the  period  in  question  both  colo- 
nies claimed  that  the  lands  comprehended  within  the  forks 
of  the  Ohio  were  included  in  their  patents :  yet,  neverthe- 
less, nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  it  rightfully 
appertained  to  neither  Pennsylvania  nor  Virginia.  The 
original  patent,  from  James  I.  to  the  London  and  Plymouth 
Companies,  which  was  relied  upon  by  Virginia,  had  been 
legally  overturned  on  a  quo  loarranto  in  1623  ;  and  the  tacit 
acquiescence  of  those  companies  in  the  grant  of  Maryland 
to  Lord  Baltimore  by  Charles  I.,  in  1632,  was  considered  to 
have  barred  their  right  to  open  the  case  anew,  after  the  in- 
terval of  an  hundred  years.  The  charter  from  the  crown 
to  WilUam  Penn,  in  1681,  would  appear  to  cover  the  whole 

'  Perhaps  the  influence  with  the  ministry  of  John  Sargent,  Thomas 
Walpole,  and  the  other  associates  of  the  Ohio  Company,  whose  prospects 
were  entirely  subverted  by  the  presence  of  the  French,  may  have  contributed 
more  powerfully  than  any  other  cause  to  the  expedition  against  Fort  Du 
Quesne. 


26  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

territory  in  dispute;  but,  hitherto,  the  proprietaries,  to 
whom  alone  belonged  the  power  of  purchasing  the  soil  from 
the  Indians,  had  not  come  to  any  terms  with  their  dusky 
neighbors.  The  land,  in  fact,  belonged  absolutely  to  its 
savage  inhabitants ;  and  the  utmost  the  province  of  Penn- 
sylvania could  claim  was  the  exclusive  right  of  purchasing 
it  from  them.  Nor  had  the  French  any  better  title : 
perhaps,  if  the  comity  of  Christian  nations  were  to  be 
taken  into  the  account,  none  so  good.  Thus,  whatever  it 
might  be  alleged,  neither  crown  had  as  yet  any  right  to  the 
country  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  But  that  was  of  small 
consideration  :  a  block-house  once  established,  and  a  garri- 
son maintained  thereon  some  specious  pretext;  a  judicious 
distribution  of  red  ochre,  gewgaws,  fire-arms,  and  rum; 
and  it  would  be  easy  enough  to  get  an  absolute  title  from 
the  Indians.^  This  was  the  end  of  the  French,  who  were 
not  disposed  to  admit  any  English  pretensions  that  con- 
flicted with  their  own  interests.  "When,  therefore,  in  1752, 
on  the  first  alarm  of  the  threatened  invasion  of  these 
regions,  the  Penns  instructed  their  Lieutenant-Governor  to 
lend  all  aid  in  his  power  to  Governor  Dinwiddie  of  Virginia, 
in  the  erection  of  a  fortress  that  might  thwart  their  designs, 
it  was  also  provided  that  no  rights  of  the   proprietaries 

'  Horace  Walpole  sneeringly  dwells  on  the  methods  by  which  England 
and  France  seated  themselves  in  America.  "  They  enslaved,  or  assisted 
the  wretched  nations  to  butcher  one  another,"  says  he,  "  instructed  them  in 
the  use  of  fire-arms,  brandy,  and  the  New  Testament,  and  at  last,  by  scat- 
tered extension  of  forts  and  colonies,  they  have  met  to  quarrel  for  the 
boundaries  of  empires,  of  which  they  can  neither  use  nor  occupy  a  twentieth 
part  of  the  included  territory."  (I.  Mem.  Geo.  II.,  343.)  But  ^^  ive  do 
not  massacre,"  he  adds,  ''  we  are  such  good  Christians  as  only  to  cheat !" 
(III.  Corresp.  136.) 


INTRODUCTORT    MEMOIR.  27 

should  be  prejudiced  thereby.  Two  years  later,  when 
there  was  actual  likelihood  of  such  a  fortress  being  erected, 
and  Dinwiddie  had  issued  his  proclamation,  granting  away 
two  hundred  thousand  acres  of  the  soil  upon  part  of  which 
Pittsburg  now  stands,  a  correspondence  ensued  between  the 
two  governments,  in  which  that  of  Virginia,  while  denying 
the  fact  of  the  forks  of  the  Ohio  being  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  Pennsylvania,  very  honestly  conceded  that  if  on 
investigation  this  should  prove  to  be  the  case,  the  rights 
of  that  colony  should  not  be  at  all  impaired.^ 

Previously,  however,  to  the  actual  occupation  of  this 
region,  the  French  had  been  gradually  strengthening  their 
hands,  and  drawing  closer  their  lines  in  that  quarter. 
Their  scattered  posts  upon  the  Mississippi,  though  few  in 
number  and  wide  apart,  gave  them  the  command  of  that 
stream;  and  they  had  already  a  fortified  establishment 
upon  the  Ohio,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash  river.  In 
1745,  the  Marquis  de  la  Galissoniere  was  appointed 
Governor-General  of  Canada.  Penetrated  at  once  with 
the  immense  advantage  that  would  result  from  an  arrange- 
ment that  should  not' only  open  the  communication  of 
Canada  with  the  mother  country  during  those  seasons 
when  all  its  natural  outlets  were  closed  by  ice  and  frost, 
but  would  likewise  restrain  and  cripple  the  English  colo- 
nies upon  the  continent,  he  spared  no  toil  to  mature  and 

'  Minutes  of  Provincial  Council  of  Pennsylvania,  Vol.  VI.,  pp.  4,  8. 
I.  Olden  Time,  436.  I  am  happy  in  joining  my  testimony  with  that  of 
Mr.  Francis  Parkraan  (Conspiracy  of  Pontiac,  87.),  as  to  the  extreme  value 
of  Mr.  Craig's  labors  in  regard  to  the  earlier  settlements  beyond  the 
AUeghanies.  So  far,  in  particular,  as  relates  to  Western  Pennsylvania, 
his  collections  are  worthy  of  much  praise. 


28  INTRODUCTOEY    MEMOIR. 

put  into  shape  the  needful  elements  of  its  organization. 
It  was  he  who,  in  1748,  despatched  Bienville  de  Celoron^ 
with  three  hundred  men,  on  a  tour  of  inspection  along  the 
Alleghany  and  the  Ohio,  depositing  in  various  quarters 
leaden  plates  on  which  were  inscribed  a  memorial  of  his 
master's  title  to  those  countries,  and  warning  the  English 
traders  whom  he  encountered,  that  henceforth  they  were 
prohibited  from  visiting  the  Indians  there. ^  In  1750,  by 
command  of  his  successor,  the  Marquis  de  la  Jonquiere, 
harsher  measures  were  resorted  to.  A  body  of  troops 
under  Joncaire  visited  the  Ohio  country,  seizing  the  pro- 
perty and  persons  of  such  English  traders  as  they  found 
there.  The  former  they  confiscated ;  the  latter  they  sent 
prisoners  to  France.^  These  scenes  were  the  commence- 
ment of  a  tedious  and  unresulting  diplomatic  correspond- 
ence between  the  Earl  of  Albemarle,  His  Britannic 
Majesty's  Ambassador  at  the  Court  of  Versailles,  and  the 

>  I.  Olden  Time,  238,  268,  270,  289.  II.  Histoire  du  Canada,  par  F. 
X.  Garneau,  192.      Craig's  Hist,  of  Pittsburg,  20. 

^  Vide  Lord  Albemarle's  letter  to  Lord  Holdernesse,  respecting  the  case 
of  John  Patton,  Luke  Irwin,  and  Thomas  Bourke.  I.  Entick,  45.  The 
Marquis  de  la  Jonquiere  arrived  in  Canada  in  August,  1749 ;  and  acting 
under  positive  instructions  from  his  court,  faithfully  pursued  the  policy  of 
his  predecessor  in  regard  to  shutting  out  the  English  from  the  Ohio. 
Descended  of  a  Catalonian  fjxmily,  he  was  born  in  Languedoc,  in  1696;  and 
died  at  Quebec,  May  17th,  1752.  He  was  a  man  of  superb  presence  and 
undaunted  resolution  ;  but,  withal,  prone  to  avarice.  His  whole  career  gave 
abundant  evidence  of  his  courage  and  soldier-like  bravery :  but  the  world 
ridiculed  the  passion  that  induced  him,  on  his  dying  bed,  to  begrudge  the 
cost  of  wax  candles  while  his  coffers  were  overflowing  with  millions  of 
money.  He  enjoyed  little  peace  towards  the  conclusion  of  his  life,  by 
occasion  of  his  efforts  to  suppress  the  order  of  Jesuits  in  his  government; 
and,  indeed,  this  dispute  is  supposed  to  have  shortened  his  days.  II.  Gar- 
neau, liv.  viii.,  0.  3. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  29 

French  authorities,  which  was  prolonged  without  intermis- 
sion upon  either  side  of  St.  George's  channel,  until  the 
capture  of  the  Alcide  and  the  Lis,  by  Boscawen's  fleet, 
compelled  the  Due  de  Mirepoix  to  demand  his  passport, 
and  war  was  openly  waged. ^ 

In  1752,  arrived  in  Canada,  (to  which  government  he 
had  been  appointed  by  the  King  on  the  recommendation 
of  M.  de  la  Galissoniere),  the  Marquis  de  Duquesne  de 
Menneville,  a  name  destined  to  become  indelibly  impressed 
upon  the  history  of  that  land  whence  the  golden  lilies  of  his 
nation,  though  watered  by  the  best  blood  alike  of  friend 
and  foe,  were  so  soon  to  be  extirpated.  All  of  his  ante- 
cedents that  can  be  mentioned  here  are  that  he  was  a 
captain  in  the  royal  marine,  and  born  of  the  blood  of 
Abraham  Duquesne,  the  famous  admiral  of  Louis  XIV. 

'  Roland-Michel  Barrin,  Marquis  de  la  Galissoniere,  and  a  Lieutenant- 
General  in  the  French  service,  was  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  his  time.  As 
a  scholar,  a  soldier,  a  statesman,  his  merit  was  deservedly  esteemed.  Born 
at  Rochefort,  Nov.  11,  1693,  he  entered  the  navy  in  1710,  in  which  he 
served  with  distinction  until  he  was  appointed  to  Canada.  In  flfaat  colony, 
his  conduct  was  eminently  conducive  to  the  best  interests  of  both  the  King 
and  his  people.  The  Swedish  traveller,  Du  Kalm,  bears  abundant  testimony 
to  his  scientific  acquirements;  while  even  his  meagre  appearance  and 
deformed  person  added  to  his  influence  over  the  savages.  "  He  must  have 
a  mighty  soul,"  they  said;  "since,  with  such  a  base  body,  our  Great  Father 
has  sent  him  such  a  distance  to  command  us."  De  la  Galissoniere 
did  not  remain  in  America  long  enough  to  carry  out  the  course  he  had 
begun  :  he  returned  to  France  in  1749,  where  he  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  department  of  nautical  charts.  He  is  best  known  in  English  history 
by  his  afi"air  with  the  unfortunate  Byng,  in  1756,  which  resulted  in  the 
judicial  murder  of  that  excellent  officer,  in  order  thereby  to  screen  the 
criminal  derelictions  of  his  superiors.  He  died  at  Nemours,  Oct.  26,  1756, 
full  of  glory  and  honour,  and  loudly  regretted  by  Louis  XV.,  who  was  so 
sensible  of  his  worth,  that  he  had  reserved  for  him  the  baton  of  a  Marshal 
of  France.     Biog.  Univ.  (ed.  1816),  Vol.  XVI.,  p.  367. 


30  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

His  abilities  were  good ;  and  during  his  brief  career  he 
acquitted  himself  thoroughly  of  the  duties  of  his  position ; 
but  the  haughtiness  of  his  character,  and  the  lack  of  affa- 
bility in  his  manners,  prevented  his  ever  attaining  any 
great  degree  of  popularity  with  the  Canadians.  Neverthe- 
less, he  seems  to  have  been  possessed  of  some  singularly 
generous  dispositions.  In  October,  1754,  an  English 
woman,  nineteen  years  of  age,  arrived  in  Philadelphia 
from  Quebec,  Twelve  years  before,  while  yet  almost  an 
infant,  she  had  been  captured  by  the  savages,  and  by 
them  sold  as  a  slave  in  Canada.  In  new  scenes  and  the 
lapse  of  time,  the  names  of  her  parents,  the  very  place  of 
her  birth,  had  entirely  passed  from  her  memory ;  but  she 
still  clung  to  the  sounds  of  the  tongue  of  her  native  land, 
and  dreamed  of  the  day  when  she  should  be  reunited  to 
her  unknown  kindred.  By  some  chance,  her  pitiful  story 
reached  the  Governor's  ears ;  and,  full  of  compassion,  he  at 
once  purchased  her  freedom  and  furnished  her  with  the 
means  of  returning  to  the  British  colonies.  There  she 
wandered  from  city  to  city,  vainly  publishing  her  narra- 
tion, and  seeking  to  discover  those  joys  of  kindred  and  of 
home  that  she  had  never  known.  An  act  of  this  kind 
should,  at  any  season,  reflect  credit  upon  the  performer ; 
but  considering  its  particular  occasion,  when  war  was 
plainly  looming  in  the  horizon,  to  liberate  and  restore  in 
this  manner  a  person  abundantly  qualified  to  reveal  so 
much  of  the  local  secrets  of  Quebec,  must  clothe  the 
character  of  M.  de  Duquesne  with  the  attribute  of  magna- 
nimity, as  well  as  of  generosity.^     In  the  latter  part  of 

'  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1349. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  31 

1754,  however,  he  demanded  his  recall  by  the  government, 
in  order  to  return  to  the  naval  service,  and  to  encounter 
the  enemy  upon  a  more  familiar  element.  It  will  be 
sufficient  in  this  place  to  add,  that  his  instructions  while 
in  Canada,  in  regard  to  the  Ohio,  were  of  a  piece  with 
those  of  La  Jonquiere  and  Galissoniere,  and  that  he  faith- 
fully obeyed  them/     In  January,  1753,  four  traders  on 

'  II.  Garneau,  liv.  viii.,  c.  3.  I  have  been  not  a  little  indebted  to  this 
valuable  work  (2nd  ed.  Quebec,  1852  :  three  vols.  8vo.),  which,  indeed,  is  the 
best  history  extant  of  Canada  from  the  earliest  period  to  the  present  time. 
In  particular,  I  have  occasionally  found  notices  of  the  history  of  individuals 
that  I  know  not  where  else  to  look  for.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  new 
edition  of  the  BiograpMe  Universelle,  now  being  published  at  Paris  by 
Didot,  will,  in  respect  to  the  lives  of  French  worthies,  at  least,  be  more 
particular  than  that  which  it  is  designed  to  supplant.  It  is  unjust  to  the 
past  age,  that  the  names  of  such  men  as  Duquesne,  Dumas  and  Contrecceur, 
should  be  consigned  to  oblivion.  Thus  we  are  left  in  ignorance  of  the 
period  of  Duquesne 's  death,  and  of  all  save  a  single  circumstance  in  his 
later  career.  In  1758,  M.  Duquesne,  being  in  France,  was  appointed  to 
the  command  of  all  the  forces,  sea  and  land,  in  North  America.  In  March 
he  sailed  from  Toulon,  in  command  of  a  small  squadron,  which,  however, 
was  utterly  discomfited  by  the  English.  His  own  ship,  the  Foudroyant, 
of  8-1  guns  and  one  thousand  men,  was  engaged,  after  a  long  chase  in  which 
their  comrades  had  been  almost  lost  sight  of,  by  the  Monmouth,  Captain 
Gardiner,  of  64  guns  and  470  men.  Captain  Gardiner  had  served  under 
the  murdered  Byng  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  combat  was  a  compulsory 
one  with  him.  On  the  eve  of  sailing  on  this  cruise,  whence  he  was  never 
to  return,  he  mentioned  to  his  friends  that    there  was  something  which 

weighed  heavily  on  his  soul;  that  Lord  A had  recently  said  to  him, 

that  he  was  one  of  the  men  who  had  brought  disgrace  upon  the  nation ; 
and  he  was  convinced  that  in  this  very  voyage  he  should  have  an  opportu- 
nity of  testifying  to  his  lordship  the  rate  at  which  he  estimated  the  national 
honor.  As  his  ship  was  going  into  action,  he  made  a  brief  address  to  his 
crew :  "  That  ship  must  be  taken :  she  looks  to  be  above  our  match,  but 
Englishmen  are  not  to  mind  that ;  nor  will  I  quit  her  while  this  ship  can 
swim,  or  I  have  a  soul  left  alive  !''  Accordingly,  he  closed  with  the  Fou- 
droyant, and  lay  on  her  quarter  within  pistol-shot  for  several  hours,  till  her 
flag  came  down.     Shot  through  the   head,  and  death  inevitable,  he  still 


32  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

the  Kantiicqui  river,  near  the  Ohio,  were  captured  by  a 
party  of  Caughnawagas,  or  French  Indians  from  Canada, 
who  divided  their  goods,  to  the  value  of  several  hundred 
pounds,  among  themselves.  This  was  undoubtedly  done 
in  pursuance  of  instructions  from  Quebec.  The  captives 
were  carried  as  slaves  to  Canada,  where  they  remained 
until  the  summer  of  the  succeeding  year ;  their  new  lords 
refusing  to  suffer  them  to  be  ransomed  under  the  price  of 
a  negro  slave  for  each.  The  province  of  Pennsylvania  at 
last,  however,  succeeded  in  purchasing  their  freedom  for 
the  sum  of  seventy-five  pounds  sterling;  a  rate  which 
gave  such  umbrage  to  Ononraguiete,  the  chief  sachem  of 
the  tribe,  that  he  wrote  a  furious  letter  to  the  Indian 
Commissioner,  declaring  that  for  the  future  he  should  cause 
all  prisoners  to  be  murdered,  since  no  higher  ransom  was 
to  be  paid  for  them.^ 

It  was  under  the  administration  of  Duquesne  that  the 
first  steps  were  taken  towards  an  armed  occupation  of  the 
Ohio.  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  in  referring  to  these  pro- 
ceedings, that  so  far  as  involved  his  duty  to  the  King  his 
master,  and  his  interpretation  of  that  sovereign's  rights, 
his  conduct  was  perfectly  justifiable  throughout.  Though 
neither  power  possessed  the  least  claim  in  justice  to  that 
territory,  France  as  well  as  England   had    not  hesitated 

retained  comprehension  enough  to  say  to  his  first-lieutenant,  that  "  the  last 
favor  he  could  ask  of  him  was,  never  to  give  up  the  ship  I"  That  gentle- 
man pledged  himself  that  he  never  would ;  and  nailing  the  flag  to  the  staJT, 
he  stood  by  it  during  the  contest  with  a  brace  of  pistols,  resolved  to  slay 
the  first  man,  friend  or  foe,  who  approached  to  pull  it  down.  A  more 
gallant  or  hardly-contested  sea-fight  than  that  of  the  Monmouth  and  Fou- 
droyant  was  never  fought. 

•  Penn.  Gazette,  No.  1338.     VI.  Col.  Rec,  129. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  33 

during  many  years  to  refer  to  it  as  their  absolute  inherit- 
ance, and  virtually  to  utterly  ignore  any  title  in  its  original 
occupants  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  soil.  No  treaty  with 
the  Indians  inhabiting  it  had  ever  been  made,  by  which, 
even  for  the  poor  pittance  of  a  few  strings  of  beads  or 
barrels  of  whiskey,  they  had  ceded  it  to  the  stranger.  It 
is  true  that  the  French  assured  them  that  their  only  object 
was  to  found  trading-posts;  that  they  had  no  idea  of  cut- 
ting down  the  woods,  and  tilling  the  fields,  after  the  fashion 
of  the  English.^  The  savage  was  not  to  be  thus  gulled ; 
and  he  viewed  their  first  encroachments  with  as  great 
repugnance  as  he  did  the  more  flagrant  advances  of  the 
British,  who  boldly  penetrated  into  the  most  secret 
recesses  of  his  hunting-grounds,  laying  out  the  lines  of  a 
future  settlement  without  the  least  form  of  a  purchase  from 
its  outraged  inhabitants.^  Nevertheless,  regardless  of  the 
Indian  title,  the  King  of  France  had,  so  early  as  1712, 
granted  the  district  watered  by  the  river  Wabash  in  his 

'  Shortly  before  quitting  his  government,  Duquesne  held  a  secret  con- 
ference with  the  deputies  of  the  Six  Nations,  at  Montreal,  in  which  he 
reproached  them  with  their  willingness  to  surrender  the  control  of  the  Ohio 
to  the  English  rather  than  to  the  French.  "Are  jou  ignorant,"  said  he, 
"  of  the  difference  between  the  King  of  France  and  the  English  ?  Look 
at  the  forts  which  the  King  has  built ;  you  will  find  that  under  the  very 
shadow  of  their  walls,  the  beasts  oi  the  forest  are  hunted  and  slain;  that 
they  are,  in  fact,  fixed  in  the  places  most  frequented  by  you  merely  to 
gratify  more  conveniently  your  necessities.  The  English,  on  the  contrary, 
no  sooner  occupy  a  post,  than  the  woods  fall  before  their  hand  —  the  earth 
is  subjected  to  cultivation  ■ —  the  game  disappears  —  and  your  people  are 
speedily  reduced  to  combat  with  starvation."  In  this  speech,  as  M.  Gar- 
neau  well  observes,  the  Marquis  has  accurately  stated  the  progress  of  the 
two  civilizations. 

^  II.  Sparks's  Washington,  434.     II.  Garocau,  201. 

3 


34  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

letters  patent  creating  the  colony  of  Louisiana;  and 
following  the  explorations  of  La  Salle  in  1679,  had  fur- 
thermore added  all  the  streams  flowing  into  the  Mississippi 
that  were  known  to  this  discoverer.  This  liberality  was 
well  matched  by  some  of  the  English  patents,  which  were 
bounded  by  the  Atlantic  ocean  on  the  east,  and  on  the 
west  by  the  Pacific.  It  costs  little  to  a  monarch  to  be 
generous  in  this  style ;  and  no  pope  or  king  in  Europe  was 
backward  in  thus  gratifying  the  importunities  of  his 
subjects.  But  when  a  nation  undertakes  to  enforce  such 
grants  of  a  foreign  soil,  it  behooves  it  to  sagely  consider 
whether,  in  so  doing,  the  interests  of  its  neighbor  may  not 
be  threatened.  This  was  precisely  the  case  here:  the 
English,  whose  claim  was,  where  both  were  bad,  no  better 
than  that  of  the  French,  saw,  or  thought  they  saw,  in  its 
fulfilment,  the  ruin  of  all  that  they  then  lawfully  and 
actually  held,  and  with  wisdom  resolved  to  oppose  such  a 
consummation.^ 

'  Governor  Shirley  of  Massachusetts,  whose  opinion  on  such  points  must 
have  weighed  greatly  with  the  people,  frankly  declared,  in  his  letter  to 
Governor  Hamilton  of  Pennsylvania  (March  4th,  1754),  that  the  language 
of  King  James  the  First,  in  the  patents  of  the  London  and  Plymouth 
Companies,  was  "  the  only  rule  for  the  English  Governors  to  judge  of  the 
limits  of  the  colonies  under  their  respective  governments,  in  all  disputes 
•with  the  French  Governors  concerning  the  extent  of  his  Majestie's  terri- 
tories upon  this  Continent,  except  in  cases  where  the  original  limits  declared 
in  these  Letters  Patent  may  be  altered  by  treaty  or  other  agreement 
between  the  two  Crowns;  and  those  Patents  extend  the  English  territories 
within  the  32d  and  48th  degrees  of  northerly  latitude,  quite  across  this 
Continent,  viz.  :  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean  to  the  South  Sea;  and  I  can't 
find  that  these  eastern  or  western  limits  have  been  abridged  by  any 
treaty."  Vide  Penn.  Col.  Rec,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  16.  Mr.  Shirley  had  lately 
been  actin^  at  Paris  as  one  of  the  British  Commission  to  define  the  bound- 
aries of  Acadia  and  New  England. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  35 

Strong  in  all  the  resources  of  civil  and  military  centrali- 
zation, the  government  of  Canada  moved  with  a  resolution 
and  celerity  that,  for  the  time,  set  at  defiance  the  efforts  of 
their  slow-footed  and  divided  adversaries.  By  the  end  of 
1753,  a  connected  line  of  forts  existed,  extending  from 
Montreal  to  what  is  now  called  French  creek,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, but  which  was  named  by  the  French  the  Riviere  aux 
Boeufs,  on  account  of  the  numbers  of  buffalo  that  were 
found  in  its  vicinity.'  The  nationality  of  its  first  European 
settlers  soon  caused  it  to  receive  another  title.  It  was  to 
this  fort  that  in  December,  1753,  Major  Washington 
repaired  on  a  fruitless  mission  from  the  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, to  warn  the  trespassers  to  retire ;  and  here  it  was 
that  he  observed  the  extensive  preparations  they  had  made 
for  still  further  encroachments  in  the  ensuing  spring.^ 
Fifty  birchen  canoes,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy  of 
pine,  were,  at  that  early  stage  of  the  winter,  drawn  up  on 
the  shore,  ready  for  the  opening  of  the  streams;  and 
numerous  others  were  in  progress  of  completion.  In  these 
the  troops  were  to  be  floated  down  Le  Boeuf  and  the 
Alleghany,  on  their  way  to  the  Ohio.  For  though  but 
some  six  or  seven  hundred,  of  the  expedition  of  two  thou- 
sand men  who  had  been  sent  in  the  preceding  autumn  to 
erect  these  posts,  remained  in  garrison  there  during  the 
winter,  it  was  already  settled  that  a  large  body  was  to 
arrive  in  the  spring  for  the  further  operations  alluded  to. 

The  private  scandal  of  the  place  and  period  attributed 
the  building  of  these  establishments  and  their  dark  train 
of  consequent  calamities  to  the  same  cause  as  had  since 

'  II.  Sparks's  Wasliington,  436.  "■  Ibid,  442. 


36  INTRODUCTORYMEMOIE. 

long  before  the  day  of  Helen  of  Troy,  according  to  Flaccus, 
brought  about  the  waste  of  human  life  and  the  overthrow 
of  mighty  empires.  M.  Pouchot,  an  officer  of  rank  in 
Canada,  does  not  scruple  to  insinuate  that  the  new  gover- 
nor, shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Quebec,  became  involved  in 
an  intrigue  with  a  beautiful  woman,  the  wife  of  a  resident 
of  that  place.  M.  Bigot,  who  had  recently  passed  from  the 
Intendancy  of  Louisbourg  to  that  of  Canada,  had  in  like 
manner  contracted  a  liaison  with  a  Madame  Pean,  the  wife 
of  the  aide-major,  of  the  city.  Bigot  being  thus  at  the 
head  of  the  commissary  department  of  the  colony,  it  was 
an  easy  affair  for  the  Governor  and  himself  to  arrange  a 
plan  by  which  the  willing  husbands  of  the  ladies  in  ques- 
tion should  be  detached  from  an  inconvenient  vicinity  to 
their  partners.  Accordingly,  it  was  decided  to  give  them 
lucrative  employments  in  an  expedition  which,  it  was 
gravely  whispered,  was  concocted  for  the  express  purpose 
of  placing  these  gentlemen  at  a  considerable  distance  from 
home;  and  to  Pean  was  assigned  the  command  of  the 
forces  which  were  marched  in  1753.  The  forts  then  built 
were  furnished  with  numerous  and  expensive  magazines 
of  merchandise  and  provisions;  a  precaution  necessary 
enough  under  the  circumstances  of  their  position,  but 
which,  in  the  manner  in  which  the  business  was  managed, 
must  have  afforded  endless  opportunities  for  the  acquire- 
ment of  ill-gotten  gains.  Together  with  the  proper 
provisions  and  stores,  all  sorts  of  goods,  always  expensive, 
but  here  utterly  useless,  were  purchased  in  the  name  of 
Louis  XV.,  and  sent,  for  his  service,  into  the  wilderness. 
Stuffs  of  silk  and  velvet,  ladies'  slippers  and  damask  shoes, 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  37 

silk  stockings,  and  the  costly  wines  of  Spain,  figure  largely 
in  the  categor}-,  and  enable  us  to  conceive  how  it  came 
about  that  the  French  colonies  cost  the  nation  so  much  and 
returned  it  so  little.'  In  fact,  it  would  seem  that  the 
colonial  stewards  of  the  king  were  not  unfrequently  but 
too  wont  to  look  upon  their  office  in  no  other  light  than  as 
a  source  of  revenue  to  themselves ;  and  when,  like  Uriah 
the  Hittitd,  the  lords  and  masters  of  these  new  Bath-shebas 
were  sent  down  to  the  host,  they  doubtless  felt  no  com- 
punction in  making  their  absence  as  remunerative  to 
themselves  as  possible.  From  Pouchot's  position  and 
character,  it  is  not  unjust  to  admit  the  truth  of  the  facts 
upon  which  he  bases  his  conclusions :  but  ignorant  as, 
from  the  very  nature  of  his  subordinate  rank,  he  must 
have  been  of  the  state  arrangements  and  politic  designs  of 
the  former  governors  and  the  Court  of  Versailles,  it  is  easy 
to  perceive  how  erroneous  were  his  inferences.  It  may  be 
true  enough  that  the  husband  of  each  fair  Evadne  was 

'  lo  1753,  the  exports  of  Canada  amounted  to  but  £68,000;  its  imports 
were  £208,000,  of  which  a  great  portion  was  on  the  government  account, 
and  did  not  enter  into  the  ordinary  channels  of  trade.  The  exports  of  the 
English  provinces  during  the  same  year  were  £1,486,000 ;  their  imports, 
£983,000.  In  1755,  the  Canadian  imports  were  5,203,272  livres;  its 
exports  but  1,515,730.  And  while  the  population  of  British  America  was 
1,200,000  souls,  that  of  all  Canada,  Cape  Breton,  and  Louisiana,  could  not 
have  exceeded  80,000.  The  policy  of  sustaining  such  a  colony  at  such  a 
cost  was  thus  doubted  by  the  most  brilliant  if  not  the  profoundest  writer 
of  the  day.  "  Le  Canada  coutait  beaucoup  et  rapportait  tr^s  peu.  Si  la 
dixifeme  partie  de  I'argent  englouti  dans  cette  colonic  avait  ete  employ^  k 
defricher  nos  terres  incultes  en  France,  on  aurait  fait  un  gain  considerable ; 
mais  on  avait  voulu  soutenir  le  Canada,  et  on  a  perdu  cent  annees  de  peines 
avec  tout  I'argent  prodigues  sans  retour.  Pour  comble  de  malheur  on 
accusait  des  plus  horrible  brigandages  presque  tons  ceux  qui  etaient  em- 
ployes au  nom  du  Hoi  dans  cette  malheureuse  colonic." — Voltaire. 


38  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

named  to  a  high  command  in  the  new  expedition,  but 
nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  to  imagine  that  to 
procure  their  absence  was  the  primary  motive  to  its 
undertaking.^ 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  detachment  ordered  to 
Lake  Erie  and  the  new  forts  by  Duquesne  consisted  entirel}'' 
of  regular  troops.  There  were,  at  that  time,  probably  not 
more  than  one  thousand  regular  soldiers  in  all  Canada. 
But  an  exceedingly  well-organised  militia,  and  the  hardy, 
active,  semi-Indian  class,  half-trappers,  half-traders,  who 
dwelt  on  the  outskirts  of  French  civilization,  furnished 
material  for  any  enterprise  involving  war  or  adventure. 
"Woodsmen  by  education,  full  of  courage  and  vivacity  by 
birth,  they  formed  an  admirable  band  for  such  ends  as 
they  were  now  engaged  in.  To  this  day,  the  coureurs  des 
hois  are  of  the  primest  favorites  of  the  Indians,  with  whom 
they  intermarry  and  assimilate,  and  at  whom  they 
"never    laugh:"    they    were,    therefore,    just    the    men 

'  M^moires  sur  la  Derm^re  Guerre  de  V Am^rique  Septentrionale,  par 
M.  Pouchot.  (^YverJon,  1781),  Vol.  I.,  p.  8.  These  two  volumes  contain 
much  curious  and  authentic  information  respecting  the  subject  to  which 
they  relate.  The  author  was  born  at  Grenoble,  in  1712,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two  was  an  officer  in  the  regiment  of  Beam.  His  talents  as  an 
engineer,  cultivated  under  such  masters  as  Vauban  and  Cohorn,  early 
pointed  him  out  to  favourable  notice,  and  in  season  he  acquired  a  captaincy 
in  that  regiment,  and  was  created  a  knight  of  St.  Louis.  He  came  to 
America  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  1755,  and  gained  much  honor 
by  the  part  he  took  therein,  particularly  in  the  defence  of  Forts  Niagara 
and  Levis,  where  he  was  in  command.  He  was  slain  in  Corsica,  8th  May, 
1769,  during  the  warfare  between  the  French  and  the  natives  of  the  island 
His  memoirs,  prepared  by  himself  for  publication,  did  not  see  the  light  for 
several  years  after  his  death.  They  are  accompanied  with  explanatory 
notes,  apparently  by  a  well-informed  hand.  My  opinion  of  their  value  ia 
confirmed  by  that  of  M.  Garneau. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  39 

required   for   a   business   that   must   depend    for   success 
mainly  on  the  good-will  of  the  savages/ 

Returning  to  Williamsburgh  from  his  bootless  errand  on 
the  16th  of  January,  1754,  "Washington  made  his  report  to 
the  Governor  of  Virginia ;  when  it  was  instantly  resolved, 
in  compliance  with  the  King's  directions,  to  fit  out  an 
exjDedition  which  should  proceed  wdth  all  haste  to  the 
confluence  of  the  Alleghany  and  the  Monongahela,  where 
the  Ohio  Company  had  already  commenced  to  build  a 
fortified  trading-house,  and  there  to  erect  such  works  as 
might,  for  the  season,  prevent  any  further  enterprise  on 
the  part  of  the  French.  For  this  object,  the  Assembly  of 
Virginia  voted  the  sum  of  £10,000,  and  the  party  was  put 
under  the  control  of  Colonel  Joshua  Frey,  who,  dying  on 
the  31st  of  May,  was  succeeded  in  office  by  Washington, 
the  second  in  command.  His  instructions  were  to  capture, 
kill,  or  destroy  all  persons  who  should  endeavor  to  impede 
his  operations.  Aid  was  also  requested  from  the  neighbor- 
ing provinces;  but  none  seems  to  have  reached  Virginia  in 
time  ;  and  she  is  thus  entitled  to  the  honor  of  having  single- 
handed  first  entered  the  lists  against  France,  to  struggle  for 
the  mastery  of  the  continent.^  ' 

•  Schoolcraft :  Red  Races  of  America,  134. 

^  Mr.  Wheeler,  in  his  recent  History  of  North  Carolina  (Vol.  I.,  p.  46), 
states  that  in  compliance  with  Gov.  Dinwiddie's  request,  the  president  of 
that  province  ''  issued  his  proclamation  for  the  legislature  to  assemble  at 
Wilmington  on  the  19th  February,  1754  ;  who  met  and  appropriated  £1000 
to  the  raising  and  paying  such  troops  as  might  be  raised  to  send  to  the  aid 
of  Virginia.  Col.  James  Innes  of  New  Hanover  marched  at  the  head  of 
a  detachment,  and  joined  the  troops  raised  by  Virginia  and  Maryland.  But 
there  being  no  provision  made  by  Virginia  for  supplies  or  conveniences,  the 
expedition  was  countermanded,  and  Col.  Innes  returned  with  his  men  to 


40  INTRODUCTORYMEMOIR. 

The  little  army  with  which  the  beginning  of  all  this  was 
to  be  accomplished,  was  to  consist  of  but  four  hundred  men. 
In  January,  1754,  William  Trent  was  commissioned  to 
enlist  one  hundred ;  he  succeeded  in  raising  but  seventy, 
with  whom  he  instantly  marched  for  the  Ohio :  the 
remaining  three  hundred  were  not  raised  so  soon.  They 
were  furnished  with  ten  cannon  and  eighty  barrels  of 
powder,  and  would,  it  was  hoped,  have  succeeded  in  throw- 
ing up  a  coujile  of  forts  before  the  arrival  of  the  French. 
If  that  were  found  impossible.  Governor  Dinwiddie  looked 
to  their  attacking  and  destroying  the  enemy  by  a  coup  de 
main} 

In  the  meanwhile,  however,  the  French  had  not  been 
idle.  Nearly  a  year  before,  in  the  spring  of  1753,  they 
had  built,  at  Presqu'-Isle  on  Lake  Erie,  a  strong  fort  of 
chestnut  logs,  fifteen  feet  high,  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty   feet   square,   with   a   block-house   on   each   side. 

North  Carolina."  Besides  these  North  Carolina  troops,  three  of  the  King's 
Independent  Companies,  two  from  New  York  and  one  from  Carolina,  had 
been  ordered  to  Virginia.  As  they  were  paid  by  the  King,  but  retained  in 
the  colonies  for  local  protection,  it  was  usual  for  the  provinces  to  contribute 
to  their  victualling  expenses  on  any  extraordinary  service  in  which  they 
might  be  employed ;  which  Virginia,  on  this  occasion,  refused  to  do.  II. 
Penn.  Archives,  169. 

'  The  cannon  sent  towards  the  Ohio  were  four-pounders,  selected  from 
thirty  pieces  presented  by  the  King  to  his  colony  of  Virginia.  They  went 
from  Alexandria  to  Will's  Creek,  and  thence  in  wagons.  Small  arms  and 
accoutrements  were  also  provided  by  Dinwiddie ;  with  thirty  tents  and  six 
months'  provision  of  flour,  pork,  and  beef.  The  uniform  was  a  red  coat 
and  breeches ;  and  a  half-pint  of  rum  ^jer  diem  was  allowed  each  man. 
The  pay  was  as  follows  :  To  a  colonel,  15s.  per  diem — to  a  lieutenant-colonel, 
12s.  6d;  a  major,  10s.;  a  captain,  8s.;  a  lieutenant,  4s.;  an  ensign,  Ss. 
The  privates  received  8d.  joer  diem  and  a  pistole  bounty.  Vide  Dinwiddle's 
letter,  in  VI.  Penn.  Col.  Rec,  6. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  41 

Leaving  a  strong  garrison  here,  they  marched  to  the 
Riviere  aux  Boeufs,  where  they  erected  another  fort, 
cutting  a  wagon-road  twenty-one  feet  in  Mddth  between  it 
and  that  at  Presqu'-Isle.  Here  garrisons  were  maintained 
during  the  winter  of  1753-4,  and  here  strong  reinforce- 
ments from  Canada  were  directed  to  rendezvous  in  the 
spring  of  1754,  fully  prepared  to  march  to  and  occupy  the 
head  of  the  Ohio.'  For  this  purpose,  a  corps  of  some  800 
Canadians,  under  M.  Marin,  had  been  carefully  raised  and 
accoutred.  Every  man  was  amply  provided  with  the 
needful  equipments,  while  to  each  of  the  ofl&cers,  naively 
observes  an  old  chronicler  in  his  enumeration  of  the  good 
cheer  provided  for  the  detachment,  was  allotted  a  bottle 
of  wine  every  day,  two  gallons  of  brandy  a  month,  and 
food  in  proportion.^  Being  thus  prepared,  M.  de  Contre- 
cceur  (who  succeeded  in  the  command  at  French  creek  to 

'  VI.  Col.  Rec,  10.  It  is  possible  that  the  French  had  some  sort  of  an 
establishment  at  Presqu'-Isle  so  early  as  1749 ;  the  ruins  of  the  fort  of 
1753  are  still  perceptible  within  the  limits  of  the  town  of  Erie.  It  was 
provided  with  bastions,  a  well  and  a  ditch ;  and  was  the  head-quarters  of 
communication  between  Canada  and  the  Ohio.  Thirteen  miles  distant  was 
the  fort  de  la  Rlvilre  aux  Boivfs,  on  the  spot  where  now  stands  the  village 
of  Waterford  (Erie  county,  Penn.).  A  small  lake,  and  a  stream  rising 
from  it  to  fall  into  French  Creek,  still  preserve  the  memory  of  the  long- 
vanished  buffalo,  which  once  fed  on  its  fertile  meadows.  The  last  post  on 
the  route  to  the  Ohio  was  on  the  Alleghany  at  the  mouth  of  French  Creek 
(where  now  is  the  village  of  Franklin),  and  was  called  Venango,  being  a 
corruption  of  In-nun-gah,  the  name  by  which  the  Senecas  knew  the  latter 
stream.  Its  ruins  are  still  to  be  seen.  It  was  400  feet  square,  with  em- 
bankments which  are  yet  eight  feet  in  height,  and  furnished  with  four  bas- 
tions, a  large  block-house,  a  stockade,  and  a  ditch  seven  feet  deep,  and 
fifteen  wide,  fed  through  a  subterraneous  channel  of  fifty  yards  by  a  neigh- 
boring rivulet.     See  Day's  Hist.  Col.  Penn.,  812,  642. 

2  I.  Pouchot,  10. 


42  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

Legardeur  de  St.  Pierre,  the  one-eyed  old  warrior  who  had 
received  Washington),  set  out  betimes  in  the  spring  of 
1754.  On  the  17th  of  April,  at  the  head  of  from  five 
hundred  to  a  thousand  men,  with  eighteen  pieces  of  artil- 
lery, he  appeared  before  the  incomplete  and  defenceless 
works  which  occupied  the  spot  where  now  stands  the  great 
city  of  Pittsburgh.  Ensign  Ward,  with  his  forty-one  men, 
was  in  no  condition  to  resist  such  a  force.  Without  a 
struggle  he  was  compelled  to  reluctantly  abandon  his  post 
to  the  enemy,  and  was  suffered  to  retire  unmolested  to  his 
own  country.  The  French  set  at  once  about  the  strength- 
ening and  perfection  of  their  conquest.  Under  the  direc- 
tions of  Mercier,'  a  captain  in  the  artillery,  new  works 
were  added  and  the  former  made  more  complete :  till,  by 
the  middle  of  May,  1754,  it  was  placed  in  a  position  to 
defy  any  force  that  could  then  be  brought  against  it.  Its 
breast-works  were  probably  calculated  to  resist  such  small 
field-pieces  as  those  which  Washington  had  with  him,  as 

'  Oa  the  fall  of  Fort  Necessity,  M.  le  Chevalier  de  Mercier  went  back 
to  Canada,  whence  he  was  presently  sent  to  France  with  an  account 
of  the  campaign  on  the  Ohio.  Here  his  advice  was  much  regarded  at 
Versailles;  and  in  1755,  he  returned  with  Vaudreuil  and  Dieskau  to 
America.  His  counsels  were  received  by  the  latter  with  implicit  faith,  and 
eventually  influenced  Dieskau  to  measures  which  ended  in  his  utter  defeat 
at  Lake  George,  8th  Sept.,  1755.  In  August,  1756,  he  directed  with  great 
skill  the  works  with  which  M.  de  Montcalm  besieged  Oswego,  and  on  the 
surrender  of  that  place,  according  to  Pouchot,  secreted  to  his  own  use  a 
large  share  of  the  public  property.  In  March,  1757,  he  was  sent  by  M. 
de  Vaudreuil  to  demand  the  surrender  of  Fort  William-Henry,  but  received 
a  peremptory  denial  from  Major  Eyres,  its  governor.  (Vide  Pouchot  and 
Mante.)  Thi-s  first  architect  of  Fort  Du  Quesne  seems  to  have  been  an 
accomplished  officer,  but  a  leech  on  the  public  purse.  He  was  probably 
one  of  that  large  tribe  of  locusts  who  went  to  Canada  determined  to  make 
a  fortune  quocunque  modo. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  43 

they  were  made  in  part,  at  least,  of  earth,  and  were  two 
fathoms  in  thickness  at  the  base.'  A  force  of  some  eight 
hundred  or  a  thousand  men  garrisoned  the  post,  oCQcered 
by  such  men  as  Laforce,  Drouilion,  de  VilHers,  Jumonville, 
Chauvignerie,  de  Longueil,  and  many  others,  whose  names 
were  war-cries  along  the  border;  and  from  Contrecoeur, 
who  commanded  the  whole,  it  now  for  the  first  time 
received  its  title  of  Fort  Du  Quesne.' 

Washington   was   at   Will's   Creek   when    the    tidings 
reached  him  of  Ward's  discomfiture  ;  and  acting  promptly, 
on  the  same  principle  which  had    governed  his  mind  m 
orio-inally  urging  the  very  measure  that  was  thus  defeated, 
he  was  resolved  to  proceed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Red-stone 
Creek,    and   there    to   erect    a   fortification    under  whose 
shelter    he    should    await    such   things    as   time    might 
bring  forth.     With  his  scanty  force,  it  was  impossible  to 
think  of  the  re-investment  of  Fort  Du  Quesne  and  its  new 
garrison  until  the  arrival  of  the  reinforcements  which  were 
constantly  expected ;  but  he  wished  to  be  as  near  to  the 
French  as  he  possibly  could  get,  and  this  spot  offered  too 
many  advantages  to  be  passed  over.     By  tedious  marches, 
and  suffering  under  the  greatest  deprivations  of  food,  rai- 
ment, and  stores,  he  had  arrived  at  the  Great  Meadow, 
when,  on  the  28th  May,  he  encountered  a  detachment  of 
thirty-five   men   under  M.  de  Jumonville,  sent  out  from 
Fort  Du  Quesne  as  ambassadors,  as  was  alleged  by  M.  de 
Contrecoeur,  to  warn  him  to  withdraw.     Considering  all 
that  we  can  learn  of  the  characters  of  the  two  French 

'  II.  Sparks's  Washington,  19. 

*  De  Contrecoeur's  summons  to  Ensign  Ward  is  given  at  lar^e  in  YT. 
Penn.  Col.  Rec.,  p.  29. 


44  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

officers,  and  the  circumstances  of  their  position,  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  there  seems  some  cause  to  believe  the 
truth  of  this  story.  Contrecoeur's  treatment  of  Ward  had 
not  been  in  anywise  treacherous  or  unmanly  :  his  demeanor 
on  other  occasions  seems  to  have  been  creditable  and  fair ; 
and  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  he  would  have  wilfully 
put  his  hand  to  a  deliberate  falsehood,  to  be  echoed  not 
only  by  all  his  brother  officers,  but  throughout  France  and 
Europe.  But,  granting  the  doubtful  story  that  Jumonville 
was  entrusted  with  such  a  commission,  he  bore  about  him 
no  reason  to  inspire  Washington  with  the  prescience  of  the 
fact.  An  ambassador  with  thirty-five  armed  men  at  his 
heels  in  an  enemy's  country,  with  the  army  of  his  friends 
behind,  his  foe  in  front,  and  the  shouts  and  clamor  of 
victory  still  ringing  through  the  air,  was  an  anomalous 
character  on  that  stage ;  and  we  humbly  conceive  that  it 
was  perfectly  fair  and  just  in  Washington  to  defeat  and 
destroy  his  party  in  any  manner  of  lawful  war.  Certainly, 
no  sane  Englishman  could  have  doubted  Jumonville's  object 
was  other  than  to  gain  scalps  or  intelligence  :  probably  it 
partook  as  much  or  more  of  the  nature  of  both  as  of  that 
of  a  formal  embassy.  The  strength  of  his  party,  and  the 
impressions  entertained  of  its  designs  by  the  Indians  who 
were  cognizant  of  its  departure  and  brought  the  intelligence 
to  the  Americans — impressions,  the  justice  of  which  was 
confirmed  by  the  recorded  testimony  of  officers  of  his  own 
nation  —  these  facts  abundantly  warranted  Washington  in 
treating  him  as  an  enemy  in  arms.^   Washington  could  not 

'  I.  Pouchot,  14.    Since  both  the  French  and  the  English  have  published 
their  own  stories,  it  is  but  fair  to  give  the  Indian  version  of  this  affair. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  45 

but  remember  that  Contrecceur  had  but  a  few  weeks  before, 
by  dint  of  superior  power,  ejected  Ward  from  Fort  Du 
Quesne  (the  first  scene,  by  the  way,  of  overt  hostihty  in 
the  long  and  bloody  drama  that  was  about  to  be  enacted)  ; 
and  even  at  this  day  there  is  little  reason  to  believe  that 
he  would  have  hesitated  for  one  moment  in  the  commission 
of  any  act  which  he  supposed  came  within  the  line  of  his 
duty  and  the  service  of  the  King.  Be  this  as  it  may, 
however,  Washington,  on  the  24th  of  May,  received  notice 
from  a  friendly  Indian  that  a  secret  expedition  had  started 
from  Fort  Du  Quesne  two  days  before,  with  intent  to  strike 
the  first  English  they  might  see.  Thus  forewarned,  he 
engaged  them  on  the  28th,  when  Jumonville  was  slain  in 
a  manner  too  often  detailed  to  need  repetition  here.^     In 

At  a  council  held  at  Philadelphia,  in  December,  1754,  Scarroyaddy  their 
leader  pointedly  dwelt  on  the  efforts  Jumonville  had  previously  made  to 
seduce  him  from  the  English  (whom  he  was  on  the  way  to  join),  and  how 
he  rewarded  these  insidious  overtures  by  at  once  informing  Washington  of 
their  whereabouts,  and  aiding  in  the  combat  by  way,  as  he  told  Washington, 
of  "a  little  bloodying  the  edge  of  the  hatchet."  John  Davison,  the  inter- 
preter, who  was  also  in  the  battle,  added  that  "  there  were  but  eight  Indians, 
who  did  most  of  the  execution  that  was  done.  Coll.  Washington  and  the 
Half-King  differed  much  in  judgment,  and  on  the  Colonel's  refusing  to  take 
his  advice,  the  English  and  Indians  se|)arated.  Afterwards  the  Indians 
discovered  the  French  in  an  hollow,  and  hid  themselves,  lying  on  their 
bellies  behind  a  hill ;  afterwards  they  discovered  Coll.  Washington  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  hollow  in  the  gray  of  the  morning,  and  when  the  Eng- 
lish fired,  which  they  did  in  great  confusion,  the  Indians  came  out  of  their 
cover  and  closed  with  the  French,  and  killed  them  with  their  tomahawks, 
on  which  the  French  surrendered."     VI.  Col.  Rec,  195. 

'  Adam  Stephen  of  Virginia,  who  served  with  distinction  under  Braddock 
and  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  gives  a  contemporaneous  and  interesting 
notice  of  this  skirmish,  which  seems  to  have  escaped  the  notice  of  the  his- 
torian. On  May  10th,  Capt.  Stephen  was  detached  with  a  reconnoitring 
party   towards  Fort  Du  Quesne,  whence,   his  vicinity  being  discovered, 


16  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

detailing  this  event  to  his  Court,  M.  de  Duquesne  gave  his 
own  version  of  the  affair,  the  correctness  of  which  was 
ever  denied  by  the  English,  and  questioned  by  officers  of 
even  his  own  army.  Insomuch  as  he  was  taken  by  sur- 
prise, the  French  insisted  that  Jumonville's  death  was 
not  only  a  base  act,  but  a  cowardly  assassination ;  and  for 
years,  even  down  to  our  own  times,  their  authors  have 
continued  to  misrepresent  the  occurrence,  and  to  do  an 
injustice  to  him  who  was  incapable  of  acting  unjustly  to 
another.  Chief  among  them  was  M.  Thomas,  an  accom- 
plished litterateur  0^  ihQ  day,  and  a  member  of  the  Academy, 
who,  in  1759,  published  his  Jumonville,  a  lengthy  poem  in 
four  cantos,  in  which  he  not  only  painted  the  death  of  that 
soldier  in  the  most  tragic  colors,  but  traces  all  the  subse- 
quent misfortunes  of  the  English  to  that  unpardonable  act. 
His  unseen  shade  is  made  to  stand  beside  Washington  on 
the  ramparts  of  Fort  Necessity,  freezing  his  blood  with 
supernatural  fear,  and  calling  into  life  poetic  serpents  to 
hiss  and  gnaw  within  his  breast ;  or  gliding  through  the 

Jumonville  was  despatched  against  him.  Stephen  fell  back  before  his 
superior  foe  till  he  rejoined  Washington,  who,  at  11  o'clock  at  night, 
through  a  heavily-pouring  rain,  went  forth  with  forty  men  to  the  attack. 
The  French  were  lodged  in  bark  cabins  about  five  miles  from  Washington's 
position ;  but  so  dark  was  the  night,  and  so  bewildering  the  storm,  that  it 
was  not  until  four  the  ne.xt  morning  that  they  drew  near  the  enemy.  Here 
it  was  found  not  only  that  seven  men  were  lost  on  the  journey,  but  that 
their  pieces  and  ammunition  were  so  wet  as  to  be  in  a  measure  useless. 
They  therefore  charged  the  French  with  fixed  bayonets,  receiving  their  fire 
as  they  advanced,  and  not  returning  it  till  they  were  at  close  quarters. 
Stephen  adds,  that  three  Indian  men  and  two  boys  came  up  with  the 
English  during  the  battle ;  and  that  he  himself  made  the  first  prisoner, 
capturing  the  Ensign  M.  Drouillon,  "a  pert  fellow."  Penn.  Gaz.,  No. 
1343. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  47 

lines  of  his  brethren,  points  at  his  bleeding  wounds  yet 
unrevenged, 

"and  cries  aloud  —  to  battle!" 


Pursued  thus  by  the  inevitable  sword  of  an  avenging 
Nemesis,  the  woes  of  the  British  during  the  next  five  years 
the  heavy  visitation  of  what  the  poet  is  pleased  to  con- 
sider retributive  justice,  is  finely  given:  "  0  malheureux 
Aiigltiisr  he  exclaims;  "Oh,  wretched  people!" 

Je  vols,  dans  ses  projets,  votre  audace  trompee, 
Des  Acts  de  votre  sang  I'Amerique  trempee. 
Bradhoc,  de  vos  complots  sinistre  executeur, 
Des  traites  et  des  lois  sacrilege  infracteur, 
Qui  devait,  en  guidant  vos  troupes  conjurees, 
Au  char  de  1' Angle terre  encliainer  nos  contrees, 
Sur  des  monceaux  de  morts,  perce  de  mille  coups, 
Exhale  ses  fureurs  et  son  ame  en  courroux. 

0  triste  Virginie!     0  malheureux  rivages ! 

Je  vois  vos  champs  en  proie  a  des  monstres  sauvagesj 

Je  vois,  dans  leur  berceau^,  vos  enfans  massacres, 

De  vos  vieillards  sanglants  les  membres  dechires, 

Vos  remparts  et  vos  toits  devores  par  les  flammes, 

La  massue  ecraser  vos  fiUes  et  vos  femmes, 

Et,  dans  leur  flancs  ouverts,  leur  fruit  infortunes, 

Condamnes  ^  p^rir  avant  que  d'etre  nes. 

Votre  sang  n'eteint  pas  I'ardeur  que  les  devore : 

Sur  vos  corps  dechires  et  palpitants  encore, 

Je  les  vois  etendus,  de  carnage  souilles, 

Arracher  vos  chevaux  de  vos  fronts  depouilles; 

Et  fiers  de  ce  fardeau,  dans  leur  mains  triomphantes, 

Montrer  h.  leurs  enfants  ces  depouilles  fumantes. 

Quels  que  soient  les  forfaits  que  nous  aient  outrages, 

Anglais,  peut-etre,  helas,  sommes-nous  trop  venges ! ' 


'  Oeuvres  Comp.  de  Thomas  (par  M.  Saint-Surin),  torn.  V.,  p.  47.  Mr. 
Sparks  (11.  Writings  of  Washington,  p.  447),  has  gone  at  length  into  the 
question  of  the  death  of  Juraonville  and  has  thoroughly  cleared  up  the 


i8  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

A  terrified  soldier,  escaping  the  fate  of  liis  fellows, 
returned  to  the  fort  with  the  sad  tidings  of  Jumonville's 
discomfiture ;  and  a  council  of  war,  to  deliberate  on  what 

clouds  that  in  some  minds  had  obscured  the  morning  brightness  of  Wash- 
ington's fame.  He  does  not  notice,  however,  M.  Pouohot's  version  of  the 
affair,  which  is  too  significant  to  be  passed  over  here.  This  writer  says  that 
Jumonville  was  sent  with  a  letter  summoning  the  English  commander  to 
retire.  Being  taken  by  surprise,  and  finding  the  enemy's  strength  so  much 
superior  to  his  own,  he  endeavored  to  show  them  the  despatch  of  which  he 
was  the  bearer ;  but  they,  unwilling  to  compromise  themselves  by  a  parley, 
poured  in  a  volley,  slaying  Jumonville  and  some  others.  The  remainder 
were  made  prisoners.  (Pouchot,  Vol.  I.,  p.  14.)  His  editor,  it  is  true, 
adds  a  note  of  dissent  to  the  insinuation  that  Jumonville  had  any  hostile 
intentions ;  but  the  evidence  of  a  brother  oflScer,  whose  ideas  were  derived 
from  personal  communications  with  those  who  were  present  at  the  fort  at 
the  time,  must  be  received  with  some  deference.  It  is  a  little  curious,  that 
while  the  French  made  so  much  capital  out  of  this  occurrence,  their  version 
of  its  nature  was  very  little  considered  in  England.  M.  Thomas,  for  in- 
stance, opens  his  preface  with  the  declaration  that  his  theme  is  "  I'assassinat 
de  M.  de  Jumonville  en  Amerique,  et  la  vengeance  de  ce  meurtre."  During 
fourteen  years  after  the  event,  its  mere  mention  had  not  reached  the  ears 
of  one  of  the  greatest  political  gossips  of  the  period  in  London.  In  July, 
1768,  Horace  Walpole  had  never  heard  of  it,  and  was  only  then  in  posses- 
sion of  the  news,  through  the  intervention  of  Voltaire,  who  had  made  it  a 
subject  of  national  reproach  in  his  letters.  (V.  Walpole's  Correspondence, 
p.  212  ed.  Lond.  1840.)  It  is  due  to  a  French  historian,  however,  to  add 
that  there  is  an  impartial  account  of  the  affair  from  the  pen  of  M.  Garneau. 
After  considering  the  statements  of  either  side,  he  says  —  "  II  est  probable 
qu'il  y  a  du  vrai  dans  les  deux  versions ;  mais  que  I'attaque  fut  si  precipitee 
qu'on  ne  put  rien  demeler.  Washington  n'avangait  qu'en  tremblant  tant  il 
avait  peur  d'etre  surpris,  et  il  voulait  tout  prevenir  meme  en  courant  le 
risque  de  combattre  des  fant6mes.  Ce  n'est  que  de  cette  maniere  qu'on 
peut  expliquer  pourquoi  Washington  avec  des  forces  si  superieures  montra 
une  si  grande  ardeur  pour  surprendre  Jumonville  au  point  du  jour  comme 
si  c'eut  ete  un  ennemi  fort  ti  craindre  ?  Au  reste  la  mort  de  Jumonville 
n'amena  pas  la  guerre,  car  dejh,  elle  etait  resolue,  mais  elle  la  precipita."  (II. 
Hist,  du  Can.,  202.)  The  historical  statements  of  M.  Thomas's  work  are 
ridiculously  false :  the  only  fact  it  contains  is  that  Jumonville  was  really 
dead. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  49 

next  should  be  done,  was  instantly  assembled  by  Contre- 
coeur.  Here  the  opinions  of  all  were  given  in  writing. 
The  fiery  Coulon-Villiers  (known  for  his  prowess  as  Le 
Grand  Villiers),  burning  to  avenge  after  the  fashion  of  the 
savages  his  brother's  death,  was  for  violent  and  vindictive 
measures :  the  more  safe  and  moderate  advice  of  M.  de 
Mercier  prevailed.*  The  desire  professed  on  this  occasion, 
to  avoid  everything  which  might  be  construed  into  an 
indefensible  violation  of  the  letter  of  the  Treaty  of 
Utrecht,  when  its  spirit  and  meaning  were  already 
infringed  by  his  very  presence  on  the  ground,  shows  how 
clearly  the  Frenchman  anticipated  the  approaching  war; 
and  his  anxiety  to  preserve,  if  not  peace,  at  least  appear- 
ances with  the  world.  Villiers,  with  some  six  hundred 
men,  was  despatched  to  meet  Washington,  and  Mercier 
accompanied  him  as  second  in  command.^  On  the  29th 
of  June,  Washington,  who  was  then  at  Gist's  plantation, 
received  intelligence  of  their  advance ;  and  his  council  of 
war  resolved  to  await  the  attack  at  that  spot.  Entrench- 
ments were  at  once  undertaken;  two  detached  parties 
under  CajDtains  Lewis  and  Poison  were  recalled ;  and  an 
express  sent  to  the  Great  Meadows  to  summon  Captain 
Mackay,  with  the  Independent  Company  from  South  Caro- 
lina. Mackay  marched  mto  camp  that  night,  and  the  next 
morning  Lewis  and  Poison  came  in.  Apprised  now  of  the 
enemy's  overwhelming  force,  a  second  council  on  the  30th 

■  I.  Pouchot,  15. 

^  The  accounts  of  their  number  vary  from  three  to  nine  hundred  men, 
besides  Indians.     Among  the  latter  were  many  Delawares  and  others  who 
had  hitherto  lived  on  terms  of  personal  friendship  with  the  English.     Vide 
Min.  Penn.  Col.  Council,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  51. 
d 


50  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

of  June  resolved,  with  one  voice,  to  retreat  to  their  former 
position  at  the  Great  Meadows.  Two  miserable  teams  and 
a  few  pack-horses  being  all  their  means  of  transporting 
their  ammunition,  the  officers  at  once  added  their  own 
steeds  to  the  train ;  and,  leaving  half  his  baggage  behind, 
Washington,  for  four  pistoles,  hired  some  of  the  soldiers  to 
carry  the  remainder.  For  twelve  weary  miles  over  the 
Alleghanies  did  the  Virginians  drag  with  their  own  hands 
the  seven  swivels  that  formed  their  park ;  the  Indepen- 
dents obstinately  refusing  to  bear  any  share  of  the  burthen, 
whether  of  drawing  guns,  carrying  ammunition,  or  clearing 
the  road.  On  the  1st  of  July,  the  party  arrived  at  the 
Great  Meadows  in  such  a  state  of  fatigue  that,  unless  their 
stores  were  abandoned,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  for 
them  to  pause  there  for  a  few  days.  They  had  a  plenty 
of  milch-cows  for  beef,  but  no  salt  to  cure  their  meat,  so 
it  was  not  possible  to  lay  in  a  stock  of  salt  provisions ;  and 
as  for  bread,  though  they  had  been  eight  days  without  it, 
the  convoy  from  the  settlements  brought  but  a  few  bags  of 
flour,  not  more  than  enough  for  five  days.  But  learning 
that  the  two  Independent  Companies  of  New  York  were 
arrived  at  Annapolis  on  the  20th  of  June,  they  concluded 
to  make  a  stand  here,  in  hope  of  receiving  a  speedy  rein- 
forcement. The  spot  selected  for  the  works  was  well 
chosen ;  and  to  these  rude  defences  was  given  the  sugges- 
tive title  of  Fort  Necessity.  To  Robert  Stobo,  a  captain 
in  the  Virginia  Regiment,  the  merit  of  being  their  contriver 
is  attributable.  The  fort  was  a  log  breast-work  100  feet 
square,  surrounded  in  part  by  a  shallow  ditch ;  and  was 
commenced  immediately  on  Washington's  arrival.     As  day 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  51 

broke  on  the  morning  of  the  3d  of  July,  the  near 
approaches  of  the  enemy  were  proclaimed  by  some  of 
their  scouts  shooting  down  an  English  sentry ;  and  at  11 
A.M.,  the  whole  force  came  in  sight  and  invested  the 
petty  fortress.  Expecting  to  be  stormed,  the  Indepen- 
dents were  posted  in  the  ditch,  the  Virginians  being  drawn 
up  within  their  lines,  intending  to  retain  their  fire  till  it 
was  certain  to  take  effect.  The  enemy  not  adopting  this 
course,  however,  but  sheltering  themselves  among  the 
trees  that  crowned  a  neighboring  hill,  the  men  were  with- 
drawn to  the  cover  of  their  works,  and  a  dropping, 
desultory  fire  was  kept  up  on  either  side  during  all  the 
day.  When  night  fell,  and  their  ammunition  (which  only 
amounted  to  a  handful  of  ball  each,  and  powder  in 
proportion),  was  nearly  exhausted,  the  French  repeatedly 
called  a  parley,  which  at  last  was  listened  to  by  the 
incredulous  English;  and  a  capitulation  was  speedily 
arranged.^  To  the  besieged  terms  were  proffered,  not 
to  be  hghtly  rejected  by  men  in  their  position :  for  two 
bags  of  flour  and  a  little  bacon  now  constituted  all 
the  provisions  of  300  men ;  their  guns  were  wet  and  foul, 
and  there  were  but  two  screws  in  the  party  with  which  to 
clean  them ;  and,  to  crown  all,  one-half  the  garrison  was 
drunk.  Yet  even  in  this  strait  the  capitulation  produced 
by  Captain  Van  Braam,  who,  being  the  only  officer  (save 
one  who  was  wounded),  that  could  speak  French,  was 
selected  as  his  plenipotentiary,  was  considerably  modified 
by  Washington.  The  French  stipulated  for  the  surrender 
of  the  artillery  and  ammunition ;  the  English  insisted  on 

'  MS.  Gov.  Sharpe's  Corresp.  in  Md.  Hist.  Soc. 


62  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

retaining  the  one  and  destroying  the  other ;  and  even  this 
was  acquiesced  in.^  The  cattle,  etc.,  had  already  fallen 
into  the  enemy's  hands.  The  articles  of  surrender,  how- 
ever, while  they  conceded  all  honors  of  war  to  the  garrison, 
contained  one  awkward  provision  to  which  Washington 
unwittingly  put  his  hand,  in  terms  admitting  that  Jumon- 
ville's  death  was  an  assassination.  This  expression,  by 
"the  too  great  condescension  of  Van  Braam,"  had  been 
suffered  to  stand  on  the  paper ;  and  as  liis  leader  was  com- 
pelled to  take  his  oral  version  of  their  nature  (for  it  was 
now  nearly  midnight,  and  the  falling  rain  prevented  a 
candle's  burning  more  than  a  moment  at  a  time),  which 
substituted  the  word  "death"  for  this  odious  phrase;  it 
was  not  until  afterwards  that  its  real  language  was  dis- 
covered.^ In  the  meanwhile  the  negotiator.  Captain  Jacob 
Van  Braam,  together  with  Captain  Stobo,  both  Virginian 
officers,  were  given  up  to  the  enemy  as  pledges  of  the 
faithful  performance  of  the  articles  of  surrender.^ 

'  These  guns,  which  were  probably  merely  spiked  and  abandoned,  were 
in  later  years  bored  out  or  otherwise  restored  to  their  former  condition. 
For  a  long  time  they  lay  on  the  Great  Meadows,  useless  and  disregarded. 
After  the  Revolution,  however,  when  bands  of  settlers  commenced  to  travel 
towards  the  West,  it  was  a  favorite  amusement  to  discharge  these  cannon  : 
the  Meadow  being  a  usual  halting-place.  They  were  finally  transported  to 
Kentucky  by  some  enterprising  pioneers,  and  their  subsequent  fate  is 
unknown. 

^  II.  Sparks's  Washington,  51,  456.  Stobo's  Memoirs,  17.  Capt. 
Stephen's  letter  in  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1339.  Col.  Lines  to  Gov.  Hamilton, 
VI.  Col.  Rec,  51 :  where  also  a  correct  copy  of  the  capitulation  will  be 
found.     II.  Olden  Time,  213. 

'^  Robert  Stobo  was  born  at  Glasgow,  1727,  of  respectable  parentage,  and 
was  settled  in  Virginia  as  a  merchant  when  the  French  troubles  began  in 
1754.  Dinwiddle  giving  him  a  company  in  Prey's  regiment,  he  took  an 
active  part  in  Washington's  campaign.     It  is  not  impossible  he  was  one 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  53 

On  the  following  morning,  the  fourth  of  Jul}^,  1754, 
with  drums  beating  and  colors  flying,  the  little  garrison 
evacuated  its  feeble  entrenchments,  and  sadly  turned  their 
faces  homewards.  Probably  the  memory  of  this  day 
whose  return,  twenty-one  years  after,  was  destined  to  open 
to   him  the   gates   of  immortal  fame,  was   for   a   season 


of  "  those  raw,  surly,  and  tyrannical  Scots,  several  of  them  mere  boys  from 
behind  the  counters  of  the  factors  here,"  with  whom,  according  to  Maury 
(Huguenot  Family,  404),  the  governor  filled  the  corps.    As  the  stipulations 
for  which  he  remained  a  hostage  were  not  complied  with,  he  was,  with  his  bro- 
ther captain.  Van  Braam,  sent  from  Du  Quesne  to  Canada,  but  not  before  he  had 
contrived  to  transmit  a  plan  of  its  works  to  the  English.     His  letters  and 
drawings  being  found  in  Braddock's  cabinet,  excited  no  little  odium  against 
him.     At  last  he  escaped  from  captivity  (whether  with  or  without  Van 
Braam  is  not  certainly  known  to  the  writer),  and  after  a  series  of  romantic 
adventures,  reached   England.     His    Memoirs   were    there    published,    a 
reprint   of  which   has   lately  been    given    at  Pittsburg,  by  Mr.  Neville 
Craig,  to  whose  notes  the  preceding  remarks  are  due.     The  only  remaining 
feature  in  his  story  that  has  been  discovered  is  the  fact  that  on  June  5th, 
1760,  he  was  made  a  captain  in  the  15th  Foot  (Amherst's  Regiment),  then 
serving, in  America;  which  position  he  held  as  late  as  1765.     He  was  an 
eccentric   creature;    an   acquaintance    of  David   Hume  and  a  friend  of 
Smollett,  to  whom  he  is  said  to  have  sate  for  the  character  of  the  immor- 
tal  Lismahago.     As   for  Van  Braam,  his    career  is   still   more  obscure. 
Denounced  as  a  traitor  for  his  agency  in  the  capitulation  of  Fort  Necessity, 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  three  weeks  before  the  surrender,  Washing- 
ton (to  whom  he  had  served  as  interpreter  on  the  mission  of  1753),  pro- 
nounced him  "  an  experienced,  good  oiScer,  and  very  worthy  of  the  com- 
mand he  has  enjoyed :"  that  he  consented  to  going  as  a  hostage  to  the 
French,  with  the  certainty  of  his  fraud  being  soon  discovered  by  his  own 
party,  had  he  committed  one;  that  he  was  detained  rather  as  a  prisoner 
than  a  hostage ;  and  that  he  risked  his  life  to  return  to  the  English.    These 
facts  do  not  exculpate  him  from  the  charge  of  imbecility,  but  they  are 
inconsistent  with  the  assumption  of  his  deliberate  treason.     In  1770,  too, 
it  would  appear  that  he  claimed  and  obtained  his  share  of  the  Virginia 
bounty  lands,  with  Washington  as  Commissioner;  and  on  14th  June,  1777, 
was  made  Major  of  the  Third  Battalion  of  the  60th  Foot,  or  Royal  Ameri- 
cans, then  stationed  in  the  West  Indies. 


54  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

marked  in  Washington's  calendar  as  the  blackest,  the  most 
melancholy  epoch  of  his  life.  His  visions  of  future  fame 
in  the  service  of  his  native  land  seemed  to  have  received 
a  dangerous,  perhaps  a  fatal,  downfall:  nor  could  the 
reflections  that  its  immediate  memory  must  have  adduced 
have  been  of  a  very  cheering  character.  In  spite  of  the 
stipulation  of  the  French  commander,  the  Indians  hung  on 
the  skirts  of  his  diminished  band,  plundering  the  baggage, 
and  committing  a  hundred  annoyances  and  mischiefs.  The 
medical  stores  they  entirely  destroyed ;  thus  cruelly  aggra- 
vating the  unhappy  condition  of  the  wretches,  who,  sick 
and  wounded,  and  without  a  horse  to  assist  them,  were  to 
traverse  fifty  miles  of  inhospitable  forests,  ere  they  could 
reach  the  nearest  halting-place  on  "Will's  Creek.  The 
number  of  savages,  hitherto  regarded  as  friendly  to  the 
colonies,  whom  he  recognised  enlisted  under  the  standard 
of  the  enemy,  was  another  source  of  regret.  And  so  long 
as  the  French  preserved  their  local  sujjeriority,  he  very 
well  knew  how  little  hope  there  was  of  these  fickle  people 
returning  to  their  ancient  friendships :  nor  was  he  blind  to 
the  unconcealed  disgust  at  the  result  of  the  campaign  of 
even  those  whose  lot  was  immutably  cast  with  the  English.' 

'  The  celebrated  Seneca  cliief  Thanacrishon  (better  known  as  the  Half- 
King),  complained  bitterly  to  Conrad  Weiser  of  Washington's  conduct. 
''  The  Colonel,"  he  said,  "  was  a  good-natured  man,  but  had  no  experience; 
lie  took  upon  him  to  command  the  Indians  as  his  slaves,  and  would  have 
them  every  day  upon  the  scout,  and  to  attack  the  enemy  by  themselves, 
but  would  by  no  means  take  advice  from  the  Indians.  He  lay  in  one  place 
from  one  full  moon  to  the  other,  without  making  any  fortifications,  except 
that  little  thing  on  the  Meadow;  whereas,  had  he  taken  advice,  and  built 
such  fortifications  as  he  (the  Half-King)  advised  him,  he  might  easily  have 
beat  off  the  French.    But  the  French  in  the  engagement  acted  like  cowards, 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  55 

And  above  all  other  annoyances,  the  discovery  of  the  un- 
enviable and  unmerited  position  in  which  Van  Braam's 
"  evil  intentions  or  negligence "  had  placed  his  character, 
must  have  stung  him  to  the  quick.  With  reason,  then,  on 
the  morning  of  Washington's  departure  from  Fort  Neces- 
sity, dark  visions  swam  before  his  eyes.  He  saw  before  but 
the  frowning  forests ;  behind,  the  scene  of  his  own  and  his 
country's  defeat.  "  At  that  moment,"  observes  Mr.  Ban- 
croft, "  in  the  whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi  to  its  head- 
springs in  the  Alleghanies,  no  standard  floated  but  that  of 
France."  Destroying,  as  he  says,  not  only  the  cannon 
surrendered  by  the  English,  but  also  the  smaller  piece 
reserved  by  the  garrison  as  a  point  of  military  etiquette, 
but  which  it  was  incompetent  to  drag  away^  and  knock- 
ing in  the  heads  of  the  liquor-casks,  to  prevent  a  savage 
debauch,  "  the  Great  Villiers"  departed  on  the  same  day  as 
his  adversaries,  but  in  an  opposite  direction.^  Gracing  his 
triumph  with  the  Virginia  standard,  which  in  the  confusion 
had  been  left  at  the  fort,  he  turned  his  steps  toward  Du 

and  the  English  like  fools." — Enquiry  into  the  Causes  of  the  Alienation 
of  the  Delaware  and  Shawanese  Indians,  &c.  (Lend.  1759)  p.  80.  This 
volume,  whose  rarity  is  greater  than  even  its  value  and  importance,  was  the 
work  of  Charles  Thomson,  subsequently  Secretary  of  the  Congress ;  but  in 
1756,  when  he  prepared  his  material,  an  usher  in  the  Quaker  grammar- 
school  at  Philadelphia.  He  writes  in  honest  but  bitter  opposition  to  the 
Penns,  on  which  account  some  allowances  must  be  made  in  perusing  his 
book.  This  Half-King,  who  was  so  free  of  his  censure,  was  a  pretty 
shrewd  fellow.  It  was  he  who  advised  Ensign  Ward,  when  summoned  by 
M.  de  ContreccEur  to  surrender  his  post,  to  reply  that  his  rank  did  not 
invest  him  with  sufficient  power  so  to  do,  and  to  desire  a  delay  until  his 
chief  commander  might  arrive ;  a  suggestion  which,  though  ineffectual  in 
practice,  argues  considerable  astuteness  on  the  part  of  its  proposer.  See 
II.  Sparks's  Washington,  p.  7. 


56  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

Quesne,  where  he  arrived  on  the  7th  of  July ;  having  de- 
stroyed all  the  English  settlements  on  the  way,  and  detach- 
ing also  M.  de  la  Chauvignerie  for  the  same  purpose.  This 
circumstance  in  itself  shows  that  the  country  had  not 
utterly  escaped  the  notice  of  colonists  from  the  eastward, 
although  it  is  more  than  probable  that  many  of  the  houses 
so  burned  were  trading-stations,  or  shelters  recently  erected 
for  the  convenience  of  some  of  Trent's  or  Washington's 
troops.  On  his  journey,  too,  he  encountered  the  place 
where  his  brother  had  fallen ;  and  where  mangled  corpses, 
their  skulls  bare  and  bloody  from  the  knife,  still  strewed 
the  ground  with  shocking  memorials  of  that  scene  of 
slaughter.  A  decent,  if  not  a  Christian  burial,  in  earth 
best  consecrated  by  the  life-blood  of  a  soldier,  was  bestowed 
upon  their  remains ;  and  the  grave  of  Jumonville  is  still 
shown  to  the  curious  traveller,  who  pauses,  "by  lonely 
contemplation  led,"  to  muse  upon  the  spot  where,  like 
Philip's  son,  the  future  statesman  and  sage  loosened  the 
tangled  web  of  policy  with  his  sword ;  and  invoking  the 
ultima  ratio  regiim  to  decide  whether  to  a  Guelf  or  a 
Bourbon  North  America  should  owe  allegiance,  the  hands 


'  In  1756,  M.  de  Villiers  took  an  active  part  in  the  capture  of  Oswego. 
(I.  Garneau,  246  :  I.  Pouchot,  71.)  Till  1759,  he  would  seem  to  have  still 
been  employed  in  that  region,  where  he  was  one  of  the  defenders  and  probably 
of  the  captives  of  Niagara :  after  which  he  is  lost  sight  of  There  were 
six  brothers  of  the  Villiers  family  killed  in  Canada  during  this  war,  fighting 
for  France ;  each  of  whom  was  distinguished  by  some  local  surname.  \  The 
seventh  and  last,  also  in  the  service,  appears  alone  to  have  escaped.  I. 
Forster's  Bossu,  185.  From  the  language  of  M.  Thomas  (Jumonv.,  ch. 
I.)  we  are  at  liberty  to  conjecture  that  they  were  natives  of  Old  France. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  57 

of  the  Father   of  his   Country  were   for   the   first  time 
steeped  in  human  blood.^ 

In  the  meantime,  since  their  arrival  in  the  spring  the 
garrison  under  M.  de  Contrecoeur  had  experienced  much 
privation  and  suffering.  An  expensive  and  abundant 
supply  of  provisions  and  stores  had  at  an  early  day  been 
despatched  to  this  post  from  Canada,  under  a  strong  escort; 
but  the  difficulties  incident  on  the  portage  at  Niagara  pro- 
duced an  unwelcome  and  unlooked-for  delay.  The  want 
of  horses  and  suitable  equipages  to  transport  them  from 
the  fort  at  Presqu'-Isle  to  the  Ohio  was  also  a  great  embar- 
rassment. Four  hundred  of  the  party  expired  on  the 
route,  either  from  scurvy  or  from  the  fatigues  of  bearing 
all  this  burthen  upon  their  shoulders.  The  provisions  of 
the  escort  were  soon  expended,  and  the  magazines  intended 
for  their  comrades  were  put  into  requisition.  Then  their 
contents  became  known,  and  every  one  took  freely  from 
them  such  wares  as  pleased  his  fancy.  The  officers  were 
clad  in  rich  velvets,  and  drank  to  their  fill  of  the  rare 
wines  with  which,  by  the  knavish  connivance  of  the  au- 
thorities with  some  unknown  parties  in  interest,  the 
detachment  was  charged.  A  scene  of  general  waste  and 
confusion  ensued ;  and  while  the  troops  at  Fort  Du  Quesne 
profited  slightly  enough  by  the  costly  engagements  that 
had  been  criminally  made  for  their  benefit,  the  convoy 
which  was  to  return  to  Canada  arrived  there  brilliantly 


'  Journal  of  M.  de  Villiers  :  II.  Olden  Time,  213.  Sharp's  MS.  Corresp. 
The  whole  French  and  Indian  loss  at  Fort  Necessity  is  stated  here  to  have 
been  but  one  cadet  and  two  privates  killed  and  seventeen  dangerously 
wounded. 


58  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

equipped,  and  with   a   report   amply   covering    all   their 
delinquencies.^ 

If  the  reception  of  the  tidings  of  the  compulsory  evacua- 
tion of  the  Ohio  territories  by  the  English  gave  any  satis- 
faction in  France,  the  feeling  was  far  otherwise  in  London. 
Unwelcome  enough  was  this  news  to  a  country  whose 
commercial  prosperity  was  so  largely  identified  with  the 
success  of  its  colonial  system ;  nor  were  the  witticisms  of 
the  young  Comte  d'Estaing  (himself  destined  in  time  to 
direct  heavy  and  successful  blows  against  British  dominion 
in  America),  sufficient  to  restore  the  good-humor  of  the 
people.  "Pardieu,  Messieurs,"  said  he  to  the  English 
courtiers,  "  ce  seroit  bien  ridicule,  de  faire  casser  la  tete  a 
dix  milles  hommes  pour  quelques  douzaines  de  chapeaux."  ^ 
It  was  all  very  well  to  balance  thus  satirically  the  life  of  a 
man  against  the  skin  of  a  beaver;  but  the  fur-trade  on  the 
Ohio,  now  lost  to  the  English,  was  worth,  though  but  in 
its  infancy,  no  less  than  £40,000  a-year.^  The  privation 
of  such  a  profit,  not  less  than  the  manner  in  which  it  was 
lost,  was  eminently  calculated  to  excite  indignation ;  and 
ample  details  of  the  whole,  forwarded  to  London  by 
Governor  Dinwiddle  and  others,  speedily  brought  about  the 
inception  of  those  vigorous  measures  which  it  is  the  pro- 
vince of  these  pages  in  part  to  chronicle.  In  the  month 
of  August,  1754,  the  surrender  of  Fort  Necessity  and  the 
conduct  of  its  commander  were  freely  commented  on  in 
the  highest  political  circles.  "  The  French  have  tied  up 
the  hands  of  an  excellent  fanfaron,  a  Major  Washington," 

'  I.  Pouchot,  12.  ^  IV.  Mahon's  Letters  of  Chesterfield,  146. 

""  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1344. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  59 

wrote  Walpole,  "whom  they  took,  and  engaged  not  to 
serve  for  a  year."^  In  several  places,  the  same  writer 
repeats  the  anecdote  of  Washington's  despatch  on  this 
occasion  :  "  'I  have  heard  the  bullets  whistle ;  and  believe 
me  there  is  something  charming  in  the  sound.'  On  hear- 
ing of  this  letter,  the  King  said  sensibly,  '  He  would  not 
say  so,  if  he  had  been  used  to  hear  many.'"^  And  the 
Duke  of  Cumberland  avowed  that  "  rather  than  lose  one 
foot  of  ground  in  America,  he  would  oppose  the  enemies 
of  his  country  in  that  part  of  the  world  himself."  ^  But 
the  vacillating  organization  of  the  Ministry  prevented,  for 
a  season,  any  fruit  ripening  from  these  warlike  blossoms. 
The  recent  death  of  Henry  Pelham,  the  only  brother  of 
the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  and  an  excellent  cabinet  minister, 
had  occasioned  a  remodelling  of  that  body ;  and  for  some 
months,  so  considerable  and  uncertain  were  their  various 
alterations,  there  was  nothing  but  change  and  inconsis- 
tency displayed  in  the  conduct  of  the  official  and  salaried 
advisers  of  the  Crown.  Newcastle,  however,  with  his 
great  fortune  and  enormous  borough-interest,  remained 
always  at  the  head  of  affairs.  Ambitious,  but  incapable, 
his  combined  ignorance  and  vanity  cause  him  too  often  to 
appear  in  the  memoirs  of  the  period  rather  in  the  charac- 
ter of  a  ridiculous  buffoon  than  that  of  a  politic  statesman ; 
yet  even  to  his  understanding  the  necessity  of  a  prompt 
movement  was  evident.     Such  was  his  natural  imbecility, 

'  V.  Walp.  Corresp.,  72. 

^  I.  Walpoie's  Memoirs  of  George  II.,  346.     Walpole  to  Sir  H.  Mann, 
V.  Corresp.,  71.     And  consult  II.  Sparks's  Wash.,  40. 
3  Penn:  Gaz.,  No.  1342. 


60  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

however,  and  his  mean  jealousy  of  all  men  in  whom  by 
any  chance  his  imagination  could  foresee  future  rivals  to 
himself,  that  a  long  and  dangerous  delay  elapsed  before 
anything  like  form  and  coherence  was  given  to  the  pro- 
posed measures.  Previously  to  considering  these  proceed- 
ings, nevertheless,  and  having  now  shown,  in  their  natural 
course,  the  circumstances  which  had  induced  this  crisis,  it 
may  not  be  amiss  to  dwell  for  a  moment  upon  the  position 
of  affairs  in  those  colonies  for  whose  immediate  protection 
so  much  treasure  was  to  be  lavished,  so  many  lives  spent. 
The  provinces  most  directly  affected  by  the  presence  of 
the  French  upon  the  Ohio  were  those  of  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania.  In  the  former,  everything  was  ripe  for  war. 
Though  its  laws,  forbidding  the  employment  of  the  militia 
beyond  their  own  confines,  had  prevented  that  body  being 
called  upon  for  the  occupation  of  a  region  whose  situation 
was  well  believed  by  many  to  be  without  its  jurisdiction, 
this  infant  state  had  gallantly  volunteered  four  hundred 
men  for  the  undertaking,  whose  ill-success  was  crowned  by 
the  surrender  of  Fort  Necessity.  A  martial  spirit  pervaded 
the  land ;  and  the  Governor  was  a  man  sagacious  in  his 
views  and  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his  nation.'     With 


■  Very  few  colonial  governors  have  obtained  the  popular  verdict  in  their 
praise,  and  certainly  Robert  Dinwiddie  was  not  one  of  that  scanty  number. 
His  disputes  with  his  Assembly  in  regard  to  his  exaction  of  fees  warranted 
by  law  but  obsolete  in  practice,  and  his  difl&culties  with  Washington,  have 
left  an  unpleasant  impression  of  his  character  on  the  American  mind.  Yet 
he  was  an  officer  not  unworthy  of  commendation.  Remarkable  integrity 
and  vigilance  in  other  employments,  had  procured  him  the  government  of 
Virginia;  and  the  records  of  the  day  show  very  clearly  how  untiring  were 
his  efforts  to  secure  the  colony  from  a  foreign  foe.  A  Scot  by  birth,  he 
perhaps  retained  too  many  of  the  prejudices  of  that  people ;  but  he  was 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  61 

the  exception  of  the  constant  quarrels  (incident  almost  to 
the  very  existence  of  a  colony),  on  the  subject  of  money 
between  him  and  his  Assembly,  the  people  and  their  rulers 
were  generally  united  and  strong  in  their  views  of  foreign 
policy,  and,  what  was  of  even  greater  importance,  were 
firmly  bound  together  by  the  common  ties  of  domestic 
associations. 

The  case  was  not  similar  in  Pennsylvania.  Its  popula- 
tion at  this  period  exceeded  three  hundred  thousand  souls ; 
its  products,  almost  exclusively  agricultural,  were  sufficient 
to  employ  five  hundred  vessels,  mostly  owned  in  its  capital, 
that  annually  bore  away  to  other  lands  provisions  sufficient 
to  subsist  one  hundred  thousand  men.^  The  character  of 
this  population  was,  however,  as  various  as  its  numbers. 
In  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  it  is  true,  the  descendants 
of  the  original  Quaker  settlers,  with  all  their  purity  of 
morals  and  all  the  civilization  that  could  have  reasonably 
been  expected  to  arise  from  their  pacific  tenets,  still  pre- 
vailed. But  farther  from  the  wealthier  and  more  ancient 
settlements  were  to  be  found  large  establishments  of 
Scotch-Irish  and  Germans,  each   strongly  preserving   the 

not  without  their  virtues :  and  as  though  in  accordance  with  his  armorial 
device  —  uhi  Ubertas,  ihi  patria  —  he  liberally  aided  in  the  protection  and 
encouragement  of  knowledge  and  education,  without  which  liberty  so  soon 
degenerates  into  license.  The  library  of  William  and  Mary  College  still 
preserves  the  evidences  of  his  generosity;  and  Dinwiddle  County,  in  the 
State  of  Virginia,  perpetuates  the  memory  of  his  name. 

'  I  am  aware  that  Mr.  James  S.  Pringle,  in  a  valuable  paper  read  before 
the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  in  May,  1854,  states  the  population 
of  the  province,  in  1753,  to  have  been  but  250,000.  Governor  Moms,  in 
March,  1755,  computes  it  at  the  number  above  mentioned;  though  proba- 
bly even  bis  calculation  was  but  conjectural.     VI.  Col.  Rec,  336. 


62  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

peculiar  idiosyncrasies  of  their  national  origin.  The 
Germans,  in  particular,  clinging  tenaciously  together,  are 
even  to  this  day  far  from  being  undistinguishably  absorbed 
in  the  mass  of  their  fellow-citizens ;  but  then,  dwelling  as 
it  were  aloof  from  other  settlements,  they  formed  a  clearly- 
defined  and  distinct  population.  A  description  of  the 
manner  in  which  one  of  these  settlements  was  formed  may 
not  be  devoid  of  interest. 

On  Christmas-day,  1709,  ten  ships  set  sail  from  London 
for  New  York,  freighted  with  some  4000  Protestant  and 
expatriated  Germans,  who  had  been  supported  in  London 
by  the  bounty  of  Queen  Anne,  and  were  now  sent  by  that 
benevolent  sovereign  to  seek  new  homes  in  a  new  world. 
On  their  arrival,  they  were  soon  dispersed  over  the  whole 
province,  many  seating  themselves  at  Schoharie  upon 
lands  which  belonged  to  others.  Discountenanced  in  their 
conduct  by  Governor  Burnet,  and  embarrassed  by  the  op- 
position of  the  lawful  owners  of  the  soil,  they  were  finally 
induced,  in  1723,  to  set  forth  once  more  on  their  wanderings. 
Like  the  Israelites  of  old,  their  spies  had  gone  down  before 
them  and  searched  out  the  fatness  of  the  land,  and  had  brought 
back  glowing  accounts  of  the  regions  on  the  Swatara  creek 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  parts  adjacent.  Cutting  wagon- 
roads  then  from  the  Schoharie  to  the  Susquehannah,  they 
transported  their  effects  through  the  unbroken  forest,  and 
in  their  rude  canoes  floated  down  the  river  to  the  mouth 
of  Swatara  creek ;  their  herds  following  along  the  shore. 
Thus  were  founded  the  Swatara  and  Tulpehocking  settle- 
ments. This  was  in  the  spring  of  1723  :  it  was  not  until 
1732  that  Thomas  Penn  purchased  the  country  compre- 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  63 

bending  portions  of  Berks  and  Lebanon  counties  from  the 
Indians ;  and,  in  the  meanwhile,  the  settlements  had  con- 
tinued to  increase,  not  only  against  the  will  of  the  Pro- 
prietary, but  to  the  annoyance  and  indignation  of  the 
savages,  who  beheld  their  hunting-grounds  thus  forcibly 
possessed  by  strangers.^ 

Intermingled  with  the  rest  at  this  time  were  numbers 
of  English  churchmen  and  Irish  Catholics,  all  contributing 
to  swell  the  mass  of  conflicting  tongues  and  creeds  that  al- 
ready was  in  itself  sufficient  to  account  for  a  certain  degree 
of  absence  of  mutual  sympathy  which  so  long  seems  to 
have  prevailed  among  the  peoj^le  of  Pennsylvania.  In  no 
manner  did  the  exceeding  difference  of  condition  and 
feelings  develope  itself  more  plainly  than  in  their  inter- 
course with  the  Indians.  By  all  the  ties  of  their  faith,  as 
well  as  through  their  comparative  freedom  from  the 
troubles  incident  on  a  near  neighborhood  with  the  red 
men,  the  influential  Quakers  were,  as  a  general  thing, 
persuaded  of  the  propriety  of  treating  them  in  the  same 
honorable  manner  prescribed  by  the  founder  of  the  pro- 
vince and  their  own  great  apostle.  With  the  frontier 
settlers,  the  case  was  otherwise.  A  hardy  race,  often  of  a 
temper  too  prone  to  inflict  an  injury,  and  always  prompt 
to  resent  one,  they  were  constantly,  either  in  individual 
instances,  or  as  a  people,  embroiled  with  their  neighbors. 
Of  the  most  important  Indian  tribes  who  were  to  be  found 
about  this  period  within  the  limits  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
whose  conduct  and  views  would  most  materially  influence 
the  scattered  remnants  of  other  nations  that  still  existed 

>  Register  of  Conrad  Weiser :  Penn.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  5. 


64  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

there,  were  the  Delawares  and  the  Shawanoes.  The  former 
had  once  been  a  powerful  and  a  warhke  tribe ;  but  before 
the  arrival  of  William  Penn  they  were  subdued  by  the  Six 
Nations  of  the  north,  whose  hunting-parties  roamed  at 
will,  as  feudal  suzerains  of  old,  through  the  whole  region 
as  far  as  the  Ohio  and  the  Chesapeake  bay.  They  were 
compelled  by  their  conquerors  to  put  on  petticoats,  and 
acknowledge  themselves  women ;  terms  so  degrading  that 
nothing  but  the  extreme  awe  inspired  by  the  prowess  of 
the  confederates  of  the  lakes  could  have  induced  submis- 
sion to  —  and  they  were  not  permitted  in  any  way  to 
exercise  the  privileges  of  an  independent  people.  When, 
therefore,  Penn,  after  purchasing  from  the  Iroquois  the 
land  upon  which  he  proposed  establishing  the  seat  of  his 
budding  empire,  made  furthermore  a  point  of  buying  the 
same  lands  from  their  occupants  and  ancient  masters,  he 
acted  towards  the  Delawares  with  a  politic  propriety  not 
less  just  in  the  abstract  than  soothing  and  grateful  to  their 
pride.  Henceforth  the  Delawares  and  the  Quakers  were 
as  brothers ;  and  the  Shawanoes,  an  alien  tribe  supposed 
to  have  found  their  way  thitherward  from  the  everglades 
of  Florida,  participated  in  these  sentiments.  No  land  was 
to  be  occupied  by  the  whites  until  it  had  been  granted  by 
the  Proprietary;  and  the  hitter's  title  must  rest  upon  a 
previous  concession  from  the  Indians. 

But  these  halcyon  days  were  not  long  to  endure.  As 
time  wore  on,  and  new  settlers,  impelled  by  adverse  fortune 
or  allured  by  the  fertihty  of  its  soil,  migrated  to  Pennsyl- 
vania from  other  shores,  the  rights  of  the  Indian  became 
more  and  more  disregarded.     His  lands  would  be  occupied 


IlSrTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  65 

by  a  stranger,  destitute  of  the  shadow  of  a  title,  the  rever- 
berations of  whose  gun  or  the  baying  of  whose  hounds  would 
frighten  off  the  game  (the  ilocks  and  herds  of  the  savage), 
into  still  deeper  recesses  of  the  forest ;  and  his  pride  would 
receive  a  constant  shock  from  the  imperious  bearing  and, 
oftentimes,  the  brutal  behaviour  of  the  unlicensed  and 
unwelcome  guest.  The  proprietary  government,  it  is  true, 
sometimes  endeavored  to  restrain  its  subjects  within  due 
bounds ;  but  too  frequently  it  was  itself  guilty  of  miscon- 
duct not  less  flagrant.  It  would  too  often  connive  at  white 
settlements  upon  lands  belonging  to  the  aborigines;  or 
worse  still,  engage  in  some  disgraceful,  dishonest  swindle, 
by  which  the  savage  would  be  cheated  out  of  his  inherit- 
ance. By  these  means,  it  is  not  wonderful  that  his  dispo- 
sitions were  gradually  becoming  hostile  to  the  Europeans, 
and  that  his  ancient  confidence  in  their  friendly  professions 
was  impaired.  When,  in  1741,  that  devoted  New  England 
philanthropist,  John  Sergeant,  bore  to  the  Shawanoes  on 
the  Susquehannah  the  tidings  of  salvation,  they  rejected 
with  disdain  his  pious  overtures.  They  had  learned  to 
hate  the  religion  whose  votaries  corrupted  their  health, 
cheated  them  of  their  substance,  and  debauched  their 
women.'  And  when  the  wiser  and  more  foreseeino^  amons 
them  complained  of  the  outrages  they  were  subjected  to 
by  the  traders,  they  met  with  hut  scanty  redress.  In 
1727,  the  deputies  of  the  Six  Nations,  who  represented  as 
well  their  own  tribes  as  the  subject  Delawares,  complained 
to  Governor  Gordon,  at  Philadelphia,  of  the  traders  who 

•  Hopkins's  Mem.  of  Housatannuk  Inds.,  p.  90.    Thomson's  Alienation, 
&c.,  p.  56. 

5 


66  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

came  amoDg  them,  getting  all  their  skins  at  trifling  prices. 
"  They  get  so  little  for  them,  that  they  cannot  live ;  and 
can  scarce  procure  powder  and  shot  to  bring  more.     That 
the  traders  bring  very  little  of  these,  but  instead  bring 
rum,  which  they  sell  very  dear."    They  further  urged  that 
no  more  settlements  should  be  made  on  the  Susquehannah 
above  Paxton ;  and  that  no  more  rum  should  be  sold  there 
to  the  Indians ;  and  that  none  of  the  traders  to  the  Ohio 
should  be  suffered  to  carry  rum.     To  all  which  the  Gover- 
nor replied,  that  in  regard  to  new  settlements,  as  his  people 
increased  they  must  necessarily  spread;    and    as   to  the 
traders  — "  they  know  it  is  the  custom  of  all  to  buy  as 
cheap  and  to  sell  as  dear  as  they  can,  and  that  every  man 
must  be  on  his  guard  and  make  the  best  bargain  he  can : 
the  English  cheat  the  Indians,  and  the  Indians  cheat  the 
English ;  and  that  they  were  at  perfect  liberty  to  destroy 
without  compensation  all  the  rum  that  was  brought  among 
them,  as   the    provincial   laws   forbade   it   being   carried 
thither."  ^     Perhaps  the  governors  could  not  do  any  more 
than  they  did  to  restrain  the  excesses  of  the  traders ;  but 
all  that  they  did  do  was  ineffectual ;  the  abuse  continued 
to  operate,  undiminished  by  time.^ 

'  Thomson,  p.  13. 

^  See  the  Governor's  message  in  1744 :  "  I  cannot  but  be  apprehensive 
that  the  Indian  trade,  as  it  is  now  carried  on,  will  involve  us  in  some  fatal 
quarrel  with  the  Indians.  Our  traders,  in  defiance  of  the  law,  carry- 
spirituous  liquors  among  them,  and  take  the  advantage  of  their  inordinate 
appetite  for  it  to  cheat  them  of  their  skins  and  their  wampum,  which  is 
their  money,  and  often  to  debauch  their  wives  into  the  bargain.  la  it  to 
be  wondered  at  then  if,  when  they  recover  from  their  drunken  fit,  they 
should  take  some  severe  revenges?"  —  Votes  of  Penn.  Assemhly,  Vol.  III., 
p.  555.  These  traders  generally  consisted,  according  to  the  report  of  the 
same  legislature,  in  1754,  of  the  vilest  of  their  own  inhabitants,  or  of 
transported  convicts  from  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  67 

The  result  of  the  infamous  Walking  Treaty — as  shame- 
less a  fraud  as  ever  was  perpetrated  —  had  occasioned  a 
great  and  natural  discontent  on  the  part  of  the  unfortu- 
nates so  unjustly  and,  as  all  will  now  concede,  so  illegally 
ousted  from  their  homes.  The  story  of  this  transaction  is 
briefly  as  follows : 

In  1686,  as  was  alleged  by  the  proprietaries  and  admitted 
by  most  of  the  Indians,  Penn  had  purchased  from  the 
Delawares  a  tract  of  land  comprehended  within  certain 
boundaries.  The  line  was  to  begin  at  a  certain  spruce-tree 
on  the  river  Delaware,  above  the  mouth  of  Neshamony 
Creek :  thence  by  a  course  west-north-west  to  the  Nesha- 
mony :  thence  back  into  the  woods  as  far  as  a  man  could 
walk  in  a  day  and  a  half;  thence  to  the  Delaware  again, 
and  so  down  to  the  place  of  beginning.  No  steps  were 
taken  to  lay  out  this  land  until  some  sixty  years  afterward, 
when,  upon  mature  consideration  of  the  subject,  it  was 
decided  by  the  proprietary  to  take  formal  possession  of  it. 
Accordingly,  every  preparation  was  made  to  secure  as  good 
a  bargain  as  possible.  A  road  was  surveyed  for  the  walk; 
expeditious  means  of  crossing  the  intersecting  streams  were 
provided ;  and  the  swiftest  pedestrians  in  the  province  were 
engaged  to  accomplish  as  great  a  distance  as  might  be  com- 
passed within  the  time  limited.  This  having  been  attained, 
the  next  point  was  to  run  the  line  to  the  Delaware ;  and 
here,  whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  mode  in  which  the 
first  part  of  the  business  had  been  transacted,  a  glaring 
wrong  was  perpetrated  by  the  government.  In  the  original 
deed,  a  blank  had  been  left  for  the  direction  which  the  pro- 
posed  line  should   take :   and  as  the  topography  of  this 


68  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

country  could  not,  in  1686,  have  been  accurately  known, 
this  seems  not  unnatural.  But  now,  by  a  foul  advantage 
of  this  omission,  it  was  resolved  to  run  the  line,  not  by  the 
nearest  course  to  the  river,  which  would  have  been  east- 
south-east,  or  parallel  to  that  by  which  they  set  out,  but 
by  a  north-east  course  for  a  hundred  miles  and  more,  till  it 
struck  the  Delaware  near  the  mouth  of  Lackawaxen  Creek, 
far  above  Easton.  A  fortunate  westerly  bend  in  the  chan- 
nel enabled  them  to  effect  this,  and  to  cover  by  their  deed 
at  least  a  million  of  acres,  when,  by  a  fairer  computation, 
three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  should  have  confined 
their  claim.  ^ 

Their  best  lands,  and  even  their  accustomed  villages 
being  invaded  by  this  enormous  fraud,  the  Indians  on  the 
Delaware  evinced  a  decided  inclination  not  to  submit  to  it. 
To  provide  against  any  evil  consequences  on  this  head,  a 
number  of  deputies  from  the  Six  Nations  were,  in  1742, 
invited  to  visit  Philadelphia,  nominally  to  transact  public 
business  of  a  mutual  importance,  but  really  to  persuade 
them  to  overawe  the  Delawares  into  acquiescence  in  the 
chicanery  that  had  been  practised  upon  them.  Accord- 
ingly, after  having  been  conciliated  with  a  few  hundred 
pounds'  worth  of  presents,  they  were  requested  to  prevail 
on  their  cousins  the  Delawares  to  remove  from  the  lands 
in  the  forks  of  the  river,  which,  it  was  pretended,  their 
fathers  had  sold  and  been  paid  for  long  before.  The  chiefs 
of  this  tribe  being  assembled  in  the  council-chamber,  were 
then  earnestly  addressed  by  the  speaker  of  the  Six  Nations. 

'  Thomson,  pp.  34  et  seq.  70. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  69 

In  homely  but  forcible  phrase  he  reproached  them  with 
their  misconduct.  "  They  deserved,"  said  he,  "  to  be  taken 
by  the  hair  of  their  heads  and  shaken  severely,  till  they 
recovered  their  senses  and  became  sober.  But  how  came 
you,"  he  continued,  "  to  take  upon  you  to  sell  lands  at  all  ? 
We  conquered  you ;  we  made  women  of  you ;  you  know 
you  are  women,  and  can  no  more  sell  land  than  women ; 
nor  is  it  fit  you  should  have  the  power  of  selling  lands, 
since  you  would  abuse  it.  This  land  that  you  claim  is 
gone  through  your  guts  :  you  have  been  furnished  with 
clothes,  meat,  and  drink  by  the  goods  paid  you  for  it,  and 
now  you  want  it  again,  like  children  as  you  are !  But 
what  makes  you  sell  lands  in  the  dark  ?  Did  you  ever  tell 
us  that  you  had  sold  this  land  ?  Did  toe  ever  receive  any 
part,  even  the  value  of  a  pipe-shank,  from  you  for  it  ?  *  * 
For  all  these  reasons,  we  charge  you  to  remove  instantly  : 
we  don't  give  you  the  liberty  to  think  about  it.  You  are 
women.  Take  the  advice  of  a  wise  man,  and  remove  im- 
mediately. You  may  return  to  the  other  side  of  Delaware, 
where  you  came  from ;  but  we  do  not  know  whether,  con- 
sidering how  you  have  demeaned  yourselves,  you  will  be 
permitted  to  live  there,  or  whether  you  have  not  swallowed 
that  land  down  your  throats  as  well  as  the  land  on  this 
side.  We  therefore  assign  you  two  places  to  go,  either  to 
Wyomen  or  Shamokin.  You  may  go  to  either  of  these 
places,  and  then  we  shall  have  you  more  under  our  eye, 
and  shall  see  how  you  behave.  Don't  deliberate,  but 
remove  at  once,  and  take  this  belt  of  wampum."  Having 
thus  satisfactorily  closed  all  debate,  the  speaker  summarily 


70  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

ejected   "his   cousins    the   Delawares"   from    the    apart- 
ment/ 

It  was  impossible  for  the  Indians  to  disobey  so  potent  a 
decree,  and  they  removed  as  they  were  bidden.  But  the 
acquirement  of  their  fields,  so  inexpensive  at  the  begin- 
ning, in  the  end  cost  very  dear.  From  that  moment,  they 
were  ready  to  listen  to  the  overtures  of  the  French,  and  to 
contemplate  with  no  great  displeasure  the  discomfiture  of 
both  the  Iroquois  and  the  English.  For  it  was  not  within 
the  bounds  of  human  endurance  unmoved  to  see  their  wives 
and  little  ones  starving  by  their  side,  and  to  feel  themselves 
the  sharp  pangs  of  poverty  and  famine,  while  the  whites  were 
feasting  on  the  fatness  of  their  ancient  inheritance.  It  is  use- 
less to  tell  a  rudely-reasoning  and  famishing  barbarian,  or, 
for  the  matter  of  that,  a  sage  philosopher  in  the  same  condi- 
tion, as  did  the  deputies  of  the  Six  Nations  at  Philadelphia, 
that  he  or  his  ancestors  had  long  ago  sold  the  millions  of 
acres  along  the  Delaware,  which  they  once  occupied ;  and  had 
enjoyed  the  full  benefit  of  the  ^  two  guns,  six  stroud-water 
coats,  six  blankets,  six  dufiel  watch-coats,  and  four  kettles,' 
that  were  said  to  have  been  paid  to  them  by  William 
Penn.^  An  undisciplined  feeling  of  natural  equity,  stimulated 
perhaps  by  hunger,  advised  them  that  such  a  price,  if  the 
story  of  its  ever  having  been  paid  at  all  were  true,  was  a 
poor  compensation  for  the  abandonment  of  a  region 
abounding  at  the  time  in  game  and  yielding  ready  crops 
of  maize  and  pumpkins,  for  their  new  and  dreary  homes. 
Conrad  Weiser,  that  strange  compound,  to  whom  Indian 

»  Thomson,  p.  45.  '  Ibid,  p.  19. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  71 

life  and  the  Indian  tongue  were  perhaps  more  famihar  than 
EngUsh,  gives  a  piteous  account  of  their  condition  in  the 
winter  of  1737,  when  he  passed  from  Tulpehocking  in 
Pennsylvania  on  his  way  to  New  York.  Scattered  through 
the  forests,  they  would  fix  their  camps  near  a  grove  of 
sugar-maple  trees,  the  juice  of  which  constituted  the  only 
magazine  of  food  upon  which  they  could  with  any  certainty 
rely.  Here  the  children  searched  along  the  lowlands  and 
the  banks  of  streams  for  nuts  and  esculent  roots,'  or 
crowded  weeping  with  their  mothers  around  the  traveller, 
in  whose  exhausted  pouch  yet  remained  a  few  crumbs  of 
corn-meal.  A  handful  of  maize  steeped  in  a  pot  of  ash- lye 
to  make  a  kind  of  soup,  'constituted  to  them  a  most  luxu- 
rious but  unwonted  dish.  In  the  meantime,  the  husbands 
and  fathers  of  the  party,  disdaining  to  rob  their  families 
of  the  miserable  pittance  which  preserved  them  from  death 
though  not  from  starving,  would  range  for  weeks  at  a  time 
through  all  the  region  between  the  Shamokin  and  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Susquehannah  in  fruitless  search  of 
game.  By  day  he  scouted  through  the  dense  spruce- 
forests,  beneath  those  evergreen  boughs  which  the  sun's 
rays  rarely  pierced ;  every  sense  painfully  on  the  alert  lest 
the  tread  of  a  deer  or  the  distant  flight  of  a  mountain 
grouse  should  escape  his  observation ;  or  lest,  by  a  misstep, 
he  should  be  cast  headlong  down  some  precipitous  chasm, 
or  slipping  between  treacherous  logs,  be  chilled  in  the  icy 

'  "  The  turkej-pea  has  a  single  stalk,  grows  to  a  height  of  eight  or  tea 
inches,  and  bears  a  small  pod.  It  is  fouod  in  rich,  loose  soils;  appears 
among  the  first  plants  in  the  spring,  and  produces  on  the  root  small  tubers 
of  the  size  of  a  hazel-nut,  on  which  the  turkeys  feed.  The  Indians  are 
fond  of,  and  collect  them  in  considerable  quantities." — Hunter,  425. 


72  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

torrent   of    the   dark,    deep-flowing   streams.      Cold   and 
hungry,  he  would  lie  down  at  nightfall  crouched  beneath 
a  pile  of  boughs,  the   snow  drifting   the  while  in  fierce 
wreaths   about   his   sleeping   form;    and  in  the   morning 
awake,  stiff  and  cold,  to  find  his  fire  still  burning  in  the 
hole,  two  or  three  feet  deep,  that  it  had  melted  during  the 
night  in  the  snow.    With  returning  light,  the  labors  of  the 
chase  are  resumed.     In  vain  he  threads  the  Dia-dachlu  or 
Wandering  River  (as  he  named  Lycoming  Creek) ;  its  fords 
at  this  season  waist  deep,  its  current  swift  and  powerful 
and  icy  cold ;  or  the  fierce  Oscohu,  mountain-born,  flowing 
between  fringing  maples.     Carefully  avoiding   the  weird 
ravine  which  superstition  invested  with  mysterious  horrors 
as  the  home  of  the  Otkon,  an  evil  spirit  who  delighted  in 
blood  and  was  only  to  be  appeased  by  magical  sacrifices, 
he  would  shudderingly  gaze  from  the  brow  of  a  distant  hill 
at  the  skulls  which,  bleaching  in  the  winter's  storms,  de- 
clared at  once  the  extent  of  the  demon's  power  and  the 
place  of  his  abode.     Then  turning  to  the  north,  he  pene- 
trates to  the  summit  of  the  hill  where,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, pumpkins,  corn,  and  tobacco  first  grew  for  the  benefit 
of  humanity;  but  only  to  find  that  they  grew  there  no 
longer.     Exhausted  and  weary,  the  poor  wretch  turns  his 
face  homewards,  and  with  languid  gait  —  sperans  meliora 
—  seeks  his  camp  by  the  water-side ;  diverging  perchance 
on  the  way  to  visit   the   beaver-dam   at   the   confluence 
of   the    Towanda    and    Lycoming    Creeks,   where    once 
within  his  own  memory  many  pijDCS  of  tobacco  had  been 
smoked  before  "  his  grand-fathers  the  beavers."     Now  not 
a  sign  of  their  presence  remained.     To  supply  the  insatia- 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  73 

ble  maw  of  traffic,  not  only  the  males  of  the  colony,  but 
even  the  females,  generally  so  sacred  in  the  eyes  of  an 
Indian,  had  long  since  yielded  up  their  skins ;  and  the  pool 
was  silent  and  unbroken.  With  a  sinking  heart  he 
invokes  the  Great  Spirit  to  come  to  his  relief  lest  he 
perish,  or  to  give  him  a  reason  why  he  and  his  people 
should  thus  suffer ;  and  in  a  vision  of  the  night,  "  when 
deep  sleep  falleth  on  men,  fear  comes  upon  him  and 
trembling  which  makes  all  his  bones  to  shake."  A  spirit 
passes  before  his  face,  and  he  hears  the  words  of  the 
Manitou,  pronouncing  the  doom  of  his  race.  Humbled 
in  soul,  but  callous  through  long  endurance,  he  returns 
empty-handed  to  his  camp,  happy  if  he  finds  there 
some  benevolent  stranger,  differing  from  his  color  in  being 
a  Christian  not  only  in  name  but  in  deed,  who,  as  he 
divides  his  few  remaining  ounces  of  corn-bread  with 
weeping,  starving  women  and  children,  murmurs  within 
himself  blessings  on  His  name  "who  hath  made  in  His 
wisdom  thistles  to  grow  instead  of  barley  in  this  land,  and 
the  owners  thereof  to  lose  their  life."  ^ 


'  There  is  not  the  least  exaggeration  in  this  sketch ;  every  statement  in 
it  is  literally  true.  Vide  Weiser's  Narrative  of  a  journey  in  1737,  pub- 
lished in  I.  Coll.  Penn.  Hist.  Soc.,  17.  In  the  revelation  referred  to,  God 
declared  to  the  Indians :  You  inquire  after  the  cause  ivliy  game  has  become 
scarce.  I  will  tell  you.  You  kill  it  for  the  sake  of  the  skins,  which  you 
give  for  strong  liquor,  and  drown  your  senses  and  kill  one  another,  and 
carry  on  a  dreadful  debauchery.  Therefore  have  I  driven  the  wild  animals 
out  of  the  country,  for  they  are  mine.  If  you  loill  do  good  and  cease  from 
your  sins,  I  will  bring  them  back.  If  not,  I  will  destroy  you  from  off  the 
earth.  Weiser  asked  if  they  put  faith  in  this  vision.  "  They  answered, 
yes ;  some  believed  it  would  happen  so  :  others  also  believed  it,  but  gave 
themselves  no  concern  about  it.  Time  will  show,  said  they,  what  is  to 
happen  to  us.  Rum  will  kill  us,  and  leave  the  land  clear  for  the  Europeans 
without  strife  or  purchase." 


74  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

IIow  changed  was  the  Indian's  condition  since  fifty 
years  before !  Then,  save  his  own  domestic  broils,  he  had 
no  enemies  to  contend  with.  Game  was  not  slaughtered 
for  the  skin  only,  and  food  was  therefore  comparatively 
abundant.  The  twanging  bow-string  then  answered  all  his 
purposes  of  destruction;  the  detonations  of  musketry  had 
not  yet  broken  the  silence  of  his  hunting-grounds  and 
frightened  ofi*  both  bird  and  beast,  and  they  were  therefore 
easily  accessible.  Above  all,  rum,  that  scourge  of  the  red 
race,  was  not  familiar  to  his  taste,  and  he  was  therefore 
independent.  Cruel  he  was,  and  revengeful;  and  his 
social  condition  was  marked  with  all  those  blemishes  w^hich 
almost  prevent  our  regretting  the  means  hy  which  he  has 
been  destroyed  in  the  reflection  of  the  utter  worthlessness 
of  his  existence  to  the  rest  of  the  world :  but  we  must  not 
forget  that,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  his  lot  was  only 
injured  by  the  approach  of  civilization.  Now,  he  is  van- 
ished ;  passed  away,  with  all  his  atrocious  faults  and  noble 
virtues,  from  the  memory  of  the  land,  like  a  hideous 
dream :  then,  he  was  its  owner,  its  master,  and  was  happy. 
The  Indian  has  no  original  wants  that  civilization  can 
gratify  ;  no  aspirations  that  barbarism  cannot  fulfil.  His 
fields  are  tilled  by  the  woman  with  whom  he  vouchsafes 
to  share  his  couch ;  his  lodge  is  raised  upon  poles  hewed 
from  the  nearest  forest,  and  covered  with  the  spoils  of  the 
chase ;  his  most  glorious  furniture  is  the  scalps  that  dry  in 
the  smoke  of  his  wigwam.  His  ornaments  are  arms,  his 
pastime  is  war ;  his  highest  luxury  consists  in  repletion. 
What  to  him  are  the  rich  marts  of  commerce,  the  narrow 
streets,  the  busy  hum  of  crowded  cities ! 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  75 

Coarse  are  his  meals  —  the  fortune  of  the  chase; 
Amidst  the  running  stream  he  slakes  his  thirst; 
Toils  all  the  day,  and  at  th'  approach  of  night, 
On  the  first  friendly  bank  he  throws  him  down, 
Or  rests  his  head  upon  a  rock  till  morn  : 
Then  rises  fresh,  pursues  his  wonted  game ; 
And  if,  the  following  day,  he  chance  to  find 
A  new  repast,  or  an  untasted  spring, 
Blesses  his  stars,  and  thinks  it  luxury. 

A  glance,  now,  at  the  character  and  condition  of  the 
white  settlers  of  those  days,  will  not  be  out  of  place ;  and 
so  different  were  they  from  the  people  of  this  generation, 
that  the  sketch  may  not  be  uninteresting.     The  diversity 
of  national  origin  of  the  early  population  of  Pennsylvania 
has  already  been  noticed :  there  was  a  still  greater  differ- 
ence in  their  intellectual  and  moral  developments.     Set- 
ting  aside  the   shoals  of  convicts   turned  loose  upon  its 
borders  from  the  English  gaols,  there  were  hundreds  of 
other  colonists  arriving  every  year,  whose  presence,  though 
necessary,  perhaps,  to  the  ultimate  prosperity  of  the  grow- 
ing State,  could  not  have  been  calculated  to  promote  the 
immediate  refinement  and  elevation  of  its  character.     In 
every  colony  there  must  be  a  class  of  settlers  who  shall 
there  serve  the  same  purpose  as  Linnaeus  beautifully  attri- 
butes to  the  lichens   and  mosses  of  the  physical  world, 
when   he   aptly   describes   them    as   the    bond-slaves   of 
nature :  they  must  form,  upon  the  yet  wild  and  unseated 
rock,  the  earliest  soil  from  which,  in  time,  the  choicest  of 
Nature's  creations  shall  spring.    Individuals  must  fall,  and 
die,  and  be  forgotten,  as  the   leaves  m  the  forest,  their 
remains  commingling  with  the  mother  earth,  through  long 
and  tedious  time,  ere  the  solitude  and  doom  of  the  wil- 


76  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

derness  shall  give  place  to  the  temples  of  luxury  and  civi- 
lization. Thus  it  is  ever  in  this  world ;  each  man,  each 
plant,  each  insect,  living  or  dying,  has  a  part  to  play, 
a  place  to  fill.  Change,  eternal  change,  the  imperish- 
able secret  of  Nature,  is  the  only  immutable  measure  of 
all  her  laws. 

It  is  not  designed  in  this  place  to  dwell  upon  the  parti- 
cular establishments  that  were  from  time  to  time  made  by 
English,  Scotch-Irish,  or  Germans,  in  the  various  parts  of 
the  province ;  but  a  few  words  respecting  their  distinctive 
characters  will  be  of  service  as  tending  to  show  the  causes 
of  the  conduct  and  sentiment  of  the  people  under  peculiar 
circumstances.  In  each  of  these  classes  were  to  be  found 
men  of  education,  intelligence,  and  virtue.  The  English 
naturally  preponderated  in  characters  of  this  stamp.  The 
amiable,  honest,  benevolent  followers  of  Penn,  who  flocked 
to  the  shores  of  the  Delaware  as  to  a  haven  of  refuge, 
comprehended  within  their  ranks  a  degree  of  mental  and 
moral  cultivation  which  would  have  reflected  credit  upon 
any  people  in  the  world ;  the  wealth,  too,  of  the  province, 
and  the  control  of  the  Assembly,  were  chiefly  in  their  hands. 
Other  Enghsh,  of  various  denominations,  were  to  be  found, 
not  inferior  in  station  or  capacity  to  the  disciples  of  Fox ; 
and  although,  at  one  time  or  another,  the  Presbyterians 
thought  themselves  neglected,  or  the  churchmen  took 
umbrage  at  the  Quaker  rule,  yet,  on  the  whole,  we  may 
safely  conclude  that  there  has  rarely  been  an  instance  of 
religious  power  having  been  used  with  so  much  mildness. 
Certainly,  had  the  societies  of  either  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land or  the  Westminster  Assembly  been  in  the  position  of 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  77 

the  Quakers,  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  they  would  have 
acted  with  a  like  tolerance  to  their  fellow-citizens,  while 
the  poor  Indian  would  have  suffered  terribly  in  the  ex- 
change. 

The  Scotch-Irish,  as  they  were  called,  were  emigrants 
from  the  northern  part  of  the  sister-kingdom,  descendants 
of  the  Scottish  colonies  planted  there  by  Cromwell.  They 
were  a  hardy,  brave,  hoi>headed  race ;  excitable  in  temper, 
unrestrainable  in  passion,  invincible  in  prejudice.  Their 
hand  opened  as  impetuously  to  a  friend  as  it  clenched 
against  an  enemy.  They  loathed  the  Pope  as  sincerely  as 
they  venerated  Calvin  or  Knox ;  and  they  did  not  parti- 
cularly respect  the  Quakers.  If  often  rude  and  lawless,  it 
was  partly  the  fault  of  their  position.  They  hated  the 
Indian,  while  they  despised  him ;  and  it  does  not  seem,  in 
their  dealings  with  this  race,  as  though  there  were  any 
sentiments  of  honor  or  magnanimity  in  their  bosoms  that 
could  hold  way  against  the  furious  tide  of  passionate,  blind 
resentment.  Impatient  of  restraint,  rebellious  against  any- 
thing that  in  their  eyes  bore  the  semblance  of  injustice, 
we  find  these  men  readiest  among  the  ready  on  the  battle- 
fields of  the  revolution.  If  they  had  faults,  a  lack  of 
patriotism  or  of  courage  was  not  among  the  number. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  a  lawless  settlement  of  the 
Germans  upon  the  Susquehannah ;  and  indeed  the  pro- 
vince soon  became  a  chosen  harbor  for  these  people,  who 
appear  to  have  migrated  from  Germany  in  very  much  the 
same  sort  as  they  do  at  this  day.  The  wanderers  were 
generally  of  the  lower  orders  —  peasants,  mechanics,  or 
sometimes  small  farmers  or  tradesmen.     Selling  their  use- 


78  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

less  possessions  at  home,  they  would  embark  together  in 
droves  for  the  j^i'omised  laud.  Many  were  so  poor  (and 
not  of  the  Germans  alone,  but  of  all  nations  emigrating  to 
America),  that  it  was  a  very  customary  thing  for  a  pas- 
senger to  sell  his  or  her  labor  for  a  term  of  years  to  the 
captain  of  the  vessel  as  a  payment  for  the  passage.  These 
the  captain,  upon  his  arrival,  would  in  turn  dispose  of  to 
inhabitants  t)f  the  province.  Thus  as  slaves,  or  servants 
for  a  fixed  period,  the  unfortunate  emigrants  wore  on  their 
life  of  toil. 

More  fortunate  were  many  who  had  not  found  a  neces- 
sity of  resort  to  this  shift ;  but  brought  with  them  to  the 
New  World,  if  little  pecuniary  wealth,  at  least  free  limbs. 
These,  adhering  together  in  a  foreign  land,  preserved  their 
language  and  national  characteristics  for  a  surprisingly 
long  period.  Phlegmatic,  parsimonious,  industrious,  and 
honest,  their  constant  care  was  to  accumulate  wealth  and 
to  avoid  disturbance.  Being  chiefly  of  the  inferior  classes 
at  home,  the  first  German  settlers  were  not  remarkable 
for  any  very  elevated  notions  either  in  religion  or  politics ; 
nor,  indeed,  is  it  a  matter  for  surprise,  that  among  all  the 
frontier  settlers  (to  whom,  as  a  class,  the  remarks  which 
are  now  being  made  are  generally  applicable),  a  higher 
value  should  be  set  on  physical  than  on  mental  endow- 
ments ;  on  skill  in  hunting,  or  the  practical  arts  of  daily 
life,  and  bravery  in  war,  than  on  any  polite  accomplish- 
ments or  taste  in  the  fine  arts. 

Thus,  many  of  the  vulgar  superstitions  which  had  at 
one  time  held  a  place  in  the  minds  of  the  highest  classes 
of  the  Old  World,  and  which  were  still  nourished  among 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  79 

its  peasantry,  were  transplanted  to  the  wildernesses  of 
America.  Here,  in  the  gloomy,  silent  shadows  of  a  virgin 
forest,  whose  solitude  was  as  yet  uncheered  by  the  mur- 
murs of  the  honey-bee  or  the  pleasant  warbling  of  singing- 
birds —  those  invariable  attendants  upon  the  axe  of  the 
woodsman — the  nightly  howling  of  the  dog,  who  bayed  at 
the  moon;  the  shrill,  startling  whooj)  of  the  owl,  from 
some  stridulous  bough  overhanging  his  camp-fire  and  bend- 
ing to  the  evening  breeze ;  the  sinister  croak  of  the  raven, 
perched  on  the  hollow  oak,  were  notes  of  prophetic  woe 
that  filled  the  bosom  of  the  pioneer  with  dismal  fore- 
bodings/ In  dreams,  he  foresaw  the  good  or  ill  success  of 
his  undertakings;  and  after  the  fashion  of  the  ancients, 
prosperity  or  misfortune  would  appear  to  him  in  the  sem- 
blance of  a  female  form.  Over  the  low  door  of  the  Ger- 
man's cottasfe  one  would  be  sure  to  find  nailed  the  horse- 
shoe,  fatal  to  witches;  and  love-spells  and  barbarous 
charms  against  the  dangers  of  the  field  were  familiar  to 
their  lips.  Absurd  incantations  were  held  in  supreme 
repute  as  infallible  remedies  for  hemorrhage,  toothache,  or 
the  fatal  battle-stroke ;  nor  was  a  belief  in  witches  and 
ghosts  yet  banished  from  the  popular  faith.  The  silver 
bullet,  however,  was  rarely  found  necessary  for  the  over- 
throw of  a  witch.  The  German  who  suspected  his  fire- 
place of  being  a  resort  for  such  characters,  readily  expelled 
them  by  burning  alive  a  young  dog  or  two  therein.  Nor 
did  the  black  cat,  that  old  companion  of  sorcery,  escape 

'  Ante  sinistra  cava  monuisset  ab  ilice  comix.  —  Virgil.  The  reader 
will  call  to  mind  Tully's  veneration  for  the  same  omen.  Non  temere  est 
quod  corvus  cantat  mihi  nunc  ab  laeva  nianu.  —  Cic.  de  Divin.  1. 


80  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

unscathed ;  but,  earless  and  tailless,  wandered  through  the 
neighborhood,  a  monument  of  the  use  to  which  its  blood 
had  been  put  in  the  treatment  of  St.  Anthony's  fire.' 

But  recently  escaped  from  the  galling  oppression  of  their 
ancestral  homes,  the  German  settlers  were  as  little  disposed 
as  able  to  yield  a  perfect  obedience  to  the  minor  require- 
ments of  laws  of  which  they  neither  understood  the  lan- 
guage nor  comprehended  the  objects ;  and  from  their  own 
lips  we  learn  how,  as  of  old,  when  in  Israel  there  was  no 
king,  every  man  did  in  those  days  what  seemed  good  in 
his  own  eyes.^  And  if  any  reliance  is  to  be  placed  upon 
the  testimony  of  competent  and  intelhgent  witnesses,  the 
earliest  German  colonists  evinced,  in  the  hour  of  necessity, 
a  conduct  which  shows  very  clearly  how  vague  was  their 
comprehension  of  the  new  duties  they  had  assumed.  In 
1753,  Franklin,  writing  to  Peter  Collinson,  declared  that 
the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania,  being  generally  the  most 
ignorant  of  their  own  countrymen,  were  perfectly  intoxi- 
cated with  the  unwonted  possession  of  a  political  power ; 
which  they  exercised,  even  upon  their  own  preachers,  with 
equal  bigotry  and  tyranny.  Keeping  apart  from  the  Eng- 
lish, they  preserved  with  tenacity  the  usages  of  their 
native  land.  Their  conversation  was  carried  on  in  Ger- 
man;  their  children  were  educated  in  ignorance  of  any 

'  I  cite  almost  the  very  words  of  the  intelligent  and  pious  Joseph  Dod- 
dridge, D.D. ;  a  backwoodsman  by  birth,  who  lived  and  died  among  the 
people  he  taught.  His  Notes  of  the  Settlement,  &c.,  of  the  Western  Parts 
of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  (Wellsburgh,  Va.,  1824),  is  one  of  the 
most  interesting  works  we  have  upon  the  subject,  and  will  be  often  referred 
to  in  this  volume. 

2  Conrad  Weiser,  Coll.  Penn.  Hist.  Soc,  Vol.  I.,  p.  3.  Doddridge, 
pp.  23,  152,  166,  &c. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  81 

other  tongue ;  their  books,  their  newspapers,  their  deeds 
and  legal  instruments  even,  were  in  German. 

"  The  French,"  continues  he,  "  who  watch  all  advan- 
tages, are  now  themselves  making  a  German  settlement 
back  of  us  in  the  Illinois  country,  and  bj  means  of  these 
Germans  they  may  in  time  come  to  a  good  understanding 
with  ours ;  and,  indeed,  in  the  last  war  the  Germans  showed 
a  general  disposition  that  seemed  to  bode  us  no  good.  For, 
when  the  English,  who  were  not  Quakers,  alarmed  by  the 
danger  arising  from  the  defenceless  state  of  our  country, 
entered  unanimously  into  an  association,  and  within  this 
government  and  the  lower  counties  raised,  armed,  and 
disciplined  near  ten  thousand  men,  the  Germans,  except  a 
very  few  in  proportion  to  their  number,  refused  to  engage 
in  it ;  giving  out,  one  amongst  another,  and  even  in  print, 
that  if  they  were  quiet  the  French,  should  they  take  the 
country,  would  not  molest  them ;  at  the  same  time  abusing 
the  Philadelphians  for  fitting  out  privateers  against  the 
enemy ;  and  representing  the  trouble,  hazard,  and  expense 
of  defending  the  province  as  a  greater  inconvenience  than 
any  that  might  be  expected  from  a  change  of  govern- 
ment." ^ 

'  Sparks's  Franklin,  Vol.  VII.,  p.  71.  In  1755,  Franklin  energetically 
addressed  the  British  public  in  favor  of  excluding  any  more  Germans  from 
the  colonies.  "  Since  detachments  of  English  from  Britain  sent  to 
America,"  said  he,  "will  have  their  places  at  home  so  soon  supplied,  and 
increase  so  largely  here,  why  should  the  Palatine  boors  be  suffered  to 
swarm  into  our  settlements,  and  by  herding  together  establish  their  language 
and  manners,  to  the  exclusion  of  ours?"  XXV.  Gent.  Mag.,  485. 
That  the  intelligent  and  educated  portion  of  the  German  population  did 
not  clearly  comprehend  and  honestly  conform  to  the  requirements  of  their 
novel  condition,  is  not  insinuated :  yet,  even  in  1754,  when  Henry  Muhlea- 

6 


82  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

It  is  not  with  any  desire  to  cast  unmerited  reproach 
upon  the  character  of  any  people  that  these  remarks  are 
offered :  the  investigation  has  been  made  purely  in  a  spirit 
of  seeking  after  historical  truth,  where  the  student  can 
never  be  considered  at  liberty  to  disregard  the  evidences 
that  stare  him  in  the  face.  But,  after  all,  nothing  that  has 
been  said  is  in  conflict  with  the  usual  course  of  human 
nature.  Many  of  the  earliest  settlers  were  doubtless  in 
some  respects  better  men  than  their  descendants ;  but  they 
were  still  far  from  being  perfect.  They  were  not  less 
governed  by  circumstances  than  human  beings  usually 
are:  their  judgment  was  as  likely  to  err,  or  be  warped  by 
passion.  If  the  Quakers  were  sincere,  pious,  and  benevo- 
lent, it  does  not  follow  that  they  should  be  willing  to 
consent  to  what  they  conceived  to  be  an  unfair  system  of 
taxation :  if  the  Germans  were  frugal  and  industrious,  it 
does  not  necessarily  involve  the  fact  that  they  should  wipe 
out  in  a  moment  from  their  minds  the  memory  of  the 
distant  homes  they  had  just  left;  or  that  they  should 
enter,  heart  and  soul,  into  the  merits  of  a  controversy  in 
which  they  had  no  previous  interest.  It  was  natural 
enough,  then,  that  they  should  be  indisposed  to  peril  their 
new-born  independence  and  scanty  fortunes  in  a  quarrel 
between  George  and  Louis;  being  utterly  indifferent 
whether  either  succeeded,  so  long  as  they  themselves 
might  enjoy  repose.     But  when  they  conceived  it  neces- 

berg  and  a  number  of  the  most  influential  and  respected  Germans  in  the 
province  (men  of  pure  hearts,  unblemished  lives,  and  pious  souls),  addressed 
themselves  to  Gov.  Morris,  loyally  pledging  their  fidelity  to  the  King,  they 
admit  that  there  were  "  a  few  ignorant,  unmannerly  people  lately  come 
amongst  us,"  who  entertained  contrary  sentiments.     II.  Penn.  Arch.,  201. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  83 

sary  to  fight,  the  Germans  acted  with  ample  spirit,  as  was 
abundantly  testified  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 

But  while  the  masses  of  the  people  sought  homes  in 
regions  yet  unsettled,  they  generally  kept  the  frontier  lines 
considerably  before  them.  Along  the  borders,  however, 
was  to  be  found  a  population  consisting  indifierently  of  the 
children  of  every  nation,  but  uniting  here  in  habits  and 
customs  peculiarly  their  own.  Wherever  a  fertile  bottom 
was  spread  along  the  banks  of  the  stream,  or  a  warm, 
sheltered  champaign  stretched  beneath  the  covert  of  a 
range  of  hills,  the  steady,  monotonous  fall  of  the  woods- 
man's axe  would  soon  be  heard  through  the  long  morning 
hours.  Presently  a  dull  crash  would  echo  through  the 
forest,  as  some  monarch  of  the  grove  fell  prostrate,  to  rise 
no  more.  Ere  long,  the  circle  of  the  sky  would  begin  to 
expand  above  the  spot,  and  the  sunlight,  for  the  first  time 
during  untold  ages,  bathe  the  earth  beneath  in  a  continuous 
flood  of  warmth  and  brightness.  A  deadening  once  made, 
a  few  acres  of  rustling  corn  would  raise  their  heads  and 
reveal  their  golden  treasures  to  the  autumnal  wind ;  while 
all  around,  mute  mourners  at  the  scene,  tall,  ghostly  trees, 
the  springs  of  whose  life  had  been  destroyed  by  the  girdling 
axe,  exalted  their  phantom  forms  and  stretched  sadly  forth 
their  skeleton  arms.^    Vainly  they  yearned  for  the  nymph, 

'  A  deadening,  in  the  rustic  patois  of  Pennsylvania,  signifies  the  effect 
produced  on  the  trees  by  girdling,  or  cutting  a  ring  about  their  trunks. 
The  bark  being  thus  completely  severed,  the  sap  ceases  to  communicate, 
and  the  tree  loses  all  its  foliage  and  soon  dies.  A  clearing,  according  to 
the  same  authority,  denotes  a  spot  where  the  forest  is  cut  down,  and  nothing 
but  the  stumps  remain.  The  ghastly  aspect  of  the  former  process  would 
doubtless  render  it  objectionable  to  the  eyes  of  a  landscape  gardener ;  but 


84  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

the  tutelary  divinity  of  their  shade.  Still  deeper  in  the 
forest  gloom,  by  some  distant  spring  or  lonely  mountain 
tarn,  the  homeless  Dryad  bewailed  the  leafy  shrine  which 
she  should  see  no  more. 

During  the  dull,  dark  days  of  early  winter  or  approach- 
ing spring,  the  smoke  of  the  consuming  dead  trees  mounted 
slowly  on  the  air  and  lost  itself  in  the  cold  grey  above. 
But  when  summer  returned,  the  settler  would  find  perhaps 
a  score  of  like  clearings  going  on  around  him ;  and  as  many 
evening  fire-sides  welcomed  the  return  of  autumn.  It  did 
not  take  long  to  build  a  house  in  those  days.  Logs  were 
felled  and  hewed  of  the  proper  length,  and  arranged  with 
friendly  aid  into  the  frame-work  of  a  one-roomed  log-cabin. 
A  roof  of  puncheons,  rudely  shaped  with  the  broad-axe, 
was  placed  upon  it,  and  an  outside  chimney  of  stone  and 
sticks,  filled  in  with  clay,  adorned  one  end  of  the  edifice. 
The  interstices  between  the  logs  were  then  plastered  up 
with  mud  and  moss :  a  door,  and  an  aperture  for  a  window 
added,  and,  if  the  building  were  a  luxurious  one,  a  pun- 
cheon floor :  and  the  house  was  done.  A  block  or  two 
served  for  stools ;  a  broad  slab  of  timber  for  a  table ;  a  rude 
frame-work  for  a  couch.  Here  in  one  chamber  would  sleep 
all  the  family  —  men,  women,  and  children,  married  or 
single,  young  or  old  :  here  was  their  kitchen ;  here  did  they 
eat.  In  some  more  elegant  establishments,  a  double-cabin, 
or  even  a  loft,  was  to  be  found.     A  few  wooden  bowls  and 


none  such  were  probably  to  be  found  in  the  backwoods ;  and  the  facility 
with  which  a  tract  could  thus  be  prepared  for  agricultural  purposes,  was  no 
small  inducement  to  the  settler.  A  good  woodsman  will  soon  deaden  a 
number  of  acres,  which  by  the  next  seed-time  will  be  ready  for  cultivation. 


IN-TRODUCTORT    MEMOIR.  85 

trenchers,  some  S2)oons  carved  from  a  horn,  a  calabash  and 
an  iron  pot,  with  two  or  three  forks  and  knives,  completed 
the  simple  furniture.  China,  or  even  ordinary  delf-ware, 
was  unknown  in  those  times ;  a  few  pack-horses  in  their 
annual  journey  were  the  only  means  of  communication 
with  the  sea-board.  For  food,  the  chief  reliance  was  upon 
the  product  of  the  chase,  the  corn,  pumpkins,  and  potatoes 
which  were  cultivated  upon  the  little  farm,  and  the  invar 
riable  dish  of  pork.  No  settler  was  without  his  drove  of 
swine ;  and  "  hog  and  hommony  "  is  still  a  proverbial  ex- 
pression for  western  fare.  Their  cows  yielded  them  milk ; 
and  corn-meal,  either  ground  by  hand  or  pounded  in  a 
wooden  mortar,  furnished  their  only  bread.  In  times  of 
scarcity,  such  as  were  of  too  frequent  occurrence,  when 
the  granary  was  exhausted,  the  children  were  comforted 
with  lean  venison  under  the  name  of  bread,  till  a  new 
harvest  should  come  around. 

Nor  was  their  costume  less  primitive  than  their  diet. 
Petticoats  and  dresses  of  linsey-woolsey  (a  cloth,  home- 
woven,  of  wool  and  flax)  filled  the  wardrobe  of  the 
country  maiden,  innocent,  save  on  state  occasions,  of  super- 
fluous shoes  and  stockings ;  while  the  men  were  clad  in  a 
coarse  linsey  or  buckskin  hunting-shirt,  with  breeches,  leg- 
gins,  and  moccasins.  Their  cattle  were  of  too  much  value 
living,  to  be  slaughtered  either  for  their  flesh  or  their 
skins,  and  the  hide  of  the  wild  deer,  tanned  by  their  own 
hands,  was  compelled  to  supply  the  place  of  leather. 
Hardy  as  they  were,  however,  the  first  settlers  suffered 
greatly  from  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather;  against 
which  neither  their  clothing  nor  their  dwellings  afforded  a 


86  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

sufficient  protection.  The  seasons  were  then  far  more  severe 
than,  even  in  the  same  country,  they  are  at  present.  The 
summers  were  shorter,  and  more  damp  and  cold ;  the  win- 
ters earlier,  and  more  stern.  Rheumatic  affections,  and 
the  usual  train  of  disorders  consequent  upon  exposure, 
were  common  afflictions ;  and  doubtless  owing  to  the  ex- 
treme ignorance  which  prevailed  in  matters  of  medical  sci- 
ence, there  were  very  many  lives  needlessly  sacrificed  from 
a  want  of  proper  treatment. 

But,  after  their  own  fashion,  they  were  a  happy  race, 
these  backwoodsmen.     Reckless  of  future  danger,  uncon- 
scious of  prospective  woe,  they  lived  very  much  in  the 
present.    Full  of  animal  spirits,  the  blood  coursing  through 
their  veins  under  spur  of  the  excitement  of  a  constant 
peril,  that  at  bed  or  at  board,  at  seed-time  and  in  the 
harvest-field,  was  ever  by  their  side,  they  embarked  eagerly 
in  every  homely  sport  or  rustic  revelry.     The  most  unar- 
tificial   frolic  was   partaken   of  with   a  zest   that   would 
astonish  the  tranquil  tastes  of  one  bred  among  more  civi- 
lized scenes.    Athletic  games — wrestling,  running,  or  shoot- 
ing at  a  mark — were  the  friendly  arenas  wherein  each 
strove  to  bear  away  an  honorable  fame.     The  boys  were 
taught  to  throw  the  tomahawk  with  unerring  aim ;  to  imi- 
tate the  cries  of  the  creatures  of  the  forest  with  a  fidehty 
that  would  deceive  the  most  practised  ear,  or  to  properly 
wield  a  rifle.     Other  education  they  rarely  had;    for  no 
school-house,  for  many  long  years  to  come,  was  destined  to 
raise  its  low  roof  among  them ;  no  church,  no  clergyman 
taught   them   to   think   of  higher   aims.     Sunday   came, 
indeed,  a  day  of  rest  for  the  weary,  but  a  day  of  mirth  and 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  87 

amusement  to  the  young  and  gay ;  nor  was  it,  with  all, 
distinguished  in  even  this  extent  from  the  other  days  of 
the  week.  Yet  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  it  found  the 
people  plunged  in  dishonorable  vice  or  excessive  immo- 
rality. On  the  contrary,  they  were  perhaps  less  so  than 
the  inhabitants  of  many  Christian  cities.  Profane  they 
undoubtedly  were;  in  their  most  ordinary  conversation, 
"  they  clothed  themselves  with  curses  as  with  a  garment," 
and,  in  the  gust  of  passion,  were  careless  of  the  destruction 
of  limb  or  life.  But  lying  and  cheating  were  abhorred 
among  them,  and  a  coward  was  the  scorn  of  the  commu- 
nity. Their  sons  were  brave  and  their  daughters  were 
virtuous.  The  loss  of  female  chastity  was  a  calamity  that 
involved  dishonor ;  and  instances  of  its  violation  or  seduc- 
tion were  of  rare  occurrence,  and  usually  swiftly  and 
bloodily  revenged.  Seldom  was  it  for  other  cause  than 
a  family  feud  that  a  youthful  couple  found  any  impedi- 
ment in  the  path  to  matrimony;  and  such  dissensions 
were  not  likely  to  endure  in  a  neighborhood  bound  toge- 
ther in  a  common  danger.  Indeed,  the  gaiety  it  produced 
was  frequently  a  sufficient  inducement  for  a  young  man, 
able  to  support  her,  to  take  unto  himself  a  wife.  Then 
the  whole  country-side  would  assemble  at  the  bride's 
dwelling,  and,  with  copious  libations  of  whiskey,  in  which 
the  happy  pair  set  them  the  example,  exhaust  the  night 
in  merriment  and  sport.  To  the  scraping  of  an  old  violin, 
four-handed  reels  or  Virginia  jigs  would  endure  till  morn- 
ing dawned  or  the  performer's  strength  failed  him.  As 
evening  wore  on,  the  blushing  fair,  with  her  lover  by  her 
side,   would  clamber  up  the  ladder  which  led  from    the 


bo  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

lower  chamber,  filled  with  a  boisterous  crowd,  to  the  loft 
above,  where  the  nuptial  couch  was  spread;  and  at  a  later 
hour,  a  substantial  meal  of  pork,  cabbage,  and  whiskey 
would  be  served  up  to  them  in  their  privacy.  Preposterous 
as  all  this  appears  at  this  day,  it  was  then  the  custom  of 
the  country,  and  as  such,  honored  in  the  observance. 

The  most  important  feature  of  a  new  settlement,  was, 
however,  its  Fort.  This  was  simply  a  place  of  resort  for 
the  people  when  the  Indians  were  expected,  and  consisted 
of  a  range  of  contiguous  log  cabins,  protected  by  a  stockade 
and  perhaps  a  blockhouse  or  two.  It  was  chiefly  in  the 
summer  and  fall  that  the  approach  of  the  savage  was  to  be 
dreaded ;  and  at  this  season  families  in  exposed  positions 
were  compelled  to  leave  their  farms  and  remove  with  their 
furniture  to  the  fort.  Parties  of  armed  men  would  sally 
out  by  day,  and  in  turn  cultivate  each  plantation,  with 
scouts  at  a  distance  to  warn  them  of  the  presence  of  the 
foe.  Every  precaution  that  the  swarthy  warrior  himself 
could  adopt  was  resorted  to  by  his  no  less  wily  antagonist. 
The  earth  beneath,  the  bushes  around,  the  skies  above, 
were  carefully  interrogated ;  and  a  broken  twig,  the  impress 
of  a  moccasined  foot  upon  the  dewy  sod,  or  a  distant 
column  of  smoke  faintly  ascending  to  the  heavens,  were 
infallible  "  Indian  signs  "  to  the  uneasy  husband  or  father. 
Then  women  and  children  would  be  quickly  brought 
within  shelter ;  cattle  and  furniture  placed  in  safety,  and 
a  few  of  the  most  adventurous  spirits  thrown  out  to 
observe  or  interrupt  the  progress  of  the  suspected  danger. 
But  let  the  panic  once  spread,  and  the  alarm  of  a  general 
Indian  onslaught  along  the  frontiers  get  headway,  and  in 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  ^         89 

a  moment  plantations  and  settlements  were  abandoned. 
The  popular  terror,  like  wildfire,  communicating  to  every 
quarter,  would  crowd  the  inland  towns  with  anxious,  care- 
worn faces,  and  leave  to  the  torch  of  the  invader  the 
scenes  of  their  late  prosperity.  But  occasions  such  as 
these,  were,  fortunately,  not  frequent;  and  when  the  snows 
of  winter  had  begun  to  fall,  and  the  improvident  savage 
could  no  longer  find  sustenance  in  the  fields  tilled  by  his 
wife's  hoe,  he  was  conceived  to  have  occupation  enough  in 
the  quest  of  game  and  in  endeavoring  to  avoid  starvation ; 
and  all  fear  of  an  attack  faded  away.  Then  the  settler, 
ensconced  once  more  in  his  own  cottage,  would  linger  over 
the  fire  during  the  long  winter  evenings,  framing  articulate 
sounds  in  the  wild  wailings  of  the  northern  blast,  that 
piled  up  the  deep  snow-drift  against  his  wooden  walls,  or 
striving  to  decypher  the  phantasmagoria  which  played 
among  the  lingering  embers.  Perchance  the  fierce  bowl- 
ings of  a  distant  wolf  would  call  his  thoughts  to  his  own 
fold ;  and  floundering  through  the  snow,  he  would  sally 
forth  into  the  darkness  to  assure  himself  that  his  treasured 
herds  were  in  safety.  Shaking  the  white  masses  from  his 
burly  form,  he  would  soon  resume  his  station  by  the  ample 
hearth,  and 

In  social  scenes  of  gay  delight 
Beguile  the  dreary  winter  night. 

Some  simple  story  of  the  chase,  or  a  yet  more  thrilling 
tale  of  personal  adventure,  would  arise.  With  open  ears 
and  busy  hands  the  little  family  would  gather  around  or 
within  the  roaring  chimney ;  one  boy  mending  the  lock  of 


90  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

a  gun,  another  adjusting  the  barb  of  an  arrow  or  the 
spring  of  a  trap,  and  sighing  for  the  day  when  he  too 
might  bear  a  riflg  and  be  acknowledged  a  man — 

When  young  and  old  in  circle 

Around  the  firebrands  close; 
When  the  girls  are  weaving  baskets 
And  the  lads  are  shaping  bows : 

the  sire  would,  for  the  hundredth  time  perhaps,  narrate  to 
unwearied  ears  some  ancient  fable  of  far  beyond  sea :  of 
knights  and  giants,  and  beauteous  ladies  ravished  from 
their  bowers ;  or,  with  innumerable  variations  of  incident, 
recite  his  valiant  deeds  who  conquered  Cormoran.  Then, 
from  some  half-lit  corner,  where  the  flickering  flame  from 
the  hearth  (their  only  light),  shaped  monstrous,  grotesque 
shadows  on  the  irregular  log-walls,  the  sound  of  female 
voices  would  rise ;  and  to  the  monotonous  accompaniment 
of  the  unceasing  shuttle,  would  be  sung  in  low,  subdued 
tones  a  ballad  of  "  bold  Robin  Hood  that  merrye  outlawe  j" 
whose  deeds  furnished  to  these  people  the  staple  of  their 
poetry.  Little  skill  or  art  was  necessary  to  please  a 
willing  ear : 

They  chant  their  artless  notes  in  simple  guise; 
They  tune  their  hearts,  by  far  the  noblest  aim : 

and  the  cruelties  of  Barbara  Allen,  or  the  plaintive  strains 
of  '  Willow,  willow,  willow,'  were  enough  to  excite  every 
emotion  that  these  rough  breasts  could  feel.  Such  ballads 
were  naively  enough,  but  not  unaptly,  styled  '  love-songs 
about  murder.'  * 

'  Doddridge,  from  whom  the  above  sketch  is  faithfully  drawn,  gives  a 
singular  description  of  the  garb  which  the  young  men  sometimes  assumed 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  91 

Such  as  has  been  described  is  a  fair  picture  of  the 
domestic  scenery  of  the  various  portions  of  the  land  in  the 
middle  of  the  last  century.  On  the  one  hand  were  the 
Anglo-Americans,  eagerly  pushing  forward  their  borders, 
careless  of  the  lowering  brows  or  half-uttered  threats  of 
the  Indians;  on  the  other  were  savage  tribes  who  had 
little  love  for  the  French,  it  is  true,  but  whose  dispositions 
were  ripe  for  trouble  with  the  English.  So  deeply  rooted, 
indeed,  was  the  lurking  disaffection  towards  their  ancient 
allies,  that  so  early  as  1744,  the  Iroquois  had  warned  the 
Governor  of  Pennsylvania  that  in  the  event  of  another 
French  war  the  Delawares  and  Shawanoes  would  inevita- 
bly be  found  in  the  ranks  of  the  enemy.  The  latter  had 
in  fact  for  many  years  previously  spared  no  pains  to  bring 
the  Shawanoes  into  their  interest.^ 

Nevertheless,  the  presence  of  the  French  upon  the  Ohio 
was  exceedingly  unwelcome  to  all  the  Indian  nations.  The 
Iroquois,  as  well  as  the  Delawares  and  Shawanoes,  made 
some  overtures,  in  1753,  of  removing  by  force  of  arms  the 
party  under  M.  de  Contrecoeur,  after  two  separate  messages 
had  been  vainly  sent  to  persuade  him  to  withdraw :  and  a 


in  times  of  Indian  excitement.  It  consisted  simply  of  a  pair  of  moccasins, 
leggins  that  reached  to  the  thigh,  and  a  breech-cloth  twisted  through  a  belt 
so  as  to  suifer  a  skirt  some  eight  or  nine  inches  broad  to  fall  down  before 
and  behind.  The  body,  embarrassed  by  perhaps  as  scanty  clothing  as  has 
been  worn  since  the  days  of  Adam,  wa^  thus  perfectly  free  for  action. 
"  The  young  warrior,"  continues  the  worthy  divine,  "  instead  of  being 
abashed  by  this  nudity,  was  proud  of  his  Indian-like  dress.  In  some  few 
instances,  I  have  seen  them  go  into  places  of  public  worship  in  this  dress. 
Their  appearance,  however,  did  not  add  much  to  the  devotion  of  the  young 
ladies." 

'  Votes  of  Penn.  Assembly,  Vol.  III.,  p.  555.    Thomson,  pp.  55,  25. 


92  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

deputation  was  despatched  to  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania 
to  desire  the  countenance  of  those  provinces  in  the  antici- 
pated troubles  and  to  put  matters  on  a  right  footing  between 
all  parties.  At  Carlisle  they  met  the  provincial  commis- 
sioners, whom  they  urgently  pressed  to  call  back  the  whites 
already  settled  on  the  western  side  of  the  Alleghanies, 
where  as  yet  the  Indians  had  sold  not  a  foot  of  land.^  And 
though  nothing  came  of  this  temper,  which,  if  properly 
managed,  might  have  been  used  to  immense  advantage  by 
the  English,  yet  it  serves  to  show  how  powerfully  old  pre- 
dilections and  national  traditions  conspired  to  make  these 
people  still  disposed  to  friendship  with  the  English  and 
hatred  to  the  French.  But,  as  has  been  well  observed, 
the  Indian  is  to  a  certain  extent  a  venal  character.  The 
nature  of  his  existence  had  by  this  time  compelled  him  to 
look  to  the  whites  for  powder  and  ball ;  for  rum  and  tobacco; 
for  blankets  and  vermilion.  The  simple  weapons  of 
other  days  were  no  longer  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  pur- 
sue successfully  his  prey.  Unless  he  would  starve,  he 
must  resort  to  the  store-houses  of  the  trader;  and  once 
there,  soft  words  and  flattering  gifts  would  be  very  apt  to 
bring  his  will  into  the  control  of  the  donor.  The  lustre 
of  the  benefaction  last  received  seldom  fails  to  obscure  all 
that  preceded  it ;  and  like  a  child  with  a  new  toy,  he  loses 
all  appreciation  of  former  favors  in  the  contemplation  of 
his  present  enjoyment.  In  this  manner  the  French  worked 
upon  the  savages  who  visited  them  at  Fort  Du  Quesne. 
The  needy  warrior,  who  went  empty-handed,  would  return 


'  Thomson,  p.  73. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  93 

to  his  companions  gratified  with  a  new  blanket,  gun  and 
ammunition,  and  flaunting  in  the  unwonted  attire  of  a 
laced  coat  and  hat  and  a  shirt  streaming  with  ribbons. 
Then  he  would  contrast  the  generosity  of  the  French  with 
the  niggardliness  of  the  English ;  and  the  event  would  be 
that  his  fellows  would  all  hasten  to  participate  in  the  pre- 
cious harvest  that  awaited  them.^  The  Canadian  govern- 
ment certainly  dealt  with  an  open  hand ;  in  this  respect 
possessing  an  immense  advantage  over  its  rivals,  whose 
bounty,  diluted  through  a  dozen  provinces,  could  never  be 
brought  to  bear  on  a  given  point  with  the  same  efficacy 
that  attended  the  operations  of  one  centralized  power. 

What  finally  tended  perhaps  more  than  anything  else  to 
alienate  the  Indians  of  Western  Pennsylvania  from  the 
people  of  that  province  was  the  injudicious  conduct  of  the 
proprietary  commissioners  at  the  Congress  of  Albany,  where, 
on  the  19th  of  June,  1754,  all  the  English  colonies  were 

'  The  two  Ohio  journals  of  Post  exhibit  very  strongly  this  feature  of 
Indian  character.  In  the  one,  just  such  a  scene  as  is  above  described  was 
enacted;  poor  Post  himself  being  compelled  to  bear  the  odium  of  his  em- 
ployer's meanness.  But  by  and  bj'  the  tide  changed ;  the  stock  at  the  fort 
perhaps  ran  low,  and  the  bribes  of  the  English  told  powerfully  on  the 
savages;  and  Post  made  a  second  journey  to  endeavor  to  detach  them  from 
the  service  of  the  enemy.  Then  he  found  the  tables  turned;  nor  could 
even  the  presence  of  the  French  captain  restrain  the  expressions  of  con- 
tempt with  which  the  chieftains  spoke  of  him.  "  He  has  boasted  much 
of  his  fighting,"  said  they ;  "  now  let  us  see  his  fighting.  We  have  often 
ventured  our  lives  for  him,  and  had  scarcely  a  loaf  of  bread  when  we  came 
to  him,  and  now  he  thinks  we  should  jump  to  serve  him."  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  it  was  to  the  presents  and  kind  words  of  the  Quakers,  who 
first  set  on  foot  these  negotiations,  that  the  merit  of  prevailing  upon  the 
Indians  to  leave  unopposed  General  Forbes's  route  to  Fort  Du  Quesne,  and 
the  consequent  fall  of  that  important  post,  are  justly  due. 


94  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

actually  or  constructively  represented/  and  where  the  Six 
Nations  were  present  to  join  in  the  deliberations  concerning 
their  common  interests.  In  their  warrant  for  convening 
this  Congress,  it  is  gratifying  to  observe  how  clearly  some 
of  the  causes  of  Indian  discontent  were  comprehended  by 
the  Lords  of  Trade;  and  how  alive  they  were  to  the 
critical  condition  of  the  English  interest.  Smooth  words 
and  liberal  gifts  are  recommended  as  a  cure  for  past  sor- 
rows; and  it  was  most  imperatively  urged  that  the  allegations 
of  fraudulent  occupation  of  their  land  should  be  promptly 
and  satisfactorily  investigated.  Liberal  gifts,  too,  were 
sent  from  the  Crown  to  buy  the  good-will  of  its  dangerous 
allies.^  On  this  occasion  the  Six  Nations  (claiming,  it  will 
be  recollected,  to  be  the  absolute  proprietors  of  the  country 
in  question,  as  well  as  protectors  of  their  weaker  nephews, 
the  Delawares),  made  a  forcible  reply  to  the  reproach  by 
the  Commissioners  that  the  French  had  been  permitted  to 
build  forts  on  the  Ohio.  Old  Hendrick,  that  doughty 
Mohawk  warrior  (who  the  next  year  sealed  with  his  life 
his  devotion  to  the  English  by  the  pleasant  waters  of 
Horicon),  answered  that  the  conduct  of  the  French  had 
received  no  favor  at  their  hands :  "  The  Governor  of 
Virginia  and  the  Governor  of  Canada,"  said  he,  "  are  both 


'  Commissioners  from  all  the  New  England  colonies,  from  New  York, 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware,  and  Maryland,  were  in  attendance ;  and  Vir- 
ginia and  Carolina  desired  to  be  considered  as  present.  II.  Doc.  Hist. 
N.  Y.,  330. 

^  VI.  Col.  Rec,  14.  And  see  the  proceedings  of  this  conference,  as 
preserved  in  the  Johnson  MSS.,  and  published  under  the  care  of  Dr. 
O'Callaghan  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Documentary  History  of  New 
York,  p.  325. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  95 

quarrelling  about  lands  which  belong  to  us :  and  such  a 
quarrel  as  this  may  end  in  our  destruction.  They  fight 
who  shall  have  the  land.  The  Governors  of  Virginia  and 
Pennsylvania  have  made  paths  through  our  country  to 
trade  and  build  houses,  without  acquainting  us  with  it. 
They  should  first  have  asked  our  consent  to  build  there, 
as  was  done  when  Oswego  was  built."  ^ 

This  statement  of  the  old  Mohawk,  like  many  other 
Indian  speeches,  was  true  but  in  part ;  and  the  commis- 
sioners, in  turn,  while  they  confessed  that  they  ever  had, 
and  still  acknowledged,  the  Ohio  country  to  belong  to  the 
red  men,  reminded  them  that  for  thirty  years  traders  from 
Pennsylvania  had,  without  interruption,  been  in  the  custom 
of  visiting  the  tribes  dwelling  there.  All  that  was  now 
intended,  it  was  said,  was  to  protect  them  in  the  free  en- 
joyment of  their  own  property,  and  to  drive  away  the 
intruding  Frenchman.  By  these  speeches,  and  a  judicious 
distribution  of  gifts,  their  savage  ire  was  so  far  subdued, 
that  ere  the  council  closed  some  of  the  Six  Nations  were 
actually  prevailed  upon  to  sell  to  the  proprietaries  of  Penn- 
sylvania all  the  land  in  controversy !  This  fatal  purchase, 
comprehending  about  7,000,000  acres,  was  bounded  on  the 
north  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  north-west  by  west  from  Sha- 
mokin,  on  the  Susquehannah,  to  Lake  Erie ;  on  the  east, 
by  the  Susquehannah ;  on  the  south  and  west,  by  the  fur- 
thest limits  of  the  province.  It  included  not  only  the 
hunting-grounds  of  the  Delawares,  the  Nanticokes,  the 
Tuteloes,  and  other  lesser  tribes,  but  the  very  villages  of  the 
Shawanoes  and  Delawares,  of  the  Ohio ;  who  could  not  yet 
'  II.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  p.  338. 


96  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

have  forgotten  that,  by  precisely  similar  means,  they  had 
been  driven  hither  from  their  former  homes  -,  and  they  now 
were  to  anticipate  nothing  less  than  the  same  fate.  It  is 
possible  that  there  might  have  existed,  in  some  age  or 
country,  a  race  base  enough  to  submit  to  these  degrading 
conditions ;  but  no  sane  man  could  have  anticipated  such 
a  tame  surrender  from  the  American  savage.  The  tribes 
actually  dwelling  there  were  not  consulted  in  the  business. 
They  had  no  deputies  at  the  council  to  join  in  the  sale ; 
and  the  whole  transaction  was  smuggled  through  in  an 
unjust,  underhanded  manner.  The  chiefs  of  the  Iro- 
quois who  conducted  it  were  not  authorized  to  act  for 
their  people  in  the  premises ;  and,  when  it  came  to  light, 
the  negotiation  was  solemnly  repudiated  hj  the  Grand 
Council  of  Onondaga.^  All  their  discontents  thus  fanned 
into  a  flame,  the  Ohio  Indians  honorably  determined  to 
fight  to  the  last  in  defence  of  their  liberties;  and  in 
revenging  this  last  and  crowning  outrage,  to  wipe  away  the 
well-remembered  wrongs,  real  and  fancied,  which  had 
rankled  in  their  bosoms  for  years.  For  their  own  protec- 
tion, the  tribes  on  the  Susquehannah  formed  a  league, 
which  was  strengthened  by  daily  accessions  of  straggling 
families,  scattered,  as  chance  or  fancy  dictated,  along  the 
brook-sides  or  under  the  edge  of  some  forest-glade  of  that 
umbrose,  scaturiginous  land.  At  the  head  of  this  federacy 
was  placed  Tadeuskund,  a  Delaware  chieftain,  well  known 
in  border  history ;  who,  after  dallying  a  space  with  either 
party,  finally  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  the  times,  and 

'  Thomson,  77. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  97 

joined  with  his  race  in  the  warfare  against  the  English.^ 
What  share  the  Iroquois  had  in  bringing  about  this  con- 
juncture, can  never,  it  is  probable,  be  with  certainty  known. 
Zeisberger,  in  Ettwein's  narrative,  it  is  true,  openly  charges 
the  Six  Nations  with  having  secretly  placed  the  hatchet 
in  the  hands  of  the  Delawares,  bidding  them  to  strike ; 
and  afterwards  turning  treacherously  against  them  for  this 
very  conduct.^  But  perhaps  a  just  version  of  the  affair 
would  be  to  suppose  that  individual  warriors  of  the  Six 
Nations,  acting  on  their  own  impulses  (which  in  many 
instances  were  abundantly  hostile  to  the  English),  egged 
on  the  Ohio  Indians  and  the  rest  to  a  step  which  was  never 
recommended  by  the  confederates  in  their  national  capa- 
city. Subsequently,  the  Iroquois  reluctantly,  but  vigor- 
ously, entered  into  the  measures  of  Sir  William  Johnson, 
and  were  of  great  service  in  the  ensuing  contest. 

As  ill-blood  in  the  human  system  first  discovers  itself  in 

'  Thomson,  84.  Heckewelder's  Hist.  Account  of  Indian  Nations,  301. 
The  latter  author  would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  Wyoming  chief  never 
actually  took  up  arms ;  but  Thomson,  who  knew  him  well,  is  explicit  on 
this  point;  and  in  the  political  tract  called  the  Plaindealer,  No.  III.  (Phil., 
1764),  p.  14,  is  an  undeniable  instance  of  his  prowess  against  the  settlers 
of  Northampton  County.  A  memoir  of  Tadeuskund,  the  last  sagamore  of 
the  Lenape,  who  remained  east  of  the  Alleghanies,  whose  consequence  was 
so  great  as  to  win  him  the  title  of  the  "  King  of  the  Delawares,"  is  given 
in  Heckewelder,  ut  sup.  He  was  burned  in  his  lodge,  in  the  spring  of 
1763.  In  the  language  of  Uncas,  that  grandest  of  Cooper's  portraitures, 
"  he  lingered  to  die  by  the  rivers  of  his  nation,  whose  streams  fell  into  the 
sea.     His  eyes  were  on  the  rising,  not  on  the  setting  sun." 

^  I.  Bull.  Hist.  Soc.  Penn.,  No.  3.  The  Rev.  John  Ettwein  was  a  Mo- 
ravian missionary  for  many  years  among  the  savages.  He  died  a  bishop  of 
that  church,  at  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  in  1802,  in  the  73d  year  of  his 
age.  Rev.  David  Zeisberger  was  a  devout  brother  of  the  same  order,  who 
went  hand  and  soul  with  Heckewelder  in  his  heroic  labors. 

7 


98  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

eruptions  and  disorders,  the  malignity  and  unfriendly  dis- 
positions of  the  border  tribes  soon  began  to  be  manifested 
in  preparations  for  war,  in  casual  rencontres,  and  other 
sporadic  acts  of  violence.  Then,  indeed,  the  proprietary 
government,  having  unavailingly  sought,  with  insufficient 
means,  to  appease  the  ire  of  the  foes  whom  hitherto  it  had 
looked  on  almost  as  subjects,  vainly  having  tempted 
them  to 

Unthread  the  rude  eye  of  rebellion, 


And  welcome  home  again  discarded  Faith, 

undertook,  as  to  a  court  of  last  resort,  to  bring  the  delin- 
quents before  the  tribunal  of  their  lords,  the  Six  Nations. 
These,  entering  warmly  into  the  merits  of  the  case,  peremp- 
torily charged  the  Delawares  to  forthwith  repent,  while 
yet  there  was  time ;  to  lay  aside  their  arms,  and  make 
their  peace  for  past  offences  :  "  Get  sober,"  said  they,  in  the 
metaphorical  manner  of  Indian  speech ;  "  your  actions 
have  been  those  of  a  drunken  man."  But  the  palmy  days 
of  yore  were  gone,  when  the  trembling  Delaware  stood 
cowering,  like  a  whipped  hound,  before  the  frown  of  an 
Iroquois,  and  quaked  to  his  inmost  soul  at  the  awful  voice 
of  the  undying  fire.  A  blind,  unhesitating  submission  to 
the  imperious,  unreasonable  mandates  of  the  tribes  that 
had  so  long  oppressed  and  insulted  his  nation,  was  no 
longer  written  on  his  heart.  He  had  resolved  to  throw  off 
the  petticoat,  and  to  again  assume  the  proud  rank  of  a 
warrior  of  the  once  dreaded  Lenni  Lenape  — '  a  son  of  the 
Great  Unamis'  —  among  the  children  of  the  forest;'  and 

'  The  true  title  of  the  gallant  tribe  whom  we  call  the  Delawares  was 
Lenni  Lenape  —  "original  people"  —  for  they  claimed  to  be  of  the  pure, 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  99 

to  the  words  of  the  Iroquois,  he  returned  scoff  for  scoff  and 
scorn  for  scorn.     '•  We  are  men,"  said  the  tribes  on  the 
Susquehannah  to  the  deputies  who  had  borne  them  the 
injurious  behests  of  the  Six  Nations ;  "  we  are  men  and 
warriors.     We  will  acknowledge  no  superiors  upon  earth. 
We  are  men,  and  are  determined  to  be  no  longer  ruled 
over  by  you  as  women.     We  are  warriors,  and  are  deter- 
mined to  cut  off  all  the  English  save  those  that  make  their 
escape  from  us  in  ships.     So  say  no  more  to  us  on  that 
head,  lest  we  make  women  of  you  as  you  have  done  of 
us." '     Their  day  of  serfdom  had  gone  by ;  and  from  that 
time  forth,  the  Delawares  were  once  more  an  independent 
nation.     Nothing  could  now  be  done  with  them  by  threats ; 
but  it  was  soon  discovered  that  long  habits  of  association 
still  preserved  their  effect ;  and  the  friendly  influence  of 
the  Six  Nations  being  led  to  bear  on  them  by  Sir  William 
Johnson,  the  best  beloved  of  all  the  white  men,  they  were 
eventually  brought   into   measures  of  peace.     To   follow 
this  theme  further,  would  be  to  transcend  the  proper  limits 
of  our  narrative.     Suffice  it  to  observe  here,  that  many  of 
the  Iroquois  themselves  joined  heart  and  hand  in  the  ori- 
ginal designs  of  the  Delawares,  and  would  never  consent 
to  come  into  the  national  views  of  their  own  people. 


unmixed  race,  with  which  the  earth  was  first  populated,  and  would  proudJy 
boast,  "  We  are  the  grandfathers  of  nations."  The  river  whose  banks  was 
their  chosen  seat  they  named  the  Lenapewihittiick,  or,  "  the  rapid  stream 
of  the  Lenape."  And  when  the  English  renominated  it  in  honor  of  Lord 
De  la  Warre,  the  people,  with  whose  name  its  own  was  previously  wedded, 
were  still  continued  in  the  same  connection.  Heckewelder  gives  a  most 
interesting  account  of  the  history  of  the  Lenape. 
'  Thomson,  87. 


100  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

Even  while  the  Six  Nations  were  openly  at  war  with 
the  French,  many  of  their  warriors  were  in  arms  at  Fort 
Du  Quesne  against  the  English,  and  using  all  their  influence 
to  bring  other  Indians  into  the  same  views.  When  the 
Delawares  began  to  waver  in  the  hasty  course  they  had 
adopted,  we  find  these  men  using  every  argument  to  hold 
them  firm;  and  it  is  curious  to  observe  with  what  con- 
temptuous indifierence  the  lately  subservient,  "  petticoated" 
Delaware  had  already  begun  to  treat  "their  uncles  the 
Iroquois."  When  Post  brought  overtures  to  Logstown, 
near  Fort  Du  Quesne,  the  Delawares  received  him  kindly ; 
but  one  of  the  Iroquois  who  were  there,  an  old  Onondaga 
warrior,  bitterly  resented  his  presence.  "  I  don't  know 
this  Swannock  (or  Englishman),"  said  he;  "it  may  be  that 
you  know  him.  I,  and  the  Shawanoes,  and  our  fathers 
the  French  do  not  know  him.  I  stand  here,"  (stamping 
his  foot),  "  as  a  man  on  his  own  ground.  Therefore  I,  and 
the  Shawanoes,  and  our  fathers,  don't  like  that  a  Swan- 
nock come  on  our  ground."  This  allusion  to  the  ancient 
claim  of  soverereignty  by  the  Six  Nations  was  too  much 
for  Delaware  patience  to  endure,  and  one  of  them  instantly 
rose  and  replied :  "  That  man  speaks  not  as  a  man  :  he 
endeavors  to  frighten  us  by  saying  that  this  is  hi^  ground. 
He  dreams.  He  and  his  father  have  certainly  drank  too 
much  liquor :  they  are  drunk.  Pray  let  them  go  to  sleep 
till  they  are  sober.  You  don't  know  what  your  own  nation 
(the  Iroquois),  do  at  home;  how  much  they  have  to  say  to 
the  Swannochs.  You  are  quite  rotten :  you  stink,  {i.  e. 
Your   sentiments   are   offensive.)       You  do   nothing   but 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  IQl 

smoke   your   pipe   here.     Go   to   sleep  with  your  father, 
and  when  you  are  sober  we  will  speak  to  you."  ^ 

Nevertheless,  if  they  slew  the  English,  it  was  not  for 
love  of  the  French.  Equally  jealous  of  both  parties,  all 
the  savage  desired  Avas  to  see  his  old  hunting-grounds 
unpolluted  by  the  armies  of  the  stranger,  untrodden  save 
by  its  native  denizens;  and  so  that  this  object  was 
attained,  the  defeat  of  either  or  both  would  not  seriously 
discompose  him:  to  him,  the  success  of  either  was  a 
matter  of  as  Httle  imjwrtance — que  le  chien  mange  le  loup 
ou  que  le  loup  mange  le  chien.  With  accurate  perception, 
he  gloomily  dwelt  on  the  idea  that  the  permanent  occupa- 
tion of  his  lands  was  the  real  object  of  their  controversy, 
and  he  bitterly  vowed  this  should  never  be.^ 

But  alas  for  the  poor  savage !  Driven  before  the  ever- 
onward  surge  of  civilization,  that  may  recede  for  a 
moment,  but  only  to  return  with  a  mightier  force,  his 
shattered  tribes  —  prostrated  by  the  inherent  defects  in 
their  own  character  and  debilitated  by  Christian  vices, 
their  naturally  ferocious  tempers  sharpened  by  the  use  of 
rum,  the  presence  of  poverty,  and  the  memory  of  better 
days  —  have  continued  and  shall  continue  to  retire  more 
and  more  westwardly,  till  already  the  scanty  remnants  of 
the  people  whose  fathers  are  buried  by  the  broad  waters 

'  Thomson,  p.  142.  ^  ~ 

^  "  D — n  you,"  said  Shamokin  Daniel,  a  Delaware  warrior  on  the  Ohio, 
to  the  English,  "why  don't  you  and  the  French  fight  on  the  sea?  You 
come  here  only  to  cheat  the  poor  Indians  and  take  their  lands  from  them  !" 
There  was  more  of  truth  than  of  elegance  in  this  pithy  address,  but  it  was 
echoed  by  his  fellows  :  "  The  French  say  they  are  come  only  to  defend  us 
and  our  lands  from  the  English,  and  the  English  say  the  same  thing  about 
the  French;  but  the  land  is  ours  and  not  theirs."     Thomson,  152. 


102  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

of  the  Delaware,  who  daily  gazed  upon  the  Atlantic  waves 
freshening  in  the  light  of  the  morning ;  now  linger  out  a 
precarious  life  on  the  distant  prairie  whose  face  is  wasted, 
as  with  fire,  by  the  caravan  of  the  emigrant ;  and  pitch 
their  lodges  on  declivities  whose  waters  flow  down  into 
another  ocean.  Already  with  prophetic  ear  they  hearken 
to  the  chafings  of  those  billows  which  are  the  limit  of  an 
existence  that  has  held  a  continent  in  its  span :  already 
they  foresee  the  day  when  the  wild  cry  of  the  sea-fowl, 
circling  over  the  faint,  murmuring  waves  of  the  ultimate 
Pacific,  shall  drown  the  parting  sigh  of  the  last  of  the 
Lenni  Lenape ! 

Such  then  was  the  condition  and  disposition  of  Indian 
sentiment  in  Pennsylvania  previous  to  and  during  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  war.  We  have  seen  how  readily,  in  the 
summer  of  1754,  Major  Washington  had  obtained  the 
services  of  a  large  body  of  savages  against  the  French  : 
and  we  may  judge  from  this  fact  alone  how  practicable  it 
would  have  been  to  have  enlisted  them  on  the  same  side 
during  the  whole  contest.  It  was  impossible  for  a  fight  to 
come  off  at  their  very  doors  without  their  taking  a  share 
in  it,  on  one  side  or  another;  and  £10,000  well  and  libe- 
rally expended  in  presents  at  Fort  Cumberland,  with  a 
fair-dealing  or  at  least  a  plausible  exposition  of  the  designs 
of  the  English  concerning  their  lands,  would  have'  bound 
all  the  Pennsylvania  Indians  in  a  common  interest.  Had 
such  a  consummation  been  effected,  the  scalp  of  every 
Frenchman  on  the  Ohio  would  have  been  smoke-dried  in 
the  wigwams  of  Shamokin,  or  festooning  the  hoop-poles  of 
Shenango,  years  before  the  British  ensign  was  fated  to  be 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  103 

displayed  upon  the  ramparts  of  Fort  Du  Quesne.  But  a 
different  policy  was  unfortunately  pursued,  as  will  pre- 
sently have  to  be  noticed ;  and  the  bloody  trophies  which 
by  hundreds  graced  the  horrid  triumph  of  the  savage,  were 
torn  from  the  bodies  of  the  English.  In  the  meantime, 
let  us  resume  the  thread  of  our  story. 

When,  in  August,  1754,  the  tidings  of  the  fall  of  Fort 
Necessity  reached  London,  the  exigencies  of  the  case  com- 
pelled the  ministry  to  an  energetic  action.  The  affairs  of 
the  American  colonies  were  at  that  time  committed  to  the 
care  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Southern  Province, 
assisted  by  the  Board  of  Trade.^  Since  the  days  of  Sir 
Robert  Walpole,  this  Board  had  lingered  out  a  supine, 
sinecure  existence.  The  Secretary  during  all  this  period 
was  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  who,  like  the  Old  Man  of  the 
Sea  in  the  Arabian  tale,  clinging  about  the  neck  of  power 
with  a  tenacity  that  effectually  prevented  any  policy  but 
such  as  his  own  jealousy  of  merit  or  time-serving  selfishness 
dictated,  had  hitherto  carefully  suppressed  any  indication 
of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  his  colleagues  or  subordinates  to 
deserve  the  public  approbation  by  the  exercise  of  a  capa- 
city to  promote  the  public  good.  The  records  of  the  Board 
of  Trade  were  crowded  with  packages  of  remonstrances 
from  the  colonies,  its  tables  were  covered  with  bundles  of 
unread  representations  and  unnoticed  memorials.  It  seems 
indeed  to  have  existed  for  no  other  object  than,  in  the 
language  of  Mr.  Pitt,  to  register  the  edicts  of  one  too 
powerful  subject.  Of  the  nature  of  American  affairs,  of 
the  requirements  and  circumstances  of  the  provinces  he 

'  I.  Walpole's  Memoirs  of  George  II.,  343. 


104  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

misruled  with  absolute  sway,  of  their  very  geography  he 
was  ludicrously  ignorant.'  In  the  language  of  the  great 
critic  and  satirist  of  the  day,  he  was  the  strangest  pheno- 
menon that  ever  appeared  in  the  political  world.  "A 
statesman  without  capacity,  or  the  smallest  tincture  of 
human  learning;  a  secretary  who  could  not  write;  a 
financier  who  did  not  understand  the  multiplication-table ; 
and  the  treasurer  of  a  vast  empire  who  never  could  balance 
accounts  with  his  own  butler."  It  is  not  surprising,  then, 
that  such  a  character  should  neglect  or  blunder  through 
his  duties,  careless  of  the  result  so.  long  as  his  own  im- 
portance at  court  was  not  diminished.    But  fortunately  for 

'  When  General  Ligonier  hinted  some  defence  to  him  for  Annapolis,  he 
replied  with  his  evasive,  lisping  hum  —  "  Annapolis,  Annapolis  !  Oh  ! 
yes,  Annapolis  must  be  defended;  to  be  sure,  Annapolis  should  be 
defended— where  is  Annapolis?"  (I.  Walpole's  Geo.  II.,  344).  ''He 
was  generally  laughed  at,"  says  Smollett,  "  as  an  ape  in  politics,  whose 
ofl5ce  and  influence  served  only  to  render  his  folly  the  more  notorious."  At 
the  beginning  of  the  war,  he  was  once  thrown  into  a  vast  fright  by  a 
story  that  30,000  French  had  marched  from  Acadia  to  Cape  Breton, 
"  Where  did  they  find  transports  ?"  was  asked.  "  Transports  I"  cried  he ; 
"I  tell  you  they  marched  by  land."  "By  land  to  the  island  of  Cape 
Breton  !"  "  What,  is  Cape  Breton  an  island  ?  Are  you  sure  of  that  ?" 
And  away  he  posted,  with  an  "  Egad  !  I  will  go  directly,  and  tell  the  king 
that  Cape  Breton  is  an  island  !"  The  weaknesses  of  this  man  afi"orded  an 
endless  theme  to  the  sarcasm  of  Smollett's  muse.  In  another  place,  his 
manner  of  farewell  to  a  general  departing  for  America  is  exquisitely  satired ; 
"  Pray,  when  does  your  Excellency  sail  ?  For  God's  sake  have  a  care  of 
your  health,  and  eat  stewed  prunes  on  the  passage — next  to  your  own  pre- 
cious health,  pray,  your  Excellency,  take  care  of  the  Five  Nations  —  our 
good  friends,  the  Five  Nations — the  Toryrories,  the  Maccolmacks,  the  Out- 
of-the-ways,  the  Crickets,  and  the  Kickshaws.  Let  'em  have  plenty  of 
blankets,  and  stinkibus,  and  wampum ;  and  your  Excellency  won't  fail  to 
scour  the  kettle,  and  boil  the  chain,  and  bury  the  tree,  and  plant  the  hat- 
chet; ha !"  In  Bubb  Dodington's  Diary  (181-4),  will  be  found  other 
instances  of  the  Duke's  silliness. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  105 

Britain  as  well  as  America,  the  presidency  of  the  B  :ai'd  of 
Trade  was  filled  at  this  juncture  by  the  Earl  of  Halifax,  a 
man  of  parts  and  ambition,  who  was  neither  dis230sed  to 
slumber  on  his  post,  nor  to  omit  any  opportunity  of  strength- 
ening his  own  official  power  by  enlarging  the  scope  of  his 
duties.  We  may  fairly  attribute  to  his  energy  the  adoption 
in  the  cabinet  of  a  resolution  no  longer  tamely  to  submit  to 
encroachments  that,  unless  speedily  checked,  would  inevit- 
ably turn  all  the  channel  of  Indian  trade  from  our  borders, 
and  immuring  the  colonies  between  the  sea-board  and  the 
mountains,  leave  them  to  wither  and  perish,  as  a  pool 
turned  aside  from  its  parent  stream  and  enclosed  with 
embankments,  dries  up  beneath  the  rays  of  the  sun. 

Nevertheless,  in  the  first  steps  taken  by  the  ministry  on 
this  matter,  Halifax  was  not  consulted.  The  King  had 
already  held  two  councils  upon  American  afiairs,  and 
instructions  had  been  sent  out  to  the  provincial  governors 
to  repel  any  French  encroachments  force  by  force.^  This 
policy  had  been  decided  uj^on ;  it  was  known  how  inglo- 
riously  its  first  practical  workings  under  Washington  had 
failed.  Fired  with  the  consciousness  that  vigorous  mea- 
sures to  regain  the  ground  thus  lost  must  immediately 
ensue,  Newcastle  resolved  to  arrogate  the  entire  merit  and 
patronage  of  the  plan   to   himself.     Like   the  Athenian 

'  "It  is  His  Majesty's  command,  that  in  case  the  subjects  of  any  foreign 
prince  should  presume  to  make  any  encroachments  in  the  limits  of  His 
Majesty's  dominions,  or  to  erect  forts  on  his  Majesty's  lands,  or  to  commit 
any  other  act  of  hostility ;  and  should,  upon  a  requisition  made  to  them  to 
desist  from  such  proceedings,  persist  in  them,  they  should  draw  forth  the 
armed  force  of  their  provinces,  and  use  their  best  endeavors  to  repel  force 
by  force."     I.  Entick,  111. 


106  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

weaver,  he  would  fain  retain  for  his  own  glorification  every 
part  in  which  there  was  the  least  opportunity  of  gaining 
distinction,  however  incompetent  he  might  be  to  fulfil  it. 
Summoning  to  his  secret  counsels  the  Lord  Chancellor 
Hardwicke  and  the  Earl  of  Holdernesse,  he  endeavored 
in  vain  to  fructify  a  conception  which  might  subserve 
at  once  the  public  good  and  his  private  gain. 

But  natural  incapacity,  joined  with  talents  which, 
though  great,  were  transplanted  for  the  occasion  to  an  alien 
soil,  could  effect  nothing.  To  organize  military  measures, 
military  men  must  be  consulted ;  to  act  with  advantage  in 
the  colonies,  some  little  knowledge  of  colonial  affairs  was 
required ;  and  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  the  head  of  the 
army,  and  the  Earl  of  Halifax,  the  best  authority  on  plan- 
tation questions,  were  both  studiously  excluded  from  the 
deliberations  of  the  triumvirate.  Independent  of  any 
other  reason  of  jealousy,  it  was  evident  that,  in  such  an 
undertaking,  the  properest  persons  to  direct  its  appoint- 
ments were  Cumberland  and  Halifax ;  and  this  was  enough 
to  alarm  the  Duke  of  Newcastle.  His  policy  was  to  cook 
up,  from  the  information  of  obscurer  men,  some  scheme  in 
which  himself  should  shine  the  magnus  Apollo,  the  dis- 
penser of  favor,  and  the  sole  original  of  reward.  He  first, 
therefore,  summoned  to  his  aid  a  Mr.  Horatio  Gates,  a 
young  English  officer,  who  had  recently  served  with  repu- 
tation in  America;  and  desired  his  advice.'    Gates  modestly 

'  Horatio  Gates,  afterwards  so  distinguished  in  American  history,  is 
said  to  have  been  the  son  of  a  respectable  victualler  in  Kensington,  and 
the  godson  of  Horace  Walpole.  This  latter  circumstance  may  account  for 
Walpole's  knowledge  of  the  details  of  the  interview  with  Newcastle,  which 
he  certai»iy"did  not  arrive  at  through  the  minister.     Gates  was  born  in 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  107 

avowed  his  youth  and  inexperience ;  pleaded  that  he  had 
seen  nothing  of  America  save  the  parts  of  Nova  Scotia  in 
which  his  regiment  had  been  quartered,  and  his  consequent 
incompetence  to  devise  such  an  important  operation.  He 
professed  his  willingness  to  answer  any  questions  that 
might  be  put  to  him ;  but  he  was  too  astute  to  be  led  into 
the  enunciation  of  any  grand  system,  the  burthen  of  which 
he  well  knew  would,  in  case  of  failure,  break  down  his 
own  shoulders,  while  all  the  praise  of  success  would  accrue 
to  his  superiors.  In  short,  he  utterly  declined  acting  as 
he  was  desired.  The  trio  next  fell  upon  a  Quaker  gentle- 
man, a  Mr.  Hanbury,  whose  connections  were  such  that 
he  happened  to  know  a  little  about  America,  though  no- 
thing, probably,  of  warfare  ;  and  at  his  suggestion,  Virginia 
was  selected  as  the  basis  of  operations,  and  it  was  deter- 
mined to  entrust  the  whole  conduct  of  the  business  to 
Horatio  Sharpe,  Lord  Baltimore's  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
Maryland.  Though  Sharpe  was  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  the 
Royal  Army,^  he  had  never  been  engaged.     But  when  the 

1728.  Soon  after  his  return  to  England  from  Nova  Scotia,  he  must  have 
gone  back  to  America ;  since  we  find  him  in  command  of  the  King's  New 
York  Independent  Company  under  Braddock.  It  is  believed  these  com- 
panies were  formed  of  the  regiments  disbanded  in  1748-9.  Those  sta- 
tioned in  Carolina  were  the  remains  of  Oglethorpe's  old  regiment  (Penn. 
Gaz.,  No.  1338) ;  and  it  may  be  noticed  here  that  while  a  part  of  his  for- 
mer command  was  thus  posted  in  his  vicinity,  others  followed  Oglethorpe 
to  his  new  colony,  and  became  founders  of  the  State  of  Georgia.  The 
Independents  do  not  seem  to  have  had  any  field-oflBcers ;  consequently, 
promotion  must  soon  have  lifted  Gates  from  this  sphere,  since  we  find  him, 
in  1759,  acting  as  aide,  with  the  rank  of  major,  to  Hopson,  or  his  succes- 
sor, Barrington,  at  the  reduction  of  Martinico.  In  July,  1760,  he  was 
brigade-major,  under  Monckton,  at  Fort  Pitt.  (III.  Shippen  MSS.,  392.) 
'  This  grade  (which,  however,  was  local,  and  confined  to  the  West 
Indies)  Sharpe  received  July  5th,  1754.     He  held  it  so  late  as  177S. 


108  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

contrivers  of  his  promotion  laid  their  plan  before  the  king, 
it  was  accompanied  with  a  declaration  that  he  had  served 
through  the  whole  of  the  last  war,  and  was  well  known  to 
possess  the  good  opinion  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland  :  "  So 
good,"  replied  the  latter,  "that  if  Sharpe  had  been  con- 
sulted, I  am  sure  he  would  have  refused."  In  the  mean 
while,  however,  his  appointment  was  forwarded  to  him  by 
the  hands  of  Governor  Arthur  Dobbs,  of  North  Carolina.^ 
His  instructions  would  seem  to  have  contemplated  nothing 
beyond  the  capture  of  Fort  Du  Quesne  by  a  provincial 
force,  although  there  was  an  intimation  of  a  considerable 
body  of  regulars  being  shortly  sent  over  from  Great  Bri- 
tain. Proceeding  at  once  to  Williamsburg,  he  concerted 
with  Dinwiddie  and  Dobbs  his  measures  to  effect  the  de- 
sired end.  It  was  concluded  to  raise  immediately  700 
men,  with  whom,  and  the  three  Independent  companies, 
the  French  fort  should  be  attacked  and  reduced,  ere  rein- 
forcements could  be  brought  thither  from  Canada  or  Louis- 
iana. This  effected,  that  post  and  another  which  he 
thought  it  would  be  necessary  to  erect  on  a  small  island  in 
the  river,  were  to  be  held  for  the  king.  To  garrison  these 
and  the  fort  at  Will's  Creek  would  require  all  his  forces, 
and  he  concluded  it  would  be  useless  for  them  to  attempt 
anything  further  against  the  enemy  on  Le  Boeuf  and  Lake 
Erie  "  without  they  be  supported  by  such  a  body  of  troops 
from  home  as  he  dared  not  presume  to  hope  for  the  direc- 
tion of."     But  his   enlistments  went  on  slowly;    and  at 

'  The  governor,  with  bis  son,  Captain  Dobbs,  had  arrived  at  Hampton 
Koads,  Oct.  1,  1754,  in  the  Garland,  after  a  stormy  trip,  in  which  the  ship 
lost  her  main  and  mizzen-masts.  They  brought  with  them,  also,  £10,000 
in  specie  for  Virginia. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  109 

Will's  Creek,  where  his  men  were  to  rendezvous,  he  learned 
that  the  French  strength  on  the  Ohio  was  much  increased 
by  the  arrival  of  a  number  of  Ottawa^,  Adirondacks,  and 
Caughnawaga  Indians;  and  he  therefore  abandoned  all 
hope  of  striking  an  immediate  blow. 

As  had  been  intimated  to  Sharpe,  more  effectual  means 
were  on  the  tapis;  but  he  was  not  destined  to  control 
them.  The  most  that  his  su^Dporters  could  urge  to  the 
king  in  his  favor  was,  that  if  not  remarkably  able,  he  was 
at  least  a  very  honest  man.  "A  little  less  honesty," 
shrewdly  replied  the  monarch,  "  and  a  little  more  ability, 
might,  upon  the  present  occasion,  better  serve  our  turn." 
It  was  decided  to  make,  forthwith,  a  general  movement ; 
and  for  once  Newcastle  was  compelled  to  yield  to  the  coun- 
sels of  abler  men.  At  all  events,  it  is  certain  that  Cum- 
berland's influence  was  eventually  paramount  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  scheme  finally  adopted.'  Kather  with  a  view, 
we  may  believe,  to  conciliate  by  a  show  of  confidence,  than 
to  obtain  the  benefit  of  his  advice,  Newcastle  sought  to  com- 
municate the  details  of  his  plans  to  Mr.  Pitt ;  but  the  dis- 
appointed statesman  gave  him  a  curt  interruption  :  "  Your 
Grace,  I  suppose,  knows,"  said  he,  "  that  I  have  no  capa- 
city for  these  things ;  and  therefore  I  do  not  desire  to  be 
informed  about  them." 

While  all  these  intrigues  were  going  on,  the  aml^assadors 
of  the  two  powers— the  Due  de  Mirepoix  and  the  Earl  of 

'  I.  Walp.  Geo.  II.,  347.  MS.  Sharpe's  Corresp.  VI.  Col.  Rec,  405,  177. 
Though  Sharpe's  views  in  regard  to  the  campaign  seem  to  have  been  very 
sagacious,  yet  it  appears  clearly,  from  this  correspondence,  that  it  was 
to  his  and  Dinwiddle's  suggestions  that  the  royal  order  settling  the  com- 
parative rank  of  provincial  and  regular  officers  was  attributable  —  a  step 
fraught  with  dangerous  consequences  to  the  best  interests  of  the  crown 


110  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

Albemarle,  two  very  fine  gentlemen,  but  sadlj  deficient  in 
the  qualifications  necessary  for  the  place  and  the  moment 
— were  frittering  away  their  time  in  idle  negotiations  and 
empty  professions  of  pacific  intentions.  Neither  kingdom 
set  the  least  practical  store  by  these  assurances,  but  busily 
went  on  arming  for  the  steps,  they  respectively  purposed 
taking.  Strong  reinforcements  were  prepared  in  France 
for  its  American  possessions,  with  instructions  to  hold,  a  la 
mam  forte,  all  they  had  hitherto  acquired ;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  English  ministry  ordered  their  governors 
to  thrust  out  every  intruder  they  found  u^Don  their  back- 
lands,  at  whatever  cost.  Some  anxiety  was  also  mani- 
fested to  enlist  the  services  of  the  Indians;  who  had,  as 
was  well  known  in  London,  relaxed  in  their  friendship. 
From  Virginia,  Dinwiddle  had  written,  in  August,  1754, 
to  the  other  colonies  for  aid  in  men  and  money  to  defend 
their  common  cause;  while  to  England  he  had  applied  for 
ordnance.  This  last  demand  was  gratified  by  a  present 
of  two  thousand  stand  of  arms  and  accoutrements.  In- 
deed, it  was  upon  Virginia  that  the  hopes  of  the  crown 
chiefly  reposed ;  for  Pennsylvania  politics,  as  will  presently 
be  shown,  were  not  such  as  to  inspire  much  confidence  in 
the  military  capacity  of  that  wealthy  province. 

While  the  eloquent  Whitfield,  and  other  religious  lec- 
turers at  Philadelphia,  availed  themselves  of  the  presence 
of  the  enemy  on  tlieir  frontiers  to  lend  an  additional  fervor 
to  their  exhortations/  the  Cabinet  of  London  were  pre- 
paring more  effective  fulminations  against  the  French.  The 
Duke  of  Cumberland  (who,  whatever  may  have  been  his 
other  demerits,  was  certainly  possessed  of  a  military  capar 
'  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1341. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  Ill 

city)  had  been  now  called  into  the  councils  of  the  King ; 
and,  under  his  moulding  hand,  the  preparations  for  an 
expedition  whose  destination  was,  as  yet,  kept  secret  from 
the  public,  began  to  assume  some  form  and  coherency.  It 
was  soon  known,  however,  that  two  regiments  of  the  line 
were  designed  for  Virginia  —  the  colony  to  which  public 
attention  had  chiefly  been  attracted.  Nothing  was,  as  yet, 
said  of  their  ulterior  movements ;  and  it  was  a  perfectly 
reasonable  thing  for  Great  Britain  to  station  so  small  a 
force  in  her  plantations  —  a  force  which,  according  to  Ho- 
race Walpole,  was  too  insignificant  to  be  of  any  service  if 
the  French  intended  to  stand  firm,  but  far  too  large  to  be 
exposed  to  the  certain  destruction  of  health  and  constitu- 
tion of  an  American  climate.*  For  the  charges  of  this 
expedition,  Parliament,  on  the  28th  of  November,  1754, 
voted  the  following  sums :  ^ 

For  two  regiments   of  foot  to  be 

raised  for  North  America;   .     .      £40,350  15s. 
For  defraying  the  charges  of  the 

officers  appointed  to  go  with  the 

forces   commanded   by  General 

Braddock; £7338    2s.  M. 

For  defraying  the  charges  of  the 

officers  appointed  to  attend  the 

hospital  for  the  expedition  com- 
manded by  General  Braddock ;  £1779    Is.  &d. 

£49,468    55. 

•  Letter  to   Sir  H.  Mann,  Oct.  6,   1754.     III.  Walp.  Corresp.  (ed, 
Lond.,  1840)  70. 
^  Univ.  Mag.,  1755. 


112  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

Of  the  jjersonal  history  of  the  gentleman  to  whom  the 
command  in  Virginia  had  thus  been  entrusted,  little  or 
nothing  more  than  what  is  contained  in  the  public  records 
of  the  period  has,  with  unwearied  care  and  research,  been 
discovered  to  reward  the  student's  curiosity.  Before  his 
name  had  become  immortal  in  the  scanty  annals  of  the 
defeat  and  disgrace  of  British  arms,  Braddock  had  not  done 
anything  to  earn  himself  a  place  in  the  chronicles  of  the 
times.  Even  the  writers  of  memoirs,  those  gleaners  in 
the  fields  of  history,  had  not  stooped  to  bind  up  such  a 
poppy  blossom  in  their  sheaves :  no  "  snapper  up  of 
unconsidered  trifles"  had  sketched  his  biography.  And 
so  great,  so  horrible  was  tjie  inignoscible  disaster  that 
crowned  his  existence,  that  only  in  vouchsafing  him  a  sol- 
dier's death  does  it  fall  short  of  tragic  perfection.  Then, 
when  the  minds  of  men  were  exasperate  with  the  thrill 
of  national  dishonor,  for  the  first  and  last  time  does 
Braddock's  name  appear  staining  with  its  shameful  cha- 
racters the  pages  of  history.  Yet  even  the  most  bitter  of 
those  who  sate  in  judgment  on  him,  allow  him  certain 
merits.  "  Desperate  in  his  fortune,  brutal  in  his  behavior, 
obstinate  in  his  sentiments,"  says  Walpole,  "  he  was  still 
intrepid  and  capable."  Though  a  man  of  wit,  his  associa- 
tions had  probably  not  been  such  as  to  give  him  any  place 
in  the  memorials  of  the  literary  characters  of  the  day 
previous  to  his  campaign  in  America ;  and  perhaps  for  the 
very  reason,  that  merely  as  an  officer  of  the  Guards  and  the 
eleve  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  he  was  well  known  to  a 
certain  portion  of  the  court  and  city,  and  totally  unknown 
to  the  rest  of  the  world,  his  conduct  finds  no  place  in  the 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  113 

social  history  of  the  period.  Though  a  professed  man  of 
pleasure,  it  is  not  likely  that  the  aristocratic  doors  of 
Boodle's  or  White's  were  opened  to  an  Irish  adventurer ;  yet 
even  there  he  would  hardly  have  come  in  contact  with  many 
of  "  the  mob  of  gentlemen  who  write  with  ease."  The  few 
noble  hterati  of  the  time— the  Walpoles,  the  Selwyns,  and 
the  Herveys  —  do  not  seem  to  have  had  much  personal 
acquaintance  with  him.  It  was  at  some  place  of  lower 
resort  that  he  pursued  Fortune  and  staked  his  little  means 
at  gleek,  passage,  or  the  E  0  table.  Still,  even  such 
were  not  the  accustomed  haunts  of  the  garreteers  of  Grub- 
street  or  the  habitues  of  the  King's  Coffee-House.*  Thus, 
whether 

Obliged  by  hunger  —  or  request  of  friends  — 

the  chronicler  took  his  pen  in  hand,  he  was  not  often  apt 
to  find  food  for  his  meditations  in  the  behavior  of  Brad- 
dock.  It  is  in  a  letter  of  Mr.  Shirley,  his  military  secre- 
tary, written  in  all  the  confidence  of  friendship  to 
Governor  Morris,  that  the  strongest  picture  of  his  charac- 
ter is  to  be  found.  Shirley  was  evidently,  like  all  of  his 
race,  a  man  of  ability  and  of  ambition,  and  it  was  upon 
the  observations  of  several  months  that  his  remarks  were 
grounded.  "We  have  a  General,"  he  says,  "most  judi- 
ciously chosen  for  being  disqualified  for  the  service  he  is 
in,  in  almost  every  respect.  He  may  be  brave,  for  aught 
I  know,  and  he  is  honest  in  pecuniary  matters."  Benjamin 
Franklin,  that  sagacious  and  keen  observer  of  human 
nature,  sums  up  in  a  few  words  his  opinion  of  Braddock's 

'  A  place  in  Covent  Garden  Market,  well  known  to  houseless  bards. 
8 


114  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

capacity.  "  This  General  was,  I  think,  a  brave  man,  and 
might  probably  have  made  a  figure  as  a  good  officer  in 
some  European  war.  But  he  had  too  much  self-confidence, 
too  high  an  opinion  of  the  validity  of  regtilar  trooj)s,  too 
mean  a  one  of  both  Americans  and  Indians."^  Not  dis- 
similar to  this  view  is  that  of  the  English  historian  Entick, 
who,  besides  being  a  contemporary  of  Braddock,  seems  to 
have  had  access  to  very  good  sources  of  information  in  the 
preparation  of  his  volumes.  "  It  has  also  been  hinted," 
says  he,  "  that  much  of  the  disappointment  in  this  expedi- 
tion was  owing  to  the  General  himself,  in  point  of  conduct. 
The  plan  was  laid,  and  his  instructions  settled  in  such  a 
manner,  as  to  put  him  always  on  his  guard  against  ambus- 
cades, which  were  to  be  expected  in  a  march  through 
woods,  deserts,  and  morasses.  But  this  gentleman,  placing 
all  his  success  upon  the  single  point  of  courage  and  disci- 
pline, behaved  in  that  haughty,  positive,  and  reserved  way, 
that  he  soon  disgusted  the  people  over  whom  he  was  to 
command.  His  soldiers  could  not  relish  his  severity  in 
matters  of  discipline :  and,  not  considering  the  nature  of 
an  American  battle,  he  showed  such  contempt  towards  the 
Provincial  forces,  because  they  could  not  go  through  their 
exercise  with  the  same  dexterity  and  ability  as  a  regiment 
of  Guards  in  Hyde  Park,  that  he  drew  upon  himself  their 
general  resentment."  ^ 

From  the  confused  and  imperfect  data  that  are  obtain- 
able at  this  day,  it  would  seem  that  Braddock  was  an 

'I.  Sparks's    Franklin,  160.     VI.  Col.   Rec,  404.     And   Franklin's 
notion  is  followed  by  Lord  Mahon.  (IV.  Hist.  Eng.,  69.) 
« I.  Entick,  143. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  115 

officer  well  versed  in  military  science  and  tactics  according 
to  the  system  that  then  prevailed ;  a  rigid  martinet,  utterly 
unforgiving  to  a  neglect  of  duty ;  and  a  brave,  unflinching 
soldier.  It  was  never  said  during  his  life  that  he  ever  bade 
his  men  follow  danger  where  he  was  not  greedy  to  lead  the 
way ;  and  it  will  be  seen  in  the  course  of  these  pages  that 
he  was  as  prompt  himself  to  face  perils  and  to  encounter 
hardships  as  to  exact  a  like  readiness  from  those  under  his 
control.  In  short,  his  military  character  was  precisely 
calculated  to  meet  the  approbation  of  the  raiser  of  such  a 
creature  as  the  brutal  Hawley ;  and,  indeed,  there  were 
very  many  points  of  resemblance  between  these  favorites  : 
in  the  rebellion  of  1745,  the  latter  had  even  commanded 
the  identical  troops  which  Braddock  now  led.  But  Hawley 
proved  himself  in  the  field  a  braggart  and  a  poltroon,  and 
if  his  defeat  at  the  rout  of  Falkirk  was  not  as  fatal  in  its 
consequences  as  that  of  the  Monongahela,  it  was  infinitely 
more  ignominious  to  the  general  who  with  bloody  rowels 
led  a  shameful  flight.  Braddock,  whatever  his  defects,  was 
too  much  of  an  Irishman  ever  to  show  the  white  feather. 
In  private  life,  he  was  what  would  now  be  termed  disso- 
lute ;  he  was  prone  to  the  debaucheries  of  his  day  and 
class,  the  bottle  and  the  gaming-table ;  he  was  imperious, 
arrogant,  and  self-opinionated.  But  if  dimmed  by  the 
vices  of  his  profession,  his  character  was  also  brightened 
by  many  of  its  virtues. 

When  or  where  Edward  Braddock  was  bom,  there  is  no 

means   of    ascertaining.      Dr.    Goldsmith,   with   a   poet's 

license,  speaks  of  his  family  as  one  of  the  best  in  the 

kingdom,'  and  it  is  said  to  have  been  of  Irish  extraction ; 

'  Goldsmith's  Misc.  Works,  (ed.  Prior,  Lend.  1837),  294. 


116  IJSrTRODUCTORT    MEMOIR. 

but  even  this  is  doubtful.'  The  name  is  certainly  of  Saxon, 
rather  than  Celtic  or  Erse,  origin;  and  so,  indeed^  is  it 
asserted,  in  a  sort  of  monody,  apparently  by  a  friend,  pub- 
lished immediately  after  his  death,  in  which  its  derivation 
is  said  to  be  from  two  Saxon  words,  signifying  Broad  Oak.^ 
It  is  possible  his  father  or  grandfather  may  have  been  one 
of  those  English  adherents  of  William  of  Orange,  who 
found,  in  Irish  confiscated  estates,  the  reward  of  their  Pro- 
testant zeal ;  and  this  would,  in  a  measure,  account  for  the 
favor  which  some  of  the  members  of  this  family  seem  to 
have  encountered  at  the  hands  of  the  House  of  Hanover. 
All  that  can  now  be  discovered  in  this  regard,  however,  is 
that,  during  the  past  century,  with  the  exception  of  the 
father  of  the  hero  of  this  volume  and  his  immediate  pos- 
terity, there  were  none  of  the  name  who  rose  into 
public  notice ;  and  before  and  after  that  period,  it  is  un- 
known in  British  history.^  His  father,  who  was  also 
named  Edward  Braddock,  must  have  been  born  about  the 
middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  since  we  find  him  a 
lieutenant  in  the  Coldstream  Guards  at  least  as  early  as 
1684.     In  1690,  he  was  their  senior  captain;  on  the  1st 

'  The  name,  certainly,  does  not  seem  to  appear  at  all  in  the  Rotuli  Hi- 
berniae,  published  by  the  Record  Commission. 

^  Vide  Appendix,  No.  V.  The  words  Broad  and  Oak  are  of  direct 
Saxon  derivation. 

^  There  was  a  Sergeant  Braddock  in  General  Forbes's  army  in  1758,  and 
the  name  occasionally  occurs  among  the  lists  of  London  bankrupts  and 
traders  that  adorn  the  columns  of  Sylvanus  Urban.  But  at  present  the 
Post-Office  Directory  shows  that  there  is  not  one  of  that  name  resident  in 
the  'royal  city.'  A  highly  respectable  family  in  New  Jersey,  however, 
still  bear,  as  I  am  told,  the  name  of  Braddock ;  and  it  likewise  occurs  in 
the  Philadelphia  and  Pittsburg  directories. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  117 

of  October,  1702,  he  got  his  majority;  and  on  the  10th  of 
January,  1704,  was  appointed  their  lieutenant-colonel. 
He  was  gazetted  a  brigadier  on  the  1st  of  January,  1707, 
and  a  major-general  on  the  1st  of  January,  1709.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1715,  he  retired  from  the  service,  and  died  at  Bath, 
on  the  15th  of  June,  1725.' 

This  "honest,  brave  old  gentleman,  who  had  experi- 
enced some  undeserved  hardships  in  life,"  is  buried  there, 
in  the  Abbey  Church  of  St.  Peter  and  St  Paul.^     The  old 
general  must  have  been  in  at  least  comfortable  circum- 
stances, since  he  left  to  his  two  daughters   the   sum  of 
£6000  :  to  his  only  son,  in  all  probability,  a  much  larger 
amount  descended.     This  son  was  the  Edward  Braddock 
with  whom  we  have  now  to  do.     In  the  Appendix  to  this 
volume  will  be  found  the  full  particulars  of  the  unhappy 
flite  of  one  of  the  daughters,  Fanny  Braddock,  who  com- 
mitted suicide  at  Bath  on  the  8th  of  September,  1731. 
Her  sister,  also  unmarried,  had  died  some  years  before. 
Mistress    Fanny  Braddock  — as    the   fashion  of  the  day 
styled  all  unmarried  women  —  was  a  lady  singularly  gifted 
with  attractions  of  person  and  of  mind,  and  was,  by  her 
sister's  death,  in  1728-9,  in  possession  of  a  competent  for- 
tune.    But,  yielding  to  an  undisciplined  impulse,  she  sacri- 
ficed the  latter  to  relieve  the  necessities  of  the  man  whom 
she  loved ;  and  the  former  speedily  lost  their  lustre  in  the 
eyes  of  the  gay  throng  whose  esteem  she  coveted.     With- 

'  Gent.  Mag.  1707-10.  11.  MacKinnon's  Hist.  cTldstreams;  453, 
454,  464.     III.  Goldsmith's  Misc.  Works  (Prior's  ed.,  Lond.  1837),  291. 

'  I.  Gent.  Mag.  (1731),  397.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  fashionable 
place  of  sepulture  for  strangers :  the  reader  will  recollect  Sir  Lucius  and 
his  " I 'm  told  there  is  very  snug  lying  in  the  Abbey." 


118  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

out  a  stain  upon  her  honor,  she  at  length  sank  into  a  con- 
dition of  despair,  and  at  the  gaming-tables  —  then  the  fre- 
quent resort  of  ladies  of  fashion  in  England,  as  now  on  the 
continent  —  she  soon  dissipated  away  the  scanty  remains 
of  her  patrimony.  Wearied  of  life,  unable  longer  to  endure 
the  painful  contrast  of  her  position  as  governess  in  the 
family  of  a  respectable  tradesman  with  the  brilliant  place 
she  lately  occupied,  she  resolved  on  self-destruction.  During 
the  long  night-watches  in  her  lonely  chamber,  her  mind 
reverted  to  his  infamy  who  had  broken  her  heart  and 
squandered  her  fortune.  To  drive  away  these  mournful 
reveries,  she  took  down  a  book  and  essayed  to  read.  The 
volume  was  the  Orlando  Furioso  of  Ariosto;  and  she 
opened  it  at  that  passage  of  the  ninth  canto  where  Olympia 
mourns  the  perfidy  that  had  shut  every  avenue  of  hope 
from  her  soul : 

per  lui  toltomi  il  regno, 


Per  lui  quel  pochi  beni,  che  restati 

M'eran  del  viver  mio  soli  sostegno 

Per  trarlo  di  prigione  ho  dissipati; 

Ne  mi  resta  ora,  in  che  piu  far  disegno, 

Se  non  d'andarmi  io  stessa  in  mano  a,  porre 

Di  si  crudel  nimico,  e  lui  disciorre. 

The  fatal  similarity  of  fortune  weighed  upon  her  mind 
and  confirmed  her  in  her  unhappy  resolve.  With  a  firm 
step  and  unwavering  will,  she  passed  through  the  portals 
of  the  house  of  life,  and  in  a  moment  more,  was  beyond 
the  reach  of  human  sympathy  or  human  censure. 

Nothing  could  increase  the  feelings  of  disgust  with  which 
the  conduct  of  Edward  Braddock,  on  this  sad  occasion, 
must  inspire  the  reader.     That,  through  her  levities  or  his 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  119 

own  misconduct,  his  affections  should  have  been  long  since 
alienated  from  his  sister,  seems  natural  enough ;  but  there 
must  have  been  an  inborn,  consummate  brutality,  to  guide 
the  tongue  which  could  frame  no  other  expression  of  sor- 
row than  "Poor  Fanny!  I  always  thought  she  would 
play  till  she  would  be  forced  to  tuck  herself  up !"  ^  No 
sensibihty  could  exist  in  his  heart  who  could,  for  the  sake 
of  a  scurvy  pun,  jest  upon  the  manner  of  a  sister's  death, 
and  say  that  she  had  adopted  this  plan  *  to  tie  herself  up 
from  cards  /'  ^  Surely  on  this  occasion  Walpole  was  justi- 
fied in  terming  Braddock  "  a  very  Iroquois  in  disposition !" 

'  III.  Walp.  Corresp.,  142.  Walpole  tells  us,  that  before  making  away 
with  herself,  she  wrote,  with  her  diamond,  these  lines  (from  Garth's  Dis- 
pensary, Canto  III.)  upon  her  window-pane  *. 

To  die  is  landing  on  some  silent  shore, 

Where  billows  never  break,  nor  tempests  roar: 

Ere  well  we  feel  the  friendly  stroke,  'tis  o'er. 

The  wise,  through  thought,  th'  insults  of  Death  defy; 

The  fools,  through  blest  insensibility. 

'Tis  what  the  guilty  fear,  the  pious  crave; 

Sought  by  the  wretch,  and  vanquished  by  the  brave. 

It  eases  lovers,  sets  the  captive  free; 

And,  though  a  tyrant,  offers  liberty. 

The  truth  is,  that,  speaking  twenty  years  after  the  event,  the  great  letter- 
writer  was  led  away  by  a  similarity  of  sentiment  and  expression.  The 
actual  inscription  was  this  : 

0,  death !  thou  pleasing  end  to  human  woe ! 
Thou  cure  for  life !  thou  greatest  good  below ! 
Still  mayst  thou  fly  the  coward  and  the  slave, 
And  thy  soft  slumbers  only  bless  the  brave. 

See  I.  Hone's  Every-Day  Book,  p.  1279. 

'  XXXII.  Gent.  Mag.,  542.  To  tie  one's  self  up  from  plai/,  was  a  cant 
phrase  for  incurring  some  obligation  which  should  act  as  a  restraint  upon 


120  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

There  is  another  anecdote  which  does  not  any  more  tend 
to  give  one  a  very  elevated  conception  of  his  character. 
It  seems  that  his  virtues,  such  as  they  were,  had  won  the 
favor  of  a  certain  Mrs.  Upton,  on  whose  infamous  wages 
he  was  not  ashamed  to  live.     By  constant  applications,  he 
had  kept  this  poor  fool's  exchequer  so  dry,  that  one  day 
she  frankly  answered  a  demand  for  money  by  pulling  out 
her  purse  with  but  twelve  or  fourteen  shillings  in  it.    With 
the  keen  eye  of  an   experienced  forager,  Braddock   saw 
cause  to  suspect  this  was  not  all  its  contents.     "  Let  me 
see  that !"  he  cried,  and  snatched  it  from  her  hand.     In 
the  other  end  he  found  five  guineas.     Coolly  emptying  all 
the  money  into  his  pocket,  he  tossed  the  empty  purse  into 
his  mistress's  lap.     "  Did  you  mean  to  cheat  me  ?"  cried 
he ;  and  he  turned  his  back  upon  the  house  to  see  her  no 
more.'     This  shabby  transaction  was  a  subject  of  town- 
talk  in  the  coffee-houses  and  lobbies  of  the  day ;  and  was 
cleverly  seized  by  Fielding  and  brought  upon  the  Drury 
Lane  boards  in  1732,  in  a  witty  but  licentious  play,  called 
the  Covent-Garden  Tragedy.     Captain  Bilkum  (by  whom, 
it  is  said,  Braddock  was  meant)  is  made  to  thus  deny  the 
consolations  of  "  the  humming  bowl :"  ^ 

Oh !  'tis  not  in  the  power  of  punch  to  ease 
My  grief-stung  soul,  since  Hecatissa's  false  j 
Since  she  could  hide  a  poor  half-guinea  from  me! 
Oh!  had  I  searched  her  pockets  ere  I  rose, 
I  had  not  left  a  single  shilling  in  them ! 


gambling.  Thus,  there  was  an  instance  of  the  Duke  of  Bolton  receiving 
a  hundred  guineas  from  Beau  Nash  on  a  contract  to  repay  £10,000  if  he 
should  ever  lose  as  much  at  one  sitting ;  and  the  duke  actually  soon  found 
occasion,  at  Newmarket,  to  comply  with  his  bargain.  (III.  Goldsmith's 
-  Misc.  Works.,  281.) 
.     '  III.  Walp.  Corrcsp.,  142.  '  A.  I.  sc   6. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  121 

If,  indeed,  the  immortal  satirist  designed  the  wliole  of 
his  character  of  Bilkum  as  a  paraphrase  of  Braddock's,  he 
could  have  held  him  but  in  the  light  of  one  of  those  hired 
ruffians  whose  office  it  is  to  awe  into  silence  the  poor  cully 
whom  their  partners  have  robbed.  This  is  going  infinitely 
too  far :  an  occasional  solitary  instance,  such  as  has  been 
cited,  may  have  stained  his  reputation,  but  it  was  not  a 
specimen  of  his  general  character.  There  were  many  better 
things  in  him  than  that :  and  perhaps  it  is  pressing  closely 
the  limits  of  moderation  to  say  that  he  kept  his  flight  so 
near  the  ground  that  he  could  have  stooped  to  such  a 
scene  of  self-degradation.  His  faults  were  evidently  con- 
sidered by  men  of  worth  rather  as  foibles  than  vices :  his 
intimacies  were  with  persons  of  character  and  honor;  and 
in  many  respects  he  was  w^orthy  of  their  confidence,  though 
his  excesses  must  often  have  lost  it.  It  was  thus  that  he 
became  embroiled  with  Colonel  Gumley,  an  old  comrade 
and  friend,  whose  sister  was  married  to  Pulteney,  Earl  of 
Bath ;  and  a  duel  was  the  result.  As  they  met  on  the 
ground,  Gumley,  knowing  very  well  the  state  of  his  oppo- 
nent's finances,  coolly  tossed  him  his  purse.  "  Braddock," 
said  he,  "  you  are  a  poor  dog !  Here,  take  my  purse  :  if 
you  kill  me,  you  will  have  to  run  away;  and  then  you 
will  not  have  a  shilling  to  support  you."  His  infuriated 
adversary  was  galled  to  madness  by  this  new  provocation ; 
he  lost  all  command  of  his  temper,  and  quickly  saw  his 
sword  fly  from  his  hand ;  but  he  was  still  too  proud  to  ask 
his  life  at  the  victor's  hand.^  Another  duel  between  Brad- 
dock  and  Colonel  Waller  is  recorded,  fought  wdth  sword 

'  III.  Walp.  Corresp.,  142. 


122  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

and  pistol  in  Hyde  Park,  on  the  26  th  of  May,  1718 :  but 
of  its  cause  or  consequences  nothing  can  be  traced/ 

As  may  be  judged  from  the  date  of  his  first  commission, 
Edward  Braddock  must  have  been  born  towards  the  close 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  On  the  11th  of  October,  1710, 
he  entered  the  army  with  the  rank  of  Ensign  in  the  grena- 
dier company  of  the  Coldstream  Guards ;  and  on  the  1st  of 
August,  1716,  was  appointed  a  lieutenant.^  In  the  columns 
of  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  his  steps  may  be  traced  as 
follows:  —  On  the  30th  of  October,  1734,  Lieutenant 
Braddock  was  gazetted  to  a  captain-lieutenancy.^  On  the 
10th  of  February,  1736,  he  was  appointed  to  a  captaincy 
in  the  Second  Regiment  of  Foot-Guards,^  and  on  April  2nd, 
1743,  he  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  a  lieutenant-colonel  in 
the  Hne,  and  was  further  advanced  to  be  the  second  major 
of  this  regiment.^  At  that  period,  as  at  present,  the 
household  troops  were  considered  the  choicest  portions  of 
the  army,  and  a  commission  in  their  ranks  could  not  be 
esteemed  a  light  favor. 

The  Duke  of  Cumberland,  the  Captain-General  of  the 
British  Army  (a  dignity  in  which  the  great  Churchill  and 
the  good  Ormond  were  his  only  predecessors),  had  been 
Colonel  of  the  Second  and  was  now  in  command  of  the 
First  Regiment ;  and  William  Anne,  Earl  of  Albemarle, 
was  Colonel  of  the  Second,  or  Coldstreams,  to  which 
Braddock  was  attached.     It  is  more  than  probable,  how- 

'  Origin  and  History  of  the  Coldstream  Guards,  by  Col.  Daniel  Mac- 
Kinnon. (Lond.,  1833.)     Vol.  II.,  p.  473. 
^  II.  MacKinnon's  Coldstreams,  456,  472. 

3  IV.  Gent.  Mag.,  628.     II.  MacKinnon,  476.    *  H.  MacKinnon,  456. 
«  XIII.  Gent.  Mag.,  219.     U.  MacKinnon,  477. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  123 

ever,  that  his  father's  position  in  the  regiment  may 
have  facihtated  the  young  ensign's  entrance ;  and  it  may 
be  worth  noting  that  the  total  period  of  service  in  this 
regiment  of  father  and  son  did  not  fall  short  of  seventy 
years,  during  all  which  period  the  name  of  Edward  Brad- 
dock  appeared  on  its  roster.  Nor  was  there  anything 
unusual  in  a  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  line  accepting  an 
inferior  majority  in  the  Guards,  when  a  Field-Marshal  was 
their  colonel,  and  the  commissioned  officers  of  other  regi- 
ments were  taken  from  their  rank  and  file/ 

The  recruiting  standard  of  the  regiment,  it  is  true,  was 
extraordinarily  high  :  to  be  even  a  private  in  its  ranks  was 
not  a  privilege  open  to  every  subject  of  the  crown,  no 
matter  how  well  he  might  by  nature  be  qualified.  No 
papist,  no  Scot  or  Irishman,  no  "  vagabond,"  was  suffered 
to  be  enlisted  even  as  a  private  into  this  proud  body;  and  the 
popular  satire  of  the  day  shows  what  vulgar  consequence  was 
attributed  to  its  non-commissioned  officers.^    One  may  form 

'  This  was  particularly  the  case  in  1746,  when  no  less  than  twenty-six 
privates  of  the  Life  Guards  were  commissioned  as  lieutenants  or  ensigns 
in  other  regiments,  many  of  them  on  American  stations.  It  is  believed 
that  the  famous  geographer  Thomas  Hutchins,  the  historian  of  Bouquet's 
expedition,  on  this  occasion  received  his  first  commission  as  ensign  in  the 
King's  South  Carolina  Independent  Company.  Hist.  Rec.  of  the  Life 
Guards  (Lond.  1835),  p.  154.  These  Records  of  the  British  Army,  which 
have  been  more  than  once  referred  to,  were  commenced  twenty  years  bince 
by  command  of  William  IV.,  and  are  intended  to  comprise  a  particular 
history  of  every  regiment.  The  few  volumes  hitherto  published  are  as 
elegant  as  useful ;  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  so  laudable  an  enterprise 
should  progress  so  slowly. 

^  Witness  the  case  of  poor  Dick  Ivy,  in  SmoUett's  inimitable  tale ;  the 
poet  whom  not  "disappointment,  nor  even  damnation,"  could  drive  to  des- 
pair. And  yet  he  could  not  make  his  quarters  good  in  the  milk-woman's 
cellar  in  Petty  France,  but  "  was  dislodged  and  driven  up-stairs  into  the 
kennel  by  a  corporal  in  the  Second  Regiment  of  Foot-Guards." 


124  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

an  idea  of  its  arrogance  when  we  find  in  the  orderly-book 
of  the  Coldstreams  a  command  to  its  men  to  behave  civilly 
towards  and  not  to  laugh  at  or  make  game  of  the  other 
troops,  at  a  review  by  the  King  on  the  26th  of  October, 
1745.*     Originally  raised  by  Monk  from  the  elite  of  Hesil- 
rige's  and  Fenwick's  parliamentary  regiments,  it  took  its 
name   from   its   quarters    at   Coldstream,   whence   Monk 
marched   it   on    New- Year's   day,  1660,  "to   restore  the 
monarchy  and  give  peace  to  his  distracted  country."     At 
the  Restoration  it  was  specially  exempted  by  Parliament 
from   the  universal    disbandment   of  the  army,  and  was 
retained  as  a  Guard  by  King  Charles ;  and  ever  since  that 
period  it  has  continued  to  deserve  and  to  enjoy  a  distin- 
guished share  of  royal  favor  and  public  regard.^     It  would 
be  an  interesting  task  to  trace  the  means  by  which  a  man 
destitute  of  all  influence  of  family  connection  or  prestige 
of  great  wealth  —  a  mere  Irish  soldier  of  fortune,  as  by 
some  he  is  termed  —  should  have  obtained  and  continued 
to  retain  through  a  long  series  of  years  such  a  desirable 
position.     It  may  have  been  indeed  that  he  purchased  his 
promotions;    but   the    cost   of    such    a   step   was    always 
enormous,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  he  should  have  had 
sufficient  resources  at  his  command.^     It  is  to  his  merit 

'  II.  MacKinnon,  341. 

^  It  is  believed  that  the  only  occasions  upon  which  any  considerable 
portion  of  this  regiment  was  ever  forced  to  ground  its  arms  or  surrender 
its  colours  were  at  Ostend,  in  1745,  and  at  Yorktown,  in  1781 :  on  this  last 
occasion  the  Guards  either  had  no  regimental  flag,  or  it  was  secreted  and 
never  delivered. 

3  In  1720,  the  King  fixed  the  price  of  a  Lieutenant-Colonelcy  in  the 
Coldstreams  at  £5000;  a  Major's  commission  cost  £3600;  a  Captain's 
£2400;  a  Captain-Lieutenant's  £1500;  a  Lieutenant's  £900;  an  Ensign's 
£450.     In  1766,  these   rates  were   about   doubled;   and  at  present  the 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  125 

and  actual  services  that  we  are  inclined  to  attribute  his 
success.  At  the  period  of  his  apiDointment,  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  Second  Foot^Guards  were  with  Marlborough 
in  Flanders;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  thither  the 
young  soldier  was  sent  to  learn  the  first  rudiments  of  the 
art  of  war.  In  March,  1713,  the  regiment  was  recalled  to 
London,  and  on  September  18th  of  the  next  year.  Brad- 
dock's  company  was  one  of  those  which  on  his  arrival  re- 
ceived the  first  Elector  of  Hanover  who  reigned  over 
England.  In  1719,  a  part  of  the  regiment  took  share  in 
the  Vigo  expedition,  and  in  1742,  its  first  battalion  was 
sent  to  the  Low  Countries,  and  Braddock  undoubtedly 
among  them.  At  Dettingen,  on  the  16th  of  June,  1743, 
the  Second  Guards,  commanded  by  the  second  Duke  of 
Marlborough,  behaved  gloriously  under  the  very  e3-es  of 
the  King  and  the  Duke  of  Cumberland.  At  the  famous 
battle  of  Fontenoy,  fought  on  the  11th  of  May,  1745, 
between  Marshal  Saxe,  with  Louis  XV.  and  the  Grand 
Dauphin  by  his  side,  and  the  English  and  Dutch  Allies, 
whose  Captain-General  was  Cumberland,  the  Coldstreams 
again  won  great  honor,  losing  in  killed  and  wounded  two 
hundred  and  forty  men. 

Every  one  knows  what  terrible  slaughter  took  i3lace  on 
that  memorable  defeat,  when  the  Irish  Brigade  fiercely 
swept  away  the  thinned  ranks  of  the  British,  and  gratified, 
for  the  first  time  since  the  fall  of  James  the  Second,  the 
feelings  of  triumphant  revenge.     But  amid  all  the  carnage 

Lieutenant-Colonelcy  is  worth  £9000,  and  an  Ensigncy  £1200.  (T.  Mac- 
Kinnon, 347.)  The  purchaser,  however,  must  pass  a  previous  examination 
to  prove  his  competency,  and  the  money,  it  is  believed,  goes  to  the  retiring 
officer. 


126  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

and  confusion,  the  English  Guards  gained  scarce  less  praise 
by  their  cool  retreat  than  by  their  furious  charges,  sullenly 
moving  off  like  a  lion  who,  undismayed  and  almost  disposed 
to  turn  again,  grimly  recedes  into  the  darkness  from  the 
watch-fire  of  the  hunters.^  It  was  for  his  share  in  this 
day's  bloody  work,  we  may  presume,  that  Braddock 
received,  on  the  27th  of  May,  1745,  his  promotion  to  be 
First-Major  of  his  regiment,^  and  on  the  21st  of  the  next 
November,  to  be  its  Lieutenant-Colonel.^  In  the  summer 
of  1745,  he  was  with  the  Second  in  garrison  at  Ostend, 
whence  in  July  he  repaired  to  England  to  acquaint  the 
Lords  of  the  Regency  with  its  condition,  and  thus  probably 
escaped  being  present  at  its  surrender  on  the  12th  of 
August."*  When  Cumberland  pursued  Prince  Charles's 
army  from  England  in  the  winter  of  1745-6,  we  know 

'  Perhaps  history  does  not  afford  a  more  striking  instance  of  undaunted 
courage,  joined  with  the  perfection  of  discipline,  than  was  displayed  by  the 
Guards  on  this  memorable  day.  They  were  ordered  to  attack  the  French 
Guards  and  the  Swiss ;  who,  in  perfect  confidence,  awaited  the  onset.  The 
English  advanced,  composed  and  steady  as  though  on  parade.  As  they 
drew  near,  their  officers,  armed  with  nothing  but  a  light  rattan,  raised  their 
hats  to  their  adversaries,  who  politely  returned  the  salute.  "  Gentlemen 
of  the  French  Guards,"  cried  Captain  Lord  Charles  Hay,  "  fire,  if  you 
please."  "  Pardon,  Monsieur  !"  replied  they ;  "  the  French  Guards  never 
fire  first :  pray  fire  yourselves !"  The  order  was  given,  and  the  French 
ranks  were  mowed  down  as  ripe  grain  falls  beneath  the  sickle.  The  Eng- 
lish behaved  throughout  the  conflict  with  the  same  steadiness ;  their  offi- 
cers in  the  heat  of  the  fight  with  their  canes  turning  the  men's  muskets 
to  the  right  or  the  left  as  they  seemed  to  require.  (^Voltaire:  PHcis 
du  Sihcle  de  Louis  XV.,  c.  xv.)  After  nearly  fifty  years'  service  in 
such  a  regiment,  no  wonder  that  Braddock  had  formed  exalted  ideas  of 
discipline. 

2  XV.  Gent.  Mag.,  333.     I.  MacKinnon,  373,  II.  ib.  473. 

3  XV.  Gent.  Mag.,  668.     II.  MacKinnon,  473. 
*  I.  MacKinnon,  373. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  127 

that  Braddock  was  actively  emjoloyed  under  his  command/ 
and  probably  shared  in  the  butcherly  glories  of  Culloden. 
In  September,  1746,  he  commanded  the  battalions  of  the 
First  and  Second  Guards  which  were  embarked  upon 
the  secret  expedition  of  Lestock  and  Sinclair  against 
Quiberon  and  L'Orient;  and  in  May,  1747,  at  the  head  of 
the  second  battalion  of  the  Coldstreams,  was  ordered  to 
Flanders,  where  the  Allies,  under  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
were  ineffectually  striving  to  raise  the  siege  of  Bergen-op- 
Zoom.  He  was  quartered  in  the  autumn  at  Bois-le-Duc ; 
in  the  winter  near  Breda;  and  in  July,  1748,  after 
marching  to  Ruremonde  and  encamping  at  Grave,  was 
cantoned  at  Eyndhoven,  where  Cumberland  had  fixed  his 
head-quarters.  Peace  having  been  declared  in  January, 
1749,  the  Coldstreams  were  once  again  stationed  at 
London.  As  every  company  in  this  regiment  has  its  own 
standard,  it  may  be  noted  here  that  Braddock's  ensign 
bore  a  star  within  a  garter,  with  the  union  in  the  colour's 
dexter-corner;  this  device  had  first  been  adopted  by 
Charles  II.     The  badge  was  red.^ 

It  is  presumed  that  Lieutenant-Colonel  Braddock  conti- 
nued attached  to  the  Coldstreams  until  1753;  making  a 
total  of  forty-three  years'  service  in  that  regiment.  If  we 
suppose  his  age  when  he  was  made  ensign  to  have  been  about 
fifteen  years,  we  may  conclude  him  to  have  been  at  least 
sixty  years  of  age  and  upwards  when  he  was  killed  in 
America.  But,  notwithstanding  his  appointment  as  briga- 
dier-general on  the  23d  of  April,  1746,  he  was  now,  through 
debt  or  other  causes,  compelled  to  seek  a  temporary  exile 

'  I.  MacKinnon,  381.  ^  Ibid,  cc.  24,  25. 


128  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

from  England;  and  on  the  17th  of  February,  1753,  was 
nominated  to  the  colonelcy  of  the  Fourteenth  Eegiment  of 
Foot,  then  stationed  at  Gibraltar.^  Anxious  to  lose  no  time 
at  home,  he  hastened  to  join  his  post,  and  set  out  at  once  to 
the  Mediterranean ;  where  his  stay,  though  but  temporary, 
was  long  enough  to  win  the  affections  of  a  garrison  rarely 
conspicuous  for  aught  but  violence  and  sedition.^  During 
his  absence,  nevertheless,  he  was  not  forgotten  by  his 
patron  and  chief  On  the  29th  of  March,  1754,  he  was 
gazetted  a  major-general;^  and,  on  the  24  th  of  the  ensuing 
September,  was  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  troops 
to  be  sent  to  Virginia,  and  Generalissimo  of  all  His  Ma- 
jesty's troops  on  the  North  American  Continent/ 

These  are  meagre  details,  it  must  be  confessed;  and 
nothing  can  be  unacceptable  that  will  tend  to  clothe  their 
dry  skeleton  with  even  the  semblance  of  vitality.  It 
may  not,  then,  be  amiss  to  refer  to  a  tradition  (albeit, 
like  most  traditions,  it  be  entitled  to  little  credence)  which 
insinuates  that  the  secret  of  Braddock's  advancement  is, 
that  he  was  a  bold  beggar — a  sturdy  tramp,  so  to  speak  — 
who,  with  an  untiring  pertinacity  that  would  not  take  No ! 
for  an   answer,  was   forever  dunning   the  authorities  for 


'  XXIII.  Gent.  Mag.,  53.     II.  Mackinnon,  473. 

^  Walpole  erroneously  asserts  (III.  Corresp.,  145)  that  he  had  been 
Governor  of  Gibraltar;  "where,  with  all  his  brutality,  he  made  himself 
adored,  and  where  scarce  any  governor  was  endured  before."  But  this  is 
so  far  from  being  true,  that  it  does  not  appear  that  between  1749  and  1753 
he  ever  oiEcially  even  acted  as  commandant  in  the  governor's  absence 
(Drinkwater's  Gibraltar,  23).  He  surely  was  never  governor :  martinet 
as  he  was,  however,  it  is  well  to  note  this  evidence  of  his  popularity  with 
his  men. 

»  XXIV.  Gent  Mag.,  191.  "  Ibid,  530. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  129 

renewed  means  of  obtaining  money  and.  distinction.  To 
purchase  at  once  relief  from  his  importunities,  and  to  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  the  service,  according  to  the  same 
unreliable  authority,  he  was  selected  for  a  distant  command, 
the  duties  of  which  he  was  confidently  esteemed  capable 
of  perfectly  fulfilling,  while  its  emoluments  would  be  some- 
thing prodigious.  Thus,  it  will  be  noticed,  the  foul  finger 
of  scandal  has  soiled  alike  the  reputations  of  the  adverse 
chiefs  Braddock  and  Duquesne;  two  characters  opposite 
as  the  poles  in  life,  but  destined  in  their  memories  to  an 
undying  and  indissoluble  fraternity. 

Such  were  the  antecedents  of  the  leader  to  whose  hands 
the  control  of  an  expedition  of  such  vital  importance  to 
the  welfare  of  Great  Britain  and  of  America  was  com- 
mitted. In  the  royal  councils,  the  question  had  been 
thoroughly  considered  in  all  its  bearings,  and  the  most 
proper  and  feasible  method  of  seizing  the  French  forts  and 
resuming  possession  of  the  wilderness  they  controlled 
was  freely  discussed.  One  voice  —  which  we  may  well 
believe  to  have  been  that  of  the  sagacious  Halifax  — 
earnestly  opposed  the  whole  notion  of  relying  upon  British 
regulars  to  accomplish  these  desired  ends :  well  aware  of 
the  nature  of  the  contest  that  would  ensue,  he  was  for 
employing,  at  the  government's  expense,  a  provincial  force, 
which  should  be  raised  upon  the  spot,  among  men  familiar 
with  the  Indian  warfare  and  the  Indian  country.  Had 
this  plan  been  adopted,  and  a  sufficient  number  of  regular 
troops  added  to  preserve  discipline  and  to  garrison  the  posts 
to  be  acquired,  there  can  be  little  question  of  its  having  met 
with  perfect  success.  The  standing  array  of  Great  Britain 
9 


130  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

was  at  that  time  singularly  small,  and  still  further  reduc- 
tions were  in  contemplation :  in  fact,  when  Braddock 
sailed,  he  left  but  three  regiments  in  England;  and  so 
jealous  was  Newcastle  lest  Cumberland  should  have  the 
'filling  up  of  commissions,  that,  in  the  very  face  of  the 
coming  storm,  he  would  consent  to  no  more  being  raised/ 
The  rest  of  the  army  was  scattered  all  over  the  world ; 
and  since  the  regular  force  was  so  incapable  of  enduring  a 
heavy  drain,  one  would  have  thought  the  idea  of  employ- 
ing irregulars  would  have  been  highly  acceptable.  The 
king,  likewise,  had  four  Independent  Comjianies  quartered 
at  New  York,  three  in  South  Carolina,  and  one  at  Provi- 
dence.^ These  were  not  ranked  with  the  regular  line,  but 
were  retained  in  America  at  the  expense  of  Great  Bri- 
tain ;  and  their  services  might  have  been  most  advan- 
tageously availed  of  in  this  crisis.  The  chief  difficulty 
would  have  been  the  relative  precedency  of  colonial  and 
royal  commissions ;  but  even  this  might  have  been  easily 
surmounted  by  making  every  officer  receive  his  rank 
from  the  crown  through  the  medium  of  a  provincial 
authority ;  and  the  instances  of  Stanwix,  Johnson,  and 
Bouquet  show  what  popularity  might  have  attended  the 
appointment  of  a  commander  not  chosen  from  the  regular 
ranks. 

Meritorious  as  was  this  plan,  it  was  utterly  incompre- 
hensible to  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  whose  judgment  was 
justly  supreme  in  the  cabinet  on  questions  touching  the 

1  I.  Walpole's  Mem.  Geo.  II.,  382. 

^  Historical  Memoirs  of  the  late  Duke  of  Cumberland,  (Lend., 
1767),  463. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  131 

art  military.  He  was  a  person  of  fair  capacity,  of  a 
thorough  education  in  the  German  school  of  war  —  that 
school  of  discipline  whose  exponent  was  the  great  Frede- 
rick of  Prussia  —  and  was  of  the  first  rank  in  the  service. 
He  had  heard  a  great  deal,  ten  years  before,  of  the  value 
of  irregulars :  he  had  seen  a  whole  empire  trembling  at 
the  feet  of  a  mere  handful  of  undisciplined  mountaineers ; 
its  armies  blasted,  its  councils  panic-struck,  its  rulers  ripe 
for  flight.  With  a  ready  wit  he  had  taught  his  grenadiers 
to  face  and  to  foil  this  impetuous  foe,  and  to  turn  the  very 
secret  of  their  success  into  failure  and  ruin.  He  naturally 
now  thought  that  the  barbarians  of  America  were  to  be 
encountered  as  successfully  in  1755  as  those  of  Scotland 
in  1745 :  and  through  his  intervention,  no  other  resolution 
was  adopted  by  the  ministry  than  that  of  placing  their 
chief  trust  in  a  regular  force.  To  Cumberland  properly 
belongs  all  the  responsibility  of  the  conception  and  organi- 
zation of  the  executive  portion  of  this  enterprise,  and  the 
nomination  of  its  leader.^  And  conceding  the  question  of 
the  expediency  of  his  policy,  and  considering  the  lights 
the  Duke  seems  to  have  possessed  of  the  character  of  the 
war  and  the  nature  of  the  services  expected  from  Brad- 
dock,  it  is  not  fair  to  say  that  the  selection  of  the  com- 
mander was  an  unwise  choice.  An  enthusiast  in  the  art 
of  war,  in  which  at  an  early  age  he  had  distinguished 
himself,  the  Duke  exercised,  or  endeavored  to  exercise,  an 
impartial  regard  to  merit  in  his  appointments ;  and  we  are 
particularly   told,   in   regard   to   this   one,   that   General 

'  I.  Walp.  Mem.  Geo.  II.,  390.     Mems.  of  Cumberland,  496. 


132  INTRODUCTOr.T    MEMOIR. 

Braddock's  "  courage  and  military  discipline  had  recom- 
mended him  as  of  ability  for  so  great  a  trust." ' 

The  scheme  which  Braddock  was  to  carry  into  effect 
was  a  very  comprehensive  one ;  and  embraced  nothing  less 
than  the  complete  restoration  of  English  power  upon  the 
American  Continent.^  As  early  as  September,  1754,  it 
was  decided  that  two  regiments  of  foot,  the  Forty-fourth, 
Colonel  Sir  Peter  Halket,  and  the  Forty-eighth,  Colonel 
Thomas  Dunbar,  then  stationed  in  Ireland,  should  form 
the  stamina  of  the  proposed  expedition.  These  were  at 
once  to  be  sent  to  the  colonies,  where,  having  effected  the 
objects  immediately  in  view,  they  were  to  remain  three 
years,  to  put  the  country  and  its  people  in  a  suitable 
posture  of  future  defence.^  It  was  intended  that  each  of 
these  regiments  should  embark  five  hundred  strong,  and 
that  they  should  be  recruited  in  America  to  a  complement 
of  seven  hundred.  Two  other  regiments  of  one  thousand 
men  each,  to  be  commanded  respectively  by  Sir  William 
PepiDcrell  and  William  Shirley,  Esq.,  the  Governor  of  the 
province  of  Massachusetts-Bay,  were  likewise  to  be  raised 
at  the  King's  cost  in  America,  and  abundant  stores  of 

'  I.  Entick,  114.  Smollett  (Adv.  of  an  Atom),  says  that  Braddock 
was  "an  obscure  oflBcer,  without  conduct  or  experience,  whom  Cumberland 
selected  for  this  service ;  not  that  he  supposed  him  possessed  of  superior 
merit,  but  because  no  officer  of  distinction  cared  to  engage  in  such  a  dis- 
agreeable expedition."  He  further  intimates,  too,  an  invincible  aversion 
on  the  part  of  the  Duke  and  his  royal  father  to  the  employment  of  Indian 
allies  as  scouts.  But  it  is  the  satirist,  not  the  historian,  who  speaks  :  the 
whole  volume  is  one  continued  tirade  against  every  person  in  power  during 
the  Seven  Years'  War,  from  Pitt  and  Mansfield  to  Frederick  of  Prussia  and 
the  Empress-Queen. 

2  See  Appendix,  No.  I.  ^  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1365. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  133 

artillery,  provisions,  clothings  etc.,  were  provided.  In 
addition  to  these  forces,  which  would  at  most  make  up  but 
about  thirtj-five  hundred  men,  the  King's  Independent 
Companies  in  America  were  to  be  under  Braddock's  com- 
mand; and  Royal  Instructions  had  been  sent  to  the 
different  Governors,  demanding  not  only  the  aid  of  the 
colonial  troops,  but  the  services  of  as  many  Indians  as 
could  be  enlisted.  What  with  regulars,  militia,  and 
savages,  it  was  hoped  that  England  would  thus  be  able  to 
bring  from  twelve  to  fifteen  thousand  men  into  the  field. 
With  these  a  simultaneous  movement  was  if  possible  to  be 
made  against  Forts  Du  Quesne,  Niagara,  and  Crown  Point ; 
while  Colonel  Lawrence,  who  was  stationed  in  Nova  Scotia, 
was  instructed  to  capture  Beau-Sejour;  all  these  places 
being,  according  to  British  views,  unlawfully  occupied  by 
France.  An  English  fleet,  hovering  on  the  coast,  was  to 
intercept  all  military  supplies  from  the  French,  and  thus 
prevent  their  adding  any  fresh  strength  to  the  posts  in 
question. 

On  the  14  th  of  November,  His  Majesty  opened  Parlia- 
ment with  a  speech  which,  after  the  usual  self-congratula- 
tory remarks  on  the  pacific  relations  still  existing, 
announced  his  intention  of  improving  the  present  advan- 
tages of  a  general  peace  to  promote  the  commerce  and 
protect  the  colonies  in  America.  Parliament  understood 
these  words  as  they  were  meant,  and  straightway  voted 
£4,000,000  for  supplies;  £1,000,000  of  which  was  to 
increase  the  army  and  navy.  The  French  representative, 
M.  de  Mirepoix,  was  not  blind  to  this  policy ;  but  the  object 
of  his  court  was  to  stave  off  open  hostilities,  until  it  was 


134  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

thoroughly  prepared  for  the  conflict :  and  accordingly  the 
duke  kept  couriers  flying  from  London  to  Paris,  and  from 
Paris  to  London,  while  he  vowed  and  protested  his  master's 
intentions  to  be  utterly  pacific.  But  both  countries  perse- 
vered, notwithstanding  their  mutual  diplomatic  tergiver- 
sations, in  steadily  arming  for  the  fray. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  preparations  for  the  campaign 
were  carried  on  with  vigor  and  activity.  It  was  settled 
that  the  44th  and  48th  regiments  should  continue  on  the 
Irish  establishment  despite  their  transportation  to  America; 
thus  saddling  its  equivalent  of  the  charges  of  the  war  on 
the  sister  kingdom,  which,  not  being  represented  in  the 
British  parliament,  was  not  called  on  to  vote  supplies. 
But  their  ranks  being  thinner  than  even  in  time  of  peace 
was  customary,  it  was  found  necessary  to  recruit  them  by 
considerable  drafts  from  other  regiments,  particularly  from 
such  as  were  then  on  duty  in  Ireland,  unless  stationed  at 
Dublin.  A  regiment  of  ten  companies  should  have  counted 
seven  hundred  men  at  its  musters :  it  was  believed  that 
these  would  have  mounted  up  to  five  hundred  each,  leaving 
the  additional  two  hundred  to  be  engaged  in  America ;  but 
the  result  showed  a  greater  failure  even  than  this.  To 
supply  this  deficiency,  prompt  steps  were  taken.  On 
October  29th,  1754,  one  hundred  men  were  drafted  from 
Lord  Bury's  regiment  (the  20th)  at  Bristol,  and  as  many  more 
from  Colonel  Buckland's  at  Salisbury,  who  were  at  once 
ordered  to  Cork,  whither  Major-General  Bligh  had  already 
repaired  from  Dublin  to  superintend  the  proceedings  for  em- 
barcation  '     Early  in  the  same  month.  Sir  Peter  Halket  had 

'  Penn.  Gazette,  No.  1360,  No.  1362. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  135 

picked  up  a  few  volunteers  in  London,  and  a  sergeant  and 
corporal  of  each  company  in  the  artillery  were  despatched 
to  beat  up  recruits  through  the  country/  In  Ireland,  four 
sergeants,  four  corporals,  five  drums  and  sixty-five  privates 
of  Lieutenant-General  Bragg's  regiment  (the  28th),  and 
the  same  number  from  that  of  Colonel  Pole  (the  10th),  at 
Limerick,  were  drafted  to  Cork  :  and  in  the  beginning  of  No- 
vember drafts  were  also  made  from  Lieutenant-General  An- 
struther's  regiment  (the  26th),  and  from  the  second  bat- 
talion of  the  Koyals,  at  Gal  way.  ^  So  odious  was  their 
destined  service,  however,  that  every  efibrt  of  the  ofiicers 
could  not  restrain  desertion.  Many  of  the  new  drafts  or 
enlistments,  too,  consisted  of  the  worst  class  of  men,  who, 
had  they  not  been  in  the  army,  would  probably  have  been 
in  Bridewell ;  and  this  did  not  tend  to  elevate  the  personal 
standard  of  the  two  regiments. 

The  preparations  in  the  way  of  military  stores,  ordnance, 
etc.,  were  also  conducted  upon  an  extensive  scale.  Till 
the  close  of  October,  the  workmen  at  the  Tower  were 
busily  employed  in  making  artillery  and  ammunition 
wagons,  and  putting  up  cartridges  for  the  expedition. 
Tents  for  eight  thousand  men,  with  marquees,  drums, 
arms,  accoutrements,  &c.,  &c.,  as  well  as  great  quantities 
of  ammunition,  were  shipped  in  the  Thames  for  Cork.^ 
Thither  were  also  sent  on  the  9th  of  November  twelve 
carriages  with  chests  containing  six  hundred  stand  of  arms 
from  Dublin  Castle.  A  number  of  army  ofiicers  upon  half- 
pay  were  recalled  into  service ;  and  on  the  19  th  of  October, 
orders  were  issued  to  the  artillery  for  a  captain,  four  ser- 

'  Penn.  Gaz.,  No  1362.  ^  Ibid,  No.  1367.  ^  Ibid  No.  1360. 


136  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

geantSj  and  sixty  bombardiers  and  matrosses  to  hold  them- 
selves in  readiness  to  embark  at  Woolwich  for  Virginia  j* 
upon  the  28th,  Mr.  Montresor  was  gazetted  as  Chief  En- 
gineer, and  James  Pitcher,  Esq.,  was  named  Commissary  of 
the  Musters.'^  Several  additional  surgeons  were  also  pro- 
vided; and  James  Napier,  Esq.,  Master  Surgeon  of  the 
Hospitals  in  Flanders  during  the  preceding  war,  was 
appointed  Director  of  the  Hospitals  belonging  to  the 
forces  on  the  American  expedition.^  On  the  15th  of 
October,  Sir  John  St.  Clair,  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  Offarrell's 
regiment  of  foot  (the  22nd),  had  already  been  gazetted  as 
Deputy  Quarter-Master-General  for  all  the  forces  in 
America,  to  rank  as  a  Colonel;  who,  with  very  little 
delay,  hastened  to  Virginia  to  acquaint  himself  with  the 
scene  of  his  future  duties. 

Indeed,  an  unwonted  energy  reems  at  this  time  to  have 
inspired  the  ministry.  Not  only  were  six  thousand  troops 
provided  for  the  defence  of  the  colonies  at  the  cost  of  the 
crown,  with  an  ample  provision  of  the  proper  munitions 
of  war ; "  but  liberal  supplies  of  money  or  its  equivalent 
were  granted  to  different  provinces.  To  Virginia,  for 
instance,  w^ere  sent  £10,000  in  cash,  with  authority  to  draw 
for  as  much  more ;  and  Pennsylvania,  for  purposes  of  war, 
was  furnished  with  six  hundred  firelocks  (or  muskets), 
with  bayonets,  cartouche-boxes,  &c.,  three  tons  of  musket- 
balls,  fifteen  barrels  of  gunpowder,  and  five  thousand 
flints.' 

'  A  matross  is  an  artillery  soldier  of  a  rank  inferior  to  the  bombardier  or 
gunner. 

2  VI.  Penn.  Col.  Rec,  303. 

'  II.  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1360,  No.  1369. 

*  II.  Penn.  Archives,  293.  ^  Ibid,  800. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  137 

But  all  this  unwonted  display  of  vigor  by  a  cabinet  with 
whom  ignorance  and  imbecility  were  the  only  stars  that 
lighted  the  western  horizon,  was,  more  suo,  destined  to  a 
rapid  decline.  During  the  ensuing  three  months  exertion 
flagged,  and  nothing  but  delay  and  doubting  appears  to 
have  characterized  its  proceedings.  Upon  the  Sunday 
evening  preceding  the  12th  of  November,  Braddock  him- 
self had  arrived  from  France  (on  his  route,  we  may  suppose, 
from  Gibraltar),  at  his  house  in  Arlington  Street,  London; 
and  on  the  same  evening  waited  upon  the  King  and  the  Cap- 
tain-General. The  latter  had  arrived  but  at  9  A.  M.  of  that 
same  day,  and  had  barely  taken  possession  of  his  winter  apart- 
ments.' During  his  brief  stay  in  the  metropolis,  Braddock 
had  long  and  repeated  interviews  with  the  Duke,  in  which 
he  received  fiill  and  careful  directions  for  his  conduct ;  all 
of  which,  however,  will  be  found  repeated  in  the  formal 
Letter  of  Instructions  printed  in  the  Appendix.  On  the 
Saturday  before  the  30th  of  November,  he  left  Arlington 
Street  for  Portsmouth ;  whence  he  embarked  for  Cork  on 
the  Centurion,  Commodore  Keppel,  to  hasten  and  superin- 
tend the  departure  of  the  troops.'     But,  with  all  his  impe- 

'  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1362. 

2  The  Hon.  Augustus,  second  son  of  William  Anne  Keppel,  2d  Earl  of 
Albemarle,  was  born  April  2d,  1725.  He  entered  the  navy  as  a  midship- 
man at  an  early  date,  and  received  his  first  wound  at  the  capture  of  Paita. 
He  met  with  rapid  promotion,  and  at  Goree  and  in  the  battle  off  Belleisle 
distinguished  himself  for  good  conduct.  In  1762,  he  was  a  commodore  in 
the  fleet  sent  out  under  Sir  George  Pocock  to  the  Havannah.  In  conse- 
quence of  grave  charges  brought  against  him  by  Sir  Hugh  Palliser,  he  was 
court-martialled  for  his  conduct  in  the  sea-fight  near  Ushant  on  the  27th 
of  June,  1778  ;  but  was  most  honorably  acquitted,  while  his  accuser  became 
the  object  of  general  opprobrium.  So  strong  was  the  sympathy  with  Kep- 
pel, that  Parliament  went  to  the  unusual  length  of  voting  him  its  thank? 


138  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

rious  energy  and  impatience  of  delay,  it  was  not  until  the 
14th  of  January,  1755,  that  his  object  was  effected.  The 
transport-ships  from  England  came  in  irregularly  and 
slowly.  On  the  19  th  of  November,  the  Seahorse,  man-of- 
war,  had  arrived  there  for  this  service  -,  and  on  the  21st, 
the  Prince  Frederick  transport.  Burton  master,  of  five 
hundred  tons,  of  and  from  London,  with  stores,  &c.,  made 
its  appearance  at  Cork  to  take  in  troops.^  The  Centurion 
followed  close  after,  with  most  of  the  remaining  transports 
and  stores ;  and  orders  were  at  once  issued  for  the  men  and 
baggage  to  be  put  on  board.  Still,  there  was  a  wearisome 
delay.  Some  transports,  absolutely  necessary  to  carry  a 
portion  of  the  expedition,  which  had  duly  sailed  from  Eng- 
land, were  not  yet  arrived  at  the  River  Lee.  A  violent 
storm  in  the  beginning  of  December  had  ravaged  the  coasts 
of  Britain,  and  one  vessel,  with  eight  officers  and  sixty 
men  on  board,  was  lost  off  Falmouth.^  The  same  gale  had 
forced  the  Severn,  Captain  Rawlings,  to  put  into  Dart- 
mouth, and  the  Molly,  Captain  Curling,  to  take  refuge  in 
Torbay. 

Determined  to  wait  no  longer  upon  the  tardy  movements 
of  the  transports,  Braddock,  with  his  staff  and  a  small  part 
of  the  troops,  returned  to  England  in  the  Centurion  and 
the  sloop-of-war  Cruizer,  and  on  the  21st  of  December 
sailed  from  the  Downs   for  Virginia;   leaving   the   main 


He  had  already  (1763)  been  appointed  G-room  of  the  Bedchamber  to  the 
King;  an  office  which  he  vacated  in  1766.  In  1782,  he  was  made  First 
Lord  of  the  Admiralty  •  and  in  April  of  the  same  year,  advanced  to  the 
peerage  under  the  title  of  Viscount  Keppel  of  Elvedon,  in  the  County  of 
Suffolk.     He  died  in  1786,  when  his  title  became  extinct. 

'  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1368.  '  III.  Walp.  Corresp.,  88. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  139 

body  of  the  fleet  to  follow  at  their  earliest  speed.  On  the 
20th  of  February,  17o5,  Commodore  Keppel's  little  squad- 
ron, consisting  of  his  own  vessel,  the  famous  Centurion, 
the  Norwicji,  Captain  the  Hon.  Mr.  Barrington,  and  the 
Syren,  Captain  Proby,  cast  anchor  in  Hampton  Roads.' 
On  board  the  Norwich  were  the  General,  Captain  Robert 
Orme,  one  of  his  aides,  and  Mr.  William  Shirley,  his  mili- 
tary secretary ;  and  the  arrival  of  the  transports  was  daily, 
if  not  hourly,  expected.  But  the  first  intelligence  that 
reached  the  Commodore's  ears  was  a  report  that  two  French 

'  Not  even  the  Victory,  where  Nelson  died,  was  a  more  famous  and 
favorite  ship  among  British  sailors  than  the  old  Centurion.  In  1740,  it 
was  as  her  captain  that  Anson  led  his  little  squadron  on  their  venturous 
voyage  to  "put  a  girdle  round  about  the  earth."  In  1749,  we  find  Keppel 
in  command.  In  1755,  when  he  hoisted  his  broad  pennant  as  commodore  of 
the  Virginia  fleet,  William  Mantell,  Esq.,  was  his  captain.  Towards  the 
end  of  July,  the  Centurion,  along  with  the  Nightingale  and  the  Syren, 
Captain  Proby,  sailed  from  Hampton  Roads  northwardly;  and  on  the  4th 
of  September,  she  was  with  Boscawen's  fleet  (Penn.  Gaz.,  Nos.  1389, 1393). 
Though  rated  as  of  400  men  and  60  guns,  she  mounted  now  but  54.  In 
1759,  she  covered  Wolfe's  landing  at  Quebec ;  and  it  is  a  little  odd,  that 
at  the  moment  the  two  future  circumnavigators.  Cook  and  Bougainville, 
armed  on  opposite  sides,  were  present  with  the  ship  whose  fame  rested  on  its 
having  performed  the  same  feat.  When  she  at  last  was  broken  up,  her 
figurehead  —  a  lion,  so  exquisitely  carved  in  wood  as  to  suggest  the  work- 
manship of  Gibbons  himself — was  preserved  to  delight  the  eyes  of  the 
Greenwich  pensioners.     It  is  still  preserved  at  their  Hospital. 

The  Hon.  Samuel  Barrington,  Captain  of  the  Norwich,  was  the  5th  son 
of  John,  first  Viscount  Barrington.  He  was  born  in  1729,  and  died  an 
admiral  of  the  white,  and  lieutenant-general  of  the  marines,  6th  August, 
1800.  His  second-lieutenant  on  this  Virginia  voyage  was  the  celebrated 
Adam  Duncan  of  Lundie,  who  had  sailed  with  Keppel  in  the  Centurion 
as  a  midshipmen  since  1740.  The  Commodore,  recogniziag  his  merit, 
made  a  special  point  of  obtaining  his  promotion  on  this  occa^^ion.  In  later 
years,  the  great  victory  of  Camperdown,  which  gave  Duncan  a  peerage, 
testified  to  the  wisdom  of  Keppel's  judgment. 


140  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

men-of-war  had  lately  been  seen  hovering  along  the  coast ; 
and,  fearful  lest  they  should  insult  the  coming  fleet,  the 
Norwich  and  Syren  were  at  once  ordered  to  sea  again  to 
look  out  for  the  enemy/ 

Braddock's  long-expected  arrival  was  hailed  with  a 
lively  joy  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  colonies  of  Maryland, 
Virginia,  and  Pennsylvania;  who  certainly  contemplated 
with  enthusiasm  the  prospective  discomfiture  of  the  French ; 
at  the  same  time,  perhaps,  experiencing  a  secret  satisfac- 
tion that  the  cost  of  the  undertaking  should  mainly  fall 
upon  the  mother  country.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  expres- 
sions of  popular  pleasure  on  the  occasion  were  neither  cir- 
cumscribed nor  scanty ;  and  to  such  gratulatory  strains  as 
these  were  the  cisatlantic  muses  compelled  to  tune  their 
unwonted  lyres :  ^ 

Breathe,  breathe,  ye  winds;    rise,  rise,  ye  gentle  gales; 

Swell  the  ship's  canvass,  and  expand  her  sails ! 

Ye  sea-green  Nymphs,  the  royal  vessel  deign 

To  guide  propitious  o'er  the  liquid  main : 

Freighted  with  wealth,  for  noble  ends  designed, 

(So  willed  great  George,  and  so  the  Fates  inclined.) 

The  ponderous  Cannon  o'er  the  surges  sleep ; 

The  flaming  Muskets  swim  the  raging  deep; 

The  murd'rous  Swords,  conceal'd  in  scabbards,  sail, 

And  pointed  Bayonets  partake  the  gale : 

Ah  !  swiftly  waft  her  to  the  longing  shore ; 

In  safety  land  her,  and  we  ask  no  more ! 

Under  convoy  of  two  men-of-war,  thirteen  transports 
and  three  ordnance  store-ships  had  left  the  Cove  of  Cork 
on  the  14th  of  January,  1755;  having  on  the  last  day 
taken  on  board  £14,000  in  specie.^  The  names  of  this 
little  fleet  were  as  follows  : 

>  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1368.  '  Ibid,  1360.  '  Ibid,  No.  1371. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  141 


TRANSPORTS. 

Anna,  Captain  Nevin ;  Hallifax,  Captain  Terry ; 

Terrible,  Captain  Wright;  Fame,  Captain  Juddj 

Osgood,  Captain  Crookshanks;  London,  Captain  Brown; 

Concord,  Captain  Boynton ;  Prince  Frederick,  Captain  Burton ; 

Industry,  Captain  Miller;  Isabel  and  Mary,  Captain  Hall; 

Fishburn,  Captain  William  Tipple ;  Molly,  Captain  John  Curling; 
Severn,  Captain  Jehosaphat  Rawlings. 

ORDNANCE  STORE-SHIPS. 

Whiting,  Captain  Johnson;  Newall,  Captain  Montgomery; 

Nelly. 

Parting  company  on  the  voyage,  two  transports,  the 
Fishburn  and  the  Osgood,  each  with  one  hundred  men  and 
officers  on  board,  were  on  the  2nd  of  March  the  first  to 
arrive  at  Hampton.^  The  General's  original  notion  seems 
to  have  been  to  await  here  the  presence  of  all  the  troops, 
cantoning  them  as  they  came  in  according  to  a  plan 
of  Sir  John  St.  Clair's.  But  perceiving  the  objections  to 
this  arrangement,  he  left  orders  with  the  commodore  at  the 
port  for  each  transport,  as  it  should  arrive,  to  take  on  board 
fresh  provisions  for  the  men,  and  to  proceed  at  once  up  the 
Chesapeake  to  Alexandria  or  Belhaven  (as  it  was  indiffe- 
rently styled)  on  the  Potomac ;  while  he  himself  hastened 
to  Williamsburg  to  obtain  an  interview  with  Governor 
Dinwiddle.  It  would  seem  that  there  may  have  been  some 
foundation  for  the  rumor,  that  after  conquering  the  French 
Braddock  was  to  remain  in  this  country  as  Governor  of 
New  York :  but  it  was  never  alluded  to  in  his  intercourse 
with  the  colonies,^  for  the  delays  and  difficulties  of  his 

'  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1370.  2  yj  q^j  -^^^^  286. 


142  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

undertaking  began  already  to  be  foreshadowed,  and  his 
mind  was  more  than  sufficiently  occupied  with  what  he 
had  in  hand.  The  transports  came  in  slowly  :  it  was  not 
until  the  middle  of  March  that  the  Severn  arrived  with 
the  last  company  of  the  48th  regiments  Fortunately, 
despite  their  long  and  stormy  passage,  the  health  of  the 
troops  had  continued  good ;  but  one  man  dying  on  the  way. 
They  were  debarked  at  or  hard  by  Alexandria,  where  they 
were  for  the  present  quartered.  St.  Clair  had  arranged  an 
absurd  plan  for  cantoning  them  in  small  divisions  all  over 
the  countrj^,  which  the  General  very  wisely  at  once 
ignored.^ 

The  sword  was  now  drawn;  it  but  remained  to  cast 
away  the  scabbard.  In  London,  the  wits  of  the  court  with 
profane  levity  cited  Scripture  for  their  purpose,  and  pre- 
tended to  find  in  the  inspirations  of  Ezekiel  (ch.  xxxv., 
1-10),  an  assured  prediction  of  the  success  of  their  arms  in 
relation  to  the  Ohio  territories  and  Acadia.  Punning  on 
the  words  Mount  Seir,  Lord  Chesterfield  thus  announced 
the  prospective  ruin  of  the  French  ;  "  Moreover,  the  word 
of  the  Lord  came  unto  me,  saying,  Son  of  man,  set  thy 
face  against  Mount  Seir  and  prophesy  against  it,  and  say 
unto  it,  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God ;  Behold,  0  mount  Seir, 
I  am  against  thee,  and  I  will  stretch  out  my  hand  against 
thee,  and  I  will  make  thee  most  desolate.  *  *  *  Because 
thou  hast  said.  These  two  nations  and  these  two  countries 
shall  be  mine,  and  we  will  possess  it."  Meanwhile,  the 
pious  Fontaine,  secluded  with  his  little  flock  in  the  western 

'  Braddock's  Despatches,  in  II.  Olden  Time,  227.  II.  Sparks's  Wash- 
ington, 68.     II.  Penn.  Arch.,  286. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  143 

wilds  of  Virginia,  lamented  the  turbulent  times  that  had 
frustrated  an  expedition  on  the  eve  of  departure  for  the 
exploration  of  the  remotest  sources  of  the  Eed  River  and 
the  hardlj-known  Missouri,  and  the  discovery  of  a  water 
communication,  through  the  heart  of  the  continent,  with 
the  Pacific  Ocean.' 

It  is  here  that  the  Journal  of  Mr.  Orme  commences ;  and 
in  its  pages  the  reader  will  find  a  lucid  and  particular  ac- 
count of  the  whole  march.  But  since  it  is  necessary  to 
continue  the  history  of  the  campaign  upon  a  broader  plan 
than  that  adopted  by  our  Journalist,  it  will  be  endeavored 
to  pass  over  as  cursorily  as  possible,  consistently  with  the 
preservation  of  the  thread  of  the  narrative,  such  circum- 
stances as  he  has  dwelt  on  at  large,  merely  preserving  a 
sufficient  connection  to  admit  the  introduction  of  many 
collateral  facts  unknown  to  or  unglanced  at  by  him. 

Upon  the  10th  of  March,  shortly  after  his  arrival,  the 
General  had  forwarded  letters  to  the  Governors  of  the 
different  colonies  to  meet  him  in  council  at  Annapolis  in 
Maryland,  early  in  April,  and  urging  on  them  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  common  fund  to  promote  the  common  end 
of  the  protection  of  the  English  frontiers. '  With  the 
assistance  of  Sir  John  St.  Clair,  he  next  busied  himself  in 
organizing  the  basis  and  plan  of  the  coming  campaign. 
This  officer  had  arrived  in  America  about  the  10th  of 
January,  1755,  in  the  ship-of-war  Gibraltar,  Captain  Spry; 
and  since  had  found  active  employment  in  acquainting 
himself  with  the  nature  and  scene  of  his  future  duties. 

'  Iir.  Walp.  Corr.,  110.     Maury's  Huguenot  Fam.,  391 
^  VI.  Col.  Rec,  332. 


144  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

Having  procured  from  the  Governors  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia,  and  from  other  sources,  all  the  maps  and  infor- 
mation that  were  obtainable  respecting  the  country  through 
which  the  expedition  was  to  pass,  he  proceeded  in  company 
with  Governor  Sharpe  of  Maryland  upon  a  tour  of  inspec- 
tion to  Will's  Creek.  The  fort  here  was  garrisoned  by 
Rutherford's  and  Clarke's  Independent  Companies  of  Foot, 
which,  being  ordered  thither  from  New  York  by  Governor 
Dinwiddle,  had  arrived  in  Hampton  Roads  in  H.  M.  S. 
Centaur,  Captain  Dudley  Digges,  on  the  8th  of  June,  1754.^ 
On  the  1st  of  September  these  troops  were  marched  to 
Will's  Creek,  where  they  were  joined  by  Captain  Demerie's 
Independent  Company  from  South  Carohnaj  and  on  the 
12th  commenced  erecting  the  works.  On  the  26  th  of 
January,  1755,  Sir  John  and  Governor  Sharpe  found  the 
gallant  fellows  had  built  a  sufficient  fort,  with  several  large 
magazines,  and  barracks  for  all  the  expected  army.  The 
latter  were  arranged  in  the  manner  of  a  fortified  camp, 
flanking  and  flanked  by  the  fort :  ten  four-pounders  and 
some  swivels  constituted  all  their  artillery.  This  post  was 
called  Fort  Cumberland,  in  honor  of  the  Captain-General. 
A  company  from  Marj-land  had  arrived  there  about  the 
end  of  November,  1754,  and  remained  through  the  winter 
quartered  in  huts  they  built  for  themselves.  Later  in  the 
season  the  Virginia  troops  made  their  appearance.  On  his 
return.  Sir  John  descended  Will's  Creek  and  the  Potomac 
two  hundred  miles  in  an  open  canoe,  till  he  reached 
Annapolis ;  whence  he  repaired  to  Williamsburg  to  await 

•  These  were  the  troops  so  anxiously  looked  for  by  Washington  at  Fort 
Necessity,  in  July,  1754. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  145 

the  General's  advent.     He  had  inspected  the  Great  Falls 
of  the  Potomac,  and  had  no  doubt  that,  by  the  aid  of  gun- 
powder, the  rocks  in  the  channel  at  that  point  might  be 
removed  to  an  extent  sufficient  to  permit  the  passage  of 
the  flat-bottomed  boats  or  batteaux  in  which  the  stores, 
etc.,  were  to  be  transported  to  Fort  Cumberland ;  and  he 
employed  a  number  of  men  upon  that  river  to  prepare  the 
vessels.    He  also  laid  out  a  camp  for  the  army  at  Watkin's 
Ferry,  although  no  use  was  ever  after  made  of  it.'     It  was 
very  unfortunate  that  Sir  John  had  not  with  him  an  engi- 
neer  or  two  to  whom  a  portion  of  these  duties  might  have 
been  entrusted,  leaving  him  leisure  to  occupy  himself  in 
other  quarters  where   his   presence  was  not  less  needed. 
Thus,  the  four  hundred  men  who  were  to  fill  up  the  ranks 
of  the  44th  and  48th  regiments  to  seven  hundred  each, 
were  looked  for  by  the  Ministry  to  come  from  Pennsyl- 
vania.'    This  expectation  was  never  fulfilled :  so  late  as 
June  9th,  1755,  we  find  Braddock  writing  to  the  Governor 
of  that  province,  entreating  him  to  use  his  efforts  for  this 
end,  and  offering  a  bounty  of  £3  sterling  for  each  man.^ 
The  same  colony  was  also  relied  upon  to  cut  a  road  from 
a  point  on  the  Susquehannah,  below  the  junction  of  the 
Juniata,  to  the  Turkey  Foot  or  forks  of  the  Youghiogeny, 
by  which  flour  and  other  stores  miglit  pass  from  Philadel- 

■  VI.  Col.  Rec,  299,  300.     Penn.  Gaz.,  Nos.  1372,  1365,  1364. 

^  In  October,  1754,  Sir  Thomas  Robinson  advised  the  Governor  of  Penn- 
sylvania of  the  King's  wish  that  he  should  have  at  least  3000  men  enlisted 
from  whom  to  fill  up  the  ranks  of  the  44th  and  48th  regiments,  as  well  as 
of  Shirley's  and  Pepperell's.  The  mandate,  however,  had  no  legal  force,  and 
was  never  in  the  least  degree  complied  with.     See  VI.  Col.  Rec    200 

'  VI.  Col.  Rec,  423. 

10 


146  INTRODUCTOUT    MEMOIR. 

phia  to  the  army.  This  road  Sir  John  advised  to  be  made 
along  the  ridges  of  the  hills,  so  as  to  avoid  the  washing  of 
the  floods ;  and,  in  fact,  made  every  suggestion  for  its  plan 
that  experience  could  prefer  to  his  mind.  The  busy  trade 
which  to  their  shame  the  northern  colonies  at  that  par- 
ticular period  carried  on  with  the  French  also  arrested  his 
attention ;  and  on  all  these  various  topics,  as  well  as  in 
regard  to  a  commissary  whom  he  had  sent  to  purchase  a 
hundred  wagon-loads  of  flour,  he  addressed  the  Governor 
of  Pennsylvania.^  Mr.  Morris  was  anxious  to  do  every- 
thing that  St.  Clair  could  ask,  but  his  power  was  limited 
by  the  adjournment  of  his  Assembly.  Until  it  should  vote 
supplies,  he  could  raise  no  recruits  nor  cut  any  road ;  until 
it  should  declare  the  supplying  of  the  French  colonies  with 
provisions  illegal,  he  could  not  punish  the  ofience.  But 
such  powers  as  he  was  vested  with  he  freely  used  in  this 
crisis.  Pending  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly,  who  were 
at  once  summoned  to  come  together  in  Philadelphia,  the 
Governor  appointed  commissioners  to  survey  the  country 
and  report  on  the  most  proper  route  for  the  desired  road ;  ^ 
and  in  consequence  of  a  letter  from  Commodore  Keppel, 
informing  him  that,  by  virtue  of  the  King's  command,  he 

'  VI.  Col.  Eec,  301,  337.  When  the  prospect  of  a  war  between  the 
two  countries  was  imminent,  and  the  French  in  Canada  were  anxious  to  lay 
in  a  store  of  provisions,  the  commercial  colonies  of  New  York,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Massachusetts  hastened  to  supply  them.  Within  three  months 
of  the  first  battle,  no  less  than  forty  English  vessels  lay  at  one  time  in  the 
harbor  of  Louisbourg.  It  is  proper  to  say  that  Pennsylvania  was  not 
otherwise  engaged  in  this  trafiic  than  in  selling  flour  to  the  merchants  of 
other  colonies,  who  pursued  it  until  stopped  by  the  stringent  enactments 
of  their  own  legislatures. 

2  VI.  Col.  Rec,  318. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  147 

should  in  future  seize  all  ships  carrying  provisions  and 
stores  to  the  French  from  Pennsylvania,  he  also  issued 
his  warrant  to  all  the  collectors  and  port-officers  within  his 
jurisdiction,  forbidding  them  to  suffer  any  vessel  to  pass 
outwards  respecting  whose  destination  there  could  be  the 
least  doubt/  By  these  means,  much  was  effected  towards 
promoting  the  wished-for  end. 

It  was  in  the  course  of  this  correspondence  with  Sir 
John  that  the  General  first  came  into  connection  with  Mr. 
Morris,  to  whom  he  had  brought  introductory  letters  from 
Lord  Halifax  and  Thomas  Penn,  the  Proprietary.  On  the 
14th  of  January,  Dinwiddie  wrote  to  Morris  to  ascertain  if 
six  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  flour  and  a  quantity  of 
salted  beef  could  be  procured  in  Pennsylvania  for  the  use 
of  the  expedition ;  promising  to  pay  for  it  himself  should 
that  province  refuse.  After  some  hesitation,  fourteen  thou- 
sand bushels  of  wheat  were  voted  to  be  delivered,  in  the 
shape  of  flour,  immediately  upon  the  arrival  of  the  troops 
at  the  mouth  of  Conecocheague  Creek ;  a  large  stream 
which  flows  to  the  Potomac  through  what  is  now  Franklin 
County  in  Pennsylvania :  this  being  a  larger  quantity 
than  was  asked,  and  entirely  at  the  cost  of  Pennsylvania.' 
Sir  John  having  become  involved  in  this  negotiation,  Mor- 
ris's reply  was  submitted  to  Braddock,  who  had  just  then 
arrived ;  and  it  elicited  from  the  General  a  communication 
couched  in  no  very  gentle  terms.  After  bitterly  inveighing 
against  the  conduct  of  a  legislature  which,  in  full  view  of 

•  VI.  Col.  Eec,  319,  323. 

«  VI.  Col.  Rec,  297.  II.  Penn.  Arch.,  253.  This  flour  was  bought 
with  part  of  the  £5000  presently  to  be  spoken  of. 


148  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

the  King's  goodness  in  sending  a  large  force  to  rescue  their 
country  from  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  had  done  not  a 
thing  to  subsist  the  troops  or  to  faciUtate  their  progress  to 
the  Ohio,  he  employs  the  following  significant  threat  in 
relation  to  billeting  his  men  for  their  winter-quarters : 

"  My  Commission  empowers  me  to  settle  the  Winter  as 
I  shall  think  most  proper.  You  may  assure  your  Assembly 
I  shall  have  Regard  to  the  different  Behaviour  of  the 
several  Colonies,  and  shall  regulate  their  Quarters  accord- 
ingly, and  that  I  will  repair,  by  unpleasant  Methods,  what 
for  the  Character  and  Honour  of  the  Assemblies  I  should 
be  much  happier  to  see  cheerfully  supplied."  ^ 

As  not  only  all  of  the  General's  correspondence,  but 
many  historical  accounts  of  these  transactions,  abound  in 
violent  aspersions  of  the  patriotism  of  Pennsylvania  on 
this  occasion,  it  may  be  as  well  to  give  here  an  impartial 
statement  of  the  facts  of  the  case.  It  seems  the  emission 
of  provincial  paper  money  or  bills  had  many  years  before 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  Crown.  A  legalized  cur- 
rency of  notes  that  soon  became  ragged  and  defaced,  and 
for  the  redemption  of  which  no  assured  fund  was  provided, 
was  certainly  calculated  to  injure  the  trader  at  a  distance 
as  well  as  the  holder  at  home;  and  consequently,  in  1740, 
instructions  were  forwarded  to  Governor  Thomas,  of  Penn- 
sylvania, that  he  should  in  future  pass  no  law  for  creating 
paper  money  which  did  not  contain  a  clause  suspending  its 
operation  until  it  was  confirmed  by  the  King.  The  object  of 
these  regulations  was  to  prevent  any  sudden  emission  of  a 
fictitious  currency,  to  be  redeemed  by  posterity ;  and  Sir 

'  Braddock's  Letter  of  28th  Feb.,  1755.     VI.  Col.  Rec,  307. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  149 

Dudley  Ryder,  the  most  eminent  counsel  of  his  time,  hav- 
ing been  consulted  on  the  question,  had  formally  advised 
Mr.  Hamilton  (Mr.  Morris's  predecessor)  that  he  and  every 
other  governor  was  fully  bound  by,  and  could  not  honor- 
ably nor  safely  violate  them.  This  was  one  cause  of  dis- 
content between  the  Assembly  and  the  Governor ;  for  the 
colony  was  not  able  to  endure,  or  even  to  pay  a  very 
heavy  direct  tax ;  and  the  only  mode  in  vogue  of  raising 
a  large  sum  to  meet  an  emergency  was  by  an  emission  of 
bills.  These  the  Crown  was  anxious  to  have  redeemed  in 
not  more  than  five  years,  while  the  Assembly  naturally 
preferred  a  longer  day.  Owing  to  the  insuperable  difficulty 
of  any  agreement  upon  a  system  of  taxation  in  which  the 
proprietary's  unseated  lands  should  pay  their  share  with 
the  rest  of  the  province,  the  Assembly  were  now  driven  to 
a  course  which  they  perhaps  hoped  would  place  their 
Governor  absolutely  and  finally  in  a  false  position.  They 
resolved  to  issue  £40,000  in  paper  money  (£20,000  of 
which  should  be  for  purposes  of  defence),  to  be  redeemed 
in  twelve  years;  carefully  excluding  from  the  bill  any 
clause  of  suspension.  They  hoped  that  the  crisis  would 
induce  Mr.  Morris  to  pass  it  into  a  law,  and  probably  did 
not  believe  that  any  harm  would  come  to  him  for  so  doing. 
But  if  he  refused  it,  they  would  be  in  a  position  to  charge 
him  with  the  interruption  of  their  efforts  to  serve  the 
King.  Of  course,  the  Governor  could  not  assent  to  such 
an  act  with  the  written  opinion  before  him  of  the  man  who 
at  that  very  moment  was  Chief  Justice  of  England ;  and 
60  he  informed  the  Assembly.  Warm  bickerings  at  once 
broke  out  between  them.     The  Governor  laid  all  the  con- 


150  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

sequence  of  the  French  invasion  at  the  doors  of  the  legis- 
lature ;  and  the  legislature,  in  return,  not  only  refused  to 
modify  their  bill,  but  even  insinuated  that  there  was  no 
invasion  at  all ;  that  whether  the  territory  on  which  Fort 
Du  Quesne  was  erected  belonged  to  the  English  or  the 
French  crown,  it  apparently  was  not  within  the  limits  of 
Pennsylvania.  And  since  the  King,  said  they,  who  cer- 
tainly was  the  best  judge  of  the  limits  of  his  own  domi- 
nions, had  already  directed  his  attention  to  this  question, 
they  declined  taking  any  share  in  the  business ;  more  espe- 
cially as  there  was  no  war  existing,  in  their  eyes,  between 
England  and  France.  Such  was  the  satisfaction  which 
they  gave  to  the  requirements  of  Sir  Thomas  Robinson.' 
Finding,  however,  that  Mr,  Morris  was  immovable,  the 
Assembly  resolved  to  borrow  £5000  on  its  own  credit, 
which  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  to  be 
applied  in  defending  the  colony;  and  then  suddenly  ad- 
journed without  the  Governor's  approbation. 

It  is  so  much  the  fashion  in  this  generation  to  regard 

'  VI.  Col.  Rec,  192,  233.  XXV.  Geat.  Mag.,  230,  243.  There  had 
been  a  general  though  a  ridiculously  absurd  suspicion  in  Virginia,  as  well 
as  Pennsylvania,  that  the  story  of  French  encroachments,  &c.,  in  the  West 
was  all  a  bugbear,  gotten  up  by  the  Ohio  Company  in  order  to  procure  its 
occupation  by  the  British,  and  so  facilitate  its  own  settlement.  Thus 
Washington,  who  was  interested  in  that  concern,  wrote,  in  1757,  to  Lord 
Loudoun : 

"  It  was  not  ascertained  until  too  late  that  the  French  were  on  the  Ohio ; 
or  rather,  that  we  could  be  persuaded  they  came  there  with  a  design  to 
invade  His  Majesty's  dominions.  Nay,  after  I  was  sent  out  in  December, 
1753,  and  brought  undoubted  testimony,  even  from  themselves,  of  their 
avowed  design,  it  was  yet  thought  a  fiction,  and  a  scheme  to  promote  the 
interest  of  a  private  company,  even  by  some  who  had  a  concern  in  the 
government."  —  II.  Sparks's  Washington,  218. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  151 

every  ante-revolutionary  dispute  between  a  governor  and 
his  assembly  as  a  struggle  between  tyrannical  oppression 
and  popular  rights,  that  it  is  with  some  diffidence  an 
opinion  is  here  ventured,  that  in  this  instance  the  legisla- 
ture of  Pennsylvania  were  altogether  in  the  wrong.  Set- 
ting aside  all  question  of  expediency  or  policy,  their 
object  plainly  was  to  force  the  Governor  to  infringe  the 
constitution.  Failing  this,  they  blindly  persisted  in  a 
conduct  which  eventually  drenched  their  borders  in  the 
blood  of  their  own  sons,  and  raised  a  spirit  which  in  less 
than  ten  years  tarnished  the  honor  of  the  province, 
trampled  on  its  laws,  and  threatened  its  integrity.^  But  it 
must  be  added  that  their  errors  were  of  the  head,  not  of 
the  heart ;  the  tenor  of  their  whole  conduct  compels  the 
belief  that  they  were  honest  and  patriotic  in  their  inten- 
tions, though  sometimes  very  short-sighted.  The  censure 
which  they  received,  often  descending  to  sheer  abuse,  only 
tended,  by  a  confidence  of  its  injustice,  to  confirm  them  in 
the  path  they  had  adopted ;  and  was  quite  as  unmerited  as 
that  which  their  partizans  liberally  lavished  on  the 
Governor.  The  real  secret  of  the  trouble  consisted  in  the 
refusal  of  the  Penns  to  be  taxed.  Every  effort  of  the 
province  to  circumvent  or  break  down  this  odious  and 
unjust  distinction  was  as  violent  as  it  was  vain,  until  public 
opinion  compelled  its  abolition. 

At  this  very  moment,  when  their  government  had  refused 

'  Allusion  is  here  made  to  the  Paxton  riots,  when  a  murderous  array  of 
frontiers-men  marched  on  Philadelphia,  threatening  to  repeat  there  the 
crimes  they  had  already  been  guilty  of  at  Lancaster.  These  shocking 
scenes  would  never  have  occurred,  had  the  Ohio  Indians  been  enlisted  in 
time  in  the  Endish  interest. 


152  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

to  agree  on  any  plan  by  wliich  a  provincial  force  could  be 
raised  in  Pennsylvania  to  operate  under  Braddock  against 
Fort  Du  Quesne,  the  men  of  Pennsylvania  were  enlisting 
by  hundreds  under  the  banners  of  Shirley  and  Pepperell, 
or  carrying  their  services  to  Virginia  or  New  York.  In 
1758,  when  affairs  were  better  managed,  the  province 
raised  2700  troops  for  Forbes's  army.  But  then,  public 
matters  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  had  taken  a  vastly 
diflferent  turn.  In  England,  a  Pitt  had  released  the  nation 
from  the  ministerial  incubus  by  which  it  was  oppressed ; 
in  Pennsylvania,  the  provincial  levies  were  placed  in  every 
proper  respect  ujDon  a  level  with  the  regulars;  and  a 
community,  which  for  three-quarters  of  a  century  had 
existed  without  a  militia  law  had  at  last  (Nov.  1755), 
been  prevailed  upon  to  consent  to  a  measure,  which  at 
least  put  it  in  the  power  of  those  who  wished  to  learn  how 
to  defend  their  country.^ 

Unfortunately  for  himself,  it  was  Braddock  who  was 
destined  to  reap  this  untoward  harvest  of  popular  discon- 
tent. Incapable  of  comprehending  its  origin,  it  was  enough 
for  him  to  know  that  it  actually  existed,  and  that,  by  soft 
words  or  wrathful,  he  could  do  very  little  with  the  legislar 
ture  of  Pennsylvania ;  or,  indeed,  with  that  of  any  other 
colony.  His  temper  naturally  led  him  to  take  at  once  the 
most  unkind,  and  frequently  unfounded,  views  of  their 
conduct.  "  Pennsylvania  will  do  nothing,"  he  wrote  to 
Mr.  Fox,  the  Secretary  of  War,  "  and  furnisheth  the 
French  with  whatever  they  have  occasion  for."  And 
again   he   writes    to    Lord    Halifax    and    to    Sir  Thomas 

'  Sparks's  Wash.,  289.     XXVI.  Gent.  Mag.,  83.     VI.  C.  R,  337. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  153 

Eobinson,  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  State :    "  I  am  very 
sorry  that  I  am  obliged  to  say  that  the  inhabitants  of  these 
colonies  in  general  have  shown  much  negligence  for  His 
Majesty's  service  and  their  own  interests.     Nevertheless, 
they  have  not  all  equally  deserved  this  censure ;  and  par- 
ticularly this  i^rovince  where  I  am  (Virginia),  ought  not  to 
be  put  in  comparison  with  its  neighbors,  and  may  seem  not 
to  have  merited  these  reproaches.  *  *  *     I  cannot  suffi- 
ciently express  my  indignation  against  the  provinces  of 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  whose  interest  being  alike 
concerned  in  the  event  of  this  expedition,  and  much  more 
so  than  any  other  on  this  continent,  refuse  to  contribute 
anything  towards  the  project ;  and  what  they  propose  is 
made  upon  no  other  terms  than  such  as  are   altogether 
contrary  to  the  King's  prerogatives  and  to  the  instructions 
he  has  sent  their  governors.  *  *  *     I  cannot  but  take  the 
liberty  to  represent  to  you  the  necessity  of  laying  a  tax 
upon  all  His  Majesty's  dominions  in  America,  agreeably  to 
the  result  of  council,  for  reimbursing  the  great  sums  that 
must  be  advanced  for  the  service  and  interest  of  the  colo- 
nies  in  this   important    crisis."^     In  what  he  insinuates 
respecting  their  connection  with  the  French,  Braddock  was 
utterly  wrong  :  in  his  allegations  of  a  niggardly  disposition 
on  the  part  of  the  provincial  Assemblies,  he  was  perhaps 

•  II.  Olden  Time,  225,  2S2,  235.  Before  blaming  in  toto  coelo  the  rash 
judgment  that  dictated  these  intemperate  counsels,  it  will  be  well  to  recol- 
lect that  others  besides  Braddock  (whether  justly  or  not),  were  incensed 
beyond  bounds  by  the  conduct  of  Pennsylvania :  •'  A  people,"  said  Wash- 
ington, "  who  ought  rather  to  be  chastised  for  their  insensibility  to  danger, 
and  disregard  of  their  sovereign's  expectations."  I.  Sparks's  Wash.,  78. 
The  suggestion  of  taxing  America  by  Britain  is  perhaps  one  of  the  earliest 
on  record. 


154  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

not  wholly  incorrect.  Virginia  indeed  had  granted 
£20,000,  Pennsylvania  £5000,  and  North  Carolina  £8000 
towards  the  common  cause ;  and  even  Maryland  seems  to 
have  voted  £6000  —  all,  however,  in  their  respective  cur- 
rencies, which  were  much  less  than  sterling.^  All  of  these 
sums  were  expended  under  their  own  directions.  The 
contribution  of  South  Carolina,  amounting  to  £5714  55. 
B>hd.  sterling,  was  all  the  American  money  that  ever 
reached  Braddock's  hands.  As  for  the  funds  raised  north 
of  the  Delaware,  they  were  very  properly  applied  to  ends 
more  immediately  local.  The  main  cost  of  the  expedition 
was  compulsorily  borne  by  Great  Britain. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  the  General  lost  his 
equanimity  in  contemplating  not  only  the  unexpected 
deficiency  in  that  supply  of  money  which  he  had  been 
taught  to  expect  from  the  colonies,  but  also  the  first 
examples  of  that  miserable,  equivocating  system  of  shuffling 
delay  and  petty  economy  which  too  often  characterized 
their  action.  Thus,  all  the  provisions  that  Dinwiddle 
was  to  have  supplied  were  discovered,  at  the  eleventh 
hour,  to  be  not  forthcoming;  and  new  and  hurried 
arrangements  had  to  be  entered  into  at  a  moment  when 
everything  of  the  sort  should  have  been  finally  concluded. 
As  the  particulars  of  this  transaction  will  be  found  at 
large  in  the  ensuing  text,  however,  it  need  not  be  further 
alluded  to  here.  But  with  all  the  explosions  of  his  temper, 
there  were  many  instances  in  which  the  General  manifested 
a  spirit  as  wise  as  it  was  discriminating,  doing  equal  honor 
to  his  head  and  his  heart.     Of  these,  was  the  manner  in 

•  XXV.  Gent.  Mag.,  308.     II.  Olden  Time,  226. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  155 

which  he  secured  the  services  of  Washington.  The  reader 
need  hardly  be  reminded  that  in  consequence  of  the  King's 
order  of  November  12  th,  1754,  denying  all  precedence  of 
rank  to  the  colonial  military  in  comparison  with  the  bearers 
of  commissions  signed  by  himself  or  his  American  general- 
issimo, Washington,  with  a  soldier's  just  feeling,  had 
declined  accepting  any  position  in  the  troops  raised  by 
Virginia;  and  had,  in  fact,  almost  abandoned  (with  what 
reluctance  may  be  conceived),  every  idea  of  serving  his 
country  in  the  field.  No  man  could  more  perfectly  appre- 
ciate the  motives  of  such  conduct  than  Braddock;  and 
few  could  more  delicately,  while  tacitly  acknowledging 
their  propriety,  have  fulfilled  his  duty  of  bringing  to  his 
sovereign's  service  such  valuable  aid.  On  the  2nd  of 
March,  he  caused  this  letter  to  be  addressed  to  Major 
Washington :  — 

"  Williamshurg,  2  March,  1755. 

"  Sir  :  —  The  General  having  been  informed  that  you 
expressed  some  desire  to  make  the  campaign,  but  that  you 
declined  it  upon  some  disagreeableness  that  you  thought 
might  arise  from  the  regulations  of  command,  has  ordered 
me  to  acquaint  you  that  he  will  be  very  glad  of  your  com- 
pany in  his  family,  by  which  all  inconveniences  of  that 
kind  will  be  obviated. 

"  I  shall  think  myself  very  happy  to  form  an  acquaint- 
ance with  a  person  so  universally  esteemed,  and  shall  use 
every  opportunity  of  assuring  you  how  much  I  am,  Sir, 
your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  Egbert  Oh  me,  Aid-de-cawj)" 


156  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

"Washington's  reply  was  couched  in  terms  that  evince 
clearly  his  gratification  at  this  compliment.  He  had 
already  addressed  a  congratulatory  letter  to  the  General 
on  his  safe  arrival  in  this  country ;  and  he^now  ingenuously 
confesses  that  the  laudable  desire  he  possessed  to  serve, 
with  his  best  abilities,  his  King  and  country,  was  not  a 
little  biased  by  what  he  calls  selfish  considerations. 
"To  explain,  sir,"  he  continues,  "I  wish  earnestly  to 
obtain  some  knowledge  in  the  military  profession;  and 
believing  a  more  favorable  opportunity  cannot  offer  than 
to  serve  under  a  gentleman  of  General  Braddock's  abilities 
and  experience,  it  does,  you  may  reasonably  suppose,  not 
a  little  influence  my  choice."  But  domestic  cares  for  a 
space  prevented  him  from  repairing  to  his  post ;  and  it  was 
not  until  two  months  from  this  that  he  reported  himself  to 
the  General  at  Frederick  Town,  in  Maryland ;  his  appoint- 
ment, being  proclaimed  to  the  army  on  the  10th  of  May, 
1755.  In  all  this  unavoidable  delay,  he  had  been  treated  with 
the  greatest  consideration ;  Captain  Orme  informing  him  that 
"  the  General  orders  me  to  give  you  his  comphments,  and 
to  assure  you  his  wishes  are  to  make  it  agreeable  to  your- 
self and  consistent  with  your  affairs ;  and,  therefore,  he 
desires  you  will  so  settle  your  business  at  home  as  to  join 
him  at  Will's  Creek,  if  more  convenient  to  you ;  and  when- 
ever you  find  it  necessary  to  return,  he  begs  you  will  look 
upon  yourself  as  entirely  master,  and  judge  what  is  neces- 
sary to  be  done."  ^  Indeed,  throughout  the  campaign,  the 
General's  appreciation  of  this  illustrious  man  goes  far  to 
soften  the  common  impression  of  his  brutality  and  haughti- 

'  II.  Sparks' s  Washington,  68  et  seq. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  I57 

ness.     Washington  and  Franklin  were  perhaps  the  only 
two  natives  of  America  whom  he  distinguished  with  an 
unstinted  measure  of  approbation;  and  it  certainly  argues 
no  common  character  to  have  perceived  in  their  dawning 
the  future  meridian  brightness  of  these  glorious   minds. 
Washington  never  hesitated  to  express  his  convictions  in 
opposition  to  Braddock's.     "From   frequent  breaches  of 
contract,"  he  wrote/  "the  General  has  lost  all  patience; 
and,  for  want  of  that  temper  and  moderation  which  should 
be  used  by  a  man  of  sense  upon  these  occasions,  will,  I 
fear,  represent  us  in  a  light  we  little  deserve;  for,  insteld 
of  blaming  the  individuals,  as  he  ought,  he  charges  all  his 
disappointments  to  the  public  supineness,  and  looks  upon 
the  country,  I  believe,  as  void  of  honor  and  honesty.     We 
have  frequent  disputes  on  this  head,  which  are  maintained 
with  warmth  on  both  sides  —  especially  on  his,  as  he  is 
incapable  of  arguing  without  it,  or  giving  up  any  point  he 
asserts,  be  it  ever  so  incompatible  with  reason  or  common 
sense."     While   all  will  agree  with  Mr.  Sparks  that  the 
General  had  but  too  good  grounds  for  complaint,  it  is  plea- 
sant to  see  how  anxious  he  was  to  render  justice  to  even 
American  merit,  and  to  favor  his  Virginia  aid-de-camp's 
desires  for  promotion  in  the  regular  army  of  his  sovereign. 
Governor  Dinwiddie,  after  the  General's  death,  wrote  home 
to  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  the  Secretary  of  State,  his  con- 
victions  that   Braddock,   had   he   survived,   would   have 
warmly  recommended  Washington  to  royal  favor.     And 
he  afterwards  repeated  the  same  thing  to  the  Earl  of  Lou- 
doimwhen  that  incapable  nobleman  came  to  America  to 

'  Letter  to  W.  Fairfax.     II.  Sp.  Wash.,  177. 


158  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

succeed  Shirley  in  the  chief  command ;  strongly  urging 
Washington's  promotion  in  the  regular  establishment. 
"  General  Braddock  had  so  high  an  esteem  for  his  merit 
that  he  made  him  one  of  his  aids-de-camp ;  and  if  he  had 
survived,  I  believe  he  would  have  provided  handsomely  for 
him  in  the  regulars,"  are  part  of  Dinwiddie's  words.  And 
Washington  himself  says  very  strongly  to  Lord  Loudoun, 
"  With  regard  to  myself,  I  cannot  forbear  adding  that,  had 
General  Braddock  survived  his  unfortunate  defeat,  I  should 
have  met  with  preferment  agreeable  to  my  wishes.  I  had 
his  promise  to  that  effect ;  and  I  believe  that  gentleman 
was  too  sincere  and  generous  to  make  unmeaning  offers 
where  no  favors  were  asked.  General  Shirley  was  not 
unkind  in  his  promises,  but  he  has  gone  to  England."^ 
These  facts  put  a  very  different  face  upon  a  connection, 
honorable  to  both  parties,  which  Lord  Orford  so  falsely 
alludes  to  in  his  summing  up  of  the  Fort  Necessity  affair, 
when  he  says,  "  This  brave  braggart  learned  to  blush  for 
his  rodomontade,  and  desirmg  to  serve  General  Braddoch  as 
aid-de-camp,  acquitted  himself  nobly  !"  ^  The  insinuation 
that  Washington  sought  for  the  post  was,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, as  ungenerous  as  untrue. 

Owing  to  a  delay  in  Shirley's  progress,  the  congress  of 
the  governors  of  five  colonies  met,  on  the  14th  of  April, 
at  Alexandria,  instead  of  Annapolis,  where  Braddock  had 
expected  them  ;  when  the  plans  for  the  summer's  operations 
were  fully  developed  and  explained.  This  having  been 
done  (as  will  appear  more  fully  in  Captain  Orme's  Journal), 

% 

'  II.  Sparks's  Washington,  97,  162,  229. 
'^  I.  Walp.  Mem.  Geo.  II.,  347. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  159 

Mr.  Morris  laid  before  the  meeting  the  report  of  his  road 
commissioners ;  who,  in  their  portion  of  the  embryo  work, 
had  succeeded  beyond  expectation.  The  document  in 
question,  moreover,  presented  a  very  characteristic  speci- 
men of  the  feehngs  with  which  those  officers  on  whom  the 
responsibihty  of  fciihire  would  have  to  rest,  had  come  to 
look  upon  the  conduct  of  Pennsylvania.  Sir  John  St.  Clair 
had  visited  the  commissioners  with  his  warmest  indigna- 
tion, storming  "like  a  Lyon  Kampant,"  on  account  of  the 
expedition  having  been  so  retarded  by  the  delay  of  the 
road  and  the  failure  of  the  province  to  furnish  provisions.^ 

'  Shippen  MSS.,  Vol.  I.  He  threatened  them  "  that  instead  of  marching 
to  the  Ohio,  he  'would  in  nine  days  march  his  army  into  Cumberland 
County  (Pcnn.)  to  cut  the  Roads,  press  Horses,  Wagons,  &c. ;  that  he  would 
not  suffer  a  Soldier  to  handle  an  Axe,  but  by  Fire  and  Sword,  oblige  the 
Inhabitants  to  do  it,  and  take  away  every  Man  that  refused  to  the  Ohio,  as 
he  had,  yesterday,  some  of  the  Virginians;  that  he  would  kill  all  kind  of 
Cattle  and  carry  away  the  Horses,  burn  the  Houses,  &c. ;  and  that  if  the 
French  defeated  them  by  the  Delays  of  this  Province  he  would  with  his 
Sword  drawn  pass  through  the  Province  and  treat  the  Inhabitants  as  a 
parcel  of  Traitors  to  his  Master;  that  he  would  to-morrow  write  to  England 
by  a  Man-of-war ;  shake  Mr.  Penn's  proprietaryship ;  and  represent  Penn- 
sylvania as  a  disaffected  province  :  that  he  would  not  stop  to  impress  our 
Assembly ;  his  hands  were  not  tyed,  and  that  We  should  find  :  ordering 
Us  to  take  these  Precautions  and  instantly  publish  them  to  our  Governor 
and  Assembly,  telling  Us  he  did  not  value  anything  they  did  or  resolved, 

seeing  they  were  dilatory  and  retarded  the  March  of  the  Troops,  and 

an (as  he  phrased  it)  on  this  occasion ;  and  told  Us  to  go  to  the  Gene- 
ral, if  We  pleased,  who  would  give  us  ten  bad  Words  for  one  that  he  had  given. 
*  *  *  He  would  do  our  Duty  himself  and  never  trust  to  Us ;  but  we 
should  dearly  pay  for  it.  To  every  sentence  he  solemnly  swore,  and  desired 
we  might  believe  him  to  be  in  earnest."  The  Shippen  MSS.  (consisting 
of  the  original  papers,  &c.,  of  Edward  and  Joseph  Shippen,  Col.  James 
Burd,  and  other  members  of  a  family  that  during  the  last  century  occupied 
a  most  distinguished  position  in  Pennsylvania)  are  in  the  library  of  the 
Hist.  Soc.  of  Penn.    They  contain  a  store  of  valuable  information  respecting 


160  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

It  was  not  difficult  to  present  this  transaction  in  its  true 
light  to  the  General,  from  whom  St.  Clair  received  a  warm 
and  severe  reprimand  for  his  officious  violence/  The  road, 
in  the  meanwhile,  went  on  slowly  enough.  The  Assembly, 
being  sensible  of  the  great  advantage  it  would  be  to  the 
province  to  have  a  direct  communication  with  Fort  Du 
Quesne,  in  time  consented  to  its  being  made,  and  even  pro- 
jected another  to  Will's  Creek ;  but  the  Governor,  ascer- 
taining that  they  were  not  disposed  to  expend  a  sum  suf- 
ficient to  half  carry  through  both  of  these  designs,  contrived 
that  the  latter  road  should  be  abandoned  in  favor  of  that 
to  the  forks  of  Youghiogeny,  which  was  of  the  most  press- 
ing importance.^  But  even  the  cost  of  this  alone  gave 
great  offence,  as  it  stood  the  province  in  £3000,  while  they 
were  willing  to  spend  but  £800.  As  there  were  but  about 
one  hundred  men  employed,  its  progress  was  very  tardy. 
Provisions  were  not  regularly  supplied  them.  The  laborers, 
too,  were  kept  in  constant  alarm  of  the  enemy ;  no  guard 
was  allowed  them  by  the  province ;  and  it  was  not  until 
the  end  of  June  that  the  General  detached  from  his  own 
army  Captain  Hogg,  with  fifty  men,  for  their  protection. 
Advertisements,  in  English  and  German,  for  more  workmen 
were  vainly  dispersed  through  the  country. 

So  great  was  the  necessity  of  opening  a  communication 
by  which  provisions  could  be  sent  to  the  army  from  Penn- 
sylvania, that  Braddock  at  first  declared  he  would  not 
advance  beyond  the  place  where  it  was  to  encounter  his 


the  early  history  of  the  State,  and  an  interesting  correspondence  with  many 
of  the  chief  characters  in  America. 

'  II.  Penn.  Arch.,  317.  *  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1397. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  161 

own  route,  till  it  was  made.     "  The  general  —  the  officers 
—  the  whole  army  place  their  account  upon  this  road," 
wrote  Richard  Peters,  the  Secretary  of  the  Province  to  the 
Commissioners.     Finally,  however,  on  the  17th  of  July, 
after  they  had  once  or  twice  been  attacked  by  Indians  and 
most  of  the  party  half  frightened  out  of  their  senses,  the 
chief  commissioner,  Mr.  James  Burd,  received  from  Colonel 
Innes,  at  Fort  Cumberland,  notice  of  the  General's  defeat, 
and  orders  to  retire  without  delay.     Mr.  Burd  executed 
this  movement  with  coolness  and  sagacity,  leaving  nothing 
behind  him  that  he  could  possibly  bring  away,  and  indeed 
meriting  by  his  conduct  the  praise  which  he  subsequently 
received.     It  has  been  thought  best  thus  to  dispose,  at  one 
view,  of  the  full  history  of  this  provincial  road  as  connected 
with  the  campaign  of  1755  :  ^  it  is  now  necessary  to  return 
to  the  Congress  of  Alexandria. 

What  had  ever  induced  the  Ministry  to  select  Virginia, 
instead  of  Pennsylvania,  as  the  spot  from  which  the  expe- 
dition was  to  march,  cannot  be  discovered ;  but  the  choice 
was  a  most  unfortunate  one.  The  former  province  could 
afford  neither  forage,  provisions,  wagons,  nor  cattle ;  in  all 
of  which  the  latter  abounded.  To  be  sure,  the  land  car- 
riage  between  the  heads  of  navigation  in  the  Potomac  and 
the  branches  of  the  Ohio  was  less  than  a  hundred  miles; 
but  this  was  a  convenience  of  which  Braddocli  could  not 
avail  himself  And  it  was  computed  at  the  time  that  had 
he  landed  at  Philadelphia  his  march  would  have  been 
shortened   by  six  weeks,  and  £40,000  would  have  been 

'  Shippen  MSS.  pasdm.     II.  Penn.  Arch.,  320,  345,  357,  363,  373. 
VI.  Col.  Rec,  433,  460,  466,  476  ;        -        > 

11 


162  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

saved  in  the  cost  of  the  expedition.  Carlisle  would  have 
made  an  infinitely  better  frontier  station  than  Will's  Creek, 
being  far  more  accessible  from  Philadelphia  than  Fort 
Cumberland  was  from  Alexandria,  and  through  a  more 
productive  and  cultivated  country :  the  distance  from  Fort 
Du  Quesne  was,  however,  much  greater.  This  view  is 
sufficiently  proved  from  the  fact  that  Forbes,  in  1758,  after 
full  deliberation,  judged  it  wiser  to  cut  a  new  road  through 
this  province  than  to  follow  the  path  already  opened  by 
Braddock.  The  only  motive,  then,  for  the  unhappy  direc- 
tions with  which  he  was  saddled  must  be  believed  to  have 
been  one  publicly  suggested  in  London  at  the  time ;  namely, 
that  to  gratify  a  political  favorite  with  a  commission  of  2^ 
j^er  cent,  on  the  funds  sent  to  that  country,  Virginia  was 
fixed  upon  for  the  debarcation  of  the  troops.^  The 
moment  the  General  began  to  investigate  the  preparations 
made  here  for  his  subsistence,  he  perceived  their  utter 
deficiency.  The  twenty-five  hundred  horses,  two  hundred 
and  fifty  wagons,  and  eleven  hundred  beeves  which  were 
promised  him  from  Maryland  and  Virginia,  were  not  forth- 
coming :  twenty  wagons  and  two  hundred  horses  were  all 
that  could  be  produced ;  and  the  provisions  furnished  by 
Maryland  were  on  inspection  discovered  to  be  utterly 
worthless.  Such  disappointments  as  these  were  sufficient 
to  inflame  even  a  placable  temper;  and  in  the  general 
failure,  his  wrath  blindly  vented  itself  upon  the  people  of 
that  province  which  abounded  in  all  that  he  desired,  yet 
from  which  he  had  received  nothing.    Fortunately,  Governor 

'  Lewis  Evans's  Second  Essay  (Phil.  1756),  p.  7.     XXV.  Gent.  Mag., 
378,  388.     Hanbury  was  probably  the  person  alluded  to. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  163 

Shirley  had  insisted  upon  Franklin's  accompanying  him 
to  the  Congress  at  Annapolis,  where  he  remained  after  its 
adjournment  to  establish  a  post-route  between  Will's  Creek 
and  Philadelphia.  He  found  the  leading  ofl&cers  of  the 
army  imbued  with  a  fixed  detestation  of  Pennsylvania, 
alleging  that  the  province  had  refused  them  wagons,  horses, 
and  food  itself  at  any  price  -,  had  denied  them  a  road  from 
the  camp  to  their  back-settlements ;  and  was  even  in  secret 
correspondence  with  the  French.  Franklin  could  only 
reply  that  the  Assembly  had,  before  their  arrival,  granted 
£5000  to  support  the  King's  troops ;  that  it  was  understood 
Virginia  and  Maryland  were  to  furnish  the  wagons,  etc., 
and  that  Pennsylvania  did  not  know  that  more  were 
wanted ;  and  that  a  committee  was  at  that  very  time  sur- 
veying the  ground  to  lay  out  a  road.  He  added  that  it 
was  a  pity  the  expedition  had  not  landed  in  Pennsylvania, 
where  every  farmer  had  his  wagon.  Catching  at  the  hope 
held  out  in  this  conversation,  Braddock  at  once  asked  him 
if  he  thought  it  possible  still  to  procure  horses  and  teams 
for  the  expedition  in  Pennsylvania ;  and  if  so,  would  he, 
at  the  General's  cost,  undertake  to  obtain  a  supply  ?  To 
each  part  of  this  proposition  Franklin  cheerfully  assented, 
and  at  once  set  about  carrying  the  idea  into  execution  in  a 
manner  not  unworthy  of  his  astute  and  usual  worldly 
wisdom.^  He  caused  a  handbill  to  be  printed  and  widely 
distributed  through  an  extensive  part  of  Pennsylvania, 
then  comprehended  but  in  three  counties ;  in  which,  after 
an  advertisement  stating  the  terms  upon  which  his  natural 

'  II.  Olden  Time,  237.     I.  Sparks's  Franklin,  183.     VII.  ib.,  96.     II. 
Penn.  Archives,  295. 


164  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

son  William  Franklin  or  himself  were  desirous  of  hiring 
for  the  General  fifteen  hundred  saddle  or  pack-horses,  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  wagons,  each  with  a  team  of  four 
horses,  was  published  the  following  letter :  — 


"TO   THE    INHABITANTS    OF  THE    COUNTIES    OF    LANCASTER, 
YORK,  AND  CUMBERLAND. 

^^ Friends  and  Countrymen: 

"  Being  occasionally  at  the  camp  at  Frederic  a  few  days 
since,  I  found  the  General  and  Officers  of  the  Army  ex- 
treamly  exasperated,  on  Account  of  their  not  being  suj)ply'd 
with  Horses  and  Carriages,  which  had  been  expected  from 
this  Province  as  most  able  to  furnish  them ;  but  thro'  the 
Dissentions  between  our  Governor  and  Assembly,  Money 
had  not  been  provided  nor  any  Steps  taken  for  that 
Purpose. 

"  It  was  proposed  to  send  an  armed  Force  immediately 
into  these  Counties,  to  seize  as  many  of  the  best  Carriages 
and  Horses  as  should  be  wanted,  and  compel  as  many  Per- 
sons into  the  Service  as  should  be  necessary  to  drive  and 
take  care  of  them. 

"  I  apprehended  that  the  Progress  of  a  Body  of  Soldiers 
thro'  these  Counties  on  such  an  Occasion,  especially  con- 
sidering the  Temper  they  are  in,  and  their  Kesentment 
against  us,  would  be  attended  with  many  and  great 
Inconveniences  to  the  Inhabitants;  and  therefore  more 
willingly  undertook  the  Trouble  of  trying  first  what  might 
be  done  by  fair  and  equitable  Means. 

"  The  People  of  these  back  Counties  have  lately  com- 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  165 

plained  to  the  Assembly  that  a  sufficient  Currency  was 
wanting :  you  have  now  an  Opportunity  of  receiving  and 
dividing  among  you  a  very  considerable  Sum ;  for  if  the 
Service  of  this  Expedition  should  continue  (as  it's  more 
than  probable  it  will),  for  120  Days,  the  Hire  of  these 
Wagons  and  Horses  will  amount  to  upwards  of  Thirty 
Thousand  Pounds,  which  will  be  paid  you  in  Silver  and 
Gold  of  the  King's  Money. 

*'  The  service  will  be  light  and  easy,  for  the  Army  will 
scarce  march  above  12  Miles  per  Day,  and  the  Wagons  and 
Baggage  Horses,  as  they  carry  those  things  that  are  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  the  Welfare  of  the  Army,  must  march 
with  the  Army  and  no  faster,  and  are,  for  the  Army's  sake, 
always  plac'd  where  they  can  be  most  secure,  whether  on 
March  or  in  Camp. 

"  If  you  really  are,  as  I  believe  you  are,  good  and  loyal 
Subjects  of  His  Majesty,  you  may  now  do  a  most  accept- 
able Service,  and  make  it  easy  to  yourselves ;  for  three  or 
four  such  as  cannot  separately  spare  from  the  Business  of 
their  Plantations  a  Wagon  and  four  Horses  and  a  Driver, 
may  do  it  together,  one  furnishing  the  Wagon,  another  one 
or  two  Horses,  and  another  the  Driver,  and  divide  the  Pay 
proportionably  between  you.  But  if  you  do  not  this 
Service  to  your  King  and  Country  voluntarily,  when  such 
good  Pay  and  reasonable  Terms  are  offered  you,  your 
Loyalty  will  be  strongly  suspected.  The  King's  Business 
must  be  done ;  so  many  brave  Troops,  come  so  far  for  your 
Defence,  must  not  stand  idle  thro'  your  Backwardness  to 
do  what  may  reasonably  be  expected  from  you ;  Wagons 
and  Horses  must  be  hadj  violent  Measures  will  probably 


Ii66  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

be  used ;  and  you  will  be  to  seek  for  a  Recompence  where 
you  can  find  it,  and  your  Case  perhaps  be  little  pitied  or 
regarded. 

"  I  have  no  particular  Interest  in  this  Affair ;  as  (except 
the  Satisfaction  of  endeavoring  to  do  Good  and  prevent 
Mischief),  I  shall  have  only  my  Labour  for  my  Pains.  If 
this  Method  of  obtaining  the  Wagons  and  Horses  is  not 
like  to  succeed,  I  am  oblig'd  to  send  Word  to  the  General 
in  fourteen  Days,  and  I  suppose  Sir  John  St.  Clair,  the 
Hussar,  with  a  Body  of  Soldiers,  will  immediately  enter 
the  Province,  of  which  I  shall  be  sorry  to  hear,  because 
"  I  am,  very  sincerely  and  truly, 

"  Your  Friend  and  Well-wisher, 

"  B.  Franklin." 

Nothing  could  have  better  answered  its  purpose.  St.  Clair 
had  actually,  it  is  beheved,  served  in  a  Hussar  regiment 
abroad ;  and  usually  wore  a  Hussar  uniform  on  duty  in 
America.  Of  a  violent,  impetuous  temper,  he  had  on  more 
than  one  occasion  threatened  to  dragoon  the  lukewarm 
inhabitants  into  activity ;  and  his  character  and  profession 
forcibly  recalling  to  the  German  farmers,  who  in  great 
numbers  occupied  the  back  counties,  the  scenes  they  had 
witnessed  at  home,  were  artfully  introduced  by  Franklin, 
and  must  have  excited  much  amusement  among  Sir  John's 
friends  in  camp.  As  for  the  English  colonists,  it  was  enough 
for  them  to  be  reminded  that  such  things  as  a  Press  of  pri- 
vate means  for  the  benefit  of  the  State  still  existed.'     In  a 

'  "  I  can  but  honor  Franklin  for  y*  last  clause  of  his  Advertisement." — 
W.  Shirley  to  Morris.  II.  Penn.  Arch.  311.  Gov.  Morris  was  instructed 
by  the  Crown  to  aid  the  army  in  impressing  wagons,  etc.,  if  necessary :  and 


INTRO'DUCTORY    MEMOIR.  167 

fortnight's  space,  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  wagons  and 
teams  and  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  pack-horses  were 
on  their  way  to  camp.  In  his  letters  to  his  government, 
the  General  expressed  great  satisfaction  at  Franklin's  con- 
duct in  this  business,  which  he  characterized  as  "  almost 
the  first  instance  of  integrity,  address,  and  ability  that  he 
had  met  with  in  all  these  provinces."  It  is  a  pity  it  should 
be  necessary  to  comment  upon  the  difficulty  which  this 
matter  afterwards  brought  upon  its  undertaker.  Had 
Braddock  lived,  there  would  undoubtedly  have  arisen  no 
trouble;  but  his  death  left  his  contractor  involved  in  a 
debt  of  over  £20,000,  for  which  the  owners  of  the  property 
did  not  cease  to  importune  him.  Governor  Shirley,  it  is 
true,  relieved  him  of  the  greater  part  of  this  responsibility, 
with  warm  expressions  of  sensibility  of  his  public  services 
in  "  engaging  those  wagons  without  which  General  Brad- 
dock  could  not  have  proceeded;"  but  he  left  a  portion  of 
the  accounts  to  be  settled  by  Lord  Loudoun,  who,  according 
to  his  usual  habits,  utterly  neglected  doing  anything  in  the 
premises ;  and  it  is  believed  the  patriotic  postmaster  was 
never  wholly  repaid.  He  very  usefully  employed  Brad- 
dock's  new-born  partiality,  however,  in  procuring  the 
release  of  bought  servants  enlisted  into  the  army,  whose 
time  belonged  to  their  masters.^ 


we  find  his  warrant  for  that  purpose  issued  to  the  Sheriff  of  Philadelphia, 
in  September,  1755.     {lb.  432.)     And  see  VI.  Col.  Ree.,  203 

'  VII.  Sparks's  Franklin,  94,  138.  See  also  Bouquet's  testimony  to  his 
services  on  this  occasion ;  ib.  262.  As  for  the  Earl  of  Loudoun,  nothing 
could  be  juster  than  the  comparison  of  his  lordship  to  the  figure  of  St. 
George  over  the  door  of  a  country  inn,  always  on  horseback,  yet  never 
going  on  ! 


168  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

Returning  from  the  congress  of  Alexandria,  each  Go- 
vernor sought  his  respective  province,  fondly  imagining, 
perhaps,  that  the  work  was  done  and  the  fall  of  the  French 
near  at  hand.  This,  at  least,  was  the  sentiment  of  the 
populace,  who  welcomed  the  prospect  with  noisy  gratula- 
tion.^  In  the  meanwhile,  the  General  busied  himself  in 
getting  the  troops  and  stores  advanced  to  Fort  Cumberland, 
whence  his  march  through  a  hostile  wilderness,  if  not  an 
enemy's  country,  was  fairly  to  begin,  and  in  concerting, 
with  the  different  authorities,  various  measures  of  public 
convenience.  Having  fixed  upon  Winchester,  Virginia,  as 
the  place  to  which  his  letters  should  be  sent,  he  procured 
expresses  to  be  laid  by  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  to  that 
town.^  Another  object  to  which  he  devoted  much  atten- 
tion was  the  obtaining  of  Indians  to  accompany  his  army. 
There  is  no  point  on  which  his  conduct  has  been  more  mis- 
understood than  this ;  he  has  always  been  looked  upon  as 
despising  and  refusing  the  services  of  the  savages,  and 
as  actually  repulsing  their  proffered  aid :  let  us  see  what 
are  the  facts  of  the  case. 

Immediately  upon  the  General's  arrival  in  Virginia,  he 
had  spoken  with  Governor  Dinwiddle  in  regard  to  this 
matter,  and  was  given  to  understand  that  a  large  force  of 
Catawba  and  Cherokee  Indians,  under  the  influence  of  his 

'  Thus  Shirley,  passing  through  New  York,  was  encountered  by  a  turn- 
out of  the  militia  and  a  display  of  enthusiastic  gentry,  with  whom  he  drank 
loyal  healths  and  success  to  the  King's  arms;  while  <' the  doors,  windows, 
balconies,  and  tops  of  the  houses,  being  particularly  decorated  with  red 
cloaks,  &c.,  added,"  says  the  old  chronicler,  "no  small  beauty  to  the 
fame  and  diversion  of  the  time."     Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1376. 

^  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1377.  The  mail-rider  started  from  Philadelphia 
every  Thursday  morning  after  the  15th  of  May,  1755. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  169 

messengers,  would  presently  arrive  at  Winchester,  where 
they  were  to  meet  the  Six  Nations  in  council.  The  Ca- 
tawbas  alone  would  amount  to  one  hundred  and  twenty 
warriors;  and  hopes  of  a  considerable  addition  to  this 
number  might  be  based  upon  the  management  of  the  other 
tribes.  The  appointed  time  came,  however,  and  brought 
with  it  no  Indians.  It  would  certainly  seem  that  Din- 
widdle was  very  much  to  blame  in  his  whole  conduct  of 
this  business.  Other  men,  no  better  qualified  than  himself 
to  judge,  put  no  reliance  whatever  upon  the  Southern  In- 
dians promised  him  by  Mr.  Gist;  and  there  can  be  no 
excuse  for  his  utter  neglect  to  send  messengers  with  pre- 
sents to  the  Ohio  savages,  which  should  have  been  his  first 
care  on  receiving  the  funds  from  Great  Britain.  Taught 
by  injurious  experience,  however,  to  depend  no  more  upon 
the  promises  of  colonial  undertakers,  Braddock,  so  soon  as 
he  began  to  suspect  Dinwiddle's  arrangements  would  fail 
him,  addressed  himself  to  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania. 
In  his  letter  (April  15th,  1755),  he  states  that  he  is  told 
of  a  number  of  savages  living  within  that  province  who 
formerly  dwelt  on  the  Ohio,  who  therefore  were  doubtless 
well  acquainted  with  that  region.  Sensible  of  the  value 
of  such  auxiliaries,  he  begged  Mr.  Morris  to  persuade  their 
warriors  to  join  his  camp,  and  to  advise  him  with  what 
treatment  he  ought  to  greet  them ;  desiring,  too,  that  they 
should  be  informed  he  was  on  his  way  to  remove  the 
French,  and  to  restore  the  country  they  occupied  to  its 
Indian  proprietors,  whose  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  it  he 
was  determined  to  protect.  A  M^eek  after,  the  Governor 
ordered  George  Croghan  (who,  with  Conrad  Weiser,  had 


170  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

the  virtual  management  of  the  colony's  intercourse  with 
the  savages),  to  send  belts  of  wampum  to  all  the  lake  tribes, 
the  Delawares,  the  Shawanoes,  the  Wyandottes,  Twight- 
wees  (or  Miamis),  and  Piankeshaws,  inviting  them  to  join 
the  English  without  delay.  As  a  matter  of  course,  it  was 
now  too  late  for  such  messages  to  produce  any  good  effect ; 
and  no  good  effect  was  produced.  But  in  his  immediate 
neighborhood  at  Aughquick,  Croghan  managed  to  collect 
a  small  party  of  Iroquois,  whom  he  led  to  the  camp.  These 
were  chiefly  the  same  who  had  been  with  Washington  at 
Fort  Necessity  and  had  retired  with  him  to  Virginia. 
After  remaining  there  some  time,  they  repaired  to  Augh- 
quick,  in  Pennsylvania;  where  they  and  their  families 
(homeless,  now,  since  their  places  on  the  Ohio  were  under 
the  control  of  the  French,  whose  blood  they  had  shed)  were 
supported  during  the  winter  of  1754-5  by  that  province. 
There  were  other  Indians  of  the  Six  Nations  who  had  in 
like  manner  left  the  Ohio,  who,  as  well  as  these,  were  main- 
tained by  the  public ;  the  whole  amounting  to  about  three 
hundred  souls.  In  April,  1755,  however,  the  Assembly 
resolved  to  do  nothing  more  for  them ;  and,  left  to  their  own 
resources,  the  majority  soon  dispersed  or  went  back  to  the 
French.  On  the  night  of  the  30th  of  April,  Croghan 
received  the  Governor's  letter ;  on  the  2d  of  May,  he  set 
out  for  Fort  Cumberland,  with  his  remaining  Indians,  to  the 
number  of  about  thirty  or  forty  men  and  sixty  women  and 
children ;  it  being  impossible  for  the  warriors  to  leave  their 
families  behind  them  with  no  means  of  support.  When 
the  General  arrived  at  Will's  Creek  on  the  10th  of  May, 
he  found  these  people  awaiting  him ;  and,  after  the  usual 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  171 

negotiations,  they  formally  took  up  the  hatchet  against  the 
French,  and  agreed  to  follow  his  fortunes.    These  were  the 
hundred  Indians  of  whom  Franklin  speaks,  "  who  might 
have  been  of  great  use  to  his  army  as  guides  or  scouts,  if 
he  had  treated  them  kindly ;  but  he  shghted  or  neglected 
them,  and  they  gradually  left   him."     It  is  now  a  well- 
ascertained  fact  that  forty  or  fifty,  at  the  very  most,  were 
all  the  fighting  men  who  joined  Braddock ;  the  lesser  num- 
ber, perhaps,  being  nearest  the  mark.     Of  these,  but  eight 
actually  remained  with  him  to  the  close ;  and  for  permit- 
ting the  rest  to  leave  him,  Braddock  is  much  to  be  blamed. 
Captain  Orme,  it  is  true,  says  that  they  departed,  with  a 
promise  to  return,  under  a  pretence  of  placing  their  fami- 
lies in  safety  upon  the  Susquehannah ;  but  their  manager, 
Mr.  Croghan,  clearly  explains  this  business.    Colonel  Innes, 
the  Governor  of  Fort  Cumberland,  did  not  wish  to  have 
the  destitute  families  of  these  people  on  his  hands  during 
the  General's  absence,  and  he  accordingly  persuaded  him 
that  he  had  best  intimate  to  the  warriors  the  propriety  of 
taking  them  somewhere  else.     There  thus  being  no  provi- 
sion  for  the   entertainment  of  their  children   and  wives 
whilst  they  were  on  the  war-path,  a  majority  of  the  savages 
were  compelled  to  return  to  their  late  abode  in  Pennsyl- 
vania ;  the  General  retaining  eight  of  them  as  scouts  —  a 
number  which  Innes  assured  him  would  be  perfectly  suf- 
ficient.   At  the  same  time,  he  seems  to  have  labored  under 
the  misunderstanding  that  the  remainder  of  the  warriors 
would  rejoin  him  on  his  march ;  which  was  far  from  being 
the  case,  albeit  they  were  so  anxious  for  war  as  to  hang 


172  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

on  to  his  array  till  he  reached  Dunbar's  camp/  Certainly 
there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  Braddock  was  not  desirous 
of  the  services  of  the  savages,  though  perhaps  he  was  not 
sufficiently  versed  in  their  nature  to  always  employ  the 
properest  measures  of  securing  them.  Another  reason  he 
had  for  wishing  the  Indian  women  at  once  removed  from 
the  neighborhood  of  the  troops,  was  the  licentiousness  their 
presence  introduced  into  the  camp.  An  eye-witness  (Pe- 
ters, the  Secretary  of  Pennsylvania,)  particularly  states, 
that  besides  other  causes  of  discontent  at  not  being  more 
frequently  consulted  with  by  the  General,  there  were  con- 
stant and  high  quarrels  among  the  Indians  on  account  of 
the  amours  of  the  royal  officers  with  their  squaws  and  the 
largesses  the  latter  received.  These  gentlemen  "  were  so 
scandalously  fond  "  of  their  swarthy  lovers,  that  an  order 
was  issued  forbidding  their  admission  into  camp.  And 
that  Braddock's  general  deportment  on  the  march  was  not 
courteous  and  polite,  may  readily  be  conceded.  Such  was 
the  impression  it  produced,  that  the  Indians  with  him 
sent  belts  to  their  Susquehannah  friends,  warning  them  to 
keep  away  from  the  army,  lest  they  should  be  mistaken 
for  allies  of  the  French.^ 

'  11.  Penn.  Arch.,  290,  308,  316,  318,  321.  VI.  Col.  Rec,  375,  397, 
460.  II.  Olden  Time,  288.  I.  Sparks's  Franklin,  189.  And  see  Ap- 
pendix, No.  III.  Full  details  of  the  conduct  and  position  of  the  Indiana 
who  withdrew  from  the  Ohio  to  Pennsylvania  may  be  found  in  II.  P.  A., 
259.  VI.  C.  R.,  130,  134,  140,  146,  et  seq.  189,  218,  257,  353, 
398,  443. 

^  It  is  said  that  Braddock  gave  great  offence  to  his  Indians  by  forbidding 
them  to  take  scalps,  when,  in  fact,  he  published  a  reward  of  £5  to  every 
soldier  as  well  as  Indian  of  his  command  for  each  scalp  of  an  enemy.  The 
sole  authority  for  the  story  appears  to  have  been  John  Shiekalamy,  father 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR,  173 

Thus,  in  the  next  month  after  his  defeat  we  iind  them 
asserting  to  Mr.  Morris  that  it  was  all  caused  by  the  pride 
and  ignorance  of  that  great  general  who  came  from  Eng- 
land. "  He  is  now  dead,"  quoth  Scarroyaddj  their  chief; 
"  but  he  was  a  bad  man  when  he  was  alive ;  he  looked 
upon  us  as  dogs,  and  would  never  hear  anything  that  was 
said  to  him.  We  often  endeavored  to  advise  him  and  to 
tell  him  of  the  danger  he  was  in  with  his  soldiers ;  but  he 
never  appeared  pleased  with  us ;  and  that  was  the  reason 
that  a  great  many  of  our  warriors  left  him  and  would  not 
be  under  his  command." '  The  reader  has  here  three  dis- 
tinct versions  of  the  secret  of  this  savage  exodus  from  the 
tents  of  the  English  :  namely,  Scarroyaddy's,  Croghan's, 
and  Braddock's  own  —  from  which  he  may  select  such  a 
reason  as  best  suits  him.  It  is  not  difficult,  however,  to 
reconcile  and  to  combine  them  all.^ 


of  Logan,  whose  speech  is  celebrated  by  Mr.  Jefferson;  an  influential  but 
discontented  Delaware,  who,  early  in  July,  1755,  reported  this  tale  among 
his  kindred,  and  shortly  after  took  up  arms  for  the  French.     Penn.  Gaz 
No.  1385. 

'  VI.  C.  R.,  397,  589.     II.  P.  A.,  319. 

^  This  chieftain,  who  played  so  active  a  part  in  Braddock's  campaign, 
was  an  Oneida  Indian,  and  one  of  the  mixed  band  of  various  tribes  of  the 
Six  Nations  who  lived,  in  1754,  near  the  Ohio.  These  people  were  used 
to  choose  from  their  number  a  ruler ;  and  such  for  a  time  was  Thanacha- 
risson,  the  Half-King,  who  died  at  Aughquick  in  October,  1754,  leaving 
his  family  very  destitute.  (VI.  Col.  Rec,  159,  184,  193.  II.  Penn.  Arch., 
178,  219.)  In  the  Washington  papers,  and  in  the  ensuing  Journals,  he  is 
known  by  the  name  of  Monacatootha,  and  it  is  well  to  note  here  that  the 
two  appellations  apply  to  the  same  individual.  (II.  P.  A.,  114).  As  early 
as  1748,  however,  and  almost  universally  in  Pennsylvania,  he  was  called 
Scarroyaddy,  or  perhaps  more  correctly,  Skirooniatta.  (II.  P.  A.,.  15.  VI. 
C.  R.,  616.)  In  the  winter  of  1754-5,  he  was  sent  by  his  people  to  Onon- 
daga, to  obtain  the  views  of  the  confederates  on  the  expected  troubles,  and 
was  about  this  time  selected  to  succeed  the  Half-King.    His  services  under 


174   '  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

With  a  single  exception,  these  were  all  the  Indians  whom 
the  General  had  any  opportunity  to  secure.  Between  the 
20th  and  the  27th  of  April,  shortly  after  he  had  left  Fort 
Cumberland,  a  few  Delawares  presented  themselves  to  him, 
doubtless  with  no  other  view  than  to  ascertain  what  terms 
they  could  obtain  from  him,  and  what  were  his  chances  of 
success.  Whatever  conclusion  they  came  to,  they  never 
reappeared.  The  fact  is,  that  the  Indians  were  now  in  a 
state  of  high  excitement  and  of  bewildering  doubt.  There 
were  of  course  among  them  predilections  for  one  side  or 
the  other ;  but  their  wise  men,  whether  of  the  French  or 
the  English  faction,  were  not  unwilling  to  stand  neuter  and 
let  the  two  European  nations  "  fight  it  out  themselves,  and 

Braddock  were  fully  acknowledged  at  Philadelphia  in  August,  1755  :  "  You 
fought  under  General  Braddock,"  said  Gov.  Morris,  "  and  behaved  with 
spirit  and  valor  during  the  engagement.  We  should  be  wanting  to  our- 
selves not  to  make  you  our  hearty  acknowledgments  for  your  fidelity  and 
assistance.  We  see  you  consider  yourselves  as  our  flesh  and  blood,  and  fight 
for  us  as  if  we  were  of  your  own  kindred."  (VI.  C  R.,  524.)  He  ever 
continued  a  staunch  ally  to  the  English.  In  Sept.  1755,  he  headed  a  war- 
party  from  Shamokin  against  the  French  (VI.  C.  R.,  616),  and  indeed  the 
records  of  the  period  abound  in  evidences  of  his  usefulness,  being  constantly 
employed  in  the  quest  of  intelligence  upon  various  missions,  or  the  pursuit 
of  the  foe.  In  the  last  object,  he  must  have  been  tolerably  successful.  In 
the  Gent.  Mag.  for  Sept.  1756  (Vol.  XXVI.,  414),  is  a  fac-simile  of  his 
hieroglyphical  memoirs,  drawn  by  himself;  by  which  it  appears  he  had 
theretofore  slain  with  his  own  hands  no  less  than  seven,  and  captured 
eleven  warriors;  and  had  been  present  in  thirty-one  combats,  the  majority 
of  which  were  doubtless  of  a  very  trifling  nature.  On  his  breast  was 
tattooed  a  figure  of  a  tomahawk,  and  that  of  a  bow  and  arrow  on  each 
cheek.  It  will  be  seen  how  unluckily  his  son  was  killed  during  Braddock's 
march.  In  Dec.  1754,  he  had  a  wife  and  seven  children  with  him  at  Augh- 
quick  (II.  P.  A.  218),  so  there  was  still  left  him  a  numerous  posterity.  It 
only  remains  to  add  that  he  was  not  free  from  the  inevitable  failing  of  his 
race,  and  on  occasion  would,  as  Burns  has  it,  be  "  fou  for  weeks  thegither." 
(VII.  C.  R.,  87.) 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  175 

the  more  they  destroy  one  another  the  better."  But,  if 
they  were  to  be  involved  in  the  dispute,  their  anxiety  was 
to  discover  which  would  be  the  winning  side ;  and  this  was 
probably  the  errand  of  the  Delawares.  So  little  trouble 
had,  however,  been  taken  at  the  proper  time  by  the  pro- 
vinces to  convince  them  of  their  desire  for  their  services, 
that  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  those  who  were  really  well 
disposed  towards  the  English  was  to  endeavor  to  remain 
neutral.  Thus,  the  Delawares  and  Shawanoes  Hving  at 
Kittaning,  under  Shingas  and  King  Beaver  and  Captain 
Jacob,  as  well  as  those  at  Log's-Town,  although  both 
places  were  near  to  Fort  Du  Quesne,  steadily  resisted  all 
the  blandishments  of  the  French  to  join  with  them  against 
their  enemy;  until  in  April  or  May,  1755,  a  party  of 
Canadian  Indians  visiting  their  towns,  persuaded  them  to 
the.  measure.  Of  the  war-party  which  was  at  once  sent 
forth,  it  is  not  unlikely  the  Delawares  who  came  to  Brad- 
dock  formed  a  part.'  That  this  should  have  been  the  state 
of  relations  between  the  English  and  the  savages,  was  a 
fact  as  censurable  as  unfortunate ;  but  it  was  the  inexcusa- 
ble fault  of  none  else  than  the  authorities  of  the  neighbor- 
ing colonies,  who  utterly  neglected  to  give  them  a  single 
opportunity  of  selling  their  assistance,  after  their  own 
national  customs,  and  casting  in  their  lot  with  the 
British.  They  looked  for  a  belt  to  be  sent  them,  and  a 
supply  of  presents,  ere  they  should  engage  in  the  war. 
The  whole  burthen  and  responsibility  of  doing  what  should 
long  before  his  arrival  have  been  done  by  Dinwiddie  or 
Morris  being  thus  cast  upon  a  General  who  knew  abso- 

'  VI.  C.  K,  343,  781.     11.  P.  A.  318. 


176  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

lutely  nothing  about  the  matter,  it  is  no  wonder  it  turned 
out  a  bungling  failure/ 

Even  while  at  Will's  Creek,  the  army  was  ill  supplied 
with  provisions ;  and  what  they  had  being  chiefly  salted, 
were  far  from  acceptable  or  even  wholesome  to  men  just 
released  from  a  long  and  tedious  sea-voyage,  where  fresh 
food  was  out  of  the  question.  The  tables  of  the  officers 
themselves  were  scantily  and  meagerly  furnished :  very 
little  fresh  meat,  and  that  generally  half-spoiled,  was  to  be 
found  upon  their  boards ;  and  butter  (in  a  limited  quan- 
tity), at  the  General's  alone.  The  men  and  the  inferior 
officers  were  actually  in  want  of  almost  the  necessaries  of 
life.  Franklin,  in  his  autobiographical  sketch,  mentions  that 
at  Frederic-town,  while  supping  with  Colonel  Dunbar,  that 
gentleman  expressed  a  strong  concern  for  the  condition  of 
his  subalterns,  whose  purses,  never  very  deep,  were  now 
utterly  drained  by  the  exorbitant  prices  exacted  for  every 
sort  of  domestic  stores  needed  for  a  long  march  through 

'  "  Certainly,"  says  Mr.  Secretary  Peters,  on  the  12th  May,  1755,  "some 
general  meeting  was  necessary  and  expected  by  the  Indians,  that  both  they 
and  we  might  see  what  number  were  for  and  what  against  the  French  en- 
croachments; and  in  case  it  should  have  appeared  a  majority  was  on  the 
side  of  the  French,  then  it  might  have  been  prudent  to  have  tried  to  bring 
the  Indians  over  to  a  general  neutrality  —  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  Mr. 
Weiser,  our  Indian  interpreter,  and  my  own,  that  this  could  have  been 
effected,  and  would  have  saved  the  General  an  immense  trouble,  and  the 
Crown  an  heavy  expense."  (II.  P.  A.,  308.)  Nor  was  this  fact  unper- 
ceived  at  the  camp.  On  the  21st  of  May,  Mr.  W.  Shirley  thus  writes  :  "I 
am  not  greatly  acquainted  myself  with  Indian  Affairs,  tho'  enough  to  see 
that  better  measures  with  regard  to  'em  might  and  ought  to  have  been 
taken ;  at  least  to  the  Southw*.  *  *  *  Upon  our  Arrival  at  this  Fort, 
we  found  Indian  Affairs  so  ignorantly  conducted  by  Col.  Innes,  to  whom 
they  were  committed,  that  Novices  as  we  were,  we  have  taken  'em  into  our 
Managem*."     (lb.  321.) 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  177 

the  wilderness.  On  Franklin's  return  to  Philadelphia,  he 
interested  the  Assembly's  Committee  to  apply  a  small 
portion  of  the  £5000  in  their  hands  to  procuring  camp- 
supplies  for  these  gentlemen ;  and  accordingly  by  a  special 
detachment  of  horses  from  Lancaster  a  present  of  as  many 
parcels  was  sent  to  twenty  subalterns  of  the  48th  regiment; 
each  parcel,  according  to  his  own  inventory,  containing  the 
following  articles :  — 


6  lbs.  loaf  sugar. 

1  Gloucester  cheese. 

6   "    Muscovado  do. 

1  keg  containing  20  lbs.  good  butter. 

1   "    green  tea. 

2  doz.  old  Madeira  wine. 

1    «    Boheado. 

2  gallons  Jamaica  spirits. 

6   "    ground  coffee. 

1  bottle  flour  of  mustard. 

6    "    cbocolate. 

2  well-cured  hams. 

J  chest  best  white  biscuit. 

J  doz.  dried  tongues. 

1  lb.  pepper. 

6  lbs.  rice. 

1  quart  white  vinegar. 

6    "    raisins. 

This  little  act  of  attention  upon  the  then  postmaster's 
part  (the  details  of  which  may  well  be  repeated  here),  was 
very  kindly  acknowledged  by  the  recipients,  and  led  the 
way  for  other  and  more  substantial  provision  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  army.'     The  three  lower  counties  upon  Dela- 

'  VI.  Col.  Rec,  397,  636.  I.  Sp.  Fr.,  188.  "  Colonel  Dunbar  writes  in  his 
letter  of  May  the  13th  concerning  the  present  of  Refreshments  and  carriage 
horses  sent  up  for  the  subalterns :  '  I  am  desired  by  all  the  gentlemen  who 
the  committee  have  been  so  good  as  to  think  of  in  so  genteel  a  manner,  to 
return  them  their  hearty  thanks;'  and  again,  on  the  21st  of  May — 'Your 
kind  present  is  now  all  arrived,  and  shall  be  equally  divided  to-morrow 
between  Sir  Peter  Halket's  subalterns  and  mine,  which  I  apprehend  will  be 
agreeable  to  the  Committee's  intent.  This  I  have  made  kaown  to  the 
officers  of  both  Regiments,  who  unanimously  desire  me  to  return  the  gene- 
rous Benefactors  their  most  hearty  thanks,  to  which  be  pleased  to  add 
mine,  &c. ;"  and  Sir  Peter  Halket,  in  his  of  the  23d  of  May,  says,  ''The 
Officers  of  my  Regiment  are  most  sensible  of  the  Favors  conferred  on  the 

12 


178  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

ware  (wliicli  now  constitute  the  State  of  Delaware), 
although  intimately  allied  with  Pennsylvania  and  subjected 
to  the  same  proprietaries  and  governor,  at  this  period 
formed  a  distinct  government  from  their  more  powerful 
sister.  Whether  it  was  that  its  inhabitants  were  less  opi- 
nionated than  those  of  his  other  colony  or  not,  Mr.  Morris 
seems  to  have  possessed  more  influence  over  them  than  he 
could  bring  to  bear  in  Philadelphia ;  and  he  stirred  them 
up  to  forwarding  to  the  camp  a  present  of  fifty  fat  oxen 
and  one  hundred  sheep  for  the  use  of  the  army,  as  well  as 
the  following  provisions  for  the  General's  own  use  :  — 

Twelve  Hams.  Four  kegs  of  Sturgeon. 

Eight  Cheeses.  One  keg  of  Herrings. 

Twenty-four  flasks  of  Oil.  Two  chests  of  Lemons. 

Ten  loaves  of  Sugar.  Two  kegs  of  Spirits. 

One  cask  of  Raisins.  A  cask  of  Vinegar. 

A  box  of  Spice  and  Currants.  A  barrel  of  Potatoes. 

A  box  of  Pickles  and  Mustard.  Three  tubs  of  Butter. 
Eight  kegs  of  Biscuit. 

But  it  was  not  until  late  in  the  season  that  these  wel- 
come donations  were  despatched ;  ^  and  in  the  mean  time 
the  progress  of  the  expedition  was  fatally  delayed  at 
Will's  Creek  for  the  want  of  stores.  Not  less  time  than  a 
month  or  six  weeks,  at  the  most  moderate  computation, 


subalterns  by  your  Assembly,  who  have  made  them  so  well-timed  and 
handsome  a  present.  At  their  request  and  Desire  I  return  their  thanks, 
and  to  the  acknowledgments  of  the  Officers  beg  leave  to  add  mine,  which 
you,  I -hope,  will  do  me  the  favor  for  the  whole  to  offer  to  the  Assembly, 
and  to  assure  them  that  we  shall  on  every  occasion  do  them  the  Justice  due 
for  so  seasonable  and  well-judged  an  act  of  generosity.'"  —  Assembles 
Address,  29th  Sept.  1755. 

'  VI.  Col.  Rec,  408,  414.     Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1380. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  179 

were  thus  consumed  in  awaiting  the  fulfilment  of  contracts 
for  forage  and  food,  which  Braddock  was  obliged  to  make 
himself,  in  default  of  the  proper  and  timely  action  of  the 
colonies.  It  will  be  observed  in  season  how  dearly  this 
shameful  conduct  was  repaid ;  for,  setting  aside  the  loss  to 
the  crown  of  the  whole  cost  of  his  undertaking,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  a  fortnight's  earlier  arrival  on  the  Ohio  would 
have  given  victory  to  his  arms  and  peace  to  the  borders  of 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  Maryland.  In  lieu  of  this, 
and  in  consequence  of  their  own  blind  perversity,  a  deso- 
lating and  ruinous  war  steeped  for  years  their  land  in 
blood,  and  cost  them  eventually  ten  times  as  much  as 
would  originally  have  ensured  their  perfect  security. 

No  longer  relying  at  all  upon  the  faith  of  colonial  assem- 
blies or  colonial  contractors,  the  General,  in  the  beginning 
of  May,  set  about  procuring,  on  his  own  responsibility,  as 
representing  the  Crown,  the  stores  necessary  for  his  march 
to  Fort  Du  Quesne,  On  the  10th  of  May  Captain  Leslie, 
who  had  been  appointed  Assistant  to  Sir  John  St.  Clair, 
was  sent  into  Pennsylvania  to  purchase  forage ;  and  on  the 
24th,  Mr.  Morris  was  empowered  to  make  further  contracts 
for  flour  and  cattle,  or  in  default  of  any  other  provision, 
even  salt  fish,  to  support  the  troops  after  July,  when  their 
present  magazines  would  become  exhausted.  Through  the 
zealous  cooperation  of  that  energetic  Governor,  this  busi- 
ness was  fortunately  carried  through  satisfactorily;  else, 
to  use  Braddock's  own  language,  he  should  inevitably  have 
starved :  for  it  was  not  until  the  stores  procured  by  Cap- 
tain Leslie  reached  Fort  Cumberland  that  the  army  was 
able  to  move.     Three  precious  months  had  already  been 


180  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

consumed  upon  the  two  hundred  miles  that  separated  this 
place  from  Annapolis ;  and  above  one  hundred  and  fifty 
yet  remained  to  be  overcome  ere  the  host  should  reach  the 
bourne  of  its  desires.^ 

It  is  proper  now  to  glance  at  the  conduct  of  the  ministry 
of  France  in  this  conjuncture,  and  to  observe  what  prepa- 
rations they  had  made  to  repel  the  advances  of  the  Eng- 
lish and  to  preserve  their  own  encroachments.  Although 
both  governments  had  long  persisted  in  positive  declarar 
tions  of  their  amicable  intentions,  neither  was  weak  enough 
to  place  the  least  reliance  upon  assurances  so  thoroughly 
contradicted  by  the  facts  of  their  own  conduct.  Through 
its  agents  in  France,  England  was  never  left  uninformed 
of  the  extensive  armaments  that  power  was  busily  fitting 
out  for  its  American  possessions ;  while  everything  relative 
to  Braddock's  and  Boscawen's  instructions  was  known  to 
the  Cabinet  of  Versailles  long  before  it  was  communicated 
to  the  public  at  home.  One  Florence  Hennessey,  an  Irish 
physician,  settled  at  London,  was  the  spy  employed.  What 
were  his  sources  of  information  is  a  mystery  that  has  never 
been  fiithomed ;  but  he  assuredly  had  often  access  to  the 
confidential  secrets  of  the  ministry,  and  was  in  possession 
of  every  detail  of  their  foreign  policy.  Detected  at  last, 
he  was  convicted  of  high  treason  and  sentenced  to  its 
doom ;  but,  after  several  reprieves,  was  finally  pardoned 
by  George  III.  at  the  intercession  of,  and  as  a  personal 
favor  to,  the  French  King.  But  being  thus  apprised  in 
abundant  season  of  the  designs  of  Great  Britain,  their 
opponents  hastened  to  take  the  precautions  which  were  so 

•  VI.  Col.  Rec,  383,  401,  408,  415.  430. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  181 

necessary  in  the  then  condition  of  their  own  colonies  j  and 
ships  and  men  were  at  once  set  in  train  for  Quebec.  The 
original  force  of  5000  militia,  600  Indians,  and  400  regulars, 
which,  in  the  year  1753,  had  been  raised  in  New  France 
for  the  occupation  of  the  Ohio,'  almost  exhausted  the 
strength  of  that  province,  and,  its  object  being  accom- 
plished, was  now  entirely  dissolved.  Small  but  sufficient 
garrisons  were  maintained  in  the  posts  thus  erected,  and 
probably  little  alteration  was  made  in  their  strength  until 
the  troubles  of  1754.  In  February  of  that  year,  a  very 
considerable  number  of  French  troops  arrived  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi, some  of  whom  were  doubtless  sent  up  to  their 
western  stations ;  while  the  Governor  of  Louisiana  left  no 
stone  unturned  to  engage  every  savage  within  his  influence 
in  the  general  plan  against  the  English.^  When  M.  de 
Contrecoeur  first  came  upon  Trent,  in  April,  1754,  he  pro- 
bably had  not  more  than  from  750  to  1000  men  with  himj 
but  his  whole  command  had  not  yet  arrived.  By  July,  he 
was  certainly  strong  enough  to  detach  from  600  to  800 
Indians,  under  M.  de  Villiers,  against  Fort  Necessity ;  and 
at  this  period  he  probably  had  under  him  all  the  2000  men 
which  were  designed  for  him  by  his  superiors.''  But  when 
that  victory  was  gained,  and  not  an  enemy  remained 
within  a  hundred  miles  and  more  of  his  position,  most  of 
his  troops  were  dismissed,  and  the  fort  remained,  on  the 
25th  of  July,  1754,  garrisoned  by  but  400  men,  200  of 
whom  were  workmen.     M.  de  MerQier,  the  engineer  by 

'  VI.  Col.  Rec,  20. 

^  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1367.     II.  Garneau,  201.     VI.  Col.  Rec,  32. 

"  II.  Garneau,  201,  202.     VI.  Col.  Rec,  33,  37,  51. 


182  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

whom  the  works  were  planned,  had  on  that  day  departed 
with  about  1000  men.  For  this,  and  for  other  information 
concerning  the  condition  of  the  fort,  we  are  indebted  to  the 
indefatigable  patriotism  of  Captain  Robert  Stobo,  of  Frey's 
regiment;  who,  having  been  one  of  the  hostages  surren- 
dered by  Washington  at  Fort  Necessity  a  few  weeks  before, 
was  now  confined  a  prisoner  within  its  walls.  Watching 
his  opportunity,  he  made  the  opposite  plan  of  Fort  Du 
Quesne  and  forwarded  it,, as  well  as  two  letters  describing 
its  weaknesses,  to  his  countrymen,  by  the  hands  of  a 
friendly  Indian.* 

But  a  much  fuller  account  is  afforded  in  the  Journal  of 
one  John  M'Kinney,  who,  in  February,  1756,  was  captured 
by  the  Indians  and  carried  first  thither  and  afterwards  to 
Canada ;  whence  he  in  a  few  months  made  his  escape  and 
returned,  through  Connecticut,  to  Pennsylvania.  From  a 
collation  of  these  two  narratives  a  tolerably  clear  idea  of 
the  nature  and  position  of  this  slight  but  famous  fortifica- 
tion may  be  formed. 

Fort  Du  Quesne  was  situated  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Monongahela,  on  the  tongue  of  land  formed  by  the  junc- 
tion of  that  stream  with  the  Alleghany.  Though  full  of 
faults  in  its  original  construction,  and  small,  it  was  built 
with  immense  labor,  and  it  had  "a  great  deal  of  very 

'  In  a  former  note,  reference  to  Mr.  Lyman  C.  Draper's  notices  of  Stobo 
and  Van  Braam  (I.  Olden  Time,  369.)  was  unfortunately  omitted.  The 
curious  reader  may  consult  them  with  advantage.  A  copy  of  Stobo's 
drawing  was  probably  made  in  the  provinces  before  Braddock's  departure, 
since  we  find  an  engraved  plan  of  Fort  Du  Quesne  published  and  for  sale 
at  London  in  August,  1755,  immediately  on  the  tidings  of  Braddock's  mis- 
adventure. (XXV.  Gent.  Mag.,  383.)  It  has  vainly  been  sought  to  pro- 
cure a  copy  of  this  engraving. 


THE  NEW  YOIRK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


MTW,  LEN»X  ANi 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  183 

strong  works  collected  into  very  little  room."^  By  the 
doubtful  evidences  which  we  possess,  its  shape  would  seem 
to  have  been  a  parallelogram,  its  four  sides  facing  very 
nearly  to  the  points  of  the  compass,  but  a  bastion  at  each 
corner  gave  it  a  polygonal  appearance.  Its  longest  sides 
were  fifty  yards ;  its  shorter,  forty.  The  position  of  these 
bastions  (which  were  fewer  in  number  in  Stobo's  time  than 
in  M'Kinney's,  and  probably  so  continued  till  the  summer 
of  1755,)  may  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  engraved  plan. 
These  were  made  of  very  large  squared  logs,  to  the  height 
of  twelve  feet,  and  compactly  filled  in  with  earth  to  the 
depth  of  eight ;  thus  leaving  about  four  feet  of  ramparts 
to  shelter  the  plateau.  The  sides  of  the  fort  nearest  the 
rivers  being  comparatively  protected  by  nature,  were 
not  furnished  with  bastions ;  but  a  strong  stockade,  twelve 
feet  high,  and  made  of  logs  a  foot  in  diameter  driven  pile- 
wise  into  the  ground,  extended  from  bastion  to  bastion  and 
completely  enclosed  the  area.  This  stockade  was  ingeni- 
ously wattled  crosswise  with  poles,  after  the  fashion  of 
basket-work,  and  loopholes,  slanting  downwards,  were  cut 
through  them  to  enable  the  men  to  fire.  At  the  distance 
of  some  four  rods  from  these  walls,  as  they  may  be  called, 
a  shallow  ditch  was  dug  completely  environing  them  and 
protected  by  a  second  stockade,  seven  feet  high,  built  in  a 
manner  similar  to  the  first,  and  solidly  embanked  with 
earth.  If  we  assume  the  proportions  of  Stobo's  drawing 
to  be  correct,  by  a  comparison  of  this  work  with  the 
dimensions  of  the  house  marked  "  Soldiers'  Barracks  "  on 
his  plan,  its  extent  will  be  found  to  be  about  seven  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  feet. 

'  II.  Garneau,  216.     Bouquet  in  I.  0.  T.,  184. 


184  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

Two  gates  opened  into  the  fort ;  the  western  from  the 
water-side,  and  the  eastern,  about  ten  feet  wide,  from  the 
land.  Immediately  betAveen  the  eastern  posterns  was  sunken 
a  deep  well,  whose  diameter  was  the  width  of  the  gate- 
way, and  over  which  a  drawbridge  was  placed  that  at 
night,  or  in  time  of  danger,  was  drawn  up  with  chains  and 
levers ;  and  these  actually  formed  the  gate.  Both  portals 
were  strongly  framed  of  squared  logs ;  but  the  eastern  gate 
opened  on  hinges,  and  had  a  wicket  cut  in  it  for  ordinary 
use.  Within  the  fort,  and  hard  by  the  eastern  gate,  were 
placed  the  magazine  and  kitchen ;  the  former,  twenty  feet 
wide  by  forty  long,  and  but  five  feet  high,  was  built  of 
heavy,  hewed  timber,  deeply  sunk  into  the  ground  to 
almost  its  full  altitude,  and  its  roof  plastered  with  a  coating 
of  potter's  clay  nearly  four  feet  in  thickness.  By  this 
means,  it  was  comparatively  secure  from  any  missile  save 
bombs  or  hot-shot  thrown  from  the  brow  of  the  adjacent 
hills.  It  is  to  these  precautions  that  we  are  indebted  at 
this  day  for  the  solitary  vestige  of  Old  Fort  Du  Quesne 
that  remains  to  us.  Some  workmen,  in  the  summer  of 
1854 — just  about  a  century  after  Stobo  wrote  —  being  em- 
ployed in  making  excavations  for  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road Company,  brought  to  light  this  building,  which  alone, 
of  all  its  comrades,  had,  from  its  peculiar  formation, 
escaped  as  well  the  destroying  hand  of  Time  as  the  torch 
of  its  baffled  creator,  when,  in  1758,  he  forever  abandoned 
his  beloved  fortress  and  fled  before  the  approach  of  Forbes. 
Leaves,  dirt,  and  rubbish  must  soon  have  accumulated 
above  its  neglected  roof  The  storms  of  winter  came,  and 
the  freshets  of  the  spring;  and  ere  long  not  a  human  being 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  185 

had  reason  to  believe  that  beneath  his  feet  stood,  intact 
almost  as  on  the  day  it  was  built,  the  Old  French  Magazine.' 
Beside  this,  however,  there  were  other  buildings  within 
the  walls ;  heavy  and  substantial  log-houses,  such  as  the  wants 
of  the  garrison  might  require.     Two  were  store-houses  or 
magazines ;  two  others  were  barracks ;  a  seventh  was  the 
commandant's  residence  ;  and  lesser  erections  served  for  a 
guard-house  and  a  prison.     The  backs  of  these  were  at  but 
a  yard's  distance  from  the  walls,  which  they  aided  greatly 
to  strengthen ;  all  the  intervening  space  being  filled  in  with 
earth.     Their  roofs,  covered  with  boards  sawed  by  hand 
upon  the  spot,  were  level  at  the  eaves  with  the  ramparts ; 
nor  were  there  any  pickets  or  sharpened  palisades  crowning 
the  walls.     Had  Braddock  reached  this  place,  it  was  St. 
Clair's  proposition  to  erect  a  battery  on  the  brow  of  the 
opposite  hill,  which   perfectly  commanded   the   fort,  and 
thence,  with  hot  shot,  to  set  these  buildings  on  fire,  and  so 
subdue   the  post.     All   their   artillery  consisted  of  eight 
cannon ;  one-half  of  them  three,  and  the  remainder  four- 
pounders ;    five   of  which  were   mounted   on   the   north- 
western bastion  defending  the  Powder-Magazine.     When 
Stobo  wrote,  M.  de  Contrecoeur  and  a  guard  of  five  officers 
and  forty  men  were  all  who  lodged  in  the  fort;  bark  cabins 
were  erected  around  it  for  the  rest  of  the  garrison.     Every 
preparation  was  made  for  their  pennanent  comfort;  and 
already  kitchen-gardens    upon    the  Alleghany  and    mills 
upon  the  Monongahela,  and  a  vast  corn-field,  extending  for 

'  In  1776,  a  slight  inequality  of  the  ground,  a  few  graves,  and  the  traces 
of  Its  fosse  above  denoted  the  site  of  the  fort:  in  1831,  a  boat-yard  was 
placed  on  the  very  spot :  and  at  this  day  not  a  vestige  of  old  Fort  Du  Quesne  is 
visible  save  the  lately-exposed  magazine.    (V.  Haz.  Reg.,  191,  VIII.  ib.  19i> 


186  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

a  quarter  of  a  mile  up  either  stream,  furnished  promise  of 
future  subsistence.  The  woods  all  around  had  been  cut 
down,  and  hardly  a  stump  remained  within  musket-shot  to 
shelter  the  approach  of  a  foe.^ 

Although  the  Canadian  militia  returning  to  their  homes 
left  but  a  small  garrison  of  regulars  to  hold  the  fort  towards 
the  end  of  the  summer  of  1754,  yet,  if  any  reliance  may 
be  placed  upon  the  reports  which  reached  the  English 
provinces,  there  was  still  a  plenty  of  aid  within  call ;  no 
less  than  2200  fresh  troops  being  sent  thitherward  from 
Quebec  during  that  season ;  and  on  the  25th  of  September 
300  Caghnawagas  or  French  Indians  and  a  convoy  of  pro- 
visions from  Quebec  arrived.^  Five  days  before,  when 
Lieutenant  Lyon  with  a  flag  of  truce  from  Virginia  and  a 
fruitless  proposition  to  exchange  La  Force  (the  officer  cap- 
tured at  Jumonville's  defeat),  for  Captain  Stobo,  visited  Du 
Quesne,  he  found  but  one  hundred  men  in  the  fort.  But 
despite  their  scanty  numbers,  they  were  pursuing  a  most 
dangerous  policy  towards  English  interests  by  assiduously 
tempting  the  Indians  of  the  Six  Nations  in  the  vicinity  to 
forswear  their  ancient  alliances ;  and  sending  their  Cagh- 
nawagas among  the  Shawanoes  and  other  western  tribes 
to  bring  them  into  the  interests  of  Canada.  A  number  of 
savages  had  frequented  the  post  ever  since  the  capture  of 
Fort  Necessity,  and  among  these  numerous  and  valuable 

'  VIII.  Hazard's  Penn.  Reg.,  318.  Stobo's  Letters,  VI.  Col.  Rec, 
141,  161. 

^  II.  P  A.,  172,  177,  264.  The  Caghnawagas,  according  to  Colden, 
were  deserters  from  the  Six  Nations,  who,  settling  in  Canada  under  the 
auspices  of  that  government,  had,  through  continual  accessions  and  their 
own  natural  increase,  grown  in  time  to  become  a  powerful  and  warlike 
people. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  187 

presents  were  distributed.  Through  the  medium,  of  the 
Delawares,  or  perhaps  more  directly  from  Quebec  and 
France,  through  the  intercession  of  the  spy  Hennessey, 
they  were  in  November  advised  of  the  expected  reinforce- 
ments from  England  ;  and  not  comprehending  a  six  months' 
delay  in  the  enterprise,  the  French  had  hastened  at  once 
to  reinforce  Fort  Du  Quesne  with  eight  additional  cannon, 
and  a  plenty  of  stores.  The  garrison  was  also  increased 
to  1100  men  j  and  nearly  400  Indians,  i\.dirondacks,  Cagh- 
nawagas,  and  Ottawas,  were  sent  thither  from  the  confines 
of  New  France.  The  cost  of  maintaining  such  a  force 
must  have  been  enormous;  and  when  the  approach  of 
winter,  filling  the  ravines  with  snow,  and  making  the 
mountains  perfectly  impassable,  dissipated  all  apprehension 
of  present  disturbance,  the  great  bulk  of  this  army  retraced 
its  steps;  and  a  garrison  of  perhaps  not  more  than  two 
hundred  and  fifty  regular  troops,  under  the  veteran  Con- 
trecceur,  was  left  behind.^  About  the  same  number  were, 
however,  stationed  within  call  at  Venango;  and  some 
allowance  must  be  made  for  the  neighboring  savages,  most 
of  whom  would  probably,  though  not  certainly,  have  sided 
with  the  French.  The  only  Indians  they  could  at  this  time 
with  positive  assurance  rely  upon  were  they  who  occupied 
the  thirty  or  forty  bark  cabins  that  had  grown  up  about 
the  fort,  or  they  who  had  come  from  Canada,  and  of  whom 
very  few  remained  through  the  winter.  In  April, 
1755,  there  were  scarce  two  hundred  men,  French  and 
Indians,  to  garrison  the  place ;  and  had  Braddock  then  been 
in  a  condition  to  have  struck,  his  success  would  have  been 


'  "An  experienced  and  courageous  soldier,"  says  Garneau,  II.,  216. 


188  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

certain.^  But  by  their  scouting-parties,  which  were  always 
ranging  the  mountains  between  the  Ohio  and  the  English 
settlements,  they  once  more  caught  the  alarm,  and  eagerly 
solicited  reinforcements  from  Canada.  The  Marquis  do 
Duquesne,  however,  though  anxious  enough  to  preserve  a 
maiden  fortress  the  works  which  bore  his  name,  could  not 
be  easily  brought  to  believe  that  it  was  yet  seriously 
threatened,  and  constantly  treated  with  contempt  the 
rumors  that  during  the  past  winter  had  from  time  to  time 
reached  his  ears  -,  pronouncing  all  the  menaces  and  prepa- 
rations of  the  enemy  a  mere  fanfaronade  — "  un  feu  de 
paille."  Thus,  in  the  early  spring  of  1755,  no  steps  had 
yet  been  taken  in  Canada  for  the  relief  of  Fort  Du 
Quesne.^ 

The  conduct  of  the  Court  of  St.  James  during  this  crisis 
was  as  little  to  be  reconciled  to  a  just  notion  of  frankness 
and  honorable  dealing  as  that  of  its  adversary.  On  the 
15th  of  January — the  very  day  after  Braddock  had  sailed 
for  Virginia  —  the  Due  de  Mirepoix  proposed  that  each 
crown  should  prohibit  all  present  hostilities,  and  that  the 
matter  of  the  Ohio  territory  should  be  left  to  an  amicable 
adjustment ;  the  destination  and  motive  of  the  expedition 
which  had  just  started  being  first  pacifically  explained. 
The  ambassador  could  not  at  that  very  moment  have  been 
ignorant  that  his  master  was  straining  every  nerve  to  throw 
such  a  force  into  Canada  as  would  defy  any  attack ;  and 
they  whom  he  addressed  were  well  aware  that  he  knew  all 

•  VI.  C.  R.,  162,  181.  II.  P.  A.,  213,  288.  Penn.  Gaz.,  Nos.  1379, 
1383.     VIII.  Haz.  Penn.  Reg.,  319. 

'  II.  P.  A.,  288.     And  see  Appendix,  No.  IV. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  189 

this.  They,  therefore,  on  the  22nd  of  the  same  month, 
furnished  him  with  a  Jesuitical  reply,  declaring  that  the 
only  end  of  Braddock's  mission  was  the  defence  and  pro- 
tection of  the  King's  dominions  in  America,  without  any 
design  to  attack  those  of  any  other  prince,  or  in  any  wise 
open  the  door  to  war;  and  that  as  to  the  Ohio  country,  the 
French  must  abandon  and  destroy  all  their  settlements 
there,  or,  in  other  words,  put  matters  in  the  condition  they 
were  in  before  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  before  a  friendly  nego- 
tiation on  that  point  could  be  thought  of.  In  order  to  gain 
time,  the  French  dallied  w4th  these  propositions,  at  first 
disputing,  and  then  making  a  show  of  accepting  them : 
but  the  English  in  turn  increased  their  demands  to  the 
extent  of  all  they  could  hope  to  gain  by  force  of  arms : 
demands  to  which  it  was  impossible  for  aught  save  the 
ultima  ratio  regum  should  justify  Louis  in  yielding.  Diplo- 
macy thus  kept  up  a  feint  of  peace,  until  the  tidings  of 
Boscawen's  success  reached  Europe ;  when  triumph  on  the 
one  hand  and  rage  and  disappointment  on  the  other  rent 
in  twain  the  veil  which  shadowed  the  Q^^y  of  War. 
.  In  April,  1754,  the  most  formidable  armament  that  the 
kingdom  could  produce  was  gathered  in  the  harbor  of 
Brest.  Twenty-two  vessels  of  war,  bearing  the  flags  of  two 
admirals,  were  there  assembled  to  receive  the  troops  des- 
tined for  America.  Six  regiments  whose  names  were 
known  on  almost  every  battle-field  of  Europe,  were  there 
arrayed  for  embarcation ;  the  regiments  of  Artois,  of  Bur- 
gundy, of  Guienne,  of  Languedoc,  and  of  Beam,  and  the 
famous  regiment  de  la  Keine ;  comprising  fully  3000  men 
destined  to  find,  beyond  the  stormy  sea,  a  painful  exile  or  a 


190  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

"bloody  grave.     With  them  embarked  the  German  Baron 
Dieskau,  the  favored  pupil  of  Saxe,  who  was  to  command 
in  chief  the  armies  in  America,'  and  the  Marquis  de  Vau- 
dreuil  de  Cavagnac,  late  Governor  of  Louisiana,  and  the 
second  of  his  flimily  to  whom  the  government  of  Canada 
had  been  entrusted,  who  was  to  succeed  M.  de  Duquesne. 
Perverse   gales  for  a  time  prevented  the  squadron  from 
proceeding  to  sea ;  but  at  8  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the 
3d  of  May  the  wind  shifted  to  north-north-east,  and  the 
signal  was  at  once  given  to  weigh  anchor  and  to  set  all 
sail.''     At  half-past  ten  the  voyage  commenced.     On  the 
7th  of  May  the  Formidable,  the  flag-ship  of  M.  de  Macna- 
mara,  who  had  hitherto  accompanied  the  squadron,  shortr 
ened  sail,  and  with  his  particular  command  he  presently 
returned   to  France.     A  gun   from  the  Entreprenant,  at 
whose  mast-head  floated  the  pennant  of  M.  Dubois  de  la 
Mothe,  called  the  attention  of  the  majority  of  the  vessels. 
Stretching  forward  under  a  cloud  of  canvass,  with  a  signal 
for  the  America-bound  portion  of  the  fleet  to  follow,  the 
Entreprenant    soon    was    lost   beneath    the  verge   to    the 
anxious    eyes   not   only    of    those   who    gazed   from   the 
receding  galleries  of  the  Formidable,  but  to  the  diligent 
espionage  of  half-a-dozen  English  frigates  which  had  for 
weeks  been  lying  in  wait  to  watch  the  every  movement  of 

'  The  high  idea  entertained  of  this  officer's  capacity  may  be  seen  in  the 
rate  at  which  the  French  paid  his  services.  They  gave  him  a  salary  of 
12,000  livres  as  major-general;  of  25,000  more  as  commander  of  the 
American  expedition;  and  a  retiring  pension  of  4000.  Penn.  Gaz.,  No. 
1385 

2  I.  Pouchot,  25.  M.  Garncau  fixes  the  date  at  the  end  of  April ;  but 
Pouchot's  journal  of  the  voyage  is  so  minute  and  interesting,  that  I  prefer 
relying  upon  his  statements. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  191 

the  French.     But  any  information  they  could  carry  would 
reach  England  too  late  to  be  of  service,  since  Admiral 
Boscawen  had  already,  on  the  27th  of  April,  set  sail  from 
Plymouth  with  instructions  which,  it  may  be  confidently 
asserted,  though  probably  merely  verbal,  assured  him  that 
if  he  should  be  able  to  thwart,  at  any  price,  the  arrival  of 
the  French  at  Canada,  he  would  render  a  welcome  service 
to  his  King  and  Country.     To  this  end  he  lay  in  wait  for 
them  among  the  misty  vapors  of  the  banks  of  Newfound- 
land:   but   the   same   cloudy  column  that  concealed  the 
attack,  furthered  the  escape.      He  captured,  indeed,  the 
Alcide,  of  64  guns  and  500  men,  commanded  by  M.  Hoc- 
quart,  and  the  Lis,  pierced  for  64  guns,  but  armed  en  flute 
for  the   transportation   of  troops,  commanded   by  M.  de 
Lorgerie ;  and  he  came  very  near  catching  the  Entreprenant 
itself     On  board  the  ships  captured,  however,  were  Colo- 
nel de  Rostaing  (the  second  in  command  of  the  Canadian 
army),  and  several  other  ofiicers  of  distinction,  and  eight 
companies  of  the  regiments  of  Languedoc  and  la  Reine. 
It  has  been  alleged  that  Boscawen  acted  dishonorably  in 
this  transaction,  pretending  peace  with  the  French  ships 
till  at  half-pistol  range  he  opened  his  fire  upon  them  with 
grape  and  cannister ;  but  this  does  not  seem  credible.    The 
conduct  of  his  employers  was  much  more  censurable,  who 
had  assured  M.  de  Mirepoix  that  the  admiral's  orders  were 
not  to  act  upon  the  offensive,  and  that  whatever  might  fall 
out,  England  would  not  begin  the  war.    Such  a  mendacious 
tale  could  hardly  impose  even  upon  that  pohte  minister; 

'  The  Entreprenant  was  finally  destroyed  by  the  English  at  the  capture 
of  Louisbourg,  1758.     Mante,  135. 


192  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

and  he  rather  vaguely  repHed  "  that  the  King  his  master 
would  consider  the  first  hostile  gun  fired  at  sea  as  a  decla- 
ration of  war."  Lord  Orford  says  that  Newcastle,  having 
nobody  left  at  home  undeceived,  had  diligently  applied 
himself  to  humbug  the  ambassador;  and  succeeded.  At 
all  events,  one  thing  turned  out  exactly  as  Mirepoix  had 
predicted  —  Boscawen's  trivial  success  was  the  signal  for 
open  hostilities.  "  Je  ne  pardonnerai  pas  les  pirateries  de 
cette  insolente  nation,"  exclaimed  Louis  XV. ;  and  war 
was  thenceforth  inevitable.' 

The  safe  arrival  at  Quebec  of  the  rest  of  the  fleet  on 
the  19th  of  June  and  the  succeeding  days,  increased  the 
regular  troops  in  Canada  from  1000  to  3800  men.  A 
militia  of  8000  men  was  already  in  the  field,  or  in  garrison 
at  the  various  forts.  With  all  this  numerous  array,  how- 
ever, the  Marquis  de  Duquesne  was  not  at  all  aware  of  the 
dangers  which  environed  the  Ohio  establishments,  and  left 
his  government  to  his  successor  with  the  comfortable 
assurance  that  it  was  not  possible  for  the  English  to  tra- 
verse the  Alleghanies  in  sufficient  force  to  cause  any  un- 
easiness. The  experienced  and  courageous  commander  of 
Fort  Du  Quesne  was  thus  left  to  rely  upon  his  own  strength 
and  the  aid  derivable,  in  an  emergency,  from  the 
contiguous  posts  and  such  Canadians  and  savages  as  were 
always,  in  greater  or  less  numbers,  near  at  hand.  Fortu- 
nately for  him,  though  it  was  probably  done  with  no  idea 
of  its  imminent  danger,  at  least  950  men  had  been  sent  in 
April   from  Canada   to   recruit   the   line  of  fortifications 

'  Capt.  Richard  Howe,  afterwards  the  celebrated  Admiral  Earl  Howe, 
chiefly  distinguished  himself  in  this  action. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  193 

between  Lake  Erie  and  the  forks  of  the  Ohio/  And  while 
every  effort  was  made  to  obtain  information  of  the  inten- 
tions of  their  enemy,  a  strict  watch  was  kept  to  prevent 
the  betrayal  of  their  own  circumstances.  One  O'Conner, 
an  English  subaltern  officer,  was  hanged  as  a  spy  at  Quebec 
in  the  spring  of  1755,  and  three  others  shared  his  fate; 
and  on  the  1st  of  May,  two  more  British  spies  were  exe- 
cuted.^ 

As  little  as  possible  has  been  said  in  this  introductorj- 
sketch  of  the  details  of  the  march  of  the  troops  from  their 
quarters  in  Alexandria  to  Will's  Creek,  since  every  parti- 
cular on  that  head  finds  its  most  appropriate  place  in  the 
ensuing  Journals.  But  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  trace  here, 
for  the  guidance  of  the  reader,  the  exact  line  of  route 
which  they  followed  throughout  the  campaign.  By  St. 
Clair's  advice,  the  army  was  to  start  from  Alexandria  in 
two  divisions ;  one  regiment  and  a  portion  of  the  stores  to 
"Winchester,  Virginia,  whence  a  new  road  was  nearly  com- 
pleted to  Fort  Cumberland,  and  the  other  regiment,  with 
the  remainder,  by  way  of  Frederic,  in  Maryland.  A  por- 
tion of  the  stores  were  to  be  conveyed  in  part  by  water- 
carriage  on  the  Potomac.  Accordingly,  on  the  8th  and  9th 
of  April,  the  provincials  and  six  companies  of  the  44th, 

•  I.  Pouchot,  29.  II.  Garneau,  215.  VI.  Col.  Rec,  411-12.  Penn. 
Gaz.,  No.  1379. 

2  Penn.  Gaz.,  Nos.  1394,  1396.  XXV.  Gent.  Mag.,  332.  One  of 
these  inquisitive  but  unfortunate  gentry  had  in  his  pocket  a  list  of  all  the 
cannon  cast  at  Quebec  or  imported  thither  since  1752,  and  of  all  the  chief 
houses,  the  forts,  magazines,  &c.,  not  only  there,  but  on  either  side  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  Montreal.  Another  was  supplied  with  draughts  of  the 
batteries.  These  two  were  on  the  point  of  departure  when  they  were  sud- 
denly arrested  and  hanged. 

13 


194  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

under    Sir  Peter  Halket,  set  out   for  Winchester;   Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Gage  and  four  companies  remaining  to  escort 
the   artillery.     On   the  18th   of  April,   the  48th,   under 
Colonel  Dunbar,  set  out  for  Frederic,  detaching  a  company 
to  the  Conococheague  to  expedite  the  transmission  of  the 
stores  gathered  there.     Arriving  at  Frederic,  however,  it 
was  found  there  was  no  road  through  Maryland  to  Will's 
Creek ;  and  Dunbar  accordingly  was  compelled,  on  the  1st 
of  May,  to  cross  the  Potomac  at  the  mouth  of  the  Conoco- 
cheague, and  strike  the  Winchester  route.     On  the  5th,  he 
crossed  the  Little  Cacapon ;  and  on  the  8th,  was  again  fer- 
ried over  the  Potomac  to  Maryland  from  a  spot,  hard  by 
the  mouth  of  Cacapon,  which  has  since  that  day  borne  the 
name  of  the  Ferry  Fields.     Thence,  along  the  river-side, 
through  Shawanoe  Old  Town,  the  dwelling-place  of  the 
notorious  Cresap,  Dunbar  passed  through  the  Narrows  at 
the  foot  of  Will's  Mountain.'     At  high  noon  on  the  10th 
of  May,  while  Halket's  command  was  already  encamped 
at  their  common  destination,  the  48th  was  startled  by  the 
passage  of  Braddock  and  his  staff  through  their  ranks,  with 
a  body-guard  of  light-horse  galloping  on  either  side  of  his 
travelling-chariot,    in   haste   to   reach   Fort  Cumberland.^ 
The  troops  saluted,  the  drums  rolled  out  the  Grenadier's 
March,  and  the  cortege  passed  by.     An  hour  after,  they 
heard  the  booming  of  the  artillery  which  welcomed  the 
General's  arrival ;  and  a  little  later,  themselves  encamped 

•  11.  Olden  Time,  541. 

^  He  purchased  this  coach  from  Governor  Sharpe,  and  left  it  at  Cumber- 
land during  the  rest  of  the  march.  Orme's  Letter  to  Sharpe.  (Sharpo's 
MS.  Corresp.  in  Maryland  Hist.  Soc.) 


INTEODUCTORT    MEMOIR.  19*5 

on  the  hillsides  about  that  post.  But  in  consequence  of 
the  difficulty  of  procuring  teams,  the  artillery,  &c.,  did  not 
arrive  until  May  the  20th. 

The  erection  of  Fort  Cumberland  and  its  strength  have 
been  already  described.     It  stood  upon  the  bank  of  Will's 
Creek,  hard  by  its  junction  with  the  Potomac,  on  the  site 
of  the  present  town  of  Cumberland,  and  within  what  is 
now  Alleghany  County,  Maryland.'     Here  had  probably, 
in  ancient  days,  been  a  Shawanoe  village,  and  its  Indian 
name,  Cucucbetuc,  is  still  preserved ;  and  here,  a^  we  have 
seen,  after  a  series  of  most  distressing  delays,  Braddock  at 
length  succeeded  in  bringing  together  all  his  forces.     As 
nearly  as  can  be  ascertained,  these  consisted  as  follows  : 
The  44th    and  48th   regiments,   originally   1000   strong, 
were  increased  by  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  Levies  to 
1400  men.     Of  the  remaining  levies,  about  one  hundred 
were  formed  by  the  General  into  two  companies  of  Car- 
penters or  Pioneers,  each  composed  of  thirty  men,  two  ser- 
geants, two  subalterns,  and  a  captain.     The  duty  of  these 
was  to  open  the  road  and  make  the  necessary  repairs  to 
the  wagons,  &c.,  on  the   route ;    and  a  few  of  the   most 
experienced  of  the  others  were  received  into  a  company  of 
Guides,  composed  of  a  captain,  two  aids,  and  ten  men.' 
There  was  also  a  troop  of  provincial  light-horse  which  he 
had  procured  to  be  formed,  and  which  hitherto  had  served 
as  his  body-guard;    and  a  detachment  of  thirty  sailors, 
with   some   half-dozen   officers,  furnished   by  Commodore 

•  Cumberland  is  now  a  thriving  town  with  about  7000  inhabitants.     It 
is  179  miles  west  by  north  from  Baltimore. 
2 II.  Olden  Time,  227. 


196  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

Keppel  to  assist  in  rigging  cordageS;,  &c.,  should  it  be  found 
necessary  to  build  bridges  on  the  way/  But  the  entire 
force  which  eventually  marched  from  Fort  Cumberland,  as 
given  by  Captain  Orme,  consisted  of  2037  men,  out  of  a 
complement  of  2100.  To  these  must  be  added  the  Guides, 
the  Light-horse,  and  the  seamen ;  in  all  not  exceeding  one 
hundred,  which,  with  the  staff  and  the  eight  Indians,  who 
remained  with  the  General  unto  the  end,  will  make  a  total 
of  about  2150  souls.  The  usual  train  of  non-militants  who 
always  accompany  an  army  was  not  wanting  here — ^women, 
who  could  not  fight ;  Indians  who  would  not ;  and  wagon- 
ers who  cut  loose  their  horses  and  fled,  to  a  man,  at  the 
first  onset.  Early  in  June,  too,  the  well-known  Captain 
Jack  had  repaired  with  his  company  to  the  camp  and 
offered  his  services  for  the  expedition.     His  merits  as  a 

'  The  employment  of  seamen  on  this  service  seems  to  have  caused  a  little 
natural  surprise  to  those  unacquainted  with  the  circumstances  of  the  case 
(II.  0.  T.  229) ;  yet  it  was  not  a  thing  of  unusual  occurrence  in  America 
during  this  war.  At  Martinico  and  at  Quebec  they  were  employed  to  pull 
the  guns.  "  An  hundred  or  two  of  them,  with  ropes  and  pulleys,  will  do 
more  than  all  your  dray-horses  in  London."  At  Quebec,  when  Wolfe 
passed  along  the  lines  ere 

"  Fighting  •with  the  French 

On  the  Heights  of  Abram," 

he  found  a  number  of  jolly  tars,  who  had  been  engaged  in  hauling  up  the 
cannon,  meekly  sliding  into  the  ranks  of  his  soldiery.  As  they  were 
armed  some  with  hangers,  more  with  sticks,  most  not  at  all,  he  saw  no 
advantage  in  permitting  them  to  stay,  and,  despite  their  petitions,  bade 
them  retire.  "  God  bless  your  honor  I"  they  cried;  "  if  we  may  not  fight, 
at  least  let  us  stop  and  see  fair  play  between  you  and  the  French  !"  Wolfe 
laughed  at  this  droll  request,  and  thanked  them  and  sent  them  to  their 
ships.  But  they  were  not  disposed,  after  all  their  toil,  to  go  away  without 
a  share  in  the  battle ;  and  lui'king  about  till  it  actually  begun,  they  took 
an  active  part  in  its  perils  and  glories.     See  XXV.  Gent.  Mag.,  130,  TO. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  197 

guide  and  as  an  "  Indian  killer "  were  not  unknown  to 
Braddock,  but  the  proffered  services  were  coupled  with 
some  stipulations  for  freedom  from  the  regular  discipline 
of  the  army,  and  were  rejected.  This  singular  man 
was  once  a  frontier-settler.  Keturning  to  his  cabin  one 
evening  after  a  long  day's  chase,  he  found  it  a  heap  of 
smoking  ruins,  and  the  blackened  corpses  of  his  murdered 
family  smouldering  in  its  embers.  From  that  fatal  hour, 
he  vowed  never  but  with  life  to  forgive  the  race  who  had 
wrought  his  woe,  and  to  his  dying  hour  he  was  the  most 
dreaded  enemy  the  Indians  knew.  In  1753,  he  held  some 
commission  under  Governor  Hamilton ;  and  at  this  period, 
he  was  at  the  head  of  a  party  of  bold  woodsmen,  clad,  like 
himself,  in  Indian  attire,  and  following  very  much  the 
Indian  mode  of  warfare.  His  home  was  in  the  Juniata 
country;  but  the  celerity  and  extent  of  his  movements 
caused  his  fame  to  reach  from  Fort  Augusta  to  the  Poto- 
mac. A  mystery  has  always  shrouded  his  personal  history. 
His  swarthy  visage  (darkened,  perchance,  by  a  tinge  of 
baser  blood)  and  destructive  arm,  however,  live  in  the  fire- 
side legends  of  the  "West ;  and  many  a  tale  is  told  of  the 
deeds  of  the  Black  Rifle  — the  Black  Hunter  — the  Wild 
Hunter  of  the  Juniata,  or  the  Black  Hunter  of  the  Forest 
—  under  all  of  which  sobriquets  he  was  known.  It  was 
a  misfortune  for  Braddock  that  he  neglected  to  secure  the 
services  of  such  an  auxiliary.^ 

Being  at  last,  if  not  thoroughly  prepared,  at  least  suffi- 
ciently so  to  warrant  his  undertaking  the  long  and  tedious 
journey  that  was  before  him,  Braddock  issued  his  orders 

'  IV.  Haz.  Penn.  Reg.,  389,  390,  416.     V.  Ibid,  191. 


198  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

for  the  army  to  leave  Fort  Cumberland.     On  the  30th  of 
May,  Sir  John  St.  Clair,  with  Major  Chapman,  of  the  44th, 
and  600  men,  set  out  to  clear  a  road  to  the  Little  Meadows 
on  the  Youghiogeny,  thirty  miles  distant,  where  they  were 
to  erect  a  fortified   camp.     The    army  followed  in  three 
divisions :  the  first,  under  Halket,  on  the  7th  of  June ;  the 
next,  under  Gage,  on  the  8th ;  and  the-  third,  under  Dun- 
bar, on  the  10th ;  Braddock  delayed  his  own  departure  until 
the  last  man  had  marched ;  and  the  expedition  was  now 
fairly  on  its  way  to  the  Ohio.     The   opposite   map  will 
give  the  reader  a  perfect  idea  of  its  route,  and  in  Captain 
Orme's  text  almost  every  detail  of  the  march  is  minutely 
noted  down.^     Owing  to  the  innumerable  difficulties  of  its 
situation,  the  progress  of  the  army  was  painfully  slow; 
five  miles  being  a  good  day's  march,  and  even  half  this  dis- 
tance being  sometimes  barely  accomplished.     Roads  were 
to  be  cut  through  the  forests  and  over  the  steep  mountains ; 
streams  were  to  be  bridged,  and  morasses  made  passable. 
The  number  of  wagons  and  pack-horses  struggling  through 
this  untravelled  land  protracted  the  line  to  a  most  dan- 
gerous length,  and  all  the  difficulties  predicted  by  Franklin 
were  in  a  fair  way  to  be  realized.^     Accordingly,  at  the 

'  In  1847,  Mr.  T.  C.  Atkinson,  of  Cumberland,  Maryland,  being  em- 
ployed upon  a  railroad  survey  through  this  region,  traced  Braddock's  route 
with  great  accuracy  by  means  of  the  indications  still  remaining  on  the 
ground ;  and  under  his  supervision,  an  excellent  map  was  prepared  by  Mr. 
Middleton.  This  plan  was  subsequently  engraved  for  the  Olden  Time 
(Vol.  II.,  p.  539),  where  it  appears  with  a  very  valuable  explanatory  paper 
by  Mr.  Atkinson.  It  is  to  the  politeness  of  Mr.  Craig  that  we  are  indebted 
for  the  original  plate  from  which  the  impression  that  accompanies  this 
volume  is  taken. 

2  Entertaining  some  doubts  of  the  result  so  confidently  anticipated  by 
the  General,  Franklin  had  remarked  to  him,  "To  be  sure,  sir,  if  you  arrive 


i«»-*>-'»i    v^v/L«.mi.V'i 


Foldout  in  Book! 


Gillespie  St:  Pitl.yi; 


THE  MEW  TO^^ 

PUBLIC  L1B|.^A^T 


MTOK,  LENOX  ANr 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 


199 


end  of  the  first  day's  journey,  it  was  resolved  to  consider- 
ably lighten  their  numbers  and  burthens.  A  part  of  the 
artillery  and  fifty  men  were  sent  back  to  Cumberland ;  fifty 
more,  under  Captain  Hogg,  were  despatched  as  a  covering 
party  to  the  workmen  on  the  Pennsylvania  Road;  and 
twenty-eight  of  the  soldiers'  wives  were  sent  on  their  way 
to  Philadelphia.  So  far  as  their  names  are  any  indication, 
they  serve  to  show  the  Scottish  complexion  of  the  two 
regiments.'  The  ofl&cers,  who  even  in  the  infantry  always 
rode  upon  a  march,  returned  to  Will's  Creek  all  but  such 
luggage  as  was  absolutely  essential ;  and  over  a  hundred 
of  their  superfluous  horses  were  freely  contributed  to  the 
public  service ;  the  General  and  his  aides  setting  the  ex- 
ample by  giving  twenty. 

The  route  pursued  by  Braddock  was  in  many  respects 
an  unwise  one.  Reference  to  the  Journals  will  show  what 
difficulties  it  occasionally  presented;  and  the'  same  pages 
testify  how  indifierently,  even  in  the  region  immediately 
adjacent  to  Fort  Cumberland,  St.  Clair  had  attended  to  its 

well  before  Du  Quesne  with  these  fine  troops,  so  well  provided  with  artil- 
lery, the  fort,  though  completely  fortified  and  assisted  with  a  very  strong 
garrison,  can  probably  make  but  a  short  resistance.  The  only  danger  I 
apprehend  of  obstruction  to  your  march  is  from  the  ambuscades  of  the  In- 
dians ;  who,  by  constant  practice,  are  dexterous  in  laying  and  executing 
them ;  and  the  slender  line,  near  four  miles  long,  which  your  army  must 
make,  may  expose  it  to  be  attacked  by  surprise  in  its  flanks,  and  to  be  cut, 
like  a  thread,  into  several  pieces,  which,  from  their  distance,  cannot  come 
up  in  time  to  support  each  other."  He  smiled  at  Franklin's  ignorance, 
and  replied,  ''  These  savages  may  indeed  be  a  formidable  enemy  to  your 
raw  American  militia ;  but  upon  the  King's  regular  and  disciplined  troops, 
sir,  it  is  impossible  they  should  make  any  impression."  I.  Sparks's 
Franklin,  190. 

'  11.  P.  A.,  348.     VI.  C.  R.,  426,  430. 


200  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

exploration.  Much  time  and  labor  had  already  been  ex- 
hausted on  the  road  over  Will's  Mountain,  which  Major 
Chapman  had  surmounted,  with  considerable  loss,  on  the 
30th  of  May ;  and  the  service  was  finally  indebted  to  a 
naval  officer  for  the  easy  discovery  of  the  valley  path  that 
leads  around  its  base,  subsequently  adopted  for  the  United 
States'  National  Koad.  As  it  was,  marching  on  a  newly- 
opened  track,  Halket,  who  started  three  days  before,  had 
got  no  further  on  the  night  of  the  10th  than  the  men  who 
left  Will's  Creek  that  morning;  a  distance  of  five  miles. 
The  truth  is,  that  Sir  John  implicitly  followed  the  path 
that  Nemacolin,  a  Delaware  Indian,  had  marked  out  or 
blazed  for  the  Ohio  Company  some  years  before,  and  which, 
a  very  little  widened,  had  served  the  transient  purposes  of 
that  association,  and  of  Washington's  party  in  1754.  To 
be  sure,  with  many  windings,  it  led  to  the  Ohio ;  yet  a  few 
intelligent  scouts,  sent  out  betimes,  could  not  have  failed 
to  discover  a  shorter  and  a  better  course.  But  precau- 
tionary steps  of  this  kind  were  not  within  the  sphere  of 
Braddock's  comprehension. 

In  addition  to  every  other  reason  of  delay,  a  general 
sickness  prevailed  among  the  troops,  caused  by  their  long 
and  continued  confinement  to  a  salt  diet ;  from  the  effects 
of  which,  though  few  died,  few  escjaped.  During  a  later 
period  of  the  march,  even  Washington's  hardy  constitution 
succumbed ;  and  for  many  days  he  was  severely,  perhaps 
dangerously,  unwell.  Convalescent,  at  length,  through  the 
personal  attention  of  the  General,  he  was  left  on  the  road 
with  a  guard,  to  rejoin  his  post  as  soon  as  his  strength 
would  permit.     Long  ere  these  scenes  occurred,  however. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  201 

an  important  change  had  been  made  in  the  constitution  of 
affairs.  The  army  had  been  ten  days  in  reaching  the  Little 
Meadows,  but  twenty-four  miles  from  Cumberland,  passing, 
with  a  line  sometimes  four  miles  long,  through  numerous 
spots  too  well  adapted  for  an  ambush  or  a  surprise  not  to 
arrest  a  soldier's  eye.  Such  were  those  dark  forests  of 
enormous  white  pines  that  shadow  the  region  beyond  the 
Great  Savage  Mountain.  The  loneliness  and  perfect  mo- 
notony of  such  a  scene  are  not  readily  to  be  described ;  it 
more  resembles  the  utter  stillness  of  the  desert  than  any- 
thing beside.  No  bird  chirps  among  the  foliage,  or  finds 
its  food  in  these  inhospitable  boughs ;  no  wild  creature  has 
its  lair  beneath  its  leafy  gloom.  Like  the  dark  nave  of 
some  endless,  dream-born  cathedral,  the  tall  columns  rise 
before,  behind,  on  every  side,  in  uncounted  and  bewildering 
multiplicity,  and  are  lost  in  the  thick  mantle  that  shuts 
out  the  light  of  heaven.  The  senses  weary  of  the  con- 
fusing prospect,  and  imagination  paints  a  thousand  horrid 
forms  to  people  its  recesses.  At  every  step  the  traveller 
half  looks  to  find  a  bloody  corse,  or  the  blanched  skeleton 
of  some  long  murdered  man,  lying  across  his  pathway 
through  these  woods,  so  aptly  named  the  Shades  of  Death! 
It  was  not  until  the  18th  of  June  that  the  troops  were 
beyond  these  inauspicious  scenes ;  and  Braddock,  as,  slowly 
descending  the  shaggy  steep  of  Meadow  Mountain, 

He  wound,  with  toilsome  march,  his  long  array, 

beheld  his  whole  force  in  sight  of  the  fortified  camp  erected 
by  St.  Clair  at  the  Little  Meadows.'     Here  a  council  of 

'  II.  Sp.  Wash.,  79,  81.     Consult,  also,  Mr.  Atkinson's  paper  in  II. 
0.  T.,  540. 


202  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

war  was  held,  which  is  not  noticed  by  Orme,  and  which 
consisted,  as  usual,  of  all  the  field-officers  present.  A  fur- 
ther reduction  of  baggage  was  agreed  upon,  and  a  dozen 
more  horses  given  to  the  service ;  among  them,  Washing- 
ton's best  charger,  his  luggage  being  retrenched  to  a  single 
portmanteau,  half-filled.  Before  the  council  met,  Braddock 
also  privately  consulted  him  as  to  the  propriety  of  pushing 
more  rapidly  forward  with  a  light  division ;  leaving  the 
heavy  troops,  &c.,  to  follow  by  easy  marches.  This  course 
Washington  warmly  approved,  urging  the  present  weak- 
ness of  the  garrison  at  Du  Quesne,  and  the  difficulty  with 
which,  during  the  dry  season,  any  supplies  could  reach 
them  from  Venango  by  the  Kiviere  aux  Boeufs,  whose 
waters  were  then  at  a  very  low  stage.  His  rank  did  not 
permit  him  an  opportunity  of  pressing  these  views  at  the 
council-board ;  but  they  were  brought  forward  there  by  the 
General  himself,  and  it  was  decided  that  St.  Clair,  with 
Gage  and  400  men,  should  start  on  the  18th  to  open  a 
road.  On  the  19th,  Braddock  in  person  followed,  with 
Halket  (who  acted  as  brigadier).  Burton,  and  Sparks,  and 
about  800  men,  the  elite  of  the  army.  Inasmuch  as  in 
the  selection  of  the  troops  for  this  manoeuvre  he  made  a 
point  of  choosing  those  he  considered  the  best,  without  any 
reference  to  the  wishes  of  his  subordinates,  this  step  gave 
great  and  lasting  offence  to  Dunbar,  Chapman,  and  the 
others  left  behind.^  He  took  with  him  four  howitzers,  four 
twelve-pounders,  twelve  cohorns,  thirteen  artillery-wagons, 
and  seventeen  of  ammunition.  The  provisions  were  borne 
by  pack-horses.     His  expectation  was  then  to  strike  the 

'  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1392. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  203 

fort  by  the  28th  of  June,  at  the  furthest,  ere  the  garrison 
should  receive  its  reinforcements;  five  hundred  regulars 
being  reported  to  be  at  that  moment  on  their  way  thither. 
Four  artillery-officers,  eighty-four  wagons,  and  all  the  ord- 
nance-stores and  provisions  which  were  not  indispensable 
to  the  General's  march,  were  left  with  Dunbar.^ 

From  the  Little  Crossings,  on  the  upper  waters  of  Castle- 
man's  River  (a  tributary  of  the  Youghiogeny),  to  the  Great 
Crossings  on  those  of  the  Youghiogeny  itself,  is  but  about 
seventeen  miles ;  yet  it  was  only  on  the  24th  of  June  that 
the  latter  was  passed.  The  advanced  party  under  St.  Clair 
was  constantly  engaged  in  cutting  the  road ;  but  its  pro- 
gression was  necessarily  slow,  and  the  rest  of  the  army  had 
to  encamp  at  their  heels  and  march  within  sound  of  their 
axes.  Steep,  rugged  hills  were  to  be  clomb,  to  whose 
summits  the  artillery  and  baggage  were  with  cruel  labor 
drawn ;  headlong  declivities  to  be  descended,  down  which 
the  cannon  and  wagons  were  lowered  with  blocks  and 
tackle ;  or  deep  morasses  to  be  threaded,  where  the  troops 
sunk  ankle  or  knee-deep  in  the  clinging  mire.  The  road, 
too,  was  beset  with  outlying  parties  of  the  enemy,  who 
constantly  aimed  at  embarrassing  their  march.  On  one 
occasion,  Scarroyaddy  was  even  captured ;  and  his  treat- 
ment evidently  shows  that  many  of  the  savages  in  the 
service  of  the  French  were  of  his   old  acquaintance  in 

'  II.  Sp.  Wash.,  81,  83.  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1387.  VI.  C.  K.,  477. 
Sharpe  (MS.  Corresp.)  says,  "  I  think  the  General  had  with  him  52  car- 
riages ;  the  artillery  and  18  wagon-loads  of  amunition  included."  This 
nearly  tallies  with  the  above  statement;  the  20  gun-carriages,  13  caissons, 
and  17  wagons,  making  just  50. 


204  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

Pennsylvania/  On  another,  three  Mohawk  Indians  came 
into  camp  with  intelligence  from  Du  Quesne,  for  which 
they  were  well  paid.  But  disgusted  either  by  the  Gene- 
ral's indifference  to  their  merits,  or  by  the  accounts  of  his 
demeanor  which  they  received  from  their  brethren  in  his 
ranks,  they  deserted  during  the  night,  and  probably  re- 
turned to  the  French,  whence  they  came.  With  them  dis- 
appeared, too,  one  of  the  General's  Indians,  who  had  long 
manifested  a  disposition  to  slip  off.  During  the  march,  he 
would  constantly  conceal  himself  upon  the  flanks ;  lying 
down  flat  behind  a  stump  or  a  stone,  or  creeping  into  a 
clump  of  tall  grass.  But  he  was  as  constantly  routed  out 
by  the  sergeants  of  the  flanking  parties,  to  whose  surveil- 
lance he  had  been  especially  commended;  men,  trained 
in  Ireland  to  find  a  hare  squatting  in  her  form  beneath  a 
cluster  of  fern,  whose  keen  eyes,  ever  on  the  watch,  never 
failed  to  discover  the  refuge  of  the  would-be  fugitive.  But 
on  the  very  next  night  after  his  flight,  three  Englishmen, 
straggling  beyond  the  lines,  were  shot  and  scalped  upon 
the  very  edge  of  the  camp ;  in  which  afiair  he  doubtless 
had  a  hand. 

Not  satisfied  with  the  small  temporal  assistance  which 
his  province  had  aflbrded  the  expedition.  Governor  Morris 
by  proclamation  enjoined  his  people  to  unite  with  him  in 
a  solemn  invocation  upon  Heaven  to  preserve  and  bless  the 
royal  arms ;  and  the  19  th  of  June  was  appointed  as  a  season  of 
public  humiliation,  of  fasting,  and  of  prayer.  For  that  day, 
all  servile  labor  was  discontinued  throughout  the  province  : 
the  sound  of  the  mallet  and  the  anvil  was  not  heard ;  the 


'  See  Captain  Orme's  Journal. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  205 

fields  were  left  untllled ;  the  unfettered  waters  glided  idly 
beneath  the  motionless  wheel;  and  no  smoky  columns 
arose  from  the  cold  forge.  An  unwonted  stillness  prevailed 
over  the  land,  save  where  from  |he  house  of  prayer  was 
ui^lifted  the  preacher's  voice  in  supplication  to  x\lmighty 
God,  "  that  He  would  be  pleased  to  avert  the  punishments 
due  to  their  sins,  favor  them  with  a  fruitful  season,  and 
give  success  to  the  measures  which  His  Majesty,  ever 
attentive  to  the  good  and  welfare  of  his  people,  had 
concerted  for  the  security  and  preservation  of  their  just 
rights  and  commerce."  ^ 

While  thus  supernal  succor  was  importuned,  the  arm  of 
flesh  was  slowly  advanced,  and  was  even  now  on  the 
borders.  Until  after  it  had  forded  Castleman's  river,  the 
course  of  the  army  was  generally  a  very  little  north  of 
west,  and  lay  entirely  through  Maryland.  On  the  21st  of 
June,  Braddock  for  the  first  time  entered  Pennsylvania. 
Traversing  the  high  and  watery  glades  of  Somerset  county 
and  the  precipitous  region  of  Fayette,  whose  mountain-tops 
attain  an  altitude  of  2500  feet  above  the  sea,  with  valleys 
scooi^ed  between,  1000  feet  below  their  summits ,  on  the 
30th  of  June  he  reached  Stewart's  Crossing  on  the  Youghio- 
geny,  about  thirty-five  miles  from  his  destination.  So  far, 
the  efforts  of  the  hostile  Indians  were  less  a  source  of  posi- 
tive danger  than  of  increasing  annoyance.  That  indefati- 
gable foe  had  by  this  time  got  into  the  rear  of  the  army ; 
their  spies  environed  it  on  every  side,  and  watched  its 
every  motion.  As  one  said  to  an  English  captive  at  Du 
Quesne:    "Their   scouts   saw   him   every   day  from   the 

'VI.  C.  R.,  423. 


206  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

mountains  —  that  he  was  advancing  in  close  columns 
through  the  woods" — (this  he  indicated  by  placing  a 
number  of  red  sticks  parallel  to  each  other  and  pressed 
closely  together) — "  and  that  the  Indians  would  be  able  to 
shoot  them  down  '  like  one  pigeon.' "  But  so  strict  was 
Braddock's  police  hitherto,  that  the  English  loss  was  very 
inconsiderable,  consisting  but  of  a  wagoner,  three  bat-men, 
and  a  horse.  Scattering  in  various  directions,  the  savages 
threaded  the  woods  in  hopes  of  scalps  and  plunder.  On 
the  night  of  the  29th,  they  visited  and  fired  into  Dunbar's 
camp  at  the  Little  Meadows,  which  had  been  well  fortified 
by  St.  Clair,  and  was  entirely  surrounded  by  an  abattis. 
They  also  kept  the  workmen  and  convoys  on  the  Pennsyl- 
vania road  in  such  a  state  of  alarm  that  in  one  day  thirty 
deserted  in  a  body,  and  the  road  was  soon  at  a  stand. ^ 

It  was  on  the  evening  of  the  3d  of  July  at  the  camp  at 
Jacob's  or  Salt  Lick  Creek,'  that  Sir  John  St.  Clair  brought 
forward  his  proposition  to  halt  here  until  Colonel  Dunbar 
and  the  rest  of  the  forces  should  come  up.  The  continued 
remissness  in  furnishing  supplies  had  compelled  these 
troops  to  almost  forego  the  use  of  fresh  provisions,  and 
they  were  afflicted  as  generally  and  even  more  fatally  than 
those  with  Braddock  by  the  disorders  incident  to  such  pri- 
vations.    Many  had  died ;  and  many  more,  officers  as  well 

•  I.  0.  T.,  74.  VI.  C.  K.,  467.  Penn.  Gaz.,  Nos.  1386,  1387.  A 
batman  is  an  officer's  servant.     IX.  Notes  and  Queries,  580. 

2  Probably  a  salt  lick  or  spring  on  a  branch  of  Jacob's  creek  caused  this 
double  nomenclature,  which  has  led  to  some  little  confusion ;  there  being 
another  stream  called  Indian  Lick  falling  into  the  Youghiogeny.  Orme 
styles  it  Salt  Lick  Creek;  but  Scull's  large  map  (Lond.  1775),  gives  both 
titles. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR,  207 

as  men,  were  on  the  sick  list.  On  the  2nd  of  July,  how- 
ever, Dunbar  had  moved  forward  from  the  Little  Meadows ; 
and  his  van  was  now  not  far  from  the  Great  Crossings, 
eleven  days'  march  from  Jacob's  Creek.  Considering  this 
fact,  and  the  disadvantages  that  would  result  from  the 
delay,  it  was  wisely  resolved  by  Braddock's  council  to  push 
forward.  They  conceived  themselves  to  be  (as  in  fact  they 
were),  amply  strong  enough  to  conquer  the  fort  should 
they  once  sit  down  before  it;  and  the  absence  of  any 
organized  opposition  to  their  previous  progress  was  well 
calculated  to  encourage  the  belief  that,  through  the 
enemy's  weakness,  none  would  be  attempted.  "  Happy  it 
was,"  afterwards  wrote  Captain  Orme,  "  that  this  disposition 
was  made :  otherwise  the  whole  must  either  have  starved 
or  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  as  numbers  would 
have  been  of  no  service  to  us,  and  our  provision  was  all 
lost."  And  had  the  General  waited  for  Dunbar,  it  would 
have  been  most  probably  the  middle  of  August  ere  he  left 
Jacob's  Creek.  For  so  scanty  in  number  were  the  miserable 
jades  on  which  he  depended,  that  this  officer  could  only 
move  one-half  his  wagons  at  a  time.  After  one  day's 
march,  the  poor  beasts  were  sent  back  to  bring  up  the 
remainder ;  and  it  was  invariably  two  day's  more  ere  the 
detachment  could  start  from  the  spot  of  the  first  night's 
encampment.  Truly  said  Washmgton,  "there  has  been 
vile  management  in  regard  to  horses."  * 


'  VI.  C.  R.,  477,  489.  II.  Sp.  Wash.,  83.  Instead  of  proper  draught- 
horses,  all  sorts  of  broken-down  hacks,  and  spavined,  wind-galled  ponies, 
were  shamelessly  palmed  oflF  upon  the  army  by  contractors  who  knew  its 
condition  was  such  that  nothing  could  be  rejected.  Besides,  there  were 
(if  not  now,  at  least  at  a  later  period),  scoundrels  base  enough  to  hang 


208  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

To  an  army  that  looked  longingly  forward  to  a  respite 
at  Fort  Du  Quesne  from  the  unwonted  tasks  to  which  it 
had  been  so  long  subjected,  and  to  whom  the  exciting 
perils  of  the  battle-shock  offered  far  greater  attractions 
than  a  supine  existence  in  the  wilderness,  where  no  friend 
was  to  be  encountered,  no  enemy  to  be  met  in  open 
combat,  the  orders  to  advance  were  welcome  tidings.  Ani- 
mated by  the  confidence  of  success,  it  moved  onward,  re- 
gardless of  natural  difficulties,  with  all  that  discipUned 
courage  and  tenacity  of  purpose  which  have  ever  character- 
ized the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  eager  to  behold  at  length  the 
hostile  hold,  to  tear  down  the  hated  banner  that  so 
insultingly  waved  over  British  soil :  — 

Tho'  fens  and  floods  possest  the  middle  space, 
That  unprovok'd  they  would  have  feared  to  pass; 
Nor  fens  nor  floods  can  stop  Britannia's  bands 
When  her  proud  foe  rang'd  on  their  border  stands.' 

But  the  fatal  halts  which  Braddock  had  already  too 
often  been  obHged  to  make,  proved  in  the  end  the  cause 
of  his  ruin.  It  will  presently  be  seen  of  what  importance 
the  saving  of  three  days  only  would  have  been ;  for  it  was 
in  those  three  days,  the  last  of  his  march,  that  the  whoh 
plan  of  attacking  and  destroying  his  army  was  conceived 
organized,  and  executed.  The  traditionary  repugnance  of 
M.  de  Contrecoeur  and  his  red  allies  to  the  hazardous  ex- 
periment would,  in   all   probability,  have   prevented   its 

around  Dunbar's  camp,  stealing  every  horse  that  was  left  to  graze  in  the 
woods  without  a  guard.  Above  three  hundred  were  thus  made  away  with. 
(VI.  C.  R.,  547.) 

'  Addison  :  The  Campaign. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  209 

adoption  at  any  other  moment,  as  effectually  as  it  did  any 
previous  concerted  opposition  to  the  march  of  the  English 
through  passes  so  admirably  fitted  by  nature  for  defence, 
that  Braddock  himself  was  amazed  at  their  unoccupation. 
And,  as  it  happened,  every  account  he  received  but  tended 
to  confirm  him  in  his  security.  On  the  3d  of  July,  he 
had  endeavored  to  prevail  on  his  few  Indians  to  go  out  for 
intelligence;  a  thing  he  has  always  been  blamed  for 
neglecting,  but  which  he  had  constantly  solicited  at  their 
hands,  and  which  they  now  declined  as  resolutely  as  before. 
Perhaps  it  was  a  sense  of  their  scanty  numbers  that 
induced  this  conduct;  perhaps  a  natural  reluctance  to 
encounter  their  own  brethren  whom  they  knew  to  be  with 
the  French;  but  more  probably,  it  was  their  extreme 
discontent  with  the  manners  of  the  General  that  closed 
their  ears  to  all  his  suggestions.  On  the  4th  of  July,  how- 
ever, he  was  more  successful.  Urged  by  bribes,  and  the 
promise  of  greater  rewards,  two  Indians  were  persuaded  to 
depart  on  a  scouting  expedition ;  and  no  sooner  were  the}^ 
gone  than  Christopher  Gist,  the  General's  guide,  was  pri- 
vately despatched  on  the  same  errand.  On  the  6th,  both 
Indians  and  Gist  rejoined  the  army,  having  penetrated  undis- 
covered to  within  half  a  mile  of  the  fort.  Their  reports  were 
favorable  and  similar ;  they  found  the  passes  open,  and  no 
indications  of  a  heavy  force  about  the  works,  although 
there  was  evidence  of  outlying  parties,  and  perhaps  rein- 
forcements, within  a  moderate  distance.  The  Indians  had 
even  encountered  a  French  officer  shooting  in  the  woods 
hard  by  Du  Quesne,  whom  without  hesitation  they  killed 
and  scalped.  Gist  was  less  fortunate.  He,  in  turn,  had 
14 


210  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

been  set  upon  by  two  hostile  savages,  and  had  narrowly 
succeeded  in  escaping  with  his  life.  Welcome  as  was  this 
promise  of  an  undisturbed  advance,  the  day  was  clouded 
by  a  fatal  event  that  must  have  considerably  disturbed 
even  savage  equanimity.  A  number  of  French  Indians  had 
beset  and  scalped  a  few  loiterers,  and  a  general  alarm  was 
spread  through  the  line.  In  the  midst  of  the  excitement, 
Braddock's  Indians  in  advance  were  met  by  a  party  of  his 
rangers,  who,  regardless  of  or  blind  to  their  signals  of 
friendship,  fired  upon  them,  killing  the  son  of  Scarroyaddy, 
their  chieftain.  The  General  took  what  steps  suggested 
themselves  to  his  mind  to  prevent  this  misadventure  im- 
pairing the  regard  of  the  dead  lad's  kindred,  and,  as  it 
would  appear,  not  without  success. 

Eager  as  was  the  army  for  the  fray,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  at  this  moment  there  was  much  in  it  to  weaken  its 
efficacy.  The  soldiers  complained  bitterly  of  the  severe 
and  unusual  labors  which  they  were  compelled  to  undergo. 
The  quality  of  their  food  was  not  satisfactory,  and  the 
quantity  was  thought  too  small ;  nor  was  the  time  allotted 
them  in  camp  always  sufficient  to  properly  dress  their 
victuals.  The  same  necessity  which  exacted  this  treat- 
ment deprived  them  also  of  the  hitherto  invariable  allow- 
ance of  spirits.  They  had  nothing  but  water  to  drink, 
and  that  often  bad  and  unwholesome.  To  add  to  their 
discomforts,  the  sagacious  provincials  were  fully  impressed 
with  the  dangers  of  a  battle  to  be  fought  in  the  woods  and 
against  the  savages  upon  the  principles  of  European  tac- 
tics ;  and  by  their  constant  predictions  of  calamity  did  not 
a  little  dishearten  the  regulars  of  the  two  regiments.     Nor 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  211 

were  matters  on  a  better  footing  in  higher  quarters.  Dis- 
putes and  jealousies  were  rife  among  the  leaders ;  and  by 
this  time  the  General  was  not  even  on  speaking  terms  with 
Halket  and  Dunbar.  Braddock  had  already,  however, 
conceived  a  plan  to  benefit  such  of  the  officers  as  he  looked 
upon  with  favoring  eyes.  It  was  his  intention,  when  Du 
Quesne  should  have  been  captured,  to  incorporate  the  pro- 
vincials into  a  royal  regiment,  the  command  of  which  was 
to  be  bestowed  upon  Lieutenant-Colonel  Burton  of  the 
48th.  His  aid-de-camp.  Captain  Morris,  was  to  have  been 
the  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  new  regiment,  and  Captain 
Dobson  (the  senior  captain  of  the  48th),  its  major:  while 
Orme  was  to  succeed  to  Burton's  position  in  the  48th.  A 
number  of  other  promotions  would  necessarily  have  fol- 
lowed these  changes,  in  which  it  is  not  improbable  Brad- 
dock  would  have  taken  occasion  to  fulfil  his  promise  of 
providing  for  Washington.  But  his  defeat  and  death 
scattered  all  these  politic  schemes  to  the  winds. ^ 

"We  are  now  approaching  the  last  dread  scene  of  our 
tragic  story,  and  events  crowd  thick  and  rapidly  upon  us. 
On  the  night  of  the  4th  of  July  the  army  halted  at 
Thicketty  Run,  a  petty  branch  of  the  Sewickly  Creek, 
where,  by  some  dismal  fatality,  it  seems  to  have  remained 
until  the  6th,  awaiting  the  return  of  its  spies  and  the 
arrival  of  a  supply  of  provisions  from  Dunbar's  camp, 
under  convoy  of  a  captain  and  a  hundred  men.  In  the 
rear  of  this  party,  which  appeared  on  the  6  th,  came 
Washington.     Debilitated  by  his  recent  sickness,  he  was 

'  Sharpe's  MS.  Corr.  Review  of  Military  Operations  in  North  America, 
&c.,  (Phil.  1757),  p.  51. 


212  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

unable  to  endure  on  horseback  the  ordinary  fatigues  of 
such  a  road,  and  journeyed  in  a  covered  wagon ;  but  it  was 
not  until  the  8th  that  he  rejoined  the  General.  It  was 
perhaps  to  this  unhappy  delay  of  twenty-four  hours  that 
the  destruction  of  the  army  is  attributable ;  yet  it  was  such  . 
as  even  a  more  provident  leader  than  Braddock  might  well 
have  been  excused  in  making.  By  it  he  looked  to  gain 
inteUigence  of  his  foe  and  subsistence  for  himself;  both 
objects  of  primary  importance. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  English  were  now  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Monongahela,  within  the  obtuse  tri- 
angle formed  by  the  forks  of  the  Ohio  at  whose  apex  stood 
Fort  Du  Quesne ;  but  a  glance  at  the  maps  will  show  how 
far  they  had  diverged  from  the  direct  line  thither.  As  Mr. 
Sparks  has  well  pointed  out/  it  must  have  been  Braddock's 
original  design  to  continue  his  march  on  the  same  shore, 
were  it  possible  to  have  avoided  the  passage  of  the  Narrows 
in  so  doing.  His  guides  had  rightly  informed  him  that 
this  was  a  spot  where  the  road  must  be  made  upon  a 
narrow,  alluvial  formation  for  some  two  miles  along  the 
bank  of  the  stream,  with  the  river  on  his  left  hand  and 
the  mountain-side  upon  his  right;  and  that  it  would 
require  much  labor  ere  it  could  be  made  passable.  The 
perils  of  such  a  route  were  self-evident;  therefore  aban- 
doning all  idea  of  pursuing  it,  he  started  on  the  morning 
of  the  7th,  and  leaving  the  Indian  track  which  he  had 
followed  so  long,  essayed  to  work  his  way  across  Turtle 
Creek  some  twelve  miles  above  its  confluence  with  the 
Monongahela  :  a  step  which,  had  it  been  carried  out,  would 

'  II.  Olden  Time,  466. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  213 

have  ensured  his  success.  He  would  then  undoubtedly 
have  sat  down  before  the  fort  with  little  or  no  opposition 
on  his  way.  But  the  fates  were  against  him.  On  reaching 
the  eastern  branch  of  Turtle  Creek,  or  rather  what  is  now 
called  Rush  Creek,  the  road  suddenly  terminated  in  one  of 
those  headlong,  precipitous  descents  so  common  along  the 
edges  of  the  water-courses  of  Alleghany  County ;  practica- 
ble perhaps  for  footmen,  or  even  sure-footed  pack-horses, 
but  utterly  impassable  to  artillery  and  wagons.  A  halt 
was  at  once  commanded,  and  St.  Clair  sent  forth  with  a 
suitable  force  to  explore  the  country.  He  soon  returned 
with  the  pleasing  intelligence  that  he  had  hit  upon  the 
ridge  which  led  directly  to  Fort  Du  Quesne.  But  after 
reflection  upon  the  labor  it  would  require  to  construct  a 
road  across  the  hill-environed  head-waters  of  Turtle  Creek, 
it  was  finally  decided  to  quit  that  rugged  region  altogether, 
and  to  proceed  directly  to  the  Monongahela ;  and  at  a  place 
where  it  makes  a  considerable  bend  to  the  north,  to  cross 
at  the  upper  arm  of  the  elbow,  to  follow  the  chord  which 
would  subtend  the  arc  made  by  the  river's  curve,  and  to 
recross  the  stream  at  a  point  just  below  the  opposite  mouth 
of  Turtle  Creek.  Two  excellent  fords  with  easy  banks 
afforded  a  strong  inducement  to  pursue  this  plan  :  but  had 
he  persisted  in  the  movement  across  Rush  Creek,  he  would 
have  marched  through  a  country  presenting  comparatively 
few  facilities  for  an  ambuscade  or  covers  for  an  enemy ; 
whereas  in  twice  crossing  the  Monongahela  he  exposed 
himself  to  the  risk  of  encountering  a  determined  opposition 
at  either  ford.  The  further  and  really  more  fatal  hazard 
of  running  headlong  against  a  natural  entrenchment  im- 


214  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

pregnable  to  the  most  determined  efforts  of  one  ignorant 
of  its  key,  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  entered  into  his 
calculations.  Nor  would  the  Narrows  route  have  saved 
him  from  this  danger,  since,  from  the  natural  formation  of 
the  country,  it  must  at  the  second  ford  have  become 
identical  with  that  Braddock  actually  pursued.  Thus,  in 
either  case,  there  was  no  possibility  on  the  Monongahela 
road  of  evading  the  spot  where  the  enemy's  ambush  was 
eventually  laid. 

Having  settled  upon  his  course,  on  the  8th  of  July 
Braddock,  following  the  valley  of  Long  Run,  marched 
south-westwardly  eight  miles  towards  the  Monongahela; 
and  pitched  his  camp  for  the  night  upon  an  inviting  decli- 
vity between  that  stream  and  another  rivulet  called 
Crooked  Run,  some  two  miles  from  the  river.  He  was  now 
within  two  easy  marches  of  the  Ohio,  to  gain  which  he 
looked  for  no  other  opposition  than  what  he  might 
encounter  in  the  morrow's  fordings ;  and  so  far  as  we  can 
discover,  there  were  in  his  ranks  but  two  individuals  at  all 
diffident  of  success.  William  Shirley,  the  General's  secre- 
tary, was  out  of  all  patience  at  the  manner  in  which  the 
expedition  had  been  conducted;  and  was  determined  to  go 
back  to  England  the  moment  a  campaign  was  brought  to 
a  close,  of  the  success  of  which  he  was  more  than  doubtful. 
It  is  with  a  little  surprise  that  we  find  reason  to  sup- 
pose the  second  in  command  was  not  free  from  similar 
forebodings.  As  though  gifted  with  that  mysterious  power 
of  "second  sight"  which  is  attributed  to  the  seers  of  his 
native  land,  Sir  Peter  Halket,  whose  sands  of  hfe  had  but 
twelve  more  hours  to  run,  with  a  melancholy  earnestness 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  215 

pressed  that  night  upon  the  General  the  propriety  of 
thoroughly  examining  every  foot  of  ground  between  his 
present  position  and  the  fort,  lest  through  this  neglect  he 
should  peril  his  army's  existence,  and  as  it  were  plunge  his 
head  into  the  lion's  jaws.  The  advice,  as  will  be  seen,  was 
not  altogether  neglected ;  but  its  more  important  feature 
of  beating  the  forest  as  hunters  of  the  Highlands  would 
drive  their  game  was  set  aside  by  Braddock  as  unsuitable 
to  the  exigencies  of  his  position/  With  a  sad  presentiment 
of  undefined  evil,  Halket  withdrew.  Did  he  in  sooth  pos- 
sess the  fatal  power  of  peering  into  futurity,  and  exploring 
the  secrets  of  unborn  Time,  what  awful  visions  would  have 
pressed  upon  his  soul !  Unconscious  of  their  doom,  around 
him  slumbered  hundreds  of  gallant  men,  sleeping  their  last 
sleep  on  an  unbloody  couch,  nor  heeding  the  tempest 
gathering  fast  above,  which,  overcoming  like  a  summer's 
cloud,  should  pour  destruction  on  their  devoted  heads. 
Through  the  long  summer's  day,  the  wearied  army, 
anticipating  aught  rather  than  defeat  had  marched  steadily 
onward.  The  encircling  woods  shut  out  all  prospect  of 
the  heavens  save  the  serene  blue  sky  directly  overhead, 
bright  with  meridian  splendor:  but  all  around,  beyond 
their  narrow  ken,  a  dark  curtain  hung  like  a  pall  upon  the 
skirts  of  the  horizon,  and  driving  clouds  and  gathering 
eagles  boded  the  coming  storm.  Footsore  and  toilworn,  the 
troops  w^ere  now  steeped  in  slumber ;  and  in  dreams  that 
came  from  heaven  through  the  ivory  gates,  they  beheld 
themselves 

■ arrived  at  last 


Unto  the  wished  haven. 
'  I.  Entick,  145. 


216  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

They  saw  their  labors  crowned  with  glory,  their  wander- 
ings rounded  with  well-earned  repose.  But  through  the 
narrow  passage  that  lay  between  them  and  their  pro- 
mised land  rolled  darkling  the  waters  of  an  unseen  stream, 
blacker  than  night,  deeper  than  the  grave  :  for  on  its  shore, 
not  death  alone,  but  dishonor,  and  disgrace,  and  defeat, 
with  welcoming  hands,  awaited  their  approach.  Behind 
the  western  hills  their  sun  had  sunk  for  evermore,  incar- 
nadining in  his  parting  rays  the  bright  current  of  the  Mo- 
nongahela,  overhung  by  stately  groves  bending  to  the 
waters  their  pensile  boughs; 

lucos,  amoenge 


Quos  et  aquae  subeunt  et  aurae. 

To  the  prophetic  vision  of  the  Scottish  deuteroscopia,  these 
waters  would  have  curdled  with  the  clotted  gore  of  the 
morrow's  eve ;  the  moaning  trees  would  have  sighed  respon- 
sive to  the  sad  wailings  of  the  winds  of  night ;  and  along 
the  guilty  shores  would  have  flitted  in  griesly  bands  the 
bloody  ghosts  of  the  unburied  slain. 

In  the  mean  time,  with  a  commendable  discretion,  (the 
utmost,  perhaps,  that  he  was  capable  of,)  Braddock  had 
concluded  his  arrangements  for  passing  what  he  regarded 
as  the  only  perilous  place  between  his  army  and  the  fort, 
which  he  designed  to  reach  early  on  the  10th.  Had  the 
proposition,  started  and  abandoned  by  St.  Clair,  to  push 
forward  that  very  niglit  a  strong  detachment  to  invest  it 
before  morning,  been  actually  made  to  him,  it  is  very  pro- 
bable he  would  have  discountenanced  it.  As,  in  all  human 
likelihood,  it  would  have  been  crowned  with  success,  it  is 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  217 

as  well  for  the  General's  reputation  that  the  suggestion 
aborted. 

What  precautionary  steps  his  education  and  capacity 
could  suggest,  were  here  taken  by  Braddock.  Before  three 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  9th,  Gage  was  sent  forth 
with  a  chosen  band  to  secure  both  crossings  of  the  river, 
and  to  hold  the  further  shore  of  the  second  ford  till  the 
rest  of  the  army  should  come  up.  At  four,  St.  Clair,  with 
a  working-party,  followed  to  make  the  roads.  At  six 
A.  M.,  the  General  set  out,  and  having  advantageously 
posted  about  400  men  upon  the  adjacent  heights,  made, 
with  all  the  wagons  and  baggage,  the  first  crossing  of  the 
Monongahela.  Marching  thence  in  order  of  battle  towards 
the  second  ford,  he  received  intelhgence  that  Gage  had 
occupied  the  shore  according  to  orders,  and  that  the  route 
was  clear.  The  only  enemy  he  had  seen  was  a  score  of 
savages,  who  fled  without  awaiting  his  approach.  By 
eleven  o'clock,  the  army  reached  the  second  ford ;  but  it 
was  not  until  after  one  that  the  declivities  of  the  banks 
were  made  ready  for  the  artillery  and  wagons,  when  the 
whole  array,  by  a  little  before  two  o'clock,  was  safely 
passed  over.  Not  doubting  that  from  some  point  on  the 
stream  the  enemy's  scouts  were  observing  his  operations, 
Braddock  was  resolved  to  strongly  impress  them  with  the 
numbers  and  condition  of  his  forces ;  and  accordingly  the 
troops  were  ordered  to  appear  as  for  a  dress-parade.  In 
after  life,  Washington  was  accustomed  to  observe  that  he 
had  never  seen  elsewhere  so  beautiful  a  sight  as  was  exhi- 
bited during  this  passage  of  the  Monongahela.  Every  man 
was  attired  in  his  best  uniform ;  the  burnished  arms  shone 


218  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

bright  as  silver  in  the  glistening  rays  of  the  noonday  sun, 
as,  with  colours  waving  proudly  above  their  heads,  and 
amid  inspiring  bursts  of  martial  music,  the  steady  files, 
with  disciplined  precision,  and  glittering  in   scarlet   and 
gold,  advanced  to  their  position.^     While  the  rear  was  yet 
on  the  other  side,  and  the  van  was  falling  into  its  ordained 
course,  the  bulk  of  the  army  was  drawn  up  in  battle  array 
on  the  western  shore,  hard  by  the  spot  where  one  Frazier, 
a  German  blacksmith  ha  the  interest  of  the  English,  had 
lately  had  his  home.     Two  or  three  hundred  yards  above 
the   spot  where  it  now  stood  was   the  mouth  of  Turtle 
Creek  (the  Tulpewi  Sipu  of  the  Lenape),  which,  flowing 
in  a  south-westwardly  course   to   the  Monongahela   that 
here  has  a  north-westward  direction,  embraces,  in  an  obtuse 
angle  of  about  125°,  the  very  spot  where  the  brunt  of  the 
battle  was  to  be  borne.     The  scene  is  familiar  to  tourists, 
being,  as  the  crow  flies,  but  eight  miles  from  Pittsburg,  and 
scarce  twelve  by  the  course  of  the  river.     For  three-quar- 
ters of  a  mile  below  the  entrance  of  the  creek,  the  Monon- 
gahela was  unusually  shallow ;  forming  a  gentle  rapid  or 
ri2^j)Ie,  and  easily  fordable  at  ahnost  any  point.     Its  com- 
mon level  is  from  three  to  four  hundred  feet  below  that  of 
the  surrounding  country ;  and  along  its  upper  banks,  at 

'  "  My  feelings  were  heightened  by  the  warm  and  glowing  narration  of 
that  day's  events  by  Dr.  Walker,  who  was  an  eye-witness.  He  pointed  out 
the  ford  where  the  army  crossed  the  Monongahela  (below  Turtle  Creek  800 
yards).  A  finer  sight  could  not  have  been  beheld ;  the  shining  barrels  of 
the  muskets,  the  excellent  order  of  the  men,  the  cleanliness  of  their  ap- 
parel, the  joy  depicted  on  every  face  at  being  so  near  Fort  Du  Quesne  — 
the  highest  object  of  their  wishes.  The  music  reechoed  through  the  moun- 
tains. How  brilliant  the  morning;  how  melancholy  the  evening!" — Judge 
Yeates'  Visit  to  Braddock's  Field  in  1776 ;  VI.  Haz.  Reg.,  lOi. 


Attention  Scanner: 
Foldout  in  Book! 


PUBLIC  Li^lURY 


AiTSR,  LENOX  ANB 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  219 

the  second  crossing,  stretches  a  fertile  bottom  of  a  rich 
pebbled  mould,  about  a  fourth  of  a  mile  in  width,  and 
twenty  feet  above  low-water  mark.  At  this  time  it  was 
covered  by  a  fair,  open  walnut-wood,  uncumbered  with 
bush  or  undergrowth.^ 

The  ascent  from  the  river,  however,  is  rarely  abrupt ; 
but  by  a  succession  of  gentle  alluvial  slopes  or  bottoms 
the  steep  hill-sides  are  approached,  as  though  the  waters 
had  gradually  subsided  from  their  original  glory  to  a  narrow 
bed  at  the  very  bottom  of  the  ancient  channel.  At  this 
particular  place,  the  rise  of  the  first  bottom  does  not  exceed 
an  angle  of  3°,  Above  it  again  rises  a  second  bottom  of 
the  same  width  and  about  fifty  feet  higher  than  the  first, 
and  gradually  ascending  until  its  further  edge  rests  upon 
the  bold,  rocky  face  of  the  mountain-line,  climbing  at  once 
some  two  hundred  feet  to  the  usual  level  of  the  region  around.^ 
A  firm  clay,  overlaid  with  mould,  forms  the  soil  of  the  second 
bottom,  which  was  heavily  and  more  densely  timbered 
than  the  first;  and  the  underwood  began  to  appear  more 
plentifully  where  the  ground  was  less  exposed  to  the  action 
of  the  spring  floods.  In  the  bosom  of  the  hill,  several 
springs  unite  their  sources  to  give  birth  to  a  petty  rivulet 
that  hurries  down  the  steep  to  be  lost  in  the  river.  Its 
cradle  lies  in  the  bed  of  a  broad  ravine,  forty  or  fifty  feet 
deep,  that  rises  in  the  hill-side,  and  crossing  the  whole  of 
the  second  bottom,  debouches  on  the  first,  where  the  waters 

'  II.  Sp.  Wash.,  470.     XVI.  Haz.  Reg.,  97. 

*  The  frontispiece  of  this  volume  gives  an  exact  view  of  the  battle-ground 
at  this  day.  It  is  taken  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  3Iouongahela.  The 
crossing  is  just  above  the  upper  part  of  the  stream  visible  in  the  engraving. 
The  house  and  grove  in  the  centre  of  the  piece  occupy  very  nearly  the  pre- 
cise spot  where  was  fought  the  hottest  part  of  the  action. 


220  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

whose  current  it  so  far  guides,  trickle  oozily  down  through 
a  swampy  bed.  Great  trees  grew  within  and  along  this 
chasm,  and  the  usual  smaller  growth  peculiar  to  such  a 
situation ;  and  a  prodigious  copse  of  wild  grape-vines  (not 
yet  entirely  gone)  shrouded  its  termination  upon  the  first 
bottom  and  shadowed  the  birth  of  the  infant  brook.  About 
two  hundred  yards  from  the  line  of  hills,  and  three  hun- 
dred south  of  the  ravine  just  described,  commences  ano- 
ther of  a  more  singular  nature ;  with  its  steep  sides,  almost 
exactly  perpendicular,  it  perfectly  resembles  a  ditch  cut  for 
purposes  of  defence.  Rising  near  the  middle  of  the  second 
bottom,  it  runs  westwardly  to  the  upper  edge  of  the  first, 
with  a  depth  at  its  head  of  four  or  five  feet,  increasing  as 
it  descends,  and  a  width  of  eight  or  ten.  A  century  ago, 
its  channel  was  overhung  and  completely  concealed  by  a 
luxurious  thicket  of  pea-vines  and  trailers,  of  bramble- 
bushes  and  the  Indian  plum ;  its  edges  closely  fringed  with 
the  thin,  tall  wood-grass  of  summer.  But  even  now,  when 
the  forests  are  gone  and  the  plough  long  since  passed  over 
the  scene,  the  ravine  cannot  be  at  all  perceived  until  one  is 
directly  upon  it ;  and  hence  arose  the  chief  disasters  of  the 
day.  Parallel  with,  and  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
north  of,  this  second  gulley,  ran  a  third ;  a  dry,  open  hol- 
low, and  rather  thinly  wooded ;  but  which  afforded  a  happy 
protection  to  the  enemy  from  the  English  fire.  Either  of 
these  ravines  would  have  sheltered  an  army :  the  second 
—  the  most  important,  though  not  the  largest — would  of 
itself  afford  concealment  to  a  thousand  men.* 


'  A  close  personal  examination  of  these  localities  during  the  summer  of 
1854,  has  confirmed  in  my  mind  the  conclusion  long  since  arrived  at  hy 
Mr.  Sparks. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  221 

There  is  little  reason  to  doubt  that  as  Braddock  drew 
near,  M.  de  Contrecoeur  was  almost  decided  to  abandon  his 
position  without  striking  a  blow,  and,  withrawing  his  men, 
as  did  his  successor,  in  1758,  leave  to  the  English  a  blood- 
less victory.  He  certainly  was  prepared  to  surrender  on 
terms  of  honorable  capitulation.  A  solitary  gun  was 
mounted  upon  a  carriage,  to  enable  the  garrison  to  eva- 
cuate with  the  honors  of  war;  it  being  a  point  of  nice 
feeling  with  a  defeated  soldier  that  he  should  retire  with 
drums  beating  a  national  march,  his  own  colours  tlying, 
and  a  cannon  loaded,  with  a  lighted  match.  This  deprives 
the  proceeding  of  a  compulsory  air;  and  to  procure  this 
gratification,  Contrecoeur  made  his  arrangements.^  The  Bri- 
tish army  was  so  overwhelming  in  strength,  so  well  appointed 
and  disciplined,  that  he  perhaps  deemed  any  opposition  to 
its  advance  would  be  not  less  fruitless  than  the  defence  of 
the  works.  However  this  may  be,  he  had  as  yet,  on  the 
7th  of  July,  announced  no  definite  conclusion,  though  pos- 
sibly his  views  were  perceptible  enough  to  his  subordinates. 
On  that  day  it  was  known  that  the  enemy,  whose  numbers 
were  greatly  magnified,  were  at  the  head-waters  of  Turtle 
Creek.  On  the  8th,  when  his  route  was  changed,  M.  de 
Beaujeu,  a  captain  in  the  regulars,  proposed  to  the  com- 
mander that  he  might  be  permitted  to  go  forth  with  a 
suitable  band  to  prepare  an  ambuscade  for  the  English  on 
the  banks  of  the  Monongahela,  and  to  dispute  with  them 
the  passage  of  the  second  ford.  If  we  may  believe  tradi- 
tion, it  was  with  undisguised  reluctance  that  Contrecoeur 
complied  with   this   request,  and   even   then,  it   is   said, 

•  Mante,  27. 


222  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

refused  to  assign  troops  for  the  enterprise ;  bidding  him 
call  for  volunteers  as  for  a  forlorn  hope.  To  that  summons 
the  whole  garrison  responded.  If  this  tale  be  true,  Con- 
trecoeur  recanted  his  determination,  and  wisely  preferred 
making  him  a  regular  detachment,  conditioned  on  his  suc- 
cess in  obtaining  the  union  of  the  Indians,  who,  to  the 
number  of  nearly  a  thousand  warriors,  were  gathered  at 
the  place.  ^  Accordingly,  the  savages  were  at  once  called 
to  a  council.  These  people,  consisting  of  bands  assembled 
from  a  dozen  different  nations,  listened  with  unsuppressed 
discontent  to  the  overtures  of  the  Frenchman.  Seated 
under  the  palisades  that  environed  the  fort,  or  standing  in 
knots  about  the  speaker,  were  gathered  a  motley  but  a 
ferocious  crew.  Alienated  from  their  ancient  friends,  here 
were  Delawares  from  the  Susquehannah,  eager  to  speed  the 
fatal  stroke,  and  Shawanoes  from  Grave  Creek  and  the 
Muskingum ;  scattered  warriors  of  the  Six  Nations ;  Qjib- 
was  and  Pottawattamies  from  the  far  Michigan ;  Abenakis 
and  Caughnawagas  from  Canada ;  Ottawas  from  Lake  Su- 
perior, led  on  by  the  royal  Pontiac,  and  Hurons  from  the 
falls  of  Montreal  and  the  mission  of  Lorette,  whose  barba- 
rous leader  gloried  in  a  name  torn  from  the  most  famous 
pages  of  Christian  story.^ 

To  these  reluctant  auditors  Beaujeu  stated  his  designs. 

•  XVI.  Haz.  Penn.  Reg.,  100. 

^  "  Went  to  Lorette,  an  English  village  about  eight  miles  from  Quebec. 
Saw  the  Indians  at  mass,  and  heard  them  sing  psalms  tolerably  well  —  a 
dance.  Got  well  acquainted  with  Athanase,  who  was  commander  of  the 
Indians  who  defeated  General  Braddock  in  1755  —  a  very  sensible  fellow." 
JIS.  Jo%irnal  of  an  English  Gentleman  on  a  Tour  through  Canada  in 
1765;  cited  in  Parkman,  97. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  223 

"  How,  my  father,"  said  they  in  reply,  "  are  you  so  bent 
upon  death  that  you  would  also  sacrifice  us  ?  With  our 
eight  hundred  men  do  you  ask  us  to  attack  four  thousand 
English?  Truly,  this  is  not  the  saying  of  a  wise  man. 
But  we  will  lay  up  what  we  have  heard,  and  to-morrow 
you  shall  know  our  thoughts."  On  the  morning  of  the  9th 
of  July,  the  conference  was  repeated  and  the  Indians 
announced  their  intention  of  refusing  to  join  in  the  expe- 
dition. At  this  moment  a  runner  —  probably  one  of  those 
dislodged  by  Gage  in  the  early  dawn  —  burst  in  upon  the 
assembly  and  heralded  the  advent  of  the  foe.  Well  versed 
in  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  savages,  by  whom  he 
was  much  beloved,  and  full  of  tact  and  energy,  Beaujeu 
took  ready  advantage  of  the  excitement  which  these  tidings 
occasioned.  "  I,"  said  he,  "  am  determined  to  go  out  against 
the  enemy,  I  am  certain  of  victory.  What !  will  you 
suffer  your  father  to  depart  alone  ?"  Fired  by  his  language 
and  the  reproach  it  conveyed,  they  at  once  resolved  by  ac- 
clamation to  follow  him  to  the  fray.  In  a  moment,  the 
scene  was  alive  with  frantic  enthusiasm.  Barrels  of  bullets 
and  flints,  and  casks  of  powder,  were  hastily  rolled  to  the 
gates :  their  heads  were  knocked  out,  and  every  warrior 
left  to  supply  himself  at  his  own  discretion.  Then,  painted 
for  war  and  armed  for  the  combat,  the  party  moved  rapidly 
away,  in  numbers  nearly  900  strong,  of  wliom  637  were 
Indians,  146  Canadians,  and  72  regular  troops.^     Subordi- 

'  Another  French  account  estimates  the  French  and  Canadians  as  250, 
and  the  savages  as  641 :  a  third,  at  233  whites  and  600  Indians.  See 
Appendix,  No.  IV.  The  English  rated  their  numbers  from  as  high  as 
1500  regulars  and  600  Canadians  besides  savages  (XXV.  Gent.  Mag.,  379), 
to  as  low  as  400  men,  all  told.     (I.  Sp.  Franklin,  191.     Drake's  Indian 


224  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

nate  to  Beaujeu  were  MM.  Dumas  ^  and  De  Ligneris,  both 
captains  in  the  regular  army,  four  lieutenants,  six  ensigns, 

Captivities,  183) ;  and  Washington  himself  could  not  have  believed  they 
exceeded  300.     (II.  Sp.  Wash.,  87). 

'  For  his  conduct  on  the  9th  of  July,  M.  Dumas  was  early  in  the  sub- 
sequent year  promoted  to  succeed  M.  de  Contrecoeur  in  the  command  of 
Fort  Du  Quesne.     Here  he  proved  himself  an  active  and  vigilant  officer, 
his  war-parties  ravaging  Pennsylvania,  and  penetrating  to  within  twenty 
leagues  of  its  metropolis.     A  copy  of  instructions  signed  by  him,  on  23d 
March,  1756,  was    found  in  the  pocket  of  the  Sieur  Donville,  who,  being 
sent  to  surprise  the  English  at  Fort  Cumberland,  got  the  worst  of  it  and 
lost  his  own  scalp.    This  letter  concludes  in  a  spirit  of  humanity  honorable 
to  its  writer.     (II.  P.  A.,  600.)     In  the  spring  of  1759,  the  king  created 
him  a  major-general  and  inspector  of  the  troops  of  the  marine,  who  seem 
to  have  constituted  the  bulk  of  the  usual  Canadian  army.     At  the  siege  of 
Quebec  and  during  the  rest  of  the  war  he  was  actively  employed.    In  July, 
1759,  he  commanded  in  the  unlucky  coup  des  ecoliers,  where  1500  men, 
partly  composed  of  lads  from  the  schools,  in  endeavoring  to  destroy  Monck- 
ton's  battery,  became  so  bewildered  in  the  darkness  as  to  mistake  friend  for 
foe,  and  nearly  destroyed  each  other.     We  may  presume  he  fought  not 
where  Montcalm  fell  on  the  Heights  of  Abraham ;  since,  after  the  sur- 
render of  the  capital  he  held  Jacques  Cartier  with  600  men  by  order  of 
M.  de  Levis.    And  when  that  general  besieged  Murray  in  Quebec,  in  1760, 
Dumas  was  in  command  of  the  lines  from  Jacques  Cartier  to  Pointe-aux- 
Trembles.     At  last,  the  capitulation  of  Montreal  gave  Canada  to  the  Eng- 
lish, and  Dumas  passed  with  his  comrades  in  arms  to  France.     Here  I  do 
not  doubt  he  was  visited  by  the  same  persecutions  that  waited  alike  on 
almost  every  man  who  had  been  in  a  Canadian  public  employ  —  on  the 
peculating  Bigot  and  the  upright  Vaudreuil.     Ultimately,  however,  and 
after  1763,  he  was  made  a  brigadier  and  appointed  to  the  government  of 
the  Isles  of  France  and  of  Bourbon.     (I.  Pouchot,  41,  84.     II.  Garneau, 
liv.  ix.,  X.,  xi.     I.  0.  T.,  75.)     Thus  much  may  be   positively  stated  of 
Dumas.     To  the  romantic  story  of  his  persecution  by  Contrecoeur  we  can- 
not attach  implicit  faith.     It  says  that  jealousy  of  his  success  induced  Con- 
trecoeur to  send  Dumas  home  on  a  charge  of  purloining  the  public  stores ; 
that  he  was  tried  and  cashiered,  and  retired  in  disgrace  to  Provence ;  that 
during  the  revolutionary  war  Washington  informed  Lafayette  of  these  cir- 
cumstances, whose  influence  speedily  brought  Dumas  in  triumph  to  Paris 
to  receive  the  grade  of  a  general  officer.     (XVI.  Haz.  Reg.,  99.     II.  0. 
T.,  475.)     Since  Pouchot   deliberately  insinuates  (Vol.  I.,  p.  84),  that 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  225 

and  twenty  cadets.  Though  his  numbers  were  thus  not 
so  greatly  inferior  to  Braddock's,  it  is  not  likely  that  Beau- 
jeu  calculated  on  doing  more  than  giving  the  English  a 
severe  check,  and  perhaps  delaying  for  a  few  days  their 
advance.  It  is  impossible  that  he  should  have  contem- 
plated the  complete  victory  that  was  before  him.^ 

On  the  evening  of  the  8th  of  July,  the  ground  had  been 
carefully  reconnoitred  and  the  proper  place  for  the  action 
selected.  The  intention  was  to  dispute  as  long  as  possible 
the  passage  of  the  second  ford,  and  then  to  fall  back  upon 
the  ravines.  But  long  ere  they  reached  the  scene,  the 
swell  of  military  music,  the  crash  of  falling  trees,  apprised 
them  that  the  foe  had  already  crossed  the  river,  and  that 
his  pioneers  were  advanced  into  the  woodlands.  Quicken- 
ing their  pace  into  a  run,  they  managed  to  reach  the 
broken  ground  just  as  the  van  of  the  English  came  in 

Dumas  was  inclined  to  such  practices,  we  may  conclude  it  not  unlikely  that 
on  his  return  to  France  his  conduct  was  severely  scrutinized ;  but  much  of 
the  rest  of  the  anecdote  is  palpably  false.  It  is  believed  by  many  that 
Alexandre  Dumas,  the  famous  novelist,  is  a  son  of  this  general ;  but  this 
view  is  not  confirmed  by  the  Memoires  of  the  former.  He  says  that  his 
father,  Thomas- Alexandre  Davy  de  la  Pailleterie,  a  general  of  the  Republic, 
was  born  at  St.  Domingo  in  1762,  son  of  Marie-Alexandre-Antoine  Davy, 
marquis  de  la  Pailleterie  (born  1710,  died  1786),  a  colonel  of  artillery,  and 
Marie  Tessette-Dumas  of  St.  Domingo.  It  is  said  this  last  was  a  quadroon. 
Independent  of  the  impossibility  of  the  general,  and  the  improbability  of  the 
colonel,  being  the  Dumas  of  Braddock's  defeat,  it  is  hardly  likely  that  no 
reference  to  the  fact,  were  it  so,  would  be  found  in  the  highly-colored  pages 
of  our  autobiographer.  There  was  a  Comte  Mathieu  Dumas,  a  French 
general  who  served  with  Rochambeau  in  America,  but  he  certainly  was  not 
this  man.  Indeed,  the  name  is  so  common  in  France  that  there  may  well 
have  been  several  bearing  it  occupying  high  ranks  in  the  army  at  the  same 
time.  Had  we  a  series  of  the  Almanach  Royale  to  refer  to,  the  point  might 
be  settled. 

'  Pouchot  is  clear  on  this  point.     (Vol.  I.,  p.  38.) 

15 


226  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

sight.  Braddock  had  turned  from  the  first  bottom  to  the 
second,  and  mounting  to  its  brow  was  about  to  pass  around 
the  head  of  the  ravines  to  avoid  the  little  morass  caused 
by  the  water-course  before  described.  His  route  did  not 
lay  parallel  with  the  most  dangerous  defile,  where  the 
banks  are  so  steep  and  the  cover  so  perfect,  but  passed  its 
head  at  an  angle  of  about  45°  ;  thus  completely  exposing  his 
face  and  flanks  from  a  point  on  the  second  bottom,  at  a  hun- 
dred yards  distance,  to  another  within  tliirty,  where  he 
would  turn  the  ravine.  Of  course  the  further  he  advanced 
the  nearer  he  would  approach  to  its  brink,  till  the  whole 
should  finally  be  left  behind :  thus  opening  a  line  of  two 
hundred  yards  long,  at  an  average  distance  of  sixty,  to  the 
enemy's  fire.  Had  he  possessed  the  least  knowledge  of 
these  defiles,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  secured  them  in 
season,  since  nothing  would  have  been  easier  than  their 
occupation  by  Gage's  advanced  party.  But  not  a  man  in 
his  army  had  ever  dreamed  of  their  existence. 

The  arrangement  of  the  march  from  the  river's  bank 
had  been  made  as  follows :  The  engineers  and  guides  and 
six  light-horsemen  proceeded  immediately  before  the  ad- 
vanced detachment  under  Gage,  and  the  working-party 
under  St.  Clair,  who  had  with  them  two  brass  six-pounders 
and  as  many  tumbrils  or  tool-carts.  On  either  flank,  parties 
to  the  number  of  eight  were  thrown  out  to  guard  against 
surprises.  At  some  distance  behind  Gage  followed  the 
line,  preceded  by  the  light-horse,  four  squads  of  whom  also 
acted  as  extreme  flankers  at  either  end  of  the  column. 
Next  came  the  seamen,  followed  by  a  subaltern  with 
twenty  grenadiers,  a  twelve-pounder  and  a  corapanv  of 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  227 

• 

grenadiers.  Then  the  vanguard  succeeded,  and  the  wagon 
and  artillery  train,  which  began  and  ended  with  a  twelve- 
pounder  :  and  the  rearguard  closed  the  whole.  Numerous 
flanking-parties,  however,  protected  each  side;  and  six 
subalterns,  each  with  twenty  grenadiers,  and  ten  sergeants, 
with  ten  men  eaclx,  were  detached  for  this  purpose. 

The  greater  part  of  Gage's  command  was  actually  advanced 
beyond  the  spot  where  the  main  battle  was  fought,  and 
was  just  surmounting  the  se'cond  bottom,  when  Mr.  Gordon, 
one  of  the  engineers  who  were  in  front  marking  out  the 
road,  perceived  the  enemy  bounding  forward.  Before  them, 
with  long  leaps,  came  Beaujeu,  the  gaily-colored  fringes  of 
his  hunting-shirt  and  the  silver  gorget  on  his  bosom  at 
once  bespeaking  the  chief  Comprehending  in  a  glance  the 
position  he  had  attained,  he  suddenly  halted  and  waved 
his  hat  above  his  head.  At  this  preconcerted  signal,  the 
savages  dispersed  to  the  right  and  left,  throwing  themselves 
flat  upon  the  ground,  and  gliding  behind  rocks  or  trees  or 
into  the  ravines.  Had  the  earth  yawned  beneath  their 
feet  and  reclosed  above  their  heads,  they  could  not  have 
more  instantaneously  vanished.  The  French  (some  of 
whom,  according  to  Garneau,  were  mounted)  ^  held  the 
centre  of  the  semi-circular  disposition  so  instantly  assumed ; 
and  a  tremendous  fire  was  at  once  opened  on  the  English. 
For  a  moment.  Gage's  troops  paused  aghast  at  the  furious 
yells  and  strangeness  of  the  onset.  Eallying  immediately, 
he  returned  their  fire,  and  halted  a  moment  till  St.  Clair's 
working-party  came  up ;  ^  when  he  bade  his  men  advance 
at  once  upon  the  centre  of  the  concentric  line.    As  he  drew 


'  This  is  very  improbable,  however.  *  Sharpe's  MS.  Corresp. 


228  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

near,  he  was  again  greeted  with  a  staggering  discharge,  and 
again   his   ranks   were   shaken.     Then,   in   return,   they 
opened  a  fire  of  grape  and  musketry,  so  tremendous  as  to 
sweep  down  every  unsheltered  foe  who  was  upon  his  feet, 
and  to  utterly  fright  the   savages   from   their  propriety.,, 
Beaujeu  and  a  dozen  more  fell  dead  upon  the  spot,  and  the 
Indians  already  began  to  fly,  their  courage  being  unable  to 
endure  the  unwonted  tumult  of  such  a  portentous  detona- 
tion.    But  reanimated  by  the  clamorous  exhortations  of 
Dumas  and  De  Ligneris,  and  observing  that  the  regulars 
and  militia  still  preserved  a  firm  front,  they  returned  once 
more  to  their  posts  and  resumed  the  combat.     For  a  time 
the  issue  seemed  doubtful,  and  the  loud  cries  of  "  Vive  le 
Koi "  of  the  French  were  met  by  the  charging  cheers  of 
the  English.     But  precision  of  aim  soon  began  to  prevail 
over  mere  mechanical  discipline.     In  vain  the  44th  conti- 
nued their  fire ;  in  vain  their  officers,  with  waving  swords, 
led  them  to  the  charge :  hidden  beneath  great  trees,  or 
concealed  below  the  level  of  the  earth,  the  muzzles  of  their 
pieces  resting  on  the  brink  of  the  ravine,  and  shooting  with 
a  secure  and  steady  aim,  the  majority  of  the  enemy  rested 
secure  and  invisible  to  their  gallant  foemen.^ 

In  the  mean  time,  Braddock,  whose  extreme  rear  had 
not  yet  left  the  river's  bank,  hearing  the  uproar  in  advance, 
ordered  Burton  to  press  forward  with  the  vanguard,  and 
the  rest  of  the  line  to  halt ;  thus  leaving  Halket  with  four 

'  "  None  of  the  English  that  were  engaged  saw  more  than  100,  and 
many  of  the  Officers  as  well  as  Men  who  were  the  whole  time  of  its  Con- 
tinuance in  the  Heat  of  the  Action,  will  not  assert  that  they  saw  an  Enemy." 
Sharpe's  MS.  Corresp. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  229 

hundred  men  to  protect  the  baggage  while  eight  hundred 
engaged  the  enemy.  '  But  just  as  Burton,  under  a  galHng 
fire,  was  forming  his  troops  upon  the  ground,  Gage's  party 
gave  way  and  precipitately  endeavored  to  fall  into  his  rear ; 
confusing  men  who  were  confused  before.^  The  manoeuvre 
was  unsuccessfully  executed,  and  the  two  regiments  became 
inextricably  commingled.  Vainly  Braddock  strove  to  sepa- 
rate the  soldiers,  huddling  together  like  frightened  sheep. 
Vainly  the  regimental  colours  were  advanced  in  opposite 
directions  as  rallying-points.   / 

"  Ut  conspicuum  in  proelio 


Haberent  signum  quod  sequerentur  milites." " 

The  officers  sought  to  collect  their  men  together  and  lead 
them  on  in  platoons.  Nothing  could  avail.  On  every 
hand  the  officers,  distinguished  by  their  horses  and  their 
uniforms,  were  the  constant  mark  of  hostile  rifles ;  and  it 
was  soon  as  impossible  to  find  men  to  give  orders  as  it  was 
to  have  them  obeyed.  In  a  narrow  road  twelve  feet  wide, 
shut  up  on  either  side  and  overpent  by  the  primeval  forest, 
were  crowded  together  the  panic-stricken  wretches,  hastily 
loading  and  reloading,  and  blindly  discharging  their  guns  in 
the  air,  as  though  they  suspected  their  mysterious  murderers 
were  sheltered  in  the  boughs  above  their  heads ;  while  all 
around,  removed  from  sight,  but  making  day  hideous  with 
their  warwhoops  and  savage  cries,  lay  ensconced  a  host  insa- 
tiate for  blood. ^    Foaming  with  rage  and  indignation,  Brad- 

'  Penn.  Gaz.  No.  1393.  ="  Phoed.  Fab.,  liii. 

'  "  The  yell  of  the  Indians  is  fresh  on  my  ear,  and  the  terrific  sound 
will  haunt  me  until   the  hour  of  my  dissolution.     I  cannot  describe  the 


230  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

dock  flew  from  rank  to  rank,  with  his  own  hands  endeavor- 
ing to  force  his  men  into  position.^  Four  horses  were  shot 
under  him,  but  mounting  a  fifth,  he  still  strained  every 
nerve  to  retrieve  the  ebbing  fortunes  of  the  day.     His  sub- 
ordinates gallantly  seconded  his  endeavors,  throwing  them- 
selves from  the  saddle  and  advancing  by  platoons,  in  the 
idle  hope  that  their  men  would  follow :  but  only  to  rush 
upon  their  fate.     The  regular  soldiery,  deprived  of  their 
immediate  commanders,  and  terrified  at  the  incessant  fall 
of  their  comrades,  could  not  be  brought  to  the  charge; 
while  the  provincials,  better  skilled,  sought  in  vain  to  cover 
themselves  and  to  meet  the  foe  upon  equal  terms :  for  to 
the  urgent  entreaties  of  Washington  and  Sir  Peter  Halket 
that  the  men  might  be  permitted  to  leave  the  ranks  and 
shelter  themselves,  the  General  turned  a  deaf  ear . '  Wherever 
he  saw  a  man  skulking  behind  a  tree,  he  flew  at  once  to 
the  spot,  and,  with  curses  on  his  cowardice  and  blows  with 
the  flat  of  his  sword,  drove  him  back  into  the  open  road.^ 
Wherever  the  distracted  artillerymen  saw  a  smoke  arise, 
thither  did  they  direct  their  aim ;  and  many  of  the  flankers 
who  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  only  position  where 
they  could  be  of  any  service,  were  thus  shot  down.   Athwart 

horrors  of  ttat  scene.  No  pencil  could  do  it,  or  no  painter  delineate  it  so 
as  to  convey  to  you  with  accuracy  our  unhappy  situation."  Capt.  Leslie's 
Letter,  30th  July,  1755.     V.  Haz.  Reg.,  191. 

'  VI.  Haz.  Reg.,  104. 

^  <*  The  Enemy  kept  behind  Trees  and  Loggs  of  Wood,  and  cut  down  our 
Troops  as  fast  as  they  cou'd  advance.  The  Soldiers  then  insisted  much 
to  be  allowed  to  take  to  the  Trees,  which  the  General  denied  and  stormed 
much,  calling  them  Cowards,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  strike  them  with 
his  own  Sword  for  attempting  the  Trees."  Burd  to  Morris;  VI. 
C   R.,  501. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  23] 

the  brow  of  the  hill  lay  a  large  log,  five  feet  in  diameter, 
which  Captain  Waggoner,  of  the  Virginia  Levies,  resolved 
to  take  possession  of  With  shouldered  firelocks  he  marched 
a  party  of  eighty  men  to  the  spot,  losing  but  three  on  the 
way;  and  at  once  throwing  themselves  behind  it,  the 
remainder  opened  a  hot  fire  upon  the  enemy.  But  no 
sooner  were  the  flash  and  the  report  of  their  pieces  per- 
ceived by  the  mob  behind,  than  a  general  discharge  was 
poured  upon  the  little  band,  by  which  fifty  were  slain  out- 
right and  the  rest  constrained  to  fly. 

By  this  time,  the  afternoon  was  well  advanced,  and  the 
whole  English  line  surrounded.  The  ammunition  began  to 
fail,  and  the  artillery  to  flag;  the  baggage  was  warmly 
attacked ;  and  a  runner  was  despatched  to  the  fort  with 
the  tidings  that  by  set  of  sun  not  an  Englishman  would 
be  left  alive  upon  the  ground.  Still,  gathering  counsel 
from  despair,  Braddock  disdained  to  yield ;  still,  strong  in 
this  point  only  of  their  discipline,  his  soldiers  died  by  his 
side,  palsied  with  fear,  yet  without  one  thought  of  craven 
flight.  At  last,  when  every  aide  but  Washington  was 
struck  down ;  when  the  lives  of  the  vast  majority  of  the 
officers  had  been  sacrificed  with  a  reckless  intrepidity,  a 
sublime  self-devotion,  that  surpasses  the  power  of  language 
to  express ;  when  scarce  a  third  part  of  the  whole  army 
remained  unscathed,  and  these  incapable  of  aught  save 
remaining  to  die  or  fill  the  word  to  retire  was  given ;  at 
last,  Braddock  abandoned  all  hope  of  victory ;  and,  with  a 
mien  undaunted  as  in  his  proudest  hour,  ordered  the  drums 
to  sound  a  retreat.  The  instant  their  faces  were  turned, 
the  poor  regulars  lost  every  trace  of  the  sustaining  power 


232  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

of  custom;  and  the  retreat  became  a  headlong  flight. 
"  Despite  of  all  the  efforts  of  the  officers  to  the  contrary, 
they  ran,"  says  Washington,  "  as  sheep  pursued  by  dogs, 
and  it  was  impossible  to  rally  them." 

Beneath  a  large  tree  standing  between  the  heads  of  the 
northernmost  ravines,  and  while  in  the  act  of  giving  an 
order,  Braddock  received  a  mortal  wound ;  the  ball  passing 
through  his  right  arm  into  the  lungs.  Falling  from  his 
horse,  he  lay  helpless  on  the  ground,  siMrrounded  by  the 
dead,  abandoned  by  the  living.  Not  one  of  his  transat- 
lantic soldiery  "  who  had  served  with  the  Duke  "  could  be 
prevailed  upon  to  stay  his  headlong  flight  and  aid  to  bear 
his  General  from  the  field.  Orme  thought  to  tempt  them 
with  a  purse  containing  sixty  guineas;  but  in  such  a  moment 
even  gold  could  not  prevail  upon  a  vulgar  soul,  and  they 
rushed  unheeding  on.  Disgusted  at  such  pusillanimity,  and 
his  heart  big  with  despair,  Braddock  refused  to  be  removed, 
and  bade  the  faithful  friends  who  lingered  by  his  side  to 
provide  for  their  own  safety.  He  declared  his  resolution 
of  leaving  his  own  body  on  the  field :  the  scene  that  had 
witnessed  his  dishonor  he  desired  should  bury  his  shame. 
With  manly  affection,  Orme  disregarded  his  injunctions ; 
and  Captain  Stewart,  of  Virginia  (the  commander  of  the 
Light-horse  which  were  attached  to  the  General's  person), 
with  another  American  officer,  hastening  to  Orme's  relief, 
his  body  was  placed  first  in  a  tumbrel,  and  afterwards  upon 
a  fresh  horse,  and  thus  borne  away.'  Stewart  seems  to 
have  cherished  a  sense  of  duty  or  of  friendship  towards 

'  III.  Walp.  Corresp.,  144.     II.  Garneau,  227. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  233 

his  chief  that  did  not  permit  him  to  desert  him  for  a  mo- 
ment while  hfe  remained. 

It  was  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  when  the 
English  abandoned  the  field.  Pursued  to  the  water's  edge 
by  about  fifty  savages,  the  regular  troops  cast  from  them 
gunSj  accoutrements,  and  even  clothing,  that  they  might 
run  the  faster.  Many  were  overtaken  and  tomahawked 
here ;  but  when  they  had  once  crossed  the  river,  they  were 
not  followed.  Soon  turning  from  the  chase,  the  glutted 
warriors  made  haste  to  their  unhallowed  and  unparalleled 
harvest  of  scalps  and  plunder.  The  provincials,  better  ac- 
quainted with  Indian  warfare,  were  less  disconcerted ;  and 
though  their  loss  was  as  heavy,  their  behavior  was  more  com- 
posed. In  full  possession  of  his  courage  and  military  instincts, 
Braddock  still  essayed  to  procure  an  orderly  and  soldierlike 
retreat;  but  the  demoralization  of  the  army  now  rendered 
this  impossible.  With  infinite  difficulty,  a  hundred  men, 
after  running  about  half  a  mile,  were  persuaded  to  stop 
at  a  favorable  spot  where  Braddock  proposed  to  remain 
until  Dunbar  should  arrive,  to  whose  camp  Washington 
was  sent  with  suitable  orders.  It  will  thus  be  seen  how 
far  was  his  indomitable  soul  from  succumbing  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties,  beneath  the  unexpected  burthen  that 
had  been  laid  upon  him.  By  his  directions  Burton  posted 
sentries  here,  and  endeavored  to  form  a  nucleus  around 
which  to  gather  the  shattered  remains  of  the  troops,  and 
where  the  wounded  might  be  provided  for.  But  all  was 
idle.  In  an  hour's  time,  almost  every  soldier  had  stolen 
away,  leaving  their  officers  deserted.  These,  making  the 
best  of  their  way  off,  were  joined  beyond  the  other  ford  by 


234  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

Gage,  who  had  rallied  some  eighty  men ;  and  this  was  all 
that  remained  of  that  gallant  army  which  scarce  six  hours 
before  was  by  friend  and  foe  alike  deemed  invincible. 
With  little  interruption  the  march  was  continued  through 
that  night  and  the  ensuing  day,  till  at  10  P.M.  on  the  10th 
of  July,  they  came  to  Gist's  plantation ;  where  early  on 
the  11th  some  wagons  and  hospital-stores  arrived  from 
Dunbar  for  their  relief.  Despite  the  intensity  of  his 
agonies,  Braddock  still  persisted  in  the  exercise  of  his 
authority  and  the  fulfilment  of  his  duties.  From  Gist's  he 
detailed  a  party  to  return  towards  the  Monongahela  with 
a  supply  of  provisions  to  be  left  on  the  road  for  the  benefit 
of  stragglers  yet  behind,  and  Dunbar  was  commanded  to 
send  to  him  the  only  two  remaining  old  companies  of  the 
44th  and  48th,  with  more  wagons  to  bring  off"  the 
wounded;  and  on  Friday,  the  11th  of  July,  he  arrived  at 
Dunbar's  camp.  Through  this  and  all  the  preceding  day, 
men  half-famished,  without  arms,  and  bewildered  with 
terror,  had  been  joining  Dunbar;  his  camp  was  in  the 
utmost  confusion,  and  his  soldiers  were  deserting  without 
ceremony. 

Braddock's  strength  was  now  fast  ebbing  away.  Informed 
of  the  disorganized  condition  of  the  remaining  troops,  he 
abandoned  all  hope  of  a  prosperous  termination  to  the  ex- 
pedition. He  saw  that  not  only  death,  but  utter  defeat, 
was  inevitable.  But  conscious  of  the  odium  the  latter 
event  would  excite,  he  nobly  resolved  that  the  sole  respon- 
sibility of  the  measure  should  rest  with  himself,  and  con- 
sulted with  no  one  upon  the  steps  he  pursued.  He  merely 
issued  his  orders,  and   insisted   that   they  were   obeyed. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  235 

Thus,  after  destroying  the  stores  to  prevent  their  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy  (of  whose  pursuit  he  did  not 
doubt),  the  march  was  to  be  resumed  on  Saturday,  the 
12th  of  July,  towards  Will's  Creek.  Ill-judged  as  these 
orders  were,  they  met  with  but  too  ready  acquiescence  at 
the  hands  of  Dunbar,  whose  advice  was  neither  asked  nor 
tendered  on  the  occasion.  Thus,  the  great  mass  of  those 
stores  which  had  been  so  painfully  brought  thither  were 
destroyed.  Of  the  artillery,  but  two  six-pounders  were 
preserved;  the  cohorns  were  broken  or  buried;  and  the 
shells  bursted.  One  hundred  and  fifty  wagons  were 
burned ;  the  powder-casks  were  staved  in,  and  their  con- 
tents, to  the  amount  of  50,000  pounds,  cast  into  a  spring : 
and  the  provisions  were  scattered  abroad  upon  the  ground 
or  thrown  into  the  water.  Nothing  was  saved  beyond  the 
actual  necessities  for  a  flying  march ;  and  when  a  party  of 
the  enemy  some  time  afterward  visited  the  scene,  they 
completed  the  work  of  destruction.  For  this  service — the 
only  instance  of  alacrity  that  he  displayed  in  the  cam- 
paign —  Dunbar  must  not  be  forgiven.  It  is  not  perfectly 
clear  that  Braddock,  intelligently,  ever  gave  the  orders; 
but  in  any  case  they  were  not  fit  for  a  British  officer  to 
give  or  to  obey.  Dunbar's  duty  was  to  have  maintained 
here  his  position,  or  at  the  least  not  to  have  contemplated 
falling  back  beyond  Will's  Creek.  That  he  had  not  horses 
to  remove  his  stores,  was,  however,  his  after  excuse.' 

'  Sharpe's  MS.  Corresp.  VI.  C.  R.,  501.  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1392.  The 
people  nick-named  this  man  "Dunbar  the  tardy."  I.  Watson's  Annals, 
100.  What  provisions  belonging  to  the  army  remained  in  Morris's  hands 
were  afterwards  applied  to  its  uses  or  sold  by  him  on  its  account.  II.  P- 
A.,  469. 


236  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

It  was  not  until  Sunday,  July  13th,  that  all  this  was 
finished ;  and  the  army  with  its  dying  General  proceeded 
to  the  Great  Meadows,  where  the  close  was  to  transpire : 

Last  scene  of  all, 
That  ends  this  strange,  eventful  history. 

Ever  since  the  retreat  commenced,  Braddock  had  pre- 
served a  steadfast  silence,  unbroken  save  when  he  issued 
the  necessary  commands.  That  his  wound  was  mortal  he 
knew ;  but  he  also  knew  that  his  fame  had  received  a  not 
less  fatal  stab ;  that  his  military  reputation,  dearer  than 
his  own  life  to  a  veteran  or  those  of  a  thousand  others, 
was  gone  forever.  These  reflections  embittered  his  dying 
hours ;  nor  were  there  any  means  at  hand  of  diverting  the 
current  of  his  thoughts,  or  ministering  to  the  comfort  of 
his  body :  even  the  chaplain  of  the  army  was  among  the 
wounded.  He  pronounced  the  warmest  eulogiums  upon 
the  conduct  of  his  officers  (who  indeed  had  merited  all  he 
could  say  of  them),  and  seems  to  have  entertained  some 
compunctions  at  not  having  more  scrupulously  followed  the 
advice  of  Washington,  or  perhaps  at  the  loss  of  power  to 
provide  for  that  young  soldier's  interests  as  thoroughly  as 
he  would  have  done  had  he  returned  victorious.  At  all 
events,  we  find  him  singling  out  his  Virginia  aide  as  his 
nuncupative  legatee,  bequeathing  to  him  his  favorite 
charger  and  his  body-servant  Bishop,  so  well  known  in 
after  years  as  the  faithful  attendant  of  the  patriot  chief.^ 

•  So  says  Mr.  Custis,  in  his  Life  of  Martha  Washington.  Howe  (Hist, 
(^oll.  Virg.,  184),  recites  the  death  in  Augusta  County,  in  Feb.  1844,  of 
the  slave  Gilbert,  aged  112  years,  whom  he  represents  to  have  been  Wash- 
ington's attendant  not  only  at  Braddock's  but  at  Cornwallis's  defeat ;  and 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  237 

The  only  allusions  he  made  to  the  fate  of  the  battle  was 
to  softly  repeat  once  or  twice  to  himself —  "  Who  would 
have  thought  it  ?"  Turning  to  Orme  —  "  We  shall  better 
know  how  to  deal  with  them  another  time;"  were  his 
parting  words.  A  few  moments  later,  and  he  breathed  his 
last.^  Thus  at  about  eight  on  the  night  of  Sunday  the  13th 
of  July  honorably  died  a  brave  old  soldier,  who,  if  wanting 
in  temper  and  discretion,  was  certainly,  according  to  the 
standard  of  the  school  in  which  he  had  been  educated,  an 
accomplished  officer;  and  whose  courage  and  honesty  are 
not  to  be  discussed.  The  uttermost  penalty  that  humanity 
could  exact,  he  paid  for  his  errors :  and  if  his  misfortune 
brought  death  and  woe  upon  his  country,  it  was  through 
no  shrinking  on  his  part  from  what  he  conceived  to  be  his 
duty.  He  shared  the  lot  of  the  humblest  man  who  fell  by 
his  side. 

So  terminated  the  bloody  battle  of  the  Monongahela ;  a 
scene  of  carnage  which  has  been  truly  described  as  unex- 
ampled in  the  annals  of  modern  warfare.  Of  the  four- 
teen hundred  and  sixty  souls,  officers  and  privates,  who 
_went  into  the  combat,  four  hundred  and  fifty-six  were  slain 
outright,  and  four  hundred  and  twenty-one  were  wounded  ; 
making  a  total  of  eight  hundred  and  seventy-seven  men. 
Of  eighty-nine  commissioned  officers,  sixty-three  were 
killed  or  wounded ;  not  a  solitary  field-officer  escaping 
unhurt.  The  summing  up  of  the  whole  loss  is  given  as 
follows : 

Washington  himself  (II.  Sparks,  84),  seems  to  refer  to  one  John  Alton  aa 
his  servant  on  this  occasion. 
'  I.  Sp.  Franklin,  193. 


238  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

Rank.  Killeb.  Wounded.         Safe. 

General 1 

Secretary 1 

Colonels  and  L. -Colonels 1 2 

Major 1 

Captains 7 7 7 

Lieutenants 11 15 12 

S.  Lieutenants  or  Ensigns....       3 5 6 

Midshipmen 1 1 

Chaplain 1 

Quarter-Master 1 

Surgeon's  Mates 1 5 

Sergeants ...  17 

Corporals  and  bombardiers...     18 

Gunners 6 

Boatswain's  Mates 1 


Drummers 2 . 

Matrosses  and  Privates 386. 

Total 456. 


20 

21 

22 

21 

8 

4 

1 

6 

24 

328 

486 

421 

....  588 

The  number  of  women  and  servants  killed  cannot  be 
ascertained,  since  they  are  not  entered  on  the  roster  of  an 
army :  certain  it  is,  however,  that  but  three  of  the  latter 
were  spared.  As  for  the  Pennsylvania  wagoners,  they 
escaped  to  a  man.  At  the  very  first  onset  each  driver  cut 
loose  his  team,  and  selecting  the  best  horse,  fled  with 
headlong  precipitation.  In  fact,  of  the  whole  number 
which  originally  set  forth,  but  two  never  returned  to  their 
homes;  one  of  whom  had  died  of  disease  and  the  other 
been  scalped  on  the  march.  The  battle  was  fought  on  the 
afternoon  of  Wednesday,  the  9th  of  July ;  yet  such  was 
their  haste,  that  at  5  A.M.  of  Thursday  their  leader  rushed 
into  Dunbar's  camp  with  the  dismal  tidings  that  the  whole 
army  was  destroyed  and  himself  the  sole  survivor !  ^     The 

•  Penn.  Gaz.,  Nos.  1381,  1392. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  239 

enemy's  loss  was  very  inconsiderable,  being  but  three 
officers  killed  and  two  wounded;  two  cadets  wounded; 
twenty-five  soldiers  and  savages  slain ;  and  as  many  more 
badly  hurt.  Beside  the  artillery  abandoned  by  the  English 
to  the  victors,  they  lost  everything  they  had  with  them 
save  the  clothes  on  their  backs  and  the  arms  in  their 
hands.'  One  hundred  oxen  that  had  just  been  brought 
up ;  all  the  wagons,  provisions,  baggage,  and  stores ;  the 
military  chest,  containing  £25,000  in  specie ;  and  the 
General's  cabinet  with  his  instructions  and  private  papers 
fell  into  the  enemy's  power.  These  last  were  transmitted 
at  once  to  Canada ;  and  their  contents  soon  made  known 
by  the  French  government  to  every  court  in  Europe,  as 
eternal  monuments  of  the  perfidy  of  Britain.^ 

Whether  we  regard  the  cause,  the  conduct,  or  the  conse- 
quences of  this  battle,  the  reflections  it  gives  rise  to  are 
alike  valuable  and  impressive.  It  brought  together  practi- 
cally for  the  first  time  in  our  history  the  disciplined  regular 
of  Europe  and  the  rifleman  of  America ;  and  it  taught  the 
lesson  to  the  latter  that  in  his  own  forests  he  was  the  supe- 
rior man.  It  w/is  the  beginning  of  a  contest  in  whose  re- 
volving years  the  colonies  became  a  school  of  arms,  and  a 
martial  spirit  of  the  people  was  fostered  and  trained  till 
they  had  attained  that  confidence  which  naught  but  custom 
can  afford.     Had  Braddock  been  successful,  the  great  pro- 

'  "  Two  12-pounder  cannon,"  says  Burd,  "  six  4-pounders,  four  cohorns, 
and  two  Hortts,  with  all  the  shells,  &c."  VI.  C.  R.,  501.  There  is  a 
discrepancy  between  this  statement  and  that  of  the  park  which  the  General 
set  forth  with. 

^  I.  Pouchot,  43.  VI.  C.  R.,  514.  Sharpe's  MS.  Corresp.  II.  0.  T., 
140. 


240  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

vince  of  Pennsylvania,  and  probably  those  of  New  Jersey, 
Maryland,  and  New  York,  freed  from  danger,  would  have 
continued  in  their  original  ignorance  and  aversion  of  mili- 
tary science.  His  failure  left  their  frontiers  open  to  the 
enemy,  and  the  spirit  of  self-preservation  soon  compelled 
them  to  welcome  the  weapons  from  which  they  had  once 
recoiled  with  loathing.  It  was  there  and  then  that  Morgan 
and  Mercer,  Gates  and  Washington,  first  stood  side  by  side 
in  marshalled  array ;  ^  and  in  that  day's  dark  torrent  of 
blood  was  tempered  the  steel  which  was  to  sever  the  colo- 
nies from  the  parent-stem.  "  Had  an  enforced  colonial 
obedience  to  the  omnipotence  of  Parliament  been  attempted 
in  1754,  instead  of  twenty  years  later,"  sagaciously  observed 
a  soldier  of  the  revolution,  himself  a  captive  at  Fort  Du 
Quesne  when  Braddock  was  defeated,  "  it  would  have  been 
undoubtedly  successful ;  for  with  the  partial  exception  of 

'  Daniel  Morgan  was  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  was  serving  as  an  over- 
seer in  Virginia  shortly  before  Braddock's  arrival.  Though  then  a  lawless, 
dissipated  character,  he  was  the  possessor  of  a  wagon  and  a  team  of  horses, 
with  which  he  engaged  in  the  expedition.  Being  on  an  occasion  behind 
time  with  his  wagon,  he  was  sharply  reprimanded  by  an  officer.  He  replied 
probably  with  insolence,  and  the  officer  drew  his  sword  upon  him.  Morgan 
fell  on  him  with  his  whip,  knocked  the  weapon  from  his  hand,  and  beat 
him  severely.  For  this  offence  he  was  sentenced  to  receive  500  lashes,  but 
fainting  beneath  the  cat,  50  were  remitted.  According  to  his  own  story, 
his  adversary  subsequently  perceived  that  the  original  fault  was  his  own, 
and  made  the  amende  honorable  to  the  wagoner.  In  the  battle,  or  on  some 
occasion  of  the  campaign,  he  was  shot  in  the  back  of  the  neck,  the  ball 
passing  through  his  mouth  and  teeth.  It  is  a  little  odd  that  Morgan,  who 
afterwards  rose  to  the  rank  of  General  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution  was, 
under  the  command  of  Gates,  one  of  the  most  active  opponents  of  Burgoyne 
at  Saratoga,  in  1778.  (Howe's  Hist.  Coll.  Virg.,  515.)  As  for  Dr.  Hugh 
Mercer  (the  same  that  died  so  gloriously  at  Princeton,  in  1777),  he  is  con- 
stantly said  to  have  been  engaged  in  Braddock's  campaign.  He  certainly 
played  an  active  part  in  Pennsylvania  during  the  remainder  of  the  war. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  241 

the  people  of  New  England,  the  Americans  were  equally 
destitute  of  means  of  defence  or  skill  to  use  them."  *  The 
power  and  policy  of  England  gave  them  bothj  Bouquet 
and  Amherst  and  Gage  himself  enured  them  to  the  hardy 
toils  of  battle ;  every  regiment  that  was  sent  to  America 
left  skilful  soldiers  on  its  shores ;  and  when  the  final 
struggle  came,  it  was  with  the  dagger  itself  had  sharpened 
that  the  fatal  blow  was  struck ;  and  too  late  the  mother- 
country  realized  the  fate  of  Waller's  eagle  :  — 

— Which  on  the  shaft  that  made  him  die, 

Esp/d  a  feather  of  his  own 
Wherewith  he  wont  to  soar  so  high. 

But  there  are  other  and  less  satisfying  lights  in  which 
we  must  for  a  moment  behold  this  scene.  Never  was  there 
an  affray,  proportionably  to  the  numbers  engaged,  more 
awfully  destructive  of  life.  Not  even  at  Waterloo,  in  all 
the  flush  and  pride  of  youthful  valor  and  filled  with  the 
recent  memories  of  their  distant  homes,  fell  on  their  earliest 
battle-field  a  larger  share  of  oflicers.  What  terrible  tales 
the  tidings  of  that  day  of  carnage  bore  to  those  remote 
homesteads  around  which  yet  lingered  the  parting  echoes 
of  their  farewell,  cannot  be  traced  here.  The  fond  eyes 
still  filled  with  the  fading  image  of  their  youthful  heroes, 
too  soon  to  be  dimmed  with  bitterest  tears — the  hands  that 
dropped  the  half-twined  chaplet  of  victorious  laurel  to  pre- 
pare the  cypress-wreath — the  hearts  whose  high  triumphal 
hopes  were  by  one  sudden  stroke  shaken  with  the  throb- 
bings  of  despair — all  are  passed  away  like  the  objects  they 
lamented  —  gone 

•  Drake,  262. 

16 


242  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

Oil  va  la  feuille  de  Rose 
Ou  va  la  feuille  de  Laurier. 

Early  or  late,  the  inevitable  fate  fell  equally  upon  the 
peaceful  home-dweller  beyond  the  wide-spread  fields  of 
barren  foam  and  the  warrior  upon  the  rugged  banks  of  oc- 
cidental streams  :  the  mourned  and  the  mourner  have  alike 
disappeared  and  been  forgotten  :  and  they  who  rest  by  the 
murmuring  ripple  of  the  Monongahela  beneath  the  brown 
shades  of  an  Am.erican  forest,  as  quietly  sleep  in  their 
confused  and  nameless  graves  as  she  who  lies  beneath  the 
church-yard  walls  of  England,  above  whose  mouldered 
tomb  sweep  constant  sounds  of  Christian  bells. 

Of  the  many  melancholy  passages  of  this  most  melan- 
choly day,  some  not  uninteresting  incidents  are  still 
recollected.  The  preservation  of  Washington  is  an  anec- 
dote of  popular  currency.  With  two  horses  shot  under 
him  and  four  bullets  through  his  coat,  and  a  special  mark 
for  the  enemy's  rifles,  not  a  single  stroke  told  upon  his 
person.  In  1770,  on  the  banks  of  the  Great  Kanhawa,  an 
aged  chief  journeyed  from  his  distant  lodge  to  see  once 
more  the  favorite  of  the  Great  Spirit  against  whom  his 
own  gun  and  those  of  his  young  men  were  fifteen  years 
before  so  often  turned  in  vain.  Well  might  the  eloquent 
Davies  express  at  the  time  the  public  conviction  that  the 
signal  manner  in  which  Providence  had  hitherto  watched 
over  the  heroic  youth  clearly  presaged  his  future  import- 
ance to  his  country.' 

Nor  was  the  salvation  of  two  other  officers  less  worthy 
of  remark,  since  the  story  displays  the  exercise  of  some 

'  II.  Sp.  Wash.,  91,  476. 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  243 

of  the  noblest  qualities  that  can  inspire  the  heart  of  man 
to  immortal  deeds.  When  the  retreat  was  sounded,  Cap- 
tain Trebj  of  the  44th  lay  writhing  on  the  ground,  so 
desperately  wounded  as  to  be  unable  even  to  crawl  beneath 
the  shelter  of  the  nearest  bush.  With  death  close  following 
at  their  heels,  the  human  herd  rushed  by  regardless  of  his 
fate,  when  his  situation  arrested  the  attention  of  a  gentle- 
man volunteer  named  Farrel.  Uncareful  of  the  peril  to 
which  he  exposed  his  safety  by  such  an  action,  Farrel 
placed  the  helpless  sufferer  upon  his  own  back,  and  in  this 
wise  bore  him  to  such  a  distance  from  the  field  as  to  be 
able  to  procure  further  assistance  and  eventually  place  him 
beyond  the  reach  of  danger.'  And  equally  magnanimous 
was  the  enthusiastic  bravery  of  the  men  of  Captain  John 
Conyngham's  company.  At  the  first  fire  his  horse  was  shot 
down  and  he  himself  severely  wounded.  Falling  beneath 
the  animal's  body,  all  his  efforts  to  extricate  himself  would 
have  been  in  vain  had  not  his  soldiers,  "  for  the  love  they 
bore  him,"  rushed  to  his  rehef ;  and  while  many  of  their 
number  were  shot  dead  in  the  attempt,  succeeded  finally 
in  bearing  him  in  triumph  from  the  spot."     Such  incidents 

'  Mante,  28 ;  where  it  is  said  that  in  1772  Mr.  Farrel  was  a  captain  in 
the  62nd  Foot.  I  take  him,  however,  to  be  the  same  Thomas  Farrel  who, 
on  March  15th,  1763,  was  appointed  to  a  captaincy  in  the  65th  Foot. 
(Army  Reg.  for  1765,  p.  120.)  In  1763,  Captain  John  Treby  still  held 
his  rank  in  the  44th.  (Army.  Reg.  1763,  p.  98.)  About  the  close  of 
the  century,  we  find  "  a  Colonel  Treby "  apparently  a  man  of  fashion  in 
Wiltshire.     Chafin's  Cranbourne  Chase,  18. 

^  Capt.  Matthew  Leslie's  Letter  of  30th  of  July,  1754.  V.  Haz.  Reg., 
191,  where  Conyngham's  convalescence  is  indicated.  In  1763  there  was 
no  one  of  this  name  in  either  the  44th  or  48th  regiment  ^  but  in  1765  a 
John  Conynghame  appears  as  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  29th  Foot  (date 


244  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

as  these  are  enough  to  brighten  a  thousand  darker  shades 
of  character. 

Among  the  most  distinguished  of  the  dead  was  Sir  Peter 
Halket  of  Pitferran,  Colonel  of  the  44  th,  and  a  gallant  and 
sagacious  soldier ;  whose  two  sons  were  fighting  by  his  side 
when  he  fell.  One  of  these,  Lieutenant  James  Halket  of 
his  own  regiment,  hastened  at  the  moment  to  his  aid,  and 
with  open  arms  bent  to  raise  the  dying  form.  But  pierced 
by  an  Indian  bullet  his  body  dropped  heavily  across  his 
leader's  corpse,  and  father  and  son  lay  in  death  together. 

There  is  a  generally  accepted  tradition  that  Braddock 
was  murdered  by  one  of  his  own  men.  Thomas  Fausett, 
a  subsequent  resident  of  Fayette  County,  Pennsylvania,  is 
not  only  commonly  believed  to  have  been  the  perpetrator 
of  the  deed,  but  actually,  in  later  years,  avowed  the  fact. 
Such  an  interesting  incident  —  paralleled  only  by  the  case 
of  Charles  of  Sweden  —  demands  in  this  place  a  thorough 
investigation ;  and  this  more  particularly  since  the  tale, 
mendacious  as  we  now  believe  it  to  be,  has  been  fortified 
by  such  constant  and  positive  assertion,  and  such  popular 
currency,  that  even  Mr.  Sparks  has  not  disdained  to  sanc- 
tion its  naked  repetition.^  A  careful  summary  of  the  evi- 
dence in  this  matter  shall  therefore  be  given ;  and  the 
result  will  show  what  ridiculous  forgeries  may  be  foisted 
off  upon  the  student  under  the  name  of  History. 

of  commission,  13th  Feb.,  1762),  and  a  John  Conyngham  as  captain  in 
the  7th  Foot :  (date  of  commission,  15th  Oct.  1759.)  Army  Reg.  1765 
pp.  60,  82. 

'  II.  Sp.  Wash.,  475.  Of  course  Mr.  Sparks  would  not  be  justified  in 
omitting  a  mere  allusion  to  a  matter  so  confidently  asserted  by  our  local  his- 
torians. But  the  occurrence  is  pointed  out  here  to  show  how  widely  error 
may  be  difi"used. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  245 

It  must  be  premised  that  not  one  contemporaneous  au- 
thority, either  in  public  or  in  private,  even  breathed  a  sus- 
picion of  such  a  circumstance.  Washington,  who  must 
have  participated  sooner  or  later  in  the  secrets  of  the  pro- 
vincial troops,  knew  nothing  of  it.  Neither  Orme,  with  all 
his  scorn  of  colonial  morality,  nor  Sharpe,  who  hated  Brad- 
dock,  and  with  his  confidential  correspondents  spared  not 
his  memory,  once  alludes  to  it.  It  is  not  hinted  at  in 
Governor  Morris's  letters,  nor  in  those  of  Franklin  ;  nor  in 
any  of  the  numerous  American  and  European  writings  of 
the  period  that  have  been  examined.  The  only  original 
passage  that  can  be  at  all  wrested  to  bear  on  this  point  is 
to  be  found  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  August,  1755. 
In  the  first  statement  of  the  battle,  abounding  in  pardon- 
able but  manifest  inaccuracies,  it  contains  this  remark : 
"  It  is,  however,  said  that  the  slaughter  among  our  officers 
was  not  made  by  the  enemy ;  but  as  they  ran  several  fugi- 
tives through  the  body  to  intimidate  the  rest  when  they 
were  attempting  in  vain  to  rally  them,  some  others,  who 
expected  the  same  fate,  discharged  their  pieces  at  them ; 
which,  though  loaded,  they  could  not  be  brought  to  level 
at  the  French."  ^  This  assertion,  though  unsupported  by 
contemporaneous  or  other  respectable  authority,  possibly 
may  be  true.  In  1854,  while  the  writer  visited  the  locus 
in  quo  in  the  hope  of  gaining  some  hitherto  neglected  cir- 
cumstance of  the  expedition,  he  received  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  tales,  it  is  true ;  but  of  which  all,  save  two,  were 
so  absurdly  false  as  not  to  merit  even  remembrance.  An 
aged  man  who  said  that  he  had  known  Fausett  declared 
that  there  were  three  brothers  in  the  action,  of  whom  one 
'  XXV.  Gent.  Mag.,  380. 


246  INTRODUCTORT    MEMOIR. 

was  slain  by  Braddock,  and  the  other  by  the  captain  of 
Thomas  Fausett's  own  company ;  and  that  in  a  like  man- 
ner the  death  of  both  was  avenged.  The  importance  of 
this  point  will  be  presently  seen.^ 

Let  us  now  take  up  Fausett's  own  assertions.  In  1781, 
(twenty-six  years  after  the  defeat,)  a  subsequent  writer  in 
the  National  Intelligencer  (believed  to  have  been  the  late 
William  Darby,  Esq.)  was  cognizant  of  the  common  report 
in  Fayette  County  that  this  man  had  killed  the  General. 
In  1794,  he  put  the  plain  question  to  him  :  "  Did  you  shoot 
General  Braddock  ?"  and  the  reply  was  prompt  and  expli- 
cit :  "  I  did  shoot  him  !"  As  an  apology,  he  added  that  for 
the  preservation  of  the  rest  of  the  army,  the  instant  re- 
moval of  such  an  obstinate  leader  was  inevitable.  And 
this  narrative  is  further  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of  the 
Hon.  Andrew  Stewart,  of  Uniontown,  who  often  heard 
Fausett  make  the  same  avowal.  It  also  appears  that  he 
was  a  man  of  unusual  stature  and  of  rude  habits ;  dwell- 
ing alone  in  a  mountain-cabin,  earning  a  precarious  sub- 
sistence by  his  rifle,  and  rarely  herding  with  his  kind  but 
to  get  drunk.  His  usual  account  of  the  transaction  was 
this  :  Joseph,  his  brother,  in  defiance  of  Braddock's  injunc- 
tions, persisting  in  sheltering  himself  behind  a  tree,  was 
finally  cut  down  by  his  infuriated  commander;  on  which 
Thomas,  who  from  a  little  distance  witnessed  the  whole, 
instantly  levelled  his  gun  and  shot  Braddock  down.^     So 

'  At  the  time,  I  did  not  believe  in  the  truth  of  a  word  of  this  story. 

^  Day's  Hist.  Coll.  Penn.,  335.  Here  occurs,  too,  another  inconsistency. 
In  1794,  says  the  writer  in  the  Intelligencer,  Fausett  declared  himself  to 
be  in  his  70th  year.  In  January,  1828,  he  died  at  the  Laurel  Hill,  aged 
]  14  years,  says  a  clerical  contributor  to  the  Christian  Advocate,  who  has 
done  much  to  extend  the  belief  of  the  truth  of  the  tradition.     It  is  not 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  247 

much  for  Fausett's  own  story.  It  does  not  satisfactorily 
appear  that  Thomas  Fausett  had  any  other  brother  in  the 
action  than  Joseph ;  therefore  it  may  be  concluded  there 
is  either  confusion  or  a  positive  falsehood  in  the  various 
versions  of  the  tradition  lately  cited.  However  this  may 
be,  it  is  certain  that  Thomas  Fausett  was  enlisted  at  Ship- 
pensburg,  Pennsylvania,  by  Captain  Poison,  into  Captain 
Cholmondeley's  company  of  the  48th  regiment;  and  that, 
deserting  from  the  same  subsequently  to  the  battle,  he  was 
not  retaken  by  the  1st  of  September,  1755.^  And  as  Cap- 
tain Cholmondeley  was  killed  in  the  fight,  it  is  not  impos- 
sible that  it  was  he  who  slew  Joseph  Fausett  and  was  in 
turn  murdered  by  his  brother.  But,  in  the  face  of  all  the 
negative  testimony  that  has  been  adduced,  it  is  useless  to 
propose  the  confessions  of  an  ignorant  peasant,  uttered  in 
his  cups  twenty  years  after,  as  proof  of  the  manner  of 
death  of  the  chief  of  the  army.  Yet,  it  may  be  urged, 
Fausett  is  not  singular  in  his  tale :  it  is  supported  by  the 
assertion  of  other  witnesses.  This  is  very  true :  let  us 
see  what  their  assertions  are  worth. 

The  first  and  most  important  witness  is  Wilham  Butler ; 
who  served  throughout  the  Seven  Years'  War,  under  Brad- 
dock  in  1755,  under  Forbes  in  1758,  and  under  Wolfe  in 
1759.  He  states  that  in  Braddock's  expedition  he  was 
marched,  with  twenty-five  hundred  others,  from  the  camp 

doubted  that  the  reverend  annotator  believed  all  that  he  recited  to  have 
been  a  fact ;  but  it  is  impossible  for  a  man  who  was  but  70  years  old  in 
1794  to  have  attained  114  by  1828.  The  age  of  97,  as  given  by  Hazard 
(I.  Penn.  Reg.,  49),  is  patriarchal  enough,  and  far  more  probable;  but  it 
is  equally  irreconcilable  with  Fausett's  own  statement. 
'  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1394. 


248  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

at    Philadelphia,    by  way  of  Germantown    and    Reading, 
towards    Du  Quesne;    that  Dunbar,  who  had  arrived  at 
Baltimore,  joined  them  on  the  route ;  and  that  Washington 
led  four  hundred  riflemen.    "  At  the  time  of  the  action,  he 
was  just  off  duty,  near  Washington's  tent.     Near  there  he 
saw  Generals  Braddock,  Forbes,  and  Grant  talking,  and 
Braddock  calling  out  to  Captain  Green  to  clear  the  bushes 
ahead  by  opening  a  range  with  his  artillery.     Then  Wash- 
ington came  out,  put  his  two  thumbs  into  the  arm-pits  of 
his  vest,  made  a  little  circle,  and  came  into  their  presence 
and  said,  '  General,  be  assured,  if  you  even  cut  away  the 
bushes,  your  enemy  can  make  enough  of  them  artificially 
to  answer  their  purposes  of  shelter  and  concealment :  it 
will  not  answer.'     Braddock,  upon  hearing  this,  turning  to 
his  officers,  said  sneeringly,  '  What  think  you  of  this  from 
a  young  hand — a  beardless  boy  ?' "     "  He  was  a  great  user 
of  snuff,"    adds  Butler,  "which  he   carried   loose   in  his 
pocket ;  of  middle  stature,  and  thick  set."     He  then  goes 
on  to  the  distinct  declaration  that  the  General  was  slain  by 
"one  Fawcett,  brother  of  one  whom  Braddock  had  just 
killed  in  a  passion :  this  last,  who  killed  Braddock,  was  in 
the  ranks  as  a  non-commissioned  officer :  the  former  was  a 
brave  major,  or  colonel ;  by  birth  an  Irishman.     The  sol- 
dier shot  Braddock  in  the  back ;  and  this  man,  he  said,  he 
saw  again  in  1830,  at  or  near  Carlisle."^ 

Now,  we  are  willing  to  admit  that  Butler,  being  in  his 
104th  year  when  he  put  forth  this  story,  may  have  mis- 
taken its  last  date ;  since  Fausett  was  dead  and  buried  at 
the  period  when  he  said  he  was  at  Carlisle ;  but  how  shall 
'  II.  Watson's  Annals  Phil.  140. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  249 

we  get  over  the  remainder  of  his  chapter  of  blunders  ?  In 
the  first  place,  Braddock's  army  was  never  at  Philadelphia ; 
he  never  saw  that  city  in  his  life.  Nor  did  Dunbar  join 
him  from  Baltimore,  where  he  did  not  arrive,  and  probably 
never  visited.  There  was  no  Captain  Green  in  the  army, 
nor  any  General  Forbes,  or  Grant ;  nor  was  any  such  order 
given  or  conversation  held.  Washington  had  no  command 
whatever  in  the  army ;  he  was  merely  attached  to  the  staff; 
and  the  four  hundred  riflemen  are  more  like  FalstafF's  men 
in  green  buckram  than  substantial  beings  of  flesh  and 
blood.  Nor  were  there  any  tents  at  all  pitched  "  at  the 
time  of  the  action."  The  last  had  been  struck  six  hours 
before.  In  short,  poor  old  Butler  had  so  lamentably  j  um- 
bled  together  in  his  mind  the  two  expeditions  of  Forbes 
and  Braddock  (if,  indeed,  he  ever  served  with  the  latter), 
that  in  repeating  the  last  rhodomontade  that  imagination 
or  some  gasconading  gossip  had  served  him  with,  he  could 
not  keep  the  twain  separate. '  At  his  age,  when  an  old 
soldier  shoulders  his  crutch  and  fights  his  battles  o'er  again, 
he  is  too  apt  to  repeat,  as  of  his  own  memory,  the  last  idle 
tale  that  has  been  put  into  his  mouth.  But  we  cannot  be 
expected,  after  finding  every  other  of  his  statements  un- 
founded, to  place  any  credence  in  the  most  absurd  of  all* 

'  Butler  had  another  story,  to  the  effect  that  he  was  sentinel  before 
Braddock's  tent  one  day  when  Washington  approached.  Instead  of  com- 
ing to  the  tent  diagonally,  as  any  one  else  would  have  done,  he  came  march- 
ing down  in  a  decided  and  —  according  to  Butler's  representation  of  the 
performance  —  in  an  exaggerated  military  step,  and  perfectly  straight  line. 
When  parallel  with  the  tent,  he  suddenly  faced  about,  marched  to  its  door, 
and  informed  Braddock  that  unless  he  procured  a  greater  number  of  In- 
dians and  threw  them  out  as  scouts,  the  army  would  certainly  be  cut  to 
pieces.     This  advice  Braddock  disdainfully  repulsed. 


250  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

The  evidence  of  Billj  Brown,  a  negro  living  at  Frank- 
ford,  Pennsylvania,  taken  in  1826,  when  he  was  ninety- 
three  years  old,  is  next  adduced  to  confirm  Fausett's  story. 
But  though  he  speaks  with  much  hesitation  and  uncer- 
tainty as  to  the  important  fact,  he  gives  us  a  sufficient 
number  of  other  anecdotes  to  test  the  veracity  of  his  recol- 
lections.    He,  too,  is  alleged  to  have  been  at  the  deaths  of 
Braddock  and  Wolfe.    Born  in  Africa,  and  brought  a  slave 
to  this  country  at  an  early  age,  he  loved  to  tell  his  hearers 
of  the  elephants  of  his  native  land,  so  prodigious  as  to 
make  "  quite  a  fog  with  their  breath  !"     "  He  was  present 
in  that  memorable  fight  as  servant  to  Colonel  Brown,  of 
the  Irish  regiment,  and  was  most  of  the  time  near  the 
person  of  General  Braddock.     He  said  his  character  was 
obstinate  and  profane.    He  confirmed  the  idea  that  he  was 
shot  by  an  American  because  he  had  killed  his  brother. 
He  said  that  none  seemed  to  care  for  it :  on  the  contrary, 
they  thought  Braddock  had  some  sinister  design ;  for  no 
balls  were  aimed  at  him !     He  kept  on  foot,  and  had  all 
the  time  his  hat  bound  across  the  top  and  under  his  chin 
with  his  white  handkerchief.     They  suspected   that  the 
white  emblem  was  a  token  of  his  understanding  with  the 
French.     He  told  me,"  continues  the  relator  of  this  con- 
versation, "  that  Washington  came  up  to  him  in  the  fight, 
and  fell  upon  his  knees  to  beseech  him  to  allow  him  to  use 

Now,  setting  aside  the  improbability  of  this  dramatic  tale,  let  us  simply 
point  out  the  fact  that  the  sentries  for  the  General's  tent  were  taken  exclu- 
sively from  the  two  regiments.  Therefore  Butler  could  not  have  been  in 
the  position  he  alleges.  But  the  anecdote  may  be  worthy  of  preservation, 
as  showing  a  possible  sentiment  in  the  ranks  that  Braddock  held  Wash- 
ington's advice  as  naught. 


INTRODTJCTORY    MEMOIR,  251 

three  hundred  of  his  men  in  tree-fighting;  and  that  the 
General  cursed  him,  and  said,  '  I  've  a  mind  to  run  you 
through  the  body;'  and  swearing  out,  'we'll  sup  to-day  in 
Fort  Du  Quesne,  or  else  in  hell !' "  ^ 

Now,  there  was  no  Colonel  Brown  in  the  army.  A 
Colonel  Burton,  indeed,  there  was;  and  the  negro  may 
have  confounded  their  names ;  though,  since  he  continued 
to  serve  the  same  master  for  eight  years,  it  seems  a  little 
strange  that  he  should  stumble  so  on  this  point.  Nor  did 
Braddock  fight  unaimed  at  or  on  foot.  He  was  continually 
mounted,  and  had  four  horses  shot  under  him.  The  idea 
of  putting  Washington  on  his  knees  is  too  palpably  false 
for  comment. 

The  third  and  last  account  that  remains  to  be  examined 
is  fathered  by  Daniel  Adams,  of  Newburyport,  Massachu- 
setts, and  may  be  shortly  dealt  with.  In  1842,  he  pro- 
claims what  he  had  been  told  by  one  who  had  it  from  ano- 
ther, who  was  present  at  the  occurrence.  "  He  stated  that 
the  principal  officers  had  previously  advised  a  retreat, 
which  the  General  pertinaciously  refused ;  that  after  nearly 
all  the  principal  officers  were  shot  down,  he  was  approached 
by  a  captain  to  renew  the  advice,  whom  he  forthwith  shot 
down.     Upon  seeing  this,  a  lieutenant,  brother  of  the  cap- 

'  I.  Watson's  Ann.,  602.  II.  ib.,  141.  Watson's  MSS.  in  Penn.  Hist. 
Soc,  63.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  thus  doubt  the  genuineness  of  some  of 
the  stores  garnered  up  by  this  worthy  and  laborious  collector;  but  to  ignore 
them  entirely,  or  to  admit  them  as  true,  would  be  equally  repugnant  to  our 
convictions.  It  may  be  noted  here,  that  as  Braddock  had  no  notion  of 
reaching  Du  Quesne  before  the  11th,  his  alleged  invocation  was,  to  say  the 
least,  an  oath  of  supererogation.  It  is  odd  that  Ormsby  puts  the  same 
expression  into  Forbes's  mouth  :  "  he  would  sleep  the  next  night  in  the 
Fort  or  in  hell !"     II.  0.  T.,  2. 


252  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

tain,  immediately  shot  Braddock.  Several  of  the  soldiers 
saw  the  act,  but  said  nothing.  Braddock  wore  a  coat  of 
mail  in  front,  which  turned  balls  in  front ;  but  he  was  shot 
in  the  back,  and  the  ball  was  found  stopped  in  front  by 
the  coat  of  mail."  * 

The  reader  is  now  in  possession,  totidem  verbis,  of  all  the 
evidence  in  the  case ;  and  may  deduce  his  own  conclusions. 
He  will  bear  in  mind  the  character  and  circumstances  of 
the  principal  witness,  and  the  inducements  which  a  man 
who  had  deserted  from  his  colours  may  find  in  a  moment 
of  intoxication  to  magnify  his  crime.  Supposing  he  had 
killed  his  captain,  it  was  a  simple  murder,  calculated  to 
excite  disgust  perhaps,  but  nothing  further.  But  by  sub- 
stituting the  commander's  name,  he  became  at  once  the 
pot-house  hero ;  the  cynosure  of  their  neighboring  eyes  to 
whom  the  slaughter  of  a  British  general  was  become  to  be 
regarded  as  a  praiseworthy  achievement.  He  will  likewise 
consider  the  credibility  of  the  remaining  witnesses,  not 
one  of  whom  could  have  known  the  fact  of  his  own  know- 
ledge, since  they  unite  in  making  poor  Fausett  a  colonel,  a 
major,  or  at  least  a  captain,  when  he  was  but  a  private  at 
sixpence  per  diem ;  and  will  notice  the  manifold  errors 
with  which  dotage  or  ignorance  had  embroidered  the  tissue 
of  their  memory.  No  two  unite  on  the  same  facts.  If 
there  be  any  force  in  the  good  old  law  maxim — Qui  falsus 
in  singulis,  falsus  est  in  omnibus  —  he  will  not  be  long  in 
coming  to  a  conclusion ;  but  if  he  should  still  hold  to  the 
Fausett  story,  we  can  only  commend  him  to  the  pages  of 
Mandeville  or  Pinto;  if  any  "historian"  since  the  days  of 

'  II.  Watson,  142. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  253 

Herodotus  can  pretend  to  appease  such  an  appetite  for  the 
marvellous. 

In  considering  the  conduct  of  this  battle,  it  is  easy  to 
perceive  how  readily  victory  might  have  been  lured  to 
perch  upon  an  opposite  banner.  Had  the  American  method 
of  Indian-fighting  been  followed  from  the  outset,  the  whole 
plan  of  the  campaign  must  have  been  altered.  But,  pur- 
suing the  instructions  under  which  he  acted,  there  were 
several  occasions  when  malicious  fate  would  seem  to  have 
dashed  the  chalice  from  Braddock's  lips.  Thus,  when  he 
abandoned  the  design  of  passing  to  Fort  Du  Quesne  by  the 
head-waters  of  Turtle  Creek,  he  lost  a  golden  opportunity. 
And  as  it  was,  had  his  advanced  party  been  but  half  an 
hour  sooner  in  reaching  the  ravines,  all  might  have  been 
well.  The  invisibility  of  their  foe  was  the  chief  feature 
in  that  contest  which  disconcerted  the  English.  An  enemy 
sheltered  by  trees  only  could  never  have  so  surprised  them ; 
the  dusky  forms,  flitting  from  cover  to  cover,  would  soon 
have  fiimiliarized  their  eyei  with  the  tactics  of  the  foe ; 
and  though  perhaps  with  heavy  loss,  they  would  probably 
>ave  got  the  better  of  their  adversaries.  Instead  of  this, 
while  men  were  dropping  by  scores  on  every  side,  not  more 
than  half  a  dozen  Indians  were  seen  by  the  majority  of  the 
troops  at  any  one  time  during  the  fight;  and  the  fire 
appeared  to  issue  from  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth  itself. 
So  ignorant  were  all  of  the  existence  of  the  ravines,  that 
when  convinced  by  subsequent  reflection  that  some  such 
shelter  must  have  been,  it  was  the  belief  of  the  survivors 
that  the  French  had  prepared  elaborate  and  artful  entrench- 


254  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

ments  here,  in  which  the  army  was  involved.'  Nothing 
was  more  easy  than,  as  the  column  approached  a  part  of 
the  defile  hitherto  undefended,  for  a  hundred  warriors  to 
glide  unperceived  under  the  cover  to  the  spot,  and  at  their 
very  feet  to  open  an  instantaneous  and  murderous  fire 
upon  the  bewildered  troops.  In  vain  the  artillery  swept 
the  scene.  The  harmless  balls  passed  ten  feet  above  the 
heads  of  the  savages,  who  lay  concealed  beneath  the  surface 
of  the  earth.  A  more  astute  or  experienced  leader  would 
have  had  out  his  rangers  beating  the  forest  on  every  side, 
peering  into  every  thicket  and  tangled  dell,  and  would 
never  have  been  left  unacquainted  with  the  precise  topo- 
graphy of  such  a  dangerous  spot.  Even  after  the  slaughter 
had  commenced,  it  would  have  been  easy  to  have  cleared 
the  ravines,  by  bringing  a  field-piece  to  their  mouths  and 
with  grape  and  cannister  sweeping  their  channels  from 
bottom  to  top,  sending  their  naked  inhabitants  scattered 
and  howling  like  wolves  through  the  forest.  Following 
this  manoeuvre,  a  column  of  grenadiers  at  the  bayonet's 
point  and  properly  supported  on  the  upper  plains,  would 
have  completed  the  business.  The  Indian  has  not  that 
moral  courage — the  child  of  discipline — which  will  enable 
him  to  stand  a  charge.  He  dreads  the  cold  steel.  And 
though  the  front  ranks  of  the  storming  party  would  per- 
haps have  fallen  to  a  man,  the  very  nature  of  the  passage 
would  have  protected  the  remainder ;  and  few  of  the  enemy 
would  have  had  an  opportunity  of  giving  more  than  one 
fire.  But  it  is  too  plain  why  these  methods  were  not 
pursued. 

'  II.  P.  A.,  383.     VI.  C.  K,  496. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  255 

It  is  ever  an  invidious  task  to  point  out  how  a  lost  field 
might  have  been  won;  but  it  was  reserved  for  another 
leader  in  the  same  war  to  give  a  practical  exemplification 
of  the  stratagem  which  turned  the  battle  of  Hastings,  and 
of  which  Braddock  might  well  have  availed  himself  Had 
he  been  as  sagacious  as  Bouquet  at  Bloody  Run,  he  would 
have  exercised  a  manoeuvre  so  difficult  and  dangerous  that 
nothing  but  the  last  necessity  can  justify  its  use ;  so  inge- 
nious that  no  Indians  can  ever  hold  out  against  it,  if  pro- 
perly carried  out. 

So  soon  as  the  fortune  of  the  day  seemed  perilous,  had 
the  rear-guard  and  wagons  been  quietly  moved  back  to  the 
river-side,  and  at  least  a  portion  of  the  pack-horses  re- 
conveyed  across  the  stream,  it  would  greatly  have  facilitated 
a  retreat,  without  withdrawing  any  strength  from  the  forces 
at  the  time  engaged.  This  being  done,  the  army  might 
have  countermarched  in  three  divisions,  as  though  retiring. 
The  two  wings  should  have  proceeded  in  opposite  diagonal 
directions  towards  the  Monongahela,  encouraging  the  enemy 
with  an  appearance  of  haste ;  while  the  centre  slowly  re- 
traced its  own  steps,  falling  as  it  were  in  a  perpendicular 
line  upon  the  base  of  the  triangle  whose  subtense  was 
occupied  by  the  rear-guard  and  whose  sides  were  the 
courses  of  the  wings.  The  Indians  would  inevitably  have 
pursued,  though  at  first  with  caution ;  and  beyond  a  doubt 
a  number  of  hves,  particularly  of  the  centre,  would  have 
been  sacrificed.  But  when  both  factions  reached  the  open 
woods  of  the  first  bottom,  and  the  savages  beheld  the  water 
dotted  with  wagons  and  crossing  horses,  their  exultation 
would  have  known  no  Hmit,  and    hatchet  in  hand  they 


256  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

would  rush  on  the  flight.     Then  would   have   been   the 
moment  to  annihilate  them.     The  rear-guard,  widening  its 
ranks    to   receive   the   thinned   centre  and  to  enable  the 
artillery  posted   for  the   emergency  to   open   on  the  foe, 
should  attack  him  in  front  while  the  wings,  in  like  wise 
facing  about,  fell  upon  his  either  flank.    One  discharge  the 
troops  might   have   poured   in,  and   then  given  him  the 
bayonet.     The  result  would  have  been  instant  and  inevi- 
table.    Enclosed  between  three  crashing  fires  of  grape  and 
musketry,  driven  before  three  gleaming  walls  of  steel,  all 
converging  to  a  common  centre,  the  enemy  would  have 
been  utterly  and  instantly  crushed ;  and  before  that  even- 
ing's sun  was  set.  Fort  Du  Quesne  would   have  been  in 
flames  and  abandoned.     These  are  no  idle   speculations; 
and  though  a  manoeuvre  like  this  requires  a  steady  obe- 
dience and  abundant  nerve,  yet  its  efficacy  has  been  amply 
tested.     And  surely  no  men  were  more  capable  of  its  exe- 
cution than  Braddock's  soldiers,  whose  discipline  was  per- 
fect until  three   hours  of  unceasing  disaster  had  thrown 
their  souls  back  into  a  chaotic  confusion  where  self-preser- 
vation was  the  only  surviving  thought. 

The  die  was  cast,  however,  and  the  victory  was  with 
those  who  could  only  abuse  it.  In  the  exuberance  of  their 
joy,  the  Indians  had  not  bestirred  themselves  to  make 
prisoners.  Scalps  were  the  first  object  of  their  search; 
and  not  only  from  the  dead,  but  from  the  throbbing  temples 
of  the  yet  living,  the  bloody  trophy  was  torn,  and  weltering 
in  his  gore  the  wretch  was  left  to  die  of  his  wounds,  or, 
more  horrid  still,  to  perish  beneath  the  fangs  of  the  wild 
creatures  of  the  forest  or  the  obscene  beak  of  the  bird  of 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  257 

prey.  Then  the  enraptured  warriors  turned  to  a  harvest 
of  spoil  such  as  never  before  or  since  gladdened  a  savage 
eye.  What  share  of  the  booty  fell  to  the  French  or  Cana- 
dians, we  know  not ;  probably,  however,  they  managed  to 
secure  the  money  and  the  more  valuable  stores,  while  the 
ignorant  native  was  busy  in  stripping  the  gaudy  clothing 
from  the  corpses  on  the  plain,  and,  frantic  with  joy, 
parading  in  the  scarlet  sash,  brillianj;  gorget,  and  gold-laced 
coat  of  a  murdered  oflScer.  The  artillery  was  claimed  by 
the  garrison  as  the  spoil  of  Louis  XV. ;  but  such  were  the 
difficulty  of  transporting  the  pieces  and  the  apprehension 
of  Dunbar's  vicinity,  that  the  howitzers  and  twelve-pounders 
were  spiked  and  dismounted  and  left  on  the  field,  and  the 
shells  bursted.  The  brass  six-pounders  only  were  taken 
to  the  fort,  where  that  very  night  a  division  of  the  plunder 
was  made.^ 

Since  nearly  every  Englishman  with  strength  left  to  run 
had  fled  from  the  field,  few  but  the  wounded  fell  into  the 
enemy's  hands ;  and  it  not  being  their  use  to  cumber  them- 
selves with  infirm  captives,  these  were  speedily  put  to 
death.  By  an  Indian  report  there  were  thirty  prisoners, 
men  and  women,  carried  off  by  the  Chesagechroanus.^  But 
the  evidence  of  William  Johnson,  a  Pennsylvania  resident 
during  all  this  period  at  Venango,  at  Du  Quesne,  and  among 
the  Ohio  Indians,  is  positive  that  there  were  but  three  of 


'  In  March,  1756,  the  artillery  (including  the  howitzers  and  mortars), 
captured  here  was  sent  to  Niagara,  and  afterwards  to  Frontenac ;  and  served 
the  French  a  useful  part  in  the  war.  In  August,  1756,  Montcalm  opened 
his  lines  against  Fort  Ontario  with  a  part  of  it.  I.  Pouchot,  43,  67. 
Penn.  Gaz.,  Nos.  1389,  1393.     I.  Entick,  475.     VI.  C.  R.,  603. 

^  VI.  C.  R.,  615.    These  may  have  been  the  Chaounaons  or  Shawanoes. 

17 


258  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

the  English  saved  ahve,  and  these  women ;  one  of  whom 
M-as  retained  by  the  French  commander  at  Venango,  and 
the  other  two  sent  slaves  to  Canada.^  A  score  of  regulars, 
however,  ignorant  perchance  of  savage  customs  and  not 
dreaming  of  other  treatment  than  that  of  prisoners  of  war, 
being  cut  off  from  flight  threw  down  their  arms  and  sur- 
rendered. A  Virginian,  too,  was  captured ;  ^  and  these  are 
the  only  English  that  so  far  as  can  be  ascertained  remained 
in  life  when  the  victors  left  the  field ;  yet  of  even  this  httle 
band  one-half  were  tomahawked  ere  they  reached  the  Ohio. 
A  darker  departure  was  reserved  for  their  fellows. 

During  all  that  anxious  day,  James  Smith,  an  American 
captive  languishing  within  the  walls  of  Fort  Du  Quesne, 
listened  with  careful  ear  for  the  roll  of  the  English  drums, 
or  explored  with  seeking  eye  the  forest  paths  whence  he 
looked  for  the  coming  of  his  deliverers. 

An  hour  before  sunset  the  French  and  Indians  returning 
to  the  fort  halted  within  a  mile's  distance  and  announced 
their  success  by  a  joyful  uproar,  discharging  all  their  pieces 
and  giving  the  scalp-halloo.  Instantly  the  great  guns 
responded,  and  the  hills  around  re-echoed  to  their  roar. 
Pushing  hastily  on,  the  majority  of  the  savages  soon 
appeared,  blood-stained  and  laden  with  scalps,  and  un- 
couthly  arrayed  in  the  spoils  of  the  army.  Tall  grena- 
dier's caps  surmounted  their  painted  faces,  and  the  regi- 
mental colors  trailed  disgracefully  at  their  heels.  With 
less  disordered  pace  the  French  succeeded,  escorting  a  long 
train  of  pack-horses  borne  down  with  jDlunder.  Last  of 
all,  and  while  the  parting  light  of  day  lingered   on  the 

»  VII.  C.  R.,  342.  '^  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1389. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  259 

beautiful  bosom  of  the  Ohio,  appeared  a  small  party  who 
had  dallied  behind  to  make  the  needful  preparations  for 
the  crowning  scene  of  horror.     Before  them,  stripped  per- 
fectly naked,  their  faces  blackened  and  their  hands  bound 
behind   their   backs,   with    reluctant   steps   were    driven 
twelve  British  regulars  on  whom  God's  sun  had  shone  for 
the  last  time.     Delirious  with  excitement,  their  barbarous 
conquerors  could  hardly  wait  for  the  tardy  night  to  con- 
summate their  unhallowed  joy.    A  stake  was  at  once  sunk 
on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Alleghany,  whither  the  crew 
repaired;  the  prisoners  lost  in  dumb  sorrow  at  the  surprising 
fate  which  they  now  began  to  comprehend.     Here  one  by 
one  they  were  given  to  the  most  cruel  and  lingering  of 
deaths.     Bound  to  the  post  under  the  eyes  of  their  remain- 
ing comrades  and  of  the  French  garrison,  who  crowded 
the  ramparts  to  behold  the  scene,  they  were  slowly  roasted 
alive.     Coals  from  an  adjacent  fire  were  first  applied  to 
various  parts  of  the  victim's  person.     Sharp  splinters  of 
light  dry  pine  wood  were  thrust  into  his  flesh,  and  ignited 
to  consume  and  crackle  beneath  the  skin,  causing  the  most 
exquisite   tortures.     His   trunk  was   seared  with  red-hot 
gunbarrels;  blazing  brands  were  thrust  into  his  mouth  and 
nostrils;  boiling  whiskey  was  poured  in  flames  down  his 
throat,  and  deep  gashes  made  in  his  body  to  receive  burn- 
ing coals.     His  eye-balls  were  gradually  consumed  by  the 
thrusts  of  pointed  sticks  or  the  apphcation  of  a  heated  ram- 
rod ;  and  the  warrior  was  prized  the  most  highly  who  could 
furthest  prolong  sensibility  in  his  prey,  and  extract  a  renewed 
cry  of  anguish  from  the  wretch  who  had  almost  ceased  to 
suffer :  "his  weary  soul  hanging  upon  his  trembling  lips— 


260  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

willing  to  take  its  leave,  but  not  suffered  to  depart !"     The 
last  expedient  was  generally  to  scalp  the  poor  creature,  and 
on  his  bare,  palpitating  brain,  flash  gunpowder  or  throw  a 
handful  of  live  embers.     Terrible   as   it   may  seem,  the 
human  frame  will  endure  such  torment  for  an  hour  or  more 
ere  vitality  ceases ;  consequently  the  horrors  of  this  night 
endured  till  dawn,  affording   a  scene  unmatched  by  any 
other  out  of  Pandemonium.     The  dark  back-ground  of  the 
deep  woods ;  the  river  flickering  in  the  glare  of  a  score  of 
huge  fires  kindled  on  its  shore ;  the  shrieking  soldier  bound 
to  the  stake,  and  mingling  his  dolorous  cries  with  those  of 
his  companions,  foretasting  their  own  woe ;  and,  to  complete 
the  picture,  a  thousand   savages,  their  naked  ghastliness 
made  more  hideous  by  paint,  yelling  like  famished  wolves, 
and  waving  aloft  red  torches  or  dripping  tomahawks  blood- 
encrusted  to  the  heft,  as  with  maniac  bounds  they  danced 
like  lubbar  fiends  around  the  prisoner.     "  It  seemed,"  said 
an  eye-witness,  "  as  if  Hell  had  given  a  holiday  and  turned 
loose  its  inhabitants  upon  the  upper  world."     And,  shame 
to  tell,  there  on  the  opposite  shore  frowned  the  gloomy 
bastions  of  Fort  Du  Quesne,  from  whose  ramparts,  with  the 
fair  flag  of  France  (never  more  sullied  than  on  this  occa- 
sion), heavily  drooping  above  their  heads,  Contrecoeur  and 
his  brave  garrison  beheld   unmoved  to  remonstrance  the 
terrific  spectacle.' 

'  Smith's  Narrative,  in  Drake,  184.  When  we  contrast  the  excesses 
permitted  to  the  savages  in  this  war  by  Frenchmen  of  all  ranks,  from  Con- 
trecoeur to  St.  Yeran,  with  the  conduct  of  the  English  leaders,  humanity 
rejoices  with  national  pride.  Of  870  Indians  in  Amherst's  army,  700  with- 
drew in  one  body  at  the  capture  of  Fort  Levi  in  1760.  They  insisted  on 
their  right  to  massacre  the  captured  Frenchmen  ;  V^U  Sir  Jeffiry  sternly 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  261 

Return  we  now  to  the  army  and  its  dead  general.  On 
the  morning  of  July  14th  he  was  buried,  "  decently  but 
privately,"  in  a  spot  purposely  selected  in  the  middle  of 
the  road ;  nor  was  care  spared  to  close  evenly  the  mouth 
of  his  grave,  and  to  pass  the  troops  and  the  train  over  the 
place,  in  order  to  efface  any  guide-marks  by  which  sacrile- 
gious and  hostile  hands  might  be  enabled  to  disinter  and 
insult  his  remains.^  But  this  disgusting  feat  was  reserved 
for  other  days  and  other  men.^  So  soon  as  Braddock  was 
beneath  the  sod,  the  march  was  resumed  under  Dunbar, 

warned  them  that  the  first  blow  struck  in  this  design  should  be  the  signal 
for  his  falling  on  them  with  his  whole  army.  Even  victory  was  too  dear 
a  purchase  to  a  man  of  honor  at  such  a  rate.  (Mante,  306.)  But  though 
no  punishment  in  kind  was  inflicted  by  Amherst,  the  French  Indians 
escaped  not  unscathed  during  the  war.  The  destruction  of  Kittaning;  the 
invasion  of  the  Muskingum ;  the  fall  of  Pontiac ;  —  involved  not  only  the 
loss  of  much  life,  but  of  national  pride ;  and  other  scourges  than  the  sword 
wasted  their  borders.  Within  a  year  the  Abenakis,  so  active  against  Brad- 
dock,  were  visited  with  the  small-pox,  and  nearly  entirely  extirpated. 
(II.  Gam.,  252.) 

'  Mr.  Headley  (XLIV.  Graham's  Mag.,  255),  gives  a  picturesque  sketch 
of  Braddock's  interment  by  torch-light,  and  adds  that  the  services  for  the 
burial  of  the  dead  were  read  by  Washington ;  but  the  Journal  is  distinct 
that  he  was  buried  the  next  morning.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  the 
services  of  the  church  were  recited ;  and  since  the  chaplain  was  wounded, 
it  is  not  improbable  that  Washington,  the  only  active  member  of  his  family, 
paid  this  sad  duty  to  his  chief. 

^  Until  the  opening  of  the  National  Eoad,  Braddock's  was  a  thoroughfare 
between  Baltimore  and  the  Ohio.  About  1823,  while  working  on  it,  some 
laborers  exposed  his  remains,  still  distinguishable  by  their  "  military  trap- 
pings." "  One  and  another  took  several  of  the  most  prominent  bones,  and 
the  others  were  reinterred  under  the  tree  on  the  hill,  near  the  National 
Road.  Mr.  Stewart  of  Uniontown  (father  of  the  Hon.  Andrew  Stewart), 
afterwards  collected  the  scattered  bones  from  the  individuals  who  had  taken 
them,  and  sent  them,  it  is  believed,  to  Peale's  Museum  in  Philadelphia." 
iJay's  Penn.,  334.  I  have  essayed  without  success  to  trace  further  par- 
ticulars of  this  disgraceful  tale. 


262  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

who,  with  300  wounded  in  his  ranks,  arrived  at  Fort  Cum- 
berland on  Tuesday,  July  22nd,  at  two  in  the  afternoon/ 
By  his  position  in  the  rear  and  the  sluggishness  of  his 
motions,  this  officer  had  already  acquired  the  unflattering 
sobriquet  of  "  Dunbar  the  Tardy  f  and  his  conduct  now 
encountered  the  censure  of  his  superiors,  the  disgust  of  his 
equals,  and  even  the  criticism  of  his  inferiors.  At  head- 
quarters, his  retreat  was  estimated  as  more  disastrous  than 
the  defeat  itself.^ 

During  all  this  time,  there  was  no  thought  in  the  colonies 
but  of  Braddock's  certain  triumph.  In  Philadelphia  the 
warmer  spirits,  eager  to  echo  back  the  first  jubilant  shout 
from  the  western  mountains,  were  already  taking  about 
subscription  papers,  and  preparing  to  kindle  the  staid  city 
with  festal  fires.  But  the  cooler  counsels  of  Franklin 
tempered  their  zeal.^  Upon  the  adherents  of  the  Assembly, 
in  particular,  the  disastrous  intelligence  came  with  a  double 
sting,  when  they  reflected  how  it  would  sharpen  the 
Governor's    invectives    on   their    obstinacy   and    neglect. 

•  VI.  C.  R.,  502. 

2  II.  P.  A.,  387.  ''What  Dishonor,"  writes  Shirley,  "is  thereby  re- 
flected on  the  British  Army !  Mr.  Dunbarr  has  ever  been  esteem'd  an 
exceeding  good  OflBcer,  but  nobody  here  can  guess  at  y«  Reason  of  his 
Retreat  in  the  Circumstances  he  was  in,  and  some  severe  Reflections  are 
thrown  out  upon  his  Conduct ;  Some  would  have  him  sent  with  500  Men 
to  bring  back  what  he  bury'd  with  1500." 

*  "I  looked  grave,"  he  writes,  "and  said  it  would,  I  thought,  be  time 
enough  to  prepare  the  rejoicing  when  we  knew  we  should  have  occasion  to 
rejoice.  They  seemed  surprised  that  I  did  not  immediately  comply  with 
their  proposal.  '  Why,  the  d — 1 !"  said  one  of  them,  "  you  surely  don't 
suppose  that  the  fort  will  not  be  taken  V  '  1  don't  know  that  it  will  not 
be  taken ;  but  I  know  that  the  events  of  war  are  subject  to  great  uncer- 
tainty'"    I.Sp.  Fr.,  194. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  263 

At  first,  they  would  not  confide  in  a  syllable  of  the  intelli- 
gence;  and  men  even  insulted  Mr.  Morris  in  the  public 
streets,  "for  giving  out  that  General  Braddock  was 
defeated  f  ^  nor,  indeed,  did  he  in  turn  omit  any  occasion 
of  blaming  this  matter  on  his  opponents. 

On  July  11th,  Col.  Innes  at  Cumberland  received  the 
first  uncertain  news,  and  hurried  away  expresses  to  the 
neighboring  provinces.  Close  at  the  heels  of  his  flying 
posts  came  the  runaway  wagoners  seeking  their  Pennsylva- 
nian  homes.  Morris  was  in  the  interior  at  the  moment, 
superintending  the  construction  of  the  new  road,  and  the 
transmission  of  supplies ;  and  at  Carlisle  he  satisfied  himself 
of  the  miserable  fact.  The  wagoners,  examined  under 
oath  by  him,  in  their  confused  accounts  all  united  on  the 
main  point  —  that  the  army  was  annihilated.  To  confirm 
all  the  rest,  moreover,  came  an  open  letter  from  one  of 
Braddock's  messengers,  sent  from  post  to  post,  and  spread- 
ing terror  as  it  passed ;  for  it  was  marked  to  be  read  as  it 
went  at  every  hostel  on  the  road ;  "  by  Mr.  Bingham  at 
the  Sign  of  the  Whip,  and  from  that  to  be  told  at  the  In- 
dian Queen."  On  the  16th,  the  Governor  gave  his  Assem- 
bly a  week's  notice  to  meet  him  at  Philadelphia,  and  urged 
the  instant  organization  of  such  a  force  as  should  enable 
Dunbar  to  resume  the  offensive,  ere  yet  the  defenceless 
borders  were  overrun  by  the  foe."  This  too  he  warmly 
pressed  on  Shirley,  to  whom  the  chief  command  of  all  the 
Kmg's  American  armies  was  now  fallen.  Meanwhile 
Dunbar  announced  his  intention  to  abandon  everything, 
and  to  put  his  troops,  in  the  month  of  July,  in  winter- 

'  VL^cTr..  480.  ~  2  Ibid,  481. 


264  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

quarters  at  Philadelphia.  Against  this  Morris  remon- 
strated, and  effectively  pleaded  to  have  at  least  a  few  men 
left  in  the  posts  west  of  the  Susquehannah.  Dunbar  called 
a  council,  whose  report  shows  conclusively  what  cowardly 
or  stultified  infatuation  must  have  governed  the  destruction 
near  the  Meadows ;  since  it  appears  that  the  troops  being 
now  half-naked  and  the  munitions  naught,  the  army  had 
become  more  demoralized  than  ever.  Leaving  then  a  con- 
siderable part  of  his  still  remaining  stores  with  the  Virginia 
and  Maryland  troops  at  Fort  Cumberland  (of  which  place 
Col.  Innes  had  been  appointed  Governor),  on  the  2nd  of 
August  he  started,  1200  strong,  for  Philadelphia.  Much 
to  Dinwiddie's  indignation,  who  considered  that  these  at 
least  had  been  ordered  by  the  King  for  the  especial  service 
of  the  Ohio  campaign,  he  took  with  him  too  the  three 
Independent  Companies.  It  may  be  noticed  here  that 
beside  those  who  had  recovered,  and  the  small  proportion 
that  had  succumbed  after  reaching  it,  there  were  still  300 
of  Braddock's  army  left  at  the  fort  wounded  and  unable  to 
travel.^ 

General  Shirley's  first  orders  (6th  August)  were  that 
Dunbar  should  march  the  44th  and  48th,  by  Philadelphia 
and  Jersey,  direct  to  Albany ;  leaving  the  three  Indepen- 
dent Companies  at  Cumberland,  But  by  Morris's  influence 
on  the  12th  he  issued  supplementary  orders  that  those  of 
the  6th  should  be  followed  only  in  case  it  were  found  im- 
possible to  carry  out  a  renewed  design  against  Du  Quesne. 
The  army  was  to  be  put  in  the  best  order  possible,  and, 
when  united  with  the  expected  Pennsylvania,  Maryland, 

'  VI.  C.  R.,  496,  515,  521,  602.     II.  P.  A.,  395. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  265 

and  Virginia  provincials,  to  fall  on  Du  Quesne  or  Presqu' 
Isle.  Failing  success  in  this,  he  was  to  cover  the  English 
frontiers.^ 

This  scheme  was  never  undertaken.  The  Assembly  and 
the  governor  still  persevered  in  their  opposite  stand-grounds; 
and  no  troops  were  raised  in  Pennsylvania.  The  three 
colonies  came  into  no  concurrent  measures ;  and,  to  crown 
all,  Dunbar  and  his  men  had  no  notion  to  repeat  the  hor- 
rors of  the  9th  of  July.^  In  truth,  he  made  a  very  rea- 
sonable explanation  of  the  impropriety  of  reattacking  the 
French,  which  was  approved  by  every  field-officer  and 
the  five  oldest  captains  of  his  command.  He  pleaded  the 
advanced  season  (it  was  now  near  the  end  of  August)  to 
begin  provincial  preparations ;  the  fact  that  all  his  artillery 
was  but  four  six-pounders,  the  balance  being  destroyed  or 
strengthening  the  walls  of  the  French  Fort;  and  the  des- 
titution of  the  troops.  There  were  not  half  enough  tents, 
and  all  sorts  of  clothing  and  camp  equipage  was  absolutely 
required.  Defections,  too,  were  incessant.  By  September, 
there  were  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
deserters  from  his  immediate  command.^  In  short,  as 
Morris  wrote  at  the  time  to  Shirley,  "  they  are  in  a  very 
bad  order ;  the  officers  disagreeing  with  one  another,  and 

•  VI.  C.  R.,  559.  ^  II.  P.  A.,  530.    VI.  C.  R.,  602. 

'  See  Gov.  Morris's  proclamation  of  6th  Sept.,  1755  (Penn.  Gaz.,  No. 
1394),  where  a  guinea  a  head  is  offered  for  their  capture.  In  the  long  list 
of  names,  it  may  be  noticed  that  of  the  74  deserters  from  the  44th,  seventy- 
one  were  American  recruits ;  three  only  having  come  with  it  from  Ireland. 
So  of  the  48th,  whose  46  deserters  consisted  of  forty-three  enlistments  and 
but  three  Irish  drafts.  The  three  Independents  had  fifty-five  deserters 
In  the  same  journal  (No.  193)  we  find  Capt.  Adam  Stephen  advertising 
four  deserters  from  his  command  at  Cumberland. 


266  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

most  of  them  having  a  contempt  for  the  Colonel  that  com- 
mands them,  while  the  men  are  in  a  poor  and  ragged  con- 
dition, and  don't  relish  another  campaign,  as  it  is  called."  ^ 
With  a  persistive  aversion  to  the  scene  of  danger,  unusual,  to 
say  the  least,  in  the  history  of  British  arms,  the  troops,  with 
their  backs  ever  to  the  distant  foe,  attempted  nothing  more. 
With  all  his  faults,  certainly  Braddock  could  never  have 
counselled  such  a  course.  Moving  languidly  through  Ship- 
pensburg  and  Lancaster,  the  army,  like  a  scotched  snake, 
"  dragged  its  slow  length  along,"  till  at  last,  on  August  29th, 
it  reached  Philadelphia  and  encamped  on  Society  Hill ;  the 
city  having  refused  to  provide  quarters.^  Here,  with  tender 
solicitude,  the  suffering  troops  were  cared  for.  The  naked 
were  clothed,  the  hungry  fed,  the  sick  and  wounded  hospi- 
tably treated.     Churchman  and  Quaker  united  with  char 

'  VI.  C  R.,  596.  "  I  find,  also,"  continues  Morris,  "  that  the  scheme 
is  to  loiter  as  much  time  and  make  as  many  difficulties  as  possible,  that 
these  troops  may  not  move  from  this  place  (Philadelphia),  or,  if  that  can- 
not be  done,  then,  that  they  may  go  no  further  than  Albany  this  season." 

^  VI.  C.  R.,  533,  604.  Society  Hill  was  mainly  comprehended  within 
Second  and  Front,  and  Union  and  Pine  Streets;  but  its  slopes  probably 
extended  to  Fourth  and  to  Cedar  Streets.  It  was  then  a  considerable  ele- 
vation, mostly  unoccupied  and  unenclosed,  and  used  for  public  purposes  by 
the  citizens.  Here  was  the  provincial  flag-staff",  when,  so  early  as  1730,  the 
Assembly  ordered  the  royal  standard  to  be  displayed  on  Sundays  and  holi- 
days ;  and  here  Whitfield,  with  an  eloquent  vociferation,  discovered  to  the 
rapt  multitude  that  Tillotson  was  no  "  Christian  believer."  A  water- 
battery  (perhaps  the  earliest  fortification  here)  was  erected  beneath  its  bank 
by  Franklin's  famous  "Association;"  and  whenever  a  salute  was  to  be 
fired,  this  hill  was  the  chosen  spot.  The  erection  of  the  market-house  in 
Second  Street  at  last  caused  this  district  to  be  built  up  and  the  hill  to  be 
cut  down  and  graded ;  and  probably  there  are  now  comparatively  few  resi- 
dents of  Southwark  who  dream  of  its  ancient  elevation.  Dunbar's  troops 
were  encamped  on  the  west  of  Fourth,  between  Pine  and  Cedar  Streets. 
I.  Watson,  329,  &c. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  267 

racteristic  zeal  in  the  fulfilment  of  duties  alike  recom- 
mended by  Religion  and  Loyalty.  In  fine,  the  troops  had 
scarce  been  here  three  weeks  ere  the  officers  took  occasion 
to  testify  their  gratitude  or  their  gallantry  by  a  ball  to  the 
ladies ;  which  was  given  in  the  State  House  on  Monday, 
the  22d  of  September.'  On  October  1st,  fifteen  hundred 
strong,  the  army  marched  for  New  York  and  Albany  by 
Perth  Amboy.^ 

Dunbar's  pusillanimous  retreat  before  no  foe  (for  their 
own  accounts  show  that  the  enemy,  fearful  of  his  advance, 
scampered  as  quickly  back  to  Du  Quesne  lest  he  should 
fall  on  them,  as  he,  dreading  their  attack,  did  from  the 
Great  Meadow),  if  dictated  by  a  cold  valor,  was  surely  not 
executed  in  sound  discretion.''  In  every  quarter  the  colo- 
nies for  whose  protection  he  was  sent  were  disconcerted  by 
his  conduct.    All  who  could,  fled  to  the  closer  settlements ; 

'  I.  Watson,  285.  When,  during  the  revolution,  each  other  religious 
society  in  Philadelphia  had  given  to  the  Whigs  the  use  of  a  church  for 
their  quarters  or  hospitals,  the  late  Col.  Biddle  (father  of  Thomas  Biddle, 
Esq.,)  was  deputed  to  select  a  Quaker  meeting-house  for  the  like  purpose. 
Col.  Biddle  was  himself  a  Friend,  though,  in  girding  on  the  sword  and 
becoming  a'  man  of  war,  he  had  greatly  scandalized  his  brethren.  He  could 
therefore  say  to  his  ancient  associates,  "We  only  ask  you  to  treat  the  Con- 
tinentals as  you  did  Braddock's  soldiers  after  their  defeat :  give  them  a 
flannel  jacket  apiece  and  an  apple-pie  dinner!" 

*  Penn.  Gaz.,  Nos.  1397,  1399. 

'  Thomas  Dunbar  had  been  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  18th  (Royal  Irish) 
Foot ;  and,  29th  April,  1752,  was  named  Colonel  of  the  48th.  In  Nov. 
1755,  his  regiment  was  given  to  another;  he  being  sent  into  honorable 
retiracy  as  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  city  and  garrison  of  Gibraltar,  with 
a  salary  of  £730,  which  post  he  filled  so  late  as  1765.  Though  he  was 
never  again  actively,  or  even  independently,  employed,  he  was  made  a 
major-general  Jan.  18th,  1758 ;  and  a  Lieutenant-General  December  18th, 
1760.     He  was  dead  before  1778. 


268  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR 

and  by  early  autumn,  the  borders  were  ravaged  with  fire 
and  sword/  The  history  of  the  steps  that  ensued  in  de- 
fence of  the  middle  provinces ;  of  the  savage  and  desolat- 
ing war  that  laid  their  confines  in  ruins,  and  swept,  almost 
unopposed,  over  the  greater  part  of  Pennsylvania ;  or  of 
the  subsequent  career  of  Dunbar's  soldiery,  now  withdrawn 
from  this  portion  of  the  stage,  do  not  come  within  the  com- 
pass of  our  story.  A  brief  glance  at  the  fate  of  Fort  Du 
Quesne  subsequent  to  the  battle  must  conclude  the  nar- 
rative. 

Immediately  on  their  victory,  many  of  the  French  troops 
seem  to  have  been  sent  to 'the  more  northern  posts ;  whence, 
probably,  they  had,  for  this  urgency,  been  withdrawn. 
The  greater  number  of  the  Indians,  too,  were  speedily  dis- 
persed ;  seeking  their  homes  ere  yet  the  fresh  lustre  of  vic- 
tory began  to  dim.  Nor  did  they  all  part  from  their  allies 
on  friendly  terms.  The  Ottawas,  who  are  said  to  have 
been  five  hundred  strong  in  the  battle,  already  provoked 
by  the  conduct  of  the  French  on  the  field,  now  fell  into 
hot  dispute  with  them  in  the  division  of  the  spoil.  Casting 
scornfully  back  the  hatchet  they  had  received  from  Con- 
trecoeur,  they  vowed  henceforward  to  ally  themselves  with 
his  enemies.  As  they  left  the  fort,  and  under  the  very 
eye  of  its  garrison,  they  encountered  two  Frenchmen,  whom 
they  unhesitatingly  killed  and  scalped.  This  done,  they 
disappeared  in  the  forest  gloom.^  The  troops,  hastening  to 
Frontenac,  uncertain  if  it  had  not  already  fallen  before 
Braddock's  arms,  on  the  1st  of  August  encountered  other 
savage  bands,  gay  in  the  spoils  they  had  stripped  from  the 

•  II.  P.  A.,  450.  '  VI.  C.  R.,  602,  614.    Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1403. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  269 

slain ;  who,  bj  the  waters  of  Erie,  gave  them  the  first  ad- 
vices of  the  rout  of  the  Monongahela.' 

For  several  months  longer  M.  de  Contrecoeur  continued 
in  command  at  Fort  Du  Quesne.  It  does  not  appear  that 
he  was  considered  to  possess  all  the  requisite  talents  for  the 
maintenance  of  his  difficult  and  precarious  position ;  but  it 
was  not  until  after  Montcalm's  arrival  in  May,  1756,  and 
his  conference  with  Vaudreuil  at  Montreal,  that  he  was 
superseded  by  the  more  energetic  Dumas.  In  anticipation 
of  the  nine  thousand  men  which  the  English  were  expected 
to  bring  to  bear  upon  this  post  and  Niagara,  thirty-five 
hundred  Canadians  and  savages  were  at  this  time  posted 
along  the  Hues  from  Lake  Erie,  by  the  Ohio,  to  the  Illinois ; 
but  the  fall  of  Oswego,  and  the  disarrangement  of  the  Eng- 
lish plans,  prevented,  for  a  season,  the  threatened  attack. 
The  expense  to  France  of  its  Ohio  defences  during  the 
year  1756  did  not  fall  far  short  of  three  millions  of 
francs.^ 

Meanwhile,  the  English,  though  they  effected  nothing, 
were  not  idle.  Instantly  on  Dunbar's  retreat,  Dinwiddie 
proposed  to  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  to  unite  with  his 
government  in  building  a  fort  at  the  Great  Crossing  or  the 
Meadow  in  the  ensuing  October.  His  notion  was  to  furnish 
it  with  six  guns  from  Cumberland,  and,  burning  the  woods 
for  a  mile  about  to  prevent  covert  for  an  enemy,  to  garrison 
it  during  the  winter  of  1755-6  with  eight  hundred  men.^ 
Unfortunately,  this  plan  fell  through.  Had  it  been  adopted, 
it  would  have  been  a  mighty  protection  to  the  English  set- 

'  I  Pouchot,  37.  2  Ibid,  84.     11.  Gameau,240,253. 

'  VI.  C.  R.,  602.  '        ' 


270  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

tlements.  For  two  years,  the  French  position  on  the  Ohio 
was  as  a  floodgate  to  open  ruin  and  woe  upon  the  adjacent 
colonies;  and  though  its  destruction  was  ever  a  main 
object,  yet  opinions  differed  as  to  the  wisdom  of  attacking 
it  directly  or  through  its  connections  on  the  Lakes.  In 
December,  1755,  Shirley  held  a  council  at  New  York;  where 
the  plans  of  the  ensuing  campaign,  including  the  reduction 
of  all  the  Ohio  establishments,  were  resolved  on ;  but,  as  has 
just  been  noticed,  they  were  not  destined  to  any  result. 
In  the  early  autumn  of  1757,  (or  perhaps  sooner,)  M..de 
Ligneris  relieved  Dumas  in  his  command ;  and  about  the 
same  time,  reinforcements  were  furnished  from  Canada  to 
the  number  of  four  hundred,  men.'  In  the  summer  of  1758, 
however,  Brigadier-General  John  Forbes  had  undertaken 
its  reduction.  With  three  hundred  and  fifty  men  of  the 
Royal  Americans,  twelve  hundred  of  Montgomery's  High- 
landers, and  sixteen  hundred  Virginia  and  twenty-seven  hun- 
dred Pennsylvania  provincials  (making  a  total  of  fifty-eight 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  beside  one  thousand  wagoners),  he 
set  out  from  Philadelphia.  At  Raystown,  he  halted  and 
sent  forward  Bouquet,  with  two  thousand  men,  to  occupy 
the  Loyalhanna.  Conceiving  himself  able  to  its  capture, 
this  officer  imprudently  detached  Major  Grant,  with  eight 
hundred  men,  to  make  the  necessary  observations ;  but  the 
party  was  surprised  and  dreadfully  cut  up  by  M.  Aubry, 
with  seven  or  eight  hundred  Frenchmen  and  an  unknown 
number  of  savages.  Following  up  their  victory,  they  soon 
advanced  against  Bouquet  himself,  who  was  entrenched  in 
a  position  to  which,  in  honor  of  a  favorite  general,  was 

'  VII.  C.  R.,  28.     II.  Garneau,  259 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  271 

given  the  title  of  Fort  Ligonier.  It  was  with  difficulty 
that  they  were  repulsed.  At  this  juncture,  Forbes  was 
almost  tempted  to  abandon  the  enterprise ;  but  the  good 
news  he  presently  received  persuaded  him  to  resume  his 
route. 

Their  triumph  at  Grant's  Hill  had  wrought  the  ruin  of 
the  foe.  The  Ottawas,  Ojibwas,  Pottawattamies,  and  Wy- 
andots  gathered  thither,  since  July,  from  the  distant  lakes, 
believing  that  the  English  were  now  entirely  discomfited, 
had  returned  to  their  deserted  families  and  homes.  The 
troops  from  Detroit  and  the  Illinois  had  likewise  retired ; 
and  the  utmost  strength  of  De  Ligneris,  who  was  still  in 
command,  did  not  exceed  five  hundred  men.  English 
emissaries,  too,  among  the  neighboring  Indians,  and  the 
conciliating  gifts  and  promises  of  the  Quakers,  had  not  been 
working  in  vain.  The  Ohio  tribes  were  inclined  to  a  peace. 
No  persuasion  could  tempt  them  to  come  to  the  relief  of 
the  French;  and  as  the  overwhelming  army  of  Forbes 
drew  near,  De  Ligneris,  after  firing  the  buildings,  and 
destroying  the  stores  and  all  that  he  could  of  the  works, 
retired  with  the  garrison  to  Fort  Machault,  on  Lake  Erie, 
embarking  his  artillery  for  the  Illinois,  and,  without  a  blow, 
abandoned  the  long-desired  and  dearly-bought  prize  to  the 
English.  On  the  25th  of  November,  1758,  the  standard 
of  Great  Britain  was  unopposedly  displayed  upon  the  dis- 
mantled fortress.^ 

During  the  24th,  Forbes  had  encamped  at  Turtle  Creek, 
twelve  miles'  distance  from  the  Ohio,  where  his  council 
advised  him  that  the  provisions  and  forage  were  so  nearly 

'  Garneau,  287.     Smith's  Narr.,  233.     Mante,  157. 


272  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

exhausted  as  to  render  a  retreat  a  question  of  grave  pro- 
priety. "With  a  furious  oath  he  spurned  their  monitions, 
resolved  to  carry  the  fort  the  next  day,  or  to  leave  his  body 
beneath  its  walls;  and  orders  were  issued  for  an  early 
march.  That  very  evening  his  scouts  reported  that  in  the 
distance  they  had  discovered  the  smoke  of  a  wide  confla- 
gration ;  and  at  midnight  the  camp  was  startled  by  the  dull, 
heavy  sound  of  a  remote  explosion;  and  it  was  rightly 
conjectured  that  the  enemy,  with  purpose  or  by  accident, 
had  destroyed  their  magazine.  Encouraged  by  this  view, 
the  army  pushed  eagerly  on;  the  provincials  in  their 
fringed  hunting-shirts  and  modest  uniform  leading  the 
way.^  Next,  with  solid  tread  and  disciplined  array,  came 
the  Royal  Americans,  their  dark  scarlet  coats  faced  with 
blue,  and  their  drums  beating  a  hvely  march.  In  a  litter 
in  their  midst  reclined  the  wasted  form  of  their  dying  old 
general,  known  among  the  savages  for  his  indomitable  ob- 
stinacy by  the  title  of  the  Head  of  Iron.  Last  of  all,  in  a 
long  and  picturesque  line,  followed  the  77th  Highlanders  in 
kilts  and  belted  plaids,  the  "petticoat  warriors"  of  Indian 
sarcasm.^  Apprehensive  of  an  ambush,  the  troops  moved 
on  in  wary  step ;  for  Forbes  alone  was  aware  of  the  rumored 
evacuation,  and  he  was  too  cautious  to  be  thrown  off  his 
guard  by  placing  implicit  reliance  on  its  truth.     As  they 

'  Wm.  Butler  (before  cited),  says  it  was  green  turned  up  with  buff.  II. 
Watson,  139. 

^  Nothing  could  surpass  the  horror  of  the  Highlanders  at  the  barbarous 
customs  of  Indian  battle,  or  their  rage  at  the  well-comprehended  insults 
which  were  offered  to  themselves.  At  Grant's  defeat,  a  flying  Scot  reported 
the  fate  of  his  comrades.  "  They  were  a'  beaten,"  he  said,  "  and  he  had 
seen  Donald  M'Donald  up  to  his  hunkers  in  mud,  and  a'  the  skeen  aff  his 
bead  !"     (Howe's  Virg.,  205.)       ' 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  273 

approached  the  fort  the  route  fell  into  a  long,  open  race- 
path,  where  the  savage  was  wont  to  pass  his  prisoners 
through  the  ordeal  of  the  gauntlet;  and  here  a  dismal 
prospect  met  their  eyes.  On  either  side  a  long  row  of 
naked  stakes  were  planted  in  the  ground,  on  each  of  which 
grinned  in  decaying  ghastliness  the  severed  head  of  a  High- 
lander killed  or  captured  under  Grant;  while  beneath  was 
insultingly  displayed  the  wretch's  kilt.  Disgusted  and 
provoked  at  the  scene,  the  Americans  quickened  their 
pace  and  hastened  on.  The  next  moment  the  77th  came 
suddenly  upon  the  ground. 

One  who  was  present  among  the  advanced  provincials 
relates,  that  the  first  intimation  given  by  the  Scots  of  their 
discovery  of  the  insulted  remains  of  their  butchered  bro- 
thers, was  a  subdued,  threatening  murmur,  like  the  angry 
buzzing  of  a  swarm  of  bees.     Rapidly  swelling  in  violence, 
it  increased  to  a  fierce,  continuous,  low  shriek  of  rage  and 
grief,  that  none  who  listened  to  would  willingly  hear  again. 
In  this  moment,  officers  as  well  as  men  seem  to  have  aban- 
doned every  sentiment  but  of  quick  and  bloody  vengeance, 
and,  inspired  by  a  common  fury,  cast  all  discipline  to  the 
winds.     Their  muskets  were  dashed  upon  the  ground,  and 
bursting  from  the  ranks,  the  infuriated  Gael,  with  bran- 
dished claymore,  rushed  madly  forth  with  hope  to  find  an 
enemy  on  whom  to  accomplish   retribution.     Startled  at 
the   sudden   sound  of  swiftly-tramping   feet,  the  amazed 
provincial  looked  round  to  see  the  headlong  torrent  sweep 
by,  burthening  the  air  with  imprecations,  and  foaming,  said 
he,  "like  mad  boars  engaged  in  battle."   When  we  consider 
the  provocation  that  had  so  excited  their  noble  rage,  it  is 
18 


274  INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR. 

almost  a  matter  of  regret  that  of  all  the  cruel  band  there 
remained  not  one  behind.  The  fort  was  in  flames,  and  the 
last  boat  of  the  flying  Frenchmen  was  disappearing  in  the 
evening  mist  that  hung  around  Smoky  Island.  The  coro- 
nach sung  by  the  waters  of  fair  Loch  Lomond  or  in  the 
gloomy  pass  of  Glencoe  was  not  yet  to  awake  a  responsive 
sorrow  in  the  breast  of  the  widows  of  the  foe.^ 

Since  1755  a  smaller  work  had  been  added  to  the  forti- 
fica^tions  of  Du  Quesne;    built  about  two  hundred  yards 
distant  from  the  first,  so  as  to  more  eflfectually  command 
the  Alleghany,  by  which  their  connection  with  Canada  was 
preserved.     The  scientific  Bouquet  pays  a  suitable   testi- 
mony to  their  strength.     But  now  they  were  a  heap  of 
smoking  ruins,  and   the   stacks  of  thirty  chimnies  alone 
remained  to  point  out  the  place  of  the  houses.    The  enemy 
had  departed  in  such  haste  as  to  leave  unsprung  the  mine 
which  was  to  explode  the  magazine  of  Du  Quesne;  and 
here  the  victors  gathered  the  only  sjpolia  opima  of  the  ex- 
pedition ;  sixteen  barrels  of  powder  and  ball  and  "  a  cart- 
load of  scalping-knives."   A  tenable  post  was  speedily  erected 
from  the  ruins  of  the  old,  to  which  was  now  given  the 
name  of  Fort  Pitt  ;  and  leaving  two  hundred  men  to  gar- 
rison it  through  the  winter,  Forbes  soon  wended  his  way 
back  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  died  early  in  March,  1759. 


'  I.  0.  T.,  181 ;  II.  ib.,  2.  It  is  sad  to  relate  that  after  Grant's  defeat  M. 
de  Ligneris  was  so  base  as  to  deliver  up  five  of  the  prisoners  to  be  burned  at 
the  stake  on  the  parade-ground  of  the  fort  by  his  confederate  savages.  The 
remainder  were  tomahawked  in  cold  blood.  "What  countless  scenes  of  like 
barbarity  were  enacted  here  during  the  war  cannot  be  computed.  The 
narrative  would  defile  a  full  page  in  History:  but  happily  for  human 
nature,  the  memory  of  these  infamies  lies  buried  with  their  perpetrators. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  275 

His  body  rests  in  the  chancel  of  Christ  Church  in  that 
city.' 

Before  marching  from  Fort  Pitt,  however,  Forbes  took 
care  to  perform  a  sacred  duty.  It  was  well  known  that 
the  unburied  bones  of  Braddock's  army  lay  bleaching  on 
the  ground,  and  he  was  resolved  to  pay  this  last,  late  tribute 
to  their  memory.  Himself  not  only  a  Scot  but  a  native  of 
Halket's  own  shire,  his  affectionate  zeal  was  prompted  by 
the  presence  of  a  son  and  brother.  The  then  Sir  Peter 
Halket,  a  major  of  the  42nd,  had  come  to  America  and 
accompanied  Forbes  for  no  other  end  than  to  ascertain, 
with  what  certainty  he  might,  the  fate  of  his  father.  A 
lingering  hope  haunted  his  soul  that  his  kindred  might  not 
have  been  slain  outright,  and  were  possibly  even  yet  cap- 
tives among  the  foe.  Accordingly,  with  other  officers  of 
the  Highland  regiment.  Sir  Peter  set  forth  with  a  company 
of  Pennsylvania  Eifles  under  Captain  West,  an  elder  bro- 
ther of  Benjamin  West  the  painter.  With  him  as  guides 
went  a  few  Indians  from  the  neighborhood,  who  had  fought 
for  the  French  on  that  fatal  day. 

"  Captain  West  and  his  companions  proceeded  through 
the  woods,  and  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  towards  the 
scene  of  the  battle.  The  Indians  regarded  the  expedition 
as  a  religious  rite,  and  guided  the  troops  with  awe  and  in 
profound  silence.  The  soldiers  were  affected  with  senti- 
ments not  less  serious,  and  as  they  explored  the  bewilder- 
ing labyrinths  of  those  vast  forests,  their  hearts  were  often 
melted  with  inexpressible  sorrow;  for  they  frequently 
found  skeletons  lying  across  the  trunks  of  fallen  trees  —  a 

'  I.  0.  T.,  183,  189. 


276  INTRODUCTORY   MEMOIR. 

mournful  proof  to  their  imaginations,  that  the  men  who 
sat  there  had  perished  of  hunger,  in  vainly  attempting  to 
find  their  way  to  the  plantations.  Sometimes  their 
feelings  were  raised  to  the  utmost  pitch  of  horror  by  the 
sight  of  bones  and  skulls  scattered  on  the  ground — a  certain 
indication  that  the  bodies  had  been  devoured  by  wild 
beasts ;  and  in  other  places  they  saw  the  blackness  of  ashes 
among  the  relics  —  the  tremendous  evidence  of  atrocious 
rites."  ^ 

In  reply  to  his  anxious  questions,  one  of  his  tawny 
guides  had  already  told  Halket,  that  he  recollected  during 
the  combat  to  have  seen  an  officer  fall  beneath  such  a 
remarkable  tree  as  he  should  have  no  difficulty  in  recog- 
nizing ;  and  that  at  the  same  moment  another  rushing  to 
his  side  was  instantly  shot  down,  and  fell  across  his  com- 
rade's body.  As  they  drew  near  the  spot,  the  detachment 
was  halted,  and  the  Indians  peered  about  through  the  trees 
to  recall  their  memories  of  the  scene.  With  speaking 
gesture,  they  briefly  discoursed  in  their  own  tongue.  Sud- 
denly and  with  a  shrill  cry,  the  Indian  of  whom  we  have 
spoken  sprang  to  the  well-remembered  tree.  While  the 
troops  rested  on  their  arms  in  a  circle  around,  he  and  his 
companions  searched  among  the  thick-fallen  leaves.  In  a 
moment  two  gaunt  skeletons  were  exposed  lying  together, 
the  one  upon  the  other,  as  they  had  died.  The  hand  that 
tore  away  their  scalps  had  not  disturbed  their  position ; 
but  no  sign  remained   to  distinguish  the  relics  from  the 

'  Gait's  Life  of  West,  p.  65.  The  unknown  and  innumerable  cruelties 
of  the  French  savages,  as  has  already  been  mentioned,  can  never  be 
demonstrated;  and  imagination  itself  can  but  faintly  picture  their  horrors. 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR.  277 

hundred  others  that  strewed  the  ground.  At  the  moment 
Sir  Peter  remembered  him  of  a  pecuhar  artificial  tooth 
which  his  father  bore.  The  bones  were  then  separated, 
and  an  examination  of  those  which  lay  undermost  at  once 
solved  all  doubts.  "  It  is  my  father !"  exclaimed  the  un- 
happy youth,  as  he  sunk  into  the  arms  of  his  scarce  less 
affected  friends. 

Brief  and  stern,  as  befits  a  soldier  buried  upon  the  battle- 
field, were  the  rites  that  followed.  Wrapped  in  a  Highland 
plaid,  the  twain  who  "  in  death  were  not  divided,"  were 
interred  in  a  common  grave.  In  lieu  of  solemn  dirges  and 
the  passing  bell,  the  rattling  sounds  of  musketry  awoke 
the  long-slumbering  echoes  of  the  mountains  as  the  custo- 
mary volleys  were  fired  above  their  breasts.  As  the  chasm 
was  being  closed,  a  stone  was  brought  from  the  hill-side  and 
placed  within  its  mouth.  Overgrown  now  with  tall  grass, 
this  and  the  waning  memories  of  a  few  old  men  alone 
point  out  the  spot  where  for  nine-and-ninety  years  have 
slept  well  the  brave,  the  accomplished,  the  unfortunate 
representatives  of  a  chivalrous  line. 

Thus,  remote  from  the  dust  of  their  fathers,  in  unnoted, 
unhonored  graves,  rest  the  bones  of  Braddock  and  of  his 
scarce  less  unfortunate  subordinate.  A  forest  oak  appro- 
priately points  out  the  sepulture  of  the  first ;  but  this  me- 
morial will  not  long  serve  to  fulfil  its  task,  since  its  system 
is  already  touched  by  the  finger  of  decay,  and  its  blasted 
crest  seems  to  relate  with  a  melancholy  significance  to  not 
only  his  fate  to  whom  it  owes  a  name,  but  to  its  own  pros- 
pective  doom.^     Less  perishable  than  the  productions  of 

•  The  wood-cut  upon  page  280  of  this  volume   gives  a  very  accurate 
representation  of  this  tree.     The  original  drawing  was  made,  during  the 


278  INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 

nature,  the  handiworks  of  art  have  remained  to  link  the 
interest  of  later  times  with  the  associations  of  the  past. 
The  sash  in  which  the  body  of  the  General  was  carried 
from  the  field,  is  said  to  be  yet  preserved  in  the  family  of 
the  late  President  Taylor,  to  whom  it  was  presented  during 
the  Mexican  campaign  through  the  intervention  of  General 
Gaines.    Of  its  history  during  the  interim,  nothing  is  said ; 
but  a  detailed  description  of  its  present  appearance  and  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  came  into  General  Taylor's 
hands  are  given  us.^     The  reader  will  recollect  that  for  a 
long  period  it  was  the  custom  of  officers  to  wear  with  their 
uniform  a  sash  of  scarlet  silken  net-work,  the  use  of  which 
was  to  bear  them,  if  wounded,  from  the  ground.     On  that 
of  Braddock  the  date  of  its  manufacture  (1707)  is  wrought 
in  the  woof;    and  the  dark  stains   upon  its  texture  still 
exist,  mute  but  unfailing  witnesses  of  the  fatal  stroke. 

After  the  burial  of  the  Halkets,  in  a  large  shallow 
pit  hard  by  were  cast  what  remained  of  about  four  hundred 
soldiers ;  this  done,  the  troops  returned  to  Fort  Pitt,  satis- 
fied with  having  at  least  removed  from  sight  so  many  of 
the  most  melancholy  testimonials  of  their  misfortunes. 
But  the  work  was  incomplete:  twenty-one  years  after, 
when  Jasper  (subsequently  Mr.  Justice)  Yeates  visited  the 
field,  he  found  it  strewed  with  skulls  and  bones,  and  the 
trees  around,  to  the  height  of  twenty  feet  from  the  earth, 
scarred  with  musket  bullets   and   cannon  balls.^     When 


summer  of  1854,  by  that  skilful  artist,  Mr.  Weber :  by  whom  it  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania. 

'  De  Hass  :  Hist.  Western  Virg.,  129. 

*  Gait's  West.  VI.  Haz.  Reg.,  101.  In  1854  I  was  accompanied  to 
this  spot  by  a  garrulous  old  man  alleging  himself  the  son  of  one  of  the 


INTRODUCTORY     MEMOIR.  279 

peace  returned  and  the  farmer's  plough  was  passed  over 
the  spot,  the  scene  of  the  thickest  of  the  fight  became 
known  as  the  Bullet  Field.  But  fifty  years  of  cultivation 
have  wrought  their  customary  effect;  and  where  once 
the  hill-sides  ran  red  with  blood  down  to  the  stream 
below,  now 

Peaceful  smiles  the  harvest, 
And  stainless  flows  the  tide. 

A  more  tranquil,  rural  landscape  than  that  at  this  day 
presented  by  the  battle-ground  of  the  Monongahela  cannot 
well  be  imagined.  The  ploughman  no  longer  turns  up  in 
his  labors  the  evidences  of  war ;  and  it  is  difficult,  at  first 
blush,  to  recognize  the  features  of  the  scene.  As  yet,  how- 
party  who  buried  the  Halkets.  He  was  possessed  with  the  vulgar  idea  that 
there  was  considerable  treasure  upon  the  bodies,  and  only  needed  a  little 
countenancing  to  explore  the  ground.  It  is  hoped  that  the  discourage- 
ment he  received  will  preserve  this  grave  from  such  an  unhallowed  violation 
as  attended  Braddock's.  It  is  singular  what  an  infatuation  on  this  subject 
obtains  in  the  common  mind.  The  accidental  discovery  by  an  Irish  laborer 
on  a  railway  cutting  of  twenty  golden  guineas  among  a  mass  of  bones 
sufficed  to  set  in  a  ferment  the  souls  of  many  of  the  lower  classes  about 
Braddock's  Field.  If  these  may  be  relied  on,  it  would  seem  that  a  little 
harvest  of  dollars  was  once  fished  from  the  river  where  they  had  laid  since 
his  defeat,  by  a  neighboring  farmer.  But  probably  the  tale  is  entirely  the 
creature  of  a  clumsy  imagination.  There  have,  however,  been  found  other 
and  more  interesting  relics  of  the  French  occupation  of  Du  Quesne.  Some 
of  their  artillery  they  appear  to  have  sunk  in  the  Ohio,  when  they  eva- 
cuated the  fort :  and  M'Kee's  Rocks,  just  below  the  mouth  of  Chartier's 
Creek,  is  pointed  out  as  the  particular  spot.  One  of  their  gun-carriages 
was  not  long  since  discovered  here ;  and  in  the  siege  of  Fort  Henry 
(Wheeling),  in  1782,  by  the  British  and  Indians,  the  defendants  found 
their  account  in  the  possession  of  a  cannon  similarly  obtained.  De  Hass, 
47,  266. 


280 


INTRODUCTORY    MEMOIR. 


ever,  swale  and  valley  and  ravine  remain  to  mark  the 
various  courses  of  the  fray ;  but  ere  long  these  too  will  be 
obliterated  or  concealed  by  the  growing  hamlet  that  lies 
hard  by ;  and  the  physical  traces  of  the  event  we  have 
sought  to  chronicle  will  be  lost  to  sight  forever. 


?^ 


Braddock's  Grave. 


©aptaiu  $x\\u's  l^itriial 


[BRITISH  MUSEUM:  KING'S  MSS.,  No.  212.     PRESENTED 
BY  KING  GEORGE  IV.] 


(281) 


THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC  UBRARY 

A8T0R,  LENOX  AND 

TBJaeN  FOUNDATIONS. 

R  1912  L 


Sir: 

I  am  ordered  to  send  this  packet  to  you  to  be  deliver'd  to  his  Royal 
Highness.  I  am  sorry  the  plans  are  not  finished,  but  I  am  to  have  them 
to-morrow  night. 

Sir 

¥■■  most  hum"'"'  and  obed*  servant, 

Rob'^.  Orme. 
Thursday  morning. 


[This  letter  was  doubtless  addressed   to   Col.  Napier,  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland's  aid-de-camp.] 


.     (282) 


JOURNALS. 


The  General  arrived  at  Hampton  in  Virginia,  the  20th 
of  February,  1755,  and  set  out  immediately  for  Williams- 
burgh,  where  Commodore  Keppel  agreed  to  meet  him,  to 
settle  the  properest  place  for  the  disembarkment  of  the 
Troops,  Orders  were  left  on  board  the  Centurion  to  be 
delivered  to  each  Transport  as  she  arrived,  directing  the 
commanding  officer  to  send  the  sick  on  shore  to  the  hospi- 
tals provided  for  them  by  S'  John  S*  Clair;  and  orders 
were  given  to  Mr.  Hunter,  the  Agent  at  Hampton,  to 
supply  the  sick  and  well  with  fresh  provisions  at  the 
fullest  allowance.^ 

'  Robert  Orme,  the  author  of  this  Journal,  entered  the  army  as  an  ensign 
in  the  35th  Foot.  On  16th  Sept.  1745,  he  exchanged  into  the  Coldstreams,  of 
which  he  became  a  lieutenant,  April  24, 1751.  He  was  never  raised  to  a 
captaincy,  though  always  spoken  of  as  such.  (II.  MacKinnon,  484.)  He 
probably  obtained  leave  of  absence  to  accompany  General  Braddock,  with 
whom  he  was  a  great  favorite.  He  was  an  honest  and  capable  man,  says 
Shirley  (VI.  C.  R.,  404),  and  it  was  fortunate  that  the  General  was  so  much 
under  his  influence.  He  brought  letters  of  introduction  from  Thomas  Penn 
to  Gov.  Morris  (II.  P.  A.,  195),  and  seems  to  have  made  a  most  favorable 
impression  on  all  whom  he  encountered.  Two  months  after  the  battle  we 
find  him  a  guest  of  Morris's,  and  nearly  recovered  of  his  wound.  "  Cap- 
N  (283) 


284  JOURNALS. 

The  General  acquainted  Governor  Dinwiddie  with  his 
Majesty's  pleasure,  that  the  several  assemblies  should  raise 
a  sum  of  money  to  be  employed  towards  defraying  the  ex- 
pences  of  the  Expedition,  And  desired  he  would  propose  it 

tain  Orme  is  going  to  England,"  writes  he  to  Gen.  Shirley  on  Sept.  5th, 
1755  (II.  P.  A.,  400),  "  and  will  put  the  affair  of  the  western  campaign 
in  a  true  light,  and  greatly  different  from  what  it  has  been  represented  to 
be ;  and  you  know  his  situation  and  abilities  gave  him  great  opportunities 
of  knowing  everything  that  passed  in  the  army  or  in  the  colony,  relative  to 
military  matters,  and  I  am  sure  he  will  be  of  great  use  to  the  Ministry  in 
the  measures  that  may  be  concerted  for  the  future  safety  and  defence  of 
these  provinces."  *  *  <'  The  opportunities  which  Mr.  Orme  will  have 
with  the  Duke,  and  all  the  King's  ministers,  upon  his  return,  of  explaining 
American  affairs,  makes  it  quite  necessary  that  you  should  agree  in  general 
in  your  representations,  that  both  may  have  the  greater  weight;  and  my 
friendship  for  you  obliges  me  to  hint  this  matter  for  your  consideration, 
that  you  may  in  your  letters  to  the  Ministry  refer  to  him,  and  give  him  an 
opportunity  of  enforcing  what  you  may  write ;  the  substance  of  which  you 
will,  I  believe,  think  it  necessary  to  communicate  to  him."  Orme  went 
from  Philadelphia  to  New  York,  whence,  or  from  Boston,  he  embarked  for 
England.  In  Oct.  1756,  he  resigned  his  commission  in  the  Guards  (pro- 
bably on  occasion  of  his  marriage),  and  retired  into  a  private  life.  It  seems 
that  Orme  was  as  bold  in  the  boudoir  as  on  the  battle-field,  and  had  already 
before  going  to  America,  "  made  some  noise  in  London  by  an  affair  of  gal- 
lantry." On  his  return,  a  mutual  attachment  sprung  up  between  himself 
and  the  Hon.  Audrey  Townshend,  only  daughter  of  Charles,  3d  Viscount 
and  the  celebrated  Audrey  (Harrison),  Lady  Townshend.  The  lady  had 
no  little  motive  of  interest  in  one  who  had  gone  through  an  American 
campaign;  for  of  her  brothers,  one,  Lieut.-Col.  Roger  Townshend,  was  slain 
in  this  very  war  at  Ticonderoga  (July  25,  1759) ;  and  another,  George 
(the  first  Marquess),  succeeded  to  Wolfe's  command  at  the  capture  of 
Quebec.  However,  much  to  the  displeasure  of  her  family,  who  had  des- 
tined her  for  Lord  George  Lenox,  she  was  married  to  Capt.  Orme,  and  went 
to  reside  at  Hartford,  Eng.  Nothing  further  can  be  traced  of  Captain 
Orme,  save  that  he  died  in  Feb.  1781.  It  is  more  than  likely,  however, 
that  he  belonged  to  the  family  of  that  Robert  Orme  whose  name  seems 
through  continued  generations  to  be  identified  with  that  of  the  East  India 
Company.     (III.  Walp.  Corr.,  115,  144      II.  Collins'  Peerage,  473.) 


JOURNALS.  285 

to  his  Assembly ;  And  that  his  Majesty  also  expected  the 
Provinces  to  furnish  the  Troops  with  provisions  and  car- 
riages. The  General  desired  the  Governor  would  use  all 
imaginable  dispatch  in  raising  and  convening  the  Levies 
to  augment  the  two  Battalions  to  700  each.  He  also  pro- 
posed to  the  Governor  to  make  an  estabhshment  for  some 
provincials,  amongst  which  he  recommended  a  Troop  of 
light  horse. 

The  Governor  told  the  General  his  Assembly  had  voted 
twenty  thousand  pounds,  which  sum  was  to  be  employed 
in  the  purchasing  provisions,  and  the  payment  of  their 
own  troops.  That  many  men 'were  already  raised,  and 
that  S""  John  S*  Clair  had  promised  him  to  select  the  best 
for  the  two  Regiments,  and  that  the  others  should  be 
formed  into  Companies ;  accordingly  two  of  Hatchet  men 
or  carpenters,  six  of  Rangers,  and  one  troop  of  hght  Horse 
were  raised,  and  their  pay  fixed  at  the  same,  in  the  Cur- 
rency of  that  Country,  as  our  Officers  of  the  same  rank  in 
sterling.  Alexandria  was  named  as  the  head  Quarters,  as 
the  most  convenient  place  for  forming  and  cloathing  them. 
^  S'  John  S'  Clair '  came  to  Williamsburgh  and  informed  the 
General  of  his  having  draughted  the  best  men  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Levies  for  the  two  Battalions ;  and  that  about  three 
hundred  which  were  not  of  proi^er  size  remained  for  the 
Provincial  Companies.      S""  John  S*  Clair  laid  before  the 

'  St.  Clair  remained  for  a  long  time  in  service  in  America.  On  the  20th 
March,  1756,  he  was  made  a  Lieut.-Col.  of  the  60th;  in  Jan.  1758,  the 
local  rank  of  Colonel  in  America  was  bestowed  on  him ;  and  on  Feb.  19th, 
1762,  he  was  made  a  full  Colonel.  He  is  said  to  have  dwelt  near  Tarbet, 
in  Argyleshire.  At  the  defeat  he  "  was  shot  through  the  body,  under  the 
right  pap,"  (Sharpe's  MS.  Corr.),  but  soon  recovered. 


286  JOURNALS. 

General  a  Roll  of  the  Independent  Companies,  upon  which 
were  several  men  from  sixty  to  seventy  years  of  age,  lame 
and  everyway  disabled;  many  were  inlisted,  only  for  a  term 
of  one,  two,  or  three  years,;  some  were  without  discipline 
and  very  ill-appointed ;  i\i  short,  they  were  Invalids  with 
the  ignorance  of  militia.  These  were  all  to  be  recruited 
with  men  who  would  otherwise  have  served  in  the 
Regiments  or  Virginia  Companies. 

S""  John  S'  Clair  gave  General  Braddock  a  plan  for  can- 
toning the  two  Regiments ;  one,  with  part  of  the  Artillery, 
was  to  disembark  at  Alexandria,  where   five  Companies 
were  to  remain ;  two  and  a  half  were  to  canton  at  Fre- 
derick in  Maryland,  half  a  one  at  Conegogee,  one  at  Marl- 
borough and  one  at  Bladensburgh.     The  other  Regiment 
and   the   rest  of  the  Artillery  were  to  disembark   about 
twenty  miles  from  Fredericksburg  upon  the  Potomack,  at 
which  place  and  Falmouth  five  Companies  were  to  be  can- 
toned, and  the  other  five  at  Winchester.     As  these  Can- 
tonments, of  only  a  thousand  men,  took  in  a  circuit  of 
more  than  three  hundred  miles,  the  General  thought  it 
advisable  to  encamp  them  on  their  arrival ;  especially  as 
the  severity  of  the  weather  was  then  over.     He  knew  that 
much  confusion  must   arise  in  disembarking  at  different 
places :  That  it  would  be  impossible  to  cloath,  arm  and 
discipline  the  Levies  when  so  much  dispersed,  and  that 
soldiers  are  sooner  and  better  formed  in  Camps  than  in 
Quarters.     He  therefore,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Keppel, 
fixed  upon  Alexandria  to  disembark  and  encamp  at ;  and 
the  Levies  for  the  two  Regiments  were  ordered  to  that 
place. 


JOURNALS.  287 

The  General  desired  Governor  Dinwiddie  would  inform 
him  of  the  present  disposition  of  the  Indians  towards  the 
English ;  what  Nations  and  number  he  might  expect,  and 
what  steps  were  already  taken  to  obtain  them. 

The  Governor  said  he  had  sent  a  proper  person '  to  bring 
with  him  the  Cherokee  and  Catawber  nations,  the  latter 
being  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  fighting-men,  and 
much  the  bravest  of  all  the  Indians;  He  added  a 
peace  was  to  be  concluded  at  Winchester  in  April,  be- 
tween the  Catawbers  and  the  Six  Nations  through  the 
mediation  of  his  Government :  That  he  had  intended  to 
be  present  at  the  Congress;  but  that  he  should  be  pre- 
vented by  the  meeting  of  his  Assembly.  However,  he 
would  take  care,  at  the  Ratification  of  the  Peace,  that  they 
should  take  up  the  hatchet,  and  act  under  the  General.^ 

M""  Dinwiddie  laid  before  the  General  contracts  made  for 
eleven  hundred  head  of  cattle,  eight  hundred  of  which 
were  to  be  dehvered  in  June  and  July,  and  three  hundred 
in  August ;  he  said  that  he  had  also  written  to  Governor 
Shirley,  for  a  large  quantity  of  salt  fish,  that  a  great  deal 
of  flour  was  already  at  Fort  Cumberland,  and  that  the 
assembly  of  Pensylvania  had  promised  to  deliver  flour,  to 
the  amount  of  five  thousand  pounds  of  their  currency,  at  the 
mouth  of  Conegogee,  in  April,  which  was  to  be  carried  up 
the  Potomack  to  Fort  Cumberland :  He  had  also  ordered  a 
great  quantity  of  bacon  to  be  made  at  the  Fort.     There 

'  Mr.  Gist,  son  of  Washington's  guide  in  1753. 

2  The  Six  Nations,  who  were  not  on  friendly  terms  with  these  Southern 
Indians,  alleged  that  their  refusal  to  assist  Braddock  was  based  on  their 
reluctance  to  be  brought  in  contact  with  the  Catawbas  and  Cherokees.  II. 
Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  393. 


288  JOURNALS. 

were  on  board  the  transports  one  thousand  barrels  of  beef, 
for  which  the  General  applied  to  M'  Keppel  and  they  were 
landed  at  Alexandria.  Upon  making  a  calculation  on  these 
Estimates,  there  was  found  to  be  six  months  provisions  for 
four  thousand  men. 

General  Braddock  apprehended  the  greatest  difficulty  in 
procuring  waggons  and  horses,  sufficient  to  attend  him  upon 
his  march,  as  the  assembly  had  not  passed  an  Act  for  the 
supplying  them,  but  S''  John  S'  Clair  assured  the  General 
that  inconveniency  would  be  easily  removed,  for,  in  going 
to  Fort  Cumberland,  he  had  been  informed  of  a  great 
number  of  Dutch  settlers,  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain  called 
the  Blue  Ridge,  who  would  undertake  to  carry  by  the  hun- 
dred the  provisions  and  stores,  and  that  he  believed  he 
could  provide  otherwise  two  hundred  waggons  and  fifteen 
hundred  carrying  horses  to  be  at  Fort  Cumberland  by  the 
first  of  May.  The  General  desired  him  to  secure  the  former 
of  these,  upon  his  return  to  the  Fort.  At  Williamsburgh 
the  General  wrote  circular  letters  to  all  the  Governors  upon 
the  Continent,  informing  them  of  his  Commission,  and 
recommending  to  them  the  constituting  of  a  common  fund, 
and  desiring  them  to  assist  and  forward  as  much  as  pos- 
sible the  general  service,  that  it  might  answer  the  end,  for 
which  his  Majesty  had  sent  troops  to  their  assistance. 
And,  in  the  letters  to  Governors  Shirley,  Delancey,  Morris 
and  Sharpe,  he  desired  they  would  meet  him  at  Annapolis 
the  beginning  of  April,  that  he  might  confer  with  them  on 
some  matters  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  Colonies, 


JOURNALS.  289 

and  settle  with  them  a  general  plan  of  operation  for  the 
approaching  Campaign.^ 

Two  transports  being  arrived  at  Hampton,  the  General 
and  Commodore  went  thither  immediately,  and  orders  were 
given  to  the  Commanding  Officer  of  each  ship  to  sail  as 
soon  as  they  had  received  their  fresh  provisions,  and  to  dis- 
embark their  men  at  Alexandria.  The  soldiers  were  to 
take  their  beds  ashore,  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Burton  was 
ordered  to  Quarter  the  troops  in  the  town  till  the  arrival 
of  more  ships,  in  case  the  weather  should  prove  severe. 
The  General  waited  here  three  days,  but  no  more  ships 
arriving,  he,  and  the  Commodore,  returned  to  Williams- 
burgh. 

The  General  applied  to  M"'  Keppel  for  some  Blocks, 
Cordage,  and  other  stores,  and  also  for  thirty  seamen,  who 
he  thought  would  be  very  serviceable  on  the  march,  if  it 
should  be  found  necessary  to  pass  the  rivers  in  floats  or  in 
boats.  He  also  desired  a  carpenter  to  direct  the  construc- 
tion of  them ;  with  which  the  Commodore  complied  very 
readily,  constantly  expressing  an  ardent  desire  to  forward 
the  success  of  the  expedition,  and  never,  I  believe,  two 
men  placed  at  the  head  of  different  Commands  co-operated 

'  Robert- Hunter,  second  son  of  Governor  Lewis  Morris  of  Morrisania, 
after  twenty  years  of  public  service  in  tbe  council  and  as  Chief  Justice  of 
New  Jersey,  was  appointed  Deputy  Governor  of  Pennsylvania :  a  post  he 
filled  during  two  stormy  years.  I  do  not  learn  that  he  left  any  descend- 
ants; but  the  line  was  continued  through  those  of  his  elder  brother, 
Lewis;  one  of  whom  married  the  celebrated  Duchess  Dowager  of  Gordon; 
and  others  established  some  of  the  more  distinguished  families  in  America. 

A  character  of  Mr.  Delancy  is  given  in  the  "  Review  of  Military  Ope- 
rations in  North  America;"  and  of  Shirley,  in  L  Entick,  37L 

19 


290  JOURNALS. 

with  more  spirit,  integrity  and  harmony  for  the  publick 
service. 

In  about  ten  days,  all  the  transports  being  arrived, 
orders  were  given  for  all  the  ships  to  proceed  immediately 
to  Alexandria ;  but  so  little  care  had  been  taken  at  Corke, 
in  the  stowage  of  the  cloathing,  Arms,  and  camp  necessa- 
ries belonging  to  the  Regiments  of  Shirley  and  Pepperell,^ 
that  some  was  put  on  board  almost  every  ship ;  they  were 
removed  into  one  Vessel,  and  dispatched  immediately  to 
New  York  and  Boston,  which  caused  a  delay  of  four  or 
five  days.^ 

Every  thing  seemed  to  promise  so  far  the  greatest  suc- 
cess. The  Transports  were  all  arrived  safe,  and  the  men 
in  health.  Provisions,  Indians,  carriages  and  horses  were 
already  provided ;  at  least  were  to  be  esteemed  so ;  consi- 
dering the  authorities  on  which  they  were  promised  to  the 
General. 

The  22**  of  March  the  General  set  out  for  Alexandria, 

'  "The  Conduct  of  Major  General  Shirley,"  &c.,  (Lend.,  1758,)  which 
was  perhaps  prepared  from  materials  furnished  by  himself,  states  that  these 
two  regiments  were  the  50th  and  51st.  But  the  Army  lists  do  not  indicate 
that  Shirley  or  Pepperell  were  ever  colonels  of  these  regiments.  Shirley  was 
indeed  of  the  rank  of  a  colonel  in  the  line  since  August  31,  1745;  but  I 
cannot  learn  of  what  regiment  he  was  an  actual  leader.  On  26th  Feb- 
ruary, 1755,  he  was  made  a  major-general;  and  on  30th  January,  1759, 
a  lieutenant-general.  The  uniform  of  the  50th,  hereabove  alluded  to,  was 
red  faced  with  red,  with  white  linings  and  white  lace,  which  soiled  so 
readily  as  to  give  the  regiment  the  sobriquet  of  "the  dirty  half-hundred." 
That  of  the  51st  differed  but  in  having  white  buttons  in  lieu  of  white 
linings. 

*  Under  convoy  of  the  Syren,  Captain  Proby,  a  transport,  with  the 
clothing,  &c.,  of  Shirley's  regiment  on  board,  sailed  from  Hampton  Roads 
about  March  10th  ;  arriving  at  Boston  in  four  days.  Pepperell's  clothing 
did  not  follow  till  about  the  20th.     Penn.  Gaa.,  No.  1371. 


JOURNALS.  291 

accompanied  hy  the  Governor  and  M""  Keppel,  where  they 
arrived  the  26th.  The  next  day  the  General  named  his 
Aid  de  Camps,  and  the  Major  of  Brigade  and  Provost 
Mareschal,  and  gave  out  the  following  Orders,  for  the  better 
regulation  of  the  camp. 

Orders  given  out  at  Alexandria. 

As  the  two  Eegiments  now  employed  have  served  under 
his  Royal  Highness  the  Duke/  they  are  consequently  very 
well  acquainted  with  Military  Discipline.  The  General 
therefore  expects  their  behaviour  should  be  so  conformable 
to  good  Order,  as  to  set  the  most  soldierlike  example  to  the 
new  Levies  of  this  country. 

As  an  encouragement  to  the  men,  they  shall  be  supphed 
with  a  daily  allowance  of  provision  gratis ;  but  if  any  man 
be  found  negligent  or  disorderly,  besides  corporal  punish- 
ment, this  gratuity  shall  be  stopped. 

The  articles  of  war  are  to  be  immediately  and  frequently 
read,  and  all  orders  relating  to  the  men  are  to  be  read  to 
them  by  an  Officer  of  a  Company. 

Any  soldier  that  deserts,  though  he  return  again,  shall 
be  hanged  without  mercy. 

The  Commanding  Officers  of  companies  are  to  be  answer- 
able that  their  men's  Arms  are  kept  in  constant  good  order. 
Every  man  is  to  be  provided  with  a  brush,  picker  and  two 

'  In  the  Scottish  campaign  of  1746.  It  may  be  noticed  that  these  regi- 
ments were  of  the  youngest  in  the  service  :  only  dating  from  1741.  The 
49th  was  at  this  time  the  single  regiment  junior  to  the  48th.  The  uniform 
of  the  44th  was  red  faced  with  yellow;  that  of 'the  48th,  red  faced  with 
buff. 


292  JOURNALS. 

good  spare  flints,  and  kept  always  completed  with  twenty 
four  rounds. 

The  Roll  of  each  Company  is  to  be  called  over,  by  an 
Officer,  every  morning,  Noon  and  night,  and  a  return  of 
the  absent  and  disorderly  men  is  to  be  given  to  the  Com- . 
manding  Officer  of  the  Regiment,  who  is  to  see  them  pro- 
perly punished. 

Each  Regiment  is  to  have  Divine  Service  performed  at 
the  head  of  their  respective  Colours  every  Sunday. 

The  two  Regiments  are  to  find  the  General's  Guard 
Alternately,  which  is  to  consist  of  a  Lieutenant  and  thirty 
men,  and  the  Regiment  which  finds  the  General's  Guard  is 
to  find  also  the  Adjutant  of  the  day. 

All  Guards  are  to  be  relieved  in  the  morning  at  eight  of 
the  Clock.  Guards,  though  ever  so  small,  to  be  told  off 
into  two  divisions. 

All  reports  and  returns  to  be  made  at  nine  of  the  clock. 

Guards,  ordered  at  orderly  time,  are  to  remain  for  that 
day ;  and  a  new  detachment  is  to  be  made  for  any  ordered 
afterwards. 

All  returns  are  to  be  signed  by  the  Commanding  Officers 
of  the  Regiments. 

Each  Regiment,  Troop,  or  Company,  is  to  make  a  daily 
return  to  the  Major  of  Brigade,  specifymg  their  Numbers 
wanting  to  complete,  who  is  to  make  a  General  return  for 
liis  Excellency. 

A  daily  return  of  the  sick  is  to  be  made  to  the  General, 
through  an  Aid  de  Camp. 

In  case  of  any  Alarum,  the  Virginia  troops  are  to  parade 
before  the  Church. 


JOURNALS.  293 

The  line  is  to  find  daily  one  field-Officer,  who  is  to  be 
relieved  at  nine  of  the  clock.  This  duty  is  to  be  done  by 
the  two  Lieutenant  Colonels  and  the  two  Majors.  The 
field  Officer  of  the  day  is  to  visit  all  Guards  and  out-parties, 
except  the  General's,  and  to  go  the  rounds  of  the  Picket, 
which  as  well  as  the  other  Guards  and  out-parties,  are  to 
report  to  him.  He  is  to  make  his  report  of  the  whole  at 
nine  of  the  clock  to  the  General,  and  in  case  of  any 
Alarum,  the  field  Officer  is  to  repair  with  all  expedition  to 
the  place  where  it  is,  and  to  send  for  any  necessary  Assist- 
ance to  the  two  Regiments  which  are  immediately  to 
comply  with  his  Orders. 

The  eldest  Battalion  company  is  to  act  as  a  second 
Grenadier  company,  and  to  be  posted  upon  the  left  of  the 
Battalion,  leaving  the  same  interval  as  the  Grenadiers  upon 
the  right. 

This  company  is  to  be  kept  complete  of  Officers,  and  two 
of  them,  as  well  as  of  the  other  Grenadier  companies  are 
to  be  posted  in  the  front,  and  the  other  in  the  rear. 

The  eight  Battalion  companies  are  each  of  them  to  be 
told  off  into  two  divisions,  that  they  may  either  form  eight 
firings,  or  sixteen  platoons,  and  are  alwayes  to  be  com- 
manded by  their  own  Officers,  who  are  to  be  posted  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  Grenadier  Officers,  and  that  every  Com- 
pany might  be  complete  of  Officers,  the  General  made  three 
Ensigns  to  each  Regiment,  without  pay. 

Each  Regiment  is  to  mount  a  Picket  guard,  consisting  of 
one  Captain,  two  Subalterns  and  fifty  Men  which  are  to 
report  to  the  field  Officer  of  the  day. 

Upon  any  application  from  S"  John  S*  Clair  to  either  of 


294  JOURNALS. 

the  Regiments  for  men,  they  are  immediately  to  furnish 
them. 

S"'  Peter  Halket  is  to  regulate  all  affairs  relative  to  the 
provisions.^ 

The  Commissary  of  Provisions  is  to  make  two  weekly 

'  Sir  Peter  Halkett  of  Pitferran,  Fifeshire,  a  baronet  of  Nova  Scotia,  was 
the  son  of  Sir  Peter  Wedderburne  of  Gosford,  who,  marrying  the  heiress 
of  the  ancient  family  of  Halkett,  assumed  her  name.  In  1734,  he  sate  in 
the  Commons  for  Dunfermline,  and  was  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  44th  at 
Sir  John  Cope's  defeat  in  1745.  Being  released  on  his  parole  by  Charles 
Edward,  he  was  ordered  by  Cumberland  to  rejoin  his  regiment  and  serve 
again  against  the  Jacobites.  With  great  propriety,  he  refused  such  a  dis- 
honorable duty,  saying  that  "  His  Royal  Highness  was  master  of  his  com- 
mission, but  not  of  his  honor."  The  King  approved  of  Sir  Peter's  course, 
and  he  retained  his  rank.  On  the  26th  Feb.,  1751,  he  succeeded  to  the 
colonelcy  of  his  regiment.  He  was  married  to  the  Lady  Amelia  Stewart, 
second  daughter  of  Francis,  8th  Earl  of  Moray,  by  whom  he  had  three 
sons :  Sir  Peter,  his  successor,  who  would  also  appear  to  have  been  in  the 
army;  Francis,  major  in  the  Black  Watch;  and  James,  a  subaltern  in  his 
own  regiment,  who  died  with  him  on  the  9th  July,  1755.  (Burke's  Peer- 
age, &c.)  High  and  generous  talents  seem  to  have  been  hereditary  in  Sir 
Peter's  family.  His  father's  sister,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Wardlaw  (whom  Dr. 
Percy  thought  he  had  suflSciently  introduced  to  the  public  when  he  an- 
nounced her  as  the  aunt  of  the  officer  "  killed  in  America,  along  with 
General  Braddock"),  was  the  authoress  of  what  Coleridge  would  have 
styled  "  the  grand  old  ballad  "  of  Hardiknute. 

"  Let  Scots,  while  Scots,  praise  Hardiknute." 

What  little  we  know  of  the  good  and  noble  hero  who  died  on  the  banks 
of  the  Monongahela,  irresistibly  leads  us  to  the  conclusion  that  in  painting 
her  sketches  of  character  Mrs.  Wardlaw  need  not  have  gone  (and  perhaps 
did  not  go),  beyond  the  circle  of  her  own  fireside.  It  is  discouraging  to 
reflect  upon  the  fate  of  such  a  man :  loyal,  honorable,  and  sagacious,  an 
experienced  soldier  and  a  worthy  gentleman,  he  died  in  the  arms  of  defeat, 
and  the  traditions  of  a  foreign  land  alone  preserve  the  memory  of  his  vir- 
tues. In  another  place  we  have  recorded  the  horrid  circumstances  of  his 
death  and  the  tardy  burial  of  his  bones.  We  would  that  we  could  here  do 
justice  to  the  spirit  which  animated  his  living  frame.  Notices  of  Mrs. 
Wardlaw  will  be  found  in  II.  Percy's  Reliques,  105 ;  and  I.  Blackwood's 
Mag.,  380. 


JOURNALS. 


295 


returns;   one   for   the   General,   the   other   for   S'   Peter 
Halket. 

When  any  man  is  sent  to  the  General  Hospital,  he  is  to 
carry  with ''him  a  Certificate,  signed  by  an  Officer  of  his 
Company,  setting  forth  his  name.  Regiment,  and  Company, 
to  what  day  he  is  subsisted,  and  what  Arms  and  Accoutre- 
ments he  carries  with  him,  which  are  to  be  bundled  up  and 
marked  with  the  man's  name,  regiment,  and  company. 

Each  regiment  is  to  send  to  the  Artillery  for  twenty  five 
thousand  flints,  out  of  which  they  are  to  choose  five  thou- 
sand and  send  the  remainder  back ;  and  where  any  of  the 
troops  have  occasion  for  ammunition,  or  any  military 
stores,  the  commanding  officers  are  to  send  to  the  train  for 
them,  giving  proper  receipts. 

The  Captains  of  the  two  Regiments  are  to  account  with 
their  men  for  their  sea  pay,  giving  them  credit  for  their 
subsistence  to  the  first  of  April,  and  for  their  Arrears  to 
the  24th  of  February ;  and  they  are  to  stop  for  the  watch- 
coats,  blankets,  and  flannel  waistcoats. 

The  men  enlisted  or  incorporated  into  the  44th  and  48th 
regiments  are  to  have  credit  for  twenty  shillings,  and  are 
to  be  charged  with  the  above  necessaries. 

All  casualties,  or  remarkable  occurrences  in  Camp,  are 
to  be  reported,  immediately,  to  the  General,  through  an 
Aid  de  Camp. 

Whenever  S'"  John  S*  Clair  has  occasion  for  tools,  the 
commissary  of  the  train  is  to  supply  them  on  proper  receipts. 

Those  officers  of  Companies,  who  call  the  evening  roll, 
are  to  inspect  the  ammunition  of  their  respective  compa- 
nies, and  report  the  deficiencies  to  the  commanding  officer. 


296  JOURNALS. 

No  man,  upon  a  March,  is  on  any  account  to  fasten  his 
tent  pole,  to  his  firelock,  or  by  any  means  encumber  it. 

The  quarter-masters  of  each  regiment  are  to  apply  to 
the  assistant  quarter  master-general,  who  will  show  them 
their  store-houses,  in  which  their  regimental  stores  are 
immediately  to  be  lodged. 

The  soldiers  are  to  leave  in  the  store,  their  shoulder-belts, 
waist-belts  and  swords,  the  sergeants  their  halberts,  and 
those  officers  that  can  provide  themselves  with  fusils,  their 
espontons.^ 

The  General  enquired  of  S"  John  S'^  Clair  the  nature  and 
condition  of  the  roads  through  which  the  troops  and  artillery 
were  to  march,  and  also  if  he  had  provided  the  waggons  for 
the  Ohio.  S'  John  informed  the  General  that  a  new  road 
was  near  completed  from  Winchester  to  Fort  Cumberland, 
the  old  one  being  impassable,  and  that  another  was  cutting 
from  Conegogee  to  the  same  place,  and  that  if  the  General 
approved  of  making  two  divisions  of  the  troops  and  train, 
he  might  reach  Will's  Creek  with  more  ease  and  expedi- 
tion. He  proposed  that  one  regiment  with  all  the  powder 
and  ordnance  should  go  by  Winchester,  and  the  other  regi- 
ment with  the  ammunition,  mihtary  and  hospital  stores  by 
Frederick  in  Maryland.  That  these  should  be  carried  ten 
miles  up  the  Potomack  to  Kock  Creek,  and  then  up  the 
Potomack  to  Fort  Cumberland. 

S""  John  assured  the  General  that  boats,  batteaux,  canoes 

and  waggons  were  prepared  for  the  service,  and  also  that 

provisions  were  laid  in  at  Frederick   for  the  troops.     A 

return  was  called  for  of  the  waggons  and  teams  wanted  to 

'  Spontoons;  or  a  sort  of  half-pikes,  carried  by  infantry  officers. 


JOURNALS.  297 

remove  the  train  from  Alexandria,  which  S""  John  went  up 
the  country  to  provide. 

He  told  the  General  two  men  had  undertaken  to 
furnish  two  hundred  waggons  and  fifteen  hundred  carrying 
horses  at  Fort  Cumberland  early  in  May. 

Before  the  General  reached  Alexandria,  the  troops  were 
all  disembarked,  but,  very  little  of  the  Ordnance  stores  or 
provisions  were^  yet  on  shore,  the  properest  places  and 
methods  of  unlading  them  were  settled,  and  they  were 
landed  with  the  utmost  dispatch. 

On  the  3d  of  April,  the  General,  Governor  and  Commo- 
dore went  to  Annapolis  to  meet  the  eastern  Governors.^ 
The  General  found  no  waggons  were  provided  for  the 
Maryland  side  of  the  Potomack.  He  applied  to  Governor 
Sharpe,  who  promised  above  one  hundred,  which  he  said 
should  attend  at  Rock  Creek  to  carry  away  the  stores  as 
fast  as  they  could  be  landed. 

The  General  was  very  impatient  to  remove  the  troops  from 
Alexandria,  as  the  greatest  care  and  severest  punishments 
could  not  prevent  the  immediate  ^  use  of  spirituous  liquors, 
and  as  he  was  likewise  informed  the  water  of  that  place 
was  very  unwholsome :  Therefore  as  the  Governors  were 
not  arrived,  the  General  returned  the  7th  to  Alexandria 
for  the  Congress.'* 

The  Virginia  troops  being  cloathed  were  ordered  to 
march  immediately  to  Winchester,  to  be  armed,  and  the 

'  Being  (?). 

^  They  arrived  there  the  afternoon  of  April  3d.    (Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1373.) 
^  Immoderate  (?). 

*  With  him,  on  Monday  morning,  went  Dinwiddie  and  Keppel,  Orme 
and  W.  Shirley.     (Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1373.) 


298  JOURNALS. 

General  appointed  ensign  Allen  of  the  44tli  to  make  them 
as  like  soldiers  as  it  was  possible. 

Captain  Lewis  was  ordered  with  his  company  of  Rangers 
to  Green  Briar  River,  there  to  build  two  stockade  Forts,  in 
one  of  which  he  was  to  remain  himself,  and  to  detach  to 
the  other  a  subaltern  and  fifteen  men.^  These  forts  were 
to  cover  the  western  settlers  of  Virginia  from  any  inroads 
of  Indians. 

The  soldiers  were  ordered  to  be  furnished  with  one  new 
spare  shirt,  one  new  pair  of  stockings,  and  one  new  pair  of 
shoes  ;  and  Osnabrig  waistcoats  and  breeches  were  provided 
for  them,  as  the  excessive  heat  would  have  made  the  others 
insupportable,  and  the  commanding  officers  of  companies 
were  desired  to  provide  leather  or  bladders  for  the  men's 
hats. 

S"  Peter  Halket  with  six  companies  of  the  44*''  marched 
on  the  9*"^  to  Winchester,  and  was  to  remain  there  till  the 
roads  were  completed  from  thence  to  Fort  Cumberland,  and 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage^  was  left  with  the  other  four 
companies  to  escort  the  artillery. 

'  Probably  Andrew  Lewis  of  Augusta  Co.,  appointed  Captain  of  the 
Virginia  troops,  March  18th,  1754,  whose  five  brothers  were  enlisted 
in  his  company.  It  would  seem  that  he  rejoined  the  main  army  and  was 
with  the  working-party  at  the  opening  of  the  action.  This  was  the  respect- 
able Brigadier  General  Lewis,  whom  Washington  at  the  commencement  of 
the  Revolution  had  fixed  upon  as  the  foremost  soldier  in  all  America. 
(Howe's  Virg.,  204.     Sharpe's  MS.  Corr.) 

^  Thomas  Gage  was  the  2nd  son  of  Thomas,  8th  Baronet  and  1st  Vis- 
count Gage.  His  family,  though  noble,  was  poor.  His  father  once 
remarking  in  a  political  dispute  that  he  always  gave  his  sons  their  own 
way  :  —  "  Yes,"  said  Winnington,  "  but  that  is  the  only  thing  you  ever  do 
give  them  !"  Gage  rose  to  high  rank  in  the  army,  and  was  long  employed 
and  conspicaous  in  American  affairs.     He  married  Margaret,  daughter  of 


JOURNALS.  299 

As  boats  were  not  provided  for  the  conveying  of  the  stores 
to  Rock  Creek,  the  General  was  obliged  to  press  Vessels,  and 
to  apply  to  the  Commodore  for  seamen  to  navigate  them. 
At  length  with  the  greatest  difficulty  they  were  all  sent  up 
to  Rock  Creek,  and  an  Officer  with  thirty  men  of  the  48*^ 
was  sent  thither  with  orders  to  load  and  dispatch  all  the 
waggons  as  fast  as  they  came  in,  and  to  report  every 
morning  and  evening  to  the  General  the  number  he  had 
forwarded.  He  was  directed  to  send  a  party  with  every 
division,  and  to  apply  for  more  men  as  the  others  marched : 
and  all  the  boats  upon  that  part  of  the  river  were  ordered 
to  assist  in  transporting  over  the  Potomack  the  48'''  Regi- 
ment. 

On  the  IS**",  the  48*''  Regiment  marched  to  Frederick  in 
Maryland.  Colonel  Dunbar  was  ordered  to  send  one  com- 
pany to  Conegogee  to  assist  in  forwarding  the  stores  from 
thence  to  Fort  Cumberland,  and  to  remain  with  the  Corps 
at  Frederick  till  further  orders.  Thirty  more  men  were 
ordered  to  be  left  with  the  Officer  at  Rock  Creek. 

The  sick  men  of  the  two  regiments.  Artillery,  and  Vir- 
ginia Companies,  were  left  in  the  Hospital  at  Alexandria, 
and  an  Officer  and  twenty  men  were  ordered  for  its  guard 
and  escort.  At  this  place  a  General  Court  Martial  was 
held,  of  which  Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage  was  president; 
the  prisoner  was  ordered  one  thousand  lashes,  part  of 
which  was  remitted,  and  at  this  place  the  troops  were  also 
mustered. 


Peter  Kemble,  Esq.,  of  the  Coldspring  (N.  Y.),  family  of  that  name,  and 
their  son  subsequently  succeeded  his  uncle  in  the  peerage.  Gen.  Gage  died 
in  1788. 


300  JOURNALS. 

On  the  IS*""  of  April,  the  Governors  arrived  at  Alexan- 
dria, and  with  them  Colonel  Johnston ;  and  on  the  14'^  a 
Councell  was  held  at  which  was  present  General  Braddock, 
Commodore  Keppcl,  Governor  Shirley,  Lieut.  Gov'  Delancy, 
Lieut.  Gov'  Dinwiddie,  Lieut.  Gov'  Sharpe,  Lieut.  Gov' 
Morris.^ 

At  this  Council  the  General  declared  to  them  his 
Majesty's  pleasure  that  the  several  assemblies  should  con- 
stitute a  common  fund  for  defraying  in  part  the  expences 
of  the  expedition. 

He  showed  them  the  necessity  of  cultivating  a  friendship 
and  alliance  with  the  Six  Nations  of  Indians,  and  asked 
their  opinion  if  Colonel  Johnson  was  not  a  proper  person 
to  be  employed  as  negotiator,  also  what  presents  they 
judged  proper,  and  how  they  should  be  furnished. 

The  General  also  acquainted  them  with  his  intention  of 
attacking  Crown  Point  and  Niagara  at  the  same  time  with 
Fort  Du  Quesne,  and  desired  they  would  inform  him  if 
they  thought  it  advisable  to  attempt  the  reduction  of 
Crown  Point  with  the  forces  agreed  to  be  supjDlied  by  the 
Provinces  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Connecticutt,  Rhode 
Island,  Massachusetts,  and  New  Hampshire,  amounting  to 
four  thousand  four  hundred  men ;  and  whether,  as  they 
were  all  Irregulars,  they  did  not  think  Colonel  Johnson  a 
proper  man  to  command  this  expedition. 

The  General  told  the  Council  his  intention  to  reinforce 
the  fort  at  Oswego  with  two  companies  of  S'  William  Pep- 
perell's  and  one  independant  company  of  New  York,  as 

•  The  minutes  of  this  Council  are  in  II.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  376.  VI.  C 
R.,  365. 


JOURNALS.  301 

this  fort  commanded  the  south  east  side  of  the  lake  Onta- 
rio, and  was  a  post  of  great  consequence  to  facilitate  the 
attack,  or  to  secure  the  retreat  of  the  troops  destined  to 
Niagara,  and  as  the  entire  command  of  the  Lake  was  of 
the  greatest  consequence  to  cutt  off  the  French  communi- 
cation with  the  western  countries,  and  could  only  be 
obtained  by  Vessels,  he  was  of  opinion  two  or  more  should 
be  built  for  that  purpose,  and  desired  their  advice  as  to  the 
burthen  and  force  of  them. 

The  Governors  said,  they  had  severally  applied  to  their 
respective  assemblies  to  establish  a  common  fund,  but  could 
not  prevail. 

They  were  of  opinion  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  treaty 
with  the  Six  Nations.  That  M'  Johnson  was  the  proper- 
est  man  to  negotiate  it,  and  that  eight  hundred  pounds 
should  be  furnished  by  the  several  governments  to  be  laid 
out  in  presents  for  them.' 

They  approved  of  the  attack  of  Crown  Point  by  the 
Irregulars,  and  also  of  Colonel  Johnson's  having  the  com- 
mand of  that  expedition. 

It  was  agreed  two  vessels  of  sixty  tons  should  be  built 
upon  the  Lake  Ontario,  of  which  Commodore  Keppel 
undertook  to  furnish  draughts,  and  to  defray  the  expence 
and  the  direction  thereof  was  given  to  Governor  Shirley. ^ 

'  For  the  details  of  Johnson's  employments,  see  the  Johnson  MSS  II 
Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.  ■'      ■ 

'  "  The  scheme  for  a  naval  armament  at  Oswego  was  first  proposed  by 
the  Honorable  Thomas  Pownall  to  the  Congress  of  Commissioners  of  the 
several  colonies,  met  at  Albany  in  June,  1754.  Copies  were  sent  to  Eng- 
land, and  taken  by  the  Commissioners  for  the  perusal  of  their  respective 
governments."  Lewis  Evans'  Essays,  No.  11.  (Phil.  1756)  17  The 
vessels  were  not  finished  till  Sept.  1755,  and  cost  £22,000        ' 


302  JOURNALS. 

The  three  Governments  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and 
Pennsylvania  were  to  bear  the  expence  of  any  additional 
works  at  Fort  Du  Quesne,  they  were  to  maintain  the  Gar- 
rison, and  also  to  pay  for  any  vessels  that  it  should  be 
found  necessary  to  construct  upon  the  Lake  Erie.^ 

Orders  were  immediately  sent  to  the  commanding  officer 
of  S'  William  Pepperell's  regiment  to  detach  two  complete 
companies  with  all  dispatch  to  Oswego,  and  also  Capt. 
King's  Independent  Company  ^  was  ordered  to  that  Fort, 
and  the  commanding  officer  was  instructed  to  put  the  works 
into  the  best  repair  the  nature  of  them  would  admit  of,  and 
Governor  Delancey  gave  four  thousand  pounds  out  of  the 
money  that  was  voted  by  the  Assembly  of  New  York  to 
be  employed  in  the  victualling  of  Oswego ;  directions  were 
sent  to  New  York  to  prepare  ship  carpenters  and  proper 
persons  of  all  sorts  for  constructing  and  completing  the 


•  "When  he  had  captured  Du  Quesne,  Braddock  proposed  to  march  thence 
to  Niagara,  reducing  all  the  French  posts  on  his  way.  A  garrison  of  at 
least  200  of  the  Maryland  and  Virginia  provincials  was  to  be  left  at  the 
fort,  and  anticipating  that  should  the  enemy  evacuate  it  at  his  approach, 
they  would  destroy  as  much  as  they  could  of  its  defences,  he  designed  that 
the  provinces  most  concerned  in  the  business  should  furnish  its  provisions 
and  artillery.  He  certainly  would  not  be  able  to  spare  any  from  his  own 
train.  Morris  anticipated  from  the  first  that  the  furnishing  of  cannon  and 
stores  of  war  would  be  repugnant  to  '  the  non-resisting  principles  of  his 
Quaking  Assembly ; '  and  he  came  to  no  understanding  with  them  on  this 
point.  Virginia  sent  ten  ship-cannon,  mounted  on  trucks,  with  all  the 
appurtenances,  by  way  of  Rock  Creek  and  Conococheague,  to  Will's  Creek ; 
thence,  when  the  time  arrived,  to  be  transported  to  Fort  Du  Quesne.  (VI. 
(J.  R.,  400,  409,  413,  405,  465.  II.  P.  A.,  347.)  The  general  anticipated 
an  easy  though  an  important  capture,  and  already  looked  forward  after  all  his 
victories,  to  spending  a  merry  Christmas  with  Morris  at  Philadelphia. 
(VI.  C.  R.,  400.) 

^  This  was  the  remaining  Independent  Company  of  New  York. 


JOURNALS.  303 

Vessels  intended  for  the  Lake,  and  directions  were  given 
to  fell  with  all  diligence  proper  timber  for  that  purpose, 
and  circular  letters  were  written  to  the  several  Eastern 
Governments  to  raise  and  assemble  as  fast  as  possible  the 
troops  designed  for  the  Crown  Point  expedition. 

It  was  proposed  to  Mr.  Johnson  to  employ  him  as  Pleni- 
potentiary to  the  Six  Nations,  which  he  at  first  declined, 
as  the  promises  made  in  the  year  1746  in  regard  to  these 
Indians  were  not  fulfilled,  by  which  means  he  was  then 
laid  under  the  disagreeable  necessity  of  deceiving  them. 
And  the  French  had  made  use  of  this  neglect  very  much 
to  our  disadvantage  and  their  own  Interest;  However, 
the  universal  and  deserved  opinion  of  the  General's 
integrity  prevailed  upon  him  to  undertake  their  negotia- 
tion. * 

A  speech  was  prepared  for  M""  Johnson  to  deliver  to  the 
Indians  in  the  General's  name,  setting  forth  that  his  Ma- 
jesty had  sent  a  very  considerable  body  of  troops  to  drive  the 
French  from  the  Encroachments  they  had  from  time  to  time 
made  on  his  Dominions,  and  on  their  lands  and  hunting- 
grounds,  which  in  the  treaty  of  1726,  between  the  English 
and  them,  they  had  given  us  in  trust  to  be  guarantied  to 
them  for  their  use  and  benefit.  And  that  his  Majesty  had 
invested  him  with  the  supreme  command  upon  the  Conti- 
nent, with  orders  to  strengthen  and  confirm  the  Amity 
which  had  so  long  subsisted  between  the  English  and 
them.  And  that  his  Majesty  had  also  ordered  him  to  fulfil 
the  spirit  of  that  treaty  by  building  proper  fortresses  and 

'  This  is  but  one  of  the  many  testimonials  to  Braddock's  character  for 
public  honesty  and  truthfulness  borne  by  the  records  of  the  time. 


304  JOURNALS. 

securing  to  them  those  lands  and  hunting-grounds  which 
were  given  in  trust  by  the  said  treaty. 

The  General  also  told  them,  that  as  his  distance  from 
them  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  meet  them  himself, 
and  finding  their  uneasiness  at  the  improper  appointment 
and  ill-treatment  from  the  Commissioners  of  the  Indian 
affairs  at  Albany,  and  being  also  informed  that  they  had 
expressed  a  great  desire  to  have  Colonel  Johnson,  one  of 
their  own  sachems,  intrusted  with  that  business,  he  had 
therefore  given  him  a  Commission  appointing  him  whole 
and  sole  director  and  manager  of  Indian  affairs ;  That  he 
had  also  impowered  Colonel  Johnson  to  call  them  together, 
to  give  them  presents  and  to  confirm,  treat  and  conclude 
with  them  the  strictest  and  most  lasting  Treaty  of  Friend- 
ship and  alliance ;  and  the  General  engaged  to  confirm  and 
ratify  all  such  promises  as  should  be  made  to  them  by  M' 
Johnson,  and  desired  they  would  confirm  and  conclude 
with  him,  as  if  the  General  himself  was  present. 

A  commission  was  given  to  Colonel  Johnson  appointing 
him  whole  and  sole  manager  and  director  of  Indian  affairs, 
and  also  empowering  him  to  convene,  confer  and  conclude 
any  treaties  with  the  Six  Nations  and  their  allies,  at  such 
times,  and  in  such  places,  as  he  should  think  proper  for 
the  good  of  his  Majesty's  service  and  interest  in  America. 

Colonel  Johnson  was  also  instructed  to  call  them  imme- 
diately together  to  give  them  presents,  and  prevail  upon 
them  to  declare  against  the  french,  and  also  to  prevail 
upon  the  Six  Nations  to  send  Messengers  forthwith  to  the 
Southern  and  Western  Indians  to  forbid  them  acting  with 
the  french  and  to  order  them  immediately  to  take  up  the 


JOURNALS.  305 

hatchet  and  join  the  General  upon  his  march  or  before. 
He  was  to  take  especial  care  that  in  all  meetings,  con- 
ferences, agreements,  or  treaties  with  the  Indians,  he  was 
always  to  have  in  view  his  Majesty's  honour,  service  and 
Interest. 

And  he  was  by  the  most  early  and  frequent  opportuni- 
ties to  remit  to  the  General  copies  of  all  transactions  of 
every  kind  with  the  Indians,  and  also  of  the  progress, 
situation,  and  success  relating  to  the  expedition  in  which 
he  was  employed. 

Governor  Shirley  had  orders  to  supply  him  with  a  sum 
of  two  thousand  pounds  at  such  times,  and  in  such  pro- 
portions, as  he  should  choose  to  draw  for  it ;  of  which  sum, 
as  well  as  all  others,  he  might  hereafter  be  entrusted  with, 
he  was  to  dispose  in  the  best  manner  for  the  most  effectual 
gaining  and  preserving  the  Indians  to  hi^  Majesty's  Inte- 
rest, and  he  was  to  keep  regular  and  exact  Accounts  of  the 
nature  of  the  disbursements;  as  it  was  apprehended  it 
might  more  readily  induce  the  Six  Nations  to  take  up  arms 
in  our  favour  if  they  were  employed  upon  a  service  imme- 
diately under  him,  he  was  permitted  to  take  with  him  such 
as  would  declare  upon  the  expedition  against  Crown  point. 
This  commission  and  instructions  bearing  throughout  the 
whole  a  regard  to  the  integrity  of  Colonel  Johnson's  char 
racter  engaged  him  to  undertake  and  to  proceed  upon  this 
negotiation  with  the  greatest  spirit  and  zeal  for  the  service. 

Colonel  Shirley   having   much    interest   in,  and    being 
extremely  well  acquainted   in  the    Eastern   Governments 
was  supposed  most  capable  of  removing  the  principal  dif- 
ficulties attending  the  expedition  to  Niagara,  which  would 
20 


306  JOURNALS. 

arise  from  procuring  provision  and  artillery,  and  from 
transporting  them  and  the  troops.  And  M""  Shirley  express- 
ing the  greatest  desire  to  be  employed  upon  that  service, 
he  was  appointed  by  the  General  to  that  command. 

Letters  of  credit  were  accordingly  given  to  him,  and 
instructions  for  that  service,  whereby  he  was  directed  to 
take  his  own  and  S""  William  Pepperell's  regiments  and  the 
companies  of  New  York  under  his  command;  and  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  greatest  diligence  and  dispatch  to  Niagara ; 
taking  care  to  see  the  Vessels  designed  for  the  lake  Ontario 
built  and  equipt.  He  was  also  to  order  the  works  of  Os- 
wego to  be  put  in  the  best  repair,  and  to  leave  a  proper 
garrison  for  its  defence. 

He  was  directed  to  give  frequent  accounts  to  the  General 
of  his  situation,  and  proper  marks  were  agreed  between 
them  to  render  any  letters  useless  which  might  be  inter- 
cepted by  the  enemy. 

As  the  General  judged  the  success  of  the  several  expe- 
ditions would  very  much  depend  upon  their  being  carried 
into  execution  at  or  near  the  same  time,  and  as  the  very 
great  distance  at  which  they  were  to  act,  made  it  impos- 
sible to  be  agreed  by  letter,  he  desired  Colonel  Shirley  and 
Colonel  Johnson  would  fix  the  time  in  which  they  would 
be  able  to  appear  before  Niagara  and  Crown  point.  They 
both  agreed  upon  the  end  of  June,  nearly  in  July,  and  the 
General  assured  them  he  would  use  his  utmost  endeavours 
to  be  at  Fort  Du  Quesne  by  that  time. 

The  General  dispatched  a  Courier  to  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Monkton  to  take  upon  him  the  Command  of  the  troops 


JOURNALS.  307 

destined  for  the  attack  of  Beau  Sejour  upon  the  Isthmus 
of  Nova  Scotia. 

The  business  of  the  Congress  being  now  over,  the  Gene- 
ral would  have  set  out  for  Frederick,  but  few  waggons  or 
teams  were  yet  come  to  remove  the  Artillery ;  He  then 
sent  an  Express  to  S""  John  S'  Clair  informing  him  of  it, 
and  in  a  few  days  set  out  for  Frederick  in  Maryland  leav- 
ing Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage  with  four  Companies  of  the 
44th  regiment,  who  was  ordered  to  dispatch  the  powder 
and  artillery  as  fast  as  any  horses  or  waggons  should  arrive, 
taking  care  to  send  proper  escorts  with  them. 

The  General  at  Rock  Creek  called  for  a  return  of  the 
stores,  and  gave  orders  for  such  as  were  most  necessary  to 
be  first  transported,  and  for  some  of  the  provisions,  ord- 
nance, and  hospital  stores  to  be  left  there,  the  waggons 
coming  in  so  slow  as  to  render  it  impossible  to  convey  the 
whole  to  Fort  Cumberland  in  proper  time. 

Upon  the  General's  arrival  at  Frederick,  he  found  the 
troops  in  great  want  of  provision ;  no  cattle  was  laid  in 
there ;  The  General  apphed  to  Governor  Sharpe,  who  was 
then  present,  for  provision  and  waggons,  but  so  Kttle  is  the 
Authority  of  a  Governor  in  that  Province,  that  he  afforded 
the  General  no  Assistance ;  Upon  which  the  General  was 
obliged  to  send  round  the  country  to  buy  cattle  for  the  sub- 
sistence of  the  troops. 

It  was  above  a  month  before  the  necessary  Ammunition 
and  stores  could  be  transported  from  Rock  Creek  to  Cone- 
gogee,  and  as  the  Patomack  was  not  then  navigable,  even 
by  the  smallest  Canoes,  new  difficulties  arose  in  providing 
Waggons  to  send  them  to  Fort  Cumberland ;  proper  per- 


308  JOURNALS. 

sons  were  sent  to  the  justices  of  peace  of  those  Counties, 
and  at  last  by  intreaties,  threats,  and  money,  the  stores 
were  removed. 

As  the  General  had  met  with  frequent  disappointments, 
he  took  the  opportunity  of  M""  Franklin's  being  at  Frede- , 
rick  to  desire  he  would  contract  in  Pensylvania  for  one 
hundred  and  fifty  waggons  and  fifteen  hundred  carrying 
horses  upon  the  easiest  terms,  to  join  him  at  Fort  Cum- 
berland by  the  10th  of  May,  if  possible ;  M""  Franklin  pro- 
cured the  number  of  waggons,  and  about  five  hundred 
horses.^  As  those  carriages  were  to  pass  through  Conego- 
gee  in  their  way  to  Fort  Cumberland,  the  General  sent 
orders  to  Cressop  the  Agent  at  that  place  to  make  use  of 
that  opportunity  of  conveying  to  Fort-Cumberland  the 
flour  which  the  Government  of  Pensylvania  had  delivered 
there,  it  being  much  wanted  at  the  Fort. 

As  no  road  had  been  made  to  Will's  Creek  on  the  Mary- 
land side  of  the  Patomack,  the  48  th  Regiment  was  obliged 
to  cross  that  river  at  Conegogee,  and  to  fall  into  the  Vir- 
ginia road  near  Winchester.  The  General  ordered  a  bridge 
to  be  built  over  the  Antietum,  which  being  furnished,  and 
provision  laid  in  on  the  road.  Colonel  Dunbar  marched 
with  his  regiment  from  Frederick  on  the  28  th  of  April, 

'  In  Jan.  1756,  Governor  Morris,  under  the  instructions  of  General 
Shirley,  appointed  a  commission  to  audit,  settle  and  adjust  the  claims  of 
Franklin  and  others  upon  the  Crown  for  the  hire  of  these  waggons  and 
horses.  In  conjunction  with  Robert  Leake,  Esq.,  the  King's  Commissary 
General,  the  board  sate  ten  days  in  Lancaster  to  decide  upon  the  accounts 
of  the  Pennsylvania  creditors,  and  then  met  in  Philadelphia  and  passed 
upon  those  from  Maryland  and  Virginia.  By  their  action,  a  saving  of  seven 
thousand  pounds  accrued  to  the  Government.     II.  P.  A.,  583,  598,  638. 


JOURNALS.  309 

and  about  this  time  the  bridge  over  the  Opeccon  was  fin- 
ished for  the  passage  of  the  Artillery,  and  floats  were 
built  on  all  the  rivers  and  creeks. 

The  31  of  April  the  General  set  out  for  Winchester 
hoping  to  meet  the  Indians,  but  as  none  were,  or  had  been 
there,  he  proceeded  to  Fort  Cumberland,  where  he  arrived 
the  10th  of  May,  and  also  the  48th  Regiment.  Sir  Peter 
Halket  with  six  companies  of  the  44th,  two  independant 
companies  and  the  Virginia  troops  were  already  encamped 
at  this  place. 

The  General  had  applied  to  Governor  Morris  for  some 
Indians  who  lived  upon  the  Susque  hannah ;  about  thirty 
of  them  met  him  at  this  place. ^  The  General  shewed  *them 
the  greatest  Marks  of  attention  and  esteem,  and  the  next 
day  called  them  to  his  tent,  and  conferred  with  them  agree- 
ably to  their  forms  and  customs. 

The  General  told  them  of  the  troops  and  Artillery  his 
Majesty  had  sent  to  their  Assistance,  and  made  use  of 
every  argument  to  persuade  them  to  take  up  the  hatchet 

'  These  were  the  Aughquick  Indians  brought  by  George  Croghan,  whom 
Braddock  formally  commissioned  their  captain  for  the  campaign.  Having 
been  long  settled  as  a  trader  among  the  savages,  he  had  acquired  the  lan- 
guages of  several  of  their  nations,  and  possessed  great  influence  over  them. 
By  occasion  of  the  war,  he  was  unable  to  collect  a  great  number  of  debts 
due  to  him  by  the  Indians,  and  became  bankrupt.  But  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  considering  his  value  on  the  frontier,  passed  an  act  granting  him 
a  freedom  from  arrest  for  ten  years ;  and  he  was  soon  made  a  captain  in 
the  service  of  the  colony.  In  1756,  he  went  to  Onondaga,  and  probably 
died  in  New  York,  as  his  will  (dated  12th  June,  1782)  is  recorded  in  the 
Court  of  Appeals  at  Albany.  He  is  styled  as  "  late  of  Passyunk,  Pa. ;" 
and  appears  to  have  left  but  one  child,  Susannah,  who  married  Lieutenant 
Augustine  Prevost.     (II.  P.  A.,  689.     IV.  Doc.  Hist.,  N.  Y.  420.) 


310  JOURNALS. 

against  the  French,  and  to  act  with  spirit  and  fideUty  under 
him. 

A  few  days  after,  at  another  Congress,  they  informed 
him  of  their  resolutions  to  serve  with  him,  and  declared 
war  against  the  French  according  to  their  own  ceremonies. 
They  desired  leave  to  return  to  the  Susque  hannah  with 
their  wives  and  children  (to  whom  the  General  made  con- 
siderable presents)  and  promised  to  rejoin  him  in  a  few 
days,  only  eight  of  them  remaining  with  him,  who  were 
immediately  employed  in  getting  intelligence.'    The  others 


'  None  who  left  ever  returned.  Of  the  eight  who  remained  one  was 
Scarroyaddy  (or  Monacatootha),  already  noticed;  another  was  his  son, 
killed  on  the  march.  The  names  of  the  remainder  we  find  in  the  proceed- 
ino-s  of  a  Council  at  Philadelphia  on  the  15th  of  August,  1755,  where, 
after  condoling  with  Scarroyaddy  on  his  loss,  Morris  thanks  individually 
and  by  name  all  the  savages  who  fought  with  Braddock  :  viz.,  Cashuwayon, 
Froson,  Kahuktodon,  Attscheehokatha,  Kash-wugh-daniunto,  and  Dyoqua- 
rio;  all  Iroquois.  (VI.  C  R.,  524.  Du  Simitiere  MSS.)  Doubtless 
these  were  their  formal  and  genuine  names ;  but  they  were  known  to  the 
whites  by  other  titles,  and  nothing  was  more  usual  than  for  an  Indian  to 
have  two  names ;  so  that  it  is  now  perhaps  impossible  to  identify  them  all. 
I  take  it,  however,  that  Kash-wughdanionto  was  the  Belt  of  Wampum 
(VII.  C.  R.,  6) )  a  Seneca,  who  had  contended  with  Scarroyaddy  for  the 
succession  to  the  Half-King.  Cashuwayon,  we  are  fortunately  able  to  say 
with  certainty,  was  the  well-known  Captain  Newcastle.  In  January  1756, 
one  Thomas  Graeme  being  adopted  by  the  Indians,  he  received  Newcastle's 
old  name ;  the  warrior  thenceforth  being  called  Ah  Knoyis  (VII.  C.  R.,  6). 
He  died  at  Philadelphia,  of  small-pox,  during  the  same  year.  Perhaps 
Aroas  (or  Silver-Heels),  a  Seneca;  lagrea,  Scarroyaddy's  son-in-law;  and 
the  Mohawks  Esras  and  Moses  (or  the  Song),  his  wife's  brothers,  may  have 
been  of  the  others.  This  last  was  one  of  Stobo's  messengers  from  Du 
Quesne.  An  inventory  of  the  morrice-bells,  tobacco,  knives,  cloths,  pow- 
der, &c.,  presented  to  these  savages  by  Morris  in  August,  1755,  may  be 
found  in  VI.  C  R.,  566.  They  were  all  constant  and  active  allies  of  the 
English ;  but  it  is  not  within  the  compass  of  this  design  to  dilate  upon 
their  exploits. 


JOURNALS.  311 

never  returned  to  the  General,  but  about  sixteen  of  them 
advanced  as  far  as  Colonel  Dunbar's  Camp.  The  General 
sent  Messengers  to  the  Delawar  and  Shawnoe  Indians  to 
invite  them  to  join  him. 

We  had  been  promised  the  greatest  plenty  of  all  kinds 
of  provisions  at  this  place,  but  none  fresh  could  be  pro- 
cured. The  General  was  greatly  concerned  to  see  the 
want  of  all  refreshments  begin  so  early,  fearing  it  would 
disable  the  men  from  undergoing  the  fatigues  and  hard- 
ships they  were  to  meet  with  on  their  March  to  the  Ohio. 
They  had  already  marched  two  hundred  miles  through  an 
uninhabited  wilderness  without  any  other  but  the  salt  pro- 
vision that  they  had  carried  with  them,  or  that  had  been  laid 
in  for  them  upon  the  road.  The  General  offered  large  rewards, 
and  lent  several  people  his  own  money  to  enable  them  to 
provide  the  camp,  and  gave  all  manner  of  encouragement 
to  such  as  would  bring  provision.  Everything  brought  to 
camp  was  to  be  sold  at  a  particular  place,  and  any  person 
was  to  suffer  death  who  should  dare  to  interupt  or  molest 
anybody  bringing  provision,  or  should  offer  to  buy  of  them 
before  it  was  carried  to  the  publick  market,  which  was  put 
under  the  care  and  inspection  of  the  Captains  of  the  Picket, 
and  a  Sergeant  with  a  small  Guard  of  the  Picket  attended 
the  market  to  prevent  all  quarrels  or  confusion. 

As  a  further  encouragement,  the  price  of  provisions  was 
raised  a  penny  in  the  pound,  and  no  good  meat  was  to  be 
sold  at  less  than  the  fixed  price,  lest  the  Peasants  should 
be  distress'd  when  they  had  brought  it  many  miles.  These 
regulations  and  encouragements  produced  some  supplies, 
tho'  by  the  nature  of  the  country  inadequate  to  the  wants 
of  the  camp. 


312  JOURNALS. 

About  the  20th  of  May,  the  Artillery,  which  marched 
in  two  divisions,  arrived.  They  had  remained  at  Alex- 
andria a  fortnight  after  the  General  had  left  it,  through 
the  want  of  waggons  and  horses,  nor  could  they  at  last 
have  marched  without  press  parties,  which  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Gage  sent  for  many  miles  round,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  continue  this  method  the  whole  march,  having 
neither  pasture  nor  forage  on  the  road,  not  even  at  those 
places  where  it  had  been  said  to  have  been  provided.  This 
march  was  over  a  prodigious  chain  of  mountains,  and 
through  deep  and  rocky  roads.  The  troops  were  now 
joined,  except  a  North  Carolina  company,  commanded  by 
Capf"  Dobbs,^  which  was  daily  expected. 

The  General  had  now  frequent  opportunities  of  seeing 
and  hearing  of  the  appearance  and  disposition  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Recruits  and  companies.  M'"  Allen  had  taken  the 
greatest  pains  with  them,  and  they  performed  their  evolu- 
tions and  firings  as  well  as  could  be  expected,  but  their 
languid,  spiritless,  and  unsoldierlike  appearance  considered 
with  the  lowness  and  ignorance  of  most  of  their  Officers, 
gave  little  hopes  of  their  future  good  behaviour. 

Guards  were  posted  upon  the  Patomack  and  Will's  Creek, 
and  two  other  guards  were  ordered  for  the  security  of  the 
horses  that  were  grazing  in  the  woods ;  and  Detachments 
of  the  Picket  lay  advanced  from  retreat  beating  till  day- 
light, having  been  informed  some  Indians  had  been  seen 
near  the  Camp. 

About  the  latter  end  of  May,  the  Pensylvania  waggons 
came  up  to  us,  but  brought  very  little  flour  from  Conego- 

'  Son  of  the  Governor  of  the  colony. 


JOURNALS.  313 

gee,  Gccasioned  by  the  infamous  neglect  of  Cressop  the 
Agent  at  that  place,  who  suffered  almost  all  the  waggons 
to  pass  without  giving  them  the  Order  before  mentioned. 
Much  about  the  same  time  this  man's  father  was  employed 
by  Governor  Sharpe  to  salt  a  quantity  of  beef  for  the  use 
of  the  Maryland  troops ;  which  beef  had  been  reckoned  in 
the  estimate  of  those  provisions  designed  for  the  March ;  it 
was  no  sooner  brought  to  Camp  but  it  was  condemned  to 
be  buried  by  a  survey.  The  Surveyors  reported  that  it 
had  no  pickle,  and  that  it  was  put  into  dry  casks,  which 
could  never  have  contained  any.^ 

Being  thus  disappointed  in  flour  and  beef,  the  General 
sent  away  that  night  thirty  waggons  with  a  Captain's 
detachment  to  Winchester  for  provisions  over  sixty  miles 
of  Mountainous  and  rocky  country;  and  also  three  hundred 
carrying  horses  for  flour,  with  part  of  the  troop  of  light 
horse,  to  Conegogee,  ninety  miles  distance,  with  orders  to 
bring  up  Cressop,  another  commissary  being  appointed. 

Most  of  the  horses  which  brought  up  the  train  were 
either  lost,  or  carried  home  by  their  owners,  the  nature  of 
the  country  making  it  impossible  to  avoid  this  fatal  incon- 
venience, the  whole  being  a  continued  forrest  for  several 
hundred  miles  without  inclosures  or  bounds  by  which 
horses  can  be  secured  :  they  must  be  turned  into  the  woods 
for  their  subsistance,  and  feed  upon  leaves  and  young 
shoots  of  trees.  Many  projects,  such  as  belts,  hobles,  &c., 
were  tried,  but  none  of  these  were  a  security  against  the 
wildness  of  the  country  and  the  knavery  of  the  people  we 

'  These  men  were  Colonel  Thomas  and  Captain  Michael  Cresap.  See 
Mr.  Brantz  Mayer's  paper,  read  before  Md.  Hist.  Soc,  May,  1851. 


314  JOURNALS. 

were  obliged  to  employ  :  by  these  means  we  lost  our  horses 
almost  as  fast  as  we  could  collect  them,  and  those  which 
remained  grew  very  weak,  so  we  found  ourselves  every  day 
less  able  to  undertake  the  extraordinary  march  we  were  to 
perform. 

The  General,  to  obviate  as  much  as  possible  these  difla- 
culties,  appointed  a  waggon  Master  General,  and  under  him 
waggon  masters  over  every  forty  waggons ;  and  horse  Mas- 
ters over  every  hundred  horses,  and  also  a  drover  to  every 
seven  horses ;  the  waggon  and  horse  masters  with  the  drovers 
were  to  go  into  the  woods  with  their  respective  divisions, 
to  muster  their  horses  every  night  and  morning,  and  to 
make  a  daily  report  to  the  waggon  master  General,  who 
was  to  report  to  the  General. 

These  regulations  remedied  in  a  great  measure  that  evil. 

Some  Indians  arrived  from  the  Delawars,  with  whom  the 
General  conferred,  and  to  whom  he  made  presents.  They 
promised  to  join  him  with  their  Nation  upon  the  march, 
which  they  never  performed. 

Of  all  the  Indians  promised  by  Governor  Dinwiddle, 
none  had  joined  the  General;  and  a  few  days  before  we 
marched  the  person  sent  to  the  Catawbers  and  Cherokees 
returned ;  He  informed  the  General  that  three  hundred  of 
their  warriors  had  marched  three  or  four  days  with  him  in 
their  way  to  the  Camp ;  but  one  Pearus  ^  an  Indian  Trader 
had  by  means  of  a  quantity  of  liquor  diverted  them  from 
their  undertaking;  advising  them  to  call  upon  Gist  (who 
was  the  person  employed)  to  shew  some  written  and  sealed 
authority  by  which  he  acted ;  who  not  being  provided  with 

'  Perhaps  Paris,  who  commanded  at  the  defeat  of  Donville  in  1756. 


JOURNALS.  315 

any  instrument  of  this  nature  from  the  Government  of  Vir- 
ginia, they  judged  him  an  imposter,  and  returned  to  their 
towns. 

The  General  wond'red  that  the  Governments  of  Caro- 
lina had  not  been  applied  to  for  obtaining  these  Indians,  as 
being  their  natural  allies. 

While  these  disappointments  were  still  fresh,  one  Hile  a 
Virginian,  with  whom  the  commissaries  appointed  by  Go- 
vernor Dinwiddie  had  made  a  contract  for  five  hundred 
Beeves  to  be  delivered  at  Fort  Cumberland,  came  to  the 
Camp  and  informed  the  General,  the  Committee  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Assembly  would  not  confirm  the  contract,  and  that 
it  was  consequently  void.  He  had  already  received  a  part 
of  the  money,  and  the  General  offered  to  pay  him  the  bal- 
lance,  but  he  said  he  had  recalled  his  Factors  from  Caro- 
lina, and  would  not  make  another  contract  without  an 
advanced  price ;  and  even  then  would  not  engage  to  per- 
form 'till  September.  The  General  therefore  resolved  to 
supply  himself  elsewhere. 

General  Braddock  had  applied  to  the  Governor  of  Pen- 
sylvania,  soon  after  his  arrival  in  America,  to  open  a  road 
from  that  country  towards  the  Ohio,  to  fall  into  his  road 
to  that  place  from  Fort  Cumberland,  either  at  the  great 
meadows,  or  at  the  Yoxhio  Geni,  that  he  might  keep  open  a 
communication  with  Pensylvania  either  for  reinforcements, 
or  convoys.  The  Governor  had  laid  this  before  his  As- 
sembly, and  had  represented  to  them  in  the  strongest  terms 
the  use,  and  indeed  necessity,  of  such  a  measure ;  but  they 
would  pay  no  regard  to  it.  Upon  a  ftirther  acquaintance 
with  the  nature  and  state  of  Virginia,  and  the  frequent 


316  JOURNALS. 

disappointments  the  General  experienced  from  that  Pro- 
vince, he  thought  it  would  be  imprudent  to  depend  entirely 
upon  contracts  made  with,  or  promises  received  from  them ; 
he  therefore  wrote  again  to  Governor  Morris  to  desire  he 
would  once  more  apply  to  his  Assembly  to  open  a  road, 
and  as  he  was  every  day  the  more  convinced  of  the  neces- 
sity of  such  a  communication,  he  desired  that  it  might 
immediately  be  begun  and  carried  on  with  all  possible 
expedition,  and  that  he  would  undertake  to  defray  the 
expence  of  it,  in  case  they  should  again  refuse  it.  The 
Governor  through  his  Zeal  for  his  Majesty's  service,  had  it 
carried  into  great  forwardness  in  a  very  short  time. 

M""  Peters  the  Secretary  of  Pensylvania,  who  had  been 
to  inspect  the  road,  waited  upon  the  General  at  Fort  Cum- 
berland to  inform  him  of  its  progress ;  The  General  desired 
M""  Peters  would  in  conjunction  with  Governor  Morris 
make  a  contract  in  his  name  for  a  magazine  of  provisions 
to  be  formed  at  Shippensburgh,  sufficient  to  subsist  three 
thousand  men  for  three  months,  and  to  be  completed  by 
the  beginning  of  July;  he  desired  they  would  appoint 
some  proper  person  to  forward  the  whole  or  part  with 
all  expedition  when  demanded.  This  contract  was  con- 
cluded, and  the  deposit  made  agreeable  to  the  time  men- 
tioned. The  General  also  fixed  with  M""  Peters  that  the 
junction  of  the  two  roads  should  be  at  the  Crow  foot  of 
the  Yoxhio  Geni.^ 


'  The  union  of*  the  Youghiogeny  proper,  the  Laurel  Hill  Creek,  and 
Castleman's  River,  in  Somerset  County,  is  commonly  called  the  Turkey 
Foot,  or  the  Crow  Foot  of  the  Youghiogeny. 


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THE  NEW  YORK 

PUBLIC  LIBRARY 


A«T©R,  LGNnx  KUn 
TIL  DEN  FftUNi^AvTi-NS. 


JOURNALS.  317 

The  General  called  a  Council  of  War  consisting  of 

Colonel  S'  Peter  Halket.  Colonel  Dunbar. 

Lieut^  Colonel  Gage.  Lieu*.  Col°  Burton.^ 

Major  Chapman.^  Major  Sparks.^ 

Major  S^  John  S*  Clair,  D.  Q.  G. 

The  General  acquainted  the  Council  he  had  formed  a 
plan  of  March  and  encampment  upon  the  Nature  of  the 
service,  Country,  and  Enemy  he  was  engaged  in  and 
expected  to  be  opposed  by ;  That  he  offered  it  to  them  for 
their  opinions,  in  which  he  desired  they  would  be  very 
explicit,  and  make  such  objections,  and  offer  such  amend- 
ments, as  they  should  judge  proper,  by  which  some  general 
plan  might  be  formed  which  would  effectually  answer  the 
end  proposed,  of  marching  and  encamping  with  the  greater 
security.  He  said  he  should  be  very  much  encumbred  with  a 
vast  number  of  carriages  and  horses,  which  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  to  secure  from  the  insults  of  the  Indians  from 
whom  he  apprehended  frequent  annoyance.  It  would  be 
therefore  necessary  to  divide  the  troops  into  small  parties 

'  Ralph  Burton,  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  48th,  seems  to  have  been  a 
favorite  of  Braddock's.  In  January,  1748,  he  received  the  local  rank  of 
a  colonel  in  North  America,  and  commanded  the  right  wing  at  the  capture 
of  Quebec.  After  its  fall,  he  was  made  governor  of  the  department  of 
Trois-Rivieres.  (II.  Garneau,  374,  380.)  He  was  a  colonel  in  the  line, 
December  10,  1760,  and  of  the  8d  Foot  (Buffs),  22d  Nov.,  1764.  He 
was  created  major-general  10th  July,  1762. 

^  On  7th  March,  1751,  Russel  Chapman  was  appointed  major  of  the 
44th,  and  on  20th  March,  1756,  was  gazetted  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  62d 
regiment. 

^  All  I  can  learn  of  this  officer  is  that  he  marched  with  Dunbar  to  Phila- 
delphia, and  that  his  name  was  William  Sparkes.     (VI.  C  R-,  594.) 


318  JOURNALS. 

to  cover  as  much  as  possible  the  baggage,  which  would  be 
obliged  to  march  in  one  line  through  a  road  about  twelve 
foot  wide,  and  that  it  appeared  to  him  also  necessary  to 
extend  small  parties  very  well  upon  the  flanks,  in  the  front, 
and  in  the  rear,  to  prevent  any  surprise  which  the  nature 
of  the  country  made  them  very  liable  to  ;  and  he  proposed, 
as  it  would  be  impracticable  to  have  a  regular  parade,  that 
every  commanding  officer  of  a  company  should  regulate 
that  company's  duty  by  detaching  always  upon  his  flanks 
a  third  of  the  efiectives  with  a  Sergeant,  which  Sergeant 
was  to  detach  a  third  of  his  men  upon  his  flanks  with  a 
Corporal ;  these  out  parties  were  to  be  relieved  every  night 
at  retreat  beating,  and  to  form  the  advanced  pickets. 

Each  regiment  was  to  find  one  Captain  and  three  subal- 
terns for  the  picket  of  each  flank ;  and  the  independent 
companies,  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Carolina  rangers.  One 
Captain  and  two  Subalterns  for  each  of  the  flanks  of  their 
division ;  and  the  field  Officer  of  the  day  was  to  command 
the  whole.  The  officers  of  the  pickets  were  to  march  upon 
their  respective  flanks.  The  waggons.  Artillery,  and 
carrying  horses  were  formed  into  three  divisions,  and  the 
provisions  disposed  of  in  such  a  manner  as  that  each  divi- 
sion was  to  be  victualled  from  that  part  of  the  line  it 
covered,  and  a  commissary  was  appointed  to  each.  The 
waggon  masters  were  to  attend  their  respective  divisions  to 
proportion  the  goodness  of  teams,  and  to  assist  at  every 
steep  ascent  by  adding  any  number  of  horses  from  other 
waggons,  till  their  respective  divisions  had  passed. 

The  waggons  were  subdivided  again  into  smaller  divisions, 
every  company  having  a  certain  number  which  they  were 


JOURNALS.  319 

to  endeavour  to  keep  together,  however  the  line  might  be 
broke  :  The  Companies  were  to  march  two  deep  that  they 
might  extend  the  more,  be  more  at  liberty  to  act,  and  less 
liable  to  confusion. 

A  field  officer  was  to  march  with  a  van,  and  another 
with  a  rear  guard.  S'  Peter  Halket  was  to  lead  the  column, 
and  Colonel  Dunbar  to  bring  up  the  Rear.  The  field  officer 
of  the  Picket  had  no  fixed  posts.  There  was  also  an  ad- 
vanced party  of  three  hundred  men  to  precede  the  line  to 
cut  and  make  the  roads,  commanded  by  a  field  officer  or  the 
quarter  master  general.  This  detachment  was  to  be  either 
a  day's  march  before  the  line  or  to  move  earlier  every 
morning,  according  to  the  country  we  were  to  pass  through, 
or  the  intelligence  we  could  get  of  the  enemy. 

The  form  of  the  encampment  differed  very  little  from 
that  of  the  march.  Upon  coming  to  the  ground,  the 
waggons  were  to  draw  up  in  close  order  in  one  line,  the 
road  not  admitting  more,  care  being  taken  to  leave  an 
interval  in  the  front  of  every  company.  When  this  was 
done  the  whole  was  to  halt  and  face  outward.  The  Ser- 
jeants' flank  parties  were  to  divide,  facing  to  the  right  and 
left,  and  to  open  a  free  communication  by  cutting  down 
saplings  and  underwood,  till  they  met  the  divisions  of  the 
other  Serjeants'  parties :  they  were  then  to  open  a  commu- 
nication with  the  corporal  in  front,  who  was  to  keep  his 
men  under  arms.  The  serjeant  was  then  to  advance  half 
of  his  party,  which  was  to  remain  under  arms  whilst  the 
corporal  opened  his  communications  to  the  right  and  left. 
All  this  was  carried  on  under  the  inspection  of  the  Picket 
Officers  of  the  respective  flanks.    Whilst  this  was  executing. 


320  JOURNALS. 

half  of  each  Company  remained  under  arms,  whilst  the 
other  half  opened  the  communication  to  the  right  and  left, 
and  to  the  Serjeants  in  front,  and  also  cleared  ground  for 
the  tents,  which  were  pitched  by  them,  and  placed  in  a  single 
row  along  the  line  of  baggage,  facing  outwards.  These 
parties  were  then  to  be  relieved,  and  the  corporal's  party 
was  all  posted  in  centinels,  which  made  a  chain  of  centinels 
round  the  camp.  The  grenadiers  were  to  encamp  across 
the  road,  and  each  company  to  advance  a  Serjeant's  party. 

Upon  beating  the  General,  the  men  were  to  turn  out, 
but  not  to  strike  their  tents  till  they  received  orders ;  upon 
the  Assembly  the  horses  were  to  be  loaded;  and  upon 
beating  the  March  the  Corporals  were  to  join  their  parties, 
and  the  whole  was  to  face  upon  the  right  and  left. 

When  the  waggons  were  all  closed  up,  the  waggon  and 
horse-masters  were  to  assemble  in  some  particular  place 
their  respective  divisions,  and  to  give  their  orders  to  the 
waggoners  and  drovers.  The  horses  were  then  to  be 
turned  out  within  the  centinels,  every  centinel  having 
orders  not  to  suffer  any  horse  to  pass  him. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  the  Council  this  line  of  march  and 
plan  of  encampment  would  answer  extremely  well  for  the 
service  we  were  engaged  in ;  every  field  officer  was  to  have 
a  copy  of  it,  and  they  were  desired  to  assemble  the  Cap- 
tains and  explain  to  them  fully  the  duty  they  were  to 
perform. 

Some  Indians  returned  from  a  reconnoitring  party,  and 
informed  the  General  about  a  hundred  soldiers  were  then 
in  Garrison  at  Fort  Du  Quesne,  but  that  they  soon  expected 
greater  reinforcements  from  Montreal  and  Quebec. 


JOURNALS.  321 

Two  days  after,  the  General  called  another  Council  of 
"War.  He  informed  them  of  the  present  state  of  the  Gar- 
rison, and  read  to  them  some  letters  of  intelligence,  that  he 
had  received  from  the  Governors  of  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania. 

The  General  told  the  Council,  that  he  found  by  his 
returns,  that  he  had  not  above  forty  waggons  over  and 
above  the  hundred  and  fifty  he  had  got  from  Pensylvania, 
and  that  the  number  of  carrying  horses  did  not  exceed  six 
hundred,  which  were  insufficient  to  carry  seventy  days 
flour  and  fifty  days  meat,  which  he  was  of  opinion  was  the 
least  he  could  march  with  without  running  great  risques 
of  being  reduced  to  the  utmost  distress  before  the  Convoy 
could  be  brought  to  him  if  he  should  meet  with  any  oppo- 
sition at  the  Fort.  And  he  desired  to  know  their  opinions 
of  a  measure  he  had  formed  for  carrying  eight  days  more 
provision  and  for  saving  some  days  in  the  march. 

The  General  reminded  the  Council  of  the  Waggons  sent 
to  Winchester  for  provisions,  which  could  not  return  in  less 
than  seven  days,  and  this  time  would  absolutely  be  lost  if 
the  march  of  the  whole  was  delayed  for  their  return.  The 
General  therefore  proposed  the  sending  forwards  of  a  party 
of  six  hundred  men,  workers  and  coverers,  w^ith  a  field 
officer,  and  the  Quarter-master-General ;  that  they  should 
take  with  them  two  six-pounders,  with  a  full  proportion  of 
ammunition ;  that  they  should  also  take  with  them  eight 
days  provision  for  three  thousand  two  hundred  men  ;  that 
they  should  make  the  road  as  good  as  possible,  and  march 
five  days  towards  the  first  crossing  of  the  Yoxhio  Geni,  which 
was  about  thirty  miles  from  the  camp,  at  which  place  they 
21 


322  JOURNALS. 

were  to  make  a  deposit  of  the  provisions,  building  proper 
sheds  for  its  security,  and  also  a  place  of  arms  for  its  defence 
and  the  security  of  the  men.  If  they  could  not  in  five  days 
advance  so  far,  they  were  at  the  expiration  of  that  time  to 
choose  an  advantageous  spot  and  to  secure  the  provisions 
and  men  as  before.  When  the  waggons  were  unloaded, 
the  field  officer  with  three  hundred  men  was  to  return  to 
camp,  and  S""  John  S*  Clair  with  the  first  engineer  was  to 
remain  and  carry  on  the  works  with  the  other  three  hun- 
dred. The  General  proposed  marching  from  Fort  Cumber- 
land to  the  first  camp  in  three  divisions,  as  it  would  be 
impossible  for  the  whole  line  with  the  baggage  to  move  off 
the  ground  in  one  day. 

S'  Peter  Halket  with  the  44*''  Regiment  was  to  march 
with  the  first  division,  taking  with  him  about  a  hundred 
waggons  of  provisions,  stores  and  powder. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Burton  with  the  independent  Com- 
panies, Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Carolina  rangers,  was  to 
march  with  the  artillery,  ammunition,  some  stores  and 
provision,  and  to  form  the  second  division. 

Colonel  Dunbar,  with  the  48*^  was  to  make  the  third 
division,  and  to  take  with  him  the  provision  waggons  from 
Winchester,  the  returned  waggons  from  the  advanced 
party,  and  all  the  carrying  horses. 

The  whole  of  the  General's  plan  was  universally 
approved  of,  and  agreed  to ;  and  the  Resolutions  of  the 
first,  and  of  this  Council  of  War  were  signed  by  the 
members.' 


'  The  following  sketch  of  the  character  and  condition  of  the  army  at 
this  moment  will  not  be  out  of  place  here.    I  cite  from  W.  Shirley's  Letter 


JOURNALS.  323 

This  detachment  of  six  hundred  men  commanded  by 
Major  Chapman  marched  the  30*^  of  May  at  daybreak, 
and  it  was  night  before  the  whole  baggage  had  got  over  a 
mountain  about  two  miles  from  the  camp.  The  ascent  and 
descent  were  almost  a  perpendicular  rock ;  three  waggons 
were  entirely  destroyed,  which  were  replaced  from  the 
camp ;  and  many  more  were  extremely  shattered.  Three 
hundred  men,  with  the  miners  (of  whom  the  General  had 


to  Gov.  Morris,  dated  at  Fort  Cumberland,  23rd  May,  1755.  (VI.  C.  K., 
404.)  "It  is  a  joke  to  suppose  that  secondary  OfBcers  can  make  amends 
for  the  defects  of  the  First.  The  main  spring  must  be  the  mover;  others 
in  many  cases  can  do  no  more  than  follow  and  correct  a  little  its  motions. 
As  to  them,  I  don't  think  we  have  much  to  boast.  Some  are  insolent  and 
ignorant;  others  capable,  but  rather  aiming  at  showing  their  own  abilities 
than  making  a  proper  use  of  them.  I  have  a  very  great  love  for  my  friend 
Orme,  and  think  it  uncommonly  fortunate  for  our  Leader  that  he  is  under 
the  influence  of  so  honest  and  capable  a  man,  but  I  wish,  for  the  sake  of 
the  Publick,  he  had  some  more  experience  of  business,  particularly  in 
America.  As  to  myself,  I  came  out  of  England  expecting  that  I  might 
be  taught  the  business  of  a  military  secretary,  but  I  am  already  convinced 
of  my  mistake.  I  would  willingly  hope  my  time  may  not  be  quite  lost  to 
me.  You  will  think  me  out  of  humor.  I  own  I  am  so.  I  am  greatly 
disgusted  at  seeing  an  Expedition  (as  it  is  called),  so  ill-concerted  originally 
in  England  and  so  ill-appointed,  so  improperly  conducted  in  America ;  and 
so  much  fatigue  and  expense  incurred  for  a  purpose  which,  if  attended  with 
success,  might  better  have  been  left  alone.  I  speak  with  regard  to  our 
particular  share.  However,  so  much  experience  I  have  had  of  the  injudi- 
ciousness  of  public  opinion,  that  I  have  no  little  expectation,  when  we 
return  to  England,  of  being  received  with  great  applause.  I  am  likewise 
further  chagrined  at  seeing  the  prospect  of  affairs  in  America  which,  when 
we  were  at  Alexandria  I  looked  upon  to  be  very  great  and  promising, 
through  delays  and  disappointments  which  might  have  been  prevented, 
grown  cloudy  and  in  danger  of  ending  in  little  or  nothing."  The  writer 
was  destined  never  to  enjoy  his  country's  predicted  applause.  He  was  shot 
through  the  head  at  the  first  fire  on  the  fatal  9th  of  July,  just  six  weeks 
after  the  date  of  this  letter. 


324  JOURNALS. 

formed  a  company),  had  already  been  employed  several 
days  upon  that  hill. 

The  General  reconnoitred  this  mountain,  and  determined 
to  set  the  engineers  and  three  hundred  more  men  at  work 
upon  it,  as  he  thought  it  impassable  by  Howitzers.^  He 
did  not  imagine  any  other  road  could  be  made,  as  a  recon- 
noitring party  had  already  been  to  explore  the  country ; 
nevertheless,  Mr.  Spendelow,  Lieutenant  of  the  Seamen,  a 
young  man  of  great  discernment  and  abilities,  acquainted 
the  General,  that,  in  passing  that  mountain,  he  had  dis- 
covered a  Valley  which  led  quite  round  the  foot  of  it.  A 
party  of  a  hundred  men,  with  an  engineer,  was  ordered  to 
cut  a  road  there,  and  an  extreme  good  one  was  made  in 
two  days,  which  fell  into  the  other  road  about  a  mile  on 
the  other  side  of  the  mountain. 

From  this  place  the  General  wrote  to  Colonel  Shirley 
and  Colonel  Johnson,  desiring  them  to  use  all  possible  dis- 
patch in  the  carrying  their  expeditions  into  execution,  and 
he  wrote  also  to  the  Governor  of  New  York,  to  desire  he 
would  afford  them  all  possible  assistance  in  his  Govern- 
ment, as  they  must  necessarily  depend  entirely  upon  it  for 
their  subsistance. 

Mr.  Shirley  represented  to  the  General  the  weakness  of 
Sir  William  Pepperell's  regiment,  and  applied  for  the  five 
hundred  men  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Schyler,  who 
were  raised  in  New  Jersey  for  the  Crown  Point  expedition  j 
which  men  the  Governor,  Assembly,  and  Colonel  Schyler, 


'  A  howitzer  is  a  short  gun  for  throwing  shells,  and  is  mounted  on  a 
field  carriage.  It  differs  from  a  mortar  mainly  in  having  its  trunnions  in 
the  middle. 


JOURNALS  325 

were  willing  should  join  Mr.  Shirley.  The  General  there- 
fore acquiesced,  and  wrote  to  that  purpose  to  Governor 
Belchier.' 

The  Governor  of  South  Carolina  sent  the  General  bills 
for  four  thousand  pounds,  being  part  of  six  thousand  which 
was  voted  by  that  Assembly  towards  a  common  fund. 
These  bills  were  remitted  to  Governor  Morris  to  pay  in 
part  for  the  magazine  at  Shippensburgh.^  This  was  the 
only  money  raised  by  the  Provinces  which  ever  passed 
through  the  General's  hands. 

The  General  wrote  to  the  Governors  of  Virginia,  Mary- 
land, and  Pensylvania,  desiring  the  two  former  to  have 
their  Militia  ready  to  escort  his  convoys,  if  he  should  not 
be  able  to  detach  a  sufficient  number  of  men  from  his  own 
body ;  and  also  desired  the  three  Governments  to  provide 
Artillery  for  the  Fort,  in  case  he  should  make  himself  mas- 
ter of  it,  as  he  could  not  leave  any  of  his  Ordnance  in  that 
place.  He  also  informed  them  that  the  French  had  threat- 
ned  to  fall  with  their  Indians  upon  the  back  Inhabitants 
as  soon  as  the  Army  should  march,  and  the  General  desired 
they  would  make  the  best  use  of  that  information.^ 

A  proper  Commissary  was  appointed  at  Conegogee,  with 

'  Pepperell's  regiment  was  not  more  than  half-filled  when,  on  the  26th 
May,  he  wrote  from  New  York  to  his  old  friend  Gov.  Morris,  asking  per 
mission  for  his  recruiting  officers  to  'raise  a  hundred  or  two  of  brave  men' 
in  Pennsylvania.  (II.  P.  A.,  329.)  It  has  already  been  observed  how 
many  hundreds  from  this  province  were  enlisted  in  the  northern  campaigns 
of  the  war.  The  New  Jersey  troops  alluded  to  in  the  text  were  commanded 
by  Colonel  Peter  Schuyler,  of  whose  family  was  Philip  Schuyler  of  the 
Revolution.     John  Belcher  was  governor  of  this  latter  colony. 

2  See  VI.  C.  R.,  426,  429. 

"  See  VI.  C.  R.,  400,  413.     This  threat  was  considered  a  mere  bravado. 


326  JOURNALS. 

orders  to  send  up  all  the  flour  to  Fort  Cumberland,  and 
directions  were  given  for  gathering  to  that  place  all  the 
provision  which  had  been  left  for  want  of  carriages  at  Alex- 
andria, Rock  Creek,  Frederick,  and  Winchester.  Thus  two 
Magazines  were  formed  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
from  either  of  which  the  General  might  supply  himself  as 
he  should  find  most  convenient. 

It  appearing  to  the  General  absolutely  necessary  to  leave 
some  proper  person  to  superintend  the  commissaries,  and 
to  dispatch  the  convoys,  and  also  to  command  at  the  Fort, 
Colonel  Innys  was  appointed  Governor  of  it.  Instructions 
were  given  to  him,  and  money  was  left  with  him  for  contin- 
gent expences,  lest  the  service  should  for  want  of  it  meet  with 
any  checks.  The  General  fixed  with  the  several  Governors 
of  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  Pensylvania  proper  places  for 
laying  horses  for  the  more  ready  conveyance  of  their  ex- 
presses :  men  were  also  employed  with  proper  badges ;  and 
orders  were  given  in  the  several  Governments  to  supply 
them  with  horses  upon  a  proper  application. 

A  company  of  guides  were  established  under  two  Chiefs ; 
each  regiment  had  three  guides.  The  General  had  one, 
and  the  Quarter-master  General  three. 

An  Hospital  was  left  at  this  place,  and  the  most  infirm 
Officers  and  men  remained  in  Garrison. 

Every  thing  being  now  settled,  S""  Peter  Halket  with  the 
44th  regiment  marched  the  7'*^  of  June. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Burton  with  the  independent  Compar 
nies  and  Rangers  on  the  8*%  and  Colonel  Dunbar  with  the 
48th  regiment  on  the  10*^  with  the  proportions  of  baggage, 
as  was  settled  by  the  Council  of  War. 


JOURNALS.  327 

The  same  day  the  General  left  Fort  Cumberland,  and 
joined  the  whole  at  Spendelow  camp,  about  five  miles  from 
the  Fort. 

Orders  given  at  Fort  Cumberland. 

None  of  the  men  that  came  with  the  Kegiments  from 
Ireland  to  be  suffered  to  act  as  Bat-man. 

All  the  troops  to  be  under  arms,  and  to  have  the  Arti- 
cles of  War  read  to  them,  at  which  time  the  servants  and 
followers  are  to  attend. 

A  return  to  be  made  of  such  men  as  understand  mining, 
to  whom  proper  encouragement  shall  be  given. 

The  troops  to  begin  immediately  their  field  days,  each 
man  to  have  twelve  rounds  of  powder. 

The  troops  are  to  be  immediately  brigaded  in  the  follow- 
ing manner : 

The  first  Brigade,   Commanded  hy  Sir  Peter  Ealhet. 

Compliment.    Effective. 

44""  Regiment  of  Foot 700  ...  700 

Capt°  Rutherford's '  I  Independant  Comp'' ") 

Capt"  Gates                j  of  New  York        J  ^ 

Capt.  Poison's^ Carpenters 50  ...     48 


'  Capt.  John  Rutherford  was  stationed  at  Will's  Creek  in  March,  1755; 
an  interesting  letter  from  him  will  be  found  in  II.  P.  A.,  277.  At  the 
end  of  the  year,  he  held  the  rank  of  major  under  Shirley  at  New  York 
(VII.  C.  R.,  23.) 

^  "William  Poison  was  probably  a  Scot  who  had  been  concerned  in  the 
rebellion  of  1745 ;  since,  early  in  1755,  he  writes  to  James  Burd  com- 
plaining bitterly  of  a  report  that  assigned  him  in  that  affair  "such  a  low 
station  as  I  detest  as  much  as  the  author  of  such  a  falsehood."  (I.  Ship- 
pen  MSS.  18.)  In  1754,  he  served  under  Washington,  and  received  the 
thanks  of  the  Virginia  Burgesses  and  Governor  for  his  good  conduct.  His 
captaincy  in  the  Virginia  services  dated  from  21st  July,  1754.     (Sharpe's 


328  JOURNALS, 


Compliment.    Effective. 

Capt.  Peronnee's ' ")  Virginia  Rangers 50  ...     47 

Capt.  Wagner's^    j  Virginia  Rangers 50  ...     45 

Capt.  Dagworthy's ' Maryland  Rangers 50  ...     49 

Second  Brigade,   Commanded  hy   Colonel  Dunhar. 

48'"  Regiment  of  Foot 700  ...  650 

Capt.  Demerie's'* South  Carolina  Detach' 100  ...     97 


MS.  Corr.)  Being  killed  in  1755,  an  annual  pension  of  £26  was  bestowed 
by  Virginia  upon  his  widow.  (VII.  Sp.  Wash.,  87.)  I  believe,  too,  a 
lieutenant's  commission  in  the  60th,  of  which  Gage  was  commandant  and 
Gates  major,  was  given  to  his  son  John  on  5th  May,  1756.  (II.  Sp. 
Wash.,  127.)  He  was  made  captain  June  16th,  1773,  which  rank  he  held 
in  1778. 

'  William,  Chevalier  de  Peyronie,  was  a  French  Protestant,  settled  in 
Virginia,  and  highly  esteemed.  At  Fort  Necessity  he  was  an  ensign  under 
Washington,  whose  warm  favor  he  enjoyed.  Being  desperately  wounded 
in  that  action,  he  obtained  leave  to  wait  upon  the  Assembly  to  petition  for 
some  recompense  for  his  personal  losses  of  clothes,  &c.  On  30th  Aug., 
1754,  the  Burgesses  voted  him  their  thanks,  and  especially  desired  the 
Governor  to  promote  him ;  and  he  accordingly  received  a  captain's  commis- 
sion to  date  from  25th  August,  1754.  He  died  unmarried.  (II.  Sp. 
Wash.     Sharpe's  MS.  Corr.) 

^  Thomas  Waggener  (Capt.  Virg.  troops,  July  20th,  1754),  was  a  lieute- 
nant in  the  campaign  of  1754,  and  was  slightly  wounded  at  Jumonville's 
defeat.  He  had  previously  served  under  Gov.  Shirley,  in  the  projected 
Canada  expedition  of  1746.  At  Fort  Necessity  he  was  a  lieutenant,  and 
was  one  of  those  thanked  by  the  Virginia  legislature.  His  gallant  conduct 
in  Braddock's  campaign  has  been  noticed :  it  may  be  added,  that  so  late  as 
1757,  he  continued  actively  engaged  in  the  war.  (II.  Sp.  Wash.  II 
Belknap's  Hist.  N.  H.     Sharpe's  MS.  Corr.) 

^  Ely  Dagworthy  had  held  the  King's  commission  in  the  previous  French 
war,  and  was  engaged  in  Shirley's  Canada  design.  For  this  reason,  he 
esteemed  himself  superior  to  any  mere  provincial  officer,  though  he  was 
himself  considered  in  that  very  light  by  Brad  dock,  insomuch  as  he  had  no 
other  command  than  that  of  a  Maryland  company.  In  the  fall  of  1756, 
his  impudent  assumptions  of  superiority  to  Washington  were  summarily 
put  down  by  Gen.  Shirley  (II.  Sp.  Wash.);  and  not  long  after  he  seems 
to  have  obtained  one  of  the  lieutenancies  in  the  44th,  made  vacant  by  the 
action  of  9th  July.  His  commission  dated  from  15th  July,  1755.  In 
1765,  he  had  risen  no  higher. 

*  Paul  Demerie,  who  was  killed  by  the  Cherokees  in  1760,  during  the 
Indian  war  of  South  Carolina.     I.  Ramsay's  S.  C,  182. 


JOURNALS.  /  329 

Compliment.    Effective. 

Capt.  Dobb's  North  Carolina  Rangers  ...  100  ...  80 

Capt.  Mercer's' Company  of  Carpenters  ....     50  ...  35 

Capt.  Stevens's 2")  Virginia  Rangers 50...  48 

Capt.  Hogg's'      j.  Virginia  Rangers 50...  40 

■     Capt.  Cox's"       j  Virginia  Rangers 50   ...  43 

The  Detachment  of  Seamen  to  encamp  with  the  Second 
Brigade  and  the  Troop  of  light  horse  separately. 

The  General  is  to  be  acquainted  through  an  aid  de  Camp 
the  night  before  the  regiments  are  to  exercise. 

Prohibitory  Orders  were  given  against  spirituous  Uquors 
being  sold  to  the  Indians,  or  any  soldiers  going  into  their 
camp. 

Proper  Victualling  returns  were  ordered  to  be  given  in 
to  the  Commissary  General  of  the  stores,  signed  by  the 
commanding  officers  of  the  Regiments  and  Artillery,  the 
several  Companies,  Detachment  of  Seamen  and  Troop  of 
light  horse,  the  Director  of  the  Hospital,  Waggon-Master 
General,  and  Indian  manager,  specifying  the  names  and 
qualifications  of  those  persons,  who  drew  provisions  under 
their  command  or  directions. 

'  I  do  not  know  if  this  was  George  or  John  Mercer.  Both  were  at  Fort 
Necessity,  and  thanked  by  the  Burgesses  :  the  former  was  a  Virginia  cap- 
tain, June  4th,  1754,  and  in  1760,  agent  of  the  Ohio  Company  at  London. 
The  latter  was  a  lieutenant,  21st  July,  1754,  and  Washington's  aid  in  1756; 
in  which  year  he  was  killed  by  the  enemy. 

^  Adam  Stephen  was,  in  1754,  perhaps  the  senior  captain  in  Frey's  regi- 
ment. He  rose  to  be  colonel  of  the  Virginia  troops,  and  was  a  general 
officer  in  the  Revolution. 

^  Peter  Hogg  was  a  captain,  March  9th,  1754 ;  and  so  late  as  the  end  of 
1757  was  still  in  the  Virginia  service.  Being  detached  on  the  march,  he 
and  his  command  escaped  the  dangers  of  the  9th  of  July. 

*  Probably  Thomas  Cocke,  commissioned  as  captain  in  the  Virginia 
troops,  Dec.  13th,  1754. 


330  JOURNALS. 

All  the  troops  were  to  account  to  the  director  of  the 
hospital  once  in  three  months  for  stoppages  at  the  rate  of 
four  pence  sterling  per  day  for  every  man  that  was  admitted 
into  the  General  Hospital. 

It  was  also  ordered,  that  no  suttler  should  dare  to  sell 
any  more  spirits  to  the  men  than  one  gill  a  day  to  each, 
which  an  Officer  of  the  Picket  was  to  see  delivered  out  at 
eleven  of  the  clock  and  mixed  with  three  gills  of  water ; 
and  any  suttler  offending  against  tliis  order  was  to  be  sent 
to  the  Provost. 

If  any  non-commissioned  Officer  or  soldier  shall  be  found 
gaming,  he  shall  immediately  receive  three  hundred  lashes, 
and  the  standers  by  shall  be  deemed  principals  and  punished 
as  such. 

K  any  Soldier  is  seen  drunk  in  Camp,  he  is  to  be  sent 
immediately  to  the  Quarter  Guard,  and  to  receive  two 
hundred  lashes  the  next  morning. 

Agreeably  to  a  resolution  of  a  Council  of  War,  it  was 
ordered  that  every  Subaltern  superintending  the  work  upon 
the  road  should  receive  three  shillings  per  day ;  each  Ser- 
jeant one  shilling ;  each  corporal  nine  pence ;  and  every 
drum  or  private  man  sLx  pence.  But  as  it  was  thought 
this  would  weaken  too  much  the  Military  Chest,  and  there 
being  no  publick  markets,  the  General  promised  to  settle 
with  them  in  their  winter  quarters. 

Any  soldier  or  follower  of  the  Army  that  shall  be 
detected  in  stealing  or  purloyning  any  of  the  provisions, 
shall  suffer  death. 


journals.  331 

Spendelow  Camp. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  Burton  represented  to  the  General 
that  he  had  been  two  days  m  marching  about  five  miles  on 
a  better  road  than  we  were  to  expect  afterwards,  occasioned 
by  the  extreme  faintness  and  deficiency  of  the  horses. 

The  General  thereupon  called  together  all  the  Officers, 
and  told  them,  that  through  this  inconvenience  it  would  be 
impossible  to  continue  the  March  without  some  alterations, 
which  he  was  convinced  they  would  readily  assist  in,  as 
they  had  hitherto  expressed  the  greatest  spirit  and  inclina- 
tion for  the  service.  He  recommended  to  them  to  send  to 
Fort  Cumberland  all  such  baggage  as  was  not  absolutely 
necessary,  and  told  them,  if  any  of  them  had  able  horses, 
which  they  could  spare  to  the  publick  cause,  he  would  take 
care  that  such  testimonies  of  their  regard  to  it  should  not 
be  forgotten,  and  excited  them  to  it  by  his  example ;  he 
and  his  family  contributed  twenty  horses.  This  liad  such 
an  effect,  that  most  of  the  Officers  sent  back  their  own,  and 
made  use  of  Soldiers  tents  the  rest  of  the  Campaign,  and 
near  a  hundred  able  horses  were  given  to  the  publick 
service. 

June  11*^.  The  General  called  a  council  of  war,  consist- 
ing of 

Colonel  S""  Peter  Halket,  Colonel  Dunbar, 

Lieut.  CoP.  Gage,  Lieut.  CoP.  Burton, 

Major  Chapman,  Major  Sparks. 

In  which  it  was  agreed  to  send  back  two  six-pounders, 
four  cohorns,  some  powder  and  stores,  which  cleared  near 
twenty  waggons.     All  the  King's  waggons  were  also  sent 


332  JOURNALS. 

back  to  the  Fort,  tliey  being  too  heavy,  and  requiring  large 
horses  for  the  shafts,  which  could  not  be  procured;  and 
country  waggons  were  fitted  for  the  powder  in  their  stead. 

This  day  was  employed  in  shifting  the  powder,  fitting  the 
waggons,  and  making  a  proper  asortment  of  the  stores. 

The  loads  of  all  the  waggons  were  to  be  reduced  to 
fourteen  hundred  weight ;  seven  of  the  most  able  horses 
were  chose  for  the  Howitzers,  and  five  to  each  twelve- 
pounder,  and  four  to  each  waggon.  The  other  horses  were 
all  to  carry  flour  and  bacon.  Every  horse  was  by  the 
contract  to  have  carried  two  hundred  weight,  but  the  con- 
tractors were  so  well  acquainted  with  our  situation  (which 
did  not  permit  us  to  reject  anything),  that  most  of  the 
horses  furnished  by  them  were  the  offcasts  of  Indian  traders, 
and  scarce  able  to  stand  under  one  hundred  weight. 

A  detachment  of  a  Captain,  two  subalterns,  and  fifty 
men,  were  sent  as  a  covering  party  to  the  workers  upon 
the  Pensylvania  road ;  and  fifty  of  the  worst  men  from 
the  Independents  and  Rangers  were  ordered  to  reinforce 
the  Garrison  at  Fort  Cumberland ;  and  only  two  women 
per  company  were  allowed  to  be  victualled  upon  the  March, 
but  proper  provision  was  made  for  them  at  the  Fort,  to 
which  place  they  were  sent  back.^ 

Some  orders  were  found  necessary  for  the  farther  regu- 
lation and  security  of  the  Camp. 

We  were  now  encamped  according  to  the  plan  approved 
of  by  the  Council  of  War.  When  the  carriages  were 
closed  up,  leaving  proper  intervals  of  communications,  the 
extent  of  the  Camp,  from  the  front  to  the  rear  guard,  was 
less  than  half  a  mile. 

'  They  were,  however,  sent  to  Philadelphia.     II.  P.  A.,  348. 


journals.  333 

Orders  given  at  Spendelow  Camp. 

The  captains  of  the  picket  are  to  be  at  the  field  officer 
of  the  day's  tent  to  receive  the  countersign,  which  they  are 
to  give  to  the  subalterns,  the  subalterns  to  the  Serjeants, 
the  Serjeants  to  the  centinels,  who  are  not  to  suffer  any 
person  to  come  within  ten  paces  without  receiving  the 
countersign ;  and  all  advanced  corporals  and  centinels  are 
to  have  their  bayonets  fixed. 

The  field  officer  of  the  picket  is  to  be  received  as  grand 
rounds,  whenever  he  goes  his  rounds  either  night  or  day. 

No  person  whatever  to  fire  a  piece  within  a  mile  of  the 
Camp. 

No  hutts  or  bowers  to  be  built  by  the  advanced  pickets 
or  centinels. 

One  tumbril  with  tools  is  to  march  in  the  front  and 
another  in  the  center  of  the  carriages,  and  one  engineer 
with  part  of  the  pioneers  is  to  march  in  the  front,  and 
another  with  the  rest  of  the  pioneers  in  the  center. 

It  required  two  days  to  new  load  the  waggons,  and  put 
everything  in  order,  which  being  settled  we  marched  on  the 
13^^  to  Martin's  plantation,  being  about  five  miles  from 
Spendelow  Camp.  The  first  brigade  got  to  their  ground 
that  night,  but  the  second  could  not  get  up  before  the  next 
day  at  eleven  of  the  clock,  the  road  being  excessively 
mountainous  and  rocky.  This  obliged  the  General  to  halt 
one  day  for  the  refreshment  of  the  men  and  horses. 

Orders  given  at  the  Camp  at  Martin's  Plantation. 
Upon  the  beating  of  the  General,  which  is  to  be  taken 
from  the  44  th  Regiment,  all  the  troops  are  to  turn  out, 
accoutre  and  form  two  deep  at  the  head  of  their  encamp- 


334  JOURNALS. 

ments  upon  all  halts,  tho'  ever  so  small ;  the  pickets  and 
companies  are  to  face  outwards.  The  officers  of  the  pickets 
are  to  take  care  that  their  pickets  keep  at  a  proper  distance 
upon  their  flanks.  Upon  the  firing  of  a  cannon,  either  in 
front,  centre  or  rear,  the  whole  line  is  to  form,  to  face  out- 
wards, and  to  wait  for  orders. 

The  field  officers,  excepting  him  that  commands  the  Van 
Guard,  are  to  take  no  particular  post,  but  to  see  that  the 
men  assist  in  getting  up  the  waggons  at  any  steep  ascent, 
or  difficult  pass. 

In  case  any  waggon  should  break  down,  it  is  immediately 
to  be  drawn  out  on  one  side  of  the  road,  and  a  report  of  it 
with  its  lading  to  be  sent  to  the  Waggon  Master-General, 
who  is  to  order  it  to  be  repaired  and  fall  in  the  rear,  or  the 
load  to  be  divided  among  the  other  waggons,  as  he  shall 
think  proper. 

The  carrying  horses  having  suffered  very  much  by  bear- 
ing their  loads  so  long  the  day  before,  they  were  ordered 
with  an  escort  of  two  companies  upon  the  right  of  the  44'^ 
to  proceed  to  the  little  meadows,  at  which  place  S'  John  S* 
Clair  was  encamped  with  the  three  hundred  men,  not 
having  been  able  to  proceed  further  in  the  five  days. 

June  15'^.  The  line  began  to  move  from  this  place  at 
five  of  the  clock ;  it  was  twelve  before  all  the  carriages 
had  got  upon  a  hill  which  is  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from 
the  front  of  the  Camp,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  make 
one-half  of  the  men  ground  their  arms  and  assist  the  car- 
riages while  the  others  remained  advantageously  posted  for 
their  security. 

We  this  day  passed  the  Aligany  Mountain,  which  is  a 


JOURNALS.  •  335 

rocky  ascent  of  more  than  two  miles,  in  many  places  ex- 
tremely steep ;  its  descent  is  very  rugged  and  almost  per- 
pendicular ;  in  passing  which  we  intirely  demolished  three 
waggons  and  shattered  several/  At  the  bottom  of  the 
mountain  runs  Savage  river,  which,  when  we  passed  was 
an  insignificant  stream ;  but  the  Indians  assured  us  that  in 
the  winter  it  is  very  deep,  broad  and  rapid.  This  is  the 
last  water  that  empties  itself  into  the  Potomack. 

The  first  Brigade  encamped  about  three  miles  to  the 
westward  of  this  river.  Near  this  place  was  another  steep 
ascent,  which  the  waggons  were  six  hours  in  passing. 

In  this  day's  march,  though  all  possible  care  was  taken, 
the  line  was  sometimes  extended  to  a  length  of  four  or  five 
miles. 

June  16th.  We  marched  from  the  Camp  near  Savage 
river  to  the  little  meadows,  which  is  about  ten  miles  from 
Martins'  Plantations,  where  the  first  brigade  arrived  that 
evening,  but  the  second  did  not  all  arrive  till  the  18*^. 
A  great  part  of  this  day's  march  was  over  a  bogg  which  had 
been  very  well  repaired  by  S""  John  S*  Clair's  advanced 
party  with  infinite  labour.^ 

By  these  four  days'  marches  it  was  found  impossible  to 
proceed  with  such  a  number  of  carriages.  The  horses  grew 
every  day  fainter,  and  many  died  :  and  the  men  would  not 
have  been  able  to  have  undergone  the  constant  and  neces- 
sary fatigue,  by  remaining  so  many  hours  under  arms ;  and 

'  Mr.  Atkinson  (TI.  0.  T.,  542)  very  justly  points  out  the  error  of  not 
passing  this  mountain  by  the  spur  since  adopted  for  the  National  Road. 

^  The  route  this  day  lay  through  the  region  of  dense  pine  forests  called 
the  Shades  of  Death. 


336  JOURNALS. 

by  the  great  extent  of  the  baggage  the  line  was  extremely 
weak'ned. 

The  General  was  therefore  determined  to  move  forward 
with  a  detachment  of  the  best  men,  and  as  little  incum- 
brance as  possible. 

Therefore  a  detachment  of  one  field-officer  with  four  hun- 
dred men  and  the  deputy  quarter  master  general  marched 
on  the  18*^  to  cut  and  make  the  road  to  the  little  crossing 
of  the  Yoxhio  Greni  —  taking  with  them  two  sixpounders 
with  their  ammunition,  three  waggons  of  tools,  and  thirty 
five  days  provision  —  all  on  carrying  horses.  And  on  the 
19*''  the  General  marched  with  a  detachment  of  one  Colonel, 
one  Lieutenant  Colonel,  one  Major,  the  two  eldest  Grena- 
dier Companies,  and  five  hundred  rank  aijd  file.  The 
party  of  Seamen  and  eighteen  light  horse,  and  four  how- 
itzers with  fifty  rounds  each,  and  four  twelve  pounders  with 
eighty  rounds  each,  and  one  hundred  rounds  of  ammuni- 
tion for  each  man,  and  one  waggon  of  Indian  presents ;  the 
whole  number  of  carriages  being  about  thirty.  The  How- 
itzers had  each  nine  horses,  the  twelve  pounders  seven,  and 
the  waggons  six.  There  was  also  thirty  five  days  provi- 
sion carried  on  horses. 

This  detachment  marched  and  encamped  according  to 
the  annexed  plan. 

The  Indians  were  ordered  to  march  with  the  advanced 
party ;  this  day  Monocatuca  the  Indian  chief  being  at  a 
small  distance  from  the  party  was  surrounded  and  taken 
by  some  French  and  Indians.  The  former  were  desirous 
of  killing  him,  but  the  Indians  refused,  declaring  they 
would  abandon  them  and  join  with  us  if  they  persisted  in 


uiention  ;bcanner: 
Foldout  in  Book! 


THEN2V7  YOKK 

PU3UC -LIBRARY 


JOURNALS.  337 

their  design.  They  agreed  at  last  to  tje  him  to  a  tree,  and 
leave  him  :  But  his  son  who  was  with  him  escaped,  and 
informed  our  Indians,  who  went  soon  after  and  brought 
him  off. 

We  this  day  crossed  the  first  branch '  of  the  Yoxio  Geni, 
which  is  about  four  score  yards  over  and  knee  deep.  After 
having  marched  four  miles  from  the  little  meadows  we 
came  up  with  the  rear  of  the  advanced  party,  and  were 
obliged  to  encamp,  as  they  were  then  at  work  in  cutting  a 
travers-road  over  an  immense  mountain,  which  could  not 
be  finished  till  the  next  day.  Immediately  upon  coming 
to  our  ground,  some  guides  ran  into  us,  extremely  fright- 
ened, and  told  us  a  great  body  of  the  enemy  were  march- 
ing to  attack  our  advanced  guard.  The  General  sent  for- 
ward an  aid  de  camp  to  know  the  truth  of  this  report,  who 
found  Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage  in  possession  of  the  top  of 
the  mountain,  and  his  men  very  advantageously  posted. 
Our  Indians  had  discovered  the  tracks  of  several  men  very 
near  the  advanced  party,  which  had  given  rise  to  this  alarm. 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage  remained  about  two  hours  under 
arras,  but  no  enemy  appearing  he  sent  parties  to  scour  the 
neighboring  woods,  and  upon  their  return  proceeded  with 
the  work,  leaving  proper  parties  to  secure  the  heights,  and 
encamped  there  that  night. 

As  the  advanced  party  was  to  move  forward  early  in 
the  morning,  the  General  ordered  a  detachm*.  of  a  Captain 
and  one  hundred  men  to  march  at  daybreak,  and  to  occupy 
that  eminence  till  he  should  pass  it  with  the  Artillery  and 
baggage. 

'  Castleman's  River :  the  ford  is  called  the  Little  Crossings. 
22 


338  JOURNALS. 

Every  field-officer  had  an  orderly  light  horseman  by 
whom  they  were  to  inform  the  General  of  all  accidents, 
stops  or  delays  in  their  respective  parts  of  the  line ;  by 
which  means,  the  extent  of  the  carriages,  upon  the  march, 
was  very  seldom  above  half  a  mile ;  and  the  encampments 
was  but  three  hundred  yards  from  the  front  to  the  rear. 

Orders  at   the   Camp  on  the   West   Side  the  Little 
Crossing  of  the  Yoxhio  Geni. 

June  19.  The  quarter  masters  are  constantly  to  see  the 
communications  opened. 

The  pickets  of  the  detachment  to  consist  of  two  captains 
and  the  subaltern  officers  parties  that  are  advanced  upon 
the  flanks  in  the  front  and  in  the  rear. 

The  eldest  captain  of  the  picket  is  to  command  and  visit 
the  pickets  of  the  front  Grenadiers  and  the  left  flank,  and 
the  youngest  captain  the  picket  and  the  rear  Grenadiers 
and  the  right  flank.  The  retreat  is  to  beat  an  hour  before 
sunset,  at  which  time  the  picket  is  to  be  relieved,  that  the 
officers  may  have  light  to  reconnoitre  the  ground  and  to 
post  their  centinels. 

From  thence  we  marched  about  nine  miles  to  Bear 
Camp  over  a  chain  of  very  rocky  mountains  and  difficult 
passes.  We  could  'not  reach  our  ground  'till  about  7  of  the 
clock,  which  was  three  hours  later  than  common,  as  there 
was  no  water,  nor  even  earth  enough  to  fix  a  tent,  between 
the  great  Mountain  and  this  place. 

We  halted  here  two  days,  having  a  road  to  cut  in  the 
side  of  a  mountain,  and  some  sw^amps  to  make  passable. 


JOURNALS. 


339 


Orders  at  Bear  Camp;  June  20th. 

The  men  of  the  pickets  are  always  to  load  afresh  when 
they  go  on  duty,  and  to  take  particular  care  to  save  the 
ball,  which  the  commanding  officers  of  companies  are  to 
see  returned  to  the  train. 

The  troops  that  are  encamped  here  are  to  be  formed  into 
Companies  according  to  the  number  of  Captains  present. 

The  Articles  of  War  are  to  be  read  to  the  men,  and  that 
article  relating  to  the  alarming  of  camps  to  be  particularly 
explained  to  them. 

The  General  having  observed  upon  the  March  some 
neglects  upon  the  out  detachments,  orders  that  for  the 
future  the  subalterns'  parties,  when  the  ground  will  possibly 
admit  of  it,  keep  at  least  one  hundred  yards  distance  from 
the  line,  and  that  the  Serjeants  keep  their  parties  within 
sight  of  the  subaltern's  from  which  they  are  detached ;  and 
upon  every  halt,  though  ever  so  small,  the  men  are  to  form 
two  deep,  face  outwards,  and  stand  shouldered. 

The  Officers  and  Serjeants  are  to  be  very  attentive  to  the 
beat  of  the  drum,  taking  care  always  to  halt  when  they 
hear  the  long  roll  beat  at  that  part  of  the  line  from  which 
they  are  detached,  and  to  march  upon  beating  the  long 
march. 

The  field  officers  and  all  officers  commanding  any  part 
of  the  line  are  to  be  particularly  careful  to  beat  the  long 
roll  and  long  march  upon  their  halting  and  marching. 

Exact  victualUng  returns  are  to  be  given  in  to  the  com- 
missaries, signed  by  the  commanding  officer. 

The  quarter  masters  of  the  two  regiments  are  always  to 


340  JOURNALS. 

attend  at  the  delivery  of  provisions,  and  to  receive  from 
the  commissary  the  full  quantity  for  their  respective  corps, 
which  they  are  to  distribute  to  the  Serjeants  of  the  compa- 
nies, who  are  to  issue  it  to  the  men.  The  Artillery,  seamen, 
and  light  horse,  and  waggon  masters,  are  to  do  the  same. 

On  the  23'"'^  of  June  we  marched  from  this  Camp  to  the 
Squaw's  fort,  making  about  six  miles  of  very  bad  road. 

Three  Mohawk  Indians  pretending  friendship  came  to 
the  General  and  told  him  they  were  just  come  from  the 
French  fort.  They  said  that  some  reinforcemen*'  were 
arrived  from  Montreal,  and  that  they  were  in  expectation 
of  many  more  :  that  they  had  very  little  provision  at  the 
fort,  and  that  they  had  been  disappointed  of  their  supplies 
by  the  dryness  of  the  season  having  stopped  the  navigation 
of  Bufiier  river.  ^ 

The  General  caressed  them,  and  gave  them  presents,  but 
they  nevertheless  went  off  that  night,  and  with  them  one 
of  our  Indians,  whom  we  had  very  long  suspected.  This 
fellow  had  frequently  endeavored  to  conceal  himself  upon 
the  flanks  on  the  March,  but  was  always  discovered  by  the 
flank  parties.  Notwithstanding  this,  we  could  not  punish 
him,  as  the  Indians  are  so  extremely  jealous  that  we  feared 
it  would  produce  a  general  disaffection. 

The  24**"  of  June  we  marched  at  five  in  the  morning, 
and  passed  the  second  branch  of  the  Yoxhio  Geni,  which 
is  about  one  hundred  yards  wide,  about  three  feet  deep, 
with  a  very  strong  current.^ 

'  The  Kiviere  aux  Boeufs,  or  French  Creek,  is  here  signified. 
*  This  was  at  the  Great  Crossings.     "The  route  thence  to  the  Great 
Meadows  or  Fort  Necessity  was  well  chosen,  though  over  a  mountainous 


JOURNALS. 


341 


In  the  day's  march,  we  discovered  an  Indian  Camp, 
which  they  had  just  abandoned :  our  Indians  informed  us 
that,  by  their  hutts,  their  number  was  about  one  hundred 
and  seventy.  They  had  stripped  and  painted  some  trees, 
upon  which  they  and  the  French  had  written  many  threats 
and  bravados  with  all  kinds  of  scurrilous  language. 

We  marched  this  day  about  six  miles,  and  at  night 
joined  the  two  detachments. 

Orders  at  the  Camp  on  the  East   Side  the  Great 

Meadows. 

At  daybreak  the  men  of  the  advanced  pickets  are  to 
examine  their  panns  and  to  put  in  fresh  priming. 

The  subalterns  upon  the  advanced  parties  are  to  keep 
one  of  their  men  within  sight  of  the  line,  whom  they  are 
to  have  always  in  view ;  and  the  Serjeants  are  to  do  the 
same  by  the  subalterns. 

The  General  is  determined  to  put  the  first  officer  under 
arrest  whom  he  shall  find  any  ways  neghgent  in  any  of 
these  duties. 

On  the  25'^  at  daybreak,  three  men  who  went  without 
the  centinels,  were  shot  and  scalped.  Parties  were  imme- 
diately sent  out  to  scour  the  woods  on  all  sides,  and  to  drive 
in  the  stray  horses. 

This  day  we  passed  the  Great  Meadows,  and  encamped 


tract,  conforming  very  nearly  to  the  ground  now  occupied  by  the  National 
Road,  and  keeping  on  the  dividing  ridge  between  the  waters  flowing  into 
the  Youghiogeny  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Cheat  River  on  the  other."  II. 
0.  T.,  543. 


342  JOURNALS. 

about  two  miles  on  th^  other  side.'  We  this  day  saw 
several  Indians  in  the  woods;  the  General  sent  the  light 
horse,  our  Indians,  and  some  volunteers,  to  endeavour  to 
surround  them,  but  they  returned  without  seeing  them. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  this  camp,  we  were 
obliged  to  let  our  carriages  down  a  hill  with  tackles, 
which   made   it   later  than   usual   before  we   got  to  our 


G^ 


ground. 

The  soldiers  were  now  so  accustomed  to  open  the  com- 
munications, and  understood  so  well  the  reason  and  method 
of  our  encamjDment,  that  they  performed  this  work  with 
great  alacrity  and  dispatch ;  and  the  marching  through  the 
woods,  which  they  at  first  looked  upon  as  unnecessary 
fatigue,  they  were  now  convinced  to  be  their  only  security, 
and  went  through  it  with  the  greatest  cheerfulness. 

Some  French  and  Indians  endeavoured  to  reconnoitre 
the  camp,  but  wherever  they  advanced,  they  were  dis- 
covered and  fired  upon  by  the  advanced  Centinels. 

Two  Captain's  Detachments  of  50  men  each,  were 
ordered  to  march  at  10  o'clock  in  the  morning  with  guides. 
One  party  was  to  march  out  at  the  front  and  the  other  in 
the  rear.  They  were  to  divide  the  detachments  into  small 
parties,  and  to  lie  upon  their  arms  about  half  a  mile  wide 
upon  each  flank  of  the  encampment.  At  break  of  day  the 
pickets  were  to  advance,  and  at  the  same  time  these  small 
parties  were  to  move  forward  towards  the  camp.     By  this 


'  A  mile  west  of  the  Great  Meadows  Braddock  must  have  passed  over 
the  very  spot  destined  for  his  grave.  The  Mount  Braddock  farm  occupies 
a  portion  of  the  route. 


JOURNALS.  343 

mecasure,  any  Indians  who  had  concealed  themselves  near 
the  camp  must  have  been  taken ;  but  these  parties  returned 
without  having  seen  any  of  the  enemy. 

Orders  at  the  Camp  on  the  West  SmE  of  the  Great 
Meadows,  June  the  25***. 

The  advanced  pickets  are  to  take  no  more  blankets  than 
will  be  sufficient  to  cover  their  ceutinels. 

The  line  is  never  to  turn  out  upon  any  account  but  by 
order  from  the  General,  or  the  field  officer  of  the  picket. 

Every  soldier  or  Indian  shall  receive  five  pounds  for  each 
Indian  scalp. 

June  the  26*^.  We  marched  at  five  o'clock,  but  by  the 
extreme  badness  of  the  road  could  make  but  four  miles. 
At  our  halting  place  we  found  another  Indian  camp,  which 
they  had  abandoned  at  our  approach,  their  fires  being  yet 
burning.  They  had  marked  in  triumph  upon  trees,  the 
scalps  they  had  taken  two  days  before,  and  a  great  many 
French  had  also  written  on  them  their  names  and  many 
insolent  expressions.  We  picked  up  a  commission  on  the 
march,  which  mentioned  the  party  being  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  Sieur  Normanville.  This  Indian  camp  was 
in  a  strong  situation,  being  upon  a  high  rock  with  a  very 
narrow  and  steep  ascent  to  the  top ;  it  had  a  spring  in  the 
middle,  and  stood  at  the  termination  of  the  Indian  path  to 
the  Monongehela,  at  the  confluence  of  Ked-stone  creek. 
By  this  pass  the  party  came  which  attacked  Mr.  Washing- 
ton the  year  before,  and  also  this  which  attended  us.  By 
their  tracks,  they  seemed  to  have  divided  here,  the  one 
part  going  straight  forward  to  fort  du  Quesne,  and  the  other 


344  JOURNALS. 

returning  by  Red-stone  Creek  to  the  Monongohela.  A 
Captain,  four  subalterns,  and  ninety  volunteers,  marched 
from  this  camp  with  proper  guides  to  fall  in  the  night  upor 
that  party  which  we  imagined  had  returned  by  the  Monon- 
gohela. They  found  a  small  quantity  of  provisions,  and 
a  very  large  Batteau,  which  they  destroyed,  and  the  Cap- 
tain according  to  orders  joined  the  General  at  Gist's  planta- 
tion, but  saw  no  men. 

June  27*^  We  marched  from  the  camp  of  Rock  fort  to 
Gist's  plantation,  which  was  about  six  miles  -,  the  road  still 
mountainous  and  rocky.  Here  the  advanced  party  was 
relieved,  and  all  the  waggons  and  carrying  horses  with 
provision  belonging  to  that  detachment  joined  us,  and  the 
men  were  to  be  victualled  from  us. 

June  the  28'^.  The  troops  marched  about  five  miles  to 
a  camp  on  the  east  side  of  the  Yoxhio  Geni.' 

Orders  at  the  Camp  on  the  East  Side  of  the  Yoxhio 
Geni,  Ju7ie  the  29*''. 

Whereas  by  the  connivance  of  some  ofiicers  several  of 
the  men  have  fired  their  pieces  in  a  very  irregular  and  un- 
military  manner;  The  General  declares  that,  for  the  future, 
if  any  officer,  of  whatever  rank,  shall  suffer  the  men  to 
fire  their  pieces,  he  shall  be  put  under  arrest.  And  it  is 
ordered,  that  whenever  it  is  found  necessary  to  fire  any  of 
the  men's  pieces,  that  cannot  be  drawn,  the  commandino" 
officers  of  the  several  troops  are  to  apply  to  the  General 
for  leave,  through  an  Aid  de  Camp. 

'  From  the  Great  Meadows,  the  route  had  diverged  in  a  north-westwardlv 
direction,  to  gain  a  pass  through  Laurel  Hill ;  it  then  struck  the  river  at 
Stewart's  Crossing,  half  a  mile  below  Connellsville.     See  II.  0.  T.,  543. 


JOURNALS.  345 

The  commanding  officers  of  regiments,  troops,  and  com- 
panies, are  to  send  to  the  train  all  their  damaged  cartridges, 
and  to  apply  to  the  commanding  officer  of  the  Artillery  for 
fresh  ones  in  the  lieu  of  them. 

June  the  SO*^.  We  crossed  the  main  body  of  the  Yoxhio 
Geni,  which  was  about  two  hundred  yards  broad  and  about 
three  feet  deep.  The  advanced  guard  passed,  and  took  post 
on  the  other  side,  till  our  Artillery  and  baggage  got  over ; 
which  was  followed  by  four  hundred  men  who  remained  on 
the  east  side  'till  all  the  baggage  had  passed. 

We  were  obliged  to  encamp  about  a  mile  on  the  west 
side,  where  we  halted  a  day  to  cut  a  passage  over  a  moun- 
tain.    This  day's  march  did  not  exceed  two  miles. 

Part  of  the  flour  having  been  unavoidably  damaged  by 
severe  rains,  the  General  sent  an  order  to  Colonel  Dunbar 
to  forward  to  him  with  the  utmost  diligence  one  hundred 
carrying  horses  with  flour,  and  some  beeves,  with  an  escort 
of  a  Captain  and  one  hundred  men. 

Upon  this  day's  halt  the  men's  arms  were  all  drawn  and 
cleaned,  and  four  days  provision  served  to  the  men  that 
they  might  prepare  a  quantity  of  bread,  and  dress  victuals 
to  carry  with  them. 

Orders  on  the  West  Side  of  the  Yoxhio  Geni. 

The  men's  tents  are  to  be  pitched  in  a  single  line  facing 
outwards,  and  no  officer  is  to  pitch  his  tent  or  have  his 
picket  of  horses  in  front  of  the  soldiers  tents.  And  that 
there  may  be  sufficient  room  for  this,  it  is  the  General's 
order  that  as  soon  as  the  troops  come  to  their  ground  and 
the  carriages  close  up,  that  the  commanding  officers  of  each 


346  .  JOURNALS. 

regiment  order  their  several  detaclunents  to  advance  twenty 
five  paces  from  that  part  of  the  line  of  carriages  which 
they  covered,  and  there  to  pitch  their  tents.  No  fire  upon 
any  account  to  be  lighted  in  front  of  the  pickets. 

On  the  first  of  July,  we  marched  about  five  miles,  but 
could  advance  no  further  by  reason  of  a  great  swamp 
which  required  much  work  to  make  it  passable. 

On  the  2""^  July,  we  marched  to  Jacob's  cabin,  about  6 
miles  from  the  camp.  A  field  ofiicer  was  sent  from  the 
line  to  take  the  command  of  the  advanced  guard,  and  the 
disposition  thereof  was  settled  according  to  the  annexed 
plan. 

Orders  at  Jacob's  Cabin. 

No  more  bell  tents  are  to  be  fixed :  the  men  are  to  take 
their  arms  into  their  tents  with  them ;  and  an  ofiicer  of  a 
company  is  to  see  at  retreat  beating  that  the  men  fix  on 
their  thumb  stalls. 

July  3'^'^.  The  swamp  being  repaired,  we  marched  about 
six  miles  to  the  Salt  Lick  Creek. ^  S""  John  S*  Clair  pro- 
posed to  the  General  to  halt  at  this  Camp,  and  to  send 
back  all  our  horses  to  bring  up  Colonel  Dunbar's  detach- 
ment. 

The  General  upon  this  called  a  council  of  war  consist- 
ing of 

Colonel  S"^  Peter  Halket, 
Lieu^  Colonel  Gage,  Lieu*.  Colonel  Burton, 

Major  Sparks,  Major  S'  John  S*  Clair,  D.  Q.  G., 

'  Now  known  as  Jacob's  Creek. 


JOURNALS.  347 

And  informed  them  of  the  proposition  made  to  him  by  S' 
John,  and  desired  their  opinions  thereof  Then  the  follow- 
ing circumstances  were  considered : 

That  the  most  advanced  party  of  Colonel  Dunbar's  de- 
tachment was  then  at  Squawse  fort,  and  the  other  part  a 
day's  march  in  the  rear,  from  which  place  with  our  light 
detachment  we  had  been  eleven  days.  And  tho'  we  had 
met  with  some  delays  while  the  roads  were  making,  yet, 
when  the  badness  of  them  was  considered,  and  the  number 
of  carriages  Colonel  Dunbar  had  with  him,  it  was  judged 
he  could  not  perform  the  march  in  less  time : 

That  the  horses  could  not  join  him  in  less  than  two 
days : 

That  no  advantage  seemed  to  accrue  from  this  junction, 
as  the  whole,  afterwards,  could  not  move  together : 

That  Colonel  Dunbar  was  unable  to  spare  many  men : 

That,  besides,  he  would  be  more  liable  to  be  attacked 
than  at  his  present  distance  : 

That  the  horses  through  their  weak  situation  were  not 
judged  capable  of  performing  it : 

That  by  the  loss  of  so  many  days  the  provision  brought 
with  us  from  Fort  Cumberland  would  have  been  so  near 
expended,  as  to  have  laid  us  under  the  necessity  of  bringing 
up  a  convoy,  had  we  met  with  any  opposition  at  the  fort : 

That  by  these  delays  the  French  would  have  time  to 
receive  their  reinforcements  and  provisions,  and  to  entrench 
themselves,  or  strengthen -the  fort,  or  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  strongest  passes  to  interrupt  our  march  : 

That  it  was  conjectured  they  had  not  many  Indians  or 
great  strength  at  the  fort,  as  they  had  already  permitted 


348  JOURNALS. 

US  to  make  many  passes  which  might  have  been  defended 
by  a  very  few  men  : 

Upon  these  considerations,  the  council  were  unanimously 
of  opinion  not  to  halt  there  for  Colonel  Dunbar,  but  to  pro- 
ceed the  next  morning. 

The  General  sent  for  the  Indian  manager,  and  ordered 
him  to  endeavor  to  prevail  with  the  Indians  to  go  towards 
the  fort  for  intelligence,  which  the  General  had  often  as- 
sayed, but  could  never  prevail  upon  them  since  the  camp 
at  the  great  Meadows.  They  now  likewise  refused,  not- 
withstanding the  presents  and  promises  which  he  constantly 
made  them. 

Orders  at  Salt  Lick  Camp. 

The  commanding  officers  of  companies  are  to  view  their 
men's  arms  this  evening  before  retreat  beating,  and  to  see 
them  put  in  the  best  order. 

At  the  beating  of  the  assembly  to-morrow,  all  the  troops 
are  to  load  with  fresh  cartridges.  The  centinels  upon  the 
advanced  pickets  for  the  future  to  be  doubled  at  night,  by 
placing  two  centinels  at  every  post. 

The  officers  upon  the  advanced  pickets  during  the  night 
time  are  to  have  half  their  men  constantly  under  arms  with 
fixed  bayonets  and  to  relieve  them  every  two  hours ;  and 
the  half  that  is  relieved  may  lye  down  by  their  arms,  but 
are  not  to  be  suffered  to  quit  their  pickets. 

When  the  captains  of  the  pickets  are  not  going  their 
rounds,  they  are  to  remain  at  the  head  of  the  center  picket 
of  that  flank  wdiich  they  are  appointed  to  visit. 

Whenever  any  advanced  centinel  fires  his  piece  in  the 


JOURNALS.  349 

night,  the  captain  of  the  picket  of  that  flank  from  which 
the  shot  is  fired  is  immediately  to  go  a  visiting  round  to 
that  part  of  the  picket,  and  to  send  word  to  the  field  officer 
of  the  occasion  of  the  shot  being  fired. 

July  4*^.  We  marched  about  six  miles  to  Thicketty- 
run ;  the  country  was  now  less  mountainous  and  rocky,  and 
the  woods  rather  more  open,  consisting  chiefly  of  white 
oak.^ 

From  this  place  two  of  our  Indians  were  prevailed  upon 
to  go  for  intelligence  towards  the  French  fort;  and  also 
(unknown  to  them),  Gist,  the  General's  guide : 

The  Indians  returned  on  the  6'^,  and  brought  in  a  French 
officer's  scalp,  who  was  shooting  within  half  a  mile  of  the 
fort.  They  informed  the  General  that  they  saw  very  few 
men  there,  or  tracks  ;  nor  any  additional  works.  That  no 
pass  was  possest  by  them  between  us  and  the  fort,  and  that 
they  believed  very  few  men  were  out  upon  observation. 
They  saw  some  boats  under  the  fort,  and  one  with  a  white 
flag  coming  down  the  Ohio. 

Gist  returned  a  little  after  the  same  day,  whose  account 
corresponded  with  theirs,  except  he  saw  smoke  in  a  valley 
between  our  camp  and  Du  Quesne.  He  had  concealed 
himself  with  an  intent  of  getting  close  under  the  fort  in 
the  night,  but  was  discovered  and  pursued  by  two  Indians, 
who  had  very  near  taken  him. 

•  "  From  the  crossing  of  Jacob's  Creek,  which  was  at  the  point  where 
Welchhanse's  Mill  now  stands,  about  Ih  miles  below  Mount  Pleasant,  the 
route  stretched  off  to  the  north,  crossing  the  Mount  Pleasant  turnpike  near 
the  village  of  the  same  name,  and  thence,  by  a  more  westerly  course,  pass- 
ing the  Great  Sewickley  near  Painter's  Salt  Works,  thence  south  and  west 
of  the  post-oiEce  of  Madison  and  Jacksonville,  it  reached  the  Brush  Fork 
of  Turtle  Creek."     II.  0.  T.,  544. 


350  JOURNALS. 

At  this  camp  the  provisions  from  Colonel  Dunbar  with  a 
detachment  of  a  Captain  and  one  hundred  men  joined  us, 
and  we  halted  here  one  day. 

On  the  6*^'"  July  we  marched  about  six  miles  to  Monaka- 
tuca  Camp,  which  was  called  so  from  an  unhappy  accident 
that  happened  uj)on  the  march. 

Three  or  four  people  loitering  in  the  rear  of  the  Grena- 
diers were  killed  by  a  party  of  Indians  and  scalped.  Upon 
hearing  the  firing,  the  General  sent  back  the  Grenadier 
company,  on  whose  arrival  the  Indians  fled.  They  were 
discovered  again  a  little  after  by  our  Indians  in  the  front, 
who  were  going  to  fire  upon  them,  but  were  prevented  by 
some  of  our  out-rangers,  who  mistaking  these  our  Indians 
for  the  enemy,  fired  upon  them  and  killed  Monakatuca's 
son,  notwithstanding  they  made  the  agreed  countersign, 
which  was  holding  up  a  bough  and  grounding  their  arms. 
When  we  came  to  our  ground,  the  General  sent  for  the 
father  and  the  other  Indians,  condoled  with  and  made 
them  the  usual  presents,  and  desired  the  ofiicers  to  attend 
the  funeral ;  and  gave  an  order  to  fire  over  the  body. 

This  behaviour  of  the  General  was  so  agreeable  to  the 
Indians,  that  they  afterwards  were  more  attached  to  us, 
quite  contrary  to  our  expectations. 

The  line  of  carrying  horses  extending  very  often  a  pro- 
digious length,  it  was  almost  impossible  to  secure  them  from 
insults,  tho'  they  had  yet  marched  without  any  interrup- 
tion, every  Bat-man  having  been  ordered  to  carry  his  fire- 
lock, and  small  parties  having  kept  constantly  upon  the 
flanks.  The  disposition  of  march  for  these  horses  had 
varied  almost  every  day,  according  to  the  nature  of  the 


JOURNALS.  351 

country ;  but  the  most  common  was  to  let  them  remain 
upon  the  ground  an  hour  after  the  march  of  the  Hne,, under 
the  guard  of  a  Captain  and  one  hundred  men :  by  which 
means  there  was  no  confusion  in  leaving  the  ground,  and 
the  horses  were  much  eased.  They  were  now  order'd, 
when  the  woods  would  permit,  to  march  upon  the  flanks 
between  the  subalterns'  picket  and  the  line ;  but  whenever 
the  country  was  close  or  rocky,  they  were  then  to  fall  in 
the  rear,  and  a  strong  guard  marched  thither  for  their 
security,  which  was  directed  to  advance  or  fall  back  in 
proportion  to  the  length  of  the  line  of  carrying  horses, 
taking  particular  care  always  to  have  parties  on  the  flanks. 

Orders  at  Monakatuca  Camp. 

If  it  should  be  ordered  to  advance  the  van  or  send  back 
the  rear  guard,  the  advanced  parties  detached  from  them 
are  to  remain  at  their  posts,  facing  outwards. 

Whenever  there  is  a  general  halt,  half  of  each  of  the 
subalterns'  advanced  parties  are  to  remain  under  arms  with 
fixed  bayonets,  facing  outwards,  and  the  other  half  may  sit 
down  by  their  arms. 

On  the  7^^  July  we  marched  from  hence,  and  quitting 
the  Indian  path,  endeavored  to  pass  the  Turtle  Creek  about 
12  miles  from  the  mouth,  to  avoid  the  dangerous  pass  of 
the  narrows.  "We  were  led  to  a  precipice  which  it  was 
impossible  to  descend.  The  General  ordered  S""  John  S* 
Clair  to  take  a  captain  and  one  hundred  men,  with  the 
Indians,  guides,  and  some  light  horse,  to  reconnoitre  very 
well  the  country.  In  about  two  hours  he  returned  and 
informed  the  General  that  he  had  found  the  ridsre  which 


352  JOURNALS. 

led  the  whole  way  to  fort  Du  Quesne,  and  avoided  the  nar- 
rows and  Frazier's,  but  that  some  work  which  was  to  be 
done  would  make  it  impossible  to  move  further  that  day. 
We  therefore  encamped  here,  and  marched  the  next 
morning  about  eight  miles  to  the  camp  near  the  Monon- 
gahela.' 

When  we  arrived  here,  S""  John  S*  Clair  mentioned  (but 
not  to  the  General),  the  sending  a  detachment  that  night 
to  invest  the  fort;  but  being  asked  whether  the  distance 
was  not  too  great  to  reinforce  that  detachment  in  case  of 
an  attack,  and  whether  it  would  not  be  more  advisable  to 
make  the  pass  of  the  Monongahela  or  the  narrows,  which- 
ever was  resolved  upon,  with  our  whole  force,  and  then  to 
send  the  detachment  from  the  next  camp,  which  would  be 
six  or  seven  miles  from  the  fort,  S""  John  immediately 
acquiesced,  and  was  of  opinion  that  would  be  a  much  more 
prudent  measure. 

The  guides  were  sent  for,  who  described  the  Narrows  to 
be  a  narrow  pass  of  about  two  miles,  with  a  river  on  the 
left  and  a  very  high  mountain  on  the  right,  and  that  it 
would  require  much  repair  to  make  it  passable  by  carriages. 
They  said  the  Monongehela  had  two  extreme  good  fords, 
which  were  very  shallow,  and  the  banks  not  steep.  It  was 
therefore  resolved  to  pass  this  river  the  next  morning,  and 
Lieutenent  Colonel  Gage  was  ordered  to  march  before  break 
of  day  with  the  two  companies  of  Grenadiers,  one  hundred 

'  Abandoning  thus  the  passage  of  the  Brush  Fork  of  Turtle  Creek, 
Braddock  here  turned  into  the  valley  of  Long  Kun,  near  where  now  is 
Stewartsville,  and  encamped  on  the  8th  July  at  two  miles  distance  from 
the  Monongahela.  On  the  9th,  he  followed  the  valley  of  Crooked  Bun  to 
the  river. 


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JOURNALS.  353 

and  sixty  rank  and  file  of  the  44*^  and  48'^,  Captain  Gates's 
independent  company,  and  two  six-pounders,  with  proper 
guides;  and  he  was  instructed  to  pass  the  fords  of  the 
Monongehela  and  to  take  post  after  the  second  crossing,  to 
secure  the  passage  of  that  river. 

S""  John  S*  Clair  was  ordered  to  march  at  4  of  the  clock 
with  a  detachment  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  to  make 
the  roads  for  the  artillery  and  baggage,  which  was  to  march 
with  the  remainder  of  the  troops  at  five. 

Orders  at  the  Camp  near  the  Monongahela, 

All  the  men  are  to  draw  and  clean  their  pieces,  and  the 
whole  are  to  load  to-morrow  on  the  beating  of  the  General 
with  fresh  cartridges. 

No  tents  or  baggage  are  to  be  taken  with  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Gage's  party. 

July  9^^.  The  whole  marched  agreeably  to  the  Orders 
before  mentioned,  and  about  8  in  the  morning  the  General 
made  the  first  crossing  of  the  Monongahela  by  passing  over 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  men  in  the  front,  to  whom  fol- 
lowed half  the  carriages.  Another  party  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  men  headed  the  second  division ;  the  horses  and 
cattle  then  passed,  and  after  all  the  baggage  was  over,  the 
remaining  troops,  which  till  then  possessed  the  heights, 
marched  over  in  good  order. 

The  General  ordered  a  halt,  and  the  whole  formed  in 
their  proper  line  of  march. 

When  we  had  moved  about  a  mile,  the  General  received 
a  note  from  Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage  acquainting  him  with 
23 


354  JOURNALS. 

his  having  passed  the  river  without  any  interruption,  and 
having  posted  himself  agreeably  to  his  orders. 

When  we  got  to  the  other  crossing,  the  bank  on  the 
opposite  side  not  being  yet  made  passable,  the  artillery  and 
baggage  drew  up  along  the  beach,  and  halted  'till  one,  when 
the  General  passed  over  the  detachment  of  the  44*^,  with 
the  pickets  of  the  right.  The  artillery  waggons  and  carry- 
ing horses  followed;  and  then  the  detachment  of  the  48*'', 
with  the  left  pickets,  which  had  been  posted  during  the 
halt  upon  the  heights. 

When  the  whole  had  passed,  the  General  again  halted, 
till  they  formed  according  to  the  annexed  plan. 

It  was  now  near  two  o'clock,  and  the  advanced  party 
under  Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage  and  the  working  party 
under  S'  John  S*  Clair  were  ordered  to  march  on  'till  three. 
No  sooner  were  the  pickets  upon  their  respective  flanks, 
and  the  word  given  to  march,  but  we  heard  an  excessive 
quick  and  heavy  firing  in  the  front.  The  General  ima- 
gining the  advanced  parties  were  very  warmly  attacked, 
and  being  willing  to  free  himself  from  the  incumbrance  of 
the  baggage,  order'd  Lieutenant  Colonel  Burton  to  reinforce 
them  with  the  vanguard,  and  the  line  to  halt.'  According 
to  this  disposition,  eight  hundred  men  were  detached  from 
the  line,  free  from  all  embarrassments,  and  four  hundred 
were  left  for  the  defence  of  the  Artillery  and  baggage, 
posted  in  such  a  manner  as  to  secure  them  from  any  attack 
or  insults. 

The  General  sent  forward  an  Aid  de  Camp  to  bring  him 
an  account  of  the  nature  of  attack,  but  the  fire  continuing, 
he  moved  forward  himself,  leaving  S""  Peter  Halket  with  the 


"       J.Ul.C&lllelanJ. 


A  AJtancedaiumn  "friCdtncn: 

(-'    ftJ°^/.  BmdiUich  with  tin-  main  Aniiy , 


JV-»/e  WO  tl-rchcs-  Ic  a  fact 


•{o?.y^ 


1ff&^^^'^ 


JOURNALS.  355 

command  of  the  baggage.  The  advanced  detachments  soon 
gave  way  and  fell  back  upon  Lieutenant  Colonel  Burton's 
detachment,  who  was  forming  his  men  to  face  a  rising 
ground  upon  the  right.  The  whole  were  now  got  together 
in  great  confusion.  The  colours  were  advanced  in  dijBferent 
places,  to  separate  the  men  of  tl^e  two  regiments.  The 
General  ordered  the  officers  to  endeavour  to  form  the 
men,  and  to  tell  them  off  into  small  divisions  and  to 
advance  with  them;  but  neither  entreaties  nor  threats 
could  prevail. 

The  advanced  flank  parties,  which  were  left  for  the 
security  Nof  the  baggage,  all  but  one  ran  in.  The  baggage 
was  then  warmly  attacked ;  a  great  many  horses,  and  some 
drivers  were  killed ;  the  rest  escaped  by  flight.  Two  of 
the  cannon  flanked  the  baggage,  and  for  some  time  kept 
the  Indians  off:  the  other  cannon,  which  were  disposed  of 
in  the  best  manner  and  fired  away  most  of  their  ammuni- 
tion, were  of  some  service,  but  the  spot  being  so  woody, 
they  could  do  little  or  no  execution. 

The  enemy  had  spread  themselves  in  such  a  manner, 
that  they  extended  from  front  to  rear,  and  fired  upon  every 
part. 

The  place  of  action  was  covered  with  large  trees,  and 
much  underwood  upon  the  left,  without  any  opening  but 
the  road,  which  was  about  twelve  foot  wide.  At  the  dis- 
tance of  about  two  hundred  yards  in  front  and  upon  the 
right  were  two  rising  grounds  covered  with  trees. 

When  the  General  found  it  impossible  to  persuade  them 
to  advance,  and  no  enemy  appeared  in  view ;  and  never- 
theless a  vast  number  of  officers  were  killed,  by  exposing 


356  JOURNALS. 

themselves  before  the  men ;  he  endeavored  to  retreat  them 
in  good  order;  but  the  panick  was  so  great  that  he  could 
not  succeed.  During  this  time  they  were  loading  as  fast 
as  possible  and  firing  in  the  air./  At  last  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Burton  got  together  about  one  hundred  of  the  48th  regi- 
ment, and  prevailed  upon  them,  by  the  General's  order,  to 
follow  him  towards  the  rising  ground  on  the  right,  but  he 
being  disabled  by  his  wounds,  they  faced  about  to  the  right, 
and  returned. 

When  the  men  had  fired  away  all  their  ammunition  and 
the  General  and  most  of  the  ofiicers  were  wounded,  they 
by  one  common  consent  left  the  field,  running  off  with  the 
greatest  precipitation.  About  fifty  Indians  pursued  us  to 
the  river,  and  killed  several  men  in  the  passage.  The  oflB- 
cers  used  all  possible  endeavours  to  stop  the  men,  and  to 
prevail  upon  them  to  rally ;  but  a  great  number  of  them 
threw  away  their  arms  and  ammunition,  and  even  their 
cloaths,  to  escape  the  faster. 

About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  on  the  other  side  the  river, 
we  prevailed  upon  near  one  hundred  of  them  to  take  post 
upon  a  very  advantageous  spot,  about  two  hundred  yards 
from  the  road.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Burton  posted  some 
small  parties  and  centinels.  We  intended  to  have  kept 
possession  of  that  ground,  'till  we  could  have  been  rein- 
forced. The  General  and  some  wounded  ofiicers  remained 
there  about  an  hour,  till  most  of  the  men  run  off.  From 
that  place,  the  General  sent  M""  Washington  to  Colonel 
Dunbar  with  orders  to  send  waggons  for  the  wounded,  some 
provision,  and  hospital  stores;  to  be  escorted  by  two 
youngest  Grenadier  companies,  to  meet  him  at  Gist's  plan- 


JOURNALS.  357 

tation,  or  nearer,  if  possible.  It  was  found  impracticable 
to  remain  here,  as  the  General  and  officers  were  left  almost 
alone ;  we  therefore  retreated  in  the  best  manner  we  were 
able.  After  we  had  passed  the  Monongahela  the  second 
time,  we  were  joined  by  Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage,  who  had 
rallied  near  80  men.  We  marched  all  that  night,  and  the 
next  day,  and  about  ten  o'clock  that  night  we  got  to  Gist's 
plantation. 

Gist's  Plantation. 

July  ll***.  Some  waggons,  provisions,  and  hospital  stores 
arrived.  As  soon  as  the  wounded  were  dressed,  and  the 
men  had  refreshed  themselves,  we  retreated  to  Colonel  Dun- 
bar's Camp,  which  was  near  Eock  Fort.  The  General  sent 
a  Serjeant's  party  back  with  provision  to  be  left  on  the  road 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Yoxhio  Geni  for  the  refreshment 
of  any  men  who  might  have  lost  their  way  in  the  woods. 
Upon  our  arrival  at  Colonel  Dunbar's  camp,  we  found  it  in 
the  greatest  confusion.  Some  of  his  men  had  gone  off  upon 
hearing  of  our  defeat,  and  the  rest  seemed  to  have  forgot 
all  discipline.  Several  of  our  detachment  had  not  stopped 
'till  they  had  reached  this  camp. 

It  was  found  necessary  to  clear  some  waggons  for  the 
wounded,  many  of  whom  were  in  a  desperate  situation ; 
and  as  it  was  impossible  to  remove  the  stores,  the  How- 
itzer shells,  some  twelve  pound  shot,  powder,  and  provi- 
sion, were  destroyed  or  buried. 

July  IS**'.  We  marched  from  hence  to  the  Camp,  near 
the  great  Meadows,  where  the  General  died. 


358  JOURNALS. 


GENERAL  COURT  MARTIALS. 


Alexandria. 
Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage,  President. 
The  prisoner  ordered  one  thousand  lashes,  but  part  of 
punishment  remitted. 

Fort  Cumberland. 
12ih  May.     Major  Sparks,  President. 
Luke  Woodward,  of  the  48*^  regiment,  condemned  to 
dye,  but  pardoned.^ 

Several  other  prisoners  sentenced  to  corporal  punishment, 
but  part  of  them  remitted. 

24:th  May.     Lieutenant  Colonel  Gage,  President. 
The  punishments  put  in  execution,  all  corporal  ones. 

26;/i  May.     aS""  Peter  Halkef,  President. 
To  try  Lieutenant  M^Leod,  of  the  Artillery.^ 
Part  of  the  sentence  remitted. 

3c?  June.     Major  /Sparks,  President. 
The  punishments  put  in  execution,  all  corporal  ones. 
[End  of  Orme's  Journal.] 

'  The  pardon  seems  to  have  made  little  impression  on  this  fellow.  He 
had  been  enlisted  by  Captain  Poison,  at  Shippensburg,  and  was  drafted 
into  Captain  Mercer's  company  of  the  48th.  Deserting  a  second  time  from 
Dunbar's  camp,  he  was  not  retaken  on  6th  Sept.,  1755.  Penn.  Graz., 
No.  1394. 

*  William  McLeod  was  made  a  captain  of  the  Royal  Regiment  of  Artil- 
lery, Oct.  21st,  1758,  which  position  he  held  in  1763.  In  1765,  his  name 
does  not  appear  on  the  register. 


COPY  OF  A  DOCUMENT 

GIVEN  BY  CAPTAIN  HEWITT,  R.  N,  TO  HIS  FRIEND  CAP- 
TAIN  HENRY  GAGE  MORRIS,  R.  N,  WHOSE  FATHER 
WAS  AN  AIDE  DE  CAMP  WITH  WASHINGTON  TO  MAJOR 
GENERAL  BRADDOCK  IN  THE  EXPEDITION. 

Winchester,  9th  July,  1827. 


From  Alexandria  to  the  Little  Meadows  by  this  Journal 
216  miles. 

"TTdTnot  know  who  was  the  author  of  this  Journal:  possibly  he  may 
have  been  of  the  family  of  Capt.  Hewitt.  He  was  clearly  one  of  the  naval 
officers  detached  for  this  service  by  Com.  Keppel,  whom  sickness  detamed 
at  Fort  Cumberland  during  the  expedition.  There  are  two  documents  from 
which  the  ensuing  pages  are  printed.  The  first,  which  is  the  text  followed 
here,  appears  to  have  been  a  revised  copy  of  the  second.  It  is  in  the  pos- 
session  of  the  Rev.  Francis-Orpen  Morris,  Nunburnholme  Rectory,  York- 
shire,  to  whose  father  it  was  given  by  Capt.  Hewitt.  The  other  and  perhaps 
the  original  journal  is  written  in  a  looser  and  less  particular  style,  and  in 
point  of  extent  is  inferior  to  its  companion.  It  is  preserved  in  the  library 
at  Woolwich.  What  passages  of  this  latter  document  have  seemed  to  the 
Editor  to  differ  from  the  former  in  any  degree  save  of  a  clerical  error,  arc 
appended  by  way  of  notes;  which  are  distinguished  from  his  own  by  alpha- 
betical  instead  of  numeral  references,  and  by  being  enclosed  within  brackets. 
For  the  rest,  so  far  as  the  lesser  MS.  goes,  its  language  is  so  similar  to  that 

(359) 


360 


JOURNALS, 


General  Braddock  was  22  days  marching  from  the  little 
Meadows  to  the  fatal  Monongahela  river,  which  appears  to 
be  within  eight  miles  of  the  French  fort  Du  Quesne,  with- 
out a  single  Indian  in  his  Army,  or  the  least  suspicion  of 
falling  into  an  ambush,  although  he  was  in  a  country,  of 
all  the  Globe,  the  most  adapted  for  one  to  encounter  an 
enemy  whose  mode  of  fighting  is  confined  to  that 
method. 


List  of  those  Officers  that  were  present  and  of  them  that  was 
hilled  and  wounded  iri  the  action  on  the  hanks  of  'if  Monon- 
gohela  River,  y"  9  th  Jidy,  1755. 


Officers'  Names. 

Rank. 

Killed  or  Wounded. 

His  ExcellencyEdward 

General  and  comm'  in 

Died  of  his  wounds  on 

Braddock,  Esq"" 

chief. 

the  12th. 

Robert  Orme,  Esq'    ^ 

Roger  Morris,  Esq'     1 
George  Washington,  [ 

Aid  de  Camps. 

Wounded. 

Esq'  

a 

William  Shirley,  Esq' 

Secretary. 

Killed. 

Sir  John  Sinclair,  Bart. 

D^.  Q'.  M'.  Qi. 

Wounded. 

M.  Leslie,  Esq'' 

G'.  Assist,    do. 

a 

Eras.  Halkett,  Esq'... 

Major  Brigade. 

of  the  greater  as  would  render  its  publication  here  a  mere  repetition.  It  is 
proper  to  add  that  in  the  summer  of  1854  (and  since  the  advertisement  of 
this  volume),  the  Journal  in  the  possession  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Morris  was 
published  in  pamphlet  form  by  him  for  a  charitable  end :  (Lond.  Groom- 
bridge  &  Sons,  8vo,  pp.  10).] 

'  Lieut.  Matthew  Leslie  of  the  44th :  promoted  to  a  captaincy,  29  Sept. 
1760. 


JOURNALS, 


361 


LIST  OF  OFFIGEB.S  — Continued. 
44*^  Regiment. 


Officers'  Names. 


Sir  Peter  Halkett 

Gage,  Esq"" 

Tattou  

Hobson' 

Beckworth^ 

Githius 

Falconer' 

Sittler  

Bailey  

Dunbar"* 

Pottenger 

Halkett 

Treby 

Allen* 

Simpson 

Lock« 

Disney' 

Kennedy* 

Townsend 

Preston 

Clarke 

Nortlow 

Pennington^  


Colonel. 
Lieut.  Colonel. 
Captain. 


Lieutenant. 


Killed  or  Wounded. 


Ensign. 


Killed. 

Slightly  wounded. 

Killed. 


Wounded. 


Killed. 

Wounded. 

Died  of  his  wounds. 

Wounded. 


Killed. 


'  In  the  Army  Register  for  1765,  Thomas  Hobson  ranks  as  a  lieutenant 
of  the  44th  from  5  Nov.  1755.  This  and  other  instances  authorize  us  to  sup- 
pose that  the  above  list  was  made  rather  from  memory  than  authentic  records. 

2  John  Beckwith :  major  of  the  54th,  18  July,  1758 :  lieut.-col.  in  the 
line,  l.S  Jan.  1762. 

^  Thomas  Falconer:  captain  of. the  44th,  5  Nov.  1755. 

*  For  an  anecdote  of  Capt.  Dunbar,  see  XVIII.  Sparks's  Am.  Biog.,  11. 

*  This  may  be  a  mistake.  In  1765,  James  Allen  was  a  lieut.  of  the 
44th;  and  though  his  commission  dates  but  from  9  Nov.  1755,  it  is  as  old 
as  those  of  many  others  who  were  in  the  action. 

^  Robert  Lock :  lieut.  of  44th,  27  June,  1755,  which  rank  he  held  ten 
years  after. 

'  Daniel  Disney :  capt.  in  the  line,  4  Oct.  1760 ;  of  the  44th,  22  Sept. 
1764;  major  in  the  line,  7  Aug.  1776;  of  the  38th  (which  regiment  he 
accompanied  to  America),  10  March,  1777. 

«  Primrose  Kennedy  :  lieut.  of  the  44th,  6th  June,  1757  ;  capt.  15  May, 
1772.     In  1778,  he  seems  to  have  been  with  his  regiment  in  America. 

^George  Penington :  a  lieut.  of  the  44th,  6  June,  1755.     When  be 


562 


JOURNALS. 


LIST  OF  0¥¥lC^n8  — Continued. 
48*^  Regiment. 


Officers'  Names. 


Burton,  Esq*" 

Sparks,  Esq"" 

Dobson,  Esq"" 

Cholmondeley 

Bowyer,  Esq""  

Boss,  Esq""'  

Barbutt,  Esq"- 

Walsham,  Esq""  — 

Crymble,  Esq"" 

Widman,  Esq"" 

Hansard,  Esq"" 

Gladwin,  Esq-''.... 

Hotham,  Esq"" 

Edmonstone,  Esq""*^ 

Cope,  Esq' 

Brereton,  Esq"" 

Stuart,  Esq"" 

Montresore'' 

Dunbar 

Harrison  

Colebatt  

Macmullen 

Crowe 

Stirling^ 


Lieut.  Col. 

Major. 

Captain. 


Lieut. 


Killed  or  Wounded. 


Ensign. 


Slightly  wounded. 


Killed. 
Wounded. 


Killed. 

Wounded. 
li 

Killed. 

n 

Wounded. 


arrived  at  Philadelphia,  after  the  fight,  he  sought  out  the  residence  of  Ed- 
ward Penington,  a  leading  merchant  there,  with  whom  he  claimed  kindred 
and  resided  until  his  regiment  marched  for  Albany.  He  was  probably  of 
the  Dysart  family. 

'  Robert  Boss  :  lieut-col.  in  the  line,  6  Jan.  1762  ;  of  48th,  2  Sept.  1762. 

^  Henry  Gladwyn,  who  achieved  great  distinction  in  the  remainder  of  the 
war,  was  made  It.-col.  17  Sept.  1763,  and  Deputy  Adjutant  General  in 
America.  His  gallant  defence  of  Detroit  against  Pontiac  and  his  leaguering 
hordes  is  familiar  to  the  reader  in  the  pages  of  Parkman.  He  was  made  a 
colonel,  49  Aug.  1777;  and  maj.-gen.  Nov.  26,  1782. 

»  William  Edmestone :  capt.  in  the  48th,  23  March,  1758;  It.-col.  in  the 
line,  29  Aug.,  1777 ;  and  in  Oct.  1777,  was  major  of  the  48th,  and  a 
prisoner  of  war  at  Easton,  Pa. 

"  John  Montresor :  It.  in  the  48th,  4  July,  1755. 

^  Among  the  ofl&cers  of  the  48th  who  were  left  with  Dunbar,  and  there- 


JOURNALS, 


363 


LIST  OF  OFFICERS  — CW<mue J. 

48*''  Regiment. 
Independents. 


Ofl&cera'  Names. 

Rank. 

Killed  or  Wounded. 

Captain. 
Lieutenant. 

a 
u 
a 

Wounded. 
Killed. 

Wounded. 

Miller    

Grey 

Virginia  Officers. 

Stevens  

Captain. 

(( 

(( 
(( 
a 

Lieutenant. 

a 
n 
a 
(( 
a 

C( 

Wounded. 
Killed. 

(( 

Wounded. 
Killed. 

Stewart' 

Hamilton^ 

Woodward* 

Wrio'hf'   

Spidolf^ 

Stewart* 

W^ntroTinPr ^    

M'NeaP 

fore  do  not  find  a  place  in  this  list,  were  Capts.  Gabriel  Christie  (afterwards 
It. -col.  of  the  60th  in  1775),  Mercer,  Morris,  and  Boyer;  Capt.  Lieut. 
Morris,  and  Lts.  Savage,  Caulder,  and  Hart.     (Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1394.) 

*  Robert  Stewart ;  commissioned  1  Nov.  1754.  Of  his  29  light  horse, 
25  were  killed  in  the  action.  See  Penn.  Gaz.,  No.  1391  :  where  it  is  justly 
observed  that  "  the  Virginia  officers  and  troops  behaved  like  men  and  died 
like  soldiers !" 

^  John  Hamilton  :  commissioned  Nov.  2,  1754. 

*  Henry  Woodward  :  commissioned  Dec.  13,  1754. 

*  John  Wright:  commissioned  Nov.  18,  1754. 

*  Ensign  Carolus  Gustavus  de  Spiltdorph  :  commissioned  July  21,  1754. 
I  follow  Washington's  orthography,  under  whom  he  served  in  1754.  He 
was  the  officer  selected  to  escort  to  Virginia  the  prisoners  captured  in 
Jumonville's  affair. 

«  Ensign  Walter  Stewart :  commissioned  Aug.  25,  1754.  I  apprehend 
him  to  have  been  the  same  who  was  an  additional  lieutenant  in  the  44th 
during  the  war,  retiring  on  half-pay  in  1763  ;  and  who  afterwards  was  con- 
spicuous in  our  Army  of  the  Revolution. 

'  Ensign  Edmond  Waggener  :  commissioned  Jan.  1,  1755. 

« If  this  was  Lt.  John  M'Neill  (Nov.  1, 1754),  or  Ensign  Hector  M'Neill 
(Dec.  12,  1754),  I  do  not  know. 


364 


JOURNALS. 


LIST  OF  OYYICE^S  — Continued. 


48*^  Regiment. 
Artillery. 


Officers'  Names. 

Rank. 

Killed  or  Wounded. 

Orde' 

Captain. 
Capt.  Lieut. 
Lieutenant. 
(( 

Killed. 
Wounded. 

U 

Smith 

Buchanan^ 

M'CIoud 

M'Culler 

1 
Engineers. 

M'Keller,  Esq''' ) 

Williamson,  Esq'^..  V 
Gordon,  Esq'* J 

Engineers. 

Wounded. 
11 

'  Thomas  Orde  in  1759  became  It. -col.  of  the  R.  R.  of  Artillery.  He 
was  an  excellent  officer,  and  stood  high  in  Cumberland's  esteem,  by  whom 
he  was  especially  selected  for  this  service.  Landing  in  Newfonndland,  he 
hastened  to  take  command  of  Braddock's  artillery,  arriving  from  New  York 
at  Philadelphia,  June  7,  1755.  (II.  P.  A.,  346.)  He  was  accompanied 
by  13  non-commissioned  officers;  and  was  in  such  an  enfeebled  condition  as 
to  render  his  joining  the  army  a  work  of  much  difficulty.  The  Assembly's 
committee  not  feeling  themselves  called  upon  to  provide  conveniences  for 
his  journey,  Mr.  Morris  was  compelled  to  procure  him  a  horse  and  chaise 
at  his  own  cost;  at  the  same  time  issuing  a  warrant  of  impressment  for 
waggons  for  the  rest  of  the  party.  (lb.  356,  358.  VI.  C.  R.,  417.)  Capt. 
Orde  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  his  line  of  service  during  the  rest  of  the 
war. 

^  Sir  Fr.  Ja.  Buchanan :  capt.  1  Jan.  1759. 

^  Patrick  Mackellar  :  Sub-Director  and  Major  of  Engineers,  4  Jan.  1758; 
Director  and  It.-col.  2  Feb.  1775 ;  col.  in  the  line,  29  Aug.  1777. 

^  Adam  Williamson :    Engineer  Extraordinary  and  capt.  lieut.  4  Jan. 

1758. 

*  Harry  Gordon :  Engineer  in  Ordinary  and  captain,  4  Jan.  1758 ;  It.- 
col.  in  the  line,  29  Aug.  1777. 


JOURNALS, 


365 


LIST  OF  OFFICERS  — Continued. 

4:S^^  Begi?ne7it. 
Naval  Officers. 


Officers'  Names. 

Rank. 

Killed  or  Wounded. 

Spendelowe 

Haynes  

Talbot 

Lieutenant. 
Mid. 

Killed. 

Volunteers. 

Stone 

Hayer'. 

Captain. 

Killed. 
Wounded. 

Captain  Stone  was  a  captain  in  Lascelle's,  and  Hayer  in 
Warburton's    Kegiment.^ 

"  Mr.  Morris  prints  this  name  Flayer. 

'  These  were  the  45th  and  47th  reg'ts.  The  late  venerable  Bishop  White 
well  remembered  the  corpse  of  one  of  Braddock's  officers  being  brought  to 
Philadelphia  after  the  battle,  where  it  lay  in  state  for  some  days  at  the  old 
Norris  or  Penn  House  at  the  corner  of  Second  St.  and  Norris's  Alley. 


366  JOURNALS 


(a.)  A  Journal  of  the  lyroceedings  of  the  Seamen  (a  detach- 
ment), ordered  hy  Commodore  Kep2:)el  to  assist  on  a  late 
expedition  to  the  Ohio,  from  the  10*^  of  April,  1755,  lohen 
they  received  their  first  orders  from  the  Army  at  Alexan- 
dria in  Virginia,  to  the  18*''  day  of  August  following, 
lohen  the  remaining  part  of  the  Detachment  arrived  on 
hoard  His  Majesty's  ship  "  Garland''  at  Hampton:  with 
an  impartial  account  of  the  action  that  happened  on  the 
hanks  of  the  Monongohela,  and  defeat  of  Major  General 
Braddoch  on  the  9*'^  of  July,  1755.   (&.) 

April  10*'',  1755.  Moderate  and  fair  but  sultry  weather ; 
to-day  we  received  orders  to  march  tomorrow  morning,  and 
6  Companies  of  Sir  Peter  Halket's  Regiment  to  march  in 
their  way  to  Wills's  Creek. 

(a.)  Here  begins  the  lesser  MS.,  previously  referred  to,  as  follows : 
[Journal  of  M.  General  Braddock's  March,  &c.,  towards  Fort  Du  Quesne, 

1755. 

Names  of  the  Principal  French  and  Canadian  Officers. 

Mons"".  Beaujeu  Captain  Commanding  the  French  and  Canadians. 

Mons'.  Dumas  Captain  and  Second  in  command. 

Mens''.  Derligniris         Captain. 

Mons"'.  Montigny  Captain. 

Messieurs  Moutesamble,  Normanville,  &c.,  &c.,  subalterns. 

The  Canadians  say,  600  savages  joined  the  French  and  Canadians  after 

the  Attack  beg-an  two  hours. 

F.  M.,  Montreal,  1769.] 

Qj.)  [Extracts  from  a  Journal  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Detachment  of 
Seamen,  ordered  by  Commodore  Kepple,  to  assist  on  the  late  Expedition 
to  the  Ohio,  with  an  impartial  Account  of  the  late  Action  on  the  Banks 
of  the  Monongohela  the  9th  of  July,  1755 ;  as  related  by  some  of  the 
Principal  Officers  that  day  in  the  Field,  from  the  10th  April,  1755,  to 
the  18th  August,  when  the  Detachment  of  Seamen  embarked  on  board  His 
Majesty's  ship  Guarland  at  Hampton  in  Virginia.] 


JOURNALS.  367 

April  ll***.  Our  orders  were  countermanded,  and  to 
provide  ourselves  with  8  days  provisions,  and  to  proceed  to 
Kock  Creek,  8  miles  from  Alexandria,  in  the  Sea  Horse 
and  Nightingale's  boats  tomorrow. 

On  the  12*'',  agreeably  to  our  orders  we  proceeded  and 
arrived  at  Rock  Creek  at  10  o'clock.  This  place  is  5 
miles  from  the  lower  falls  of  Potomack,  and  4  from  the 
eastern  branch  of  it.  Here  our  men  got  quarters,  and  we 
pitched  our  tents :  found  here  Colonel  Dunbar,  whose  orders 
we  put  ourselves  under. 

On  the  13*^ :  — We  were  employed  in  getting  the  Regi- 
mental Stores  into  Waggons,  in  order  to  march  tomorrow  : 
This  is  a  pleasant  situation,  but  provisions  and  everything 
dear. 

On  the  14th :  — We  began  our  march  at  6,  and  were 
ordered  with  our  Detachment  to  go  in  front,  and  about  2 
o'clock  at  one  Lawrence  Owens,  15  miles  from  Rock  Creek, 
and  8  miles  from  the  upper  falls  of  Potomack;  and  en- 
camped upon  good  ground. 

On  the  15'^: — Marched  at  5  in  our  way  to  one  Dow- 
den's  a  Public-house  15  miles  from  Owen's,  and  encamped 
upon  very  bad  ground  on  the  side  of  a  hill.  We  got  our 
tents  pitched  by  dark,  when  the  wind  shifted  from  the 
South  to  the  North  —  from  a  sultry  hot  day  it  became 
excessively  cold,  and  rained  with  thunder  and  lightning 
till  about  5  in  the  morning,  when  in  10  minutes  it  changed 
to  snow,  which  in  2  hours  covered  the  ground  a  foot  and  a 
half 


f,^ 


368  JOURNALS. 

On  the  IG*'* :  —  On  account  of  the  bad  weather,  we  halted 
to-day,  though  a  terrible  place,  for  we  could  neither  get  pro- 
visions for  ourselves,  nor  fodder  for  our  horses,  and  as  it 
was  wet  in  the  Camp  it  was  very  disagreeable,  and  no  house 
to  go  into. 

On  the  17*^:  —  Marched  at  6  on  our  way  to  Frederick's 
Town,  15  miles  from  Dowden's;  the  roads  this  day  were 
very  mountainous.  After  going  11  miles,  we  came  to  a 
river  called  Mouskiso,  which  empties  itself  into  the  Poto- 
mack ;  it  runs  very  rapid,  and  after  hard  rain  is  13  feet 
deep :  we  ferried  the  Army  over  here  in  a  flatt  for  that 
purpose,  and  at  3  o'clock  arrived  at  the  town,  and  put  our 
men  and  ourselves  into  quarters,  which  were  very  indif- 
ferent. This  town  has  not  been  settled  above  7  years,  and 
there  are  about  200  houses  and  2  churches,  one  English, 
one  Dutch ;  the  inhabitants,  chiefly  Dutch,  are  industrious 
but  imposing  people  :  here  we  got  plenty  of  provisions  and 
forage. 

On  the  IS**" :  — At  10  the  drums  beat  to  arms,  when  the 
Army  encamped  at  the  North  end  of  the  town,  upon  good 
ground  :  we  got  our  tents  pitched  and  lay  in  the  camp,  and 
the  Sutler  dieted  us  here  :  orders  came  for  us  to  buy  horses 
to  carry  our  baggage,  as  there  will  be  no  more  waggons 
allowed  us.  We  found  here  an  Independent  Vessel  belong- 
ing to  New  York  under  the  command  of  Captain  Goss. 

On  the  ID**" :  — The  weather  here  is  very  hot  in  the  day, 
but  the  nights  are  very  unwholesome,  occasioned  by  heavy 
dews. 


JOURNALS.  369 

On  the  20*: — A  guard  turned  out  to  receive  the 
General. 

On  the  21'*: — At  noon  the  General  arrived  here  at- 
tended by  Captains  Orme  and  Morris^  his  Aids  de  Camp, 
and  Secretary  Shirley,  and  went  to  the  Head  Quarters,  a 
house  provided  for  him ;  and  Sir  John  St.  Clair  arrived 
here. 


'  Roger  Morris,  descended  from  one  of  the  most  ancient  families  in  Bri- 
tain, was  born  28  Jan.,  1727.  At  an  early  age  adopting  the  profession  of 
arms,  he  obtained  a  captaincy  in  the  17th  Foot  when  but  17  years  old. 
After  Braddock's  defeat,  he  continued  to  serve  with  reputation  in  America; 
and  married,  19  Jan.,  1758,  Mary,  daughter  of  Frederick  Philipse,  of  New 
York ;  a  great  heiress,  who  is  said  to  have  been  unsuccessfully  wooed  by 
Washington,  and  whose  character  is  beautifully  drawn  by  Cooper  in  the 
heroine  of  "  The  Spy."  It  affords  a  curious  speculation  to  consider  how 
circumstances  might  have  moulded  the  future  career  of  the  Father  of  his 
Country  had  his  lot  been  linked  with  that  of  Mary  Philipse  instead  of 
Martha  Custis.  The  landed  possessions  of  the  Philipse  family  were  enor- 
mous, embracing  much  of  the  site  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  covering 
an  area  twice  as  great  as  all  Yorkshire.  Morris  continued  to  reside  in  New 
York,  where  he  occupied  a  seat  in  the  Council,  till  the  breaking  out  of  the 
Revolution.  Adhering  to  the  Crown,  his  estates  and  those  of  his  wife 
were  confiscated,  and  he  returned  to  England.  By  a  marriage  contract, 
however,  Mrs.  Morris's  property  had  been  settled  on  her  children,  and  these 
being  omitted  in  the  act  of  confiscation,  the  ministry  conceived  their  rights 
remained  unaffected.  Therefore  but  £17,000  were  granted  from  the  trea- 
sury to  Mr.  Morris  in  satisfaction  of  his  life-interest.  After  the  peace,  it 
was  found  impracticable  to  reinstate  the  children  in  their  possessions,  and 
in  1809  their  claims  were  purchased  by  the  late  Mr.  John  Jacob  Astor  for 
£20,000.  The  estimated  value  of  the  property  in  question  was  then  nearly 
£1,000,000  ;  at  this  day,  the  sum  would  be  incalculable.  On  19  May,  1760, 
Morris  was  made  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  47th  Foot,  and  died  13  Sept., 
1794.  His  widow,  who  was  born  5  July,  1730,  survived  to  18  July,  1825. 
Their  only  surviving  son  was  the  late  Admiral  Henry  Gage  Morris,  R.  N., 
of  Keldgate  House,  Yorkshire.  Colonel  Morris  is  sometimes  confounded 
with  his  cousin,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Roger  Morris,  of  the  ColJstreams,  ar 
intimate  of  the  Duke  of  York,  under  whose  command  he  fell  in  Holland 

24 


370  JOURNALS. 

On  the  24*^: — Very  hard  showers  of  rain,  and  from 
being  very  hot  became  excessively  cold  and  blew  hard. 

On  the  25th: — Received  orders  to  be  ready  to  march 
on  Tuesday  next.  Arrived  here  80  recruits  and  some 
ordnance  stores. 

On  the  27*^: — We  sent  3  of  our  men  to  the  hospital, 
viz*.,  John  Philips,  Edw*^  Knowles  and  James  Connor.  Em- 
ployed in  getting  ready  to  march. 

On  the  29*'': — We  began  our  march  at  6,  but  found 
much  difficulty  in  loading  our  baggage,  so  that  we  left 
several  things  behind  us,  particularly  the  men's  hammocks. 
We  arrived  at  3  o'clock  at  one  Walker's,  18  miles  from 
Frederick,  and  encamped  there  on  good  ground ;  this  day 
we  passed  the  South  Ridge  or  Shannandah  Mountains, 
very  easy  in  the  ascent.  We  saw  plenty  of  Hares,  Deer, 
and  Partridges :  This  place  is  wanting  of  all  refreshments. 

On  the  SO**" : — At  6,  marched  in  our  way  to  Conneco- 
chieg,  where  we  arrived  at  2  o'clock,  16  miles  from  Walk- 
er's :  this  is  a  fine  situation,  close  by  the  Potomack.  We 
found  the  Artillery  Stores  going  by  water  to  Wills's  Creek, 
and  left  2  of  our  men  here. 

May  1'*,  1755.  At  5,  we  went  with  our  people,  and 
began  ferrying  the  Army  &c.  into  Virginia,  which  we  com- 
pleted by  10  o'clock,  and  marched  in  our  way  to  one  John 
Evans,  where  we  arrived  at  3  o'clock — 17  miles  from  Con- 
necochieg,  and  20  from  Winchester.     We  got  some  provi- 


JOURNALS.  371 

sions  and  forage  here.  The  roads  now  begin  to  be  very 
indifferent. 

On  the  2"'^ :  —  As  it  is  customary  in  the  Army  to  halt  a 
day  after  3  days  march,  we  halted  to-day  to  rest  the 
Army." 

On  the  3'''^ : — Marched  at  5  on  our  way  to  one  Widow 
Barringer's,  18  miles  from  Evans :  this  day  was  so  exces- 
sively hot  that  several  officers  and  many  men  could  not 
get  on  till  the  evening,  but  the  body  got  to  their  ground  at 
3  o'clock.  This  is  5  miles  from  Winchester,  a  fine  station 
if  properly  cleared. 

On  the  4*'' :  —  Marched  at  5  in  our  way  to  one  Potts  — 
9  miles  from  the  Widow's — where  we  arrived  at  10  o'clock. 
The  road  this  day  very  bad :  we  got  some  wild  turkeys 
here :  in  the  night  it  came  to  blow  hard  at  N.  W. 

On  the  5*^^ :  —  Marched  at  5  in  our  way  to  one  Henry 
Enock's,  being  16  miles  from  Potts,  where  we  arrived  at  2 
o'clock.  The  road  this  day  over  prodigious  mountains,  and 
between  the  same  we  crossed  over  a  run  of  water  20  times 
in  3  miles  distance.  After  going  15  miles  we  came  to  a 
river  called  Kahapetin,  where  our  men  ferried  the  Army 
over  and  got  to  our  ground,  where  we  found  a  company  of 
Peter  Halket's  encamped. 

On  the  6th  :  — We  halted  this  day  to  refresh  the  Army.*^ 

'  [May  2"^ :  — Halted,  and  sent  the  horses  to  grass.] 

^  [May  5"':  —  Marched  to  Mr.  Henry  Enock's,  a  place  called  the  forks 
of  Cape  Capon.  *  *  * 

May  6th.  Halted,  as  was  the  Custom  to  do  so  every  third  day.  The 
Officers,  for  passing  away  the  time,  made  Horse  Races,  and  agreed  that  no 
Horse  should  run  over  11  Hands  and  to  carry  14  Stone.] 


372  JOURNALS. 

7th. — Y^Q  marched  at  5  in  our  way  to  one  Cox's,'  12 
miles  from  Enock's.  This  morning  was  very  cold  but  by 
10  o'clock  it  was  prodigiously  hot.  We  crossed  another 
run  of  water  19  times  in  2  miles,  and  got  to  our  ground  at 
2  o'clock,  and  encamped  close  to  the  Potomack. 

On  the  8*^:  —  We  began  to  ferry  the  Army  over  the 
river  into  Maryland,  which  -^as  completed  at  10,  and 
then  we  marched  on  our  way  to  one  Jackson's,  8  miles  from 
Cox's.  At  noon  it  rained  very  hard  and  continued  so  till 
2  o'clock,  when  we  got  to  our  ground,  and  encamped  on 
the  banks  of  the  Potomack.  A  fine  situation,  with  a  good 
deal  of  clear  ground  about  it.  Here  lives  one  Colonel  Cres- 
sop,  a  Rattle  Snake  Colonel,  and  a  vile  Rascal ;  ^  calls  him- 
self a  Frontier  man,  as  he  thinks  he  is  situated  nearest  the 
Ohio  of  any  inhabitants  of  the  country,  and  is  one  of  the 
Ohio  Company.  He  had  a  summons  some  time  ago  to 
retire   from   the  Settlement,  as  they  said  it  belonged  to 


'  I  take  this  person  to  be  the  same  alluded  to  in  the  following  paragraph  : 
"  There  has  a  strange  affair  happened  in  Virginia :  one  Cox,  -which,  you 
may  remember  by  the  Gazettes,  behaved  gallantly  against  the  Indians  some 
time  ago,  and  another  person,  thinking  their  services  not  taken  proper 
notice  of,  dressed  themselves  up  like  Indians  and  attacked  a  house  a  few 
miles  from  Winchester.  The  in-dwellers  were  so  fortunate  as  to  escape, 
altho'  Cox  and  his  partner  fired  on  them  several  times.  An  OflScer,  being 
informed  that  the  house  was  attacked  by  the  Indians,  sent  a  detachment  to 
pursue  the  Enemy,  who,  finding  tracks,  pursued  by  them  until  they  came 
near  the  place  where  the  fellows,  Cox  and  the  other,  were  sitting  by  a  fire ; 
fired  on  them  —  killed  Cox  on  the  spot  and  wounded  the  other  so  mortally 
that  he  had  scarce  time  before  his  departure  to  disclose  who  they  were." 
David  Jameson  to  Lieutenant-Colonel  Burd.  Philadelphia,  April  25,  1758. 
(Shippen  MSS.) 

'  [There  lives  Colonel  Cressop,  a  Rattle  Snake  Colonel  and  a  D d 

Rascal. J 


JOURNALS, 


373 


them,  but  he  refused,  as  he  dont  want  resolution ;  and  for 
his  defence  has  built  a  log  fort  round  his  house.  This 
place  is  the  track  of  the  Indians  and  Warriors  when  they 
go  to  war,  either  to  the  Northward  or  Southward.  There 
we  got  plenty  of  provisions,  &c.,  and  at  6,  the  General 
arrived  here  with  his  Attendants,  and  a  Company  of  Light 
Horse  for  his  guard,  and  lay  at  Cressop's.  As  this  was  a 
wet  day,  the  General  ordered  the  Army  to  halt  tomorrow. 

On  the  10*'' : — Marched  at  5  on  our  way  to  Will's  Creek, 
16  miles  from  Cressop's ;  the  road  this  day  very  pleasant 
by  the  water  side.  At  12  the  General  passed  by,  the 
drums  beating  the  Grenadier  March.  At  1  we  halted  and 
formed  a  circle,  when  Colonel  Dunbar  told  the  Army  that 
as  there  were  a  number  of  Indians  at  Will's  Creek,  our 
Friends,  it  was  the  General's  positive  orders  that  they  do 
not  molest  them,  or  have  anything  to  say  to  them,  directly 
or  indirectly,  for  fear  of  affronting  them.  We  marched 
again,  and  heard  17  guns  fired  at  the  Fort  to  salute  the 
General.  At  2  we  arrived  at  Will's  Creek,  and  encamped 
to  the  Westward  of  the  Fort  on  a  hill,  and  found  here  6 
Companies  of  Sir  Peter  Halket's  Reg\,  9  Companies  of 
Virginians,  and  a  Maryland  Company.  Fort  Cumberland 
is  situated  within  200  yards  of  Will's  Creek,  on  a  hill, 
and  about  400  from  the  Potomack;  its  length  from  east 
to  west  is  about  200  yards,  and  breadth  46  yards,  and 
is  built  by  logs  driven  into  the  ground,  and  about  12  feet 
above  it,  with  embrasures  for  12  guns,  and  10  mounted, 
4  pounders,  besides  stocks  for  swivels,  and  loop  holes  for 
small  arms.     We  found  here  Indian  men,  women  and  chil- 


374  JOURNALS. 

dren,  to  the  number  of  about  100,  who  were  greatly  sur- 
prised at  the  regular  way  of  our  soldiers  marching,  and 
the  numbers.     I  would  willingly  say  something  of  the  cus- 
toms and  manners  of  the  Indians,  but  they  are  hardly  to 
be  described.     The  men  are  tall,  well  made,  and  active, 
but  not  strong,  but  very  dexterous  with  a  rifle  barrelled 
gun,  and  their   tomahawk,  which   they  will  throw  with 
great  certainty  at  any  mark  and  at  a  great  distance.     The 
women  are  not  so  tall  as  the  men,  but  well  made  and  have 
many  children,  but  had  many  more  before    s^Dirits  were 
introduced  to  them.     They  paint   themselves  in  an  odd 
manner,  red,  yellow,  and  black  intermixed.     And  the  men 
have  the  outer  rim  of  their  ears  cut,  which  only  hangs  by 
a  bit  top  and  bottom,  and  have  a  tuft  of  hair  left  at  the 
top  of  their  heads,  which  is  dressed  with  feathers.     Their 
watch  coat  is  their  chief  clothing,  which  is  a  thick  blanket 
thrown  all  round  them,  and  wear  moccasins  instead  of 
shoes,  which  are  Deer  skin,  thrown  round  the  ankle  and 
foot.    Their  manner  of  carrying  their  infants  is  odd.    They 
are  laid  on  a  board,  and  tied  on  with  a  broad  bandage,  with 
a  place  to  rest  their  feet  on,  and  a  board  over  their  head  to 
keep  the    sun  off,  and  are   slung   to  the  women's  backs. 
These  people  have  no  notion  of  religion,  or  any  sort  of 
Superior  being,  as  I  take  them  to  be  the  most  ignorant 
people  as  to  the  knowledge  of  the  world  and  other  things. 
In  the  day  they  were  in  our  Camp,  and  in  the  night  they 
go  into  their  own,  where  they  dance  and  make  a  most  hor- 
rible noise. 

On  the  11*'' :  — Orders  that  the  General's  Levee  be  always 
in  his  tent  from  10  to  11  every  day. 


JOURNALS.  375 

On  the  12tli :  —  Orders  this  morning  that  there  will  be 
a  congress  at  the  General's  tent  at  11  o'clock,  at  which 
time  all  the  officers  attended  the  General,  and  the  Indians 
were  brought ;  the  Guard  received  them  with  their  Fire- 
locks rested.  The  Interpreter  was  ordered  to  tell  them 
that  their  Brothers,  the  English,  who  were  their  old  friends, 
were  come  to  assure  them  that  every  misunderstanding 
that  had  been  in  former  times  should  now  be  buried  under 
that  great  mountain  (a  mountain  close  by) .  Then  a  string 
of  wampum  was  given  them ;  then  a  belt  of  wampum  was 
held  forth  with  the  following  speech,  viz*. :  that  this  wam- 
pum was  to  assure  them  of  our  friendship ;  that  everybody 
who  were  their  enemies  were  ours ;  and  that  it  w^as  not 
the  small  force  only  that  we  had  here,  but  numbers  to  the 
northward  under  our  great  War  Captains,  Shirley,  Peppe- 
rell,  Johnston  and  others  that  were  going  to  war,  and  that 
we  would  settle  them  happy  in  their  country,  and  make 
the  French  both  ashamed  and  hungry  :  But  that  whatever 
Indians  after  this  declaration  did  not  come  in,  would  be 
deemed  by  us  as  our  enemies,  and  treated  as  such.  The 
General  then  told  them  he  should  have  presents  for  them 
in  a  few  days,  when  he  should  have  another  speech  to 
make  to  them,  so  took  their  leaves  after  the  ceremony  of 
Drams  round.  In  the  afternoon  Mr.  Spendlowe  and  self 
surveyed  20  casks  of  beef  by  order  of  the  General  and 
condemned  it,  which  we  reported  to  the  General.  This 
evening  we  had  a  gust  of  wind,  with  lightning,  thunder 
and  rain,  which  drove  several  tents  down,  and  made  the 
camp  very  uncomfortable. 


376 


JOURNALS. 


On  the  13'^  : — The  weather  is  now  extremely  hot.  This 
day  as  the  Corporal  came  to  exercise  our  men  in  the  even- 
ing, I  went  to  see  the  Indian  camp,  i  mile  from  ours,  in 
the  woods.  Their  houses  are  2  stakes  driven  into  the 
ground,  with  a  Kidge  pole,  and  bark  of  trees  laid  up  and 
down  the  sides,  but  they  generally  have  a  fire  in  them. 
This  is  all  the  shelter  they  have  from  the  weather  when 
they  are  from  home.^  As  soon  as  it  was  dark  they  began 
to  dance,  which  they  do  round  a  fire  in  a  ring.  Their 
music  is  a  tub  with  a  sheep  skin  over  it,  and  a  hollow  thing 
with  peas  to  rattle.'  It  is  a  custom  with  them,  once  or 
twice  a  year,  for  the  women  to  dance  and  all  the  men  sit 
by.  Each  woman  takes  out  her  man  that  she  likes,  dances 
with  him  and  lies  with  him  for  a  week,  and  then  return  to 
their  former  husbands,  and  live  as  they  did  before. 

On  the  14*'^:  —  This  day  2  of  our  men  arrived  from  Fre- 
derick hospital,  and  our  men  from  Connecockieg  that  were 
left  to  assist  the  Artillery.  Orders  to  send  the  returns  of 
our  people  to  the  Brigade  major  every  morning. 


'  This  day's  journal  in  the  lesser  MS.  concludes  here  thus :  [The  Ame- 
ricans and  Seamen  exercising.] 

'  The  Tay  wa'  egun  (struck-sound-instrument)  is  a  tambourine,  or  one- 
headed  drum,  and  is  made  by  adjusting  a  skin  to  one  end  of  the  section  of 
a  moderate  sized  hollow  tree.     When  a  heavier  sound  ie  required,  a  tree 

of  larger  circumference  is  chosen,  and  both  ends  covered  with  skins. 

The  Sheshegwon,  or  Rattle,  is  constructed  in  various  ways,  according  to 
the  purpose  or  means  of  the  maker.  Sometimes  it  is  made  of  animal  blad- 
der, from  which  the  name  is  derived;  sometimes  of  a  wild  gourd;  in 
others,  by  attaching  the  dried  hoofs  of  the  deer  to  a  stick.  This  instru- 
ment is  employed  both  to  mark  time,  and  to  produce  variety  in  sound." 
(^Schoolcraft ;  Red  Race  of  America,  223.) 


JOURNALS.  377 

On  the  15^^: — Mr.  Spendlowe  and  self  surveyed  22 
casks  of  beef,  and  condemned  it,  which  we  reported  to  the 
General. 

'  On  the  16'^: — Arrived  here  Lieut.  Col.  Gage,  with  2 
Companies  of  Sir  Peter  Halket's,  and  the  last  division  of 
the  train,  consisting  of  3  field  pieces,  4  howitzers,  a  number 
of  cohorns,  and  42  waggons  with  stores.  Departed  this 
life  Captain"  Bromley  of  Sir  Peter  Halket's. 

On  the  17*'':  —  Had  a  survey  of  our  men's  arms,  and 
found  several  of  them  unserviceable.  All  the  officers  are 
desired  to  attend  Captain  Bromley's  funeral  tomorrow 
morning,  and  at  the  General's  tent  at  12. 

On  the  18*^:  —  Excessively  hot.  At  10  o'clock  we  all 
attended  the  funeral,  and  the  ceremony  was  a  Captain's 
guard  marched  before  the  corpse,  with  the  Captain  of  it  in 
the  rear,  and  the  fire  locks  reversed,  the  drums  beating  the 
dead  march.  When  we  came  near  the  grave,  the  guard 
formed  2  hues  facing  each  other;  rested  on  their  arms, 
muzzles  downwards ;  and  leaned  their  faces  on  the  butts : 
the  Corpse  was  carried  between  them,  the  sword  and  sash 
on  the  coffin,  and  the  officers  following  two  and  two.  After 
the  Clergyman'  had  read  the  service,  the  guard  fired  3  vol- 
lies  over  him  and  returned.  At  12  we  attended  the  Gene- 
ral's tent,  when  all  the  Indians  came,  and  the  General 
made  a  speech  to  them  to  this  purpose.  He  desired  they 
would  immediately  send  their  wives  and  children  into  Pen- 

'  The  chaplain  of  the  44th  was  Mr.  Philip  Hughes :  that  of  the  48th 
I  do  not  know.  One  of  these  gentlemen  marched  with  the  expedition, 
and  was  wounded  at  the  defeat. 


378  JOURNALS. 

sylvania,  and  take  up  the  Hatchet  against  the  French  :  that 
the  great  King  of  EngLand,  their  Father,  had  sent  them  the 
presents  now  before  them  for  their  famiUes,  and  that  he 
had  ordered  arms  &c.  to  be  given  to  their  Warriors ;  and 
expressed  concern  for  the  loss  of  the  Half-King  killed  last 
year.  The  presents  consisted  of  strouds,  rings,  beads,  linen, 
knives,  wire,  and  paint.  They  received  their  presents 
with  3  belts  and  a  string  of  wampum,  and  promised  their 
answer  next  day.  And  to  show  they  were  pleased,  they 
made  a  most  horrible  noise,  dancing  all  night. 

On  the  19*^: — Captain  Gate's  New  York  Company  ar- 
rived here.  This  evening  the  Indians  met  at  the  General's 
tent  to  give  their  answer,  which  was,  that  they  were  greatly 
obliged  to  the  Great  King  their  Father,  who  had  been  so 
good  as  to  send  us  all  here  to  fight  for  them,  and  that  they 
would  all  give  their  attendance,  and  do  what  was  in  their 
power  of  reconnoitring  the  country  and  bringing  intelligence. 
That  they  were  obliged  to  the  General  for  his  expressing 
concern  for  the  loss  of  the  Half-King  our  Brother,  and  for  the 
presents  he  had  given  them.  Their  chief  men's  names  are 
as  follows  :  Monicotoha,  their  wise  man  who  always  speaks 
for  them  ;^ — Belt  of  Wampum  or  White  Thunder,  who  has 
a  daughter  called  Bright  Lightning  —  he  keeps  the  wam- 
pum :  the  next  is  the  great  Tree  and  Silver  Heels,^  with 
many  others  belonging  to  the  Six  Nations.  The  General 
told  them  he  was  their  Friend,  and  never  would  deceive 
them,  after  which  they  sung  the  war  song,  which  is  shout- 
ing and  making  a  terrible  noise,  declaring  the  French  their 

*  [Monicatoha  their  Mentor.]  ""  [Jerry  Smith  and  Charles.] 


JOURNALS.  379 

» 

perpetual  enemies,  which  they  never  did  before.  After 
this  the  General  carried  them  to  the  Artillery,  and  ordered 
3  Howitzers,  3  12-Pounders,  and  3  Cohorns  to  be  fired,  all 
the  drums  and  fifes  playing,  and  beating  the  point  of  war, 
which  astonished  and  pleased  the  Indians  greatly.  They 
then  retired  to  their  own  Camp,  where  they  ate  a  bullock, 
and  danced  their  war  dance,  which  is  droll  and  odd,  shew- 
ing how  they  scalp  and  fight,  expressing  in  their  dance  the 
exploits  of  their  ancestors,  and  warlike  actions  of  them- 
selves. 

On  the  20*^: — Arrived  here  80  waggons  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, to  assist  in  the  expedition,  and  eleven  waggons  from 
Philadelphia,  with  presents  for  the  officers  of  the  Army." 
An  Indian  arrived  from  the  French  fort  in  6  days,  and  said 
they  have  only  50  men  in  the  fort,  but  expect  900  more ; 
that  when  our  Army  appears  they  will  blow  it  up.  I 
believe  this  fellow  is  a  villain,  as  he  is  a  Delaware,  who 
never  were  our  friends. 

On  the  21'':  —  There  are  100  Carpenters  employed, 
under  the  Carpenter  of  the  "Searhorse,"  in  building  a 
Magazine,  completing  a  Flatt,  and  squaring  timber  to  make 
a  bridge  over  Will's  Creek ;  the  Smiths  in  making  tools ; 
the  Bakers  baking  biscuits ;  and  Commissaries  getting  the 
provisions  ready  for  marching.  Arrived  here  a  troop  of 
light  Horse,  and  2  companies  of  Sir  Peter  Halket's.J  On 
the  22nd,  the  Indians  had  arms  and  clothes  given  them. 

'  [Arrived  80  Waggons  from  Pennsylvania  with  Stores;  and  11  likewise 
from  Philadelphia,  with  Liquors,  Tea,  Sugar,  Coffee,  &c.,  to  the  Amount 
of  £400,  with  20  Horses,  as  presents  to  the  Officers  of  the  2  Regiments.] 

J  [A  Troop  of  Light-Horse  and  2  Companies  of  Sir  P.  Halket's  Regi- 
ment, under  the  command  of  Major  Chapman,  came  in  from  Winchester.] 


380  JOURNALS. 

On  the  23'''^: — Both  the  Regiments  exercised  and  went 
through  their  firings.''  Sent  3  of  our  men  to  the  Provost 
for  neglect  of  duty  and  disobedience  of  orders. 

On  the  24*'': — Our  Force  here  now  consists  of  2  Regi- 
ments of  700  men  each ;  9  companies  (Virginia)  of  50  men 
each;  3  Independent  Companies  of  100  men  each;  one 
Maryland  Company  of  50  men;  60  of  the  train'  and  30 
seamen.  This  day  2  men  were  drummed  out  of  Sir  Peter 
Halket's  Regiment  for  theft,  after  receiving  1000  lashes, 
and  preparations  making  for  marching. 

On  the  27*'' : — We  have  now  here  100  waggons,  which 
the  Commissaries  are  loading  with  provisions.  In  the  even- 
ing a  Captain's  Guard  marched  for  Winchester,  to  escort 
the  provisions  to  the  Camp.  Some  Indians  came  in  here 
belonging  to  the  Delawares. 

On  the  28*'':  —  At  11,  the  Delawares  met  at  the  Gene- 
ral's tent,  and  told  him  that  they  were  come  to  know  his 
intentions,  that  they  might  assist  the  Army.  The  General 
thanked  them,  and  said  he  should  march  in  a  few  days 
towards  Fort  De  Quesne,  The  Indians  told  him  they  would 
return  home  and  collect  their  warriors  together,  and  meet 
him  on  his  march.  These  people  are  villains,  and  always 
side  with  the  strongest.  At  noon  it  blowed  and  rained 
hard. 

On  the  29"^:  —  A  detachment  of  600  men  marched 
towards  Fort  de  Quesne,  under  the  command  of  Major 
Chapman,  with  2  field  pieces,  and  50  waggons  with  provi- 

''  [ — formiags.] 

'  2  New  York,  1  Independant  Carolina  Companies  of  100  men,  *  *  * 
1  Company  of  Artillery  of  60.] 


JOURNALS.  381 

sions.  Sir  John  St.  Clair,  2  Engineers,  Mr.  Spendlowe,  & 
6  of  our  people  to  cut  the  road,  and  some  Indians  went 
away  likewise."" 

On  the  30*'': — Arrived  here  a  Company  from  North 
Carolina,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Dobbs. 

June  1st:  —  We  hear  the  Detachment  is  got  15  miles: 
Mr.  Spendlowe  and  our  people  returned. 

On  the  2nd: — Col.  Burton,  Capt.  Orme,  Mr.  Spendlowe 
and  self  went  out  to  reconnoitre  the  road.  Mr.  Spendlowe 
left  us,  and  returned  to  Camp  at  2  o'clock,  and  reported  he 
had  found  a  road  to  avoid  a  great  mountain.  In  the  after- 
noon we  went  out  to  look  at  it,  and  found  it  would  be 
much  better  than  the  old  road,  and  not  above  2  miles 
about. 

On  the  3rd  :  — This  morning  an  Engineer"  and  100  men 
began  working  on  the  new  road  from  Camp,  and  Mr. 
Spendlowe  and  self  with  20  of  our  men  went  to  the  place 
where  the  new  road  comes  into  the  old  one,  and  began  to 
clear  away,  and  completed  a  mile  to-day. 

On  the  l**":  —  Went  out  to-day,  and  cleared  another 
mile.° 

On  the  5th  :  — We  went  out  as  before,  and  at  noon,  Mr. 
Spendlowe  and  I  went  to  the  other  party  to  mark  the  road 

"  [ — and  6  seamen  with  some  Indians  were  ordered  to  clear  the  Roads 
for  them.] 

°  [ — Mr.  Engineer  Gordon.] 

"  [1  Midshipman  and  20  men  cleared  f  of  a  Mile.] 


382  JOURNALS. 

for  them,  but  at  1,  it  came  to  blow,  rain,  thunder,  and 
lighten  so  much,  that  it  split  several  tents,  &  continued  so 
till  night,  when  we  returned  to  the  Camp. 

On  the  6^^: — We  went  out  as  usual,  and  at  2  o'clock 
completed  the  road,  &  returned  to  Camp.  This  Evening 
I  was  taken  ill. 

On  the  7th  :  — A  rainy  day,  with  thunder  and  lightning. 
Sir  Peter  Halket  and  his  Brigade  marched  with  2  field 
pieces,  and  some  waggons  with  provisions.  A  midshipman 
&  12  of  our  people  went  to  assist  the  train. 

On  the  9*'' :  — Orders  for  Col.  Dunbar's  Brigade  to  march 
tomorrow  morning. 

On  the  10''' :  —  The  Director  of  the  Hospital  came  to  see 
me  in  Camp,  and  found  me  so  ill  of  a  fever  and  flux,  that 
he  desired  me  to  stay  behind,  so  I  went  into  the  Hospital, 
&  the  Army  marched  with  the  Train  &c.,  and  as  I  was  in 
hopes  of  being  able  to  follow  them  in  a  few  days,  I  sent 
all  my  baggage  with  the  Army,  and  in  the  afternoon  the 
General,  liis  Aids  de  Camp  &c.,  with  a  company  of  Light- 
Horse,  marched.^ 


'  The  long  and  fatal  delay  of  the  English  at  Fort  Cumberland  was  un- 
doubtedly produced,  in  great  part,  by  the  necessities  of  the  case :  but  a 
different  view  of  the  matter  was  taken  by  some  of  the  subordinates  of  the 
army.  Thus  Captain  Rutherford,  after  pointing  out  the  success  which 
crowned  Halket's  command  of  the  encampment  at  that  place,  pictures 
Braddock  arriving  there  to  waste  the  precious  moments  like  a  second  Han- 
nibal at  Capiia.  According  to  his  letter  (Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin, 
Sept  lOth,  1849),  the  General  there  '<  spent  a  month  idly  with  his  women 
and  feasting."  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  writer  was  a  professed  supporter 
of  the  inefficient  Dunbar,  and  that  the  whole  burthen  of  his  strain  is  the 


JOURNALS.  383 

On  the  24*^^: — A  man  came  into  the  Fort,  and  reported 
that  a  party  of  Indians  of  about  20  had  surprised,  killed 
&  scalped  two  famihes  to  the  number  of  about  14  or  15 
people,  and  not  above  3  miles  from  this  place. 

On  the  26*'*: — An  account  came  in  of  2  more  families 
being  scalped  within  2  miles  of  us.  The  Governor  sent 
out  a  party  to  bury  the  dead,  as  well  as  to  scour  the  woods 
for  the  Indians.  They  found  a  child  of  about  7  years  old, 
standing  in  the  water  scalped  &  crying ;  they  brought  it 
into  the  Fort  and  the  Doctors  dressed  it :  it  had  2  holes  in 
its  skull,  besides  being  scalped,  but  was  in  spirits,  and  had 
its  skull  not  been  wounded  might  have  lived,  but  as  it  was 
it  died  in  a  week.  It  would  be  too  tedious  to  recount 
every  little  incident  here  in  the  Fort,  therefore  will  return 
to  the  Army,  and  give  an  account  of  their  proceedings  from 
the  time  they  left  us. 

June  10*^  1755.  The  last  division  of  His  Majesty's 
Forces  marched  from  Will's  Creek  or  Fort  Cumberland, 
with  General  Braddock  and  his  Aides  de  Camp,  &c. 

The  15*\— The  General  and  all  the  Army  arrived  at  the 
little  Meadows,  which  is  22  miles  from  the  Fort.  He  found 
here  that  the  number  of  carriages,  &c.,  that  he  had  with 
him  occasioned  his  marches  to  be  very  short,  and  that  in 
all  probability  if  they  continued  to  do  so,  the  French  fort 
would  be  reinforced  before  he  got  before  it.  He  there- 
fore  thought   proper  to  take  1200  of  the  choicest   men, 

laudation  of  that  incompetent  man  and  depreciation  of  Braddock.  The 
measures  adopted  by  the  General  upon  the  suggestion  of  Washington 
appear  to  have  elicited  his  warmest  indignation 


384  JOURNALS. 

besides  Artillery  and  Sailors,  with  the  most  necessary 
stores  that  would  be  wanted  to  attack  the  Fort,  making  up 
in  all  51  carriages,  and  left  all  the  heavy  baggage,  &c.  with 
Col.  Dunbar,  and  the  rest  of  the  forces  to  follow  him  as 
fast  as  possible,  and  marched  accordingly,  and  continued  so 
to  do  without  being  molested  (except  now  and  then  losing 
a  scalp,  which  in  the  whole  amounted  to  8  or  9,  a  number 
far  less  than  expected),  till  the  8^^  of  July,  when  he  en- 
camped within  8  miles  of  the  French  Fort,  and  there  held 
a  Council  of  War,  which  agreed  that  as  they  were  to  pass 
over  the  Mongohela  river  twice  (this  river  is  a  i  mile 
broad,  and  6  miles  from  the  French  Fort),  that  the 
Advance  party  should  parade  at  2  o'clock  to  secure  that 
pass,  as  on  the  contrary  if  the  Enemy  should  have  posses- 
sion of  it,  they  would  not  be  able  to  get  over  without  a 
great  loss.  They  likewise  agreed  that  the  Army  should 
march  over  the  river  in  the  greatest  order,  with  their 
bayonets  fixed,  Colors  flying,  and  Drums  and  Fifes  beating 
and  playing,  as  they  supposed  the  Enemy  would  take  a 
view  of  them  in  the  crossing. 

On  the  9*^  July,  1755. — The  advance  party  consisted  of 
400  men  and  upward,  under  the  command  of  Lieut.  Col. 
Gage,  and  marched  accordingly ;  and  about  7  o'clock  started  a 
party  of  about  30  Indians,  but  they  got  off.^  They  marched 
on  and  secured  both  crossings  of  the  river  without  inter- 


p  [About  7  o'clock,  some  Indians  Rushed  out  of  the  Bushes,  but  did  no 
Execution.//  The  party  went  on  and  secured  both  Passes  of  the  River; 
and  at  11  the  Main  Body  began  to  cross,  with  Colours  flying.  Drums  beat- 
ing, and  Fifes  playing  the  Grenadiers'  March,  and  soon  formed  :  when  they 
thought  that  the  French  would  not  Attack  them,  as  they  might  have  done 
it  with  such  Advantage  in  crossing  the  Monongohela.] 


JOURNALS.  385 

ruption.  The  main  body  marched  about  6  o'clock  and  about 
11  began  to  cross  over  as  proposed  in  the  Council  of  War, 
and  got  over  both  passes,  when  they  began  to  think  the 
French  would  not  attack  them,  as  they  might  have  done 
with  so  many  advantages  a  little  time  before. 

The  Advance  Party  was  now  about  i  of  a  mile  before 
the  Main  Body,  the  rear  of  which  was  just  over  the  river 
when  the  front  was  attacked.    The  2  Grenadier  Companies 
formed  the  2  flank  advance  Picquets,  2  Companies  of  Car- 
penters cutting   the  Roads,  and   the  rest  covering  them. 
The  first  fire  our  men  received  was  in  front,  and  on  the 
flank  of  the  flank  Picquets,  which  in  a  few  minutes  nearly 
cut  off  the  most  part  of  the  Grenadiers  and  a  Company  of 
Carpenters.-i     As  soon  as  the  General  with  the  Main  Body 
heard  the  Front  was  attacked,  they  hastened  to  succour 
them,  but  found  the  Remains  retreating.    Immediately  the 
General  ordered  the  cannon  to  draw  up  and  the  Batallion 
to  form.     By  this  time  the  Enemy  began  to  fire  on  the 
Main  Body,  who  faced  to  the  right  and  left  and  returned 
it,  and   the  Cannon  began  to  play,  but  could  not  see  at 
what,  for  our  men  were  formed  in  the  open  road  they  had 
just  cut,  and  the  Enemy  kept  the  Trees  in  front  and  on 
the  flanks.     On  the  right  they  had  possession  of  a  hill, 
which  we  could  never  get  possession  of,  though  our  Officers 
made  many  attempts  to  do  it :  but  if  the  Officers  dropped, 
which  was  generally  the  case,  or  that  the  Enemy  gave  a 

*  [The  first  fire  the  Enemy  gave  was  in  front,  and  they  likewise  galled 
the  Picquets  in  flank,  so  that  in  a  few  minutes  the  Grenadiers  were  nearly 
cut  in  pieces,  and  drove  into  the  greatest  confusion,  as  was  Captain  Poison's 
company  of  Carpenters.] 
25 


386  JOURNALS. 

platoon  of  ours  advancing  up  the  hill  a  smart  fire,  they 
immediately  retreated  down  again.  As  numbers  of  our 
Officers  declared  they  never  saw  above  4  of  the  Enemy  at 
a  time  the  whole  day,  it  struck  a  panic  through  our  men 
to  see  numbers  daily  falling  by  them,  and  even  their  com- 
rades scalped  in  their  sight.  As  soon  as  the  General  saw 
this  was  the  case,  he  ordered  that  our  men  should  divide 
into  small  parties  and  endeavour  to  surround  the  Enemy, 
but  by  this  time  the  greatest  part  of  the  Officers  were  either 
killed  or  wounded,  and  in  short  the  Soldiers  deaf  to  the 
commands  of  those  few  that  were  left  alive.'  By  this  time, 
too,  the  greatest  part  of  the  Train  w^ere  cut  off,  having 
fired  between  20  and  30  rounds  each  cannon,  for  the  Enemy 
made  a  mark  of  them  and  the  officers. 

The  General  had  4  horses  shot  under  him  before  he  was 
wounded,  which  was  towards  the  latter  end  of  the  Action, 

••  [It  was  in  an  open  Road  that  the  Main  Body  were  drawn  up,  but  the 
Trees  were  excessive  thick  around  them,  and  the  Enemy  had  possession  of 
a  Hill  to  the  Right,  which  consequently  was  of  great  advantage  to  them. 
Many  ofl&cers  declare  that  they  never  saw  above  5  of  the  Enemy  at  one  time 
during  the  whole  affair.  Our  soldiers  were  encouraged  to  make  many 
attempts  by  the  OflScers  (who  behaved  Gloriously),  to  take  the  Hill,  but 
they  had  been  so  intimidated  before  by  seeing  their  comrades  scalped  in 
their  sight,  and  such  numbers  falling,  that  as  they  advanced  up  towards  the 
Hill,  and  their  Officers  being  pict  off,  which  was  generally  the  case ;  they 
turned  to  the  Right  About,  and  retired  down  the  Hill.  When  the  General 
perceived  and  was  convinced  that  the  soldiers  would  not  fight  in  a  regular  man- 
ner without  Officers,  he  divided  them  into  small  parties  and  endeavoured  to 
surround  the  Enemy,  but  by  this  time  the  major  part  of  the  Officers  were 
either  killed  or  wounded,  and  in  short  the  soldiers  were  totally  deaf  to  the 
commands  and  persuasions  of  the  few  Officers  that  were  left  unhurt.  The 
General  had  4  Horses  shot  under  him  before  he  was  wounded,  which  was 
towards  the  latter  part  of  the  Action,  when  he  was  put  into  a  Waggon  with 
great  difficulty,  as  he  was  very  solicitous  for  being  left  in  the  Field.] 


JOURNALS.  387 

for  when  the  General  was  put  in  a  Waggon  the  men  soon 
dropped  out  of  the  field,  and  in  a  little  time  became  too 
general  after  standing  three  hours,  and  with  much  difficulty 
got  the  General  out  of  the  Field  (for  he  had  desired  to  be 
left.) '  It  was  the  opinion  of  most  of  the  Officers  there, 
that  had  greater  numbers  there,  it  would  have  been  the 
same,  as  our  people  had  never  any  hopes  of  getting  the 
field,  for  they  never  got  possession  of  the  ground  the  front 
was  attacked  on.  But  very  luckily  for  us  they  pursued  us 
no  further  than  the  Water,  and  there  killed  and  scalped 
many.  One  of  our  Engineers,  who  was  in  the  front  of  the 
Carpenters  marking  the  road,  saw  the  Enemy  first,  who 
were  then  on  the  run,  which  plainly  shews  they  were  just 
come  from  the  Fort,  and  their  intention  certainly  was  to 
secure  the  pass  of  the  Monongahela,  but  as  soon  as  they 
discovered  our  Army,  an  Officer  at  the  head  of  them  dressed 
as  an  Indian,  with  his  gorget  on,  waved  his  hat,  and  they 
immediately  dispersed  to  the  right  and  left,  forming  a  half- 
moon.*  It  was  impossible  to  judge  of  their  numbers,  but 
it  was  believed  they  had  at  least  man  for  man. 

'  According  to  Geo.  Groghan,  the  grenadiers  delivered  their  fire  at  200 
yards  distance,  completely  throwing  it  away.  (Chas.  Swayne's  letter  in 
Phila.  Evening  Bulletin,  Sept.  19th,  1849.)  The  same  authority  estimates 
the  French  in  the  action  at  300,  'clad  in  stuff's ;'  besides  the  naked  Indians. 
400  Onondagos,  he  says,  came  into  the  fort  the  day  before ;  and  there  were 
also  '  100  Delawares,  60  Wiandots,  40  Puywaws,  300  Pawwaws,  the  Shaw- 
nees  who  lived  about  Logtown,  and  some  of  all  other  tribes.'  In  conclu- 
sion, a  curious  anecdote  of  Braddock  is  given  :  when  Croghan  approached 
him,  after  he  was  wounded,  the  General  sought  to  possess  himself  of  the 
former's  pistols,  with  a  view  to  self-destruction.  The  story  is  given  here 
for  what  it  is  worth. 

«  [Mr.  Engineer  Gordon  was  the  first  Man  that  saw  the  Enemy,  being 
iu  the  Front  of  the  Carpenters,  marking  and  picketing  the  Roads  for  them 


388  JOURNALS. 

Our  remains  retreated  all  night,  and  got  to  Col.  Dunbar's 
Camp  the  next  day,  which  was  near  50  miles  from  the  field 
of  action,  and  then  the  General  ordered  Col.  Dunbar  to  pre- 
pare for  a  retreat,  in  order  to  which  they  were  obliged  to 
destroy  all  the  Ammunition  and  provisions  they  could  not 
possibly  carry,  and  the  reason  of  so  much  was  the  absolute 
necessity  there  was  for  a  number  of  waggons  to  carry  the 
wounded  officers  and  men :  The  General's  pains  increased 
in  such  a  manner  —  for  he  was  shot  through  the  arm  into 
the  body — together  with  the  great  uneasiness  he  was  under, 
that  on  the  12*^,  at  8  at  night,  he  departed  this  life,  much 
lamented  by  the  whole  Army,  and  was  decently,  though 
privately,  buried  next  morning.  The  number  killed, 
wounded,  and  left  on  the  Field,  as  appeared  by  the  returns 
from  the  different  companies,  was  896,  besides  Officers,  but 
cannot  say  any  particular  Company  suffered  more  than 
another,  except  the  Grenadier  Companies  and  Carpenters ; 
for  out  of  Colonel  Dunbar's  Grenadiers,  who  were  79  com- 
plete that  day,  only  9  returned  untouched,  and  out  of  70 
of  Halket's,  only  13.*  Amongst  the  rest,  I  believe  I  may 
say  the  Seamen  did  their  duty,  for  out  of  33,  only  15 
escaped  untouched:"  and  every  Grenadier  Officer  either 
killed  or  wounded.     Our  loss  that  day  consisted  of  4  field- 

and  he  declared  when  he  first  discovered  them,  that  they  were  on  the  Run, 
which  plainly  shows  they  were  just  come  from  Fort  Du  Quesne,  and  that 
their  principle  Intention  was  to  secure  the  pass  of  Monongohela  River,  but 
the  Officer  who  was  their  leader,  dressed  like  an  Indian,  with  a  gorget  on, 
waved  his  hat  by  way  of  signal  to  disperse  to  the  Right  and  Left,  forming 
a  half  Moon. 

*  [Sir  P.  Halket's  were  69,  and  only  13  came  out  of  the  Field.] 
'^  [The  Seamen  had  11  killed  and  wounded  out  of  33.] 


JOURNALS.  389 

pieces,  3  Howitzers,  and  2  "Waggons,  with  Coliorns,^  together 
with  the  51  carriages  of  provisions  and  Ammunition,  &c., 
and  Hospital  stores,  and  the  General's  private  chest  with 
£1000  in  it,'  and  about  200  horses  with  officers'  bao-^ao-e 

Col.  Dunbar  with  the  remains  of  the  Army  continued 
their  retreat,  and  returned  to  Will's  Creek,  or  Fort  Cum- 
berland, the  20*^^  of  July.^ 

» 

August  1^*,  1755.— Colonel  Dunbar  received  a  letter  from 
Commodore  Keppel,  desiring  the  Remains  of  the  Detach- 
ment of  Seamen  might  be  sent  to  Hampton  in  Virginia. 
Colonel  Dunbar  gave  us  our  orders,  and  on  the  3"^  we  left 
the  Army,  marched  down  through  Virginia,  and  on  the 
18*^  we  arrived  on  board  His  Majesty's  ship  "Garland"  at 
Hampton.^ 


^  [4  six  pounders,  2  twelve-pounders,  3  howitzers,  8  cohorns.] 

'  Probably  a  clerical  error  for  £10,000. 

"^  [On  the  21st,  the  wounded  officers  and  soldiers  were  brought  in.] 

^  [30th  July.    Orders  were  given  for  the  Army  to  march  the  2nd  August. 

1st  August.  Colonel  Dunbar  received  a  letter  from  Commodore  Kepple 
to  send  the  Seamen  to  Hampton,  and  accordingly  the  2nd,  they  marched 
with  the  Army,  and  on  the  3rd  August  left  them. 

August  5th.     Arrived  at  "Winchester. 

August  11th.  Marched  into  Frederichshurgh,  and  hired  a  Vessel  to 
carry  the  Seamen  to  Eamptonv^here  they  embarked  on  board  His  Majesty's 
ship  Guarland  the  18th  August,  1755.] 


!ji)iniMre5. 


(391) 


APPENDIX  No.  I. 


BRADDOCK'S  INSTRUCTIONS,  ETC. 

[The  first  paper  tbat  ensues  is  printed  from  a  contemporaneous  copy  in 
II.  Penn.  Arch.  203,  which  more  than  probably  was  given  to  Gov.  Morris, 
if  not  by  the  general  himself,  at  least  by  one  of  his  family;  by  Shirley  or 
Orme.  It  naturally  differs  materially  from  the  copy  translated  from  Eng- 
lish into  French  and  back  again  into  English,  published  in  the  American 
version  of  the  French  3ISmoire.  (II.  Olden  Time,  217.)  The  second 
document  is  that  taken  from  the  M^moire  as  above,  collated  with  the 
garbled  fragments  in  XXVI.  Gent.  Mag.,  269.] 

ffi^.  H.  Instructions  for  our  Trusty  &  well  beloved  Ediv'd  Braddoch, 
Esqr.  Major  General  of  all  our  Forces,  and  whom  We  have  appointed 
Gen>  &  Commander  of  all  &  singular  our  Troops  &  Forces  y*  are  now  in 
North  America,  &  y*  shall  be  sent  or  raisd  there  to  vindicate  our  just  Rights 
&  Possessions  in  those  Parts.  Given  at  our  Court,  at  S*  James,  y<=  25*" 
day  of  Nov,  1754,  in  the  28*"  Year  of  our  Reign. 

Whereas,  We  have  by  our  Commission,  bearing  date  the  24*"  day  of 
Sept'  last  past,  appointed  you  to  be  Gen>  &  Commander  of  all  &  singular 
our  Forces,  y*  are  or  shall  be  in  North  America.  For  your  better  direction 
in  discharge  of  y«  Trust  thereby  reposed  in  You,  We  have  judged  it  proper 
to  give  You  the  following  Instructions. 

l«t.  We  having  taken  under  our  Royal  &  serious  Consideration  the 
Representations  of  our  Subjects  in  North  America,  &  y«  present  State  of 
our  Colonies,  in  order  to  vindicate  our  just  Rights  and  Possessions  from  all 
Encroachments,  &  to  secure  y^  Commerce  of  our  Subjects,  We  have  given 

(393) 


394  APPENDIX    NO.    I. 

direction  y*  Two  of  our  Regiments  of  Foot  now  in  Ireland,  commanded  by 
S'  Peter  Halket  &  Col.  Dunbar,  &  likewise  a  suitable  Train  of  Artillery, 
Transports  &  Store  Ships,  together  with  a  certain  Number  of  our  Ships  of 
War,  to  convey  the  same,  shall  forthwith  repair  to  North  America. 

2*.  You  shall  immediately,  upon  y«  Receit  of  these  our  Instructions, 
embark  on  board  one  of  our  Ships  of  War,  and  you  shall  proceed  to  North 
America,  where  you  will  take  our  said  Force  under  your  Command,  And 
We  having  appointed  Aug.  Keppel,  Esq"".,  to  command  y*  Squadron  of  our 
Ships  of  War  on  y''  American  Station,  We  do  hereby  require  &  enjoin  you 
to  cultivate  a  good  understanding  &  correspondence  with  y*'  s"*  Commander 
of  our  Squadron  during  your  continuance  upon  y^  Service,  with  which  you 
are  now  entrusted.  We  having  given  directions  of  y*  like  nature  to  y^  s"* 
Commander  of  our  Squadron,  with  Regard  to  his  conduct  &  correspondence 
with  you. 

3*,  And  Whereas,  there  will  be  wanting  a  number  of  men  to  make  up 
y*  designed  complements  of  our  said  Regiments,  from  500  to  700  each : 
And  Whereas,  it  is  our  Intention  y*  Two  other  Regiments  of  Foot,  to  con- 
sist of  1000  men  each,  shall  be  forthwith  raised  &  comanded  by  Gov' 
Shirley  and  S""  W".  Pepperell,  whom  We  have  appointed  Col'  of  y*  same 
in  our  Provinces  &  Colonies,  in  North  America,  and  have  given  directions 
y*  y*  Regiment  under  y®  command  of  y^  former  should  rendezvous  at 
Boston,  &  y^  under  y*  command  of  y*  latter  at  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia ;  and  We  having  given  orders  to  our  several  Governors  to  be  taking 
the  previous  steps  toward  contributing,  as  far  as  they  can,  to  have  about 
3000  men  in  readiness  to  be  enlisted  for  these  Purposes,  &  to  be  put  in 
Proportion  as  they  shall  be  raised  under  your  command,  &  be  subject  to 
your  distribution  into  the  corps  above  mentioned.  And  We  having  thought 
proper  to  dispatch  Sir  John  S'.  Clair,  our  deputy  Quarter  Master  Gen',  & 
Ja\  Pitcher,  Esq"".,  our  Commissary  of  y^  musters,  in  North  America,  to 
prepare  every  thing  necessary  for  y'  arrival  of  y*  Two  Regiments  from 
Europe,  and  for  y*  raising  of  y*  Forces  above  mentioned,  in  America.  You 
will  inform  yourself  of  such  of  our  Governors  as  you  can  most  conveniently 
upon  your  arrival,  &  of  all  of  them  in  due  time,  &  likewise  of  our  s*  deputy 
Quarter  Master  Gen*  &  Commissary  of  y^  musters,  concerning  y^  Progress 
they  shall  respectively  have  made  in  y*  Execution  of  our  commands  above 
mentioned,  in  order  y*  you  may  be  enabled  without  delay  to  act  accord- 
ingly. 

4*''.  Whereas,  it  has  been  represented  to  Us  y*  y*  Forces,  which  are  to 
go  from  Cork  under  your  command,  may  be  in  want  of  Provisions  upon  y" 
arrival  in  America,  We  have  caused  in  consideration  thereof  1000  Barrels 
of  Beef  and  10  Tons  of  Butter,  to  be  put  on  board  the  Transport  Vessels, 


APPENDIX    NO.    I,  395 

&  to  be  delivered  to  you  upon  your  arrival  in  America,  in  case  you  shall 
find  y«  same  to  be  necessary  in  order  to  be  distributed  among  y«  officers  & 
Troops,  &  y"  several  Persons  belonging  to  y*  Train  of  Artillery.  But  it  is 
our  Royal  Will  &  Pleasure,  y*  in  case  y«  Gov"  of  our  Colonies  shall  have 
provided  a  proper  Quantity  of  Provisions  for  our  Troops  upon  their  arrival, 
you  will  then  signify  y«  same  to  y*^  Commander  in  Chief  of  our  Fleet  in 
those  Parts,  y'  y"  s*  1000  Barrels  of  Beef  and  10  Tons  of  Butter,  or  such 
Part  thereof  as  shall  not  be  expended  may  be  applied  to  y^  Use  of  our 
Royal  Navy. 

5*".  Whereas,  We  have  given  Orders  to  our  said  Gov*  to  provide  care- 
fully a  sufficient  Quantity  of  fresh  victuals  for  y«  use  of  our  Troops  at  their 
arrival,  &  y»  they  should  also  furnish  all  our  officers  who  may  have  occasion 
to  go  from  Place  to  Place,  with  all  necessaries  for  travelling  by  Land,  in 
case  there  are  no  means  of  going  by  Sea ;  &  likewise,  to  observe  &  obey 
all  such  orders  as  shall  be  given  by  You  or  Persons  appointed  by  you  from 
time  to  time  for  quartering  the  Troops,  impressing  Carriages,  &  providing 
all  necessaries  for  such  Forces  as  shall  arrive  or  be  raised  in  America,  and 
yt  the  s*  several  Services  shall  be  performed  at  the  charge  of  y«  respective 
Governments,  wherein  the  same  shall  happen.  It  is  our  Will  &  Pleasure 
y*  you  should,  pursuant  thereto,  apply  to  our  s*  Governors,  or  any  of  them, 
upon  all  such  Exigencies. 

6"^.  And  Whereas,  We  have  further  directed  our  said  Gov"  to  endea- 
vour to  prevail  upon  y«  Assemblies  of  their  respective  Provinces  to  raise 
forthwith  as  large  a  sum  as  can  be  afforded  as  their  contribution  to  a 
common  Fund,  to  be  employed  provisionally  for  j"  general  Service  in 
North  America,  particularly  for  paying  the  charge  of  levying  y"  Troops  to 
make  up  y«  complements  of  y*  Regiments  above-mentioned.  It  is  our  Will 
&  Pleasure  y*  you  shou'd  give  them  all  y«  advice  &  assistance  you  can 
towards  effectuating  these  good  Purposes,  by  establishing  such  a  common 
Fund  as  may  fully  supply  y  intended  Service ;  But  you  will  take  particular 
Care  to  prevent  y*  Payment  of  any  money  whatever  to  y"  Troops  under 
your  command,  except  such  as  shall  be,  pursuant  to  y^  Returns,  made  to 
you  of  eifective  men. 

7"".  We  having  likewise  directed  our  s"  Gov"  to  correspond,  advise  & 
confer  with  you  about  all  such  matters  as  may  tend  to  y*  promoting  the 
said  Levies  in  their  respective  Provinces,  you  are  hereby  required  to  be 
aiding  &  assisting  to  them  in  y«  Execution  of  our  s*  Instructions,  for  which 
purpose  you  will  not  only  keep  a  constant  &  frequent  correspondence  in 
writing  with  them,  but  will  likewise  visit  the  s*  Provinces,  or  any  one  of 
them  y'  you  shall  think  it  necessary  for  our  Service  so  to  do.  And  you 
will  remind  our  said  Governors  to  use  all  possible  dispatch,  that  y«  Execution 


396  APPENDIX    NO.    I. 

of  our  design  may  not  be  retarded  by  y*  Slowness  of  Levies  to  be  made 
in  their  respective  Provinces,  or  for  y*  Want  of  Transports,  Victuals,  or 
any  other  necessaries,  at  such  times  &  Places  as  you  shall  think  fit  to  ap- 
point for  their  General  Rendezvous.  And  if  any  Preparation  should  be 
necessary  for  carrying  on  our  Service,  which  is  not  contained  in  these  our 
Instructions,  you  shall,  with  y^  concurrence  of  the  Governors  who  are  to 
assist  in  any  such  Service,  make  any  such  Preparations,  provided  y'  y* 
same  shall  appear  to  you  absolutely  necessary  for  y*  Defence  of  our  just 
Rights  and  Dominions ;  and  you  will,  in  all  such  Emergencies  &  occurrences 
y*  may  happen,  whether  herein  mentioned  or  not  provided  for  by  these 
Instructions,  not  only  use  your  best  Circumspection,  but  shall  likewise  call 
to  your  assistance  a  Council  of  War  when  necessary,  which  We  have 
thought  fit  to  appoint  upon  this  occasion,  consisting  of  yourself,  y*  Com- 
mander in  Chief  of  our  Ships  in  those  Parts,  such  Governors  of  our 
Colonies  or  Provinces,  &  such  Colonels  &  other  of  our  Field  officers  as 
shall  happen  to  be  at  a  convenient  distance  from  our  s*  Gen^  &  Commander 
of  our  Forces,  and  you  shall  with  y"  advice  of  them  or  a  majority  of  them, 
determine  all  Operations  to  be  performed  by  our  said  Forces  under  your 
command,  and  all  other  important  points  relating  thereto,  in  a  manner  y* 
shall  be  most  conducive  to  y''  Ends  for  which  y*  s*  Forces  are  intended,  & 
for  y°  faithful  discharge  of  y*  great  Trust  hereby  committed  to  you. 

S*^.  You  will  not  only  cultivate  y*  best  Harmony  &  Friendship  possible 
with  y*  several  Governors  of  our  Colonies  &  Provinces,  but  likewise  with 
y"  Chiefs  of  y*  Indian  Tribes,  &  for  y^  better  Improvement  of  our  good 
Correspondence  with  y^  s**  Indian  Tribes,  you  will  find  out  some  fit  & 
proper  Person  agreeable  to  the  Southern  Indians  to  be  sent  to  them  for  this 
purpose,  in  like  manner  as  we  have  orderd  Col.  Johnson  to  repair  to  y' 
Northern  Indians,  as  y*  person  thought  to  be  most  acceptable  to  them,  to 
endeavour  to  engage  them  to  take  part  &  act  with  our  Forces,  in  such 
operations  as  you  shall  think  most  expedient. 

9*'^.  You  will  inform  yourself  from  time  to  time,  of  y^  Nature  &  Value 
of  y^  Presents  y*  shall  be  voted  or  orderd  by  y^  Assemblies  of  our  different 
Colonies  &  Provinces,  in  y''  accustomed  manner  of  the  inviting  &  engaging 
y^  Indian  Tribes  to  our  Alliance  &  Interest,  and  you  will  be  very  watchful 
y*  a  just  &  faithful  distribution  be  made  of  y'  same,  by  all  such  Persons 
who  shall  be  entrusted  therewith,  and  you  shall  assist  y'  s*  Persons  with 
your  best  advice  in  y*  s*  distribution.  You  will  likewise  give  a  particular 
attention  to  y'  prudent  disposal  of  such  Presents  as  shall  be  made  upon 
any  Occasion,  or  such  as  shall  have  been  prepared  by  Lieut.  Governor  Din- 
widdie,  for  y'  said  Indians,  out  of  y*  money  already  vested  in  his  Hands 
or  otherwise. 


APPENDIX     NO.    I.  397 

* 

lO***.  Whereas,  it  has  been  represented  to  Us,  y'  an  illegal  Correspond- 
ence &  Trade  is  frequently  carried  on  between  the  French  &  our  Subjects 
in  y""  several  Colonies,  you  will  diligently  take  all  possible  measures  to  pre- 
vent the  continuance  of  all  such  dangerous  Practices,  particularly  that  the 
French  should  not,  upon  any  account  whatever,  be  supplied  with  Provi- 
sions, &c*. 

11*''.  Whereas,  We  have  thought  it  necessary  upon  this  occasion  to 
establish  &  ascertain  the  Rank  that  shall  be  observed  between  the  officers 
bearing  our  immediate  Commission,  &  those  who  act  under  the  Commis- 
sions of  our  Governors,  Lieu*  or  Deputy  Governors,  or  y°  Presidents  of  our 
Colonies,  for  the  Time  being.  We  have  orderd  several  printed  Copies 
thereof  to  be  put  into  your  Hands,  to  be  affix'd  or  dispersd  as  you  shall 
judge  proper  in  America. 

12*".  You  will  herewith  receive  a  Copy  of  y*  early  directions  that  were 
sent  by  our  Order  on  y'  28*"  August,  1753,  to  our  several  Governors,  en- 
joining &  exhorting  our  Colonies  &  Provinces,  in  North  America,  to  unite 
together  for  their  common  &  mutual  defence,  &  you  will  see  by  our  direc- 
tions of  5*"  July,  Copies  whereof  are  now  also  delivered  to  you  our  repeated 
commands,  for  enforcing  thfe  Observance  of  our  said  orders  of  y*  28*'» 
August,  1753,  and  y*  We  were  graciously  pleased  to  order  the  Sum  of 
£10,000  to  be  remitted  in  Specie  to  Lieu*  Gov"'  Dinwiddle,  to  draw  Bills 
for  a  farther  Sum  of  £10,000,  upon  y'  conditions  mentioned  in  our  War- 
rant of  the  3*  July  last,  &  transmitted  to  y°  s*  L*  Gov""  Dinwiddle,  on  y* 
27th  Sept""  following,  by  our  Order  for  y'  general  Service  &  Protection  of 
North  America,  and  y'  several  other  Letters  of  October  y*  25  &  26,  &  of 
Nov  y^  4'",  to  our  Gov",  to  Sir  W™.  Pepperell  &  Col.  Shirley,  Copies  of 
which  will  be  delivered  to  you  herewith,  will  fully  acquaint  you  with  our 
Orders  &  Instructions  which  have  been  signified  to  our  officers  &  Governors 
upon  this  Subject,  at  those  respective  Times,  wilt  enable  you  to  inform 
yourself  what  Progress  has  been  made  in  the  Execution  thereof;  And  as 
Extracts  of  Lieut*  Gov"-  Dinwiddle's  Letters  of  May  lO*",  June  18'",  & 
July  24*'>,  relating  to  the  Summons  of  the  Fort  which  was  erecting  on  y* 
Forks  of  y^  Monongahela,  and  y°  Skirmish  y*  followed  soon  after,  &  likewise 
of  y^  action  in  the  Great  Meadows,  near  the  River  Ohio,  are  herewith  de- 
livered to  you,  you  will  be  fully  acquainted  with  what  has  hitherto  hap- 
pened of  a  hostile  Nature  upon  the  Banks  of  that  River. 

13"'.  You  will  not  fail  to  send  Us  by  the  first,  &  every  occasion  that 
may  offer,  a  full  and  clear  account  of  your  Proceedings,  &  of  all  material 
Points  relating  to  our  Service,  by  Letter,  to  one  of  our  Principal  Secreta- 
ries of  State,  from  whom  you  shall  receive,  from  time  to  time,  such  farther 
Orders  as  may  be  necessary  for  your  Guidance  and  Direction. 


398  APPENDIX    NO.     I. 


A  LETTER  WRITTEN  BY  COLONEL  NAPIER  AND  SENT  TO 
GENERAL  BRADDOCK  BY  ORDER  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  CUM- 
BERLAND. 

London,  Novemher  25th,  1754. 

Sir, 

His  Royal  Highness  the  Duke,  in  the  several  audiences  he  has 
given  you,  entered  into  a  particular  explanation  of  every  part  of  the  ser- 
vice you  are  about  to  be  employed  in ;  and  as  a  better  rule  for  the  execu- 
tion of  His  Majesty's  instructions,  he  last  Saturday  communicated  to  you 
his  own  sentiments  of  this  aifair,  and  since  you  were  desirous  of  forgetting 
no  part  thereof,  he  has  ordered  me  to  deliver  them  to  you  in  writing.  His 
Royal  Highness  has  this  service  very  much  at  heart,  as  it  is  of  the  highest 
importance  to  his  majesty's  American  dominions,  and  to  the  honour  of  his 
troops  employed  in  those  parts.  His  Royal  Highness  likewise  takes  a  par- 
ticular interest  in  it,  as  it  concerns  you,  whom  he  recommended  to  his 
majesty  to  be  nominated  to  the  chief  command. 

His  Royal  Highness's  opinion  is,  that  immediately  after  your  landing, 
you  consider  what  artillery  and  other  implements  of  war  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  transport  to  Will's  Creek  for  your  first  operation  on  the  Ohio,  that 
it  may  not  fail  you  in  the  service ;  and  that  you  form  a  second  field  train, 
with  good  officers  and  soldiers,  which  shall  be  sent  to  Albany  and  be  ready 
to  march  for  the  second  operation  at  Niagara.  You  are  to  take  under 
your  command  as  many  as  you  think  necessary  of  the  two  companies  of  artil- 
lery that  are  in  Nova  Scotia  and  Newfoundland  as  soon  as  the  season  will 
allow,  taking  care  to  leave  enough  to  defend  the  Island.  Captain  Ord,  a 
very  experienced  officer,  of  whom  his  Royal  Highness  has  a  great  opinion, 
will  join  you  as  soon  as  possible. 

As  soon  as  Shirley's  and  Pepperel's  regiments  are  near  complete,  his 
Royal  Highness  is  of  opinion  you  should  cause  them  to  encamp,  not  only 
that  they  may  sooner  be  disciplined,  but  also  to  draw  the  attention  of  the 
French  aqd  keep  them  in  suspense  about  the  place  you  really  design  to 
attack.  His  Royal  Highness  does  not  doubt  that  the  officers  and  captains 
of  the  several  companies  will  answer  his  expectation  in  forming  and  disci- 
plining their  respective  troops.  The  most  strict  discipline  is  always  neces- 
sary, but  more  particularly  so  in  the  service  you  are  engaged  in.  Where- 
fore his  Royal  Highness  recommends  to  you  that  it  be  constantly  observed 
among  the  troops  under  your  command,  and  to  be  particularly  careful  that 


APPENDIX     NO.    I.  399 

they  be  not  thrown  into  a  panic  by  the  Indians,  with  whom  they  are  yet 
unacquainted,  whom  the  French  will  certainly  employ  to  frighten  them. 
His  Royal  Highness  recommends  to  you  the  visiting  your  posts  night  and 
day ;  that  your  Colonels  and  other  officers  be  careful  to  do  it ;  and  that  you 
yourself  frequently  set  them  the  example ;  and  give  all  your  troops  plainly 
to  understand  that  no  excuse  will  be  admitted  for  any  surprise  whatsoever. 
Should  the  Ohio  expedition  continue  any  considerable  time,  and  Peppe- 
rell's  and  Shirley's  regiments  be  found  sufficient  to  undertake  in  the  mean 
while  the  reduction  of  Niagara,  his  Royal  Highness  would  have  you  con- 
sider whether  you  could  go  there  in  person,  leaving  the  command  of  the 
troops  on  the  Ohio  to  some  officer  on  whom  you  might  depend,  unless  you 
shall  think  it  better  for  the  service  to  send  to  those  troops  some  person 
whom  you  had  designed  to  command  on  the  Ohio ;  but  this  is  a  nice  affair, 
and  claims  your  particular  attention.  Colonel  Shirley  is  the  next  com- 
mander after  you,  wherefore  if  you  should  send  such  an  officer  he  must 
conduct  himself  so  as  to  appear  only  in  quality  of  a  friend  or  counsellor  in 
the  presence  of  Colonel  Shirley:  and  his  Royal  Highness  is  of  opinion 
that  the  officer  must  not  produce  or  make  mention  of  the  commission  you 
give  him  to  command  except  in  a  case  of  absolute  necessity. 

The  ordering  of  these  matters  may  be  depended  on,  if  the  expedition  at 
Crown  Point  can  take  place  at  the  same  time  that  Niagara  is  besieged. 

If  after  the  Ohio  expedition  is  ended  it  should  be  necessary  for  you  to 
go  with  your  whole  force  to  Niagara  it  is  the  opinion  of  his  Royal  High- 
ness that  you  should  carefully  endeavour  to  find  a  shorter  way  from  the 
Ohio  thither  than  that  of  the  Lake ;  which  however  you  are  not  to  attempt 
under  any  pretence  whatever  without  a  moral  certainty  of  being  supplied 
with  provisions,  &c.  As  to  your  design  of  making  yourself  master  of  Ni- 
agara, which  is  of  the  greatest  consequence,  his  Royal  Highness  recom- 
mends to  you  to  leave  nothing  to  chance  in  the  prosecution  of  that  enter- 
prize. 

With  regard  to  the  reducing  of  Crown  Point,  the  provincial  troops  being 
best  acquainted  with  the  country,  will  be  of  the  most  service. 

After  the  taking  of  this  fort  his  Royal  Highness  advises  you  to  consult 
with  the  Grovernors  of  the  neighboring  provinces,  where  it  will  be  most 
proper  to  build  a  fort  to  cover  the  frontiers  of  those  provinces. 

As  to  the  forts  which  you  think  ought  to  be  built  (and  of  which  they 
are  perhaps  too  fond  in  that  country),  his  Royal  Highness  recommends 
the  building  of  them  in  such  manner,  that  they  may  not  require  a  strong 
garrison.  He  is  of  opinion  that  you  ought  not  to  build  considerable  forts, 
cased  with  stone,  till  the  plans  and  estimates  thereof  have  been  sent  to 
England  and  approved  of  by  the  Government  here.     His  Royal  Highness 


400  APPENDIX    NO.    I. 

thinks  that  stockaded  forts,  with  pallisadoes  and  a  good  ditch,  capable  of 
containing  200  men  or  400  upon  an  emergenc'y,  will  be  sufficient  for  the 
present. 

As  Lieutenant  Colonel  Lawrence,  who  commands  at  Nova  Scotia,  hath 
long  protracted  the  taking  of  Beau-Sejour,  his  Royal  Highness  advises  you 
to  consult  with  him,  both  with  regard  to  the  time  and  the  manner  of  exe- 
cuting that  design.  In  this  enterprize  his  Eoyal  Highness  foresees  that 
his  majesty's  ships  may  be  of  great  service,  as  well  by  transporting  the 
troops  and  warlike  implements,  as  intercepting  the  stores  and  succours  that 
might  be  sent  to  the  French  either  by  the  Baye  Francjoise,  or  from  Cape 
Breton  by  the  Baye  Verte  on  the  other  side  of  the  Isthmus. 

With  regard  to  your  winter  quarters  after  the  operations  of  the  campaign 
are  finished,  his  Royal  Highness  recommends  it  to  you  to  examine  whether 
the  French  will  not  endeavor  to  make  some  attempts  next  season  and  in 
what  parts  they  will  most  probably  make  them.  In  this  case  it  will  be  most 
proper  to  canton  your  troops  on  that  side,  at  such  distances,  that  they  may 
easily  be  assembled  for  the  common  defence.  But  you  will  be  determined 
in  this  matter  by  appearances,  and  the  intelligence,  which  it  hath  been 
recommended  to  you  to  procure  by  every  method  immediately  after  your 
landing.  It  is  unnecessary  to  put  you  in  mind  how  careful  you  must  be 
to  prevent  being  surprised.  His  Royal  Highness  imagines  that  your 
greatest  difficulty  will  be  the  subsisting  of  your  troops.  He  therefore 
recommends  it  to  you  to  give  your  chief  attention  to  this  matter,  and  to 
take  proper  measures  relative  thereto  with  the  Governors  and  with  your 
quarter-masters  and  commissaries. 

I  hope  that  the  extraordinary  supply  put  on  board  the  fleet,  and  the 
1000  barrels  of  beef  destined  for  your  use,  will  facilitate  and  secure  the 
supplying  of  your  troops  with  provisions. 

I  think  I  have  omitted  nothing  of  all  the  points  wherein  you  desired  to 
be  informed  :  if  there  should  be  any  intricate  point  unthought  of,  I  desire 
<you  would  represent  it  to  me  now,  or  at  any  other  time ;  and  I  shall  readily 
take  it  upon  me  to  acquaint  his  Royal  Highness  thereof,  and  shall  let  you 
know  his  opinion  on  the  subject. 

I  wish  you  much  success  with  all  my  heart ;  and  as  this  success  will  infi- 
nitely rejoice  all  your  friends,  I  desire  you  would  be  fully  persuaded  that 
no  body  will  take  greater  pleasure  in  acquainting  them  thereof,  than  him, 
who  is,  &c. 

{Signed.)  ROBERT  NAPIER. 

(A.  D.  C.  to  the  Duke.) 


APPENDIX  No.  II. 


FANNY  BRADDOCK. 


GoldsmitKs  Miscellaneous  Works  {London^  1837),  Vol.  lll.j  p.  294. 
(1/i/e  of  Richard  Nash.') 

"  Miss  Sylvia  S was  descended  from  one  of  the  best  families  in  the 

kingdom,  and  was  left  a  large  fortune  upon  her  sister's  decease.  She  had 
early  in  life  been  introduced  into  the  best  company,  and  contracted  a  pas- 
sion for  elegance  and  expense.  It  is  usual  to  make  the  heroine  of  a  story 
very  witty  and  very  beautiful,  and  such  circumstances  are  so  surely 
expected,  that  they  are  scarce  attended  to.  But  whatever  the  finest  poet 
could  conceive  of  wit,  or  the  most  celebrated  painter  imagine  of  beauty, 
were  excelled  in  the  perfections  of  this  young  lady.  Her  superiority  in 
both  was  allowed  by  all  who  either  heard  or  had  seen  her.  She  was  natu- 
turally  gay,  generous  to  a  fault,  good-natured  to  the  highest  degree,  afiable 
in  conversation,  and  some  of  her  letters  and  other  writings,  as  well  in  verse 
as  prose,  would  have  shone  amongst  those  of  the  most  celebrated  wits  of 
this,  or  any  other  age,  had  they  been  published. 

"  But  these  qualifications  were  marked  by  another,  which  lessened  the 
value  of  them  all.  She  was  imprudent.  But  let  it  not  be  imagined  that 
her  reputation  or  honour  sufi"ered  by  her  imprudence :  I  only  mean,  she 
had  no  knowledge  of  the  use  of  money;  she  relieved  distress  by  putting 
herself  into  the  circumstances  of  the  object  whose  wants  she  supplied. 

"  She  was  arrived  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  when  the  crowd  of  her  lovers 
and  the  continued  repetition  of  new  flattery  had  taught  her  to  think  she 
could  never  be  forsaken,  and  never  poor.     Young  ladies  are  apt  to  expect 

26  (401) 


402  APPENDIX     NO.    II. 

a  certainty  of  success  from  a  number  of  lovers;  and  yet  I  have  seldom 
seen  a  girl  courted  by  a  hundred  lovers  that  found  a  husband  in  any. 
Before  the  choice  is  fixed,  she  has  either  lost  her  reputation  or  her  good 
sense ;  and  the  loss  of  either  is  sufficient  to  consign  her  to  perpetual 
virginity. 

"  Among  the  number  of  this  young  lady's  lovers  was  the  celebrated 

S ,  who,  at  that  time,  went  by  the  name  of  '  the  good-natured  man.' 

This  gentleman,  with  talents  that  might  have  done  honour  to  humanity, 
suffered  himself  to  fall  at  length  into  the  lowest  state  of  debasement.  He 
followed  the  dictates  of  every  newest  passion ;  his  love,  his  pity,  his  gene- 
rosity, and  even  his  friendships  were  all  in  excess ;  he  was  unable  to  make 
head  against  any  of  his  sensations  or  desires ;  but  they  were  in  general 
worthy  wishes  and  desires,  for  he  was  constitutionally  virtuous.  This  gen- 
tleman, who  at  last  died  in  a  gaol,  was  at  that  time  this  lady's  envied 
favourite. 

''  It  is  probable  that  he,  thoughtless  creature,  had  no  other  prospect 
from  this  amour  but  that  of  passing  the  present  moments  agreeably.  He 
only  courted  dissipation,  but  the  lady's  thoughts  were  fixed  on  happiness. 
At  length,  however,  his  debts  amounting  to  a  considerable  sum,  he  was 
arrested  and  thrown  into  prison.  He  endeavoured  at  first  to  conceal  his 
situation  from  his  beautiful  mistress;  but  she  soon  came  to  a  knowledge  of 
his  distress,  and  took  the  fatal  resolution  of  freeing  him  from  confinement 
by  discharging  all  the  demands  of  his  creditors. 

"Nash  was  at  that  time  in  London,  and  represented  to  the  thoughtless 
young  lady,  that  such  a  measure  would  effectually  ruin  both ;  that  so  warm 

a  concern  for  the  interests  of  Mr.  S would  in  the  first  place  quite 

impair  her  fortune  in  the  eyes  of  our  sex,  and  what  was  worse,  lessen  her 

reputation  in  those  of  her  own.     He  added,  that  this  bringing  Mr.  S 

from  prisiin  would  be  only  a  temporary  relief;  that  a  mind  so  generous  as 
his  would  become  bankrupt  under  the  load  of  gratitude;  and  instead  of 
improving  in  friendship  or  affection,  he  would  only  study  to  avoid  a  creditor 
he  could  never  repay ;  that  though  small  favours  produce  good-will,  great 
ones  destroy  friendship.  These  admonitions,  however,  were  disregarded ; 
and  she  found,  too  late,  the  prudence  and  truth  of  her  adviser.  In  short, 
her  fortune  was  by  this  means  exhausted ;  and,  with  all  her  attractions, 
she  found  her  acquaintance  began  to  disesteem  her  in  proportion  as  she 
became  poor. 

"  In  this  situation  she  accepted  Nash's  invitation  of  returning  to  Bath. 
He  promised  to  introduce  her  to  the  best  company  there,  and  he  was 
assured  that  her  merit  would  do  the  rest.  Upon  her  very  first  appearance, 
ladies  of  the  highest  distinction  courted  her  friendship  and  esteem;  but  a 


APPENDIX     NO.    II.  403 

settled  melancholy  had  taken  possession  of  her  mind,  and  no  amusements 
that  they  could  propose  were  sufficient  ,to  divert  it.  Yet  still,  as  if  from 
habit,  she  followed  the  crowd  in  its  levities,  and  frequented  those  places 
where  all  persons  endeavour  to  forget  themselves  in  the  bustle  of  ceremony 
and  show. 

"  Her  beauty,  her  simplicity,  and  her  unguarded  situation  soon  drew  the 
attention  of  a  designing  wretch,  who  at  that  time  kept  one  of  the  rooms  at 
Bath,  and  who  thought  that  this  lady's  merit,  properly  managed,  might 
turn  to  good  account.  This  woman's  name  was  Lindsey,  a  creature  who, 
though  vicious,  was  in  appearance  sanctified,  and,  though  designing,  had 
some  wit  and  humour.  She  began  by  the  humblest  assiduity  to  ingratiate 
herself  with  Miss  S ;  shewed  that  she  could  be  amusing  as  a  compa- 
nion, and,  by  frequent  offers  of  money,  proved  that  she  could  be  useful  as 
a  friend.  Thus  by  degrees  she  gained  an  entire  ascendency  over  this  poor, 
thoughtless,  deserted  girl;  and  in  less  than  one  year,  namely,  about  1727, 

Miss  S ,  without  ever  transgressing  the  laws  of  virtue,  had  entirely 

lost  her  reputation.  Whenever  a  person  was  wanting  to  make  up  a  party 
for  play  at  dame  Lindsey's,  Sylvia,  as  she  was  then  familiarly  called,  was 
sent  for;  and  was  obliged  to  suffer  all  those  slights  which  the  rich  but  too 
often  let  fall  upon  their  inferiors  in  point  of  fortune. 

"  In  most,  even  the  greatest  minds,  the  heart  at  last  becomes  level  with 
the  meanness  of  its  condition;  but  in  this  charming  girl,  it  struggled  hard 
with  adversity,  and  yielded  to  every  encroachment  of  contempt  with  sullen 
reluctance.  But  though  in  the  course  of  three  years  she  was  in  the  very 
eye  of  public  inspection,  yet  Mr.  Wood,  the  architect,  avers,  that  he  could 
never,  by  the  strictest  observations,  perceive  her  to  be  tainted  with  any 
other  vice  than  that  of  suffering  herself  to  be  decoyed  to  the  gaming-table, 
and  at  her  own  hazard  playing  for  the  amusement  and  advantage  of  others. 
Her  friend  Nash,  therefore,  thought  proper  to  induce  her  to  break  off  all 
connections  with  dame  Lindsey,  and  to  rent  part  of  Mr.  Wood's  house,  in 
Queen's  square,  where  she  behaved  with  the  utmost  complaisance,  regula- 
rity, and  virtue. 

"  In  this  situation,  her  detestation  of  life  still  continued.  She  found 
that  time  would  infallibly  deprive  her  of  a  part  of  her  attractions,  and  that 
continual  solicitude  would  impair  the  rest.  With  these  reflections  she 
would  frequently  entertain  herself  and  an  old  faithful  maid  in  the  vales  of 
Bath,  whenever  the  weather  would  permit  them  to  walk  out.  She  would 
even  sometimes  start  questions  in  company,  with  seeming  unconcern,  in 
order  to  know  what  act  of  suicide  was  easiest,  and  which  was  attended 
with  the  smallest  pain.  When  tired  with  exercise,  she  generally  retired 
to  meditation,  and  she  became  habituated  to  early  hours  of  sleep  and  rest ; 


404  APPENDIX     NO.    II. 

but  when  the  weather  prevented  her  usual  exercise,  and  her  sleep  was  thus 
more  difficult,  she  made  it  a  rule  to  rise  from  her  bed,  and  walk  about  her 
chamber,  till  she  began  to  find  an  inclination  for  repose. 

"  This  custom  made  it  necessary  for  her  to  order  a  candle  to  be  kept  burn- 
ing all  night  in  her  room  ;  and  the  maid  usually,  when  she  withdrew,  locked 
the  chamber  door,  and  pushing  the  key  under  it  beyond  reach,  her  mistress, 
by  that  constant  method,  lay  undisturbed  till  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
when  she  arose,  unlocked  the  door,  and  rang  the  bell  as  a  signal  for  the 
maid  to  return. 

"  This  state  of  seeming  piety,  regularity,  and  prudence  continued  for 
some  time,  till  the  gay,  celebrated,  toasted  Miss  Sylvia  was  sunk  into  a 
housekeeper  to  the  gentleman  at  whose  house  she  lived.  She  was  unable 
to  keep  company,  for  want  of  the  elegancies  of  dress,  which  are  the  usual 
passports  among  the  polite ;  and  was  too  haughty  to  seem  to  want  them. 
The  fashionable,  the  amusing,  and  the  polite  in  society  now  seldom  visited 
her;  and  from  being  once  the  object  of  every  eye,  she  was  now  deserted 
by  all,  and  preyed  upon  by  the  bitter  reflections  of  her  own  imprudence. 

"  Mr.  Wood  and  part  of  his  family  were  gone  to  London,  and  Miss  Sylvia 
was  left  with  the  rest  as  governess  at  Bath.  She  sometimes  saw  Mr.  Nash, 
and  acknowledged  the  friendship  of  his  admonitions,  though  she  refused 
to  accept  any  other  marks  of  his  generosity  than  that  of  advice.  Upon 
the  close  of  the  day  upon  which  Mr.  Wood  was  expected  to  return  from 
London,  she  expressed  some  uneasiness  at  the  disappointment  of  not  seeing 
him,  took  particular  care  to  settle  the  affairs  of  his  family,  and  then  as 
usual  sat  down  to  meditation.  She  now  cast  a  retrospect  over  her  past  mis- 
conduct, and  her  approaching  misery ;  she  saw  that  even  affluence  gave  her 
no  real  happiness,  and  from  indigence  she  thought  that  nothing  could  be 
hoped  but  lingering  calamity.  She  at  length  conceived  the  fatal  resolution 
of  leaving  a  life  in  which  she  could  see  no  corner  for  comfort,  and  termi- 
nating a  scene  of  imprudence  in  suicide. 

"Thus  resolved,  she  sat  down  at  her  dining-room  window,  and  with  cool 
intrepidity  wrote  the  following  lines  on  one  of  the  panes  of  the  window  : 

'  0  Death !  thou  pleasing  end  of  human  woe ! 

Thou  cure  for  life,  thou  greatest  good  below! 

Still  mayst  thou  fly  the  coward  and  the  slave 
And  thy  soft  slumbers  only  bless  the  brave.' 

"  She  then  went  into  company  with  the  most  cheerful  serenity,  talked 
of  indifferent  subjects  till  supper,  which  she  ordered  to  be  got  ready  in  a 
little  library  belonging  to  the  family.  There  she  spent  the  remaining  hours 
preceding  bed-time,  in  dandling  two  of  Mr.  Wood's  children  on  her  knees. 


APPENDIX     XO.     II.  405 

In  retiring  from  thence  to  her  chamber,  she  went  into  the  nursery  to  take 
her  leave  of  another  child,  as  it  lay  sleeping  in  the  cradle.  Struck  with 
the  innocence  of  the  little  babe's  looks,  and  the  consciousness  of  her  medi- 
tated guilt,  she  could  not  avoid  bursting  into  tears,  and  hugging  it  in  her 
arms ;  she  then  bid  her  old  servant  a  good-night,  for  the  first  tim^e  she  had 
ever  done  so,  and  went  to  bed  as  usual. 

"^  It  is  probable  she  soon  quitted  her  bed,  and  was  seized  with  an  alter- 
nation of  passions,  before  she  yielded  to  the  impulse  of  despair.     She  then 
dressed  herself  in  clean  linen  and  white  garments  of  every  kind,  like  a 
bride-maid.     Her  gown  was  pinned  over  her  breast,  just  as  a  nurse  pins 
the  swaddling  clothes  of  an  infant.      A  pink  silk  girdle  was  the  instrument 
with  which  she  resolved  to  terminate  her  misery,  and  this  was  lengthened 
by  another  made  of  gold  thread.     The  end  of  the  former  was  tied  with  a 
noose,  and  the  latter  with  three  knots,  at  a  small  distance  from  one  another. 
''Thus  prepared,  she  sat  down  again  and  read;  for  she  left  the  book 
open  at  that  place,  in  the  story  of  Olympia,  in  the  Orlando  Furioso  of 
Ariosto,  where,  by  the  perfidy  and  ingratitude  of  her  bosom  friend,  she  was 
ruined  and  left  to  the  mercy  of  an  unpitying  world.     This  fatal  event  gave 
her  J-resh  spirits  to  go  through  her  tragical  purpose;  so,  standing  upon  a 
stool,  and  flinging  the  girdle,  which  was  tied  round  her  neck,  over  a  closet- 
door  that  opened  into  her  chamber,  she  remained  suspended.     Her  weio-ht, 
however,  broke  the  girdle,  and  the  poor  despairer  fell  on  the  floor  with  such 
violence,  that  her  fall  awakened  a  workman  that  lay  in  the  house,  about 
half  an  hour  after  two  o'clock.     Recovering  herself,  she  began  to  walk 
about  the  room,  as  her  usual  custom  was  when  she  wanted  sleep;  and  the 
workman  imagining  it  to  be  only  some  ordinary  accident,  again  went  to 
sleep.     She  once  more,  therefore,  had  recourse  to  a  stronger  girdle,  made 
of  silver  thread,  and  this  kept  her  suspended  till  she  died.     Her  old  maid 
continued    in    the    morning   to    wait   as    usual    for   the    ringing    of   the 
bell,  and   protracted  her  patience,  hour   after    hour,  till    tw^J.  o'clock    in 
the  afternoon;   when  the  workmen  at  length  entering  the  room  through 
the  window,  found  their  unfortunate  mistress  still  hanging  and  quite  cofd 
The  coroner's  jury  being  impanelled,  brought  in  their  verdict  lunacy;  and 
her  corpse  was  next  night  decently  buried  in  her  father's  grave. 

"Thus  ended  a  female  wit,  a  toast,  and  a  gamester;  loved,  admired  and 
forsaken  ;  formed  for  the  delight  of  society,  fallen  by  imprudence  into  an 
object  of  pity.  Hundreds  in  high  life  lamented  her  fate,  and  wished,  when 
too  late,  to  redress  her  injuries.  They  who  once  had  helped  to  impair  her 
fortune,  now  regretted  that  they  had  assisted  in  so  mean  a  pursuit.  The 
little  effects  she  had  left  behind  were  bought  up  with  the  greatest  avidity 
by  those  who  desired  to  preserve  some  token  of  a  companion  that  had  once' 


406  APPENDIX     NO.    II. 

given  them  such  delight.  The  remembrance  of  every  virtue  she  was  pos- 
sessed of  was  now  improved  by  pity.  Her  former  follies  were  few,  but  the 
last  swelled  them  to  a  large  amount ;  and  she  remains  the  strongest 
instance  to  posterity,  that  want  of  prudence  alone  almost  cancels  every 
other  virtue. 

"  In  all  this  unfortunate  lady's  affairs  Nash  took  a  peculiar  concern  :  he 
directed  her  when  they  played,  advised  her  when  she  deviated  from  the 
rules  of  caution,  and  performed  the  last  offices  of  friendship  after  her 
decease,  by  raising  the  auction  of  her  little  effects." 


APPENDIX   No.  III. 


GEORGE  CROGHAN'S  STATEMENT. 

"  The  Government  continued  to  maintain  the  Indians  that  lived  at  my 
house  till  the  Spring,  when  General  Braddock  arrived.  They  then  desired 
Governor  Morris  to  let  me  know  that  they  would  not  maintain  them  any 
longer,  at  which  time  Governor  Morris  desired  me  to  take  them  at  Fort 
Cumberland  to  meet  General  Braddock,  which  I  did.  On  my  arrival  at 
Fort  Cumberland,  General  Braddock  asked  me  where  the  rest  of  y"  Indians 
were  ?  I  told  him  I  did  not  know :  I  had  brought  with  me  about  50  men 
which  was  all  which  was  at  that  time  under  my  care  and  which  I  had 
brought  there  under  direction  of  Gov.  Morris.  He  replied  '  Governor  Din- 
widdle told  me  at  Alexandria  that  he  had  sent  for  400  which  would  be  here 
before  me.'  I  answered  I  knew  nothing  of  that,  but  that  Capt.  Montour 
the  Virginia  Interpreter  was  in  camp  and  could  inform  his  Excellency ;  on 
which  Montour  was  sent  for,  who  informed  the  General  that  Mr.  Gist's 
son  was  sent  off  some  time  ago  for  some  Cheroquees  Indians,  but  whether 
they  would  come  he  could  n't  tell :  on  which  the  General  asked  me  whether 
I  could  not  send  for  some  of  y^  Delawares  and  Shawnese  to  Ohio.  I  told 
him  I  could ;  on  which  I  sent  a  messenger  to  Ohio  who  returned  in  eight 
days  and  brought  with  him  three  chiefs  of  the  Delawares.  The  General 
had  a  conference  with  these  chiefs  in  company  with  those  50  I  had  brought 
with  me,  and  made  them  a  handsome  present,  and  behaved  as  kindly  to 
them  as  he  possibly  could  during  their  stay,  ordering  me  to  let  them  want 
for  nothing.  The  Delawares  promised  in  council  to  meet  y'  General  c? 
the  road,  as  he  marched  out,  with  a  number  of  their  warriors,  but  whether 
the  former  breaches  of  faith  on  the  side  of  the  English  prevented  them, 

(407) 


408  APPENDIX    NO.    III. 

or  that  they  had  before  engaged  to  assist  the  French,  I  cannot  tell :  but 
they  disappointed  the  General  and  did  not  meet  him. 

Two  days  after  the  Delaware  Chiefs  had  left  the  camp  at  Fort  Cumber- 
land, Mr.  Gist's  son  returned  from  the  Southern  Indians  where  he  had 
been  sent  by  Governor  Dinwiddle,  but  brought  no  Indians  with  him.  Soon 
after  the  General  was  preparing  for  y'  march  with  no  more  Indians  than 
those  I  had  with  me,  when  Col.  Innis  told  the  General  that  the  women 
and  children  of  the  Indians  which  was  to  remain  at  Fort  Cumberland 
would  be  very  troublesome,  and  that  the  General  need  not  take  above  ten 
men  out  with  him,  for  if  he  took  more,  he  would  find  them  very  trouble- 
some on  the  march,  and  of  no  service :  on  which  the  General  ordered  me 
to  send  all  the  men,  women  and  children  back  to  my  house  in  Pennsylva- 
nia, except  eight  or  ten  which  I  should  keep  as  scouts :  which  I  accord- 
ingly did. 

But  I  am  yet  of  opinion  that  had  we  had  fifty  Indians  instead  of  eight, 
that  we  might  in  a  great  measure  have  prevented  the  surprise,  that  day  of 
our  unhappy  defeat."  (George  Croghan's  Journal  to  the  Ohio  during  Mr. 
Hamilton's  and  part  of  Mr.  Morris's  administration,  taken  from  the  origi- 
nal delivered  by  himself  to  Mr.  Peters.  August  18th,  1757.  —  Du  Simi- 
tiere  MSS.,  Library  Co.  of  Philadelphia.) 


APPENDIX   No.  IV. 


THE  FRENCH   REPORTS   OF  THE   ACTION  OF  THE  9th 

JULY,  1755. 

The  ensuing  three  papers  are  taken  from  copies  procured  by  Mr.  Sparks 
from  the  originals  in  the  Archives  of  the  War  Department  at  Paris :  and 
it  is  to  his  kindness  that  they  are  now  for  the  first  time  published  en  bloc. 
Their  gist  has  indeed  been  given  in  the  second  volume  of  his  Washington. 


I. 

R]ELATION   DU   CoMBAT   DU  9   JuiLLET,   1755. 

Monsieur  de  Contre-coeur  Capitaine  d'  Infanterie  commandant  au  fort 
Duquesne  sur  la  belle  riviere,  ayent  ete  informe  que  les  Anglois  armoient 
dans  la  Virginie  pour  le  venir  attaquer,  fut  averti  peu  de  temps  apr^s 
qu'ils  etoient  en  marche,  il  mit  des  decouvreurs  en  campagne  que  s'infor- 
merent  fidellement  de  leur  routte.  Le  Sept  du  courant  il  fut  averti  que 
leur  armee  composee  de  3000  hommes  de  troupes  de  la  vieille  Angleterre 
etoient  a  Six  lieux  de  ce  fort :  Cet  officier  employa  le  landemain  a  faire  ses 
dispositions,  et  le  neuf  il  detache  Monsieur  de  Beaujeu  et  lui  donna  pour 
second  Monsieur  Dumas  et  de  Lignery,  tous  trois  Capitaines,  avec  quatres 
Lieutenants,  6  Enseignes,  20  Cadets,  100  Soldats,  100  Canadiens  et  600 
Sauvages,  avec  ordre  de  s'aller  embarquer'  dans  un  lieu  favorable  qu'il 
avoit  fait  reconnoitre  la  vieille.     Le  detachement  se  trouva  en  presance  de 

'  Embusquer  ? 

(409) 


410  APPENDIX    NO.    IV. 

I'ennemi  a  trois  lieux  de  ce  fort  avant  d'avoir  pu  gagner  son  poste.  Mon- 
sieur de  Beaujeu  voyant  son  embuscade  manquee  prit  le  parti  d'  attaquer : 
il  le  fit  avec  tant  de  vivacite  que  les  ennemis  qui  nous  attendoient  dans  le 
meilleur  ordre  du  monde  en  parurent  etonnees,  mais  leur  artillerie  chargee 
a  cartouche  ayent  commence  h  faire  feu,  notre  trouppe  fut  ebranlee  a  son 
tour.  Les  Sauvages  aussi,  eprouvantes '  par  le  bruit  du  canon  plutot  que 
par  le  nial  qu'il  pouvoit  faire,  commencoient  a  perdre  leur  terrain.  Lorsque 
Monsieur  de  Beaujeu  fut  tue,  Monsieur  Dumas  s'appliquii  aussitot  a  rani- 
mer  son  detachement :  il  ordonna  aux  officiers  qui  conduisoient  les  Sau- 
vages de  s'etandre  sur  les  aisles  pour  prendre  I'ennemi  en  flanc,  dans  le  temps 
que  lui,  Monsieur  de  Lignery,  et  les  autres  oflSciers  qui  etoient  a  la  tete 
des  fran9ois  attaquoient  de  front.  Get  ordre  fut  execute  si  promptement 
que  les  ennemis  qui  poussoient  deja  leurs  cris  de  Vive  le  Roi  ne  furent 
plus  occuppes  que  de  bien  deflFendre.  Le  combat  fut  opiniatre  de  part  et 
d' autre,  et  le  succes  longtemps  douteux,  mais  cnfin  I'ennemi  pliat.  II 
chercha  inutillement  de  mettre  quelques  ordres  dans  sa  retraite :  les  cris 
des  Sauvages,  dont  les  bois  retantissoient,  porterent  I'epouvante  dans  tons 
les  coeurs  des  ennemis.  La  deroutte  fut  complette  :  le  champ  de  bataille 
nous  resta  avec  six  pieces  de  canons  de  fonte  de  douze  et  de  Six,  quatre 
alFuts  a  bomb  de  50,  11  petite  Mortiere  h  grenade  Royale,  touttes  leur  mu- 
nitions et  generalement  tons  leurs  bagages.  Quelques  deserteurs  qui  nous 
sont  venus  depuis  nous  ont  dit  que  nous  avions  eu  aflfaire  qu'a  2000 
hommes,  le  reste  de  I'arm^e  etant  a  quatre  lieux  plus  loin.  Ces  memes  deser- 
teurs nous  ont  dit  que  les  ennemis  se  retiroient  en  Virginie,  et  des  decouv- 
reurs  qu'on  a  envoye  presqu'a  la  hauteur  des  terres  nous  I'ont  confirmees 
en  nous  rapportant  que  les  milles  hommes  qui  u'avoient  point  combatfi 
avoient  egallement  pris  1'  epouvante,  et  abandonnes  vivros  et  munitions  en 
chemin,  sur  cette  nouvelle  Ton  a  envoye  un  detachement  sur  la  routte  qui 
a  detruit  ou  brule  tout  ce  qui  pouvoit  rester  en  nature.  Les  ennemis  ont 
kisses  plus  de  1000  hommes  sur  les  champs  de  bataille.  lis  ont  perdu  vue^ 
grande  partie  d'  artillerie  et  de  munitions  de  vivres,  ainci  que  leur  general 
nomme  Monsieur  Bradork  et  presques  tons  les  officiers.  Nous  avons  eus 
3  officiers  de  tu^s  et  2  de  blesses ;  2  Cadets  blesses.  Un  tel  succes  que 
Ton  avoit  pas  lieu  de  se  promettre,  vu  I'inegalite  des  forces,  est  le  fruit  de 
I'experiance  de  Monsieur  Dumas  et  de  I'activite  et  de  la  valeur  des  offi- 
ciers qu'il  avoit  sous  ses  ordres. 

'  Epouvant6s  ?  '  Une  ? 


APPENDIX    NO.   IV.  411 


II. 

Relation   depuis  le  depart  des   trouppes   de  Quebec,  jusqu'au 
30  Du  Mois  DE  Septembre,  1755. 

Les  regiraans  partages  par  division  de  quatre  et  cinq  compagnies  etoienfc 
partis  pour  se  reudre  en  partie  au  fort  frontenac  ou  nous  devions  former 
un  camp  et  dela  aller  faire  le  siege  de  chozen ;  ce  projet  n'a  pu  avoir  son 
execution,  ayant  ete  oblige  de  lus  faire  marcher  pour  empecher  les  ennemis 
de  faire  se  lui  du  fort  St.  fr^deric,  et  on  fut  dans  I'obligation  de  faire  re- 
descendre  le  regiment  de  la  Regue  et  notre  premiere  division  qui  etoit  deja 
fort  avancee.  Les  ennemis  avoient  trois  corps  d'armee.  Tune  etoit  desti- 
ii4e  pour  les  trois  Rivieres,  ou  ils  ont  echoues.  Le  corp  etoit  de  trois  mils 
hommes  commandes  par  le  General  Braudolk ;  Leurs  intentions  etoit  de 
faire  le  Siege  du  fort  du  Quesne.  lis  avoient  beaucoup  d'  artillerie,  beau- 
coup  plus  qu'il  nen  faut  pour  faire  le  Siege  des  forts  de  ce  pais,  la  plus  part 
ne  valent  rien,  quoiqu'il  ayent  beaucoup  coute  au  Roi.  Monsieur  Je  Beau- 
jeu  qui  commandoit  dans  ce  fort  prevenu  de  leurs  marche  et  fort  embarass^ 
de  pouvoir,  avec  le  peu  de  monde  qu'il  avoit,  empecher  ce  Siege,  se  deter- 
mina  a  aller  au  devant  de  I'ennemi.  II  le  proposa  aux  Sauvages  qui  etoient 
avec  lui,  qui  dabord  rejetterent  son  avis,  et  lui  dire  quoi,  men  pere,  tu 
veux  done  mourir  et  nous  sacrifier,  les  Anglois  sont  plus  de  quatres  Mils 
hommes  et  nous  autres  nous  ne  Somraes  que  huit  cent,  et  veux  les  aller 
attaquer;  tu  vols  bien  que  tu  n'a  pas  d'esprit :  Nous  te  demandons  jusqu'a 
demains  pour  nous  determiner.  lis  tinrent  conseil  entre  eux  ils  ne  mar- 
chent  jamais  qu'il  ne  fassent  de  meme.  Le  landemain  matin  Monsieur  de 
Beaujeu  sorti  de  son  fort  avec  le  peu  de  troupes  qu'il  avoit  et  demanda 
aux  Sauvages  qu'elles  avoient  ete  leui-s  deliberations.  lis  lui  repondirent 
qu'ils  ne  pouvoient  marcher.  Monsieur  de  Beaujeu,  qui  etoit  bon,  affable 
et  qui  avoit  de  I'esprit,  leur  dit :  Je  suis  determine  a  aller  au  devant  des 
ennemis  :  quoi  —  laisserez-vous  aller  notre'  pere  seul?  Je  suis  sur  de  les 
viaricre.  lis  ce  deciderent  alors  a  le  Suivre.  Ce  detachement  etoit  com- 
pose de  72  hommes  de  trouppes,  de  146  Canadians  et  637  Sauvages  :  La 
rencontre  s'est  faitte  a  4  lieux  du  fort  le  9  du  Juillet  h.  une  heure  apres 
midij  la  faire '^  a  dure  jusqu'a  cinq.  Monsieur  de  Beaujeu  k  ete  tu6  a  la 
premiere  discbarge.  Les  Sauvages  qui  I'amoient  beaucoup  vangerent  sa 
mort  avec  toutte  sa'  bravoure  imaginable.  Ils  obligerent  I'ennemi  a 
prandre  la  fuitte  apr^s  un  perte  considerable.  Cela  n'est  pas  extraordinaire ; 
leur  fagon  de  se  battre  est  bien  differente  de  celle  de  nous  autres  Europ^ens, 
la  quelle  ne  vaut  rien  en  ce  pais.  lis  se  mirent  en  battaille,  presanterent 
un  front,  a  qui,  a  des  hommes  caches  derriere  des  armes''  qui  chaquc  coup 

'  Votre  ?  "  L' affaire  ?  '  La  ?  ♦  Arbres  ? 


412  APPENDIX    NO.    IV. 

de  fusil  en  culbutoient  un  ou  deux :  c'est  ainsi  qu'ils  defirent  presque  eu- 
tierement  les  Anglois  et  cela  presque  tous  de  vieilles  troupes  qui  arvient 
passe  rhiver  dernier.  On  fait  monter  la  perte  des  ennemis  h  1500 
homines.  Monsieur  de  Braudolk  leur  general  y  a  ete  tue  et  quantite  d'offi- 
ciers.  On  leur  a  pris  13  pieces  d'artillerie,  beaucoup  de  boulets  et  de 
bombes,  cartoucbes  et  poudres,  et  farines,  100  boeufs,  400  cbevaux  tues, 
ou  pris,  tous  leur  chariots  pris  ou  casses.  Si  nos  Sauvages  ne  S'etoient  pas 
amuses  a  piller,  il  ne  s'en  seroit  pas  retourne  un.  II  y  a  grande  aparence 
qu'ils  ne  tanteront  plus  rien  pour  cette  partie,  puis  qu'en  se  retirant  ils  ont 
brule  un  fort  qu'ils  avoient  etablis  pour  leurs  retraites.  Nous  avons 
perdus  trois  officiers,  dont  Monsieur  de  Beaujeu,  25  Soldats,  Canadiens,  ou 
Savages,  environ  autant  de  blesse.  Nous  n' avons  pas  ete  aussi  heureux 
dans  notre  partie  :  revenons  a  nous  autres. 

ni. 

De  Monsieur  Lotbiniere  X  Monsieur  le  Comte  D'Argenson. 

Au  camp  de  Carillon,  le  24  Octohre,  1755. 
Des  I'automne  derniere  comme  j'eus  I'honneur  de  vous  le  marquer, 
r Anglois  commenca  un  fort  au  pied  des  montagnes  d'Aliganai  qu'il  nomma 
fort  de  Comberland:  le  fort  est  eloigne  du  nfitre  sur  la  Belle  riviere  de 
110  miles  suivant  leur  estime.  Its  ont  fait  partir  d'Europe  dans  I'hiver 
deux  regimens  de  troupes  regies  de  500  hommes  chacun  sous  le  commande- 
ment  de  Monsiur  Braddock  qui  est  arrive  h  Alexandrie  en  Virginie  le  24 
fevrier.  Ce  roi  lui  avoit  donne  la  commission  de  general  de  toutes  les 
forces  du  nord  de  I'Amerique  et  c'est  lui  qui  devoit  presider  aux  operations 
preparees  a  la  Cour  de  Londres  tandis  qu'on  amusoit  la  cour  de  franco  de 
Mile  propositions  de  paix  pour  etre  un  ^tat  d'Envahir  plus  surement  ce 
pays.  Le  general  Braddok,  si  tot  son  arrivee  en  Virginie,  fit  ses  pr^pa- 
ratifs  pour  se  mettre  en  campagne  dans  le  premiers  jours  d'Avril.  II 
se  reserva  la  reduction  du  fort  de  I'Ohio,  et  asemble  prendre  toutes  ses 
precautions  pour  s'assurer  de  la  reussite.  Cependent  comme  il  n'a  pas  ete 
servi  par  les  provinces  de  la  nouvelle  Angleterre  suivant  ses  desirs  et  qu'on 
la  fait  attendre  un  temps  infini  pour  les  chariots  et  autres  choses  qui  devoient 
lui  etre  fourni  par  les  provinces  il  n'a  pu  laisser  le  fort  de  Comberland  que 
dans  les  premiers  jours  de  juin.  Nos  sauvages  nous  ont  rapporte  dans 
I'hiver  qu'il  se  fasoit  de  grands  preparatifs  chez  I'Anglois,  mais  Monsieur 
Duquesne,  a  qui  cette  nouvelle  fut  raporte,  bien  des  fois  traita  ce  la  de  fan- 
farronade  et  dit  que  ce  n'etoit  qu'un  feu  de  paille.  En  consequence,  il  ne 
prit   aucun    des   precautions   necessaires  pour  un  mouvement  si  general. 


APPENDIX    NO.   IV. 


413 


Monsieur  de  Vaudreuil  arriva  dans  le  mois  de  Juin,  a  qui  Ton  dit  que  le 
gouvernement  etoit  dans  un  etat  mervillieux.  Monsieur  Duquesne,  arriva 
dans  les  derniers  jours  de  juin  qui  confirma  k  son  successeur  ce  qu'il  lui 
avoit  deja  ecrit  et  deux  jours  apres  on  sut  la  prise  de  Beausejour.  Mon- 
sieur Duquesne,  qui  avoit  su  son  fort  menace,  avoit  envoye  a  son  secours, 
negligeant  totalement  les  autres  cotes.  Secours  arriva  a  point  nomme  et 
le  General  de  Guillet  sachant  que  I'ennemi  n'etoit  qu'a  trois  lieus  du  fort 
Duquesne,  on  fit  partir  891  hommes  dont  250  fran§ais  le  reste  sauvage  sous 
le  commandement  de  Monsieur  de  Beaujeu,  Capitaine  de  nos  troupes,  qui 
se  trouva  vis-a-vis  de  I'ennemi  a  11  heures  du  matin.  II  I'attaqua  avec 
beaucoup  de  chaleur  £t  apr^s  5  heures  de  combat  notre  detachment  reussit 
a  mettre  totalement  en  ddroute  un  avant-garde  de  13  cents  et  quelques 
hommes,  non  compris  les  voituriers,  on  se  trouva  le  general  Braddock.  Son 
arriere-garde  de  700  hommes  etoit  a  environ  huit  lieux  et  ne  fut  point 
attaque.  II  se  trouva  dans  cet  avant-garde  le  regiment  d'halke,  complette 
depuis  son  arrivee  en  Virginie  h  700  hommes,  3  compagnies  franches  de 
100  hommes  chacune,  le  reste  etoit  troupe  de  province.  II  resta  sur  la 
place  plus  de  600  morts,  un  nombre  tres  grand  de  blesses  qui  sont  mort  au 
retour :  le  general  lui  meme  y  fut  blesse  et  mourut  a  quelques  lieux  du 
Champs  de  Bataille.  En  un  mot  il  n'a  retourne  de  ces  1300  hommes  qu'- 
environ  300  hommes  dont  11  officiers  de  plus  de  150  qu'ils  etoient.  Nous 
n'y  perdimes  que  le  commandant  avec  deux  autres  officiers,  30  et  quel-iuea 
Canadiens  et  sauvages,  et  a  peu  pr^s  meme  nombre  de  blesse.  Toute 
I'Artillerie  de  I'ennemi,  ces  chariots  et  tous  ses  equipages  resterent  au 
champs  de  battaille :  ce  qui  fit  un  pillage  considerable  qui  arreta  notre 
troupe.  On  eut  les  papiers  du  General  Braddock  parmi  lesquelles  se  re- 
trouverent  les  instructions  du  Roi  donne  avec  reserve,  qui  se  trouverent 
plus  etendu  par  une  lettre  de  Colonel  Napier  adjutant  General  ecrite  par 
ordre  du  Due  de  Comberland  pour  lui  servir  de  conduite  dans  toutes  ses 
operations. 


APPENDIX  No.  V. 


The  poetical  sensibilities  of  the  nation  do  not  seem  to  have  been  very 
strongly  affected  by  the  inception  or  by  the  failure  of  Braddoek's  Expedi- 
tion. A  few  copies  of  contemporaneous  verses  having  fallen  in  my  way, 
however,  they  are  preserved  here,  as  part  of  the  res  gestae. 


[This  jingling  provincial  ballad  was  composed  in  Chester  County,  Penn- 
sylvania, while  the  army  was  on  its  march  in  the  spring  or  early  summer 
of  1755.  During  the  Revolution  it  was  still  a  favourite  song  there,  the 
name  of  Lee  being  substituted  for  Braddoek's.  It  has  never,  I  believe, 
appeared  in  print  before.     There  is  no  doubt  of  its  authenticity.] 

To  arms,  to  arms !  my  jolly  grenadiers ! 
Hark,  how  the  drums  do  roll  it  along ! 
To  horse,  to  horse,  with  valiant  good  cheer; 
We'll  meet  our  proud  foe,  before  it  is  long. 

Let  not  your  courage  fail  you : 

Be  valiant,  stout  and  bold; 

And  it  will  soon  avail  you. 

My  loyal  hearts  of  gold. 
Huzzah,  my  valiant  countrymen!  —  again  I  say  huzzah ! 
'Tis  nobly  done  —  the  day's  our  own  —  huzzah,  huzzah  ! 

(414) 


APPENDIX    NO.    V.  415 

March  on,  march  on,  brave  Braddock  leads  the  foremost; 
The  battle  is  begun  as  you  may  fairly  see. 
Stand  firm,  be  bold,  and  it  will  soon  be  over; 
We'll  soon  gain  the  field  from  our  proud  enemy. 

A  squadron  now  appears,  my  boys; 

If  that  they  do  but  stand  ! 

Boys,  never  fear,  be  sure  you  mind 

The  word  of  command! 
Huzzah,  my  valiant  countrymen  !  again  I  say  huzzah  ! 
'Tis  nobly  done  —  the  day's  our  own  —  huzzah,  huzzah  ' 

See  how,  see  how,  they  break  and  fly  before  us  ! 
See  how  they  are  scattered  all  over  the  plain  ! 
Now,  now  —  now,  now,  our  country  will  adore  us ! 
In  peace  and  in  triumph,  boys,  when  we  return  again  ! 

Then  laurels  shall  our  glory  crown 

For  all  our  actions  told : 

The  hills  shall  echo  all  around, 

My  loyal  hearts  of  gold. 
Huzzah,  my  valiant  countrymen!  —  again  I  say  huzzah! 
'Tis  nobly  done  —  the  day's  our  own  —  huzzah,  huzzah! 

II. 

[The  following  lines  are  from  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  Vol.  XXV.,  p. 
383  (Aug.  1755).  It  would  seem  that  they  were  first  published  as  a 
broadside  and  sold  through  the  streets.] 

On  the  Death  of  Gen.  Braddock,  said  to  he  slain  in  an  Ambuscade  hy  the 
French  and  Indians,  on  the  Banks  of  the  Ohio,  July  9,  1755. 
Beneath  some  Indian  shrub,  if  chance  you  spy 
The  brave  remains  of  murder'd  Braddock  lie, 
Soldiers,  with  shame  the  guilty  place  survey, 
And  weep,  that  here  your  comrades  fled  away. 
Then,  with  his  brother-chiefs'  encircled  round. 
Possess  the  hero's  bones  of  hostile  ground. 
And  plant  the  English   Oalc,^  that  gave  his  name. 
Fit  emblem  of  his  valour  and  his  fame  ! 
Broad  o'er  this  stream^  shall  thus  his  honours  grow. 
And  last  as  long  as  e'er  its  waters  flow ! 

'  His  officers. 

'  Brad  in  old  Saxon-English  is  the  same  as  Broad,  and  Brad-oke  the  same  as  Broad-oak. 
'  The  Ohio. 


416  APPENDIX    NO.   V. 

ni. 

[From  XXV.  Gent.  Mag.  (Sept.  1755),  p.  421.] 

Apology  for  the  Men  who  deserted  Gen.  Braddoch  when  sarpriT^d  hy  the 

amhuscade. 

Ah  !  Braddock,  why  did  you  persuade 
To  stand  and  fight  each  recreant  blade, 

That  left  thee  in  the  wood? 
They  knew  that  those  who  run  away, 
Might  live  to  fight  another  day, 

But  all  must  die  that  stood. 


APPENDIX  No.  VI. 


BRADDOCK'S  LAST  NIGHT  IN  LONDON. 

Since  the  preceding  pages  were  in  press,  the  editor  has  been  referred 
to  a  passage  in  the  "  Apology  for  the  Life  of  George  Anne  Bellamy "  of 
too  interesting  a  character  to  be  entirely  omitted ;  though,  unfortunately, 
it  is  now  impossible  to  introduce  it  in  its  proper  connection.  It  seems 
that  from  her  earliest  youth  Braddock  had  been  the  constant  friend  of 
this  beautiful  and  accomplished,  although  sometimes  frail,  actress.  He 
bad,  at  her  request,  given  the  agency  of  his  regiment  to  her  putative  husband, 
Mr.  Calcraft ;  and  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  he  came,  with  Colonel  Burton 
and  Captain  Orme,  to  take  a  last  farewell.  Miss  Bellamy  was  at  this  time 
living,  under  a  contract  of  marriage,  with  Mr.  John  Calcraft,  as  his  "  do- 
mesticated wife,"  and  the  mistress  of  an  establishment  in  Brewer  Street. 
"  Before  we  parted,"  continues  she,  "  the  General  told  me  he  should  never 
see  me  more ;  for  he  was  going  with  a  handful  of  men  to  conquer  whole 
nations ;  and  to  do  this  they  must  cut  their  way  through  unknown  woods. 
He  produced  a  map  of  the  country,  saying,  at  the  same  time,  <  Dear  Pop, 
we  are  sent  like  sacrifices  to  the  altar.'  The  event  of  the  expedition  too 
fatally  verified  the  General's  expectations.  On  going  away,  he  put  into 
my  hands  a  paper,  which  proved  to  be  his  will.  As  he  did  not  doubt  my 
being  married  to  Mr.  Calcraft  *  *  *  he  made  Urn  his  sole  executor; 
leaving  me  only  the  plate  which  he  had  received  as  the  usual  perquisite 
from  government  on  his  nomination."  (Yol.  I.  p.  194,  Vol.  V.,  p.  155.) 
This  plate,  which  had,  ''  besides  the  royal  arms,  a  greyhound  for  the  crest," 
the  Treasury  officers  were  so  mean  as  to  endeavor  afterwards  to  recover, 
but  were  cast  in  the  courts.  What  were  the  grounds  of  their  demand  is 
27  (417) 


418  APPENDIX    NO.    VI. 

not  known.  The  value  of  Braddock's  estate  was  £7000  (Vol.  V.,  p.  192). 
Certainly,  the  fate  of  "her  second  father"  would  appear  to  have  brought 
no  common  shock  to  the  mind  of  the  fair  Apologist ;  and  we  are  indebted 
to  her  memoirs  for  a  further  anecdote  : 

"  This  great  man  having  been  often  reproached  with  brutality,  T  am 
induced  to  recite  the  following  little  anecdote,  which  evidently  shows  the 
contrary.  As  we  were  walking  in  the  Park  one  day,  we  heard  a  poor  fel- 
low was  to  be  chastised ;  when  I  requested  the  General  to  beg  off  the 
offender.  Upon  his  application  to  the  general  officer,  whose  name  was 
Dury,  he  asked  Braddock,  How  long  since  he  had  divested  himself  of  bru- 
tality and  the  insolence  of  his  manners  ?  To  which  the  other  replied, 
'  You  never  knew  me  insolent  to  my  inferiors.  It  is  only  to  such  rude 
men  as  yourself  that  I  behave  with  the  spirit  which  I  think  they  deserve.' " 
(Vol.  III.,  p.  55.) 

In  the  same  work  (Vol.  II.,  p.  129,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  116,  153),  may  be 
found  some  notices  of  Colonel  Burton's  first  wife  (Miss  St.  Leger,  of  Ire- 
land) and  her  family.  After  her  death,  and  while  yet  in  this  country,  he 
became  enamored  of  an  Indian  beauty ;  but  he  seems  to  have  subsequently 
married  an  American  lady. 


INDEX. 


Abandonment  of  Fort  Du  Quesne, 

221. 
Adams,  Daniel,  251. 
Aix-la-chapelle,  treaty  of,  15. 
Alexandria,  congress  at,  300. 
Allen,  Lieut.  James,  361. 
Ambuscade  planned,  221. 
American  affairs,  administration  of, 

103. 
Amherst,  Sir  Jeffrey,  260. 
Army,  Braddook's ;  its  character  and 

condition,  210,  217,  323. 
Artillery,  fate  of  Braddock's,  257. 
Athanase,  222. 

Barrington,  Hon.  Samuel,  139. 

Battle-ground  described,  219. 

Beckwith,  Capt.  John,  361. 

Belcher,  Gov.  John,  325. 

Beaujeu,  M.  de,  221,  227 

Boeufs,  Riviere  aux,  35. 

Boundaries  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia,  24. 

Bouquet  attempts  Du  Quesne,  270. 

Braddock,  Edward ;  his  parentage, 
115;  personal  history,  112,  126; 
character,  113,  132 ;  ftite  of  his 
sister,  117,  401 ;  appointed  to 
command  Virginia  expedition, 
128;    arrives   in  England,    137; 


his  instructions,  394;  sails  for, 
and  arrives  in  America,  138,  139 ; 
council  with  Indians,  375,  377; 
intercourse  with  Washington,  155, 
157,  158 ;  incensed  at  Pennsylva- 
nia, 147,  152;  his  coach,  194; 
his  success  doubted  by  Franklin, 
199;  his  route,  193,  198,  212; 
designs  after  capture  of  Du  Quesne, 
302 ;  offers  reward  for  scalps, 
172;  passes  Monongahela,  216, 
217 ;  ill  condition  of  his  army, 
210;  meets  the  enemy,  226;  re- 
fuses cover  to  his  men,  230 ;  re- 
treats and  is  shot,  232;  destroys 
stores,  238 ;  story  of  his  assassi- 
nation, 244;  his  last  passages, 
236;  dies,  237;  his  burial  and 
grave,  261,  277 ;  his  disinterment, 
261;  his  sash,  278;  defeat  un- 
looked  for,  262 ;  first  news  of  it, 
260;  burial  of  his  dead,  275; 
the  battle-field,  278 ;  his  strategic 
errors,  254;  verses  on  him,  414. 

Braddock,  Miss  Fanny,  117,  401. 

Bromley,  Capt.,  377. 

Brown,  Billy,  250. 

Buchanan,  Lieut.  Sir  F.  J.,  364. 

Burton,  Col.  Ralph,  211. 

Butler,  William,  247. 

(419) 


420 


INDEX, 


Camps,  331,  333,  335,  338,  340, 
341,  343,  344,  345,  346,  349, 
350,  352. 

Canada,  its  resources,  37. 

Cantonment  of  Army,  286. 

Captives  at  Braddock's  defeat,  258. 

Centurion,  139. 

Cholmondeley,  Capt.,  247. 

Cocke,  Thomas,  329. 

Coldstream  Guards,  122 ;  prices  of 
commissions,  124. 

Congress  of  Alexandria,  300 

Contrecceur,  M.  de,  41,  221. 

Conyngham,  Capt.  John,  243. 

Contrast  of  English  and  French 
treatment  of  prisoners,  260. 

Councils  of  War,  317,  321,  331, 
346. 

Courts-martial,  358. 

Cox, ,  372. 

Cressap,  Capt.,  313,  372. 

Croghan,  George,  309;  his  state- 
ment, 407. 

Crooked  Run,  214. 

Crow  Foot,  316. 

Cruelties  of  French,  260,  272. 

Cumberland,  Duke  of,  130. 

Cumberland,  Fort,  144. 

.Darby,  William,  246. 
Dagworthy,  Ely,  328. 
Demerie,  Paul,  328. 
Deserters,  265. 
D'Estaing,  Comte,  58. 
Dieskau,  Baron,  190. 
Dinwiddle,  Gov.  Robert,  60. 
Disney,  Ensign  Daniel,  361. 
Dobbs,  Capt.,  312. 
Dobson,  Capt.,  211. 
Dumas,  M.,  224,  269. 
Duncan,  Lieut.  Adam,  139. 
Dunbar,  Col.  Thomas,  267 ;  his  re- 
treat, 262,  264. 


Duquesne,  M.  de,  29,  33,  35,  192. 

Du  Quesne,  Fort ;  founded,  42 ;  con- 
dition of,  181;  English  projects 
against,  268  ;  to  be  garrisoned  by 
colonists,  302;  abandoned,  221; 
reduction  of,  274. 

Edmestone,  Lieut.  William,  362. 

Encroachments  in  America,  22. 

Ettwein,  Rev.  John,  97. 

Expedition  to  Virginia  determined 
on,  103;  parliamentary  supplies, 
111,  133  ;  organization,  129, 134, 
145;  Braddock  takes  command, 
137;  delayed  by  storms,  138; 
sails  from  Cork,  140;  list  of 
ships,  141 ;  arrives  in  Virginia, 
141 ;  why  sent  thither,  161 ;  can- 
tonments, 286;  anticipated  suc- 
cess, 142;  failure  of  supplies, 
162,  169;  route,  193,  198;  its 
character,  323 ;  consequences  of 
defeat,  239;  English  loss,  239; 
reception  in  Philadelphia,  266. 

Falconer,  Lieut.  Thomas,  361. 

Farrel,  Thomas,  243. 

Fausett,  Joseph,  247. 

Fausett,  Thomas,  said  to  have  killed 
Braddock,  244. 

Forbes,  Brig.  John,  reduces  Fort 
Du  Quesne,  270. 

Fort  Du  Quesne,  founded,  42 ;  suf- 
fers for  supplies,  57. 

Fort  Necessity,  capture  of,  51,  57 ; 
Indian  account  of,  54 ;  English 
comments,  58;  Virginia  feeling, 
60. 

Fort  Pitt,  274. 

Franklin  ;  his  services  to  Braddock, 
163 ;  his  claims  audited,  308 ; 
prognosticates  ill-success,  199, 
262. 


INDEX. 


421 


French  Creek,  35. 

French  spoliations,  36. 

French  colonies,  union  of,  21. 

French  forts,  40. 

French  encroachmentg,  dangerous, 
23  ;  resented  by  Virginia,  39  ;  re- 
inforcements sent  to  America,  189. 

French  reports  of  the  battle,  409 ; 
their  officers,  366,  409,  411; 
their  Indians  after  the  battle,  268. 

Gage,  Thomas,  217,  298. 

Gralissoni^re,  M.  de  la,  27. 

Gates,  Horatio,  106. 

General  orders,  291,  327,  333,  338, 
339,  341,  343,  344,  345,  346, 
348,  351,  353. 

Gist,  Christopher,  209. 

Gladwyn,  Lieut.  Henry,  362. 

Gordon,  Lieut.  Harry,  364;  disco- 
vers the  foe,  227. 

Grant,  Major,  defeated,  270. 

Halifax,  Earl  of,  105. 
Halket,  Lieut.  James,  244. 
Halket,  Sir  Peter,  notice  of,  244, 

294;   recommends  caution,  214; 

diffident  of  success,  214;    burial 

of,  275. 
Hamilton,  Lieut.  John,  363. 
Hanbury,  Mr.,  107. 
Hewitt,  Capt.,  359. 

Hile, ,  315. 

Hogg,  Peter,  329. 
Hobson,  Capt.  Thomas,  361. 
Hughes,  Rev.  Philip,  377. 
Hutchins,  Thomas,  123 

111   condition  of    Braddoek's   army, 

210. 
Independent  companies,  107,  130. 


Indians,  their  character  and  condi- 
tion, 70,  93,  102;  neglected  by 
English,  168;  gained  over  by 
French,  175,  186;  accompany 
Braddock,  310,  314;  go  out  as 
spies,  209. 

Innes,  Col.  James,  326. 

Jack,  Capt.,  196. 

Johnson,  Sir  W.,  300,   303,   304, 

306. 
Jonquiere,  M.  de  la,  28. 
Jumonville,  M.  de,  43,  56. 

Kennedy,  Ensign  Primrose,  361. 
Keppel,  Hon.  Aug.,  137. 
King,  Capt.,  302. 

Leake,  Robert,  308. 

Leslie,  Lieut.  Matthew,  243,  260. 

Lenni  Lenape,  98. 

Lewis,  Andrew,  298. 

Ligneris,  M.  de,  224,  271. 

Lock,  Lieut.  Robert,  361. 

Long  Run,  214. 

Mackellar,  Capt.  Patrick,  364. 
Martin's  Plantation,  camp  at,  333. 
M'Leod,  Lieut.  W.,  358. 
M'Neill,  Ensign  Hector,  363. 
M'Neill,  Lieut.  John,  363. 
Menneville,  M.  de  Duquesne  de,  29, 

33,  35. 
Mercer,  George,  329. 
Mercer,  Hugh,  246. 
Mercer,  John,  329. 
Mercier,  M.  de,  42. 
Monacatootha,  173. 
Money  from  South  Carolina,  325. 
Monkton,  Lieut.-Col.,  366. 
Monongahela,  passage  of,  216,  217  ; 

battle  of,  227;    English  loss   at, 

238. 


422 


INDEX. 


Montresor,  Lieut.  John,  362. 
Morgan,  Daniel,  240. 
Morris,  Lewis,  289. 
Morris,  Capt.  Roger,  211,  369. 
Morris,  Robert  Hunter,  289 

Narrows,  the,  212. 

Necessity,  Fort,  51 ;  its  cannon,  52. 

Newcastle,  Duke  of,  103. 

Officers  give  a  ball,  267. 
Oglethorpe's  regiment,  107. 
Ohio  company,  24,  25. 
Ohio  Territory,  occupation  of,  35; 

its  cost  to  the  French,  269. 
Onongaruiete,  his  letter,  32. 
Orde,  Capt.  Thomas,  364. 
Orme,  Robert,  211,  284;  letter  to 

Washington,  155. 

Penington,  Ensign  G-eorge,  361. 

Pennsylvania,  its  population  in  1755, 
61;  character  of  people,  63,  76; 
their  intercourse  with  Indians,  65  ; 
Scotch-Irish  settlers,  77 ;  Quakers, 
76;  Grermans,  61,  77,  80;  fron- 
tier settlers,  83;  superstitions, 
78;  Indian  antipathy,  91,  93; 
disputed  boundary,  24;  domestic 
troubles,  148;  conduct  in  1755, 
146  ;  disappoints  the  crowHj^  145 ; 
builds  a  road,  160;  presents  to 
army,  177,  178,  379. 

Peyronie,  Chevalier  William  de,  328. 

Pitt,  Fort,  274. 

Poison,  Capt.  W.,  327. 

Pouchot,  M.,  38. 

Provincials,  to  have  formed  a  royal 
regiment,  211. 

Provisions,  scarcity  of,  311,  315. 

Regiments,    Shirley's    and    Peppe- 


rell's,  290,  324,  325;  44th  and 

48th,  291. 
Return  of  loss  at  defeat,  238. 
Ross,  Capt.  Robert,  362. 
Rush  Creek,  213. 

Sailors  in  the  army,  195. 

Scarroyaddy,  103,  173;  his  soa 
killed,  210. 

Schuyler,  Col.  Peter,  325. 

Seven  Years'  War,  causes  of,  18. 

Sewickly  Creek,  211. 

Sharpe,  Gov.  Horatio,  107. 

Shippen  MSS.,  159. 

Shirley,  Gov.  W.,  305;  his  opinion 
on  American  boundaries,  34. 

Shirley,  W.,  junior,  diffident  of  suc- 
cess, 214. 

Smith,  James,  258. 

Society  Hill,  266. 

South  Carolina  contingent,  325. 

Sparks,  Jared,  212. 

Spendelowe,  Lieut.,  324;  camp,  331. 

Spies,  180,  193. 

Spiltdorph,  Ensign  C.  G.  de,  363. 

St.  Clair,  Sir  John,  285;  sent  to 
America,  136,  144;  occupation 
there,  144 ;  incensed  at  Pennsyl- 
vania, 159;  proposes  a  canton- 
ment, 286;  his  propositions,  210, 
216,  352. 

Stephen,  Capt.  Adam,  45,  329. 

Stewart,  Hon.  A.,  246. 

Stewart,  Capt.  Robert,  363. 

Stewart,  Ensign  Walter,  363. 

Stobo,  Robert,  50,  52,  182. 

Stores  destroyed,  235. 

Syren,  290. 

Tadeuskund,  97. 
Thicketty  Run,  349. 
Thomas,  M.,  46. 


INDEX, 


423 


Treby,  Capt.  John,  243. 
Troops,  their  reception  at  Philadel- 
phia, 267. 
Turkey  Foot,  316. 
Turtle  Creek,  212,  213,  218. 

Union  of  French  colonies,  21. 

Vanbraam,  Jacob,  51,  53,  182. 
Verses  on  Braddock,  414. 
Villiers,  M.  de,  49,  56. 
Virginia,  disputed  boundary  of,  24 ; 
equipment  of  troops,  40. 

Waggener,  Ensign  Edmond,  363. 
Waggener,  Capt  Thomas,  231,  328. 
Walking  treaty,  67. 


Walpole   on  European   settlements, 

26. 
War,  councils  of,  331,  346. 
Washington    engages    in    campaign, 

155;     rejoins     Braddock,     212; 

opinion  of  him,  157;    unwound- 

ed,  242. 
White,  Bishop,  365. 
Williamson,  Lieut.  Adam,  364. 
Women  sent  back,  332. 
Woodward,  Lieut.  H.,  363. 
Woodward,  Luke,  358. 
Wright,  Lieut.  John,  363. 

Yeates,  Jasper,  218. 
Youghiogeny,  forks  of,  316. 

Zeisberger,  Rev.  David,  97. 


THE    END. 


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