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Robert Rogers

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PORTRAIT OF MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS

From Gtukicktt drr Kriegt in u*d autter Europa, Elfter Tbeil, Niirnberg,' 1777

PONTEACH

OR THE

SAVAGES OF AMERICA

A TRAGEDY
BY ROBERT ROGERS

WITH AN INTRODUCTION
AND A BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR

BY ALLAN KEVINS

CHICAGO

THE CAXTON CLUB
1914

The Publication Committee of the Caxton Club certify that
this is one of an edition of one hundred and seventy-five copies
printed on Old Stratford paper, and three copies printed on
Japanese vellum. The printing was done from type which has
been distributed.

365

PONTEACH

JAN -4 1915

PREFACE

The editor feels that no extended explanation of the direc
tion his editorial labors have taken is necessary. The large
space given to the life of the author of Ponteach in what
purports to be a mere introduction rests for its justification
upon the fact that, although the career of Rogers possesses
not merely much intrinsic historical interest, but many addi
tional elements of value as typical of an early period of pioneer
existence, and an early type of pioneer character, no adequate
account of it has yet been written, and those that do exist
contain many inaccuracies. In the present ' jgraphy every
effort has been made to probe sources of i, ,ormation upon
such mooted and obscure heads as those of Rogers' birth
and early life, his troubles as a counterfeiter in 1754, his
participation in the Cherokee War in the Carolinas, his con
duct as governor at Mackinac, and his last years and death in
London following the American Revolution. The editor has
made personal investigations in London, and has had papers
copied and material examined in every useful library in Canada
and the United States. Small attention, on the other hand,
has been paid to Pontiac's life and character, for the obvious
reason that Parkman's account of his conspiracy gives an in
imitably full and fascinating relation of both, in a book familiar
to almost every American home. Equally obvious is the fact
that the literary importance of the tragedy does not warrant
a studiously critical attention to the task of prefacing and an
notating it; while its imaginary structure precludes the attempt
to read into its pages any significance as an historical document
that is not almost immediately visible to the student of the
time which it mirrors.

The editor is under many obligations to friends for criti
cism^ and assistance, which he wishes to acknowledge gratefully.
His thanks are due especially to Professor Clarence W. Alvord,

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

whose experienced counsel has been indispensable. For a care-
fill reading of his manuscript and many helpful suggestions he
is indebted to Professor Raymond M. Alden, Professor Stuart
P. Sherman, Dr. Jacob Zeitlin, and Dr. Arthur Jcrrold Tieje.
Among those who from a distance have interested themselves in
his work, and aided him in securing information that without
their assistance had been inaccessible, are Albert S. Batchellor,
Editor of the New Hampshire State Papers; Worthington C.
Ford, President of the Massachusetts Historical Society; Mr,
Frank B. Priest, President of the Littleton Historical Society,
Littleton, Massachusetts; Mr. Ezra Stearns, Fitchburg, Massa
chusetts; Mr. Peter Nelson, Assistant- Archivist at the New York
State Library; Mr. James O. Lyford, Boston, Massachusetts;
and Mr. James H. Fassett, Manchester, New Hampshire.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

p.*.

Introduction . .11

Life of Robert Rogers 17

Literary Bibliography . 174

Ponteach : or- the Savages of America . . . . 1 77

Index . . . . . . . . 259

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Pate

Portrait of Major Robert Rogers . . Frontispiece >

From an old print

An old view of the Straits of Mackinac . . 106 l

From Schoolcraft'i Ethnological Rtuarckei Among tkt Rtd Mtn

Map of the region about Mackinac . . . 128 *

rrom Carver's Travels, London, 1781

Facsimile of title-page of Rogers' Ponteach, 1766 . . 177 '

INTRODUCTION

The importance of Rogers' Ponteacb does not lie
in any purely artistic qualities. It is only the historian,
whether of events or letters, in whom it can nowadays
inspire more than a .transiently curious interest; for
while it is the product of a fresh acquaintance with
savage character and the various causal trains which
exploded the spectacular rebellion of the Indian ruler —
while it has, too, a factitious importance as almost the
first of American dramatic compositions, and even yet
remains one of our few specimens of poetic tragedy, —
it must seem to any reader who picks up the play for
its own sake almost pitifully devoid of intrinsic merits.
The web and woof of its style never rise from the
commonplace to the even faintly poetical, and all too
frequently sink to doggerel and empty declamation;
the larger outlines of the plot reveal manifold absurd
ities. Even over one or two passages of comparative
force and eloquence, such as those in Acts II and III
in which Ponteach throws fuel upon his anger and
reveals the main outlines of his great plan to his
sons and warriors, few readers would linger long. As
we wonder at the temerity with which Rogers, author
a month before of the shrinkingly modest preface to
the Concise Account, left his production to the caustic
mercy of the great reviews, we can only reflect that it
was completed in haste, at the moment he was called
back to take command at Mackinac, and that to an
untutored and ambitious man it might have seemed

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

that its faults could hide behind its novelty, and that,
helping "to give a just idea of the genius and ideas of
the Indians/' it would interest many by the pictur-
esqueness of its scenes and the fame of its central
character.

And in a measure Rogers was right; for the tragedy
is one that can scarcely be forgotten; and waiving its
merely curious attraction as the strange product of an
American backwoodsman suddenly transported to the
center of Anglo-Saxon civilization and fashion, its chief
claim to a reprieve from oblivion lies in those historical
elements upon which Rogers mistakenly hoped to base
a temporary appeal. Parkman and other writers upon
the period have attested its value by a liberal use of it
as a source. In his military service at Albany and the
forts immediately north, in his rangings over upper
New York and lower Canada, and in his survey of the
lake posts at the close of the Seven Years War, Rogers
had by 1762 familiarized himself with the conditions
of Indian life and the strange facts evoked by the
attempted adjustment to it of English authority, com
merce, and agriculture; he had, indeed, engaged in the
trade himself, and so had felt both a soldier's and a
merchant's concern in inter-racial relations. Participa
tion in the suppression of Pontiac's rebellion in 1763
finally equipped him with the adequate knowledge of
the chief and his conspiracy which the tragedy mani
fests. Indeed, Rogers' informing historical accuracy
is — beyond the many definite parallels between the
language of the play and that of the Concise Account —
one of the surest establishments of the authorship
which he never formally claimed. No other hand in
London could have written with such directness and
truth to fact the two first and expository acts of the
drama.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

The specification of the grievances of the Indians is
accomplished with a detail which is kept fresh and
-interesting_by a grimly effective sense of humor. The
traders Murphy and McDole, with their use of rum

" More powerful made by certain strengthening drugs,"

and scales

" — so well conceived
That one small slip will turn three pounds to one,"

so that they secure ninety pounds of beaver skin for
six quarts of a vile alcoholic decoction; the hunters
Osborne and Honeyman, who shoot two braves for
their loads of fur; Colonel Cockum and Captain Frisk,
of the English fort, who requite the chiefs' pleas for
justice with unsoldierly insults; Governors Sharp, Gripe,
and Catchum, who, quoting scripture to their own
wretched purposes, steal all but a beggarly remnant of
the ^"1000 worth of goods given them for presents to
the Indians; — all are drawn by a satirical pen that
makes of the scenes in which they appear rather more
than a mere explanation of the central action. With
the transition to a direct study of the Indian point of
view, the play assumes a greater elevation of tone; and
the pride of Pontiac, his haughty sense of humiliation,
his brooding jealousy of his kingly prerogatives, are
expressed in what, despite Rogers' deficiencies of ex
pression, approaches the force ascribed to his oratory,
and the stateliness to his person and character. The
development of his plot, moreover, from his sudden
determination :

" The broken accents murmured from his tongue,
As rumbling thunder from a distant cloud,
Distinct I heard, — 'T is fixed, I '11 be revenged."

»3

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

and the moment when, in his poor cabin, he gathers
his sons and chiefs to denounce the "false, deceitful,
knavish, insolent band,"

" Who think us conquered and our country theirs,"

to that in which he secures the adhesion of the western
tribes to his design, is traced with considerable spirit.
With the entrance, however, of the romantic element,
which after Act II almost dominates the play, its his
torical interest reappears only in flashes, for the value
even of the impression Rogers gives of Indian character
is greatly diminished. The part played in the story by
Pontiac's negotiations for Mohawk aid has no basis in
fact, for this easternmost tribe of the Iroquois Confed
eracy was a fast-rooted ally of the English, and would
have offered a field of discouragingly scant promise to
his emissaries. We know nothing of Pontiac's sons or
Hendrick's daughter; Hendrick himself was eight years
dead at the time of the revolt; and private calamities
had nothing to do with Pontiac's retirement to the
Illinois. But, altogether, Rogers' picture of the vices
and abuses of the soldiers and traders, lying at the
source of the rebellion, of the galled resentment of
the Indians, and, in fact, of the whole fundamental
characteristics of much of border life, is proved by con
temporary documents to be faithful and authoritative.
In particular, the portrait of Pontiac, partially idealized
as it is, must always be matter for the study of those
who are interested in the character of the greatest of
North American Indians.

From the point of view of American literary history
the influence of Rogers' production upon the develop
ment of the stage was nil; for at the time, and until
long after, there was no native American stage. One
may perceive by a moment's reflection the paucity of

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

the author's opportunities to familiarize himself with
the theater. The first American playhouse was opened
at Williamsburg, Virginia, in the second decade of the
eighteenth century; the second at New York, in 1732;
the third at Charleston, in 1736. Throughout vir
tually all New England the theater lay under a ban,
and players were subject to arrest, during the whole
colonial period; — in Massachusetts until 1792. Even
elsewhere, performances were so infrequent that Rogers
may very probably never have watched one until he
reached London, and saw the spacious stage of Better-
ton and Garrick. As for playwriting, if we waive
consideration of a few wretchedly obscure manuscripts
of interest only to the antiquarian, Ponteach is the
second drama penned by an American, and narrowly
escaped being the first in print; for Rogers published
his play in January, 1766, and it was antedated in
book form by Thomas Godfrey's ¥he Prince of Parthia
by only a few months. It must needs be added that
Godfrey, a Philadelphian, the son of a member of
Franklin's Junto, was already dead, and that his tra
gedy had been written about 1760; that, beaten out in
smooth blank verse, and with considerable merit of
construction, it was much superior both poetically and
dramatically to Rogers' work ; and that it enjoyed later
(April 24, 1767) a single representation, a distinction
which its successor never achieved. But Rogers re
mained for a full generation the only son of New
England to permit his dramatic ambitions to struggle
up from under the incubus of prejudice and neglect
which Puritanism had thrown upon all activities con
nected with the stage.

THE LIFE OF ROBERT ROGERS

Birth and Early Life; King George's War; Early Manhood.

We have no historical background of family or
lineage against which to place Robert Rogers, and
about his cradle hangs a cloud which research has
not found it easy to dispel. He first saw the light of
day on November 17, 1731, in the frontier cabin of
James Rogers, a sturdy farmer of Methuen in upper
Massachusetts. Of his mother we know only that her
name was Mary. His birth is the first fact in the
family annals which the local records have preserved,
and whence his parents and three older brothers had
come, or what had been their previous history, remains
a secret.1 As to even the stock from which he sprung,
whether English, Scotch, or Scotch-Irish,* we have

1 Metbuen Town Records; New Hampshire Province Deeds, XXXVIII, 20.
Rogers' three elder brothers were Daniel, who lived some years in Dunbarton,
New Hampshire, as a farmer ; Samuel ; and James, who became an ensign and
later a captain in the rangers commanded by Robert Rogers, married Margaret
McGregor, daughter of the Rev. David McGregor of Londonderry, New Hamp
shire, and fleeing to Canada on the outbreak of the Revolution, founded the
influential and wealthy Canadian branch of the family.

a There are many families of Rogers identified with the early history of
Essex County, Massachusetts ; while the name is of course generally one of the
most common in New England, whether among the Puritans — two who came
in the Mayflower were named Rogers — or among the Scotch-Irish who began
to enter the northern colonies in 1 7 1 9. It will be remembered that one of the
seventeenth century presidents of Harvard College was John Rogers. A James
Rogers of Londonderry who settled at Dunbarton (Starkstown or Gorhamstown)
about twelve years after Robert's father moved there was long confused with the
latter. There were so many English families of Rogers in Essex that there is
room for serious doubt whether Rogers was not of that people. See Josiah H.
Drummond, The John Rogers Families in Plymouth and Vicinity. Read before the
Maine Historical Society, Portland, Maine, 1895, n.p. James Rogers of London
derry and James Rogers of Dunbarton, Manchester, N. H., 1897.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

only the tradition that it was his father who in later
years named a piece of land upon which they settled
Mountalona, after a loved spot among the Presbyterian
hills of County Derry.1 The absence of any note of
James Rogers' presence in Methuen before 1737 makes
it certain that he was but a newcomer in the town,
having arrived probably a year or two earlier along one
of the forest-girdled bridle-paths which stretched from
the coast settlements westward along the Merrimac
River. In a double sense, therefore, Robert Rogers
was born into a pioneer environment; for Methuen
lay as an outpost for all the northern and western
section of the province, verging upon a wilderness that
extended deep and unbroken to the French villages
along the St. Francis, and he had entered a household
before which still lay in large part the task of wresting
a living from the woods and untamed fields.

The community of Methuen was a happy one for a
growing and struggling family.3 Virtually a western
extension of Haverhill, from which it had enjoyed but
five years separation, it constituted with the older town
ship a connected belt of settlement along the upper
bank of the Merrimac, roughly fifteen miles long and
four miles wide; a still wild region facing the brawling
little river, and only sparsely dotted with log huts and
their surrounding clearings. Upon the present site of the
city of Haverhill huddled the homes of a compact vil
lage, and elsewhere at central points rose rough meeting
houses. While the family had neighbors in plenty, es
pecially along the rutted and stony cart-tracks which

1 John Farmer and J. B. Moore, A Gazetteer of the State of New Hamp-
jbirf, Concord, 1823-31 ; p. 121. Also Caleb Stark, History of Dunbarton,
New Hampshire, Concord, 1860. Also New Hampshire State Papers, XXVII,
197, where it is called Montetony.

3 J. S. Howe, Historical Sketch of Methuen, Methuen, 1901, p. 9-17.
George Wingate Chase, History of Haverhill, Haverhill, 1861, Chapters VI-X.

THE HOME AT METHUEN

traversed hill and thicket toward Haverhill, their homes
were scattered over miles of ground in the roomy
manner characteristic of Anglo-Saxon settlement, and
left ample space for a free agricultural and sylvan life.
The Naumkeag, the Accomenta, and the Agawam In
dians lay toward the French possessions in a cloud threat
ening enough to such an exposed community ; but since
Queen Anne's war they had committed none but the
most trivial depredations.1 Game abounded, and the
near-by Spicket and Merrimac swarmed with salmon
and shad.3 The beauty of the forested and hiHy coun
try, broken by jutting capes of bare smooth upland,
and by river meadows whose moist black earth afforded
a luxuriant sickle-grass for the cattle and deer, was evi
dent to anyone who had eyes for it.' Nor, externally
rough and picturesquely wild as it often seemed, was
the land really unproductive. By labor certainly hard,
but as certainly fruitful, it could be brought to exchange
its elm and hemlock for apple and pear, its wild black
berry for patches of pumpkin and turnips, and its timber
and bush for Indian corn and timothy.

To such institutions, moreover, as ministered to its
higher social needs, the township paid the same zealous
attention that was characteristic of the whole Puritan
colony. The General Court's ordinance of division 4
from Haverhill had provided that within three years
from 1725 the citizens should erect a house for public
worship, and settle in it "a learned orthodox minister
of good conversation"; and after a brief period of con-

1 John G. Whittier, Prose Works, Boston, 1888, II, 368.

2 J. S. Howe, Sketch of Metbuen, p. 4. For generations after apprentices
commonly stipulated in their articles of indenture that they should not have to eat
salmon more than six times weekly.

3 J. G. Whittier, Prose Works, I and II (Legends and Sketches}. Whittier was
a native of Haverhill. H. D.Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers.

4 This ordinance of division was passed in December, 1725. See Howe,
Sketch of Methuen, p. 10.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

tentious wrangling over the location of the church and
the choice of a pastor, a minister was inducted into
office at a salary little short of munificent for so poor a
community. Of equal importance to the householders
was the maintenance of the public schools, for which
fifty acres of land had been set aside at the creation of
the village. In the year of Robert's birth, the citizens
voted to appoint three schoolmasters, each of whom
should conduct classes in his own home for one month
in midwinter. In 1735 it was resolved to erect a suit
able structure to house the growing number of children,
and a log school was soon after placed, for conven
ience of access, and surety of pastoral supervision, beside
the church.1 Robert's three older brothers were able
to avail themselves of this education from its very be
ginnings, and he himself soon after; for no townsman
could retain even his younger children at home without
incurring the decided disapproval of his neighbors.
Reading was taught from the Bible, with perhaps a
well-thumbed copy of the New England primer, and
writing and accounts upon carefully smoothed and
stripped sections of birch bark. Under the rigid appli
cation enforced by a sternly dignified master, and amid
the earnest atmosphere of an intelligent and religious
community, acquisition of a serviceable modicum of
knowledge was rapid.

Thus under circumstances of which it is not hard to
form some conception, Robert passed at Methuen the
first eight years of his life. His home was the typical
frontier cabin of the period, built of roughly-squared
logs, with a loft above and two comfortable rooms be
low. In the great living-room, puncheon-floored^-Slood

1 Howe, Sketch of Methuen. Chase, History of Haver bill, p. 273.
G. C. Bush, History of Education in New Hampshire, Washington, 1898, p. 55.
Jtmes O. Lyford, History of Canterbury, New Hampshire, Concord, 1912,
Chapter XIX.

THE HOME AT METHUEN

the inevitable spinning-wheel, the clothes-chest, the
rough table and stiff chairs; at one side rose the large,
unvarnished dresser, the pewter and china sparkling in
serried rows upon it; a shelf above supported its Bible
and a few cherished books, chiefly devotional, and per
haps mingled with a handful of polemical tracts; and
at one end was built the spacious fireplace, whose heavy
andirons admitted eight-foot logs to crackle on the
hearth, filling the apartment on the bitterest winter
night with radiance and warmth. The firelight or sun
light playing into the other room lit up the drawers
and shelves fastened , to the timbers, caught the glint
of woolen coverlets on the beds, and sparkled bravely
back from the polished Queen's arm that hung, its
battles with the French long over, from pegs driven
deep into the wall. Above all, festooning the ceiling
in both rooms, were strings of dried fruit, bunches of
herbs, links of corn tied by the husks, and even sausages
and bacon. The heavy diamond-paned windows were
crossed inside with wooden bars, and a portable ladder
reached the loft. As a boy Robert knew the hard fare
of such a home, — game, Indian meal sweetened with
berries into samp, and simple vegetables; and as he
grew older he was impressed into the less arduous of
the daily tasks about the busy household, or played with
his brothers in the neighboring forests.1 He became
familiar with the gliding naked forms of the savages,
passing to town to barter or steal; with the fur-clad
hunter, bent under a load of steaming venison; with
the rough lumberman, the fisher, the mower along the
wide meadow marshes, and perhaps even the jolly mar-
iners who^came up by ship to Haverhill. He heard
stories of the northern tribes, varying from vivid re
citals of the attacks of thirty years before to peaceful

1 J. G. Whittier, Proif Works, II, 396, and elsewhere.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

legends of the half-mystical grandeur of their old chief
Passonconway ; echoes of the hostile presence of the
French to the north; and descriptions of the wild-cat,
the bear, the wolf, and the grisly catamount. He was
thus awakening fully to the frontier life about him
when in 1739 his parents resolved upon a new step.
James and Mary Rogers had arrived at Methuen too
late to share in the general distribution of the town's
land, and hence had obtained there no extensive hold
ings.1 To the north and west, beyond the bend of the
Merrimac and in its upper valley, lay a broad tract of
rich territory just becoming available through the lib
eral grants of the General Court. Here they naturally
began to look for such a breadth of acres as would
ensure them a more generous competence, in especial,
probably, after the complication of family problems by
the birth of a fourth son in 1734 and of a daughter in
1736.' In these years they heard more and more of
the delectable lands, for they were rapidly being ex
plored and surveyed, and a thin lino of settlers was
streaming up the east bank of the river and breaking
across it at a score of places into what is now New
Hampshire. Rumford, lying fifty miles up on the left
side, was incorporated in 1734 with nearly one hundred
families, and in the same month the township immedi
ately below it was granted to veterans of the Narra-
gansett War. Londonderry and Chester, intervening
between Rumford and Methuen, were already filled
with Scotch-Irish, and Suncook, lying athwart the river
near them, had been parceled-out to settlers ten years

1 Howe, Sketch of Methucn, p. 7.

' Drummond, "Jama Rogers of Londonderry and James Rogers of Dunbartont
p. II. The brother was named Richard ; he afterward became a captain in
Robert Rogers' Rangers, and died in the service, at Fort William Henry, in
1767, of smallpox. The sister was named Mary. Another brother, John, and
another sister, Catherine, were born after the family's removal to the north.

THE REMOVAL NORTHWARD

previously.1 Amid an exploitation of new territory that
thus yearly became more general, Rogers was upon the
alert to buy advantageously.

His choice was a bold one. On November 24, 1738,
for the sum of £i 10, he bought of Zaccheus Lovewell
of Canterbury a tract called Lovell's Farm, comprising
nearly four hundred acres sixteen miles south and west
of Rumford, at a greater distance beyond the Merrimac
than any settler had yet gone.3 The farm was a portion
of a larger area which Lovewell and five associates had
secured in 1735, but which lay so well outside the
direct currents of immigration which in Massachusetts
were hugging the colonial boundary, and in New
Hampshire the Merrimac River, that even its proprie
tors knew little of its character. By 1737 two cot
tagers only had crept timidly westward a few miles
from Rumford, and although in the same year the
whole township in which Lovewell's grant lay was
assigned to one Shubal Goreham and his associates, no
colonists had yet proposed to settle upon it.3 Rogers,
however, who had never known the border except in
time of peace, was irresistibly attracted by one salient
feature of the new site : high hills and unbroken forests
lay about, but down between them crept and expanded
a broad meadow, partly natural intervale land and partly
cleared by beavers, over which billowed a field of rich
grass. He prevailed upon one of his neighbors, Joseph
Pudney, a former shopkeeper of Salem, and more re
cently, with his six stalwart sons, the cultivator of

1 New Hampshire State Papers, XXIV, 59, 108, 233.

a New Hampshire Province Deeds, XXXVIII, 20. The land was granted
Lovewell in recognition of his services under his brother, Captain John Lovewell,
in the campaign against the Main Indians which culminated in the latter* u vic
torious death at Pigwacket. In 1737 Captain William Tyng, the first soldier to
use snowshoes in campaigning against the Indians, was given land a few miles
southeast of Lovewell's settlement, which he, like Gorham, failed to colonize.

3 New Hampshire State Papers, XXIV, 80 (with plan).

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

several farms near Haverhill, to accompany him. Pud-
ney, an unlettered man, was already growing old, but
he possessed a practical turn of mind, and his assistance
and that of his family would be almost indispensable in
opening a new country.1 Early in the spring of 1739,
when Robert was eight years old, the two families re
moved to their new home; driving their cattle before
them, and conveying as best they could, in the absence
of roads, their movable goods."

The tract upon which they found themselves offered
several wholly novel advantages in agriculture.3 From
the broad top of the highest hill, near the point where
Rogers actually laid his hearthstone, the crests of the
White Mountains, nearly a hundred miles to the north,
could be seen on clear days "like great bright clouds
above the horizon." There were many small lakes in
the tov/nship, emptying to the east by trout-brooks
which fed down under thick coverts of alder and birch
to the bickering Merrimac, seven miles away; and the
rougher land was heavily forested. The chief advantage
of the district, however, consisted in its smooth upland
meadows, a relief especially welcome to tenants used to
the broken ground and marshy arable land of Methuen.
Upon the largest and most elevated of these Rogers and
Pudney commenced the construction of their houses,
and during the summer months erected two buildings of
hewn logs at no great distance from one another. Their
families once safely installed, they were able before the
beginning of winter to provide two hasty shelters for

1 Eucx County Record*, Salem, Massachusetts. New Hampshire State Papers,
XXVII, 190: "Joseph Pudney, his mark."

1 New Hampshire State Papers, XX VII, 190.

3 Descriptions will be found in Jeremy Belknap, History of New Hampshire,
Boston, 1791-2; Farmer and Moore, New Hampshire Gazetteer; Caleb Stark,
History of D unbar ton ; D. H. Hurd, History of Merrimac and Belknap Counties,
New Hampshire, Philadelphia, 1885.

THE FARM NEAR RUMFORD

their stock. Their houses were in a forlornly chilly
solitude, broken only by the presence within the neigh
boring valleys of some small camps of friendly Indians.
In this changed seat the families prospered for the
next few years. Pudney had bought no land, but had
shared the purchase of Rogers; and he or his neighbor
secured an additional plot near by upon a promissory
note, and they jointly began clearing it for tillage.
Some neighboring fields were being already fenced, and
during the summer herdsmen drove fattening cattle
upon them from farms lower along the Merrimac,
retiring again to the south, however, at the approach
of winter. Two orchards were set out by the pioneers,
and by 1745 had so prospered as to bear fruit; one
hundred acres of meadow were fenced, and mown or
grazed annually; and as many more were devoted to
grain.1 In the larger tasks the two households gave
one another the assistance that made extensive farming
operations possible. Each year the bays of the barn
were crammed with hay for winter fodder; each year
the older sons bent beneath the midsummer sun to the
cutting of the wheat or rye; each year the care of the
orchard and the cutting of brush, with hunting and
trapping, filled in the portions of the twelve-month
not devoted to seeding and harvesting. Even after the
first storms of winter there was no relaxation of labor.
Long after,3 Robert told in London of how as a boy he
gathered the shoots of alder and birch, and bearing
them home in fagots, bound them into brooms, and
carried them over ice and snow fifteen miles through
the woods to the nearest marketplace, — the town of
Rumford. Hither from Lovell's Farm led only a

1 New Hampshire State Papers, XXVII, 192.

a John Farmer and J. B. Moore, Historical and Miscellaneous Collections ,
Concord, 1823-31, I, 240.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

blazed path, winding beneath the sombre shade over
hill and valley, through copse and brake, skirting the
ridges and fording streams, until it came in view of
the brief, uneven streets of rough houses, and the edge
of the Merrimac river beyond. Upon the town's mills
and stores the isolated pioneers depended for their
scanty store of purchased provisions, and possibly upon
its schools and churches for meagre mental and spiri
tual guidance. They kept intact also the links between
themselves and Methuen, for during several autumns,
one marked by so great a drought that farmers else
where imported hay from England, the elder Rogers
bought or took at a rental cattle in Haverhill and drove
them north to be wintered.1 But in general the fami
lies were self-sufficing social and economic units, and
as such felt but little hardship in their position.

The outbreak of King George's War in 1 744 brought
the first sharp reversal of their fortunes, blighting their
hopes for a serene continuance of years of apple-grow
ing and hay-cropping, threatening the little property
they had amassed, and finally making them tremble for
their very lives. The descent of the war, however,
with its inevitable concomitants of Indian massacre and
Canadian pillage, was not unexpected, and such isolated
settlers as Rogers and Pudney had ample time in which
to prepare or remove to the towns. Even if the French
attack on the border, Mercifully delayed more than a
year after the beginning of the conflict, had come early,
no distant holm or hamlet would have been taken un
aware; for when in June, cresting a general wave of
alarm, the couriers rode forth from Boston with the
news that had just come by ship, warning all New
England to gird herself, the settlements had already
begun their preparations, — nowhere with more vigor

1 Hurd, History of Merrimac ard Belknap Countiei, p. 292.

KING GEORGE'S WAR

than at Rumford. Even while Governor Benning
Wentworth ' was declaring to a special session of the
Assembly at Portsmouth that "the naked condition of
our inland frontiers requires your compassionate re
gard," sixty-seven families at the center to which
Rogers and Pudney looked for protection had sent to
the capital a memorial praying that, inasmuch as the
buildings of the town "were compact, properly-formed
for defense, and well-situated for a barrier, lying on the
Merrimac only fifteen miles below the confluence of
the two main river gangways of the Canadians to the
frontiers of the provinces," the settlement be created
the seat of a general garrison.8 Though the petition
remained unanswered, a number of the strongest houses
in the town were fortified as places of instant refuge,
the fields were worked by men in armed companies,
and during the summer a scouting squad was kept
ranging the woods to the north. Not, however, until
the autumn of the next year, 1745, did the French
begin the inspiration of their savage allies to border
ravages; when, incensed and humiliated by Pepperell's
capture of Louisbourg, they commenced a horrifying
series of outrages along the upper Connecticut, and in
northern New York. During the first two summers of
the war Rogers and Pudney remained upon the fields
that constituted their all, their only danger being from
bands of the weak neighboring tribes, now withdraw
ing resentfully from the vicinity of the settlements,
against whom their own numbers constituted a suf
ficient protection ; but in early October of the second
year a heavy attack was made upon Westmoreland,
directly west of Rumford on the Connecticut, in No-

1 New Hampshire Province Papent V, 709.

2 James O. Lyford (editor), History of Concord, New Hampshire, Concord,
1903, I, 166.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

vember Saratoga was sacked and burnt, and simultane
ously Crown Point became the basis of operation for a
score of strong Indian parties. Outlying farms were
everywhere deserted, and the inhabitants rallied to the
nearest villages for defense.

At the beginning of winter in 1745 Rogers and
Pudney seem to have come in to the shelter of Rum-
ford. Here they remained for three years, able to
devote only the most intermittent attention to their
farms, so unceasing were the inroads of the savages;
but in an environment which gave the boy Robert his
first invaluable lessons in the art of woodland warfare.
The persistency with which the savages pushed the
struggle to their very doors is well set forth in local
and other documents. In the months of May and June,
1 746, according to a French paper yet preserved, thirty-
five different war-parties of Abenaki and Ottawa were
sent out from Crown Point to ravage the frontier ; ' and
on May 5 zealous Captain Goffe wrote from Rumford,
"about two o'clock in the morning": "The Indians
are all about. There was never more need of soldiers
than now. It is enough to make one's blood boil to
see our fellow creatures killed and taken up on every
quarter."8 On May 15, 1746, by order of the General
Assembly, three citizens of Rumford distributed its
families and those that had taken refuge in the town
among ten garrison houses, assigning to one James and
Samuel Rogers, and to another Joseph Pudney and his
sons William, Henry, and Samuel.3 Up and down the

1 Parkman, A Half -Century of Conflict, II, 214. All references to Francis
Parkman's Works are to the Frontenac Edition, Boston, 1905 ; except to the
Conspiracy of Pontiac, where the pag^s refer to the Boston edition of 1851.

• New Hampshire Province Papers, V, 800.

3 Lyford, History of Concord, I, 170-173. Nathaniel Bouton, History of
Concord, Concord, 1856, p. 154. The two Rogers were assigned to the house
of Timothy Walker, Jr., at what is now Main and Thorndike streets, Concord.

FIRST MILITARY SERVICE

Merrimac men worked in the fields, during this and
the following summer, only in large companies, with
arms always by their sides. Even at church the settlers
carried their guns into the pews, and the minister
prayed with his piece resting against the pulpit. Bands
of rangers patrolled the woods of the neighborhood.
To the poor the towns distributed free powder, bullets,
flints, and muskets. No shot might be fired after sun
set.1 On May 20, 1747, there was so incisive an attack
upon the town of Suncook, immediately below Rum-
ford and to the east of Lovell's farm, that the province
ordered out a trebly-augmented body of scouts to safe
guard the upper reaches of the river.9 Those even of
comparatively sheltered regions who were forced to take
risks in preserving the fruit of their acres often suffered
for their temerity; and the people of Pembroke, east
of the Merrimac, complained that they "lived so much
exposed to the Indian enemy that they got their bread
at the peril of their lives, by reason of the sword of the
wilderness." In July of 1747, when the aged Joseph
Pudney had his arm broken by a shot while carrying
"a woodf . bottle of beer" from a village garrison to
men at work in the fields, the alarm became extra
ordinary, and only a reinforcement of thirty men sent
by Wentworth to Rumford permitted a continuance of
hay-mowing, then just begun, in the vicinity of town.3
Nor until the end of the year did the frequency of
Indian aggressions at all abate.

During these two adventurous years the boy Robert
Rogers, for his age remarkably tall and sturdy, not
merely bore the excited interest of youth in all that

1 Potter, Military History of New Hampshire, New Hampshire Adjutant
General's Report, Concord, 1866, I, 38; Bouton's History of Concord, p. 150.

2 Potter, Military History of New Hampshire, I, 99.

3 Lyford, History of Concord, I, 1 80. New Hampshire Province Paper j,
V, 880.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

was passing about him, but found means also to mingle
actively in the heady "current of the war's events:; — hr
winter, when even the boldest hunters stirred little
abroad, he may have been in school ; in summer he
participated in both the village harvest and the village
military expeditions. In August, 1746, when at fifteen
he was not yet liable for militia duty, he was impressed
into the ranks by a sudden exigency, — an attack made
on the tenth of that month upon a detachment of a
local scouting company, as it was being transferred
along a forest lane from Rumford to a fortified house
two miles west, resulting in the killing and scalping of
seven men,1 in the very heart of garrisons and patrols,
and at not a mile's distance from a whole company of
soldiery. Amid the general consternation Robert and
his brother Samuel, with two of the Pudneys, enlisted
and served until the end of September, ranging over all
the country below Lake Winnipesaukee, but seeing little
real fighting.9 Similarly in August of the second year
Robert enlisted again in a company of rangers, and
campaigned for six weeks under Captain Ebenezer
Eastman. The body of which he made one scoured
the woods north and west of his home for thirty miles,
operating over territory with which he had become
thoroughly familiar, and engaging, upon one or two
occasions, in a light skirmish.3 At various times the
hardy lad may have done sentinel duty about the town.
During the winter of 1747-8 the intensity of the
war lessened so perceptibly that Rogers and his old
neighbor felt that they might securely return to Lovell's

1 Lyford, History of Concord, I, 175.

a Potter, Military History of New Hampshire, I, 95. During the summer of
1747 thirty soldiers were on guard at Rumford ; in the autumn a large party of
Indians hung about the southwest part of town, killing cattle, until driven off.
Jacob Moore, Annals of Concord, Concord, 1824.

3 Potter, Military History of New Hampshire, I, 99.

3°

DESTRUCTION OF THE ROGERS HOME

Farm, and at a very early date in the spring they were
once more-settled in their -old homes, readyjto recom
mence farming operations. For some months fewer
and fewer rumors of the proximity of the Indians had
disturbed the settlements; since the capture of Fort
Massachusetts two years before no military event of
any moment had occurred in America; and European
affairs were steadily pointing toward peace. Unfortu
nately, one of the last strokes of the war was destined
to touch the fortunes of the pioneers most severely.
Toward evening of one day in April a band of savages
was discovered to be lurking in the vicinity of Rum-
ford. The alarm was given, and while messengers noti
fied other outlying cottagers, two friends of Rogers and
Pudney traced their way along the blazed path through
the forest blackness to warn them of the impending
danger. Upon receipt of the alarming intelligence, the
two families precipitately abandoned 'their homes, and
beat a speedy retreat to the nearest garrison. The next
day, accompanied by an adequate guard from the town,
they returned to drive their cattle in to safety. They
were too late. The Indians had plundered and burnt
their houses, destroyed their barns, killed a heifer and
a steer belonging to Rogers, and spread such devastation
through their orchard that but a single tree remained
standing; and when the settlers turned from the smok
ing ashes and wasted acres in pursuit, the forest had
swallowed the marauders up.

Although this disastrous and unexpected attack vir
tually ended the partisan fighting in that region, the
disheartened Rogers and Pudney spent the remainder
of the year in Suncook and Rumford, and from that dis
tance planted and reaped what they might.1 In October,

1 Caleb Stark, History of Dunbarton , p. 11-13. New Hampshire State Papers,
XXVII, 190.

3»

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

1748, the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was finally signed,
and husbandry, industry, and colonization could once
more move forward unchecked in the valley of the
Merrimac.

Social conditions along the upper valley changed
rapidly after 1748; and it was into a country filling
with settlers, and brightened by new hopes of pros
perity, that James Rogers moved back upon Lovell's
Farm a year later, setting Robert and his elder brothers
once more at their wonted tasks. Indeed, the inpouring
of fresh colonists into the region threatened for a time
his tenure of the land for which he had toiled so hard.
He had purchased it from the Massachusetts General
Court; and now came Scotch farmers from east of the
Merrimac, under the leadership of Archibald Stark,
bearing more recent and more valid titles from John
Mason's heirs. Rogers and Pudney hastened to engage
a lawyer at Portsmouth, and in a petition to the pro
prietors, which several others who had improved land
in the neighborhood reinforced, protested vigorously
against any redistribution of acres which should ignore
their claims.1 Their voices were heard, and in the new
township of Starkstown, as chartered in December, 1748,
to them and to their sons were given adjacent shares on
the site of their former fields, and in that part of the
tract near which the present town of Dunbarton stands.
The terms of the charter provided for the rapid settle
ment near them of forty-five other families, each with
its own house and a clearing of three acres, and re
served also an ample endowment in land for a church
and school. Their new neighbors began at once to fell
the heavy woods which had lain untroubled about the
great meadow, to raise their own house timbers, and to
fill the deep woodland paths with the heavy burr of

1 New Hampshire State Papers, XXVII, 190-200.

DEATH OF ROGERS' FATHER

their Scotch accent. By 1751 the community was
sparsely but widely peopled, roads were projected to
the east and south, and a stimulus had been given to
agriculture and land-investment under which Rogers
felt a new prosperity. His position became for a time
an enviably thriving one, in which he was apparently
able to make considerable additions to his estate; for at
various dates in 1751 and 1752 he bought most of the
holdings of Pudney, and the shares also of several of
the Scotch assignees who were prevented from comply
ing with the conditions of the charter.1

In this life of a frontier farmer's son Robert Rogers
was engaged until the tragic death of his father. In the
winter of 1752-3 there came into the country one of
James Rogers' old friends, Ebenezer Ayer of Haverhill,
celebrated as a successful hunter. He made a camp on
Walnut Slope, between Rogers' farm and the Merrimac
River, and thence pursued his regular avocation of fol
lowing bears, deer, and other game. In early spring he
had once completed a day's sport, and at dusk had re
paired to his rude hut; and as it was not yet late, and
he had been unsuccessful, he was still on the outlook
for a possible wild animal. The unfortunate Rogers,
dressed from head to foot in bearskins, and already bent
by his years of labor, drew near the camp to pay his
friend a visit. Deceived by the dusk of evening, the
eager hunter shot and so heavily wounded him that,
almost before his children or his wife could be brought
to his side, he died.* Ayer could never after speak of
the occurrence without tears. Four of Rogers' sons,
however, including Robert, were arrived at manhood's
estate, and the future of his family was assured.

1 New Hampshire Province Deeds.

* Caleb Stark, History of Dunbarton, p. 386. J. B. Walker, Robert Rogers
the Ranger, Boston, 1885, p. 2.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

In fact, when in 1753 his father's estate was divided,
Robert Rogers was twenty- two years old, of extraordi
nary physique and courage, and completely self-reliant.1
Since the close of the war he had become an expert
enced hunter and guide in all the region thereabout,
and more recently still had begun to make some agri
cultural ventures of his own. He had already bought a
parcel of wooded land at Merrimac, half-way between
Rumford and Methuen, for £jot and upon this, in the
summer after his father's death, he began a clearing.
A year later (1753) he commenced the cultivation of
several acres there, and erected a house and barn, in
which, during the autumn, he placed a tenant. He is
variously referred to during these two summers as a
"husbandman and yeoman of Rumford," or as a
" housewright of Merrimac";3 while we glean from
other references to him that his winters, and his spare
weeks generally, were spent in hardy and adventurous
expeditions northward, as hunter and trader. It is evi
dent that in this latter occupation lay his chief interest.
"Between the years 1743 and 1753," ne wrote later in
the only reference he ever made to his youth, "I was
led to a general acquaintance both with the British and
French settlements in North America, and especially
with the uncultivated desert, the mountains, valleys,
rivers, lakes, and several passes that lay between and
contiguous to the said settlements. Nor did I content
myself with the accounts I received from the Indians,
but travelled over large tracts of country myself, which

1 «' Robert Rogers was six feet in stature, well proportioned, and one of the
most athletic youths of his time — well known in all the trials of strength or
activity among the young men for several miles around. He was endowed with
great presence of mind, intrepidity, perseverance, and possessed a plausible
address." Caleb Stark : Memoir of John Stark (in Robert Rogers' Reminis
cences of the French War, a garbled edition of the Journalist Concord, 1831,

P- 387.

3 New Hampshire Province Deeds ,• Parker to Rogers, and others.

FRONTIER TRAVELS

tended not more to gratify my curiosity than to inure
me to hardship, and to qualify me for my later ser
vices." ' His knowledge of the French towns could
easily have been obtained as a petty trader, or a hunter-
explorer. The nearest of them lay far to the north and
west, above Memphremagog, Champlain, and the head
waters of the St. Francis — a journey to be measured
only in days of hard travel. Intercourse between the
French and the English, however, was not rare after
the close of King George's War; and in one capacity
or the other many opportunities must have offered the
young man, already locally famed for his strength of
limb and knowledge of the wood, to accompany expe
ditions beyond the border. His love for adventure and
his geographical curiosity alone might account for the
fact that, like Whittier's grandfather, he had repeatedly
watched the moonlight play upon Norman cap and
bodiced waist, reeling in dance among the northern
pines, or in dusky wigwam or open camp had sat down
to the moose and roast corn of a savage board.* He
may have helped build roads, such as that which Gov
ernor Wentworth projected in 1753 to Cohase Meadows,
high up on the Connecticut, or have joined the official
surveying and exploring parties which at this time were
penetrating all upper Vermont and New Hampshire.
Parkman has suggested that he was probably engaged
in smuggling ; 3 but in New England nefarious com
merce was then almost exclusively a coastwise practise,
and no such improbable hypothesis is required to ex
plain why a young man of mettle should not always
have contented himself with a farmer's sphere.

What is to be observed is that when in 1754 he had

1 Preface to Robert Rogers' Journals, London, 1765. Similar statements
are to be found in some of his later memorials.

2 J. G. Whittier, Snowbound,

3 Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, II, 1 19.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

attained to some maturity, he appreciated fully the re
sources and temper of English border civilization; he
was acquainted with the language and customs of both
French and Indians; the forest was a book whose pages
he had cultivated until there were few of its problems,
its hardships, or its dangers he could not master; and
he knew with some intimacy all the land enclosed be
tween the White Mountains, the nearer shore of the
St. Lawrence, and the sources of the Hudson. His
whole character — his strength, endurance, and initia
tive, with many rougher and less , admirable traits —
was that of a frontiersman. With 1754 there dawned
a new epoch in his life.

Ranging service; The French and Indian War; Exploits on Lake
Champlain; The Surrender of the West.

As early as 1753, the summer in which Robert
Rogers was engaged at Merrimac, all the omens of the
sky, from the St. Lawrence and Penobscot to the
Niagara and Ohio, threatened another French war.1
In the spring of that year Duquesne had sent out from
Montreal an expedition which by June had built forts
at Presqu' Isle and Le Boeuf, and in August had occu
pied Venango, thus commanding the portages from
Lake Erie to the Alleghany. Throughout the summer
the Indians of the Northwest — the Miami, Sauk, Pota-
watomi, Chippewa, and even some of the Iroquois —
were submitting to the representatives of the French
king with the most zealous protestations of fidelity,
some even bringing in. English scalps in earnest of their
sincerity. Already Dinwiddie of Virginia had sent out
troops to throw up a fort at the forks of the Ohio, and
was laying those plans which, with the coming of
autumn, were to introduce George Washington to the
world. In the east preparations for war went as briskly
on. During the summer of 1749 the first redoubts and
palisades at Halifax, on the south coast of Acadia, had
been erected, and the battalions of Louisbourg had
marched in behind the ramparts of the most northern
of English fortresses; and under more immediate indi
cations of conflict nearly one-third of the French in-

1 Francis Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe. Boston, 1905, Frontenac Edition,
II, Chapters I-V.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

habitants of the land, pastoral and listless as they were,
were emigrating to their brethren in the west. At the
same time, international discussions showed that the
theoretical claims of the two peoples were irreconcil
able. The French extremists claimed to the heads of
the waterways emptying into the St. Lawrence, the
Great Lakes, and the Ohio; the English extremists,
basing their title upon the wide territory overrun by
the Six Nations, would have confined their rivals, out
side Louisiana, to their meagre settlements in Ontario
and Quebec.

For the colony of New Hampshire the avant-couriers
of war were, as usual, sporadic outbreaks of violence
and discontent among the unruly Indians who occupied
the hinterland between the settlements and Canada;
and it was in the suppression of these irruptions that
Rogers was first called into service. The northern
colonies were not well prepared for the extremity that
was upon them. As the Mohawk chief Hendrick told
their governors at the Albany conference of 1759,' they
had but to look about to see that their country was
bare of fortifications. " It is but a step from Canada
hither," he said, "and the French may come at any
time and turn you out of doors. Like men, they are
fortifying everywhere. But you are like women, ex
posed and open, without fortifications." As the fever
and tension of war increased, the tribes' responsiveness
to it kept pace. In December, 1752, the Assembly of
New Hampshire authorized the cutting of a road to the
fertile Cohase Meadows,3 one hundred miles up on the
Connecticut; and the appearance in 1753 °f a company
of woodsmen and guards in that extreme region, sur
veying the proposed highway, threw the Indians of the

1 Nftv York Colonial Documents, VI, 863.
1 New Hampshire Province Papers, VI, 198.

FRESH MILITARY SERVICE

St. Francis tribe into a state of restless uneasiness.1 Al
though the scheme was not pushed, they at once began
a course of depredations and raids. The spring of 1754
witnessed petty attacks upon Stevenstown, Conticook,
and other townships north of Rumfbrd, in such num
bers that in early summer Governor Wentworth ordered
out a company, under Colonel Blanchard, to patrol the
upper reaches of the Merrimac. In this company
Rogers enlisted on August 23, and served until Sep
tember 2 13 — the third time, except for various brief
periods of militia duty, that he had been in the military
employ of the colony. He was a valued accession to
the corps, for of the country over which Blanchard
attempted to extend a fan-like grip he had a ready and
intimate knowledge. He did not, however, see real
action; although the pestering inroads of the Indians
continued, Blanchard did no*- even come to a skirmish
with them, and the penurious Assembly forced the
dissolution of the command within two months. He
was therefore free during the autumn to return to his
later harvest, or to whatever adventurous pursuits he
chose.

But not for long. Some weeks he spent in rather
desultory employment near Rumford, hunting, farming,
and selling cattle, and then, in midwinter, as belligerent
measures went on apace, found employment as an en
listing officer. On May 28, 1754, the troops of Wash
ington, encountering in the valley of the Monongahela
the courier party of Coulon de Jumonville, had received
the order to fire, and so opened the Seven Years' war.
The news of Washington's surrender at Fort Necessity
on July 4 thus found the troops of Carolina, Virginia,

' New Hampshire Province Papers, 4£J, 199.

3 New Hampshire Province Pa fen, VI, 296; Potter, Military History of
New Hampshire, I, 118.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

and New York all mobilizing for western campaigns,
and the burgesses of Pennsylvania and Maryland grant
ing to the common cause all that their poverty or
parsimony would allow,1 New England had always
suffered so much from French war-parties that she
was eager to accoutre herself for battle. Shirley of
Massachusetts wrung a large grant of money from the
General Court, marched himself to forestall French
occupation of the Chaudiere, and despatched Captain
Winslow to build two forts on the Kennebec. In New
Hampshire Wentworth had already detached a troop
to search for a French fort falsely rumored to be under
construction on the Connecticut. As the first snows
fell, plans were being matured among the upper tier
of colonies for a northern expedition, at first vaguely
designated as "against Canada," but as the months
went by clearly aimed against Crown Point, always a
thorn in New England's side. As an enlisting agent
for this last army Rogers found remunerative employ
ment, as well as an opportunity to provide a small
future command for himself. We first hear of him
in this connection in January, 1755, when, without
stopping to get permission from Governor Wentworth,
he accepted employment under Major Joseph Frye of
Massachusetts to raise twenty men for the Bay Colony's
quota.3

This occupation he was compelled to interrupt to
extricate himself from grave legal difficulties. Early in
February he was suspected of being implicated with
others in counterfeiting the bills of credit of the prov
inces, a crime punishable according to the inhumane
laws of the period by an extreme penalty. On Febru
ary 7, he was arrested and tried before the Inferior

' Parkman, Montialm and Wolfe, I, Chapter VJ.
2 New Hampshire Province Papen, VI, 364.

THE CHARGE OF COUNTERFEITING

Court at Rumford, with fifteen others, and so much
evidence was adduced against him that he was placed
under bond of ^500 to appear before the Superior
Court at Portsmouth on February 12.' It was estab
lished during Rogers' examination that, while he was
hunting near Rumford the previous autumn, he had
been approached by one Sullivan of Boston, a maker
of counterfeit notes, who had offered to buy three yoke
of oxen which Rogers kept for sale, and, showing him
a handful of new bills, had given him one of twenty
shillings for pasturing his horse. Hoping to get a large
quantity of the counterfeit money, Rogers had brought
his oxen to the place appointed, but had found that
Sullivan, alarmed, was already fled from the country.
Rogers testified also that he had asked Captain Blanch-
ard and others to become partners with him in count
erfeiting, "to find out if they were concerned in the
matter"; and that they had refused and had warned
him of the business in the strongest terms. Four of
those who were tried with Rogers were sent to jail,
and five others were admitted to bond. He was badly
frightened, and went at once to Portsmouth to find
means of clearing himself; * meanwhile twenty-four
men whom he had enlisted for Massachusetts had
gathered there, and a happy thought struck him.
Finding that his own province was greatly in need
of volunteers, and of capable enlisting officers to drum

1 New Hampshire Court Files, Secretary of State's Office, No. 26954 and
others.

2 In this matter of counterfeiting, see ihe papers used in the Inferior Court,
Feb. 7, 1754, and still presen cd at Concord, New Hampshire. The bills
counterfeited were of twenty, ten, and six shilling denominations. The two
Joseph Blanchards (one of whom Rogers had asked to join him), John GofFe,
and Matthew Thornton were the justices who conducted the examination. The
general impression to be gained from the answers of Rogers to their questions
is that he had been temporarily led astray, in part by native dishonesty, in part by
a rural want of judgment, but had early forsaken his evil course in alarm.

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

them up, he secured a commission from Wentworth
himself, and the next day turned over all his soldiers to
the New Hampshire government. When the hour set
for his trial arrived a week later, he had so curried
favor that he was admitted as King's evidence, and
apparently escaped scot free.1 He returned up-country,
and set about registering soldiers for Colonel Blanchard,
who was to command the single regiment which the
province was sending against Crown Point. Here he
met with marked success, until Frye, with the backing
of Shirley, complained to Wentworth of his conduct,
stating that Rogers had secured his first volunteers by
the use of king's money, and demanding that he be
given exemplary punishment for treacherously and il
legally returning them for New Hampshire. Went
worth, however, shielded his subordinate by replying
that Frye's agreement with Rogers was utterly irregu
lar, and that the latter, "whom I am told is recognized
for a capital offense," was out of his reach." Indeed,
although in April fresh evidence against Rogers as a
counterfeiter was produced by a farmer of Exeter, who
had received bad notes from him, he was not further
molested.3 The New Hampshire quota of five hundred
men was now almost complete, and ready to march ;

1 No Superior Court records of his trial have been preserved, and the sole
statement upon which this explanation of his continued liberty is based (perhaps
an insufficient one) is that in the New Hampshire Province Papers t VI, 364,
in which Fryc states that Rogers had gone to Portsmouth to take the steps sug
gested.

a John Winslow, Journal (Ms. ), Massachusetts Historical Society, I, 9.

3 This farmer, named Carty Gilman, when searched as a suspect, had on his
person two counterfeit bills and a letter from Rogers ; the letter he stuffed in his
mouth and partially ate before it could be recovered. The decipherable portion,
still preserved, runs: «' Mr. Gilman, for God's sake do the work that you
promised me that you would do. By no means fail, or you will destroy me
forever. Sir, my life lies at your providence ; once more I adjure you by your
Maker to do it, for why should such an honest man be killed?" Gilman con
fessed that he had received several bills from Captain Rogers, some of which he
had passed, others of which he had returned.

APPOINTMENT AS CAPTAIN

the Assembly, acting in unison with those of Massachu
setts, Connecticut, and New York, had voted ,£30,000
toward the expense of the joint attack on Crown Point;
and the state's experienced soldiers could not be kept
waiting in the lawcourts.

In Blanchard's regiment, Rogers, who had enlisted
more men than any other agent, and who, as' an old
friend and subordinate of the commander, had given full
proof of his merits as a fighter, was at the end of spring
appointed captain of the first company.1 His avenue to
distinction was now fairly open. The plan of the first
campaign of the war General Braddock had determined
upon two months previously, in conference with the
governors of the colonies at Alexandria, Virginia. The
commander-in-chief was himself to cross the Alleghanies
and reduce Fort Duquesne ; Governor Shirley of Massa
chusetts was to head an expedition against Fort Fron-
tenac and Niagara on the Great Lakes ; Moncton was to
take ship against the French posts which threatened
Nova Scotia; and Sir William Johnson, whom Admiral
Sir Peter Warren had placed in charge of his extensive
lands on the Mohawk years before, and who had just
been made Indian superintendent, was to lead the long
dreamed-of attack upon Crown Point. Thanks to the
zeal of the northern colonies, when the last-named com
mander hastened back to Albany with Braddock's in
structions, he found his forces everywhere mustering
with arms and stores, and ready to begin their march.
The troops were of heterogenous origin.3 Connecticut
had voted twelve hundred men, Rhode Island four hun
dred, Massachusetts twelve hundred, New York eight
hundred. In May and June, together with swarms of
Mohawk Indians, they all began to converge toward

1 Potter, Military History of New Hampshire, I, 129.

8 Parkman, Montcalm and H'olfe, II, Chapters VII and IX.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

their appointed camp at the " Flats " above Albany ;
and in the general movement the New Hampshire
regiment at once entered upon its term of service.
Rogers' company was the earliest in motion.

The first instructions given to the regiment to march
were blundering.1 Ignorant, like all his counselors, of
the actual geography of the country about Lakes George
and Champlain, Wentworth on May 28 announced his
intention of sending the regiment against Crown Point
by a short cut through Cohase Meadows on the high
Connecticut. A rendezvous was chosen on its banks
some miles above Lancaster, and — so Wentworth
thought — only four days across the wilds of Vermont
from the English headquarters above Albany. Far
from being expeditious, a route more roundabout, more
exposed to attack, and more poorly calculated to assist
the forward movement of Johnson's main force from
the south, could scarcely have been chosen. Shirley
immediately protested, but for the present the gover
nor's instructions could only be obeyed. While the
remainder of the troops were gathering at Canterbury,
Rogers with his fifty men was sent on to Cohase, there
to build a fort at the rendezvous. This rough rampart,
thrown up during the month of June, he named Fort
Wentworth, and after posting a sufficient guard be
hind its walls, at once returned south.3 Meanwhile,
Johnson had warned Wentworth early in June against
going any farther northward; and the main column
of provincials, already straggling through the forest to

1 New Hampshire Province Papers, VI, 386, 392, and ff.

3 Rogers' Journals say : " Upon taking command of a company of the troops
furnished by the province of New Hampshire, I made several excursions, pursuant
to special orders from the governor, on the northern and western frontiers, with a
view to deter the French and Indians from making inroads upon us by that way.
In this manner I was employed until the month of July" (page viii). For an
account of ;he fort Rogers built see Potter's Military History of New Hampshire ,
I, 144. Rogers was probably formally enlisted April 24, 1755. Idem, p. 129.

FIRST EXPERIENCE AS RANGER

Stevenstown, was recalled to a secure line of march.
On July 20, Blanchard and his men set out along the
proper route, by way of Charleston and Fort Dummer,
and arrived on August 12 at Albany. The regiment
rested a few days in town, and was then sent to guard
the companies and wagons moving slowly up the Hud
son to Fort Edward.

Here, at the end of three weeks, Rogers was given
the employment in which he was to make his distinc
tive military mark, and for which his talents designed
him. While Johnson's army, preceded by squadrons
of axemen hewing the way, pushed on to Lake George,
Blanchard was ordered to defend Fort Edward, still in
complete; but the tall young captain was called in to
an interview with the general, to whom he had been
recommended as a person well acquainted with the
haunts and passes of the enemy, and the Indian mode
of righting. The shrewd, frank baronet was impressed
with Rogers' presence and speech.1 His army, for the
most part a badly organized concourse of farmers and
farmers' sons, pressing into a forest alive with French
spies and hostile Indians, stood in dire need of a body
of efficient scouts; and he saw his opportunity to use
such a frontiersman to advantage. The bold young
provincial was therefore at once detached from Blanch-
ard's command, and ordered, with a party of selected
and hardy woodsmen, to hold himself in readiness for

1 Rogers' Journals, page 8. Johnson wrote to Sir Charles Hardy: «' Captain
Rogers' bravery and veracity stand very clear in my opinion, and that of all who
know him. Though his regiment is gone he remains here a volunteer, and is the
most active man in our army. Tomorrow he purposes to set off with two or three
picked men to take a review of Ticonderoga, and proceed to Crown Point for a
prisoner. I mention him particularly as I understand that some insinuations have
been made to his disadvantage. I believe him to be as brave and as honest a man
as any I have equal knowledge of, and both myself and the army are convinced
he has distinguished himself since he has been among us, superior to most, inferior
to none, of his rank." Johnson MJS., 3, 83. (October 13, 1755.)

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

special ranging excursions. Within a few days he was
sent away to follow and explore the upper distances of
the Hudson, to the west of Lake George, and was
therefore absent when, on September 8, the French
army which Dieskau had marched too rashly to the
head of the lake was defeated, and its leader killed.
This barren victory, closing for a moment major oper
ations in that quarter, gave only a further impulse to
Rogers' forays and scouts, for the defensive columns at
Crown Point and Ticonderoga, settling pugnaciously
down before William-Henry, the new fort on Lake
George, required constant surveillance. Within a month
he had proved his indispensability to yohnson, and as
the colonial legions melted away to the proportions of
a large garrison he was fairly divorced from the frontier
settlement, with all its peaceful dangers to a nature like
his, and devoted to the excursions and alarms of war.
As the remaining battalions established themselves be
hind their new bulwarks, he found himself designated
for the special services of irregular warfare, at first under
the direct command of Johnson himself, later under the
commissioners sent to the fort by the colonies.1

Indeed, the incidents of the first six months sufficed
to establish Rogers' reputation and position.9 Before
the close of 1755 he had made seven sallies from Fort
William-Henry, had mapped in detail the French
works at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, had thor
oughly explored the surrounding country, and had
repeatedly taken prisoners whose examination yielded

1 Potter, Military History of New Hampshire, I, 155. A council of war was
held at Lake George in November, 1755, an^ by its decision Rogers and his
company were among those retained at Fort William Henry as a garrison through
out the winter. He represented all the colonies, and not New Hampshire in par
ticular — a fact which later caused him endless difficulty in securing his own and
his men's pay.

3 Rogers' Journals^ p. 1-12.

GALLANTRY AND COLONIAL RECOGNITION

facts of the greatest value concerning the enemy's
position. His squads, which numbered from four to
fifty j he handled, in Johnson's words, with "unpar
alleled boldness and usefulness." He was the eyes of
the English camp. In March and February of 1756
he continued his tactics with signal success, twice on
bitterly cold nights marching sixty men within hailing-
distance of the French forts, and setting in flames the
villages under their very walls. In a winter noted for
the general listlessness with which the war was con
ducted, his long expeditions furnished the only illumi
nation on the page of affairs. The northern colonies,
deeply interested in the reduction of Crown Point,
were especially regardful of his services, and as the
spring assemblies convened official notice was taken of
his exploits. In late February the New York House
granted him 125 Spanish milled pieces of eight "as a
gratuity for his extraordinary courage, conduct, and
diligence against the French and their Indians."1 A
proposal for a similar measure was made in New
Hampshire; while Shirley, quite forgetting his old
score, twice urged the Massachusetts Court to show
a like mark of their approbation.2

Upon their refusal, Shirley resolved with customary
zeal to take some step which would ensure Rogers'
continuance in his present station, and increase the
scope of his possibilities for service, and in March sent
for him to come to Boston. In the council chamber
of the old Province House the governor gave the young
officer a commission as captain of a,i independent com
pany of rangers. Specific directions to enlist woods
men accustomed to travelling and hunting, and to use
them in harassing the French, accompanied the com-

1 Massachusetts Archives, IV, 546. This was on February 25, 1756.

2 Massachusetts Archives, CIX, 243.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

mission.1 Within a fortnight Rogers had attracted to
his standard the requisite number of tried frontiersmen,
and, sending a part with his brother Richard to Albany,
marched with the rest across the forest-covered hills of
lower Vermont. The manner of his arrival was char-
acteristic.' Emerging on a bright May morning from
the woods near the enemy's post, he lay in wait oppo
site, hoping some party might venture across to be
attacked. In the afternoon and evening four or five
hundred gaily-uniformed grenadiers, piloted by Indians
in war-paint, paddled loiteringly past; but although the
English kept their posts till ten o'clock next day, they
found no opportunity to ambush them. At that hour
they discovered a herd of cattle grazing close behind
them, and shot more than a score, whose tongues they
found "a great refreshment." The reports of their
guns, unfortunately, were heard by the French, and
eleven canoes of armed men crossed the lake so direct
ly and threateningly toward them that they were forced
to disperse to escape their pursuers. Later they passed
down the lake on a raft, seeing as they did so the
French soldiery drawn up on glittering parade, with a
crowd of interested savages watching them, beside the
"old carrying-place" of Ticonderoga.

Beginning with October, 1755, and continuing near
ly six years, all Rogers' expeditions, adventures, and
exploits, are recorded in his journals; — dryly, unam-
bitiously, but with a detail that in spite of itself glows
at some passages into vividness. The forces he com
manded, and the magnitude of the operations in which
he engaged, grew from a small beginning until he was
among the most renowned and efficient of provincial
commanders; but the spectacular zest, the bold dash,

Rogers' Journals, p. 13, 14, I 5.
Rogera* Journals , p. 16, 17.

THE LIFE OF THE RANGER

of his achievement was always the same. No branch
of American arms of the period was so glamorously
adventurous, so active, dangerous, and fascinating ; none
balanced so well the unique piquancy of forest cam
paigning against its constant-perils and privations. The
first four weary years that the campaign dragged on
about Crown Point were emblazoned by his feats alone.
With headquarters at William-Henry, his command
held in leash all the debatable ground that lay to the
north, and ranged over plain and valley to give battle
or secure information. The two attractive lakes, George
and Champlain, with the hills, the deep woods, the
brooks and ponds that environed them, were in all
seasons and weathers their constant arena, and a home
of wonderful variety and charm. In summer they
made their daring dashes upon the placid water which
for miles mirrored back the surrounding rock and
mountain, paddling their canoes noiselessly along shores
whose drooping foliage made for them an embowered
lane, and slipping past islands asleep in August haze, in
a silence broken only by the screaming of the jay, or
the soughing of the wind through the sumac and
ivy. In frozen winter, they would break a midnight
camp as the rising moon threw its chill reflection
over the glittering waste of the forest, or under a
wan and dying sun thread their way on snow-shoes
along some ice-bound str^am, under birches and alders
stooping with their feathery burden. The fascination
of the surpri&e, of the sharp report that rang over the
sleeping hill, of the gloomy ambush and the breath
less pursuit or flight, was stronger with them than
the fear of death, or the longing for security and
peace. From spring till autumn contact wkh nature
filled them with hardy energy. Nor were their ser
vices ever insignificant. With their increasing strength

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

and prestige they kept the whole region, and every
French or Indian encampment, under continuous sur
vey. They reconnoitred their forts, took prisoners to
extort information, intercepted provisions, fired grain-
ricks and houses, killed cattle, captured bateaux, and
reported the most trivial movements of troops. Their
vigilance and pugnacity kept them always penetrating
the enemy's lines, stealing upon his intrenchments and
sentries,1 engaging his outparties in hornet-like skir
mishes, and retiring with volleys into the darkness of
an unforeseen ambuscade.

Rogers' command was steadily augmented. On July
20, 1756, he was given a second company, captained
by his brother Richard, and in the next month thirty
Stockbridge Indians were placed under his direction, to
serve upon missions which required endurance and sly
daring rather than calm judgment; while during the
late autumn, two new companies, under Captain Spike-
man and Hobbs, were ordered up to spend the winter
at William-Henry. In one of these Robert's brother
James was ensign. With the full advent of spring two
more companies were raised, one from the Jerseys
under Captain Burgin, the other from inactive regi
ments of English regulars. Still another was afterwards
added, so that during the greater portion of the three
years' campaigning about Crown Point which followed
1756, Rogers commanded seven or eight companies,
the whole forming a perfectly unified and coherent
battalion, although its various parts were often dispersed
on widely different errands. His comprehensive author
ity over the body was recognized early in 1758, when

1 For this, and whatever matter is not hereafter specifically credited to another
source, see Rogers' Journals, London, 1765. For the account of the habits of
Rogers' men and their method of fighting, material has been drawn in especial
from the plan of discipline which he drew up for his regular companies in 1757,
given on pp. 60-70.

5°

THE LIFE OF THE RANGER

Abercrombie appointed him a major commanding all
the rangers in His Majesty's service. Thenceforth he
directed the movement of the whole corps, retaining,
however, command of an especial company with which
he himself undertook the most dangerous and onerous
expeditions. With him or under him, at different
times, such famous and capable soldiers as John Stark,
Israel Putnam, and James Dalyell served their appren
ticeship.

These rangers stand among the most picturesque of
all the troops which have served on the American con
tinent, for both temper and appearance answered well
to their rough and audacious life. Most of them were
the resolute sons of the border villages and farms, inured,
like their commander, to the fatigues of harassing and
unbelievable journeys, the extremes of heat and cold,
and distressing privations of food and shelter during
long periods; fearless, steady of nerve, and resourceful
of mind. A few were true Puritans; some others, worse
than Rogers, added to a stern forcefulness character
istics by no means so praiseworthy, and were rough
and drunken when off duty, unscrupulous in private
morals, and cruel in battle. In active campaigning,
withal, they were brave, orderly, and efficient. There
was the same, want of smooth coordination between
their loose private life and their hard fighting capacity
that marked the buccaneers of Drake and Hawkins.
They wore a uniform which varied slightly in the
different companies, but which in all was only a mili
tary variation of the ordinary garb of hunter and
trapper; and each carried a smooth-bore firelock, with
sixty rounds of powder and ball, and a heavy hatchet.
Their life in the field was one of infinite vigilance and
hourly readiness for action. Except upon marshy
ground, they marched in single file, far enough apart

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

that one shot might not kill two men, and with a cloud
of skirmishers to the front and sides. The usual fords
and paths they carefully avoided, and in passing along
a large body of water, kept at such a distance that no
hostile ambuscade could cut off their retreat. At every
suspicious thicket and hedgy bank they stopped to
reconnoitre. Any considerable force of the enemy was
hotly engaged in the scattering, galling Indian style,
from behind logs and the heavy covert of shrubs and
bushes; and when overwhelmed in numbers the rangers
retired with a slow, enchafing fire until they reached a
defensible eminence. Their aim would check a black
bird's swift flight in mid-air, or bring down a chatter
ing squirrel as it ran along the topmost branch of an
oak. When encamped for the night, they posted their
sentries in silent groups of six, two of whom were con
stantly alert, so as to avoid the necessity of relief from
the main body. At dawn, the hour of stealthy Indian
attacks, they were always awake and in position to repel
a surprise. Some of their forced marches were almost
incredible. In midwinter they would skate down the
sheeted lakes, and in summer send their light canoes
shooting over their smooth surface, always hugging the
shore, and moving preferably by night to avoid detec
tion. To surprise and thwart the enemy was their
eternal ambition. And of this rough and stalwart
crew Rogers, with his commanding physique, his un
dying energy and powers of woodland leadership, his
ready wit and rollicking bonhomie, was the heart and
informing spirit.

Out of the almost monotonous succession of raids,
skirmishes, captures of prisoners, and spying trips of
the rangers, two principal engagements stand forth in
relief. The first occurred in January, 1757, soon after
the arrival of Abercrombie and Loudon with the whole

PARTISAN ENGAGEMENTS

army of the center at Fort Edward.1 On the seventh
of the month Rogers took seventy-five men, among
them Lieutenant John Stark, and skated down the
lake, frozen deep and wind-swept of the heavy snow,
until finally he turned to the northwest and entered
the woods. His soldiers had provided themselves with
snowshoes, and with these they pushed on northward,
now tacking to the east, now to the west, but keeping
always several miles to the left of the glittering waste
of Lake George and Lake Champlain, and moving
single file over ironbound swamps, iceclad rocks,
through thickets drifted high with snow and under
firs and pines bowed with an icy weight. At night
they bivouacked in the lee of a tall hill, scraping back
the snow from a projecting bank, and throwing down
their beds of spruce and pine bough about a blazing
campfire. The morning of the twenty-first, dawning
with a cold rain which multiplied the exertions and
discomfort of their travel, discovered them breaking
camp in the deep woods half way between Crown
Point and Ticonderoga. The gusts and flaws of the
unseasonable day increased. Shielding their guns as
best they could from the dripping branches, and plung
ing at every step into the deep slush of the forest
glades, they marched eastward toward the guiding
bosom of Lake Champlain, three miles away. As they
drew near the edge of the ice, they discovered a sledge,
drawn by a team of heavy Norman horses, emerging
from a neighboring headland, and obviously bound
from Ticonderoga to Crown Point. At once Rogers

1 Journals, p. 38 ff. Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, II, 129. Pot'er, Mil
itary History of New Hampshire, I, 160 ff. The valley between Crown Point and
Ticonderoga is less than five miles in breadth and some seventeen or eighteen long.
From the beginning of the campaigns about the two lakes, it was guarded by four
distinct outposts of the French, and constantly ranged over by swarms of Indians,
and a force of Canadian partisans under their own bold colonial leader, Marin.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

dispatched Stark along the bank to cut off its progress,
and himself prepared to sally out to intercept it in the
rear. But even as he watched, eight or ten more sleds
emerged from cover, and pursued the track of the first.
In hot haste he sent a messenger to warn his lieutenant
not to show himself, but it was too late. Already Stark
was upon the ice, and the whole train had taken alarm
and turned in galloping flight back toward Ticonde-
roga. By a quick pursuit the rangers captured three
of the sledges with seven men, but the rest, with their
drivers and guards, escaped. The prisoners were Lan-
guedoc Frenchmen, and when interrogated, revealed an
alarming state of affairs. At Ticonderoga there lay be
tween the rangers and Fort William-Henry — besides
three hundred and fifty regular troops — three hundred
fresh Canadians and Indians, spoiling for a fight, and
prepared to march upon an instant's notice. Rogers
perceived that the fugitives would give the alarm
within the hour, and that only decisive measures and
the best of luck could save his command from total
extinction.

He instantly ordered his men to return on the
double-quick to their bivouac of the previous night,
and there rekindle their fires to dry their guns for battle.
Midday was past before they had completed this opera
tion, and they at once set out southward, pushing their
way through the dripping foliage, over snowy, broken
ground. In this manner they advanced half a mile, and
then commenced the ascent of a steep hill, even more
densely wooded than its neighbors. As their foremost
men were but five yards from the summit, a furious
volley blazed forth from the guns of more than two
hundred of the enemy, arranged in a semi-circle along
the ridge above. Two men were killed on the spot
and others wounded; among the latter Rogers himself,

PARTISAN ENGAGEMENTS

whose scalp was grazed by a bullet. The rangers,
immediately returning the fire, gave way in some dis
order, and were hotly pursued by the enemy to the
opposite crest. Here they made a stubborn stand,
finally beating back their assailants for the moment,
and gaining time to ensconce themselves for a deter
mined resistance. Twice the Canadians attempted to
dislodge them by a flank attack, and repeatedly they
advanced in force from the front; but having the
advantage of the ground, and sheltered by large trees,
the English stood firm and did heavy execution. As
the drizzly afternoon closed in an early dusk, Rogers
received a ball through his hand and wrist. One of the
lieutenants bound the wound with the ribbon of his
queue, however, and the captain, although disabled
from loading his gun, continued to encourage his men.
The French tried threats and cajolery, as well as force,
to pursuade the English to surrrender, and calling
Rogers by name, repeatedly gave him " the strongest
assurancevS of their esteem and friendship." A constant
fire was nevertheless maintained until darkness shut
down, when the rangers were enabled to creep away,
and furtively make off homeward.1 They had lost four
teen killed, and twelve wounded or missing, but had
inflicted far more serious injury upon the French.

It was this smart little battle, capping so bold and
creditable a dash, that first really spread abroad the
reputation of Rogers. The commander-in-chief, Aber-

1 Captain Spikeman was killed in this action, and it is stated by Caleb Stark
{Memoir if Gen. John Stark, Concord, 1860) that Rogers was twice wounded.
He also gives (p. 18) the story of the heroic retreat. " By marching all night,
they reached Lake George at eight o'clock next morning. The wounded, who,
during the march, had kept up their spirits, were by that time so overcome with
cold, fatigue, and loss of blood that they could march no farther. It became,
therefore, necessary to forward a notice to the fort, that sleighs might be sent for
them. Lieut. Stark volunteered for this purpose, and, by undergoing extraordinary
fatigues, reached Fort William Henry, distant forty miles, the next evening."

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

crombie, sent him his especial thanks, and strongly
commended his merits to Lord Loudon. Abercrombie's
nephew, who had accompanied Rogers upon a short
expedition, and apparently conceived a personal esteem
for him, wrote him from Albany that "you cannot
imagine how all ranks of people here are pleased with
your conduct and your men's behaviour." Every news
letter of the time mentioned the affair with commen
dation, and coupled with accounts of his former dashes,
the story went east and west.

The second engagement, which occurred more than
a year after, did not have so happy an issue. For
some months Rogers had been confined to the fort
by his wound and by an attack of the smallpox, a
general epidemic of which more than decimated his
troops, and carried off his brother Richard. He was
then marched to Albany, and embarked for Halifax,
where — until the expedition then on foot against
Louisbourg was abandoned — his forces were broken
into scouting columns, gangs of haymakers, and press-
gangs in pursuit of deserters. In early autumn he and
his depleted companies were remanded to Fort Edward,
for William-Henry had been captured and destroyed
during his absence by Montcalm. He was engaged
during the winter in training fresh recruits, and no
noteworthy expedition took place until March, 1758.
On March 10, however, he was ordered to Ticon-
deroga, with but 180 men, although he had asked for
more and considered double the number necessary.
The French fort at this moment contained four hun
dred regular soldiers, while near it lay a large body of
Indians and Canadians; and through the recent escape
of a deserter to their ranks, the enemy were upon the
qui vive for Rogers' approach. For two days his men
streamed silently through the frozen forest, over sev-

PARTISAN ENGAGEMENTS

eral feet of snow, and by the ni^ht of the eleventh
were upon the narrows of Lake George. Here they
bivouacked, keeping sentries far out through the gloom
of the woods, and patrolling the neighboring portions
of the lake. The next day they pushed on upon skates,
alarmed once by a dog trotting far out upon the ice,
and again near dusk by some phosphorescent patches
of rotten wood on the shore, which they mistook for
hostile campfires. On the thirteenth they found them
selves in territory distinctly French, and exchanged the
cold lake for the secret, hushed heart of the wilderness.
Travelling upon snowshoes, they kept on along the
crest of a line of ridges which overlooked the advanced
camps of the main French army at Ticonderoga, and
by noon had 'reached a point west of Bald Mountain,
near the bold promontory now called Rogers' rock.
Here thev refreshed themselves until three, and then
again set off over ground so rough and rocky that for
ease in walking they kept near the bed of a small
rivulet. To the right rose the steep promontory that
overlooked the lake, and all about the naked, icy waste,
the tops of the highest bushes peeping from beneath
four feet of snow.

Within an hour the advance guard came running
back with the information that a hundred Indians
were approaching upon the ice of the brook. Rogers
immediately drew up his men under cover, their guns
commanding the bed of the stream, and their backs to
the hill; and when the foremost rank of the incautious
enemy arrived opposite his center, gave the order to
fire. Half the Indians were killed on the spot, and as
the rest fled in confusion, Rogers, believing this troop
their main body, gave the order for a pursuit. He
was rudely surprised. As the dashing rangers poured
along the stream they were met by a fresh array of

_JL7

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

several hundred more Canadians and savages, with
some French officers commanding. Fifty of the Eng
lish were shot down, and the rest driven back in dis
order, a yelling, nring mob at their heels. With his
accustomed expedition Rogers rallied his men, and
formed them upon the steep slope to their right.
Twice he repulsed his assailants with severe loss, and
twice they returned to the attack, reducing each time
the number of defenders. The third assault continued
for an hour and a half, during which time the com
mixed enemy were never twenty yards from the
rangers, and often intermingled with them and fought
hand to hand. Until near sunset the uproar of firing
and war-whoops continued, by which time more than
a hundred of Rogers' men lay dead or badly wounded
in the snow, and a flanking guard, which he had
stationed on a neighboring hill, had surrendered. The
Indians were on the point of gaining the heights in
the rear, and as the sun sank Rogers, with twenty
survivors, made up the steep and escaped to the south
east. Tradition relates that the chagrined commander,
having fallen behind his men to fire a parting shot,
escaped only by reversing his snowshoes and sliding
down the steep descent of the mountain five hundred
feet to the lake; and that the Indians, considering this
wonderful feat significant of the interposition of the
Great Spirit, at once gave up further pursuit.

In this fight, Rogers lost 130 of his 180 men; none
of the wounded escaped, for the savages either des
patched them on the spot, or left them to perish from
exposure. He states that for his part he killed 150
and wounded as many more; but at best the action
was but a sorry affair for the English. The major
was inclined to place the blame for the "unfortunate
scout" upon the shoulders of Colonel Haviland, who,

HARDSHIPS AND DIFFICULTIES

"doubtless with reason, doubtless with ability to vindi
cate his conduct," sent him forth with such an "in
comprehensibly reduced party." " What we should
have done had we been 400 or more strong I will
not pretend to determine," he concludes his account
of the defeat. There can be but little doubt that
Haviland erred in. allowing him so small a command,
and that thereby he was responsible in major part
for the disaster ; but . even Rogers' account does not
attempt to disguise the fact that for once, at the
moment of the attack, he was wanting in judgment
and caution.

Lesser incidents indicative of the daring impassivity
of the rangers in the face of danger, of their uncom
plaining endurance of extreme hardship, and of other
characteristics reaching from the merely picturesque to
the grimly or naively humorous, lie thickly sown
through the pages of the Journals. To enumerate
them would be impossible. Such words as these taken
from the very first pages of Rogers' record, may well
represent a whole chapter of suffering and weariness.

" We approached very near their fort by night, and were
driven by the cold (now very severe) to take shelter in one
of their evacuated huts ; before day there was a fall of snow
which obliged us, with all possible speed, to march homeward.
After being almost exhausted with hunger, cold, and fatigue,
we had the good fortune to kill two deer for refreshment."

In March, 1759, during a period of excessive cold,
twenty-three of Rogers' scouts were frostbitten and
were perforce sent back exhausted, "under the charge
of a careful sergent"; but the main body, almost over
come at times, pushed on, two thirds of them with
frozen feet, till the object of their expedition was
attained. Again and again they slept unprotected in
the most inclement weather, forbidden by caution to

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

kindle a fire, by expediency in marching to carry
blankets. Twice during his campaigns his men were
overtaken upon Champlain by sudden squalls, and
once a single craft was overturned and its occupants
drowned. Scarcely one of his scores of raids was per
formed without fatigue, pain, and loss of life, and, often
as his achievements were spectacular, still oftener they
were the result merely of obscure, persevering labor,
and were bought by a triumph over difficulties which
less hardened soldiers would have deemed insuperable.
Some of the more notable events cannot be omitted.
On October 21, 1755, Rogers and his squad lay all
night within three hundred yards of Crown Point ;
and at daybreak, as the bugles blew from the parapets,
he advanced alone much nearer, wriggling along be
hind fresh bushes which he held upright in his hands.
So many soldiers came out that he lay as if petrified,
until one approached so near that he had to kill him
with his fusee, and hurriedly dash back into the forest.
In October, 1757, he tried to take a prisoner near
Ticonderoga, but unsuccessfully; until he marched his
men boldly down the fort's road upon a sentry, hailed
him in French, and spirited him away, "cutting his
breeches and coat from him that he might march with
the greater ease and expedition." In midsummer of
1756, again, on nights all too moonlit and calm for his
purpose, he took fifty men in five whaleboats down
Lake Champlain, and passed with muffled oars under
the very walls of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, so
close that they "heard the voices of the sentinel calling
the watchword." During the day they lurked beneath
drooping branches in the shadow of the shore, with
bateaux passing and repassing on the hot, gleaming
expanse, and even landing noisily near them. When
the whaleboats, abandoned later in the year, were dis-

THE DEFEAT OF ABERCROMBIE

covered at the head of Lake Champlain, Bougainville,
the astounded French commander, propounded five
different hypotheses for their being there. It was this
same party who in June boarded and captured a
schooner of forty tons bound for Canada, guarded by
two lighters; and as Rogers honestly confesses, "we
sunk and destroyed their vessels and cargoes, which
consisted chiefly of wheat and flour, wine and brandy;
some few casks of the latter we carefully concealed/'
In the closing years of the war, Rogers and his now
large command played a not insignificant part.1 Early
in 1758 Loudon was succeeded by Abercrombie, and
the final active campaigns were set on foot. By the
end of July the fortress of Louisbourg was in the hands
of the English; by the end of August, Fort Frontenac;
by the end of November, Fort Duquesne. Meanwhile
Abercrombie at Fort Edward had ordered Rogers to
muster his eight companies before June 10, and was
himself engaged in bringing his whole army up to
Lake George. By June 28 he and Lord Howe had
16,000 men encamped upon the site of Fort William-
Henry, and on July 5 embarked them in bateaux for
Ticonderoga. Rogers had spent the preceding month,
with fifty rangers, in scouting over the ground which
the new movement was intended to conquer; and at
the moment of embarkation he had secured complete
new plans of the fort and the Indian encampment at
Ticonderoga, and maps of the country at the foot of
Lake George and the head of Lake Champlain, with
the intervening portage. When the army moved for
ward toward the most important grapple of the year,
one which was expected to crush the French center
and destroy Montcalm's main force, he had his six
hundred men all in readiness. In Abercrombie's ad-

1 Rogers' Journals, p. 108 ff.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

vance, his ill-judged and disastrous attack upon Mont-
calm's strongly entrenched position, and his humiliating
retreat, Rogers' corps held a prominent and honorable
position. Like many others, the young major has left
his testimony to the bravery of the scene as, on a fair
July morning, with music, flags, the glitter of arms,
the parade of bright uniforms, and the flash of oars,
the whole army moved down the sparkling, mountain-
circled breast of Lake George. His corps held its
place on the left of the army throughout the day and
night, and when early in the morning the flotilla
reached a point near the foot of the lake, he and
Howe went on together to reconnoitre a landing.
When the army had been safely disembarked, and
had commenced its march toward the head of Lake
Champlain, his rangers again constituted the advance
guard, leading the way through the mazes of the
forest; and as such they aided in the destruction of a
venturesome squadron of the French, which, after
killing Lord Howe, had been caught between the
leading columns of the English army. The next day
Abercrombie pushed steadily on toward the head of
Lake Champlain, where lay the main army of the
enemy, only 3500 strong. On the morrow, July
eighth, Rogers was ordered at sunrise to beat the
French within the breastworks and abattis which
Montcalm had thrown up across the rocky promontory
of Ticonderoga. "The line followed the top of a
ridge, along which it zig-zagged in such a manner
thai the whole front could be swept by flank-fires of
musketry and grape. From its central part the ground
sloped away like a natural glacis; while at the sides it
was undulating and broken. Over this whole space, to
the distance of a musket-shot from the works, the forest
was cut down, and the trees left lying where they fell,

THE DEFEAT OF ABERCROMBIE

with tops turned outward, forming one vast abattis, like
a forest laid flat by a hurricane. But the most formid
able obstruction was immediately along the front of the
breastwork, where the ground was covered with heavy
boughs, overlapping and interlaced, with sharpened
points bristling into the face of the assailants like the
quills of a porcupine."1 It was behind these works that
Rogers, with the assistance of several provincial regi
ments, drove the French pickets; his men and the
other colonials then lay down in detachments, through
the intervals between which the regulars advanced sto
lidly to the assault. Beyond all doubt it was fortunate
for him that, having opened that hopeless charge, he
was forced to lie and watch the ranks of his compa
triots shattered and swept away by the withering fire
the French poured into the military clearing. The
full body of the British grenadiers was sent forward to
storm the impregnable works before the provincials
were allowed to support them; and not for a full hour
could he have entered the tangled arena swept by the
bullets of the enemy. Of his part in the dreadful car
nage of the later afternoon we know little. "We toiled
with repeated attacks for four hours," a he writes, and
there is no reason to doubt that his men, like some of
their provincial comrades, found their way to the very
foot of the abattis. When at seven o'clock the battle
closed and retreat was ordered, the general directed him
to bring up the rear as the broken army fell back to its
starting-point below Lake George.

Within two days of the battle Rogers' ranging ser
vice commenced afresh, for his defeated commander
was anxious to learn the state in which Montcalm's
army lay at the opposite end of the lake; after a time,

1 Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, II, 306.
3 Rogers' Journals, p. 1 1 6 ff.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

moreover, it became necessary to check the war parties
which the French were constantly sending out to harass
Abercrombie's communications with Fort Edward.1 A
Canadian partisan corps, organized by Marin in imita
tion of the rangers, was especially active, and in two
excursions within ten days killed 150 English soldiers
engaged in convoying wagons through the woods.
Enraged at the repetition of these attacks, Abercrombie
sent off Rogers with his rangers, Israel Putnam with
some provincials, and Captain Dalyell with a number
of regulars, in pursuit toward the eastern extremity of
Lake Champlain. For eight days they explored the
basking August woods unsuccessfully; until in their
return, having passed the night on the high cleared
land where stood old Fort Anne, a crumbling survival
of former wars, they prepared in the morning to strike
camp and march in home. They were south and east
of the main English force, and in their whole recent
march had seen no signs of the proximity of French
or Indians; so that, forgetting the caution which had
heretofore led him to enjoin the strictest silence upon
his men, Rogers banteringly challenged Putnam to a
contest of markmanship, and cut a rude bulls-eye upon
a neighboring tree. Mann's corps of Canadians and
Indians heard the shots, and at once took steps to sur
prise their reckless enemies. A thick-starting, heavily
tangled and interlaced growth of shrubbery covered the
long glacis about the old fort, and was penetrated only
by a winding, gently sloping path. As the mixed Eng
lish columns of scouts, regulars, and provincials issued
in single file down this still dewy lane and out into
the forest beyond, they were met by the concentrated
fire of 500 men, lying in a semicircle about its head.
For a moment all was confusion; Putnam, leading the

1 Rogers' Journals, p. I 1 7 ff.

FINAL SERVICES ON LAKE GEORGE

men, was jerked into the lines of the enemy and taken
prisoner ; the advance guard, left without a commander,
first recoiled upon Itself and then dropped behind bushes
to answer with a weak, scattering fire. Rogers and
Dalyell, in the extreme rear, struggled hurriedly for
ward through the brush to rally their men; and before
the sun had mounted a half-hour had them replying
spiritedly and steadily to their opponents. Four of
Marin's successive attacks were repulsed, and in an
hour his ranks were so broken that he was glad to
allow his men to scatter back into the forest. After
burying his own dead, Rogers pursued his way un
molested to Fort Edward. He was universally praised
for his coolness and bravery, and a week later the
general-in-chief, anxious to report even small successes,
wrote to Pitt that " Rogers deserves much to be com
mended." The engagement was widely reported in col
onial gazettes and newspapers.

In the final successful movements of the next year
against Crown Point,Ticonderoga, and Montreal, Rogers
assumed only the role of commander of an advance
guard and force of picket-scouts. In June and July of
1759, Gage and Amherst, the latter the new com-
mander-in-chief, moved down Lake George with a
force so strong that it required all the ranger's 700
men to serve as a screen, and as guides through the
various forest roads. In besieging Ticonderoga Amherst
drew a lesson from Abercrombie's failure of the preced
ing year, and brought up his heavy cannon to blow its
protecting redoubts to pieces. On the night of July 22
the French, preparing to evacuate their indefensible
position, left a match burning in the magazine, and
took to their boats with all their stores. At this hour
Rogers happened to have sixty of his rangers in three
bateaux upon the lake, where his men were making a

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

nocturnal attempt to saw through a boom of timbers
which had been thrown out below the fort, and which
prevented the English boats from passing by to cut off
the French retreat. He had scarce reached the boom
when, with a loud reverberation, the soft summer night
was lit up by the flaring explosion of the fort's maga
zine. Hastily he drew his boats alongside the-floa4ing
timbers, and opened fire upon the enemy, with such
successes to drive ten of their most heavily laden craft
ashore.1 Three days later a party of his scouts brought
back news of the desertion and dismantling of Crown
Point.

Two main services of the war remained to be per
formed by Rogers, — the destruction of the St. Francis
Indians and the reception of the surrender of the west
ern posts. For the first the whole frontier breathed its
relieved thanks. During three quarters of a century
the Abenaki, Pennacook, and shreds of other tribes
which dwelt near the junction of the St. Francis and
St. Lawrence, Catholic but still savage, had been the
scourge of the New England border. Rogers as a boy
had known the horror of their raids, for it was one of
their parties which had burned his father's home; and
now, partly by reason of the long hatred of the colonists
for them, partly for their recent violation of the rights
of a party of truce, they were singled out to feel the
specific anger of the victorious British.8 In September
Amherst gave Rogers two hundred men, and ordered
him to "take revenge for the infamous cruelties and
barbarities of the Indian scoundrels " ; a command
which he prepared to obey with the more alacrity that
to his "own knowledge, in six years time they had
carried into captivity and murdered 400 persons." In

1 Rogers' Journals, p. 144 ft*.
a Rogers' Journals, p. 144 ff.

THE ST. FRANCIS EXPEDITION

whaleboats he slipped down Lake Champlain to its
north end, eluding the French sloops still patrolling
those waters; and, hiding his craft in Missiquoi Bay,
where he left two friendly Indians to guard them,
struck out on the long overland journey toward St.
Francis. On the evening of the second day the two
-Indians ran- panting into _camp with the startling news
that four hundred French had disco veredTi is boats and
were in ardent pursuit. His party's retreat by water
was cut off, all their provisions lost, and they were
faced by the fearful certainty that other alarmed bands
and troops would at once be out to intercept their path.
With characteristic decision Rogers cut the knot of
his difficulties, and determined to outmarch his pur
suers, destroy the village before help could arrive, and
return south by a hasty dash to Cohase Intervales and a
voyage down the Connecticut. Accordingly he de
spatched an officer back through the forest to Crown
Point to ask Amherst to send a relief party up the river
to meet him, and set out northeast by forced marches.
The way for the most part traversed limitless spruce
swamps, so wet that his men splashed for hour after
hour through a foot of water, and that to snatch a few
hours sleep at night they had to lie among the tops of
hastily felled trees; but for nine days they hurried on
with almost delirious energy. At the end of that time,
fording the swift, deep St. Francis river with the great
est peril, they found themselves within a few miles of
the town. As dusk fell Rogers watched its darkening
streets from a treetop, and later crept to its borders
upon his hands and knees, finding the unsuspecting
savages deep in the celebration of a marriage with
dancing and feasting. In the dark hours immediately
preceding dawn the next day his men took the village
completely by surprise. With a fury fed by the sight

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

of six hundred English scalps festooning the doorways
of the houses, they killed -the two hundred warriors of
the place, drove the women and children into the
woods, and burned everything except three granaries
of maize. Five white captives were retaken.

Post-haste now Rogers set out for the Connecticut;
for having examined several prisoners while his men,
were loading themselves with such provisions as the
smoking ruins afforded, he learned that the two large
bodies of French and Indians were lying in wait for
him near-by, still uncertain of his movements. The
return trip was a sustained nightmare. For eight days
he hurried his men up the St. Francis, past its head
waters, and on to Lake Memphremagog. Here their
carefully husbanded supply of food was utterly ex
hausted, and that they might better subsist on the coun
try through which they passed, he separated his men
into small detachments. Within two days some of his
force were shot by the pursuing Canadians, while the
rest, killing an occasional squirrel or partridge, or living
on ground-nuts or lily-roots, toiled on toward the
Connecticut. The French still hung upon their rear,
slaying and capturing in all fifty men. The members
of two of the bands, almost insane from hunger, fell
upon the bodies of their comrades and ate them. Those
that finally reached the Connecticut, however, were
followed no more, and, gathering again in a single party,
dizzy with weakness, struggled on down its banks to
the mouth of the Amonsook. Here they looked con
fidently for the succor and provisions for which Rogers
had sent to Amherst; but they were rudely disappointed.

The forest glades were empty, except for a fresh fire
burning brightly amid the signs of a recent camp;
their comrades had come, had waited, and were just
gone. "Our distress," says Rogers, "our grief and con-

RANGING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE

sternation, were truly inexpressible. After so many
days' weary march over steep, rocky mountains, or
through wet, dirty swamps — after such expectation that
we should find our distresses alleviated — our spirits,
depressed by the hunger and fatigues we had suffered,
entirely sank within us, for we saw no hope that we
should escape a miserable death by famine/' His own
indomitable energy alone remained unshaken, and with
two of his strongest comrades he made a raft and
pushed on, engaging . to return help within ten days.
The current carried them down with perilous swiftness,
and they tried to steady their wretched craft with
branches of trees improvised as paddles. When it was
finally lost over White River Falls, the requisite distance
but half covered, they were too weak to wield the axe
in constructing another, and so burnt trees down and
to the proper length, lashing the logs together with
grapevine. A day later they again approached the roar
of a waterfall — this time the Wattockquitchey ; the
desperate Rogers went below, swam into the rapids,
and caught the second precious raft as it came over,
for they were too far spent to build a third. By great
good fortune they next day killed a partridge, and,
thus strengthened, finally reached the first military post
on that long, lonely river, and sent back aid to their
starving friends.

In Amherst's final summer advance upon Montreal
from Crown Point, Rogers participated, first scouting
over the country to glean general information, and later,
in an unsuccessful attempt to surprise St. John's, a small
fort just above the foot of Lake Champlain, taking the
minor post of St. d'Estrese in the same valley. The
enemy were carting hay here into the stockade, and —
watching their opportunity — his men dashed from the
woods and followed one of the loads through before

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

the heavy gate could be closed. Later he was with
Haviland, and in command of his full corps of 600,
when the evacuation of Isle aux Noix was forced, and
having later been sent to subdue the valley of the
Sorrel, returned in time to witness the surrender of
Montreal, September 8, 1760. His services during
these final months carried him over several hundred
miles of territory, and twice won for him stray words
of commendation from Amherst.

On September 1 2 the commander-in-chief did him
the honor of designating him as the officer who should
receive the surrender of all the French posts along the
Great Lakes, an arduous task which, while involving no
real responsibility, was distinguished in that it elevated
him to an office ambassadorial in nature. With two
hundred troops he set out on the thirteenth, and, de
spite the obstacles presented by great distances, rough
roads, and bad weather, had accomplished his duties by
December first, receiving a reluctant submission at De
troit and Shawneetown, visiting Niagara, Fort de Boeuf,
Fresqu' Isle, Venango, and Pittsburg, apprising the still
hostile Indian tribes of the issue of the conflict, and
everywhere forcing upon the unwilling French inhab
itants the oath of allegiance. The larger part of his
journey was performed in whaleboats, with which he
ascended the St. Lawrence, passed by Niagara Falls, and
skirted the southern shores of Lake Ontario, while
a detachment drove cattle for provisions along the
forested bank. A projected expedition from Detroit to
Mackinaw failed because of stormy winds and the piling
up of ice-cakes on Lake Huron. The fertile and varied
landscape of the regions through which he passed was
a source of never-ending interest to the major; and at
one point in his journey, near Presqu' Isle, he met the
chief Pontiac — of whom more anon.

Ill

Civil Life and Marriage; The Cherokee War; Pontiac's Rebellion}
London and Literary Ventures.

On February 14, 1761, Rogers arrived alone at New
York, having travelled from Detroit to Pittsburg through
the rich, trackless forest of Ohio and eastern Pennsyl
vania, following the shores of Lake Sandusky and Erie,
and descending the Muskingum River, stopping at many
Indian villages — Wyandotte, Iroquois, and Delaware —
along the way; and proceeding from Pittsburg to Phila
delphia by way of the common road. He records that
he was greatly fatigued when he reached Manhattan
Island, for he had traveled almost continuously since
his departure from Montreal the preceding fall, some
times covering twenty miles of rough, heavily timbered
country, or paddling over a great extent of stormy
water, between sunrise and dusk.1 His duty was done,
however, and, having reported the fulfillment of his
mission at headquarters, he obtained an indeterminate
furlough, without either surrendering his commission or
losing his liability to active service. He was compli
mented by the general upon his ability and performances,
and received the indirect praise conveyed by instructions
to keep ever within call, lest his services as a border
commander should be required.3 The hour was a bright
one for the major. He was not yet thirty years old ; he
had risen against many obstacles of birth and education
to a position of real command in a distinct and spectac-

' Rogers' Journals, p. 236.

3 Dartmouth Mts.t Rogers to the King, March 13, 1775.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

ular arm of the service, and had impressed his superiors,
not merely American but English, with his trustworthi
ness and brilliancy in that arm ; his fame had gone
abroad through all the provinces as a dashing, bold, and
experienced fighter. He had the consciousness that, as
he himself boasted, no one of his rank had "rendered
such essential services throughout the war," 'and that
whether continued peace left him to rest upon his
laurels, or new wars offered new opportunities, his rep
utation was for the time secure. Everywhere he went
he was known, stared at, and sought after, for every
news agency for five years had rung with his exploits;
everywhere he was introduced and referred to as "the
famous Major Rogers."

His first concern upon being placed at liberty from
the restrictions of daily duty was to clear up certain
troubling financial affairs. The preceding year8 he had
sent a memorial to the General Court of Massachusetts,
asking ^850 arrears of pay for his own and his com
pany's service during the winter of 1755 — 56 at Fort
William-Henry. This pay, already a source of vexatious
and expensive law-suits to him, had been heretofore re
fused on account of some doubt as to whether he was
then in the service of the crown, or of Governor Shirley,
or Governor Wentworth; and his memorial had been
referred to the New Hampshire Assembly for a decision.
Immediately, therefore, he proceeded to Portsmouth, to
urge his claim before the provincial assembly. On
June 5 the legislature read his memorial, and on
June 27, the last day of its session, Rogers, equipped
with recommendations from Johnson and Amherst,3
and his muster-rolls, was admitted to speak in his own

1 Dartmouth Mis.t Rogers to the King, March 13, 1775.

a March 9, i 760.

3 Johnson Mss.t 24, 84.

RESIDENCE AT PORTSMOUTH

favor* When he finished talking it was after noon; the
legislators were tired and hungry, and could think of
nothing but that the hour at which they were to be
prorogued had struck; and as he had omitted to bring
with him his vouchers, the only adequate evidence of
his rights, he was called into the chamber and told
that no action could then be taken.1 Not until the be
ginning of 1763, two years later, when he was again
free to appear in person before the house, did he re
ceive a part payment of two hundred and thirty-five
pounds."

Meanwhile, during this spring and summer, a more
important and more interestingly personal matter was
engrossing his attention. When he had returned to his
native colony after an absence of six years, he had at
once taken steps to renew his acquaintance, under his
now advantageous circumstances, with the best families
of the province. He was received with especial favor
in Portsmouth, where the constant reception of official
reports of his deeds during the war had made him a
figure of very real prominence; and was undoubtedly
given an entree into circles which, in even that demo
cratic town, would before have disdained him. Among
the friendships which he formed was one with the
family of the Reverend Arthur Browne, the most re
spected and best obeyed clergyman in the capital, then
a white haired but still sternly erect and commanding
figure of sixty-two, entering upon his twenty-sixth year
of service as rector of Queen's Chapel.3 He was the
son of a Scotch veteran of the battle of the Boyne, and,
having grown up in Drogheda and Dublin in Ireland,

1 New Hampshire Province Papers, VI, 790—794.

* Idem, VI, 866.

3 For this biographical information see W. B. Sprague, Annals of the American
Pulpit, New York, 1857-69, V, 76; C. R. Batchclder, History of the Eastern
Diocese, Claremont, N. H., 1876, Vol. I, p. 165 ff.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

had received his degree from Trinity College, in the
latter city, in 1729. Only a year previously Dean
Berkeley had embarked for the Bermudas on his phil
anthropic project of establishing a circle of Protestant
missions to convert the savage western world. This
half-philosophic, half-evangelical scheme of the great
prelate's had instilled a missionary fire into the brain of
the young man; and immediately upon his ordination
he crossed the seas to take charge of King's Chapel in
Providence, Rhode Island, whence he was called in six
years to Portsmouth. He was broadly educated, though
of a conservative temper, and, despite a reputation for
austerity and even harshness of mind, especially to
wards his family of nine children, had become one
of the most influential men in the community. He
had published several tracts and sermons, notably one
on The Folly and Perjury of the Rebellion in Scotland
(1746). In the Browne home, Rogers met and fell in
love with the youngest daughter, Elizabeth, a beauti
ful girl of nineteen, and into this domestic circle he
determined to push himself. Apart from all reasons of
sentiment, he could have taken no step more advan
tageous. He had no fixed abode, and marriage would
give him an opportunity to establish himself perma
nently at Portsmouth, in a position sociably enviable,
and commanding distinct commercial privileges in the
career of real estate speculation to which, in the event
of continued peace, he was then looking forward.

On the other hand, the honor bestowed upon the
Browne household by the proposals of the dashing
major was an indubitable one. It seems hard to record
that although the chief person concerned, Elizabeth
herself, was not in entire harmony with the arrange
ment, plans for the union went on apace. As to her
attitude, we have her own words in a statement which

COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE

the unfortunate progress of events wrung from her
many years after, at a time when her life must have
seemed to her nearly wrecked by this marriage con
tracted at so tender an age. "When I entered into
matrimony, in June, 1761, with Col. Rbb't Rogers,"
she states, "he was a person of character and distinc
tion; though I married him solely in obedience to the
will of my parents and friends."1 How real was this
pressure, — how much the union was against her will,
and how much, in the light of her later injuries, she
may have forgotten an original prepossession in the
bridegroom's favor, — it is impossible to say; but the
whole spirit of household government then, and the
temper of her father, were such that feeble protesta
tions of her own would not have availed much. On
June 30, 1761, the day on which the bride celebrated
her twentieth birthday, she was led to the altar in
Queen's Chapel by the tall and soldierly commander;
and her own father, in the church over which he pre
sided and where she had worshipped since her child
hood, read the service which united them.9 They
returned after the ceremony to the home of the
Brownes, for Rogers had as yet made no provision for
a separate establishment. The honeymoon was brief.
Six days after the wedding, there came to the major,
from New York, the summons to a new campaign ;
and the husband caught up his arms, said a hasty fare
well to his new and intimate connections, and was off
to a farther frontier than any he had yet served upon.3

1 Petition of Elizabeth Rogers to the General Assembly of New Hampshire,
February 1 1, 1778. No separate account is given in these pages of the divorce
suit of Rogers' wife, but the grounds upon which it was based and granted will
appear in detailed statements in the course of the narrative.

2 Records of the Queen's Chapel, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

3 Petition of Elizabeth Rogers to the General Assembly of New Hampshire,
February 11, 1778.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

This frontier was the great undefined borderland be
tween the Carolinas and the lands of the Cherokee
Indians. The struggle now going on there was a re
verberating echo of the far greater struggle that had
just been fought out along the Ohio and the St. Law
rence, — a dying glow of the heat of the conflict that
had run from the northeastern tip of the crescent which
bpunded the American colonies to its southwestern
extremity. In the decades previous to the Seven Years
War the Cherokees were the natural allies of the
English; but early in the conflict the French had
begun to tamper with them and estrange them.1 In this
they were aided by the blundering and bullying policy
of the royal governor himself, one Lyttleton, who
loaded the Indians with indignities when they should
have been treated with diplomatic kindness, and finally
marched into their country to force an unwelcome
treaty down their throats. Upon his return homeward
the infuriated nation rushed down upon the innocent
and defenseless families of the frontier in such force
that a hurried call was sent northward for help. On
April i, 1760, 1200 men under Colonel Montgomery,
despatched by Amherst from the armies set free by the
surrender of Quebec and Montreal, reached Charleston;
and they, together with seven companies of partisan
fighters raised by the governor, sufficed to defend the
border during the summer. In February, 1761, a few

1 Edward McCready, South Carolina under the Royal Government, New
York, 1899, pp. 330-350. W. Roy Smith, South Carolina as a Royal Province,
New York, 1903, pp. 186, 208-225. "When the war with the Cherokees
began, the Assembly resolved, in February, 1 760, to provide for seven troops of
rangers of seventy-five men each, to be continued in the pay of the province until
July i. ... An eighth troop was added in January, 1761, forming a regiment
of six hundred men. Continued in service until October I, 1761, they took
part in the Indian campaigns of Colonels Montgomery and Grant. The number
of troops was reduced to four on October i, 1761, to two on April i, 1762, and
the remainder were disbanded, July i, 1762." (Smith, p. 186.)

SERVICE AGAINST THE CHEROKEE

days before Rogers am • 4 in New York from the west,
Lieutenant Colonel James Grant, with whom the ranger
had been associated at Fort Edward two years before,
received orders to embark for the relief of the pro
vince. This expedition of Grant's, remarkable as the
school in which a half-dozen such Revolutionary offi
cers as Moultrie, Pickens, Laurens, and Marion learned
their first lessons in war, invaded the Cherokee terri
tory in May, 2600 strong; and a month later, march
ing up the beautiful valley of the Salida, his army
attacked and completely defeated the savages. A fort
night more of burning and pillaging reduced the farms
of the tribes to desolate wastes; and returning early in
August to Fort Prince Henry, he received the now
submissive chief of the Cherokees, and transmitted him
to Charleston to sue for peace.

So matters stood when, on August 20, 1761, Rogers
arrived at the capital of South Carolina, having come
boldly overland in a full month's journey through Vir
ginia and North Carolina with Colonel Byrd and a few
Indian guides.1 His advent had been long expected.
Certain members of his old corps had been fighting
under Grant since early spring; and as early as Novem
ber of the preceding year, he himself had been men
tioned us billeted for a command at Fort Loudon.'
Three days after his arrival he set out northward, and
travelling the one hundred and fifty miles to the border
of the Cherokee country, assumed at Fort Prince George
the command of an independent company. His new
post was worth ^560 a year, and represented a fulfill
ment of Amherst's promise of a "substantial reward to
follow his services."3 Rogers was too late for the active

1 South Carolina Gazette, June 6, 1761 ; August 22, 1761.
* Idem, September 13, November 22, 1760; February 7, May 30, 1761.
3 P. R. O., C. O. 5, Volume 154, number 18 ; Rogers to Hillaborough,
November 17, 1771.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

service of real warfare, but under Grant's orders he was
engaged in scouting the country, even to the foot of
the rugged, pine-grown hills that stretched their great
flanks away toward the smoky summits of the Blue
Ridge, and in helping hold in awe the great extent of
plain and valley recently subjugated.1 In a later account
he described the fascination for him of the wide savan
nahs of grass, alternating with spacious forests of mag
nolia, tulip, gum, and oak, and breaking, to the west,
into the misty mountainous country, where the limit
less expanse of upland, embrowning under the August
sun, rounded into vast knobs across whose hazy outline
distant clouds of birds drifted like a slender wisp of
srnoke; and he touched also upon the discomforts of
the sultry, thunderous weather, and the pestiferous clouds
of mosquitos. In September he was withdrawn to the
post called Ninety-six, for peace once more reigned
on the border;3 and here, halfway between the upper
branches of the Sabinc and the Savannah, in a country
still hilly and full of an interesting Indian life, he
lingered until the departure of nearly every other por
tion of Grant's force in December. Early in spring,
while still retaining command of his now idle company,
he was empowered by the provincial governor to raise
volunteers up-colony, for a new regiment demanded for
northern service by Amherst. In this he achieved re
markable success, beating up, from the towns north of
Charleston, more than one hundred men within two
months.3 He was not interested in mere recruiting,
however, and chafed to be permitted to return to the
north. Finally, on August i, he completed his enlist-

1 South Carolina Gazette, August 22, 1761.
. * Idem, November I, 1761.

3 Idem, December 19, 1761 ; April 10 and June 5, 1762. In May, it may
be noted, a privateer was fitted out in Charleston Harbor for use against the
Spaniards by Rogers' brother James, and christened «' Major Rogers. "

LAND VENTURES AND FINANCIAL TROUBLES

ments, sending forty men into Charleston in one day;
and on October 9, together with Lieutenant Ramsay,
Amherst's special enlisting agent, he sailed for New York
in the brig "Hannah."1 The command of his company
he had given up on the first of July, when it was finally
disbanded. In his whole employment in the south, he
had undergone no very exciting experiences, and had
been given no opportunity to prove himself more than
an efficient garrison officer; but he had greatly enlarged
his acquaintance with the American colonies, and with
the Indians of the west.

Early in November, after a brief stay in New York,
Rogers was received with cordiality at his home in
Portsmouth, from which he had been absent nearly a
year and a half.3 In January of 1763, as has been
noted, he again presented to the Assembly his claim
for deferred pay during 1755, and had it in part
allowed; and at the same time new personal difficul
ties forced him to shape more carefully his business
affairs, while he began to resume that interest in New
Hampshire and New York lands which his summons
to South Carolina had interrupted. Even before begin
ning his services in the Seven Years' War he had been
involved in several minor actions for debt, now as
defendant, now as plaintiff, and had signed one bond
of ^130 to a neighbor at Merrimac named William
Allds. Although his present liabilities rendered his
financial situation precarious, he now plunged into a
series of land litigations with Allds, who claimed a
prior right to Rogers' farm at Merrimac, and lost
them all, with heavy costs.3 Another venture was simi
larly fruitless. A year before, following a proclamation

1 South Carolina Gazette ', August 6, October 2, and October 16, 1762.
a Elizabeth Rogers' Petition to the General Assembly of New Hampshire,
February 1 1, 1778.
3 Idem.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

by Governor Golden of New York that the close of
the war had opened for settlement the uncleared coun
try above the Mohawk, Rogers and several fellow offi
cers had petitioned for a grant of 25,000 acres on the
shores of Lake George, but had been thwarted by the
protests of the Mohawk Indians, conjoined with a
stoppage by the crown of all such grants. Now, ably
seconded by his associates, he renewed his claim, but
without success.1 His only prudential business measure
was the purchase of a share of a Suncook sawmill. He
spent much of his time between Portsmouth and Rum-
ford, and his improvidence, and a tendency toward dis
sipation, troubled and angered his father-in-law. On
December 20, 1762, by the expedient of loaning him
jfiooo, the minister forced him to part with his 500
acres of land at Rumford, with three negro slaves, and
"one Indian Boy named Billy, aged thirteen," which
Browne at once transferred to a brother to hold in trust
for Elizabeth Rogers. During the spring the good
pastor seems finally to have lost patience with his son-
in-law. In April he made out a bill for the board and
lodging of the major and his family, amounting, to
gether with small sums paid his washerwoman, shoe
maker, and tailor, to ^2600 ; and adding to it the
^"looo paid for his farm, and ^500 for personal prop
erty given him, secured a writ and set a sheriff upon
his heels. All his available property — it was but ^£50
— was attached, and he was forced to give bond for the
payment of the remainder of the debt.3 His wife still
remained, in a sense, loyal to him, but he was more
and more estranged from her family.

During the worried months that followed his return

1 Johnson Mss.t 24, 104.

8 These accounts, bills, and writs are still preserved at the Secretary of State's
office at Concord, New Hampshire.

THE REBELLION OF PONTIAC

from the Carolinas, Rogers retained his majority and
was an intent observer of public affairs, in momentary
readiness to resume his active command under Amherst's
orders. His consistent hope was to win promotion in
the colonial service; and, as he found ground for doubt
ing that military affairs would present him many more
opportunities, he temporarily fixed his ambitions upon
appointment to a civil post, preferably the command of
a western garrison. To this end he asked permission
to go to England, as had several of his brother provin
cials, to urge before the home government the claim
his services gave him upon a higher office; Johnson,
however, partly because he wished to keep the experi
enced ranger at hand for frontier service, more largely
because a growing distrust of Rogers' character made
him feel that it would be dangerous to put the ranger
in the way of responsible promotion, steadfastly refused
to permit his departure.1 If the major chafed, it was
not for long. In April he began to hear murmurs of
widespread discontent throughout the savage nations of
the west. Toward the end of the month these grew
stronger, until news reached him in New Hampshire
that the commandant of Detroit, alarmed at the con
gregation near that post of a great host of the Algon
quin races, had sent an appeal for re-enforcements to
headquarters. The Indians along the Susquehanna were
in arms against the encroaching white settlers, and from
widely scattered posts along the Ohio and the Great
Lakes came rumors of impending trouble. Fort Miami
on March 30 reported the uprising of the Shawnee,
and continued despatches from about Detroit reflected
the increasing uneasiness of the savages there. The
French had had no right, the tribes were complaining,

1 Dartmouth Mss., Rogers to Dartmouth, March 13, 1775. Johnson Mss.t

12, 22.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

to cede the red man's country to the English; and the
irresistible trenching of the sturdy frontier farmer upon
their hunting grounds beyond the Alleghanies filled
them with resentful dismay. Finally on May 10 Am-
herst, skeptical and impatient as he was of the attitude
of the Indians, announced that he would summon a
meeting of the chiefs to have the terms of the treaty of
peace explained to them, and began making prepa
rations for the employment, if necessary, of harsher
measures. A few days earlier Rogers had received an
appointment as captain of one of the New York inde
pendent companies, in the room of a resigned officer,
and had started west to Albany.1

Events now daily opened before him the new arena
of action. As during the month all the border country
of New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia began to feel
the still half-veiled fury of the western confederacy, the
widespread nature and serious import of the uprising
first began to be understood; though not until June 4,
1763, when definite news of the insurrection reached
New York from Fort Pitt and Detroit, was it evident
that by a concerted plan the whole northwest was ex
pressing its hatred of British aggression. Within ten
days Amherst, who believed on June i that the whole
affair would end in scattering and isolated outbreaks,
and that even i:he minor posts were in no danger, had
recognized his error, and determined to raise three full
regiments and to equip smaller expeditions of relief. a
Reenforcements to the number of one hundred men
had set out for Detroit, nearly a month before, with
provisions and arms, and more were at once made ready.
On June 16 Captain Dalyell, Amherst's aid, brought
news from Albany that the first force had been attacked

1 South Carolina Gazette, May 14, 1763.

2 Bouquet Papers, 44, 821, 634, pp. 262-270.

THE SIEGE OF DETROIT

by night as it rested twenty-four miles from its goal,
and driven back toward Niagara with the loss of forty
men and all their stores.1 Preparations for the march
of a larger relief party were at once, and with redoubled
energy, set on foot, and the honor of heading it allotted
to Dalyell. Rogers was now at New York, and received
with some chagrin the news of Dalyell's appointment
to a command for which he felt himself the obvious
candidate. Nevertheless, as he boasted later," "it was
with alacrity that he put himself forward under an
inferior officer, nominated to an artificial rank for
the occasion, it being matter of indifference to whom
the credit of a dangerous enterprise was entrusted, so
that he was signalized in a prompt obedience to his
country." While he hurriedly gathered together the
members of the slender company over which he had
just assumed command, and posted northward through
Albany to Lake Erie, his superior collected two hun
dred men from the 55th and the 8oth regiments of
regulars, just arrived from the siege of Havana, and as
hastily followed him. At Niagara they halted long
enough to secure boats, and to equip them with ammu
nition, fresh provisions, and small cannon. While they
tarried, there came the news of the treacherous mas
sacre of the garrison at Venango, of the loss, rumored
or assured, of Sandusky, Miami, Mackinac, and Presqu'
Isle, and of the redoubling of the attacks on Detroit.
It was plain that the western woods were all aflame,
and that scores of Indian villages and tribes were in
arms. At the same time the busied soldiers heard full
accounts of the organization of the war by Pontiac,
chief of the Ottawa, and learned something of the
resources and numbers of the great Indian army under

1 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New Fork, VII, 534.

2 P. R. O., C. O. j, Volume 154, number 18.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

his command, then concentrated about Detroit, against
which their little column was to pit. its strength.1

Rogers' first meeting with Pontiac had been three
years before, during the course of the memorable jour
ney he had taken in the autumn and winter of 1760
to assume possession of the western forts surrendered by
the French.3 On the fourth of November of that year,
he had set out westward irurrr Presqu* Isle with seven
barges, coasting along the southern shore of Lake Erie.
The weather was rough, and an overcast sky and cold
drizzling rain were accompanied by a wind which sent
the waves breaking high over the prows of their boats;
the shore-line, level and high-timbered, showed the
once-blazing foliage of the Indian summer hanging
dreary and dark in the chilling blast, or whirling in
sodden clouds over the wet beach. By the seventh,
having skirted the lake for nearly forty miles, they had
reached the mouth of the "Chogage"3 river, a consider
able stream flowing down placidly through tall, free
groves of oak, hickory, and locust, near the site of the
present city of Cleveland. Here, putting in for an hour's
refreshment, they were hailed by a party of Indians
wearing the paint and garb of Ottawas, who repre
sented themselves as ambassadors of Pontiac, and in
the name of "the king and lord of the country" com
manded Rogers to await his presence. In the course of
an hour the chief arrived; he advanced "with an air
of majesty and princely grandeur," and, according the
respectful major a grave salutation, demanded of him

1 Francis Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, Boston, 1851 ; Diary of the Siege
of Detroit , edited by Franklin B. Hough, Albany, 1860; H. M. Utley, History
of Michigan , New York, 1906, I, 243-291; Silas Farmer, History of Detroit,
Detroit, 1889, I, 231-241.

3 Rogers' Journals, y. 214; Rogers' Concise Account of North America,^. 240.

3 So called by Rogers. Variously conjectured to have been the Chagrin, the
Cuyahoga, and the Grand. See T. M. Cooley's Michigan, Boston, 1885, p. 42.

PREVIOUS RELATIONS WITH PONTIAC

how he dared enter unannounced the Indian country.
Rogers quietly informed him of his mission to Detroit,
diplomatically adding that the expulsion of the French
could not fail to benefit the savages in increased privi
leges in hunting and trade. In brief rejoinder Pontiac
held out a small string of wampum, in token that the
rangers must not depart without his leave, and retired
to deliberate in council upon the matter^- Although
the calumet of peace was smoked during the course
of evening, Rogers posted double guards, and himself
remained awake all night, until at daybreak the con
ference was continued. Amid puffs at the re-lighted
pipe, and in measured syllables, the chief now declared
that he was satisfied with the English officer's statement
of his purposes in invading the country ; that he wished
to live in amity with his new neighbors ; that he would
warn all the Indian towns along the shore and about the
mouth of the Detroit river to offer no obstacle to the
British advance; and that he would supply the company
with parched corn and meat, and detail one hundred
warriors to help them transport their provisions.1 Con
tinued rainstorms confined the soldiers to camp for
several days, daring which time the savages held a
veritable carnival in marketing their wild turkies and
venison. Meanwhile Pontiac had withdrawn. On No
vember 29, when Rogers' lieutenants, in presence of a
vastly larger French force, cut loose the white lilies of
the Bourbons from the flagstaff at Detroit, and raised
in their stead the colors of England, seven hundred In
dians, standing by with their chief, lifted a mighty cry
of wonderment and acclamation. They had been ready

1 "In 1763, when I went to throw provisions into the garrison at Detroit, I
sent this Indian a bottle of brandy by a Frenchman. His councillors advised him not
to eat it, insinuating that it was poisoned, and sent with a design to kill him ; but
Ponteach, with a nobleness of mind, laughed at their suspicions, saying it was not in
my power to kill him, who had so lately saved his life." Concise Account, p. 244.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

but a few days before to fall in annihilating strength
upon the English, but had been restrained by Pontiac.
During Rogers' stay at Detroit, he often saw the
proud chieftain, who dwelt with his squaws and re
tainers on Peche Isle, a high, wooded islet near by
in Lake St. Clair, and — always with strong deference
to Pontiac's intense personal pride and egotism — -en
gaged him in repeated interviews. He learned much
concerning the western country, and the empire which
even then the lake Indians had formed, and discovered
in him " great strength of judgment, great thirst after
knowledge, and great jealousy of his own respect and
honor." The chief offered the major a part of his
kingdom if he would take him over seas to England,
and initiate him into British military, social, and com
mercial affairs; but at the same time made it clear
that he would expect to be treated abroad with the
courtesy due an independent and equal potentate. He
was decisive in his assertions that the country of the
western tribes was not to be bartered about among
European nations as a piece of conquered territory.

Now Rogers was guiding a party over this same
route, but in arms against the chief, and amid wide
spread signs of his hostile power. On the seventh of
July, in calm bright weather, the force set out, and,
soon leaving the thunder and mist of the falls far
oehind, were by nightfall well out along the full
expanse of the lake. They numbered nearly two hun
dred, in part veterans who had fought battles under
the British flag in many climes, in part experienced
provincial scouts; Rogers had direct command of the
twenty men most experienced in wood service, and
guided the expedition as it proceeded. Although
Dalyell, who had served continuously in America since
1756, was of indubitable bravery and experience, there

THE RELIEF OF DETROIT

seems early to have been some jealous friction between
the two men. Through successive days of oppressive
heat they coasted the south shore, moving as fast as
they might; the lake was calm, the heavy green tops
of the fringing woods hung languidly motionless in the
full effulgence of the sun, and the sky met the water
at the horizon like an inverted mirror. They finally
reached the charred, wrecked ruins of the fort at
Presqu* Isle, the ground about it furrowed and littered
with the works thrown up by the attacking savages;
and a few days later Sandusky, where dusty trenches,
converging upon a mound of ashes, and some half-
burned timbers, told the same story of violence. At this
point they landed to wreak vengeance upon a neigh
boring village of the Wyandotte, and, after ravaging
their cornfields, pushed on again by water for the
mouth of the Detroit river. When they arrived here
on the evening of July 28, all was still, for the savage
host, lying only a few miles above, had not even a scout
out to sound the alarm. Under cover of night, paddling
as rapidly as possible, they ascended the stream, and in
the misty dawn, making a final dash for the beleaguered
fort, gained the protection of its guns just at sunrise. As
they entered, the Indian besiegers broke the silence of
a fortnight with a hot fusillade, and inflicted a trifling
loss upon the hindmost boats; but nothing could stop
the cheers of the garrison, worn as they were with
constant watching, and as the soldiery disembarked,
the streets of the French village rang with their re
joicing. The barracks could not accommodate the new
arrivals, and they were quartered in the homes of the
habitants.

The Indian army under Pontiac, then numbering
more than two thousand warriors, had but recently
withdrawn its main camp to a river marsh two miles

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

above the post, whence it kept the town and fort con
stantly surrounded. Dalyell feared its withdrawal, and
proposed an immediate attack, which was actually set
on foot soon after midnight on the second day after his
coming. By some it is said that a dispute between the
provincials and the English regulars as to their relative
fighting effectiveness was the mainspring behind the
ill-judged advance. The commander's plans were be
trayed to the Indians by the French about the post, and
when in the heavy gloom just before the dawn of July
3 1 his little corps moved out from town along a road
parallel to the river, and into the pitchy forest beyond,
he was attacked in force. The battle which followed is
known as Bloody Run, for it surged and varied along
the shores of a little stream which for hours ran crim
son. The English column, stumbling along the dark
ness of the village road, with its flank protected by two
cannon-bearing bateaux on the river opposite, was on
the point of crossing this creek, when it was met in the
face by the fire of the intrenched savages, forced back
in confusion, reattacked on the open side, and finally,
as it still rallied stubbornly, pushed back among the
first scattering houses of the town. Half of the officers
were killed in the first moments of the combat, and,
despite the heroic efforts of the rear guard to keep open
the communications with the fort in the rear, the full
body occupied several hours in its fighting retreat,
which the Indians endeavored repeatedly to cut orF.
After their first fire the savages scattered, and from
behind trees, wood piles, barns, and outbuildings poured
a galling fusillade into the ranks of the troops, still
bewildered in the slowly-dissipating darkness.

Rogers and his men early occupied a house beside
the highway, first expelling a troop of Indians, and
from it covered their comrades' retreat, until in a few

PONTIAC'S DEFEAT OF DALYELL

moments they were themselves completely isolated.
Many years later an eyewitness gave Parkman an ac
count of the fighting from this building.1 "The major
entered with some of his own men, while many panic-
stricken regulars broke in after him, in their anxiety to
gain a temporary shelter. The house was a large and
strong one, and the women of the neighborhood had
crowded into the cellar for refuge. While some of the
soldiers looked in blind terror for a place of conceal
ment, others seized upon a keg of whiskey in one of
the rooms, and quaffed the liquor with eager thirst,
while others piled packs of furs, furniture, anything in
reach, against the windows as a barricade. Panting and
breathless, their faces moist with sweat and blackened
with gunpowder, they thrust their muskets through
the openings, and fired out upon the whooping assail
ants. At intervals a bullet sharply whizzed through a
crevice, striking down a man, or rapping harmlessly
against the partitions. The gray-haired master of the
house, old Campau, stood on a trap door to prevent
the frightened soldiers seeking shelter among the
women in the cellar. The screams of the half-stifled
women below, the quavering war-whoops without, the
shouts and curses of the soldiers, the groans of the
wounded, mingled in a scene of clamorous confusion."
From their perilous position here Rogers and his men
were saved by the hasty movement of the bateaux,
which were rowed down to a position where the swivel
cannon swept the woods and gardens about, and drove
the savages away from their path in momentary dis
order. Yet not a moment too soon the rangers fell
upon the retreating main body, for as they parted by
one door the foremost Indians leaped in at another.
At eight o'clock the troops, exhausted, crestfallen,

1 Francis Parkman, Tbf Conspiracy of Pontiac, Boston, 1851, p, ^75.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

and discouraged, reentered the palisades they had so
lately quitted. The night's sally had cost them dear,
for they had lost their commander and sixty men.
Dalyell had been killed in an act of impulsive bravery,
running back to save a comrade, and a Captain Grant
had taken his place in the chief command. The
Indians were greatly elated; their yells of triumph
filled the woods, and swift runners were at once sent
out to bear the joyful news far and wide. Nevertheless
the English kept up a good heart. They had succeeded
in inflicting some small injury upon the enemy, and
they knew that their position, since the reenforcement
of the garrison, was entirely safe.

For some months the siege dragged wearily and
uneventfully on. When on August i 3 a schooner and
sloop were sent to Niagara for troops and supplies,
Rogers took opportunity to transmit to Johnson a par
tial journal of the siege, extending from its beginning
until July 4, material for which he had obtained from
the officers of the fort;1 and in October he inquired
whether he would be relieved from garrison duty dur
ing the fall, and requested that his wife be given the
same information.9 On the twelfth of this month one
of the chiefs represented to Major Gladwin that the
young braves were urgent to begin the winter hunts,
and arranged a truce which permitted the soldiers to
lay in a further store of provisions; none too soon, for
they were subsisting on five pounds of flour and one
half-gallon of wheat each week. At about the same
time Pontiac wrote that his Indian followers had
buried the hatchet, and "all the bad things had passed
should be forgotten on both sides." A few days later

1 This journal is reprinted in the Diary of the Siege of Detroit, edited by
Franklin B. Hough, and published at Albany in 1860.
'' See the same volume, page 175.

ROGERS AND THE INDIAN TRADE

the smoke ceased to rise from their whilom encamp
ment. Taking their women and children, the savages
had departed southward. Peace had not been made,
and the war — which, indeed, did not end for nearly a
year — was only broken; but Detroit had little to fear
until spring.1

In November Gladwin determined to reduce his gar
rison for the winter, and sent all but two hundred men
east to Niagara, where they arrived near the end of the
month. Rogers, accompanied by two Mohawk Indians,
followed a few days later, relieved by a return to the
security of the East.3 Ever since the departure of the
Indians the days had passed monotonously at Detroit,
for it was unsafe to wander far from the fort, or to
pursue stray game into the woods; the treachery of the
French in the town near by was constantly feared; the
men, in a garrison so small, had to perform irksomely
constant garrison duty; and their rations were limited
in variety, as well as in quantity. For some time,
apparently, the major lingered near Niagara, partly on
military duty, partly engaged in affairs of his own, —
affairs, too, of no very creditable nature. Of any speci
fic misdeeds we know nothing, but it seems clear that
he was concerned in the trade with the friendly tribes
of the Moliawks and Delawares in the region, and was
using his uniform, his commission, and his reputation
in furthering his business ventures; while at the same
time he was none too honest in his various dealings
with associates in the Indian trade, and permitted one
such trader, William McCracken, to forfeit a bond in
his name. In the last years of the French war, and in
the period since, except for the time he was engaged
in the Carolina campaigns, he had been suspected of

1 Bouquet Papers, Canadian Archives, 1889, pp. 242 ff.
a Jobwon Mss.t 24, 22.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

an illegal participation in the very traffic with the
border tribes which it was his military duty to help
regulate; and his open concern with it now brought
him under the direct displeasure of Sir William John
son at Johnson Hall. Early in January, 1764, he sur
rendered his commission, and posted to New York;
and on the twenty-second of that month, according to
a rather cryptic letter of the period, he "escaped" to
"precious" Connecticut by sea.1 The exact nature and
extent of his derelictions in Indian commerce are du
bious, but they had sufficed to make for him powerful
enemies.

On February 24, Rogers was again at Rumford,
looking after the farm which he had given over a year
before to his father-in-law, and which was now held
in his wife's name. He dined on this date with the
Rev. Mr. Walker, and seems to have been hereabouts
on brief errands of business repeatedly through the
summer. Most of the year, however, he spent near or
in Portsmouth, engrossed in his dealings in land. A
number of the score or more of conveyances to which
he was a party between his marriage and 1765 are
dated during these months, and in all of them he signs
himself as "of Portsmouth" or "now residing in Ports
mouth." His absences from his wife's home, however,
were frequent and lengthy, and she complains repeat
edly that he scarcely succeeded, in all, in spending more
than a few days with her. Nothing, indeed, is more
significant of Rogers' real character than his consistent
attitude toward the woman whom, as she herself re
minded him,3 he was "bound by the tenderest, most
sacred ties to protect, succor, and comfort," — his habi-

1 "Johnson Mss.t 8, 121 (McCracken to Johnson), and 12, 22 (Johnson to
Gen. Gage).

2 Elizabeth Rogers' petition.

NEW HAMPSHIRE LAND VENTURES

tual neglect of her, the calm indifference with which
he forgot for months at a time his entire connection
with her, his failure to make any real provision for her
separate maintenance. Whatever may have been his
object in marrying, it was plainly not to found a home.
The excuse which his military services gave him for
his neglect was far from valid now, when — no matter
what his ambitions — his only immediate abstraction
was with his real-estate ventures. And although he was
associated much with his brother, James Rogers, who
had secured the grant of a tract of nearly twenty thou
sand acres lying east of Lake Champlain, in Vermont,
he was seldom far from the capital; indeed, his most
important project, culminating July 4 in the acquisi
tion of three thousand acres at Readsboro, Vermont, he
carried through without leaving the city, for the colony
granted him the land in his capacity as a half-pay offi
cer.1 This property he was compelled immediately to
mortgage to one Gysbert Fonda of Albany for ^£5600,
while his wife's land he also placed under an encum
brance of ^350. He was evidently deep in debt.9

In early March, 1765, Rogers — giving out that he
was off for the West Indies — departed for England,
upon the trip which in his own worldly interests he
had so long meditated. His knowledge of the pro
nounced disapproval with which, in all capacities ex
cept the rather narrow one of Indian fighter, Johnson
and his American associates viewed him, made it seem
imperative that he seek his coveted promotion on the
other side of the water. Colonel Gladwin, with whom

1 New Hampshire Province Papers, VII, i ; New Hampshire Province and
State Papers, X, 207.

3 In later years the farm of Roger* at Concord, with the old Rogers house,
was occupied by his wife, then divorced. The house stood for many yean,
marking the virtual outskirts of Concord to travelers coming down the river.
Lyford's Concord, I, 619.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

he had been associated at Detroit, was gone in October,
tired of the American service, yet certain that he had
fulfilled his duty; he was presented to the sovereign,
and complimented upon his achievements.1 Some such
distinction Rogers hoped to receive, while he wished
above all to secure fin administrative appointment in the
king's employ, whether in Europe, India, or America.
For some time past he had seen junior officers elevated
above him merely because they had found time to pre
sent themselves at London, and opportunity to secure
the influence of court friends. One Gorham, for ex
ample, a mere captain of rangers who had served for
two years under his command, was now established as a
lieutenant colonel over his head.3 He was, moreover,
anxious to see the land of his fathers; anxious to leave
the complaints of his wife, and the importunities of his
creditors; anxious to investigate the glamor of metro
politan existence; and anxious to publish two books
upon which he had meditated during his leisure mo
ments. In the English book marts of the hour there
was a ready demand for military accounts of the glori
ous struggle just closed, and for geographical descrip
tions of the vast realms just added to the crown.

His chief activities in London, therefore, were politi
cal and literary. His exploits had well advertised him,
and his advent attracted general notice. Old military
friends crowded about him, and with the recommenda
tions to various gentlemen of prominence which he
had brought with him, he shortly became known
among the lesser notables of the season. In the maga
zines of the time 3 is found frequent mention of his

1 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York, VII, 666.

3 Dartmouth Ma., March 13, 1775.

3 Gentleman's Magazine, November and December, 1760; December, 1765;
March, 1766. The Monthly Review, XXIV, 9, 22, and 242. 7 be Critical
Review, 1766, p. 151 ; 1765, p. 386.

ROGERS IN LONDON

career and his person, and upon the streets his tall,
sturdy figure, carried with an easy boldness of demeanor,
was frequently pointed out. He resorted to the parties
and clubs at which officers, retired and active, were
found, and won speedily a deserved reputation for jovial
ity and good fellowship. Tradition has still perpetuated
stories of how, when accosted one lonely night by a
highwayman on Hounslow Heath, he peremptorily
knocked him down and dragged him away to justice;
of how he appeared, on a wager, at a fashionable ball
in the uncouth garb of a backwoods hunter; of how
once, deep in his glasses with a merry company, he bet
he could tell the greatest lie, and, relating the strange
but true story of his father's death, was vociferously
awarded the palm.1 Indeed, he laid at this time the
real foundation for a very considerable and lasting pop
ularity in London, — one which endured through all
the compromising vicissitudes which later brought him
an exiled petitioner to the capital. Of his picturesque
appearance at the time, and of some of the grounds
upon which his reputation was based, we may judge
from a crudely designed and colored print-portrait of
him which ten years later was exposed for sale in all
the shop-windows, with the legend beneath, " Major
Rogers, the famous Ranger.'" It was reproduced in
Germany, and copies of it are even yet preserved. They
show us a tall, heavy man, smooth-shaven, with a coun
tenance pleasantly open and regular, but coarsely de
lineated. He is in full uniform, with long hair partially
hidden by a regulation cockade; a heavy rifle is thrown

1 John Farmer and J. B. Moore, Collections, Topographical, Historical, and
Biographical, Relating Principally to New Hampshire, Concord, 1822-4, Vol
ume I, 240.

3 This print, first struck off on October I, 1776, is described in Smith's
British Mezzotint Portraits. It was reprinted in Geschichte der Kriege in und
ausser Europa, Elfter Theil, Niirnbcrg, 1777.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

over the hollow of his arm; a powder-horn is sus
pended from his shoulder by a band of Indian work
manship; an embroidered belt, fastened by a heavy
silver buckle, encircles his waist; his lower limbs are
encased in leggings, and a sword hangs by his side.
This military and energetic bearing, however, height
ened as it is by the relief with which his sinewy figure
is outlined against a gloomy forest background, from
whose shades indistinctly push two naked savages, is
not borne out by his expression or features. The jaw
is harsh, the lips full and heavy, the large nose .and
prominent eyes almost cold and phlegmatic in aspect;
the glance and the set of the features, while direct
enough, still seem calculating and evasive. While the
face is clearly that of a man of action, largely wanting
in lines of thought, it is far from being indicative of
the rugged, daredevil energy with which we associate
Rogers' name.

To further his designs for an American appointment
Rogers soon set about the preparation and publication
of his Journals, or the diary he had kept of his move
ments during the Seven Years War, and of another
book which he called A Concise Account of North
America. These appeared simultaneously in October,
1765, from the press of John Millan, a Whitehall
stationer of some prominence, in small octavo dress,
and sold for four and five shillings respectively. Both
were at once favorably reviewed by the critical maga
zines, which took evident pleasure in introducing the
military hero in his literary capacity. " Few of our
readers," said the Monthly Review, "are unacquainted
with the name, or ignorant of the exploits of Major
Rogers, who with so much reputation headed the pro
vincial corps called Rangers during the whole course
of our late successful wars in America, — a brave, active,

CRITICISM OF ROGERS' BOOKS

judicious officer. To him we are obliged, in the Con
cise Account, for the most satisfactory description we
have yet been favored with of the interior parts of the
immense continent which victory has so lately added to
the British Empire." Of the journals it said that the
author, "who has given undoubted proofs of his bravery
and skill," wrote "like an honest, a sensible, and a mod
est man," and that his work was "authentic, important,
and necessary to a thorough understanding of the late
military operations in North America." The other
periodicals similarly joined praise of his military and
his literary achievements in the same articles. "The
fatigues Major Rogers has undergone in the course of
his duty," writes the reviewer for the Critical Review,
"would seem almost incredible were they not con
firmed by the unquestionable relations of others." The
estimate of his merits as an author is more guarded,
but "the prepossessing openness with which he writes"
is praised, and portions of his work are spoken of as
"valuable," and other parts as "new and curious."1

In truth, the two books were interesting and timely
contributions to the British knowledge of current af
fairs. The journals followed his field career, day by
day, month by month, from the moment when as an
obscure captain he arrived with his company of rangers
below Crown Point till that in which he received the
surrender of the outermost forts of the French. They
display no sense of historical proportion, for several in
significant scouts receive as much space as the operations
of Abercrombie or Amherst against Montcalm; and
they are written, as one of his critics noted, in a "dry
unambitious" style. They are honest and accurate in
tone, however, and, while intimately personal, seldom
if ever give evidence of prejudice or jealousy in their

1 Monthly Review, January, 1766; Critical Review, November, 1765.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

outlook upon the affairs of fellow and superior officers.
Their chief value lies in the facts which, despite
Rogers' monotonous lack of emphasis, we may glean
from his pages concerning the defeat of -Abercrombie,
the victories of Amherst and Haviland below Montreal,
and the account of his own journey upon the Great
Lakes; their chief interest lies in the fuller narrative
of one or two of his most brilliant skirmishes, the un
conscious color that creeps between the lines which
describe his various scouts, and the rather bitter recital
of his dangers and hardships on the St. Francis raid.
The style is awkward and poverty-stricken, and the
ill-calculated space given at times to trivial letters and
orders betrays hasty composition.

The Concise Account, which bears evidence of more
careful literary workmanship, is a manual of informa
tion regarding the colonies of North America, their
natural advantages, and the location and character of
the colonial settlements and outposts. Large portions
of it, especially the historical sketches of the provinces,
are mere compilations from previous publications, but
all the regions from Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, from
New York to Detroit, which Rogers had traversed in
person, are described in full, and — especially in the
case of distinctly frontier phases of existence — with
acute observation. A too-pervading formality unfor
tunately restrains the writer from ever falling into a
genuinely racy, fresh vein. An appendix contains a
popularly exaggerated description of various wild ani
mals, and a considerable treatment of the manners, cus
toms, and character of the Indians — the latter the
cream of the book. A real sympathy, if some trite
ness, is brought by Rogers to this exposition of savage
life. He recognizes the errors and weaknesses of the
race, but he does ample honor to their virtues. In their

CRITICISM OF ROGERS' BOOKS

domestic institutions he finds much that is admirable:
their rigid if somewhat oblique ethics; the respect in
which the aged are held; the fine appreciation of per
sonal dignity which restrains the parent from chastising
his child; their universal equanimity under the assaults
of every passion (except revenge), ."surpassing all but
the most Christian philosophers'*; their respectful un
selfishness toward friends and allies. What is far more
distinctive in a rough, active frontiersman, Rogers ex
presses an almost town-bred admiration of the simple
gentleness of their untutored minds, and the pastoral
beauty and happiness of their roving life. In this re
spect he speaks most especially of the Illinois and Mis
souri, whose land he regarded as "the most salubrious
and fertile in the world." "These people of any upon
earth," he writes, "seem blessed in this world: here is
health and joy, peace and plenty; care and anxiety,
ambition and the love of gold, and every uneasy passion,
seem banished from this happy region. The goodness
of the country they inhabit renders their life enchant-
ingly agreeable and easy." And he presages with an
apparent lingering of regret the coming day when the
region must be occupied by a people whose studied
refinement in "dress, equipage, and the modes of life"
will shatter this existence of halcyon content; for he
observed that the Indians' insatiable fondness for spir
ituous liquors would clear the continent of them in a
century.1

In short, Rogers' attitude toward the savage race
bespeaks a liberality almost anomalous in one whose
earliest lesson was to fear and hate the redskin, and
whose fame depended upon the success with which he
had waged his campaigns against them and their Cana
dian leaders. This largeness of view expresses itself,

1 Concise Account of North America, 210.

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

again, in a sentiment which would now be called
imperial patriotism. He regards the new domains as
amongst the most fruitful and desirable upon earth, and
rejoices everywhere that they have been given to the
English race to be subdued and cultivated. Again and
again he repeats, in effect, the declaration which fol
lows the account in his Journals of the surrender of
Montreal, — that the wealth of the Incas and Aztecs
was as nothing to that of -the northern continent, and
that the Anglo-Saxon peoples could not fail to find in
it a home of wonderful scope and resource. The style
of the second book, moreover, is solid and clear, and it
amasses an amount of information, drawn from observa
tion and research, that is far from contemptible. Al
together, there is no point at which we are more likely
to be surprised into real respect for the Ranger than
in the reading of his two treatises. They not merely
exhibit his singular success in self-education, but for
one of his education and profession reflect every credit
upon his natural powers and abilities.

Rogers himself had no illusions as to the main de
fects of his work ; in the preface to his 'Journals he
attempts to disarm the critics by his statement that the
work was written " not with silence and leisure, but
among deserts, rocks, and mountains, amidst the hurries,
disorders, and noise of war, and under that depression
of spirits which is the natural consequence of exhaust
ing fatigue," while in that to his Concise Account he
asserts that it is not his ambition to shine as a learned
historian, but merely to relate "such simple facts as
may be useful to his country" until he might "resign
his plume to someone with greater life and ornament."
It was generally understood1 that both books were to
be continued, and in the Concise Account appeared an

* Monthly Review > 34, 10.

100

CRITICISM OF ROGERS* BOOKS

advertisement of a third volume to contain a history of
the Cherokee war and the siege of Detroit, with many
maps and plans. The demand for this addition, which
Rogers planned to sell at one guinea by subscription,
was, however, so slender that he abandoned the project.
A seemingly trivial circumstance determined the nature
of his third and last publication. That part of the
Concise Account which had most struck the fancy of
several reviewers was the description, among the pages
devoted to the Indians, of the chief Pontiac, widely
famed even in England for his recent rebellion. Rogers
had drawn him with a taciturn dignity which fired
the imagination of the writer for the Critical Review,
and at the close of his paragraph the latter made a
suggestion upon which the major hastily acted. "The
picture exhibited of the Emperor Pontiac," he said,
"is novel and interesting, and would appear to vast
advantage in the hands of a great dramatic genius."

In February, 1766, four months later, and some
weeks after Rogers had returned homeward from Eng
land, the tragedy Ponteach appeared from the press of
John Millan, under a timid anonymity, but with the
universal knowledge that Rogers was the author. Like
the other volumes, it was published in small octavo,
and sold for two shillings sixpence. It closed disas
trously Rogers' brief career as an author, for the press
united in condemnation of it. " One of the most absurd
productions we have ever seen," was the verdict of the
Monthly Review.1 "It is a great pity that so brave and
judicious an officer should thus run the hazard of ex
posing himself to ridicule by an unsuccessful attempt to
enliven the poet's bays with the soldier's laurels. In
turning bard and writing a tragedy Rogers makes just
as good a figure as would a Grub-street rhymester at the

1 Monthly Review, 34, 243.

101

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

head of our author's corps of North American rangers."
Even the Critical Review, which had suggested the
topic, admitted it could bestow no encomiums upon
Rogers as a poet, and pronounced the drama unprece-
dentedly insipid and flat. The Gentleman's Magazine
alone gave the play more than a few lines, and it did
so only to point out the flimsiness of its plot and the
"disgusting familiarity" of its language.

The major was followed at this time by an agent or
secretary, named Nathaniel Potter, — an educated and
rather clever, but disreputable Englishman whom he
had engaged in New Hampshire before sailing for
England, and who hod presumably accompanied him.
Potter said of himself later that since meeting Rogers
in early 1765 he "had continued to be much connected
with him and used by him in various ways," while
Johnson stated in 1767 that he had been hired because
Rogers was so illiterate as to require someone to do
business for him.1 If he were actually with the major
at this time, he may be partially deserving of credit
for the Concise Account and Ponteach, which represent
a greater literary facility than do the Journals or
Rogers' ordinary letters and reports; although the con
tent of both is by internal evidence largely Rogers'. He
may also have assisted the Ranger in one of his most
original steps toward political preferment, — the pro
posal of August 12, 1765, for a search after the North
west Passage. In the memorial embodying this project,
as presented to the King, Rogers set forth his unusual
qualifications for the quest — knowledge of the country,
capacity for making discoveries, strength of constitu
tion, and talent for conciliating the Indians — and his
certainty that there was such a passage, gained from
"his assiduous prosecution of every possible inquiry"

1 Johnson Mss.t 15; 106, 154.

102

THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE SCHEME

and his employment at private expense of Indians to
explore the distant rivers to the Pacific and Arctic.
He prayed to be given two hundred men, with whom
he would proceed across the headwaters of the Missis
sippi, and down the Oregon to Puget Sound, thence
following northward the western shore of the conti
nent; the expedition would consume in all ^28762
and three years' time. Although in a pathetic note he
represented himself ruined by expensive lawsuits, his
petition was refused by the Privy Council.1

In obtaining an appointment, however^ Rogers was
more successful. He bore a letter of introduction to
the Lord Mayor,2 and by Amherst and others was well
recommended to Hillsborough, President of the Board
of Trade; while in October, 1765, one of the intimate
friends he had made, William Fitzherbert, was installed
a Commissioner of Trade and Plantations.3 On the
twelfth of that month he received his coveted post.4
One of the November reviews of his Journals congrat
ulated him upon his advancement,5 and the colonial
gazettes soon repeated the news in the colonies.6 In
December he sailed for home; and on January 10 it
was made known that by royal direction General Gage
at New York had appointed him commander of the
troops at Mackinac (Michilimackinac), almost the west
ernmost, and one of the most important, of the British
garrisons.7

1 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New Tork, VII, 988.
a Memorial, Rogers to Hillsborough, December 21, 1768.

3 Gentleman's Magazine , October, 1765.

4 Memorial, Rogers to Hillsborough, October 26, 1769.
s Critical Review, November, 1765.

6 Johnson Mr/., 12, 22.

7 Memorial, Rogers to Hillsborough, October 26, 1769.

103

The Governorship at Mackinac; Financial and Political Difficulties}
Quarrels and Alleged Treason; Court-Martial and Acquittal.

In America Johnson and his associates heard the
news of Rogers' appointment with indignant appre
hension. None of his superiors in the colonies con
sidered him even remotely fitted for a position of
executive trust, and there was a general conviction that
with his incapacity for governmental affairs was allied
a want of principle and character that might make him
actively dangerous. The same officers that in 1755 had
been loath to believe the charges of rascality brought/
against him as a counterfeiter and enlisting officer were
now the first to express their amazement at his new
promotion. Gage wrote to Johnson characterizing him
as morally untrustworthy, and the latter replied in the
most emphatic terms.1 "It was I," he said, "who for
his readiness first made him an officer, and had him
continued in the service, where he soon became puffed
up with pride and folly, from the extravagant enco
miums and notices of the provinces. This spoiled a
good Ranger, for he was fit for nothing else; neither
has nature calculated him for a large command in that
service. He has neither understanding nor principles,
as I could sufficiently show. The character you have
given him is just, and I am astonished that the govern
ment should have thought of such an employment for
him." Several other letters of the Indian Commissioner
expressed the same disgust. The concurrence of the

'January 23, 1766. Johnson Mss.t 12, 22.

104

ROGERS* APPOINTMENT AT MACKINAC

general public in his opinion, moreover, proves that it
was no mere rankling prejudice, nor the effect of his
enmity toward Amherst and the other men to whom
Rogers probably owed his appointment. Indeed, in a
letter of a slightly subsequent date Johnson alludes to
the universal disapproval of Rogers, and expresses a
charitable wish that, extricating himself from his debts,
he may belie his reputation.1 " He does not appear to
be much esteemed, and it gives me pain to find a use
ful, active man struggling under the disadvantage of
distress and a bad name; for he would have done much
better if he had not been exalted too much by the
people here, who now appear foremost in debasing
him. I hope he will act a proper part at Mackinac,
prove of service to the public, extricate himself from
his difficulties, and deserve a better character than the
public has for some time bestowed upon him. I wish
the government had found a better or more adapted
employment for him." But he makes it clear else
where that to him this was a highly improbable con
summation.

Johnson, indeed, was at this moment particularly
jealous of the western administration, and wished no
officers at the frontier posts upon whose integrity and
ability he could not rely. During the whole preceding
summer he had been engaged in making peace with
the still-inflamed nations under Pontiac, and had sent a
command under Colonel George Croghan into the Illi
nois country to treat with them; and now he was
busied with large plans for the preservation and devel
opment of the trade with the distant tribes. The
French west of the Mississippi he believed to be cre
ating among the Indians of the northwest an active
opposition to the English occupation, and to English

1 To Major Moncrieffe Gage. Johnson Mss.t 12, 27.

105

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

commerce. "Those of the Illinois," he wrote, "are
continually among the savages with immense cargoes
of goods, instilling the most pernicious sentiments into
the minds of a credulous people, and diverting the
trade from its proper channels.'11 Croghan had per
suaded the peoples along the Illinois, the Wabash, the
Chicago, the St. Joseph, and the Saginaw and La Baye
to petition for a large extension of British commercial
facilities toward their villages, and Johnson was earn
estly trying to persuade the Board of Trade of the
urgent necessity, for both political and economic rea
sons, of granting this extension. "It is not in the power
of rny officer to permit traders to go from Detroit or
Mackinac," he wrote, "and the Indians will be supplied
this year chiefly from the Illinois, which is all French
property. If trading posts are not established at proper
places in that country, soon the French will carry the
best part of the trade over the Mississippi, on whose
left bank they are building a strong fort."* He had
for some time been pushing a plan the main provision
of which was the establishment, at each western mili
tary post, of a commissary of Indian affairs, as respon
sible to him for the conduct of the trade and the main
tenance of amicable relations with the savages as the
commandant was to Gage in military matters. In par
ticular, now, he was urging the establishment of such
commissaries at Detroit, Mackinac, and Fort Chartres
on the Mississippi, the three stations which dominated
the western country.3 That these local superintendents
should do their work well it was essential that the
regular governors at their respective forts should will
ingly and honestly cooperate with them. The plan,
moreover, was not yet a certainty, and until it was put

1 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York, VII, 775.
• Idem, p. 788. 3 Idem, p. 808.

106

'•.:,;• '', • •

ROGERS' APPOINTMENT AT MACK1NAC

in operation the governors would adminster Indian
affairs, still delicate and sensitive as these were. When,
therefore, Rogers — widely known for his unscrupulous-
ness, and already covertly defiant of Johnson — was given
the chief authority at Mackinac, the latter had reason
to be sincerely alarmed.

Rogers appeared before the northern superintendent
at Johnson Hall early in February, sending his "Journals
on in advance "for perusal"; and it was clear that he
would soon be at his post. At once Johnson arrived at
a determination that the major must be so hampered in
his new office by restrictions, so bound by instructions,
and so watched by his superiors, that all the gates to
possible wrongdoing would be barred, and no latitude
left him to obstruct more than passively the plans of
the Indian department or of Gage. "I am of opinion,"
he said in a letter to the General,1 "that he should be
tied up in such a manner as shall best prevent him do
ing mischief. ... If he is bound by my orders in
everything relating to Indian affairs, and obliged to
transmit regular reports of all transactions, I think he
will not have it in his power to do as much harm as
otherwise; though to prevent him from doing any is
impossible, for he has been concerned in trade, and
will again be, with those of his connections in that
quarter. By his being commandant he will have it in
his power to confine the trade in great measure to
himself and friends; neither would he stick at saying
anything to the Indians, to effect any of his purposes.
. . . The only thing to be done is to point out from
whom he is to take his orders respecting Indian affairs,
and the channels through which his reports are to be
transmitted; and to limit his expenses to pipes, tobacco,
and a little liquor — unless when he may be ordered to

1 Johnson Mss., 13, 22.

107

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

meet any body of Indians; and whenever they shall
address him to send a faithful copy of his speeches."
His recommendations were followed. It was clearly
Johnson's haunting fear that the pressure of Rogers'
obligations would force him to take criminal means to
supply his wants, and it was to this end that the sug
gested instructions, of which there was no lack, harped
upon a frank and open administration of Indian affairs,
the chief theme of which was to be rigid economy.
Gage wrote in transmitting the major his appointment:
" I can't recommend to you too strongly the strictest
economy in the small expenses that may unavoidably
be incurred at your post. Nothing new or chargeable
must on any account be done by you upon your own
head."1 Rogers was further informed that in all his
dealings with the savages he must pay the strictest
obedience to Johnson, and report as frequently to him
as to the military commandant at Detroit. In June,
again, supplementary instructions were issued to him
from Johnson Hall, cautioning him, as Indian com
missary, to acquaint himself with the tribes, to avoid
giving them any umbrage, and to see that his garrison
and the traders committed no offense; and, above all,
to send in exact copies of all his proceedings to head
quarters, under affidavit, every six months.3 Finally,
Johnson took opportunity to hold a long and earnest
conference with him, giving him minutely detailed in
structions as to his conduct toward the Indians, while
Gage did as much for military affairs; and both, "find
ing him very desirous of some liberty in the article of
expenses," cautioned him thoroughly again to avoid
useless expenditures.

Throughout the spring of 1766 Johnson was still

1 Johmon Mss., 12, 10.

• P. R. O..C. O.j, Vol. 85, p. 351.

1 08

JOHNSON AND THE INDIAN TRADE

pushing his new plan regarding Indian affairs; and
finally, by a bold step, he determined upon its inaugu
ration. He knew that in this he was as yet supported
by scant authority from England; but Gage approved
and abetted his conduct, and to him the temper of the
Indians and the ominous movements of the French and
Spanish on the Mississippi made the step seem impera
tive. The French habitants on the Missouri, Missis
sippi, Illinois, and Miami, as he pointed out, monopo
lized most of the trade in those parts; for despite the
fact that they could procure goods only at great ex
pense, the sensitive Western tribesmen would go long
journeys in order to barter their furs for powder, tobac
co, and cloth with those who would treat with them
kindly, courteously, and fairly, and not as a debased,
inferior people. Yet while he acknowledged that he
could never persuade the English to offer the savages
more than a polite civility, Johnson was far from de
spairing of weakening the French influence through his
commissaries. These men were to ingratiate themselves
into the favor of the tribes, by presents and cajolery;
were to supervise the various traders who made the
posts their headquarters, and — putting a stop to their
dishonesty and cruelty — to force them to pay fair
prices, to be considerate and gentle, and to stop their
pernicious traffic in rum ; and were to nip all plots
or discontents in the bud, and counteract directly all
foreign influences. " I have for some time," Johnson
wrote to London in January, 1766, "made choice of
the best persons for these offices at all the posts, and
no time may be lost after I receive orders to appoint
them;" and meanwhile he had called Pontiac and all
the chiefs of the West to a conference at Oswego, to
announce his new plan.1 Finally, on March 22, he

1 Documents Relative to the Colonial Hhtory of New York, VII, 808 ff.

109

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

wrote the Board of Trade that he was on the eve of
making the necessary proposed appointments, although
he was not yet for some weeks to announce them.1 " I
hope your lordship will not disapprove of my conduct,"
he added, and suggested that they might infer its urgen
cy from the fact that the appointments would be made
at risk of his private fortune. His mails from that day
onward were choked with applications. The great sig
nificance of his move was clear. It meant that hence
forth the government of the west and .north was not to
be purely military, but half-military and half-civil, and
that he and Gage would divide its authority. For al
most a year murmurs of subordinate jealousy from west
ern military officers had greeted the proposal, and now
the moment for real friction was at hand.

For a short period during the spring Rogers was at
home at Portsmouth ; and here his wife, not yet fally
estranged from him, decided to accompany him to his
distant command. The unhappy woman was urged by
many friends, in sincere remonstrance, to refrain from
a step which, no less from the character of the major
than from the location of the post, was full of uncer
tainty and danger. Her father, however, animated by
a Puritan churchman's sense of duty, exhorted her to
perform the full tenor of her vows, and she herself
"felt some hope yet of winning her husband by gentle
ness and condescension."8

Accompanied by her, therefore, Rogers set out in
June, under orders from Johnson to proceed to Oswego,
and take charge there of the preparations for the im
pending congress of the western Indians. Here, at the
little fort and village planted at the mouth of Oswego

1 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New Tork, VII, 817.
a Elizabeth Rogers' Petition of February uf 1778, to the New Hampshire
Assembly.

I 10

THE CONFERENCE AT OSWEGO

River, were now gathering the chiefs of the Potawa-
tomi, Huron, and Chippewa, and the principal men of
the Ottawa, all anxiously awaiting the coming of Pon-
tiac, their leader and most accomplished diplomatist,
who since the failure of his conspiracy had been a
wanderer in the Illinois country.

On the English side the chief representatives were
to be, besides Johnson and Rogers, Daniel Claus, head
of Indian affairs in the province of Quebec, Edward
Cole, newly appointed commissary at Fort de Chartres,
Jehu Hay, holding the same office at Detroit, and —
most interesting of all — Lieutenant Benjamin Roberts,
one of Johnson's most trusted aids, and commissary at
Oswego since the preceding April.1 The meeting of
the major with this last officer, already of course on
the spot, was curiously watched, for it was rumored that
the commissary was soon to be sent out to Mackinac
to take over a share of Rogers' responsibility in Indian
relations, and there were many points in the tempera
ment of each that seemed prophetic of a clash between
them. Roberts was an experienced English officer, still
young, who had been with Rogers' corps in 1757, and
had participated in many of the most fatiguing expedi
tions. His zeal in ingratiating himself with the Indians
had first recommended him to Johnson's notice. He
early learned the Mohawk language, and because of
this, and a very curious incident, the savages of New
York took a violent fancy to him.a While at garrison
at Schenectady in 1759, the gentlemen and ladies acted
" Othello," before an audience room crowded with
chiefs and braves, most of whom were wrought up to
an extraordinary pitch of curiosity. The gallantly at-

1 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New Torkt VII, 850 ff.
a This biographical material is drawn from two long petitions of Roberts',
dated May 27 and June 9, 1773, among the unpublished Dartmouth Mss.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

tired Roberts strutted upon the. stage as Lodovico,
saluted by a fanfare of trumpets, and responding to a
general burst of acclamations by repeatedly doffing a
hat of truly Venetian courtliness. The Indians were so
much struck by his general appearance, especially by his
plumed headpiece, that they concluded him to be a per
sonage of exalted importance; and he confirmed their
awed admiration by giving them both his hat and vel
vet cloak, for which they could not be sufficiently
grateful. In the last years of the war he served at Fort
Stanwix, near Niagara. Everywhere and always he
flattered the Indians; everywhere he mastered their
dialect; everywhere he acquainted himself with their
customs and temper. He even reconciled himself to
marrying an influential old squaw, a virago of whom
he spoke as one of the most frightful of human beings.
In 1766, when his regiment was ordered back to Eng
land, Johnson stopped him to engage him in " settling
disputes between the Western Indians and the Six Na
tions, and to help regulate the Indian trade.'1 He was
an intimate and a favorite of Johnson's; a faithful, sin
cere officer, and an ardent partisan of those with whom
his interest was enlisted. His zeal in military and tribal
matters had involved him heavily in debt, from which,
however, he was unwilling to extricate himself by un
principled means. With all his fine moral temper and
efficient conscientiousness there seems to have been in
termixed a heavy streak of impulsiveness and emotion
alism. A rude, frank, impatient man like Rogers was
sure to seem dangerous to him, just as Roberts had
seemed troublesome and pettish to many of his superiors.
With everything in tension at the little fort for the
coming conference, at which Pontiac was expected to
give in his adherence to British rule, the two men were
not long in quarreling. The major seized the reins of

THE CONFERENCE AT OSWEGO

affairs officiously, for his military jealousy of the com
missary was not diminished by the report that such a
faithful servant of Johnson Hall was likely soon to be
come his co-worker at his new post; and the brusque-
ness with which he treated Roberts soon had its upshot
in a sharp quarrel as to their respective powers.1 At the
mouth of the Oswego River, and on its farther shore,
Captain Peeke Fuller of the post had tentatively sta
tioned a number of traders. Their position there was in
accordance with the wishes of Johnson, as local condi
tions made it possible to control their trade more ef
fectually on that side; for military reasons, however,
Rogers set about transferring them to a point near the
walls of the fort. When Roberts protested, he was
peremptorily silenced, and his quotation of Johnson's
authority availed naught. The controversy grew into
one in which Rogers refused decisively to respect John
son's general orders that his commissaries were to be
obeyed in all affairs pertaining to the trade. " He
thinks," wrote the humiliated Roberts, "that he is not
to obey all orders that do not come directly from the
general."2 Petty in itself, the incident showed the de
termination of the newly-appointed governor to assert
his independence as a military commandant, even
against the authority of Sir William; and it is signi
ficant as the beginning of his relations with one who
was later his chief enemy.

The congress with the Indians began July 23, in the
shade of some magnificent trees between the river and
the parade-ground of the fort, and endured . three days.
The temper of the savages at the moment demanded
immediate appeasal. "The injuries and slights they
have met with," had written Johnson, "give us no
room to upbraid them. Our people on the frontier

1 Johnson Mss.t 13, 93. 3 Idem, 12, 232.

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

seem determined to bring on a new war in the face of
their own ruin. Twenty murders upon them have been
treacherously committed within the six months past." '
He represented himself as at his wits' end for means to
stop the provocations of the whites, and urged con
stantly upon the home government the clothing of the
commissaries with new power. " I cannot check their
grievances," he said, "and the commissaries are in the
same situation. They have an office and a duty laid
down for them, but no power to execute it. To answer
the purposes of the appointment they must be empow
ered to see commerce equitably conducted, and justice
executed." His querulous plea arose doubtless in part
from such instances as Rogers' disrespectful handling of
Roberts. Yet he spoke boldly to the Indians of the
new scheme, as well as of the measures for checking
the outrages of frontier farmers along the Alleghanies.
"You begin already," he addressed them, "to see and
feel the fruits of peace, from the number of traders and
plenty of goods at all our garrisoned posts, and are en
joying the peaceable possession of Illinois. You will
likewise now see that proper officers, men of honor
and probity, are appointed to reside at the posts, to
prevent abuses in trade." He exhorted them to confine
their commerce to the forts, pointing out the impossi
bility of checking fraud if they refused. To all this the
Indians gravely bowed. "We heartily thank you, father,
for having appointed the commissaries, and for not let
ting the traders straggle through the woods to our vil
lages, but to trade only at the posts ; it was not prudent
to let them ramble where they pleased, but there will
be no danger along the waters to the forts, and we shall
be justly dealt with," said Tiata, chief of the Huron,
and all promised their furtherance of the plan, accept-

1 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New Torkt VII, 851.

ROGERS* ARRIVAL AT MACKINAC

ing it as an earnest of the love of the English people.1
After further parley, and Pontiac's final submission, the
congress broke up to general satisfaction.

In the early days of August, Rogers and his wife,
with Rogers' secretary Potter, arrived at Mackinac,
having come through by way of Niagara, Detroit, and
the lakes. The post stood then on a bold point a mile
or two west of the present site of Mackinac City, just
south of and overlooking the straits; and to arrive at it
Rogers passed the beautiful Mackinac Island, its high,
blanched limestone cliffs, crowned and backed by heavy
pine forests, rising in irregular splendor from the lake.
Newly rebuilt since Pontiac's war, the fort was not a
prepossessing structure, for it was neither commodious
nor strong; and its situation, among monotonous sand-
dunes that ran back for a long distance before they
were broken by the odorous woods of cedar and pine,
was bleak in winter and baking hot in summer. Heavy
barracks rose near the fort proper, and at some distance
stood the French village of Mackinac, a cluster of
white-plastered log houses, defining the extremities of
the long, narrow, rectangular plot in which the villagers
cultivated their land. In front — the opposite shore
outlined by well-wooded heights — spread the brief
straits, widening away on either hand into the lovely
waters of Huron and Michigan. The little garrison
numbered two companies,3 and Captain Spiessmacher,
a German officer at its head, resigned the position of
chief command into Rogers' hands. The latter installed
himself within the most comfortable of the officers'
houses within the stockade walls, and set himself to
gaining a full acquaintanceship with his new duties
and opportunities. He had left Roberts behind at

1 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New Tork, VII, 854.
8 P. R. O., C. O. 5, Vol. 85, p. 155.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Niagara, and except for his ironclad oral and written
instructions, he was invested with full powers as com
mander of the garrison and agent of Indian affairs.
With a full appreciation of the isolation of his post —
for Detroit was a long week's journey behind him, and
a rigorous winter, which would stop all communica
tion with the east, but a few months away — his feeling
was one of autocratic independence. Except for his
instructions from Gage and Johnson, which he now
might with temporary security entirely disregard, his
own affairs and those of the region were under the
direct guidance of his hand. He could undertake
whatever ambitious administrative schemes he deemed
best, and — if fair fortune offered — attempt a replen
ishment of his exhausted purse, free from all but the
most distant supervision. From his temper and his pre
vious financial irresponsibility it was clear he would not
halt at heavy bills when impressed with the opportu
nity of carrying through some striking, largely-con
ceived scheme; and that in affairs with the tribes he
would regard himself as chiefly responsible to Gage,
and would order matters of trade and of Indian rela
tions with but scant deference to Johnson.

This last, indeed, was immediately evident. Johnson
had given to Rogers, as to all the commissaries, strict
est orders that the Indian trade was to be confined to
the immediate vicinity of the fort; that the packs of
the dealers were to be opened, as far as possible, only
under the commandant's eyes; that no cheating was to
be allowed, and a fixed scale of prices, which Johnson
himself scheduled, was to be enforced ; and that the
commandant should control jealously the entire issu
ance of rum to the Indians. The general order was
clearly repugnant to one who, like Rogers, knew in
timately the circumstances under which the traffic in

116

ROGERS' ARRIVAL AT MACKINAC

furs went on in the northwest. Ever since the founda
tion of the fur-trade by the French coureurs-de-bois the
tribes of the region had parted with their peltry on the
very hunting-ground upon which they did their winter
shooting and trapping. The market had been an itin
erant one; and following the various villages of braves
into the snowy wilderness each winter, the French ad
venturer, with his cloth, trinkets, liquor, hatchets, guns,
grease, and provisions of powder and shot, had saved
them the necessity of interrupting their hunts for a long,
exhausting trip, over choked trails, to a central depot
of stores. Adopting the Indian's ways, learning even his
dialect, by tact and kindliness reaching his very heart,
the wandering trader would sleep at nigh^ in his wig--
warn, warm himself by h^ fire, eat at his rude board,
and, indeed, make himself a member of the savage
community. He had a supply of exchangeable goods
always in the sight of the eager tribesmen, who knew
the sole commodity by the barter of which they could
procure any desired article, and set themselves to secure
it; he could give them necessities, as of weapons, or
ammunition, or tools, on the spot; he could save them
the occasion of leaving their wives and children a prey
to starvation, and their country to hostile tribes, while
they carried their growing packs in to market. More
than that, he could penetrate to far-off peoples, and
bring back bundles of fur that else would never have
touched a Caucasian hand. Far beyond the pioneer
clearing, far beyond the garrison, he was the real
vidette of commerce and civilization. Rogers knew
that to keep the traders under the walls of his fort
would cut in ha;f the commercial importance of
Mackinac, and he lost no time in resolving to disobey
Johnson's injunction. Immediately upon his arrival he
issued a general permit to all traders to "go wintering,"

117

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

and follow the Indians along their trails to the coverts
of the lynx, the mink, and the beaver.

"For this," wrote the indignant Daniel Claus, super
intendent of the district, from Montreal, "he is vastly
liked and applauded here."1 The approbation of Mon
treal was indeed fervent. In the merchant houses of
that city centered almost all the channels of trade which
drained the Mackinac district. Trafficking in old French
fashion, and with their factors on every trail in Ontario
and Michigan, these firms had been the earliest and
most active in their opposition to Johnson's plan. They
foresaw that their agents at Oswego, Niagara, Detroit,
and above all at Mackinac, dealing with peoples who
for generations to them almost immemorial had sold
from the hunting lodge and thicket, would be ruined
by the new policy. They had not contented themselves
with direct protests to Johnson ; they had instructed /
the Indians of the west and north to send in pleas that/
each of their multitudinous villages along the Illinois/
Wisconsin, Saguenay, and Ottawa might be allowed/a
trader, pleas that multiplied throughout 1765 and 1766;
and they had induced a large number of the inhabitants
of Montreal to sign a petition presented to the Lords
of Trade in May, 1766, setting forth the incalculable
damage being wrought the commerce of his Majesty's
subjects by the new regulations, and praying for a re
dress.' Pressure had been brought, too, upon Rogers'
predecessor, Captain Howard, who had been con
strained by clamor and influence to release a number
of the traders from the most irksome of the restric
tions; so that the major's decisive step had not been
without its indecisive precedent. Johnson had pro
tested most vigorously, however, at the course of

1 Johnson Mss.t 13, 134.

* Documents Relative /? the Colonial History of New Torkt VII, 871.

118

ROGERS' ARRIVAL AT MACKINAC

Howard, who had been saved from a severe visitation
of official wrath only by the recall which installed
Rogers in his stead. Now the latter, by letting not
merely several, but all of the traders, go en bivernement,
had placed himself in the full path of the Indian
Commissioner's biting anger. This he knew so fully
that he may well have been guided in his complaisance
toward certain of the factors by interested motives.

Rogers, indeed, began fast to make friends about the
fort; and we know, from the records concerning the
latter part of his administration, the names of the more
important of these, all men interested in the trade:
Atkinson, Goddard, Stuart, Des Rivieres, and Tute, the
last-named a New Hampshire neighbor with whom
Rogers had had business dealings three years before.1
The most memorable of his relationships at the incep
tion of his duties, however, was with a needy adven
turer who had followed him out from the east upon a
previous understanding — Jonathan Carver. This offi
cer, slightly older than Rogers, had first come into
contact with the leader of the Rangers in the fighting
about Lake George, where he also had served as a
provincial captain.' He was a native of Connecticut,

1 See various deeds kept at the office of" the Secretary of State in Concord,
New Hampshire. Tute had also served as a lieutenant in the Rangers under
Rogers in the Seven Years War and was captured while on a scout from Fort
Edward in 1760; Rogers' Journals, p. 132. He was one of Rogers' most
trusted friends and agents. Stuart also had been an adjutant in the Rangers under
Rogers. James Stanley Goddard was one of the earliest traders from Montreal in
the upper country, and in 1761 was operating from Mackinac and Green Bay.
After Pontiac's Conspiracy he became one of the most prominent merchants in the
Northwest, and Claus wrote Johnson in 1768 that he had more influence among
the Indians there than any other single man. In 1777 he was commissioned gen
eral storekeeper for the government, at Montreal, a position which he held as late
as 1795. In 1767 Carver named a river emptying into Lake Superior after him.
Johnson Mss. , 1 6, I 34. Wisconsin Historical Coll. , XVIII, 2 8 5 ; Carver's Travels.

a This information is most largely drawn from petitions of Carver's presented
to the Board of Trade when he went to England in 1769 to secure his expenses
for his journey ; sec Board of Trade, Commercial Papers, Volume 459.

119

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

born, like Rogers, into a frontier community, and left
fatherless at an even earlier age, though amid surround
ings vastly better for his education. Wounded at the
massacre of Fort William Henry, he had written a
vivid and stirring account of that sorry occurrence.
He was retired from the service in 1763, returning to
Massachusetts, where his company had been raised, and
apparently dragging out a rather painful civil existence
there for the next two years. Now, in the middle of
August, he was at Mackinac, head bent with the major
over vast plans which centered about one wild surmise,
In one way, perhaps through hearing of Rogers'
petition of 1765, more probably through meeting him
upon his return from London, Carver had been struck
with the possibility of aiding the governor of Mack
inac in carrying out, upon a modest scale, his glorious
scheme for the discovery of the semi-fabulous North
west Passage. In his published travels he long after
attempted to arrogate to himself the credit for his ex
pedition,1 saying that he was independently struck by
the possibility in it of performing a further service to
the king ; but it has already been shown that Rogers
had made a similar proposal to the ministry in 1765,
so that he has a better claim to be the originator of
the plan.2 Carver's missions would have in his own

1 Introduction, Travels Through the Interior Part of North America, by
J. Carver, London, 1779.

2 There has been a very considerable reaction from the complete condemnation
of Carver's Travels, since the publication of E. C. Bourne's destructive criticism,
American Historical Review, XI, 2, p. 287. The study of Carver's career by
John T. Lee in the Wisconsin Historical Society's Proceedings, 1912, pp. 87-
123, Ibid, 1909, pp. 143-153, has completely overthrown most of Professor
Bourne's contentions, and, as far as his actual travels are concerned, Carver is re- .
garded to-day by historians as a reliable witness. See also M. M. Quaife, The
Evolution of Source Material for Western History, in Mississippi Galley Historical
Review, I, 167 and following (September, 1914). It is interesting to note that
for Carver's descriptions of th£ beaver, bear, and porcupine, pp. 282, 274, and
279 of the Travels, he drew almost verbatim upon Rogers' paragraphs upon the
same, pp. 253, 259, and 263 of the Concise Account.

120

ROGERS AND CARVEU'S EXPLORATIONS

ambitions an almost inexplicable origin ; he must have
known that he, a landless, almost penniless officer,
could never have financed it; and if he had conceived
it alone it is unbelievuble that he would not have
sought some official approbation for it. Three years
later in London, at the very moment Rogers was col
lecting his personal expenses in the expedition, Carver
secured his own share by swearing before the Privy
Council for Plantation Affairs that it was only in
consequence of the governor's commission that he
undertook the journey.1 Finally, we gather from a
letter of Claus' to Johnson that Rogers had returned
from England still quite full of the plan he had
broached there — so full that he was willing to seize
the opportunity his new authority gave him.9 The
enterprise was rapidly put under way. In June, while
Rogers was in New England or New York, Carver
set out from Boston, and taking the same ship as his
superior,3 apparently arrived with him, or at any rate

1 Board of Trade, Commercial Papers, Volume 459.

3 Johnson Mss., 16, 134. Claus speaks of Lieutenant Pauli of the Royal
Americans having proposed to him in confidence a plan for an expedition north
west of Lake Superior, "he having made himself acquainted with the discoveries
of several nations at sea, particularly those of the Russians, which latter gave him
great encouragement" ; and compares Pauli' s fitness for the journey with that of
Rogers, as the originator of an earlier and similar scheme, which Rogers was still
hopeful of carrying out.

3 It seems impossible to determine just when or how Carver arrived at Mack-
inac ; for deliberately or otherwise, his Travels throw a great deal of dust about
those of his movements which immediately preceded the initiation of his expedition.
In 1 766 the only schooner plying between Detroit and Mackinac was the Gladtvin,
which had played such a part in the siege of Detroit : if he arrived upon it he
almost certainly came with Rogers, for trips were infrequent, and he was at the
post early in August. He may, however, have come by canoe. It may as well
be remarked here as anywhere, that throughout his book Carver seems anxious to
exclude Rogers' name from any connection with his travels, and makes no mention
whatever of him in narrating his return to Mackinac at the end of the summer
of 1767. He speaks merely of the tranquil pleasures of fishing and of the pass
ing of the time in pleasant company, during the stirring months in which Rogers was
arrested, kept in irons, and the entire settlement was rull of excitement. In a letter
from the fort to his wife, September 24, 1767, he states that the date of his arri-

121

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

not many days behind him, at the straits, thirteen hun
dred miles to the west. The prompt assistance which
the major, so new at his post, rendered him, far beyond
the measures of his legal powers, is almost indubitable
evidence of previous collusion. On August 12 Rogers
issued Carver a commission as leader of a special ex
ploring detail from the fort, at a salary of eight shil
lings daily, "for the purpose of making surveys of the
interior, especially to the west and northwest," and
outlining carefully the route to be followed.1

He endowed Carver and his companions liberally
with supplies, promised to send more to the Falls of
St. Anthony, and advised him as carefully as his superior
knowledge of the Indians and the West warranted him.
The hopes and fears of both officers were high. If the
exploration succeeded in even a portion of its objects
it would benefit both immeasurably. The West, in all
its rich resources, its scenery, and its Indian life, was
unknown; its plains, rivers, mountains, unmapped; the
routes to the western ocean but conjectural. To pene
trate it would be at once to confer a benefit upon science
and geography, to give England a claim to its posses
sion, to open it to settlement, and perhaps, if a water
passage above the "Ouragon" did not prove mythical,

val was August 30; while in his Travels he puts it "at the beginning of Novem
ber." In this letter he further says that "on my return to this place, I received
the thanks of the Governor Commandant, who has promised he will take special
care to acquaint the government at home of my services," and that "I have two
hundred pounds sterling due to me from the crown, which I shall have in the
spring." Published by John T. Lee in Wisconsin Historical Society Proceedings,
1909, p. 149, and in The Nation, New York, Volume XCIX, 161. Carver re
turned to his family at Montague, Massachusetts, in August, 1768.

1 Board of Trade, Commercial Papers, Volume 459. Carver says he never
received the provisions which Rogers promised to send him to the Falls of St.
Anthony ; but it is certain that they were sent to him, for Rogers was later paid
for them. The fact that Carver used that part of Rogers' plan of 1765 which
appointed the Falls as headquarters for the first winter may have a slight signi
ficance. Sec Carver's Petition of Feb. 10, 1773, in the Earl of Dartmouth'' s Mss.,
(unpublished).

ROGERS AND CARVER'S EXPLORATIONS

to give a new impulse to commerce. On the third day
of September, Carver set forth with several traders and
guides down Lake Michigan. The trip was destined to
do much less, and much more, than was expected of it ;
it was to discover no Northwest passage, and to map
no vast extent of unknown territory ; but it was to give
birth to a book of travel which should arouse European
curiosity for America as no other ever had, and to in
terest Schiller, Chateaubriand, and Byron.1 As stout
paddlers drove the canoes out over the choppy waters
of the straits, the cheers of the garrison bade the ex
plorers farewell. Before they returned affairs at the
fort were to undergo a momentous revolution.

During the autumn and early winter Rogers con
tinued his government in the most ambitious fashion.
His chief concern, after granting the traders their de
sired immunity from Johnson's rules, was to secure the
favor and friendship of the tribes of the northwest.
The Indians in the vicinity of the fort he immediately
found means of pleasing. The same traders that re
joiced Montreal and angered Claus with their reports
of Rogers' freedom with the trade brought news also
that "his behavior toward the Indians was liked and
approved by them, as well as the people of Mack-
inac."3 Generosity, flattery, and a liberality of fair
promises characterized his treatment of his red chil
dren. But to gain the golden opinions of those near
the fort, while he merely indulged the others with

1 In evidence of the astonishing popularity of Carver's Travels John T. Lee
enumerates thirty editions, with translations into German, French, and Dutch.
(Wisconsin Historical Society Proceedings, 1909, pp. 143-183.) "From Car
ver's Travels Chateaubriand drew not a few of the descriptions of Indian customs
for his fascinating and poetic Vujage en Amerique. From the same source Schiller
derived the language and thought for his Nadowessier's Todtenlied, f3miliar to
English readers through Bulwer-Lytton's translation as Tbe Indian's Death
Dirge.** Joseph Bedier, Etudes Critiques , Paris, 1903, on Chateaubrknd.

3 Johnson Mss.t 13, 134.

113

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

traders, did not satisfy him. Only a few weeks after
his arrival, therefore, he sent forth an embassy among
the faraway Folles Avoines, Puan, Saux, Renard, Chip-
pewa, and Sioux, under Goddard and Des Rivieres,
ostensibly to notify them of his assumption of the com
mand of Mackinac, of the concluding of peace between
Pontiac and the English, and of the occupation of Illi
nois.1 The dwellings of these tribes were scattered over
the great distances of Wisconsin, Michigan, northern
Illinois, and even the immediate trans-Mississippi region;
but the undaunted embassy loaded itself for its long
journey with numerous presents. Despite all the cau
tions he had received, Rogers succeeded in spending
^300 in Indian affairs within the first six weeks after
his arrival, and duly drew a draft for this amount upon
Johnson.* Moreover, his disbursements continued to be
heavy. The great tribe of the Chippewa, residing for
the most part above the Ottawa river and north and
west along Lake Superior, were threatening a war with
the Sioux, and were trying to involve in it their allies,
the Ottawas and Pottawattomies, both Michigan tribes.
This conflict Rogers labored anxiously to prevent, fear
ing that it would disrupt the whole western trade; and
his protests to the chiefs he again enforced by expensive
presents.3 His messengers he kept out all winter, and
he even found means to intercept roving bands of
tribesmen, whom he conciliated over-generously. By
Christmas his expenditures had necessitated a second

1 New Tor k Coloi^al Documents, VII, 989. Documentary History of New Tor kt
II, 863. Johnson Mss., 15, 125 ; 13 : 74 and 89. Near the St. Croix River
in November, I 766, Carver mediated a peace between the Sioux and a band of
hostile Chippewa.

a Documentary History of New Tor k, II, 848. Johnson Mss., 13, 74 and 89.

3 See New Tork Colonial Documents, VII, 966, 969 (where Johnson says the
expense incurred on this head "contrary to orders within a few months amounts
to several thousand pounds, apparently to serve the interests of a few traders"),
989. Johnson Mss., 15, 26.

DISSIPATION OF ROGERS

draft on Johnson for about ^500, with more immedi
ately to follow.1

Simultaneously Rogers was becoming personally much
entangled, and deeply dissipated. Most of the goods for
his lavish gifts he had secured on credit from the favor
ably-impressed and over-confident traders, representing
Montreal and English firms;3 so large was the stock
advanced him he may even have hoped to engage in
the trade himself, through clandestine agents. As time
passed, the merchants, who had at first hoped for exor
bitant prices, realized that Rogers' extravagant course
would so embroil him with Johnson that they might
receive nothing at all, while they also began to fear an
overt motive in his zealous conciliation of the tribes;
and they entered upon a course of constant harassing
and importunity. The commander gave way, too, to a
course of sustained licentiousness, no whit mitigated by
his wife's restraining presence. His chief vices, prob
ably learned in London, attacked him with extreme
vigor during the long winter season, the enforced con
finement of which told much upon his nervous, ener
getic spirit. When for months the ice, piling at times
sixty feet high in the straits outside, cut off all naviga
tion, and the town and fort lay snowbound and isolated
between the wilderness and the lake, his constant re
course was to carouse in the garrison or village, with
companions of the most doubtful cast. His sensitive
wife suffered deeply from his conduct, while her grief
was supplemented by a sense of the certain gulf to
which his improvidence and disobedience of orders
was leading him. "To paint," she says, "in their true
colors my sufferings during my stay in that remote and

1 Johnson Mss., 14, 42.

'Johnson Mss., 18: 185, 186; 19: 112, 163, 172, 179, 185, 226.
Treasury Minutes, February, 1772. In Johnson Mss., 14, 193, is given a bill
of Stephen Groesbeck for goods given by Rogers to the Indian nations at Mackinac.

125

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

lonely region would be a task beyond my ability. 'T is
enough to say that I underwent every hardship, and
endured every species of ill-treatment which infidelity,
uncleanness, and drunken barbarity could inflict." Thus
the winter passed away; and when, along with reports
of his disregard of instructions, along with his rapidly
mounting drafts, there reached Johnson rumors of his
dissipation and his debts, it was determined to send
Roberts, still commissary at Niagara, on to Mackinac.
Worst of all, the drafts were decisively, if temporarily,
refused payment by Johnson, upon the ground that he
"had no letter of advice from any person upon the
subject," and peremptory orders were sent to Rogers
to incur no more expenses/

Roberts, who by Johnson's orders, Gage concurring,
was ready to start for Mackinac from Oswego late in
April, was delayed by various circumstances, and did
not reach his destination until June 23, I768.9 In the
interim Rogers continued his eccentric and arbitrary
conduct of affairs. In the early spring he sent his
assistant, Potter, upon an expedition to the upper
reaches of Lake Superior, to continue treating with
the still war-like Chippewa.3 It was observed about
the fort at the time that his manner was becoming
more discontented and restless than ever; a fact traced
to his increasing debts, and the embarrassment caused
him by the refusal of his drafts upon the government.
In the closing days of winter he threw himself secretly
into the formulation of a new and amazing scheme,
which — a last gleam of hope for his material salva
tion — was designed to render more direct his control
over the region, to stimulate the fur trade, and to make

1 Documentary History of New Tork, II, 848, 853, 863, 865.
a The chief of these circumstances was the failure of Captain McLeod to take
his place promptly at Niagara.

3 New Tork Colonial Documents, VII, 990.

1*6

MISADMINISTRATION BY ROGERS

him forever independent of his troublesome eastern su
periors. This was a proposal for a new form of govern
ment at Mackinac, which we find drawn up in formal
detail in a petition transmitted direct to the Board of
Trade on May 29, 1768.' An effective preamble at
tacked Johnson's restrictions and recited the vast extent
of the fur trade at Mackinac, the exchangeable value
of which was declared to reach ^£60,000, or one hun
dred heavy boat-loads of Montreal goods, yearly; the
circumstances which proved that even this volume of
trade, if properly nourished, could be immensely in
creased; and the fact that Mackinac, with its com
manding situation on three lakes, stood as the logical
center for the entire Northwest. Rogers wished, there
fore, to have established at Mackinac a combined civil
and military government which should give a more
direct attention to Indian affairs, and feel a more sin
cere anxiety as to means of controlling and developing
traffic possessing many local and peculiar characteristics.
He asked to be appointed governor, with power of
electing one of his subordinate officers as lieutenant-
governor, and another secretary; while the rest of his
plan embraced a council of twelve, to be chosen by
popular vote from among the citizens of the town,
with limited legislative and advisory functions. To
preserve order he wished a few companies of rangers,
ready to enforce his mandates among all the French or
savage inhabitants of the whole vast territory; and he
craved allowance of "a fixed sum annually, for presents
to keep the Indians peaceable — such as shall be thought
adequate for a post to which more than one third the

1 .This petition contains more chan six thousand words, and is phrased as care
fully as it is planned. As Potter himself is authority for the statement that it was
composed secretly by Rogers, and during Potter's own absence, the document
alone is sufficient to refute Johnson's allegation that Rogers was illiterate. Johnson
composed a long reply to it (New York Colonial Documents t VII, 997).

127

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Indians on the continent resort, beside other nations as
far as the Pacific." Like the governor of a crown col
ony, he was to be responsible only to the king's minis
ters. The plan was suggestive, but its obvious inspira
tion lay in his debts, his troubles with the traders and
with Johnson, and the increasing certainty that a com
missary would soon be watchfully at his side. It was
clear that, under a scheme for promoting trade, he was
virtually proposing that he be given the most absolute
control over the tribes, the fur business, the garrison
of the northwest, and a large sum of money.

As his negotiations with the tribes progressed, Rogers
kept his agents, with their presents, still out among
the villages, and himself visited a number of the chiefs.
He had issued a call for a general convocation of the
tribes in June, and as the war clouds that hung over
the Sioux and the Chippewa drew off, it became evi
dent that this would be one of the most impressive
gatherings of savages ever held on the American con
tinent. His messengers, from far beyond the Wisconsin,
and down the Mississippi, brought back news that the
most distant prairies were sending their braves.1 The os
tensible object of the gathering was the final ratification
of the Sioux-Chippewa peace, and as such was deeply
irritating to Johnson from the very moment he heard
of it. "It is not good policy," he objected, "to interest
ourselves in quarrels of distant nations, which do not
affect our forts, settlements, or communications. It may

1 When Carver returned southeastward in April, 1767, from wintering among
the Sioux, to secure provisions, he was accompanied by a large band of tribesmen
whom he persuaded to go on before him to the great conference at Mackinac,
while he himself struck off toward Prairie du Chien, See Travels. Tute was
credited at this time with "carrying matters with a high hand on the Mississippi,
giving gorgets to the Indians inscribed with fleurs-de-lis, and creating numerous
chiefs." Johnson Mss., 15, 125. Goddard and others were similarly busy;
and of Goddard it was written, " chey have found out the river that runs from
Lake Superior to the Mississippi." Wisconsin Historical Collections , XVIII, 285.

128

MAP OF THE REGION ABOUT MACKINAC
From Carver', TV™,/,, Third Edition, London, ,78,

MISADMINISTRATION OF ROGERS

indeed be interesting to a dozen traders, who in defiance
of all orders go to the Indian towns; but on the other
hand these wars take off and engage some of the most
violent of the Indians, who would otherwise be danger
ous to us." Above all, it was a most expensive affair.1
Between May 26 and June 10 a vast concourse of
Indians, comprising many of the sachems and braves
of the Ottawa, Potawatomi, Chippewa, Nascapee, and
Missisaugus, began pouring in toward the straits. Rogers,
with his able lieutenants, Tute and Goddard, the latter
of whom had unbounded influence with the aborigines,
marshalled them into order, and kept them quiet.3 On
June 24 the Sioux, Saux, Folles Avoines, Puan, and
Renard, accompanied by a band of fresh Ottawa as
protectors from the still churlish Chippewa, arrived in
such numbers that the waters of the lake were black
ened by their canoes. The woods for a great distance
about were filled with their tents, and through the
forest paths and over the sandy shingle roamed one of
the most picturesque and motley assemblages in Indian
history. For a time minor conferences were held.
Finally, on July 3, in the shade beside the lake, all
the tribes gathered in one great and dignilied conven
tion, friendly and disaffected side by side, and the chiefs
interchanged assurances of friendship and love, united
in protesting their loyalty to the English, and passed
about a huge calumet. Even the Sioux, after recount
ing that "the Chippewa have lately stained our country
with blood, and given us great provocation to lift up
the hatchet against them," promised forbearance until

1 Nftv York Colonial Documents, VII, 969. Johnson regarded the peace as a
pretext of Rogers' " to acquire a name and influence among the Indians for his
preconcerted purposes." Idem, p. 989.

a Rogers has left a circumstantial account of this conference, in a paper which,
entitled The Journal of Major Rogers, May 2 4- July 2jt 1767, is preserved in
the library of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts.

129

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Rogers, "our father next to the great king," redressed
their injuries. They all delighted Rogers by begging
that they might have traders sent among them. Before
the meeting broke up, the governor devoted one whole
day to the distribution of many presents, secured upon
more drafts from the merchants of the town. With
these the red men departed rejoicing. Their congress
had been a splendid and unforgettable pageant, and had
inspired them with some fealty to the British Empire;
but the piper 'was still to be paid.

The bills incurred in these conferences were promptly
presented to Johnson by eastern agents of the Mackinac
merchants, and as promptly roused him to a high pitch
of anger. Despite the fact that other commissaries,
notably Cole of Fort de Chartres, had recently sent in
requests for sums which were, says Johnson, "vastly
more than I could have thought of," he considered
Rogers' expenditures wholly unjustifiable. As pre
sented during the summer in Montreal and Albany,
they reached a grand total of ^5000.' His suspicions
equalled his resentment. He was at once certain that
Rogers had been meddling with Indian affairs in a
wholly unwarrantable way, and with a design to fur
ther his own overweening ambitions. " There must be
some particular motive for this," he wrote Gage. "Ex
penses seem to have been made, Indians called, and
traders indulged purely to procure their esteem." All
in all, he was ready at once to demand Rogers' imme
diate recall.

Meanwhile, on June 23, Roberts had taken office at
Mackinac, with instructions to cut down expenses, to

1 Documentary History of New York, II, 863. September 6, 1767, he says:
"On my arrival at Albany I was surrounded by people with drafts drawn on me
by Major Rogers, to between ^£2000 and ^3000. " September 11 : "Farther
drafts on me have been shown at Montreal to the amount of ^i 100, and I hear
the whole exceeds ^5000." All these bills were at once protested. ldemt 865.

130

MISADMINISTRATION OF ROGERS

watch Rogers, and to enforce the trade regulations.
He was received with so plain a show of jealousy and
bad feeling that none of his three tasks was easy.1 The
commandant attempted from the very beginning to
throw difficulties in his way ; to increase his expenses,
prejudice the traders against him, and to render impos
sible full obedience to Johnson. Indeed, Roberts' re
ports indicated that from the very first he was troubled
both by the plain irregularities about the post, and the
commandant's obvious intention of increasing the fric
tion incident upon maintaining order among the traders.
In his first letter to Johnson he showed that many mer
chants were plying their art away from the post, and
beyond his powers of supervision ; that Rogers was try
ing to betray him into extravagance; that he was covert
ly attempting to secure from the Indians a petition for
Roberts' withdrawal, and his own restoration to full
control; and that rum sometimes got among the sav
ages.2 He pointed out, too, a dangerous tendency among
the soldiery to participate in the trade, to forestall which
he recommended a frequent relief of the garrison. In
his plan for the civil government of Mackinac, indeed,
Rogers had given open indication of the nature of his
preference among the traders of the region. "Since it
is true," he had declared, "that the French at Mack
inac, St. Mary's, Green Bay, and other places where
they are looking and walking up and down, are an in
dolent, slothful set of vagabonds, ill-disposed to the
English and very influential among the savages, ought
they not for the better security of the British trade to
be removed out of the country?" To men like Tute,
Goddard, Engineer, and Atherton he tried constantly

1 Documentary History of New Turk, II, 864. The date of Roberts' arrival is
noted on a Return of the Trade at Mackinac, Dartmouth Mss.t dated 1767.
8 Johnson Mss., 15, 90.

'3'

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

to divert the trade, employing them at times as his
direct agents among the tribes, and at times allowing
them full freedom in their own commercial transac^
tions. Roberts described such men as "simple, canting,
over-reaching New Englanders, who watch every oppor
tunity of making the Indians drunk, and cheating them
of their furs, continually abuse one another, and never
speak well of any one in power." ' Whatever may
have been their attitude toward the Indians, and toward
Spiessmacher and the commissary, they were evidently
bound by the closest ties of self-interest to each other
and to Rogers. Their primary interest was undoubtedly
commercial, and the perpetuation of their advantages by
the thwarting of Roberts' strict and suspicious policy.

The obstacles in Roberts' way multiplied as the weeks
went on ; yet by conscientious labor he began slowly
to triumph over them. Throughout the long summer
days, when the lazy Indians^ionnged in throngs in the
woods and camps about the straits, a fertile soil for the
corruptions and wiles of the villagers, his chief fear was
that the traders might carry rum among them, and so
inflame them to violent deeds. The avid taste of the
savages for liquor was supplied, in general, by carefully
doled-out portions from the general store-room of the
fort, as highly-prized gifts; but smugglers were con
stantly attempting to evade Johnson's strict embargo
upon the sale of alcohol, for it was the most profitable
medium of exchange. " Every hour," he wrote John
son, " my uneasiness is increased. In spite of my vigi
lance, I fear we will have mischief done." 2 The ardu-
ousness of his labors began to tell upon him. He was
obliged to employ clerks constantly, recording every
minute instance of charity or generosity to the begging

1 Memorial to Dartmouth, Dartmouth Mss., February 10, 1773.
3 Johnson Mss.t 13, 134.

MISADMINISTRATION OF ROGERS

savages, and reporting it to every other northern com
missary; to preserve, besides the strictest accounts, a
journal of all Indian intelligences; to keep in constant
touch with the East, and to make long journeys into
the Indian land. He could not attempt to impose
Johnson's restrictions upon trade, for the ministry had
made, through the influence of Sir Guy Carleton, the
governor of Canada, an exception for the trade north
of Mackinac; but he required every trader who went
wintering among the Indians to give a bond for his
good behavior, and another in guarantee that he would
return his furs through the post, and not carry them
down the Mississippi to New Orleans. In July and
August he thus licensed one hundred and twenty canoes
of goods, paddled by traders from the fort into Lakes
Huron, Superior, or Michigan. Each trader was re
quired to bring back observations on the numbers and
temper of the Indians lie-dealt with. At_ihe same time,
Roberts was kept busy issuing clothing and food to needy
braves, giving presents to groups of influential indivi
duals, and receiving with affable kindness deputations of
chiefs. His task, weighing his meager resources, had
been rendered doubly difficult by Rogers' excessive gen
erosity, but his tact and sense stood him in good stead.
"The Indians," he was able to report to his superior,
" complain Rogers promises more than he can perform,
and say he has more love for packs, but less sense, than
me."1 "Though no Englishman dared trade far down
Lake Michigan," he declared long afterwards, "all the
Indians thereabouts sent me invitations to visit them,
and paid me a great compliment by saying they would
look upon me as one of themselves."1 His knowledge
of their language, his kindly cordiality, even his volatil-

1 Johnson Mss. , 15, 90.

3 Memorial to Dartmouth , February 10, 1773.

>33

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

ity, where it inflamed him into a desire to protect them,
rapidly won him their warm regard.

But he and Rogers continued more and more jealous,
suspicious, and sullen in their attitude toward one an
other. Rogers' debts, joined with . the news that his
heavy drafts were meeting with protests in New York,
and would likely be returned to him, was driving him
into increasing moodiness and discontent. He grew
troubled, quarrelsome, and irritable. In July Potter
returned from his trip upon Lake Superior, and three
or four days later the entire garrison was amazed to see
the door of Rogers' house fly violently open, and the
two emerge, scuffling, fighting, and blaspheming one
another, down the steps. They separated after a mo
ment, and strode away from each other, white and
panting, but without divulging the root of the sudden
and amazing quarrel. The soldiery were agog, and
watched the two men closely. On the morrow they
indulged in high words on the parade ground, and on
the third day, meeting again, Rogers flew into a violent
passion, knocked Potter down, and ordered him put in
irons. On the advice of Roberts and others, however,
Potter applied to Spiessmacher for protection, and re-/
ceived it. He nevertheless still declined to make any
statement as to the cause of his altercation with one so
long his protector and friend, and it was generally sup
posed that the affair was the mere outgrowth of Rogers'
violent frame of mind. The soldiers in especial re
mained almost unanimously loyal to the governor.
Roberts, abetted more and more by Spiessmacher, in
clined to pur the worst possible construction upon his
acts.1

1 For this, and references also for matter in the succeeding pages not otherwise
ascribed, see New fork Colonial Documents, VII, 988, 990, 993. and 997 ;
Documentary History of New Tor kt II, 883, 885, 888, 895 ; Canadian Ar (hives,
Series Q, Volume 4, 304-307, Series Q, Volume 5, part 2, 607-611 ; Jobn-

134

ROGERS' BREAK WITH ROBERTS

The sharp final explosion between the two men was
not long delayed. During the early days of August it
seemed clear to Roberts that Rogers, in desperation,
was putting some huge and nefarious scheme under
way. Atherton and Tute he had sent out down Lake
Michigan, on some unknown mission ; he himself was
constantly engaged in receiving belts and making
speeches, of which he would let Roberts know noth
ing; Stuart and his other agents about the fort were
suspiciously busy. The whisper began to go through
out the settlement that the governor intended in the
spring to gather his associates about him, sack the
place, and proceed southward by way of La Baye, Lake
Michigan, and the Illinois river to join the French and
Spanish beyond the Mississippi. The various merchants
and traders to whom Rogers was in debt — and he was
said to owe several hundred thousand French livres —
and who held large stocks of seizable goods, came to
Roberts in great alarm, with such fervent prayers that
he protect them and their property that he made a
secret agreement with Spiessmacher to cat short any
attempted evasion of the governor. The secretary,
Potter, still sulking and silent, was making dilatory
plans to leave the fort and go to England. He hinted
at times to Roberts of matters of weighty importance
which he might disclose, and which, he said, his con
science strongly urged him to lay before Johnson, in
full written form. As the middle of the month passed,

son M<s., 16 : 123, 134, 144; 17 : 4, 13, 154, etc. ; Dr.F.B. Hough's Edition
of Rogers' Journals, Albany, 1850, Appendix; Wisconsin Historical Collections,
XII, 27-37 ; Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, X, 224-233. As
most of these references deal with the events of one or two days, to state the
varied authorities for each single fact would involve useless repetition. In this ac
count it should be kept in mind that although all Rogers' contemporaries recognized
that there were two sides to the whole affair, we have no means of stating in full
just what the major's case was ; for only the accusations of his enemies have
been preserved.

'35

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

the commissary reported to his chief at Albany that it
had become an open secret that Rogers had declared,
unless some ray of hope were offered him in his present
gloomy circumstances, he "would go off in the spring,
and not empty-handed." Stephen Groesbeck, one of
the richest merchants at the post, whom Roberts char
acterized as "a heavy, self-interested Dutchman," was
the governor's creditor for several thousand pounds,
covered only by worthless drafts upon the Indian de
partment. He seemed deeply interested in Rogers'
machinations, and had sent out a messenger with belts
to the Indians of the Northwest. "Rogers," wrote
Roberts again, "says that if affairs to the northwest
don't turn out luckily, he must go off, and it's thought
Groesbeck won't stay behind." It was known, too, that
the commander had been instrumental in sending eleven
canoes loaded with goods to Lake Superior, and was
now anxiously awaiting their return.

Finally, on the night of August 19, Roberts was
awakened about midnight by the noise of some traders
carrying rum from the fort's storehouse down to the
water. He refrained from interfering at the time, but
as soon as it grew light began an investigation. From
some source he secured certain evidence that the smug
gling of rum out of the fort had reached a great mag
nitude within the last few days, and that a number of
kegs had been landed, with Rogers' full knowledge and
approbation, at a small island on the way to La Baye,
where they were to be used in gaining political and
commercial credit with the Indians. In great excite
ment he called in Potter, and summoned him to give
all the information he possessed of the governor's plots.
After some hesitation, assumed or real, the ex-secretary
unfolded his entire story. He said that Rogers had de
termined a full month before, that, if his plan for the

136

ROGERS' BREAK WITH ROBERTS

civil government of Mackinac did not elicit a favorable
reply from England during the ensuing winter, he
would close at once with an offer he had received from
the French through one of his old comrades in the
provincial service, Captain Hopkins, now a turncoat in
the West Indies.1 With Tute, Goddard, Atherton, and
whatever part of the garrison he could induce to desert,
Potter further alleged, he planned to rifle all the trad
ing depots in the vicinity, and thus "full-handed" join
the French west of the Illinois country.2 It was his
own refusal to adhere to this plan, said Potter, which
had occasioned his quarrel with Rogers, who had
threatened him with instant death if he revealed it.
Trembling with indignation, Roberts at once sat down
and penned a decisive note to Spiessmacher, impeach
ing " Robert Rogers, Esquire, for holding secret cor
respondence with the enemies of Great Britain, and
forming conspiracies," and exhorting the captain to
" seize his person and papers, among which you will
find sufficient proof." This he sealed, directed, and
sent at once by a messenger. He then wrote a full
letter to Johnson; and a third to Daniel Claus, intro
ducing Potter, and desiring that he be allowed to repeat
his accusation in Montreal under oath. These two he
gave to Potter to transmit.

1 "Captain Hopkins," wrote Johnson to Shclburnc, "of Maryland, former
ly of the i8th Regiment, obtained a captain's commission in the Queen's Inde
pendents, on the reduction of which he entered the French service, and is now
(1767) a colonel in Hispaniola. A great intimacy always subsisted between him
and Rogers." An alleged letter of his to Rogers, exhorting the latter to join the
French, and speaking of disgraces which Rogers had endured, was later found
among the major's effects, and is given in NcwTork Colonial Document^ VII, 993.

2 Louisiana was at this time properly Spanish ; but the French still held many
offices of more than local control. Cf. P. R. O., C. O. 5, 86 ; Gage to Hills-
borough, October, I 768 : " There is such a strange mixture of French and Span
ish government on the opposite side of the Mississippi that there is no knowing to
whom the country belongs. A French officer, M. St. Ange, commands on the
Mississippi, and receives orders from both Don Ulloa and M. Aubry."

137

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

By this time the fire of his wrath was somewhat
abated, and he was able to hold himself under restraint.
He called his clerk, John Hanson, and, going out upon
the parade ground, applied to Rogers for a sergeant and
two men to send with Hanson to seize the contraband
rum.1 A proof of the bad feeling existing between the
men lies in the fact that before he reluctantly acqui
esced in their going, the major forced the commissary
to promise to pay the soldiers for their time. They
were absent some hours, and in the interim Roberts
halted seven canoes which had reached the fort, for
bidding them to proceed into a region where, for aught
they knew, all the savages might be maddened and
blood-thirsty with liquor. At the end of the period
the two boats he had dispatched grated heavily on the
pebbly beach, and Hanson supervised the rolling out of
several kegs of rum over the gunwale of each. As
"seizing-officer," Roberts felt the disposition of the
rum to be his, and ordered it to be placed in the king's
store, of which he held the key ; but Rogers, who was
standing glowering by, sharply contradicted his direc
tions, commanding that it be given to the deputy
commissary of provisions. A heated quarrel ensued, in
which both the excitable commissary, highly wrought
upon by all he had heard, and the imperious governor
lost their heads; the lie was exchanged; a denuncia
tion as traitor trembled on the lips of Roberts; and
Rogers in a rage called the guard, and had the strug
gling officer, before the amazed eyes of the Indians and
townspeople, borne away and locked up in his house.

Affairs had now gone so far that interference from
the East was inevitable. At Mackinac, however, it
seemed for a time that the direct quarrel between the

1 Some time previously Roberts had quarreled with Hanson, and had cautioned
Johnson to receive no information through him. See Johnson Mss., 15, 12$.

.38

ROGERS* BREAK WITH ROBERTS

two officers might be glossed over. Roberts was not
long kept in durance, for on August 22, after testifying
with others at a court of inquiry into the seizure of
rum, over which Rogers presided, he was released. A
temporary reconciliation followed, but one merely tem
porary; for Roberts' knowledge of Rogers' secret de
signs made it impossible for him to avoid a renewal of
the disputes. Early in September he was again under
arrest, and by September 21 felt his confinement so
deeply that he addressed to Spiessmacher a petition
praying for relief.1 Finally he grew wholly insubordi
nate, denouncing Rogers as a traitor on every hand, and
was sent eastward in irons, to await trial under General
Gage. Meanwhile, on August 29, Potter had set out
for Montreal, and a month later made deposition there
under oath as to all of Rogers' plots, sailing immedi
ately thereafter to England. This deposition, together
with Roberts' letter, reached Gage and Johnson in Oc
tober, and produced a real sensation. " From Potter's
character," writes Johnson, "I have no doubt he will
make the most of his discoveries; at the same time, I
believe his account is within compass." Already, on
September 1 5, upon hearing of his enormous expendi
tures, Gage had decided to remove Rogers. Now a
new order was sent to Spiessmacher, directing him to
arrest the major, and confine him until he might be
brought to Montreal to trial; and to seize all his prop
erty, especially any goods with which he had been
trading, to satisfy his creditors.3 On December 6
Roberts arrived at New York, with more than twenty
affidavits from Mackinac of his own unfitness and mis
conduct, to report to Gage for trial; and on the same

1 Jobmon MSJ., 15 : 44, 55.

a «« Major Rogers has goods trading for his benefit in the Indian country to a
very considerable amount, and the returns may soon be in, as I am informed."
Documentary History of New Tor';, II, 888.

'39

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

day Rogers was arrested at the far western post by
Spiessmacher, on a charge of high treason.1

Throughout the winter Rogers remained confined to
his house, closely watched by Spiessmacher and Lieu
tenant Christie, now second in command. From the
first these gentlemen reported that they found some
thing very suspicious in his behavior. For his own
part, he complained that he was loaded with irons,
kept in a fireless room, open to the full inclemency of
the freezing weather, and scarcely allowed the neces
sities of life. He was robbed also of his effects, "to the
value of several thousand pounds, of his papers, and of
the maps he had taken, at great expense, of the Indians'
country"; while his wife "was treated with the same
inhumanity as himself, and exposed to the insults of the
common soldiers."2 Under these circumstances, and in
collusion with his orderly, David Fullerton, he laid plans
to escape, first approaching a Canadian, Joseph Ans.3

1 Gage wrote on this date to Johnson : «« Which of the two men is most in
fault I can't say ; most probably both of them in some degree." On October 9
Sir Guy Carleton, writing to the Earl of Shelburne in regard to the matter, said
of the root of the difficulty : " From the fact that a jealousy about presents, which
certainly amounts to no inconsiderable sum, it being the constant custom of both
traders and Indians to present some at their arrival and departure from these posts,
and which, from being the usual perquisite of the Commandant, are now become
the Commissary's, occasions disputes and misrepresentations constantly, on both
sides, I submit that all present* of value, from either Indians or traders, should be
absolutely declined by the officers of the crown. ... It must be acknowledged
that Mr. Potter bears but a very bad character . . . and may be actuated by
views of self-interest and motives of revenge ; unhappy it is for Major Rogers that
his character does not stand in so fair a light as to permit a neglect of Potter's
information ; the less so that the distresses resulting from his extravagance may
give weight to a suspicion of his using some extraordinary means to extricate him
self." Potter, by reason of his ill-health, was not expected to reach Europe.
Canadian Archive 5 1 Series 4, Volume 4, 304-7.

' Memorial to Hillsborough, December 21, 1768. P. R. O., C. O. 5,
Volume 70, 235.

3 Joseph Louis Ans (or Ainse) was born at Mackinac, May I, 1744. Soon
after his information against Rogers he was taken into English employ as an in
terpreter. In 1790 he was convicted of having embez?) :d government stores for
his own trading ventures. Michigan Pioneer and Hi'.oricil Collections , XI, 491.

140

THE TRIAL OF ROGERS

Rogers' alleged plot was to have the savages decoy
Spiessmacher and Christie out of the fort, when —
as most of the soldiers were yet his fast friends — he
could seize the keys, sack Mackinac and Detroit, and
march away to the Illinois. Ans betrayed the attempt
to Spiessmacher, first taking him to a point where he
could hear one of their conferences, and later securing
from Rogers a promissory note for ^500 if Ans would
carry him safely to a force commanded by Captain
Hopkins on the Mississippi.1 As a result of this ex
posure the major's orderly was arrested, and the guard
about his house, previously relaxed, was resumed.

In the spring the sloop expected for Rogers' convey
ance arrived, and he was put on board to be transported
to Niagara." "I was thrown," he afterwards testified,
" into the hold of the vessel, upon the ballast of stones,
still in irons ; and in this manner, transported the whole
distance. When they were taken off, the weight of
them was so considerable, and they were fastened so
tightly, that my legs were bent. From the pain I
suffered, together with the cold, the bone of my right
leg was split, and the marrow forced its way out of it
through the skin,"3 At Niagara he received the charges

1 "The French had two battalions waiting for him," Ans reported Rogers
as saying, "under Colonel Hopkins, who had often written to him." Spiess
macher testified that the major's orderly broke down and confessed the plot when
taxed with it, and that Rogers had had Ans brought up from St. Joseph in the
spring of 1767, ostensibly as an interpreter, but really ro use him as a messenger
between himself and Hopkins, to invite Hopkins to come with a few men and
receive possession of the fort.

2 Navigation in the straits became possible about May i. See P. R. O., C. O.
j, 86; Gage to Hillsborough, August 17, 1768. "Some disturbance happened
at Mackinac, on the occasion of sending Major Rogers from that fort to Detroit ;
a disorderly tribe of the Chippewa went there with their arms, and threw their
English belts into the lake, and invited other nations to join them to release the
major from his confinement. The officer commanding tried to satisfy them by
various methods, but at length put the garrison under arms, and with two armed
boats put him on board the vessel."

3 Memorial to Hillsborough, December 21, 1768. P. R. O., C. O. j,
Volume 70, 235.

141

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

against him from General Gage, and was taken on, un
der strong guard, to be tried at Montreal. Almost im
mediately upon his arrival there it was decided to alter
the charge against him from treason to mutiny.1 In the
first place, it was desired that he be brought before an
official of the bar at once, without the delays and use
less formality of a civil trial; and high treason was a
crime under the cognizance of the civil, mutiny under
the military law. For his part, Rogers was anxious to
prolong his trial upon several pretences, chief of which
was that he required time to bring his witnesses up from
Mackinac. As a second consideration, it was at once
perceived by his prosecutors that there was a failure of
sufficient evidence to convict him of really treasonable
conduct. Potter hud gone to England for his health,
and Chief-Justice Hay pronounced that in common
law the affidavit made out by him, as coming from a
man of doubtful character, and one who had just quar
reled violently with Rogers, could do no material injury
to the latter. One of the chief pieces of evidence for
the state, an alleged letter of Hopkins, found among
Rogers' effects, which urged him to make haste to join
with the French, Rogers declared to be an arrant for
gery. It had been transmitted to him, immediately
upon leaving for the West, by Johnson, and, dated San
Domingo, April 9, 1766, was signed "Maryland." "I
always thought, and am still of the opinion," said the
major, " that it was penned on the Mohawk River. I
returned it to General Gage, but by some magic art my
letters miscarried."2 Of other tangible evidence of so
serious a crime, except the rumors upon which Roberts
and Spiessmacher had based their suspicions, there was
very little. Yet Rogers had wrought too much evil to

1 Johnson Mss., 16: 123, 134, 144.
a P. R. O.f C. O. 5, Volume 70, 235.

142

THE TRIAL OF ROGERS

go unprosecuted. With the new charge of mutinous
conduct were joined accusations of disobedience to
Gage and Johnson, and of embezzlement of goods and
funds to his own purpose at the fort, and preparations
were made to have the requisite witnesses at the fort
relieved from duty and sent down, from Mackinac at
once.1

"In his grinning way," wrote Claus to Johnson,
" Rogers makes a light matter of his crime, and tells
the merchants that if they supported him he would
soon return to his post." This support was no more
than a fair exchange, for these were the persons Rogers
had endeavored to aid in his policy with regard to the
Indian trade; and as he was greatly their debtor, it
was obviously to their interest that they should clear
him. Rogers' friend Goddard was charged with assist
ing him in his second crime — the embezzlement of
money and goods. There was a general inclination to
let him off easily, however, as his influence with the
Indians, manifested in a number of ways, had shown in
him the possibility of a most useful public servant.
Tute, Atherton, and the others were out of reach, and
no particular effort was made to secure them. Not until
early October did the trial, delayed by the necessity of
bringing witnesses of the prosecution, and by Rogers'
own indisposition from disease brought on by his ex
cesses and dissipations, begin. There was some difficul
ty in obtaining the testimony of Roberts, who had been
almost as deeply involved as Rogers himself in debt,
suits, and legal difficulties ever since he had been sent
home a prisoner from Mackinac, and who, while await
ing the opening of the trial in Montreal, was shortly
arrested at the instance of one Morrison of Oswego,
with whom he had disputed regarding the trade during

1 Johnson Mu.t 16, 123.

143

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

his commissaryship there. For the defense Rogers had
a number of witnesses, and all his accounts, certified to
by some of his officers as proper and necessary, besides
other documents. Against him Spiessmacher, Christie,
and others testified, and Potter's affidavit and Hopkins'
letter were adduced; but the case utterly collapsed
through want of more confirmatory evidence. "The
gentlemen concerned in the prosecution did not have
the same desire to do him a prejudice," explained
Johnson, "as himself and sundry others had to mani
fest his innocence, and induce the public to deem the
whole a malicious attack upon a man of worth." Of
the details of the trial no record has been preserved.

During the closing days of the hearing, while still
ignorant of how it was tending, Rogers addressed a me
morial to Hillsborough from prison. "I make not the
least doubt," he said, "that I am honorably acquitted,
altho' witnesses were hired to swear falsely against me,
and my most material ones prevented from coming
down." After a detailed account of the cruelty of his
treatment he continues: "My being cleared alone is
not sufficient; I must have an opportunity of clearing
up my character, for which purpose I beg an order
that Mr. Roberts, Captain Spiessmacher, and Lieuten
ant Christie may be confined and court-martialed; and
that I may go up country to bring down my proper
evidence, and few remaining effects." He asked also
for a new appointment, either in America or the East
Indies, and stated that he intended coming to England
in the autumn. He made it evident at the same time,
by some insulting inquiries which he addressed to Gage
regarding that officer's failure to prosecute Roberts, that
his temper was dangerous. And so, in December, the
trial broke up. "I hope," wrote Johnson to Gage,
"that t.ny affairs of party arising from the proceedings

144

THE SECOND VOYAGE TO ENGLAND

may totally subside. If not, it will be easy to see what
keeps it up." Such a subsidence, as the event proved,
was out of the question ; and Rogers' resentment, car
ried before his powerful friends in England, was to be
the force to keep it up. The major, nursing his anger
at what Johnson himself called the "indignities" he
had received, remained in Montreal during the winter
limping sadly on his injured leg, and everywhere com
miserated. Early in May he had a vicious quarrel with
Roberts in the public streets of the city, and, asking
him "if he would give him satisfaction for bribing
Potter to swear his life away," halted him with his
cane before an excited crowd of townspeople, called
him puppy, tweaked his nose, and challenged him to a
duel. The military commander in the city was forced
to put both men under a bond to keep the peace; but
Roberts nevertheless complained that "Jones won't be
lieve Rogers carries arms, and all that is said by every
body seems prepossessed in his favor."1 Already the
major was skilfully trying, with success in Montreal at
least, to turn the tables of public sentiment upon his
enemies. At the coming of summer he took ship for
England.

' Johnson Mss.t 17, 154.

'45

Second Trip to England} The Debtor's Prison; African Service} The
American Revolution ; Last Years and Death.

There was a multiplicity of motives to lure Rogers
upon his second journey to England. His most power
ful friends were there, as his most powerful enemies
were in America. His financial affairs at home lay in
utter ruin, and by the expedient of a quick passage he
might escape his debtors until they could instruct Lon
don agents to continue harrying him. To the public
he was still favorably known across the water; while
in his own country, although he had his eager partisans
in Canada, where many were induced to believe that
he had been spitefully wronged by the tools of Johnson,
a general ill-savor attached to his name. Finally, his
angry resentment against the commander-in-chief and
the superintendent of Indian affairs made it a daily
humiliation to remain longer upon a continent in which
they were in power. His three direct purposes at the
seat of empire were to work some malice against the
party of Johnson ; to obtain a fresh appointment in
some part of King George's wide dominions; and some
how, by obtaining payment for his losses at Mackinac
and elsewhere, to find his way through all the mazes
of his indebtedness to solvency.

His liabilities totaled thirteen thousand pounds, and to
keep himself from falling into a debtor's prison was his
immediate care. In May, soon after his street-quarrel
with Roberts, he had left Montreal and proceeded to
New York, closely dogged by his creditors, where he

146

MACHINATIONS IN LONDON

importuned Gage for his pay as commandant at Mack-
inac. The general refused him, upon the ground that
as his appointment was made by the London minister,
it could not go in the American accounts; an answer
which filled the shrewd major with mingled regret and
rejoicing, as it led him to believe that he had never
lost his commission, and was still on the active pay
roll.1 He was able, however, to secure immediate pay
ment of his expenses at Montreal, and upon these slen
der resources, having secured signed leave of absence,
he left for the mother country in June.2 At his arrival
in the capital he went into residence near the old house
of the Penn family, at Spring Gardens and Charing
Cross, a very busy and somewhat fashionable part of
London.

Here he renewed his acquaintance with William Fitz-
herbert and other of his old military and political friends
in the city, and set himself to use every possible pa
tron. During October he reopened the communication
which he had begun with Hillsborough while in prison,
narrating in full the grievances and injuries he had suf
fered since his appointment, and asking that his lord
ship lend his potent influence to have him remunerated
for his labors in the Northwest. He waited, too, upon
Hillsborough at that officer's public levees, with such
allies as he could induce thus personally to push his
suit;3 and simultaneously sent in a detailed account of
his arrears of pay to the Treasury.4 Certificates of his
usefulness and bravery he secured from almost every
considerable American leader during the Seven Years
War, — Amherst, Abercrombie, Howe, Moncton,Webb,
Loudoun, Eglinton, and others; some of them, deliv-

1 P. R. O.t C. O. 5, Volume 70, 699.
a Johnson Mss., I 8, 185.
3 P. R. O., C. O. 5, Volume 70, 691-9.
* Idem, p. 627.

'47

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

ered with an alacrity strongly suggestive of jealousy of
Gage and Johnson, added warm personal recommenda
tions to the more perfunctory testimonials.1 He became
once more a familiar figure at parties and public recep
tions. Finally, as a crowning mark of distinction, Fitz-
herbert presented him to George III, whose royal hand
he kissed and to whom he offered in person a petition
for the reissuance of the lands once given him on Lake
Champlain.3 So visibly powerful were his friends,
whether disinterested patrons or the enemies of John
son, that for the moment he became presumptuous in
his requests. "The minister [Hillsborough] asked what
would content him," reported a correspondent of John
son's in February, 1770; "he desired to be made a
baronet, with a pension of 600 sterling, to be restored
to his governorship at Mackinac, and to have all his
account paid."3 And although these requests were be
yond reason, the fruits of his energetic contrivances and
motions were soon apparent.

In January, 1770, he presented a final petition to
Hillsborough, emphasizing the fact that he was an in
nocent, injured man, cleared of the unjust aspersions
thrown upon him, and reiterating his desire to return
to his post whenever he had been enabled to meet his
obligations.4 The Secretary of State was at some pains
to lay the matter before the Treasury Board in proper
form, and within a few days Grey Cooper, its secretary,
informed Rogers that he should be paid as commandant
at Mackinac to December 21, 1769, a date chosen as
terminating four years of service under the commission
of 1765.* Good fortune came not singly. With his

1 Johnson MJS., 19, 112.

» Idem, 18, 185. P. R. O., C. O. 5, Volume 1074, 385-

3 William Rivington ; Johnson Mss., 18, 185.

4 P. R. O., C. O. 5, Volume 70, 701.

s Treasury Minutes, December 21, 1769; July 13, 1770.

148

MACHINATIONS IN LONDON

arrears in salary were also paid his accounts for Carver's
expedition to the West, covering bills not merely for
the supplies with which he had outfitted his subordi
nate in 1766, but for those, more meagre in quantity,
which he had attempted to forward the lieutenant early
the next year at the Falls of St. Anthony.1 He was
assisted in this by Carver himself, a fresh arrival in
England, who had petitioned successfully during the
summer for the eight-shilling wage which Rogers had
offered him.a There was thus appropriated to the major
at the beginning of 1770 more than ^3000, — a truly
rejuvenating relief, enabling him to throw several sops
to his pack of creditors, and to secure a new hold upon
means of subsistence in the city. He continued, how
ever, to pray for his salary as Indian commissioner at
Mackinac, for his collateral expenses, and for the goods
he had given as presents to the Indians — an enormous
sum still. At the same time, having definitely lost his
post, he began to push his claims upon the government
for a new situation in India or America.

In his political objects, Rogers met for a time with
success. Roberts had sailed for London in March,
1770, with letters of recommendation from Johnson
Hall, and with several diplomatic and business com
missions to execute for the Indian department. Like
Rogers, he was so head over heels in debt that he
could escape from his creditors only with difficulty,
and before taking ship was forced to secure a transfer
of suit in an embarrassing damage case brought by the
Mackinac merchants whose rum he had confiscated;3
and he, too, hoped to mend his fortunes by securing

1 Johnson Mss.t 18, 185.

a Carver had testified that it was "in consequence of Rogers' commission
that he undertook and performed his great journey." Board of Trade, Commer
cial Papers, Volume 459.

3 Johnson Ma.t 19, 163.

•49

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

payment of ^1000 which he had expended in the
king's service.1 Long before he sailed he received re
ports that "Rogers was making a noise in England,"
and implored Johnson to secure protectors for him
against one who "might keep me in hot water.""
When shown on the eve of his departure "the extra
ordinary letter from London " which told of Rogers'
court presentation, he wrote again to his superior: "I
suppose I shall find a strong party against me by Rogers,
and wish you might send something to the ministry
that would be useful to support me against the clamor.
It would be disgraceful to see that scoundrel honored,
and I that have served thirteen years unblemished un
noticed."3 From the unusual care with which Johnson
equipped his agent, it was clear that he also had a regard
for the pertinacity and vigor with which the ex-com
mandant was organizing all the existing opposition to
the American regime. Nor— were their forebodings
amiss. Roberts had immediate difficulty in seeing Hills-
borough, before whom he was to lay a plea that the
Northern Department be allowed more funds, and only
after repeated visits did he " make his lordship recollect
that Johnson had mentioned him in his letters." 4 A
similar coldness elsewhere convinced him that every
where his paths had been poisoned, and his character
defamed, by his wily enemy. " Rogers' story is much
attended to by those of the great," he reported early in
August, after a month of fruitless endeavors, "who are
only too glad to censure any reputation better than their
own. Until that fellow is sent somewhere, I shall be
continually plagued with contradicting his vile story."5

1 Petitions of May 27 and June 9, 1773, Earl of Dartmouth's unpublished
papers.

2 Johnson Mss., 19, 179.

3 Idem, 19, 185.

* Idem, 19, 112. 5 Idem, 19, 172.

150

MACHINATIONS IN LONDON

He had lost his position by his trip to England, and
even this fact the major used against him. "Rogers,"
complains his second letter, "has reported that I was
turned out of employment for the ill-treatment I gave
him, and he has been too much believed. It is unfor
tunate that I can't be introduced to more men in au
thority, and so contradict in person what I am obliged
to do through various channels." ' Finally, the wide
spread nature of the dislike which he found had been
inspired for Johnson and his colleague plainly puzzled
him. "It is a little odd," he tactfully informed his
own immediate chief, " how Rogers has procured aid
from Amherst, Abercrombie, and almost every other
field officer. It seems a party against General Gage,
but time will clear it up, and honesty triumph."'

It was, however, only so long as Rogers was able to
give head to a temporary sentiment against the Ameri
can officers that his affairs prospered ; und when the-
small furor to which his charges, his loud complaints,
and his bitter vaporings gave rise had subsided, and the
novelty of his petty attacks had spent itself in vain, he
was once more relegated to the chilly anterooms of
noblemen, and spent his time in the composition of
unavailing petitions for further relief. Fitzherbert, it is
true, remained for some time longer his faithful friend,
so that Roberts was informed in October, 1770, that
three of the ministry intended providing for Rogers,
and that it was thought he would get a post in the
East India service.3 At the same time, the major found
ready allies in his creditors, anxious to help him through
their London agents to the money which would satisfy
their own demands. Six different firms, with extensive

•June 12, 1770. Johnson Mfs.t 19, 112.

2 Idem, 19, 112.

3 Idem, 19, 112, 226.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

business and political connections, were all, in Roberts'
expressive phrase, "pushing for him" during the period
that he seemed basking in official favor. But they were
ready to turn upon him the moment his affairs took a
darker turn, — a moment which, so far was he out of
his depth financially, so beyond reason were most of
the claims in his total of ^10,000, even his energy and
assurance could no longer postpone. As summer passed
he who had once "hummed all the great people"1 had
gained nothing. In May, 1771, he had fruitlessly peti
tioned the Board of Trade for his huge grant on Lake
Champlain, which, he said, "he meant to occupy and
cultivate. "a For the Board's refusal he had had in part
to thank his old rival, for a few days previously, at
Hillsborough's instance, Roberts "was examined before
the Beard, and given an opportunity to make known
the treatment he received from Rogers, and to show
them how far they had been imposed upon."3

Other memorials met a like fate, and matters went
rapidly from bad to worse. In November, 1771, he
made a personal appeal to Hillsborough in terms that
have a note of desperation in them. "No man, my
lord," he recites, "has gone through more vicissitudes
of alternate hardship and success than myself; and I
urge my case with greater confidence, now that pre
judice has had time to subside, and the world is dis
posed to be just to my character." The hackneyed
story of his long services and unjust persecution follows;
and he concludes : " I was without cause dismissed from
employ, and do now stand consigned to inanity, and
almost absolute want, with an enormous responsibility
to my expenditures on credit in the ranging and Indian

1 Johnson Mss., 18, 186.

3 P. R. O., C. O. j, Volume 1075, 117.

3 Johnson MJS., 20, 230.

152

ROGERS IN DEBTORS' PRISON

services. I implore your lordship to consider and com
miserate my situation." Yet he asked only for a re
newal of his commission as major, with pay of fifteen
shillings daily.1 In February, 1772, he prayed the
Treasury to find means for presenting his demands to
the House of Commons, — a request utterly and absurd
ly impracticable.' Reports home of his activities thence
forth became meagre, for he was no longer a person of
sufficient importance to figure in the letters to New York
from London. Despite his many discouragements, he
continued to petition for his pay as commissary to
Mackinac, and, on August 10, 1772 wrote a curt note
to Sir William Johnson for a certificate of his appoint
ment "to manage Indian affairs at Mackinac," as also
for "a statement of the commissary's usual allowance."3
At length his debtors passed from urgency to threats,
and from threats to action. Early in March, 1773, one
of them, Robert Hunter, had lost patience, and unsuc
cessfully petitioned the treasury for the value of the
merchandise supplied th? major in the Northwest in
1767.* The pack to whom he owed money immedi
ately closed in. On June 14, he was in the Fleet prison
for debt, complaining bitterly that he was in distress
for want of every necessity, and greatly injured in his
health by his long and close confinement.5 In a neigh
boring cell was Benjamin Roberts, who, having drawn
on Johnson for £100 to maintain himself in England,
had been summarily deserted by his old friend and
patron.

One of the last straws at which Rogers clutched was
a reopening of his old proposal for a search after the

1 P. R. O.t C. O. j, Volume 154, 18.

* Treasury Minutes, February, 1772.

3 Johnson Ms*., zi, 238.

« Treasury Minutes , March 7, 1773.

s Acts of the Privy Council, VI. 538. Colonial Scries, Unpublished P*per».

153

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Northwest Passage in a plan presented the Privy Coun
cil in February, 1772. As he had done seven years be
fore, he set before the Council his unusual qualifications
for such a search, stating that as a commander at the
farthermost of the Great Lake posts, and in "various
expeditions which he has made or caused to be made"
therefrom, he " has gained information which almost
positively established the existence of a navigable pas
sage"; and he prayed "to be employed in this time of
peace in such an expedition, at a salary of £$ per day
as director and conductor of the enterprise." He esti
mated that in all the trip would consume three years,
and although he insisted upon a party of sixty, includ
ing several officers, a geographer, cartographers, pion
eers, and fifty hunters, he believed that £ij> ios. daily
would suffice for salaries. The itinerary of his earlier
proposal he changed but slightly. Leaving from the
Mohawk in April or May, he would traverse the Great
Lakes and Wisconsin to the Falls of St. Anthony, and
there pass the first winter; the second summer he
would push on to the Pacific, where he would again
halt; and at the coming of the third spring, he would
strike north and northeast along the coast, following its
rounding contour, and exploring every considerable in
let, until he found the one which really connected the
Atlantic with the Pacific. In its return the party would
pass through Japan, Siberia, and Russia. The plan
never received really serious consideration, although it
was transmitted from the Privy Council to a commit
tee, thence to the Board of Trade, and finally to the
Treasury.1

Of Rogers' movements between the middle of June,
1773, and the middle of March, 1775, we know almost
nothing. On the former date, he petitioned to the king

1 P. R. O., C. O. J2j, Volume 27, 143.

•54

ROGERS IN DEBTORS' PRISON

from Fleet prison to grant him "sixty miles square on
the banks of some great and convenient river or lake
in America, that he might compromise with his credi
tors." Although his memorial was recommended by
six of these unwearied pursuers, and by thirteen gen
eral officers who had at some time served in America,
including many names of distinction, it was refused.1
The blank of twenty months which follows was one
of importance to an officer connected with both English
and American affairs, for it was a period which saw the
two peoples rapidly drifting into war. The silence is
broken finally by a petition from Rogers to the Earl
of Dartmouth, Hillsborough's successor as Secretary of
State for America, announcing the major's intention of
rejoining the army, and asking for a renewal of his
commission, as " it will prove of infinite service to him
in many respects." He had at that date evidently been
contemplating for some time reentrance into active ser
vice; for he mentions that he had left his commission
at one of the under-secretaries' desk several weeks be
fore, and that he had repeatedly applied for the renewal
to Lord Barrington, "who had absolutely refused to do
any services for him.' * But how had he escaped the
debtors' cell ? And how had he spent the last twelve
month? As to the first of these questions, we know
only that his brother James, already a rich land holder
in New York, had assumed by bond his most pressing
obligations;3 not, however, before Rogers was in such
desperate straits that he had attempted a legal prosecu
tion of Gage to reimburse himself for his expenditures
in the Northwest, — a step which the ministry hastily
stopped. As to the second, we have only Rogers' un-

1 Acti. of the Privy Council, VI, 538.

* Dartmouth MJS., Petition of March 13, 1775.

3 American Arcbivti, Series 4, Volume 3, 865-8.

»5S

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

verified statement of a later date to President Wheelock
of Dartmouth College, that he had fought two battles
under the Bey of Algiers.1 At all events, early in 1775
he was still in London, free from his most immediate
difficulties, interested in the threatening aspect of colo
nial affairs, and anxious to see service again, either in
America or in India. For a time it seemed probable
that he would go to the latter field, for Dartmouth not
only restored him to his majority, upon half-pay, but
recommended an application which he made to the
directors of the East India Company; Parliament re
solved during the spring, however, to send no addi
tional officers there, and his reviving hopes fell short
of their mark. He at once turned to the other al
ternative, and, representing to Harrington that he was
seized with a burning desire to visit his family in the
New World, and that business affairs required his im
mediate presence there, sailed on June 4, 1775, from
Gravesend."

Before leaving England he was advised by his politi
cal friends that if he wished to obtain service in America
he would do well to attempt a repair of his breach with
Gage, widened so far by his loud speeches in London
in 1769 — 70, and by his more recent steps in law.3
Immediately upon arriving in September at Baltimore,
therefore, he wrote the commander-in-chief expressing
" equal hope and firm desire that every past unhappy
circumstance should be buried in oblivion." It was
clear that as soon as he had completed matters of bus
iness in the rebellious provinces, he hoped again to
receive a command under the British flag. Meanwhile,
as he halted a few days in Baltimore to acquaint him-

1 American Ar (hives t Series 4, Volume 3, 265.

* Idem, Volume 4, 158.

3 Dartmouth Mss.t Rogen to Powna.ll, October 3, 1775.

.56

ROGERS' RETURN TO AMERICA

self with the revolutionized posture of affairs in British
America, he assumed a wisely conciliatory and cordial
attitude toward his revolted countrymen.

Lexington and Bunker Hill were now months-old
stories; Boston was invested, and Washington had just
assumed command of the besiegers; Rogers' old com
rade, Israel Putnam, had been chosen one of the four
major-generals of the colonial army ; and the Continen
tal Congress was sitting at Philadelphia, where a few
days since it had simultaneously set forth the necessity
of taking up arms and owned the continuing sovereign
ty of the king. Rogers was rilled with shocked amaze
ment at the new spirit of resistance abroad among the
colonists, writing to the home government that "since
my arrival here I have done all I can to undeceive
these people, now laboring under an unhappy delu
sion."1 However, he found it necessary to wait on the
Continental Congress at Philadelphia, on September 22,
to obtain a permit to close his debts in lower NewYork,
and to arrange his affairs with his brother, resident above
Albany. He was duly given this passport, over Frank
lin's signature, upon a promise neither to bear arms
against the colonies, nor to supply information concern
ing their defenses to Gage or to the ministry.8 While
in Philadelphia, nevertheless, he did not conceal the
fact that he was on half pay, and considered himself
yet a loyal officer in the king's army, and his attitude
here toward the American radicals seems to have been
one of rather unfriendly neutrality. Nor did he hesi
tate, upon reaching New York, to open negotiations
with both Gage and Dartmouth for a command, com
plaining of the impossibility of maintaining himself and
his family upon half-pay. In the city he lodged at

1 Rogers to Pownall, October 3, 1775.

a American Archives, Scries 4, Volume 3, 865-8.

157

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

" Dr. Harrison's on Broadway," and was under the sur
veillance of the local Committee of Safety during every
moment of his stay. In fact, he seems never to have
entertained, nor to have given others the impression of
entertaining, any disposition to adhere to the cause of
his fellow provincials.1

While his military future was still unsettled, he de
voted himself to business. From Governor Tryon he
secured a reissue of several old grants of land along the
New Hampshire boundary line, with which to satisfy
his creditors;3 and early in October he set out north
through Albany, to join his family, and to visit his
various friends and relatives. He was halted on the
road by what he called "a severe attack of fever and
ague," but finally pushed on to his brother James in
Kent, near the Connecticut. He then proceeded to
Portsmouth, where he stayed a few days with his wife
and young son, at the home of his aged and very in
firm father-in-law, — evidently no very welcome guest.3
He was never to see Elizabeth Rogers again. Proceed
ing toward his farm at Rumford, he passed by way of
Hanover, where he stopped for dinner at the cultured
home of the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, head of the strug
gling young college there, — one of the most interest
ing interviews of his whole career. He did not impress
the venerable minister and educator favorably. In faded
undress uniform, he was uncouth and ill-restrained in
manner, while his splendid physique already showed
evidence of wreck and dissipation. He talked boast
fully of his services in Africa, of his large grants of

1 American Archives, Series 4, Volume 3, 913.

8 Letter to Pownall, October 3, 1775.

3 Some doubt may be thrown upon his story of the fever and ague by his
wife's testimony that "he was in a situation which, as her peace and safety forced
her to shun and fly from him, so decency forbids her to say more upon so indeli
cate a subject." Petition, to the New Hampshire General Assembly, 1778.

158

PATRIOT OR LOYALIST?

land, and of flattering offers which he had rejected
from the provincial army, and officiously volunteered
to assist Dr. Wheelock in obtaining English aid for his
institution, — a proposal which was coldly declined. All
Rogers' movements were by this time regarded with
suspicion by colonial patriots, and next day the minister
addressed to Washington at Cambridge a full account
of their meeting.1

Meanwhile, having economically avoided payment
of his night's lodging at a neighboring inn, the shabby
major had fared on to his farm; and from thence he
set out again, in the course of a week, to return to the
British headquarters at New York. Two interesting
occurrences marked his homeward journey. On his
way to Medford he fell in with a tall, alert lad of
fifteen, and, struck by his appearance, engaged him in
conversation. Finding that the boy was the son of his
old fellow in the ranging service, Captain John Stark,
on his way to join his father in camp, he paid his
reckoning at the hostelry at which they stopped at
noon. That night at Medford he held a long conver
sation with the elder Stark, and drew from him a
declaration of his unfaltering allegiance to the Ameri
can cause.3 The second incident was concerned with a
more eminent Continental officer. The next day, De
cember 14, he sent a letter by Stark to Washington in
the latter's entrenchments before Boston, asking for a
continuance of his permit to pursue his private affairs,
as he believed it would require some months yet for
him to settle with his creditors. "I have leave to retire
on my half-pay, and never expect to be called in ser
vice again," he added. "I love North America; it is
my native country ; and I expect to spend the evening

1 American Archives, Series 4, Volume 4, 158.
3 Hurd, History of Merrimac County, p. 302.

'59

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

of my days in it." ' This at last was conscious duplicity,
for he was even then in hopes of a fresh commission.
Washington's single decisive answer was to order Gen
eral Schuyler to keep a close watch over the ranger,
and to make arrangements for a constant return of
information concerning his motions. On January 5,
1776, by the first of these reports, the commander-rin-
chief learned that the major had set out from Albany
to New York.3 On the very same day Lord Germain,
three thousand miles away, wrote to General George
Howe, cousin of the young subaltern who had known
Rogers in the Seven Years War, and now Gage's suc
cessor as head of the British army: "The king approves
of the arrangement you propose in respect to an adju
tant-general and a quartermaster-general, and your at
tention to Major Rogers, of whose firmness and fidelity
we have received further testimony from Governor
Tryon."3 As the one cause treated him with suspicion
and disdain, the other courted his assistance.

Rogers, however, was still to wait some trying
months for his appointment; for his business in the
middle colonies remained unfinished, and it was im
possible for him in any event to join Howe, closely
pent v/ith an unaggressive army within Boston. He
busied himself chiefly about New York, free to come
and go in its streets as he pleased, but under a super
vision that grew daily harsher and more minute. The
city was become so patriot that Governor Tryon and
his Council had been forced to flee aboard the British
ship Asia in the harbor, and the Tory elements in the
population concealed their sentiments and their hopes

1 American Archives, Scries 4, Volume 4, 265.

a Idem, p. 581.

3 Idem, p. 575. Gage had sailed for England October 10, 1775. It was
advised by the ministry that Howe continue the war from New York, but he
remained at Boston.

160

PATRIOT OR LOYALIST?

in meekness and fear.' The half-pay major, still lodg
ing on Broadway, felt with many others the severity
of the party feeling manifested by the Whigs, and of
the radical restriction imposed by the great numbers
who were now beginning openly to express their hopes
of an immediate declaration of independence. In the
preceding August, the Provincial Congress of New York
had resolved to punish by imprisonment and forfeiture
of property those who gave information or supplies to
the enemy; in September it had authorized the seizure
of the arms of all those who had not sworn allegiance
to the American cause; and throughout the winter it
saw that the local committees of safety kept a minute
watch over such suspects as Rogers. In his business
operations, the major felt especially hampered. During
February, 1776, while he was still soliciting grants of
several tracts of land within the province, he was forced
to petition the Provincial Congress for permission to
attend "his excellency the governor" on board the
Duchess of Gordon, then lying with four other warships
between Nutter's and Bedloe's Islands, and not until he
had carefully specified that it was "business of a private
nature, and such only as respects myself and creditors,"
that rendered his attendance aboard ship necessary, was
he given the requested permit. "

With the coming of the colonial army a few weeks
later his situation grew doubly irksome and dangerous.
On March 4, 1776, the American commander-in-chief
had fortified Dorchester Heights, with the result that
within ten days Howe evacuated Boston, and, abandon
ing all his stores, set sail with his troops and more than
a thousand Massachusetts loyalists for Nova Scotia. The

1 For this and other general matter see C. H. Van Tyne, The American Revo
lution (Volume 9 of The American Nation: A History}, New York, 1905.
8 American Archives, Series 4, Volume 4, izoi.

161

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

continental headquarters were at once removed south
ward. On April 1 3, Washington arrived at New York,
and for many days thereafter his ragged, ill-fed, but
faithful troops came straggling in over the rough,
muddy spring roads to the port. Neither he nor his
men had any sympathy for American-born citizens who
still adhered to the British cause, and living as they
were in daily fear of an English naval attack, they took
prompt measures to drive out or chain up intestine
enemies. "Why," asked Washington, "should persons
who are preying upon the vitals of the country be suf
fered to stalk at large, whilst we know that they will
do every mischief in their power?"1 The next few
weeks were weeks of terror to all loyalists, for they
were harried by the militia, seized and imprisoned
without mercy, or sent in exile to neighboring colo
nies upon parole.* None of them was an object of
greater suspicion than Rogers, and none was made more
clearly to feel the uneasy sufferance with which his
presence was regarded. Immediately before leaving
Cambridge, Washington wrote Schuyler at Albany that,
" Rogers being much suspected of unfriendly views to
ward this country, his conduct should be attended to
with some degree of vigilance and circumspection;"3
and at his arrival he detailed Captain Peters of the
New York colonials to preserve a close watch over all
his goings and comings, and saw to it that sources
of information concerning his actions in New Hamp
shire and New York were probed.

His vigilance was not without fruit, for Rogers was
utterly unable to maintain a plausible and innocent ap
pearance. He went north on business again in the late

1 Washington's Writings, Sparks' Edition, III, 357.
3 Calendar of New York Historical Mss.t I, 338.
3 American Archives, Scries 4, Volume 4, 696.

162

PATRIOT OR LOYALIST?

spring; and in returning in June from the oversight
of his property at Rumford, he followed so vagrant a
course that he was taken up at South Amboy, New Jer
sey, and examined in council by Washington, Greene,
Stirling, Mifflin, and other colonial generals. He was
strongly suspected of activity as a spy, and unplaus-
ibly pleaded to the commanders that he had gone out
of his way only to make a secret offer of his services to
Continental Congress, showing as proof various com
mendatory letters which he had secured from American
friends. The council, however, resolved that he was
too dangerous a character to be permitted to enter the
revolutionary ranks, and Washington sent him on to his
destination with a letter recommending that a deaf ear
be turned to his proffer. The step was a wise one, for
at the same moment (June 25) the New Hampshire
House of Representatives was appointing a committee
to "consider the expediency of securing Major Rogers
in consequence of sundry informations against him."
Under conduct of a guard detailed from Washington's
camp, the major was transmitted to Philadelphia in the
closing days of June; and thus he was present a pris
oner, lying in the very shadow of Independence Hall,
at the birth of the United States.1

When he arrived on July i, Philadelphia already felt
a premonition of the great event. Hancock announced
the inception of the measure and Rogers' coming in
the same letter to Washington. "Major Rogers is under
guard at the barracks," he wrote, "Congress having,
by a particular appointment, had under consideration a
momentous matter this day, which prevented their at
tention to him. My next will inform you, I hope, of
some very decisive measures."3 The momentous matter

1 American Archives, Scries 4, Volume 6, 1 108, 1 109.
a Idem, Volume 6, 1108. Idem, Scries 5, Volume i, 33.

163

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

of which he spoke was Richard Henry Lee's motion
that " These united colonies arc, and of right ought to
be, free and independent states." Discussion upon it and
upon Jefferson's draft of the Declaration wholly en
grossed the next three days. It was not until July 5,
when the important step had been debated and deter
mined upon, adopted by twelve colonies, and signed by
the president and secretary, that the major, waiting to
know his fate, was given a moment's consideration. It
was summarily ordered by Congress that he be sent to
the New Hampshire Assembly for final disposal. This
reference of the case was notified to the provincial body
in the same letter of Hancock's, dated July 6, which,
after prefacing that "altho1 it is not possible to foresee
the consequences of human actions, yet it is neverthe
less a duty which we owe to ourselves and posterity, in
all our public councils, to decide the best we are able,
and trust the event of God," heralded the dissolution
of the connection between the colonies and Great Brit
ain.1 But Rogers had no intention of answering for his
alleged informations and treacheries, and in the early
morning of July 8, while still held under a loose guard
at Philadelphia, found means to make his escape. The
Pennsylvania Committee of Safety offered a reward of
^50 for his head, but he safely made his way across
country to Staten Island, where Howe, with thirty
thousand men, had just landed."

Here Rogers was received with open arms. Not
merely had Howe been assured of his ability and held
previous communication with him, but to an army
composed largely of men untrained in New World
methods of fighting, unfamiliar with the enemy, and
entirely uncertain of i:he ground over which it must

1 American Archives, Series 5, Volume I, 33.
* Idem, p . 136.

.64

SERVICE WITH GENERAL HOWE

pass, he seemed a valuable accession. He knew in
timately the whole central region along the Hudson
and toward Philadelphia in which Howe was to oper
ate, and the temper and immediate resources of the
Americans; and he had many Tory friends in the
neighboring boroughs whom he could induce to enter
the British army. In the first days of August, he was
given the title of Lieutenant-Colonel, and empowered
to muster a battalion of loyalists, to be called the
"Queen's American Rangers."

It was only in the first campaign after he joined the
British army, however, — the campaign of the autumn
and winter of 1776-7, along the lower course of the
Hudson, and through New Jersey, — that Rogers' con
nection with the American Revolution was one of any
importance. The earliest movements about New York
demonstrated that, however successful he had been in
partisan fighting, he had little place in an army which
marched, deployed, and fought in European style, over
ground for the most part well-cleared and cultivated,
and under generals who realized all the advantages of a
complicated system of military tactics. During Howe's
preliminary manoeuvres to drive Washington out of
the city, he was fortunately occupied in collecting his
men, whom he drew from all the towns in lower
Connecticut, Long Island, and along the New York
shore of the Sound. His method of enlistment was
that time-honored and serviceable one by which he
offered a commission to a chosen few who engaged
to bring ' in a certain quota of soldiers; a method
which, while it rapidly filled his ranks, at the same
time gave him a corps of officers notable chiefly for
their inefficiency. His allotment of four hundred men
made up, he was sent to occupy that position along the
front where it was expected his force of pickets and

,65

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

scouts would prove of especial service. While he was
enlisting his troops, Howe had won the battle of Long
Island, and forced Washington successively from Brook
lyn Heights to New York, and from New York to
White Plains, half-way to the Connecticut line. It was
in the attempt to defeat him here during October that
the commander of the Queen's Rangers saw his first
active fighting of the war.

On the twelfth of October, Howe landed a large
force of men ten miles up the East River, and urged
them forward as rapidly as possible past Forts Lee and
Washington, while he simultaneously disembarked
Rogers and others on the shore of the Soand, hoping
to cut off the communication of the Continental army
with Connecticut. Rogers, stationed with his battalion
during the past fortnight at Huntington on Long
Island, had for some time been meditating a descent '
upon the colonial stores collected at Greenwich, Stam
ford, and Norwalk, with the inlets and avenues to which
his men were perfectly familiar. Now, shielding his
eastern wing with the Queen's Rangers, the comman-
der-in-chief at once began to explore along the whole
front the possibility for a general advance. As Rogers'
outpost party was moved forward toward White Plains,
the force which he commanded finally took a bold sta
tion at Mamaroneck, only ten miles distant from the
American lines. Here, on the night of October 21,
he was attacked by a regiment of nearly double his
own numbers, under Colonel Haslett, who inflicted
upon his men a defeat so crushing that only the dark
ness, and the defection of some of the American guards,
prevented their annihilation. As it was, they took
thirty-six prisoners, a pair of colors, and many arms
and provisions, and drove back the boasted new corps

1 American Archives, Series 5, Volume 2, 1208.

1 66

SERVICE WITH GENERAL HOWE

in humiliating disorder.1 Stirling was so pleased with
Haslett's success that he thanked him and his men
publicly on parade. The new hatred and contempt of
the patriots for Rogers is felt in every letter reporting
the affair. "The late worthless major skulked off in
the dark," says one; another speaks of him as charac
teristically "very careful to get himself off, though he
often leaves his men in the lurch."9 The whole action
was but a skirmish, however, and with Washington's
defeat at White Plains a week later, the war was car
ried southwest toward Philadelphia.

Thus briefly and ingloriously was Rogers' revolution
ary career, to all practical purposes, ended. A few
weeks later the leadership of his corps was given to
Colonel French, and then to Major Wemyss; until
finally, on October 15, 1777, it passed to Major J. G.
Simcoe, who dismissed the more incompetent officers,
substituted southerners for them, and brought the com
mand to a high state of efficiency.3 Henceforth the
now more and more discredited major, apparently kept
in service chiefly by the memory of his past achieve
ments, was employed only as a recruiting officer. In
October, 1778, he still preserved some connection with
his corps, for at Quebec he petitioned Haldirnand,
Governor of Canada, to be permitted to rejoin it 3t
New York by way of England, the only route then
open, and actually signed himself as its ranking officer.
At the same time he was seeking employment at the
north, for Haldirnand refused as impracticable his peti
tion to be allowed to raise two battalions from the
neighboring colonies. He was permitted, however, to
return for a brief space to the mother country, where
he still had matters of business.

1 American Archives, Series 5, Volume 2, 1270.

2 Idem, pp. 1 187 and 1270. 3 See the introduction to Simcoe's Journals.

167

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

His stay in England was brief, although we learn
from a letter he later sent to the governor, thanking
him for his leave of absence, that through it he "found
means to get provided for.*' On May i, 1779, he was
back to New York. Here he secured authority from
Clinton to attempt the recruiting for which Haldimand
had withheld permission, men being sadly needed by
the British army, and immediately sent out officers to
begin enlistments in the northern communities contigu
ous with the Canadian border.1 Each battalion was to
be commanded by a major, who would issue his orders,
when the ranks were full, through nine captains to six
hundred men. One of the recruiting agents for whom
the major happily secured employment was his brother,
Major James Rogers, who had been totally ruined by
the confiscation of his wealthy estate in Vermont, and
driven by the rapacious and vindictive Whigs from his
wife and six children into Canada.3 Rogers appointed
him major of one of the two battalions, and in May,
1780, petitioned Haldimand to create him also Lieu
tenant-Colonel. He, and one or two of Rogers' other
subordinates, proved effective servants, and the corps
was shortly put upon a foundation which augured a
speedy organization. By this period of the war, indeed,
the ranger had become known as one of the most
prominent and active of the various leaders who drew
loyalist volunteers into George Ill's army, and for his
pertinacity in northern New Hampshire had been pro
scribed in November, 1778, by the Representatives of

1 For the remainder of the references to Rogers' services as a recruiting offi-
ccr see the Canadian Archives, 1888, Haldirmmd-Collection, pp. 673-6837

2 In the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Canada, Series II, Volume 6, is
an account of James Rogers by one of his descendants. His estate in what is
now Windham County, Vermont, was valued at ^£3 0,000, and compris:d
22,000 acres. After the war he received a township in the Frontenac district of
Ontario. There is no doubt that he was a man of both integrity and ability. He
died in 1792.

1 68

FINAL RECRUITING ACTIVITIES

his old colony.1 His headquarters he established first
at St. John's, New Brunswick, and later at Kamouraska,
Quebec, and successfully began to prosecute his enlist
ments for the King's Rangers, as the new troop was to
be called, along the "eastern frontiers of New England
and Penobscot." In the autumn of 1779, having halted
for a few days at Penobscot Harbor, he witnessed there
a small naval battle."

Had he held to his new task with the energy with
which he entered upon it,— had he even permitted his
brother James to prosecute it without hindrance or
help from himself, — Rogers might successfully have
weathered the few remaining storms that could have
lowered about him before the conclusion of the war,
and retired from it with scarcely less honor than the
generality of English officers. He was now fifty years
old, a veteran in the service. The two enemies that
were to interpose themselves, however, were those which
he had no genius to conquer, — dishonesty, and his old,
drunken, threadbare vices of everyday life. His semi-
authoritative and detached position, allowing him to
spend much time in Quebec, Montreal, and New York;
his want of direct responsibility to any superior officer ;
his cutting-ofF from the vigorously hurried life of the
army in the field, which alone was sufficient to keep

1 New Hampshire State Papers, VIII, 810.

3 One battalion of the King's Rangeri was destined for service in Quebec
Province, the other at Halifax. Rogers' commission to the command of the corps
was dated May I, 1779, his brother James was gazetted Major June z, 1779.
Eleven other newly-appointed officers were sent northward on the brigantine
Hawk* arriving at Montreal in September, 1779 ; Rogers, following with his own
staff on the sloop Bloud, happened tol>e~at Penobscot on Aug«*t 13, the day the -
British won a small naval victory there. The total strength of the Canadian army
was then six thousand men. For a time much confusion was caused by the fact
that Haldimand was given no definite instructions as to the embodiment of the
new corps. Finally, on his own authority, he placed it upon a half-pay establish
ment of his own. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Canada, Series II, Volume
6, Section 2, p. 49.

169

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

him from liquor and gambling, all conspired to one
end. His time was wasted, his duties neglected, his
ready money laid waste and that of his brother and his
department peculated, even while the dragging war
revealed new resources and determination on the part
of the Americans, and called with more urgency for
the men he might have sent.

In September, 1779, Rogers reported to Haldimand
at Quebec that he had raised seven hundred men, for
whose expenses, with his own, he sent in a requisition
for ^£500. His success elicited general congratulation;
which abruptly ceased when in the early spring, it hav
ing become necessary to move these troops forward, it
appeared that their number had unaccountably dropped
to forty. Meanwhile, the major had spent the winter
months in Quebec, where he drew money on the
accounts of his subordinate officers, and spent it in
drunken and riotous revellings. One lieutenant, named
Longstreet, whom he thus cheated of ^£25, was espe
cially bitter against him, and complained loudly to
Haldimand. In March he was deeper than ever in his
evil courses, and the governor found difficulty in getting
him to return to the front; he reprimanded Rogers
severely when, ten days after the major had announced
his departure, and drawn money and other necessities
for his journey, an aide found him still skulking about
the streets of the town. When iinally he set out for
Kamouraska, he "contracted debts and drew bills the
whole way," as Haldimand's secretary tells us, and
"thoroughly disgraced and injured the whole cause."
It had become evident by this time that it would be
suicidal to the British hopes of drawing many volun
teers from the loyalists along the northern frontier to
permit so disreputable an officer to remain in charge
of the enlistment. On March 20, Rogers wrote from

170

FINAL RECRUITING ACTIVITIES

the Lac du Grand-Portage, on his way south, that he
hoped "his excellency will overlook anything wherein
I have given offense, as I have nothing more at heart
than his majesty's service." He was immediately made
to realize, however, that his best safety lay in a com
plete evasion of Haldimand's condemnation. On April
26, 1780, he fled to Halifax to board a ship, on which
he sailed for England a few days later; writing his
brother James on the eve of his departure that he was
sorry his affairs were in such confusion, and that he
would send an agent back to America to arrange for
meeting his financial obligations.

In July, there came as a last echo of his service a
number of bills which he had contracted at Kamour-
aska; they were drawn on his brother James, whom
they left financially prostrate, while as a humiliation of
the Canadian organization for recruiting they thorough
ly angered Haldimand. Rogers, however, still retained
his command, for his commission had been issued by
Clinton, and it was not in Haldimand's power to re
voke it; and even James, sensitive under the stigma of
his brother's disgrace, unable to meet any fresh debts
drawn upon the "King's Rangers," and moreover em
broiled in disagreeable quarrels with officers enlisting
for rival branches, was unable to resign his post and
take a fresh commission under Haldimand himself.
After several futile attempts at escape, he devoted him
self manfully to his task of completing the Rangers,
beset by manifold jealousies and difficulties, and when
the war was over had rostered and equipped four com
panies. The promised agent from his brother never
came to assist him, and of course Robert Rogers him
self never touched American soil again. The last full
reference to him written on this continent is in a letter
of his brother's, bearing a date virtually coincident with

171

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

his departure: "The conduct of my brother of late had
almost unmanned me. When I was last in Quebec I
often wrote to and told him my mind in regard to it,
and as often he promised to reform. I am sorry his
good talents should so unguarded fall a prey to intem
perance."

On May 18, 1795, Rogers died in poor lodgings in
a populous and busy part of south London.1 Of the
conduct of his life after leaving Halifax fifteen years
before we know nothing. There is a tradition in his
family, recorded in every account of the ranger's career,
but unsupported by any contemporary evidence, that his
last years were improvident and vicious, — a tradition in
full harmony with our knowledge of his character and
tendencies at the time of his return to England. That
they were also accompanied by the disease and infirmity
that his evil habits and once great hardships had ensured
there can be little doubt. Our only means of tracing
his continued existence, however, lies in the fact that
after the conclusion of peace with the United States in
1783 his name occurs regularly on the Half- Pay Reg
isters, where he is credited with a daily stipend of eight
shillings five pence, a sum ample for the maintenance
of life in comfort. He never left the city, and, dying
where he had lived, in the parish of Newington Butts,
was buried five days later in the grounds of the old
church of St. Mary Newington. His grave is now un
known; for the church has been torn down and the
churchyard paved over. He left no will, and his estate,
valued at but ^100, was assigned to John Walker, a
crecitor.3 No one, so far as we know, mourned his
going. His wife had been divorced from him by a
decree of the New Hampshire legislature, seventeen

1 Paymaster-General's Books, 1795.
* Administration Act Book, 1796.

172

DEATH IN LONDON

years before, and — she having remarried — his only
son had grown up under an alien roof, among patriot
Americans who regarded all loyalists with opprobrium.'
He died in total obscurity, and no newspaper or news
letter, in either America or England, chronicled his
going in its curtest list of obituaries.

1 This divorce was granted by legislative action on March 4, 1778. New
Hampshire State Papers, VIII, 776. After her divorce Elizabeth Rogers married
Captain John Roach, a retired British sea-captain, living with him upon the Rogers
estate just outside Concord until her death in 1812. The land and the old house
descended to her son Arthur Rogers, who after living many years in Portsmouth,
and practising law there, 1793-4, died there in 1841, leaving three children in
respectable standing in San Domingo.

173

LITERARY BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Works of Robert Rogers.

A Concise Account of North America. London, John Millan.
1765.

The Journals of Major Robert Rogers. London, John Millan.
1765.

The Same. Dublin, J. Potts. . 1770.

The Same. Edited with an Introduction, Notes, and an Ap
pendix, by Dr. F. B. Hough. Albany, J. Munsell's Sons.
1883.

A Journal of the Siege of Detroit. Edited with Notes by
Franklin B. Hough. Albany, J. Munsell. 1860.

Ponteach; or the Savages of North America. A Tragedy.
London, John Millan. 1766.

Reminiscences of the French War (Rogers' Journals). Con
cord, New Hampshire, L. Roby. 1831.

Criticism.
The Literary History of Philadelphia. By Ellis P. Ober-

holtzer. Philadelphia, 1906.
History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac. By Francis Parkman.

Boston, 1851.
American Literature in the Colonial and National Periods. By

Lorenzo Sears. Boston, 1902.
The Literary History of the American Revolution, 1763-1783.

By Moses Coit Tyler. New York, 1897.
A History of American Literature. By Moses Coit Tyler.

New York, 1879.

PONTEACH:
OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA.

PONTEACH:

o R T H E

Savages of America.

TRAGEDY.

LONDON:

Printed for the Author ; and Sold by J. MILL AN,
oppofite the Admiralty , Whitehall.

M.DCCLXVI.
[ Price as. 6d. J

DRAMATIS PERSONS.

PONTEACH,

PHILIP an.1 CHE-
KITAN.

Indian En^ertr ta tbt treat Lakes. —

Sons of Pont each.

TENESCO,

His cbief Counsellor and Generalissimo.

AST IX AGO, -
The BEAR,
The WOLF.

Indian Kings wbo join with Ponteatb.

TORAX and MO-
NELIA

}

Son and Daughter to Hendrick,
Emperor of the Mohawks.

Indian ...

Conjurer.

French -

Priest.

SHARP, - -
GRIPE, - -
CATCHUM, -

Three English Governors.

Colonel COCKUM
Captain FRISK

}

Commanders at a Garrison in Pon-
teach's Country.

M'DOLE and
MURPHEY

Two Indian Traders.

HONNYMAN and
ORSBOURN

Two English Hunters.

MRS. HONNYMAN Wife to Honnyman the Hunttr.
Warriors, Messengers, Sec.

PONTEACH:
OflrTHE SAVAGES OF AMERICA.

ACT I.

SCENE I. — An Indian Trading House,

Enter M'Dole and Murphey, Two Indian Traders,

and their Servants.

M'Dole.

So, Murpbey y you are come to try your Fortune
Among the Savages in this wild Desart?

Murpbey. Ay, any Thing to get an honest Living,
Which 'faith I find it hard enough to do ;
Times are so dull, and Traders are so plenty,1
That Gains are small, and Profits come but slow.

M'Dole. Are you experienc'd in this kind of Trade ?
Know you the Principles by which it1 prospers,
And how to make it lucrative and safe?
If not, you're like a Ship without a Rudder,
That drives at random, and must surely sink.

Murpbey. I'm unacquainted with your Indian Commerce.
And gladly would I learn the Arts from you
Who're old, and practis'd in them many Years.

M'Dole. That is the curst Misfortune of our Traders,
A thousand Fools attempt to live this Way,
Who might as well turn Ministers of State.
But, as you are a Friend, I will inform you
Of all the secret Arts by which we thrive,
Which if all practis'd, we might all grow rich,
Nor circumvent each other in our Gains.
What have you got to part with to the Indian* ?

1 Cf. Johnson Mss., 24, 6. Abercrombie condemns the vast extent of the
illicit fur-trade in Pennsylvania.

'79

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Murpbey. I've Rum and Blankets, Wampum, Powder, Bells,
And such-like Trifles as they're wont to prize.

M'Dole. 'Tis very well : your Articles are good :
But now the Thing's to make a Profit from them,
Worth all your Toil and Pains of coming hither.
Our fundamental Maxim then is this,
That it's no Crime to cheat and gull an Indian.'9

Murpbey. How ! Not a Sin to cheat an Indian, say you?
Are they not Men ? hav'nt they r* right to Justice
As well as we, though savage in their Manners ?

M'Dole. Ah ! If you boggle here, I say no more;
This is the very Quintessence of Trade,
And ev'ry Hope of Gain depends upon it;
None who neglect it ever did grow rich,
Or ever will, or can by Indian Commerce.
By this old Ogden built his stately House,
Purchas'd Estates, and grew a little King.
He, like an honest Man, bought all by Weight,
And made the ign'rant Savages believe
That his Right Foot exactly weigh'd a Pound:3
By this for many Years he bought their Furs,
And died in Quiet like an honest Dealer.

Murpbey. Well, I'll not stick at what is necessary;
But his Device is now grown old and stale,
Nor could I manage such a barefac'd Fraud.

M'Dole. A thousand Opportunities present
To take Advantage of their Ignorance ;

1 CT. Johnson Mss.t 5, 153. Egremont to Amherst ; pointing to the neces
sity of correcting the trickery of Indian traders in their dealings with the Indians
and compelling imitation of the more honorable French practice. Also Idem,
5, 108.

3 "The English fur-trade had never been well regulated, and it was now in
a worse condition than ever. Many of the traders, and those in their employ,
were ruffians of the coarsest stamp, who vied with each other in the worst rapa
city, violence, and profligacy. They cheated, cursed, and plundered the Indians,
and outraged their families ; offering, when compared with the French traders,
who were under better regulation, a most unfavorable example of the character
of their nation." Parkman, The Conspiracy of Pontiac, Chapter VII. See
Colonial History of New York, VII, 995.

3 This classic method of cheating the Indians is probably best known through
Washington Irving' s ludicrous description of its practice by the Dutch in his
Knickerbocker History of New York.

1 80

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

But the great Engine I employ is Rum,1

More pow'rful made by certain strength'ning Drugs,

This I distribute with a lib'ral Hand,

Urge them to drink till they grow mad and valiant;

Which makes them think me generous and just,

And gives full Scope to practise all my Art.

I then begin my Trade with water'd Rum,

The cooling Draught well suits their scorching Throats.

Their Fur and Peltry come in quick Return :

My Scales are honest, but so well contriv'd,

That one small Slip will turn Three Pounds to One ;

Which they, poor silly Souls ! ignorant of Weights

And Rules or Balancing, do not perceive.

But here they come ; you'll see how I proceed.

Jack, is the Rum prepar'd as I commanded P

Jack. Yes, Sir, all's ready when you please to call.

M'Do/e. Bring here the Scales and Weights immediately.
You see the Trick is easy and conceal'd.

(Skewing bow to slip the Scales.

Murpbey. By Jupiter , it's artfully contriv'd;
And was I King, I swear I'd knight th' Inventor.
— ST0;#, mind the Part that you will have to act.

Tom, Ah, never fear, I'll do as well as Jack.
But then, you know, an honest Servant's Pains
Deserves Reward.

Murpbey. O ! I'll take care of that.

Enter a Number of Indians with Packs of Fur.

ist Indian. So, what you trade with Indians here to-day?
M'Dole. Yes, if my Goods will suit, and we agree.
2nd Indian. 'Tis Rum we want, we're tired, hot, and thirsty.
jrd Indian. You, Mr. Englishman, have you got Rum?

1 "The Indians dwindle away . . . chiefly because when settled among the
English they have better opportunity of procuring spirituous liquors, of which
they are inordinately fond ; and very little care has ever been taken to prevent
those who are incl:ned to take advantage of them in trade from debauching them;
by which means, where there were considerable settlements of them a few yetr»
since, their name is now almost totally extinct." Rogers, A Concise Account of
North America, p. i 52. See also Johnson Mu.t 24 : 11,12; Johnson, engaged
(July, 1758,) in bringing an Indian party up to Fort Edward, disgustedly charge*
his delay to an illicit rum-trade, and aska power to quash it.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

M'Dole. Jack, bring a Bottle, pour them each a Gill.
You know which Cask contains the Rum. The Rum ?

/// Indian. It's good strong Rum, I feel it very soon.

AT Dole. Give me a Glass. Here's Honesty in Trade;
We English always drink before we deal.

2nd Indian. Good Way enough; it makes one sharp and
cunning.

M'Dole. Hand round another Gill. You're very welcome.

jrd Indian. Some say you Englishmen are sometimes Rogues ;
You make poor Indians drunk, and then you cheat.

/// Indian. No, English good. The Frenchmen give no Rum.

2nd Indian. I think it's best to trade with Englishmen.

M'Dole. What is your Price for Beaver Skins per Pound?1

2nd Indian. How much you ask per Quart for this strong
Rum?

M'Dole. Five Pounds of Beaver for One Quart of Rum.

1st Indian. Five Pounds? Too much. Which is't you call
Five Pound ?

M'Dole. This little Weight. I cannot give you more.

1st Indian. Well, take 'cm ; weigh 'em. Don't you cheat us now.

M'Dole. No: He that cheats an Indian should be hang'd.

(Weighing the Packs.

There's Thirty Pounds precisely of the Whole;
Five times six is Thirty. Six Quarts of Rum.
Jack, measure it to them ; you know the Cask.
This Rum is sold. You draw it off the best.

(Exeunt Indians to receive their Rum.

Murphey. By Jovf, you've gain'd more in a single Hour
Than ever I have done in Half a Year;
Curse on my Honesty ! I might have been
A little King, and liv'd without Concern,
Had I but known the proper Arts to thrive.

M'Dole. Ay, there's the Way, my honest Friend, to live.

(Clapping his Shoulder.

There's Ninety Weight of Sterling Beaver for you,
Worth all the Rum and Trinkets in my Store;
And, would my Conscience let me do the Thing,

1 In 1765, according to Alexander Henry, beaver was worth two shillings
sixpence per pound at Mackinac, or one-half pound of powder, or one pound of
shot, or one-tenth of a blanket. Travels and Adventures, Bain's Edition, Boston,
1901, p. 187.

182

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

I might enhance my Price, and lessen theirs,
And raise my Profits to an higher Pitch.

Murpbey. I can't but thank you for your kind Instructions,
As from them I expect to reap Advantage.
But should the Dogs detect me in the Fraud,
They are malicious, and would have Revenge.

M'Dole. Can't you avoid them? Let their Vengeance light
On others Heads, no matter whose, if you
Are but secure, and have the Gain in Hand:
For they're indiff'rent where they take Revenge,
Whether on him that cheated, or his Friend,
Or on a Stranger whom they never saw,
Perhaps an honest Peasant, who ne'er dreamt
Of Fraud or Villainy in all his life;
Such let them murder, if they will a Score,
The Guilt is theirs, while we secure the Gain,
Nor shall we feel the bleeding Victims Pain.

(Exeunt.

SCENE II. — A Desart.
Enter Orsbourn and Honnyman, Two English Hunters.

Orsbourn.

Long have we toil'd, and rang'd the Woods in vain,
No Game, nor Track, nor Sign of any Kind
Is to be seen; I swear I am discourag'd
And weary'd out with this long fruitless Hunt.
No Life on Earth besides is half so hard,
So full of Disappointments, as a Hunter's:
Each Morn he wakes he views the destin'd Prey,
And counts the Profits of th' ensuing Day;
Each Ev'ning at his curs'd ill Fortune pines,
And till next day his Hope of Gain resigns.
By Jove, I'll from these Desarts hasten home,
And swear that never more I'll touch a Gun.

Honnyman. These hateful Indians kidnap all the Game.
Curse their black Heads ! they fright the Deer and Bear,
And ev'ry Animal that haunts the Wood,
Or by their Witchcraft conjure them away.
No Englishman can get a single Shot,

183

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

While they go loaded home with Skins and Furs.
'Twere to be wish'd not one of them survived,
Thus to infest the World, and plague Mankind.
Curs'd Heathen Infidels ! mere savage Beasts !
They don't deserve to breathe in Christian Air,
And should be hunted down like other Brutes.

Orsbourn. I only wish the Laws permitted us
To hunt the savage Herd where-e'er they're found;
I'd never leave the Trade of Hunting then,
While one remain'd to tread and range the Wood.

Honnyman. Curse on the Law, I say, that makes it Death
To kill an Indian^ more than to kill a Snake.
What if 'tis Peace? these Dogs deserve no Mercy;
Cursed revengeful, cruel, faithless Devils !
They kill'd my Father and my eldest Brother.
Since which I hate their very Looks and Name.

Orsbourn. And I, since they betray'd and kill'd my Uncle;
Hell seize their cruel, unrelenting Souls!
Tho these are not the same, 'twould ease my Heart
To cleave their painted Heads, and spill their Blood.
I abhor, detes, *~d hate them all,
And now cou'd c-,. an Indian s Heart with Pleasure.

Honnyman. I'd join you, and soop his savage Brains for Sauce;
I lose all Patience when I think of them,
And, if you will, we'll quickly have Amends
For our long Travel and successless Hunt,
And the sweet Pleasure of Revenge to boot.

Orsbourn. What will you do? Present, and pop one down?

Honnyman. Yes, faith, the first we meet well fraught with Furs ;
Or if there's Two, and we can make sure Work,
By Jove, we'll ease the Rascals of their Packs,
And send them empty home to their own Country.
But then observe, that what we do is secret,
Or the Hangman will come in for Snacks.

Orsbourn. Trust me for that; I'll join with all my Heart;
Nor with a nicer Aim, or steadier Hand,
Would shoot a Tyger than 1 would an Indian.
There is a Couple stalking now this Way
With lusty Packs; Heav'n favour our Design.

Hon. Silence ; conceal yourself, and mind your Eye.

Orsbourn. Are you well charg'd?

.84

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Honnyman. I am. Take you the nearest,
And mind to fire exactly when I do.

Orsbourn. A charming Chance!

Honnyman. Hush, let them still come nearer.

(They shoot, and run to rifle tbt Indians.
They're down, old Boy, a Brace of noble Bucks!

Orsbourn. Well tallow'd, faith, and noble Hides upon 'em.

(Taking up a Pack.

We might have hunted all the Season thro'
For Half this Game, and thought ourselves well paid.

Honnyman. By Jove, we might, and been at great Expence
For Lead and Powder, here's a single Shot.

Orsbourn. I swear I've got as much as 1 can carry.

Honnyman. And faith I'm not behind; this Pack is heavy.
But stop ; we must conceal the tawny Dogs,
Or their blood-thirsty Countrymen will find them,
And then we're bit. There'll be the Devil to pay,
They'll murder us, and cheat the Hangman too.

Orsbourn. Right. We'll prevent all Mischief of this Kind.
Where shall we hide their savage Carcases?

Honnyman. There they will lie conceal'd and snug enough —

(They cover them.

But stay — perhaps ere long there'll be a War,
And then their Scalps will sell for ready Cash,
Two Hundred Crowns at least, and that's worth saving.

Orsbourn. Well ! that is true, no sooner said than done —

(Drawing bis Knife.
I'll strip this Fellow's painted greasy Skull. (Strips off the Scalp.

Honnyman. A damn'd tough Hide, or my Knife's devilish
dull — (Takes the other Scalp.

Now let them sleep to Night without their Caps,
And pleasant Dreams attend their long Repose.

Orsbourn. Their Guns and Hatchets now are lawful Prize,
For they'll not need them on their present Journey.

Honnyman. The Devil hates Arms, and dreads the smell of

Powder;

He'll not allow such Instruments about him,
They're free from training now, they're in his Clutches.

Orsbourn. But, Honnyman, d'ye think this is not Murder?
I vow I'm shock'd a little to see them scalp'd,
And fear their Ghosts will haunt us in the Dark.

.85

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Honnyman. It's no more Murder than to crack a Louse,1
That is, if you've the Wit to keep it private.
And as to Haunting, Indians have no Ghosts,
But as they live like Beasts, like Beasts they die.
I've killed a Dozen in this self-same Way,
And never yet was troubled with their Spirits.

Orsbourn. Then I'm content; my Scruples are remov'd.
And what I've done, my Conscience justifies.
But we must have these Guns and Hatchets alter'd,
Or they'll detect th' Affair, and hang us both.

Honnyman. That's quickly done — Let us with Speed return,
And think no more of being hang'd or haunted;
But turn our Fur to Gold, our Gold to Wine,
Thus gaily spend what we've so slily won,
And bless the first Inventor of a Gun. (Exeunt.

SCENE III. — An English Port. •
Enter Colonel Cockum and Captain Frisk.

Cockum.

What shall we do with these damn'd bawling Indians?*
They're swarming every Day wirh their Complaints
Of Wrongs and Injuries, and God knows what —
I wish the Devil would take them to himself.

Frisk. Your Honour's right to wish the Devil his Due.
I'd send the noisy Helhounds packing hence,
Nor spend a Moment in debating with them.

1 "Twenty Indians have been murdered near here in a treacherous manner
within the last six months. A young fellow executed lately for two unparalleled
murders declared on the gallows that he thought it a meritorious act to kill heathen
wherever they were found ; and this seems to be the opinion of all the common
people." Johnson in Documentary History of New Tork, VII, 852.

2 "The officers and soldiers of the garrisons did their full part in exciting the
resentment of the Indians. Formerly when the warriors came to the forts, they
had been welcomed by the French with attention and respect. The inconven
ience which their presence occasioned had been disregarded, and their peculiarities
overlooked. But now they were received with cold looks and harsh words from
the officers, and with oaths, menaces, and sometimes blows from the reckless and
brutal soldiers. These marks of contempt were unspeakably galling to their
haughty spirit." Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, Chapter VII. See Johnson
Mss.t 5, 188.

1 86

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

The more you give Attention to their Murmurs,
The more they'll plague and haunt you every Day,
Besides, their old King Ponteach grows damn'd saucy,
Talks of his Power, and threatens what he'll do.
Perdition to their faithless sooty Souls,
I'd let 'em know at once to keep their Distance.

Cockum. Captain, You're right; their Insolence is such
As beats my Patience; cursed Miscreants!
They are encroaching; fain would be familiar:
I'll send their painted Heads to Hell with Thunder!
I swear I'll blow 'em hence with Cannon Ball,
And 'give the Devil an Hundred for his supper.

Frisk. They're coming here ; You see they scent your Track,
And while you'll listen, they will ne'er be silent,
But every Day improve in Insolence.

Cockum. I'll soon dispatch and storm them from my Presence.

Enter Ponteach,1 and other Indian Chiefs.

Ponteach. Well, Mr. Colonel Cockum, what d' they call you ?
You give no Answer yet to my Complaint;
Your Men give my Men always too much Rum,
Then trade and cheat 'em. What! d'ye think this right?

Cockum. Tush ! Silence ! hold your noisy cursed Nonsense ;
I've heard enough of it; what is it to me?

1 Pontiac was born about 1720, probably on the Maumee River. Though
his paternity is not positively established, it is most likely that his father wai an
Ottawa chief and his mother a Chippewa. As early as 1746 he commanded the
Indians — mostly Ottawa — who defended Detroit against the attack of the north
ern tribes. It is supposed he led the Ottawa and Chippewa warriors at Brad-
dock's defeat. He first appeared prominently in history at his meeting with
Major Rogers in 1760 (see p. 84), less than three years before the formation of
his famous conspiracy. His achievements and talents had gained him by thia time
an influence over the Chippewa, Potowatomi, Huron, Shawnee, Miami, and
other Algonquin people, with the Seneca of the Six Nations, scarcely less power
ful than over the Ottawa ; and to the limits of the Illinois country, and through
the domain of the Creek and the Cherokee, his name was known and feared.
Physically, he was not above middle height, but his figure was remarkably sym
metrical, well-knit, and muscular ; his complexion was swarthy, his features bold
and stern, and his bearing imperious and peremptory. He was eloquent, shrewd,
energetic, and had a strong and capacious intellect, partially, but not wholly, free
from the passions, prejudices, and limitations of his race. Ponttac Mss. Rogers,
A Concise Account of North America. Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac. (Edition
of C. M. Burton, Detroit, 1912.)

.87

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Ponteach. What ! you a Colonel, and not command your Men ?
Let ev'ry one be a Rogue that has a Mind to't.

Cockum. Why, curse your Men, I suppose they wanted Rum ;
They'll rarely be content, I know, without it.

Pont each. What then? If Indians are such Fools, I think
White Men like you should stop and teach them better.

Cockum. I'm not a Pedagogue to your curs'd Indians, (aside.

Ponteach. Colonel, I hope that you'll consider this.

Frisk. Why don't you see the Colonel will not hear you?
You'd better go and watch your Men yourself,
Nor plague us with your cursed endless Noise;
We've something else to do of more Importance.

Ponteacb. Hah ! Captain Frisky what! you a great Man too?
My Bus'ness here is only with your Colonel;
And I'll be heard, or know the Reason why.

1st Chief. I thought the English had been better Men.

2nd Chief. Frenchmen would always hear an Indian speak,
And answer fair, and make good Promises.

Cockum. You may be d — d, and all your Frenchmen too.

Ponteach. Be d — d! what's that? I do not understand.

Cockum. The Devil teach you ; he'll do it without a Fee.

Ponteach. The Devil teach ! I Think you one great Fool.
Did your King tell you thus to treat the Indians?
Had he been such a Dunce he ne'er had conquer'd,
And made the running French for Quarter cry.
I always mind that such proud Fools are Cowards,
And never do aught that is great or good.

Cockum. Forbear your Impudence, you curs'd old Thief;
This Moment leave my Fort, and to your Country.
Let me hear no more of your hellish Clamour,

Or to D n I will blow you all,

And feast the Devil with one hearty Meal.

Ponteach. So ho! Know you whose Country you are in?1
Think you, because you have subdu'd the French^

1 " Pontiac assured me that he was inclined to live peacably with the English
while they used him as he deserved but intimated that if they treated him with
neglect he would shut up the way and exclude them from his country j in short,
his whole conversation indicated that he was far from considering himself a con
quered Prince, and he expected to be treated with the respect and honor due a
King by all who came into his country." Rogers, A Conche Account of North
America, p. 243.

188

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

That Indians too are now become your Slaves?

This Country's mine, and here I reign as King;

I value not your Threats, nor Forts, nor Guns;

I have got Warriors, Courage, Strength, and Skill.

Colonel, take care; the Wound is very deep,

Consider well, for it is hard to cure. (Exeunt Indians.

Frisk. Vile Infidels! observe their Insolence;
Old Ponteach puts on a mighty Air.

Cockum. They'll always be a Torment till destroy 'd,
And sent all headlong to the Devil's Kitchen.
This curs'd old Thief, no doubt, will give us Trouble,
Provok'd and madded at his cool Reception.

Frisk. Oh ! Colonel, they are never worth our minding,
What can they do against our Bombs and Cannon?
True, they may skulk, and kill and scalp a few,
But, Heav'n be thank'd, we're safe within these Walls:
Besides, I think the Governors are coming,
To make them Presents, and stablish Peace.

Cockum. That may perhaps appease their bloody Minds,
And keep them quiet for some little Term.
God send the Day that puts them all to sleep,
Come, will you crack a Bottle at my Tent?

Frisk. With all my Heart, and drink D n to them.

Cockum. I can in nothing more sincerely join.

(Exeunt.

SCENE IV. — An Apartment in the Port.
Enter Governors Sharp, Gripe, and Catchum.

Sharp.

Here are we met to represent our King,
And by his royal Bounties to conciliate
These Indians minds to Friendship, Peace and Love,
But he that would an honest Living get
In Times so hard and difficult as these,
Must mind that good old Rule, Take care of One.

Gripe. Ay, Christian Charity begins at home;
I think it's in the Bible, I know I've read it.

Catchum. I join with Paul, that he's an Infidel
Who does not for himself and Friends provide.

189

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Sharp. Yes, Paul in fact was no bad Politician,
And understood himself as well as most.
All good and wise Men certainly take care
To Kelp themselves and Families the first;
Thus dictates Nature, Instinct, and Religion,
Whose easy Precepts ought to be bbey'd.

Gripe. But how does this affect our present Purpose?
We've heard the Doctrine; what's the Application?

Sharp. We are intrusted with these Indian presents.
A Thousand Pound was granted by the King,
To satisfy them of his Royal Goodness,
His constant Disposition to their Welfare,
And reconcile their savage Minds to Peace.
Five hundred's gone; you know our late Division,
Our great Kxpence, Et cetera, no Matter:
The other Half was laid out for these Goods,
To be distributed as we think proper;
And whether Half (I only put the Question)
Of these said Goods, won't answer every End,
And bring about as long a lasting Peace
As tho the Whole were lavishly bestow'd?1

Catchum. I'm clear upon 't they will, if we affirm
That Half's the Whole was sent them by the King.

Gripe. There is no doubt but that One Third wou'd answer,
For they, poor Souls ! are ignorant of the Worth
Of single things, nor know they how to add
Or calculate, and cast the whole Amount.

Sharp. Ay, Want of Learning is a great Misfortune.
How thankful should we be that we have Schools,
And better taught and bred than these poor Heathen.

Catchum. Yes, only these Two simple easy Rules,
Addition and Subtraction, are great Helps,
And much contribute to our Happiness.

Sharp. 'Tis these I mean to put in Practice now;
Subtraction from these Royal Presents makes
Addition to our Gains without a Fraction.

1 " In the zeal for retrenchment which prevailed soon after the clow of hos
tilities, the presents which it had always been customary to give the Indiana, at
stated intervals, were either withheld altogether or doled out with a niggardly and
reluctant hand ; while, to make matters worse, the agents and officers of govern
ment often appropriated the presents to themselves, and afterwards sold them at an
exorbitant price to the Indians." Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, Chapter VII.

190

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

But let us overhawl and take the best,
Things may be given that won't do to sell.

(They over bawl the Goods , &V.

Catcbum. Lay these aside ; They'll fetch a noble Price.
' Gripe. And these are very saleable, I think.

Sharp. The Indians will be very fond of these.
Is there the Half, think you?

Gripe. It's thereabouts.

Catcbum. This bag of Wampum may be added yet.

Sharp. Here, Lads, convey these goods to our Apartment.

Servant. The Indians^ Sir, are waiting at the Gate.

Gripe. Conduct them in when you've disposed of these.

Catchum. This should have been new-drawn before they
enter'd. (pulling out an Inventory of the whole Goods.

Gripe. What matters that? They cannot read, you know,
And you can read to them in gen'ral Terms.

Enter Ponteacb, with several of bis Chieftains.

Sharp. Welcome, my Brothers, we are glad to meet you,
And hope that you will not repent our coming.

Ponteacb. We're glad to see our Brothers here the English.
If honourable Peace be your Desire,
We'd always have the Hatchet buried deep,
While Sun and Moon, Rivers and Lakes endure,
And Trees and Herbs within our Country grow.
But then you must not cheat and wrong the Indians^
Or treat us with Reproach, Contempt, and Scorn ;
Else we will raise the Hatchet to the Sky,
And let it never touch the Earth again,
Sharpen its Edge, and keep it bright as Silver,
Or stain it red with Murder and with Blood.
Mind what I say, I do not tell you Lies.

Sharp. We hope you have no Reason to complain
That Englishmen conduct to you amiss;
We're griev'd if they have given you Offence,
And fain would heal the Wound while it is fresh,
Lest it should spread, grow painful, and severe.

Pont each. Your Men make Indians drunk, and then they

cheat 'em.

Your Officers, your Colonels, and your Captains
Are proud, morose, ill-natur'd, churlish Men,

191

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Treat us with Disrespect, Contempt, and Scorn.

I tell you plainly this will never do,

We never thus were treated by the French,

Them we thought bad enough, but think you worse.

Sharp. There's good and bad, you know, in every Nation ;
There's some good Indians, some are the reverse,
Whom you can't govern, and restrain from ill;
So there's some Englishmen that will be bad.
You must not mind the Conduct of a few,
Nor judge the rest by what you see of them.

Pont each. If you've some good, why don't you send them here?
These every one are Rogues, and Knaves, and Fools,
And think no more of Indians than of Dogs.
Your King had better send his good Men hither,
And keep his bad ones in some other Country;
Then you would find that Indians would do well,
Be peaceable, and honest in their Trade ;
We'd love you, treat you, as our Friends and Brothers,
And Raise the Hatchet only in your Cause.

Sharp. Our King is very anxious for your Welfare,
And greatly wishes for your Love and Friendship;
He would not have the Hatchet ever raised,
But buried deep, stamp'd down and cover'd o'er,
As with a mountain that can never move:
For this he sent us to your distant Country,
Bid us deliver you these friendly Belts,

(holding out Belts of Wampum.
All cover'd over with his Love and Kindness.
He like a Father loves you as his Children;
And like a Brother wishes you all Good;
We'll let him know the Wounds that you complain of,
And he'll be speedy to apply the Cure,
And clear the Path to Friendship, Peace and Trade.

Ponteach. Your King, I hear's a good and upright Man,
True to his word, and friendly in his Heart;
Not proud and insolent, morose and sour,
Like these his petty Officers and Servants:
I want to see your King,1 and let him know

1 "Pontiac was curious and expressed a great desire to see England, and
offered me a part of his country if I would conduct him there." Rogers, A
Concise Account of North America, p. 242.

192

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

What must be done to keep the Hatchet dull,
And how the Path of Friendship, Peace and Trade
May be kept clean and solid as a Rock.

Sharp. Our King is distant over the great Lake,
But we can quickly send him your Requests ;
To which he'll listen with attentive Ear,
And act as tho* you told him with your Tongue.

Ponteacb. Let him know then his People here are Rogues,
And cheat and wrong and use the Indians ill.
Tell him to send good Officers, and call
These proud ill natur'd Fellows from my Country,
And keep his Hunters from my Hunting Ground.
He must do this, and do it quickly too,
Or he will find the Path between us bloody.

Sharp. Of this we will acquaint our gracious King,
And hope you and your Chiefs will now confirm
A solid Peace as if our King was present;
We're his Ambassadors, and represent him,
And bring these Tokens of his Royal Friendship
To you, your Captains, Chiefs, and valiant Men.
Read Mr. Catchum^ you've the Inventory.

Catcbum. The British King, of his great Bounty, sends
To Ponteacb) King upon the Lakes, and his Chiefs,
Two hundred, No (aside) a Number of fine Blankets,
Six hundred (aside) Yes, and several Dozen Hatchets,
Twenty thousand (aside) and a Bag of Wampum,
A Parcel too of Pans, and Knives, and Kettles.

Sharp. This rich and royal Bounty you'll accept,
And as you please distribute to your Chiefs,
And let them know they come from England's King,
As Tokens to them of his Love and Favour.
We've taken this long Journey at great Charge,
To see and hold with you this friendly Talk;
We hope your Minds are all disposed to Peace,
And that you like our Sovereign Bounty well.

ist Chief. We think it very small, we heard of more.1
Most of our Chiefs and Warriors are not here,
They all expect to share a part with us.

1 "The government of Virginia his treated the Six Nations, Cherokccs, and
others with an ill-timed frugality which greatly disgusted them." Johnson's letter,
(August, 1757,) Documentary History of New York, VII, 852.

193

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

2nd Chief. These won't reach round to more than half our

Tribes,

Few of our Chiefs will have a single Token
Of your King's Bounty, that you speak so much of.

jrd Chief. And those who have'nt will be dissatisfied, .
Think themselves slighted, think your King is stingy,
Or else that you his Governors are Rogues,
And keep your Master's Bounty for yourselves.

4th Chief. We hear such Tricks are sometimes play'd with

Indians^

King AstenacO) the great Southern Chief,1
Who's been in England^ and has seen your King,
Told me that he was generous, kind, and true,
But that his Officers were Rogues and Knaves,
And cheated Indians out of what he gave.

Gripe. The Devil's in't, I fear that we're detected (aside.

Ponteach. Indians a'n't Fools, if White Men think us so;
We see, we hear, we think as well as you;
We know they're Lies, and Mischiefs in the World;
We don't know whom to trust, nor when to fear;
Men are uncertain, changing as the Wind,
Inconstant as the Waters of the Lakes,
Some smooth and fair, and pleasant as the Sun,
Some rough and boist'rous, like the Winter Storm;
Some are Insidious as the subtle Snake,
Some innocent, and harmless as the Dove;
Some like the Tyger raging, cruel, fierce,
Some like the Lamb, humble, submissive, mild,
And scarcely one is every Day the same;
But I call no Man bad, till such he's found,
Then I condemn and cast him from my Sight;
And no more trust him as a Friend and Brother.
I hope to find you honest Men and true.

1 Astinaco was one of the three Cherokee chiefs who visited England, June-
August, 1762. They were brought on the frigate Epreuve, given English clothes
and a house in Suffolk street, and entertained by such men as the Earl of March,
Lord Bruce, and Mr. Montagu, by whom they were also taken to military re
views and the navy-yard at Portsmouth. Magnificent specimens of their race,
they were a two-months' wonder in London, and a popular print was sold of
Astinaco. Nothing is known of his connection with Pontiac. Sec Gentleman's
Magazine, 1762, passim.

194

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Sharp. Indeed you may depend upon our Honours,
We're faithful Servants of the best of Kings ;
We scorn an Imposition on your Ignorance,
Abhor the Arts of Falshood and Deceit.
These are the Presents our great Monarch sent,
He's of a bounteous, noble, princely Mind
And had he known the Numbers of your Chiefs,
Each would have largely shar'd his Royal Goodness;
But these are rich and worthy your Acceptance,
Few Kings on Earth can such as these bestow,
For Goodness, Beauty, Excellence, and Worth.

Ponteach. The Presents from your Sovereign I accept,
His friendly Belts to us shall be preserved,
And in Return convey you those to him.

(Belts and Furs.

Which let him know our Mind, and what we wish,
That we dislike his crusty Officers,
And wish the Path of Peace was made more plain,
The Calumet I do not chuse to smoak,
Till I see further, and my other Chiefs
Have been consulted. Tell your King from me,
That first or last a Rogue will be detected,
That I have Warriors, am myself a King,
And will be honour'd and obey'd as such;
Tell him my Subjects shall not be oppress'd,
But I will seek Redress and take Revenge;
Tell your King this ; I have no more to say.

Sharp. To our great King your Gifts we will convey,
And let him know the Talk we've had with you;
We're griev'd we cannot smoak the Pipe of Peace,
And part with stronger Proofs of Love and Friendship ;
Mean time we hope you'll so consider Matters,
As still to keep the Hr.tchet dull and buried,
And open wide the shining Path of Peace,
That you and we may walk without a Blunder.

(Exeunt Indians.

Gripe. Th' appear not fully satisfied, I think.

Catchum. I do not like old Ponteach's Talk and Air,
He se^ms suspicious, and inclin'd to War.

Sharp. They're always jealous, bloody, and revengeful,
You see that they distrust our Word and Honour;

'95

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

No wonder then if they suspect the Traders,
And often charge them with downright Injustice.

Gripe. True, when even we that come to make them Presents,
Cannot escape their Fears and Jealousies.

Catcbum. Well, we have this, at least, to comfort us;
Their good Opinion is no Commendation,
Nor their foul Slanders any Stain to Honour.
I think we've done whatever Men could do
To reconcile their savage Minds to Peace.
If they're displeas'd, our Honour is acquitted,
And we have not been wanting in our Duty
To them, our King, our Country, and our Friends.

Gripe. But what Returns are these they've left behind?
These Belts are valuable, and neatly wrought.

Catcbum. This Pack of Furs is very weighty too;
The Skins are pick'd, and of the choicest Kind.

Sharp. By Jove, They're worth more Money than their
Presents.

Gripe. Indeed they are; the King will be no Loser.

Sharp. The King! who ever sent such Trumpery to him?

Catcbum. What would the King of England do with Wampum?
Or Beaver Skins, d'ye think? He's not a Hatter!

Gripe. Then it's a Perquisite~Tjeiungs to us?

Sharp. Yes, they're become our lawful Goods and Chattels,
By all the Rules and Laws of Indian Treaties.
The King would scorn to take a Gift from Indians,
And think us Madmen, should we send them to him.

Catcbum. I understand we make a fair Division,
And have no Words nor Fraud among ourselves.

Sharp. We throw the whole into one common Stock,
And go Copartners in the Loss and Gain.
Thus most who handle Money for the Crown
Find means to make the better Half their own;
And, to your better Judgments with Submission,
The self Negiecter's a poor Politician.
These Gifts, you see, will all Expences pay;
Heav'n send an Indian Treaty every Day;
We dearly love to serve our King this Way.

Tbe End of the First ACT.
196

ACT II.

SCENE I. — An Indian House.

Enter Philip and Chekitan from bunting^ loaded with Venison.

Philip.

The Day's Toil's ended, and the Ev'ning smiles
With all the Joy and Pleasantness" of Plenty.
Our good Success arid Fortune in the Chace
Will make us Mirth and Pastime for the Night.
How will the old Ki'ig and his Hunters smile
To see us loaded with the fatt'ning Prey,
And joyously relate their own Adventures?
Not the brave Victor's Shout, or Spoils of War,
Would give such Pleasure to their gladden'd Hearts.

Chekitan. These, Philip, are the unstain'd Fruits of Peace,
Effected by the conqu'ring British Troops.
"Now may~we hunt the Wilds_§ecure from Foes,
And seek our Food and Cloathing by the Chace,
While Ease and Plenty thro' our Country reign.

Philip. Happy Effects indeed! long may they last!
But 1 suspect the Term will be but short,
Ere this our happy Realm is curs'd afresh
With all the Noise and Miseries of War,
And Blood and Murder stain our Land again.

Chekitan. What hast thou heard that seems to threaten this,
Or is it idle Fancy and Conjectures?

Philip. Our Father's late Behaviour and Discourse
Unite to raise Suspicions in my Mind
Of his Designs? Hast thou not yet observ'd,
That tho' at first he favour'd England's Troops,
When they late landed on our fertile Shore,
Proclaim'd his Approbation of their March,
Convoy'd their Stores, protected them from Harm,
Nay, put them in Possession of Detroit ;*

1 For Pontiac's assistance to Rogers in taking possession of Detroit, sec p. 85.

197

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

And join'd to fill the Air with loud Huzza's
When England's Flag was planted on its Walls ?
Yet, since, he seems displeas'd at their Success,
Thinks himself injured, treated with Neglect
By their Commanders, as of no Account,
As one subdu'd and conquer'd with the French,
As one, whose Right to Empire now is lost,
And he become a Vassal of their Power,
Instead of an Ally. At this he's mov'd,
And in his Royal Bosom glows Revenge,
Which I suspect will sudden burst and spread
Like Lightning from the Summer's burning Cloud,
That instant sets whole Forests in a Blaze.1

Cbekitan. Something like this I have indeed perceiv'd;
And this explains what I but now beheld,
Returning from the Chace, myself concealed,
Our Royal Father basking in the Shade,
His Looks severe, Revenge was in his Eyes,
All his great Soul seem'd mounted in his Face,
And bent on something hazardous and great.
With pensive Air he view'd the Forest round;
Smote on his Breast as if oppress'd with Wrongs,
With Indignation starred upon the Ground;
Extended then and shook his mighty Arm,
As in Defiance of a coming Foe;
Then like the hunted Elk lie forward sprung,
As tho' to trample his Assailants down.
The broken accents murmur'd from his Tongue,
As rumbling Thunder from a distant Cloud,
Distinct I heard, "Tis fix'd, I'll be reveng'd;
"1 will make War: I'll drown this Land in Blood."
He disappear'd like the fresh-started Roe
Pursu'd by Hounds o'er rocky Hills and Dales,
That instant leaves the anxious Hunter's Eye;
Such was his Speed towards the other Chiefs.

Philip. He's gone to sound their Minds to Peace and War,
And learn who'll join the Hazards in his Cause.
The Fox, the Bear, the Eagle, Otter, Wolf,

1 «« He puts on an air of majesty and princely grandeur, and is greatly hon
ored and revered by all his subjects." Rogers, A Concise Account of Ntrtb
America t p. 240.

198

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

And other valiant Princes of the Empire,
Have late resorted hither for some End
Of common Import. Time will soon reveal
Their secret Counsels and their fix'd Decrees.
Peace has its charms for those who love their Ease,
But active Souls like mine delight in Blood.

Cbekitan. Should War be wag'd, what Discords may we fear
Among ourselves? The powerful Mohawk King
Will ne'er consent to fight against the English,
Nay more, will join them as a firm Ally,
And influence other Chiefs by his Example,
To muster all their Strength against our Father.
Fathers perhaps will fight against their Sons,
And nearest Friends pursue each other's Lives ;
Blood, Murder, Death, and Horror will be rife,
Where Peace and Love, and Friendship triumph now.

Philip. Such stale Conjectures smell of Cowardice.
Our Father's Temper shews us the Reverse:
All Danger he defies, and, once resolv'd,
No Arguments will move him to relent,
No Motives change his Purpose of Revenge,
No Prayers prevail upon him to delay
The Execution of his fix'd Design:
Like the starv'd Tyger in Pursuit of Prey,
No Opposition will retard his Course;
Like the wing'd Eagle that looks down on Clouds,
All Hindrances are little in his Eye,
And his great Mind knows not the Pain of Fear.

Cbekitan. Such Hurricanes of Courage often lead
To Shame and Disappointment in the End,
And tumble blindfold on their own Disgrace.
True Valour's slow, deliberate, and cool,
Considers well the End, the Way, the Means,
And weighs each Circumstance attending them.
Imaginary Dangers it detects,
And guards itself against all real Evils.
But here Tenesco comes with Speed important;
His Looks and Face presage us something new.

Tenesco. Hail, noble Youth ! The News of your Return
And great Success has reach'd your Father's Ears.
Great is his Joy ; but something more important

199

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Seems to rest heavy on his anxious Mind,
And he commands your Presence at his Cabbin.

Philip. We will attend his Call with utmost Speed,
Nor wait Refreshment after our Day's Toil. (Exeunt.

SCENE II. — Ponteach's Cabbin.
Ponteach, Philip, Chekitan, and Tenesco.

Ponteacb.

My Sons, and trusty Counsellor Tenesco ,
As the sweet smelling Rose, when yet a Bud,
Lies close conceal'd, till Time and the Sun's Warmth
Hath swell'd, matur'd, and brought it forth to View,
So these my Purposes I now reveal
Are to be kept with You, on pain of Death,
Till Time hath ripen'd my aspiring Plan,
And Fortune's Sunshine shall disclose the Whole;
Or should we fail, and Fortune prove perverse,
Let it be never known how far we fail'd,
Lest Fools shou'd triumph, or our Foes rejoice.

Yenesco. The Life of great Designs is Secrecy,
And in Affairs of State 'tis Honour's Guard;
For Wisdom cannot form a Scheme so well,
But Fools will laugh if it should prove abortive;
And our Designs once known, our Honour's made
Dependent on the Fickleness of Fortune.

Philip. What may your great and secret Purpose be,
That thus requires Concealment in its Birth?

Ponteacb. To raise the Hatchet from its short Repose,
Brighten its Edge, and stain it deep with Blood;
To scourge my proud, insulting, haughty Foes,
To enlarge my Empire, which will soon be yours:
Your Interest, Glory, Grandeur, I consult,
And therefore hope with Vigour you'll pursue
And execute whatever I command.

Cbekitan. When we refuse Obedience to your Will,
We are not worthy to be call'd your Sons.

Philip. If we inherit not our Father's Valour,
We never can deserve to share his Empire.

200

PQNTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Tenesco. Spoke like yourselves, the Sons of Ponteach;
Strength, Courage, and Obedience form the Soldier,
And the firm Base of all true Greatness lay.

Ponteacb. Our Empire now is large, our Forces strong,
Our Chiefs are wise, our Warriors valiant Men;
We are all furnish'd with the best of Arms,
And all things requisite to curb a Foe;
And now's our time, if ever, to secure
Our Country, Kindred, Empire, all that's dear,
From these Invaders of our Rights, the English,
And set their Bounds towards the rising Sun.
Long have I seen with a suspicious Eye
The Strength and growing Numbers of the French;
Their Forts and Settlements I've view'd as Snakes
Of mortal Bite, bound by the Winter Frost,
Which in some future warm reviving Day
Would stir and hiss, and spit their Poison forth,
And spread Destruction through our happy Land.
Where are we now? The French are all subdued,
But who are in their Stead become our Lords?
A proud, imperious, churlish, haughty Band.
The French familiarized themselves with us,
Studied our Tongue, and Manners, wore our Dress,
Married our Daughters, and our Sons their Maids,
Dealt honestly, and well supplied our Wants,
Used no One ill, and treated with Respect
Our Kings, our Captains, and our aged Men;
Call'd us their Friends, nay, what is more, their Children,
And seem'd like Fathers anxious for our Welfare.
Whom see we now? their haughty Conquerors
Possess'd of every Fort, and Lake, and Pass,
Big with their Victories so often gained;
On us they look with deep Contempt and Scorn,
Are false, deceitful, knavish, insolent;
Nay think us conquered, and our Country theirs,
Without a Purchase, or ev'n asking for it.
With Pleasure I wou'd call their King my Friend,
Yea, honour and obey him as mv Father;
I'd be content, would he keep his own Sea,
And leave these distant Lakes and Streams to us;
Nay I would pay him Homage, if requested,

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

And furnish Warriors to support his Cause.
But thus to lose my Country and my Empire,
To be a Vassal to his low Commanders,
Treated with Disrespect and public Scorn
By Knaves, by Miscreants, Creatures of his Power;
Can this become a King like Ponteach,
Whose Empire's measured only by the Sun?
No, I'll assert my Right, the Hatchet raise,
And drive these Britons hence like frighted Deer,
Destroy their Forts, and make them rue the Day
That to our fertile Land they found the Way.

Tenesco. No Contradiction to your great Design ;
But will not such Proceeding injure us?
Where is our Trade and Commerce to be carry 'd?
For they're possess'd of all the Country round,
Or whence Supplies of Implements for War?

Ponteach. Whence? Take them from our conquered running

Foes.

Their Fortresses are Magazines of Death,
Which we can quickly turn against themselves;
And when they're driven to their destin'd Bounds,
Their Love or Gain will soon renew their Trade.
The heartless French^ whene'er they see us conquer,
Will join their little Force to help us on.
Nay many of their own brave trusty Soldiers,
In Hope of Gain, will give us their Assistance;
For Gain's their great Commander, and will lead them
Where their brave Generals cannot force their March :
Some have engag'd, when they see hope of Plunder,
In sly Disguise to kill their Countrymen.

Chekitan. These Things indeed are promising and fair,
And seem a Prelude to our full Success.
But will not many Indian Chiefs refuse
To join the Lists, and hold themselves oblig'd
T' assist the Foe when hardly press'd by us ?

Ponteach. I've sounded all their Minds; there's but a few
That are not warm and hearty in our Cause,
And those faint Hearts we'll punish at our Leisure:
For hither tends my Purpose ; to subdue
The Tribes who now their annual Homage pay
To the Imperious haughty Mohawk Chief,

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Whose Pride and Insolence 'tis Time to curb.
He ever boasts the Greatness of his Empire,
The Swiftness, Skill and Valour of his Warriors,
His former Conquests, and his fresh Exploits,
The Terror of his Arms in distant Lands,
And on a Footing puts himself with me,
For Wisdom to contrive, and Power to do.
Such a proud Rival must not breath the Air;
I'll die in fighting, or I'll reign alone
O'er every Indian Nation, Tribe, and Chief.
But this in solemn Silence we conceal,
Till they're drawn in to fight the common Foe,
Then from my Face, the sly Disguise I'll cast,
And shew them Ponteach to their Surprize.

Tenesco. Thy Plan is wise, and may Success attend it;
May all the warlike numerous Tribes unite,
Nor cease to conquer while thou hast a Foe!
Then may they join and own thee for their Sovereign,
Pay full Submission to thy scepter'd Arm,
And universal Empire be thy own !

Chekitan. Would you the Mohawk Emperor displease,
•And wage a bloody War, by which you made
Him and his num'rous Tribes your certain Foes?

Ponteach. Most of his Tribes will welcome the Proposal;
For long their galled necks have felt the Yoke,
Long wish'd for Freedom from his partial Sway,
In favour of the proud incroaching Britons.
Nay, they have oft, in spite of his Displeasure,
Rush'd forth like Wolves upon their naked Borders,
And now, like Tygers broken from their Chains,
They'll glut themselves, and revel in their Blood.

Philip. Myself will undertake to make even Hendrick1
Our zealous Friend against the common Foe;
His strong Attachment to them I'll dissolve,
And make him rage, and thirst for Vengeance on them.

1 Hendrick was a Mohawk chief, son of a Mohegan father and a Mohawk
mother. With many of his men he participated in the campaign against the French
in 1755, and at the request of General Johnson joined the English army, which
met two thousand French under Dieskau near Lake George. At the battle which
there took place, September 8, 1755, Hendrick with many of his followers was
killed. He was then less than seventy years of age.

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Ponteacb. This would be doing Honour to thyself,
And make thee worthy of thy Father's Crown.
The secret Means I will not now inquire,
Nor doubt but thus engag'd you will perform.
The Chiefs in part are knowing to my Purpose,
And think of nought but War, and Blood, and Plunder,
Till in full Council we declare our Pleasure,
But first my last Night's Dream I will relate,
Which much disturb'd my weary anxious Mind,
And must portend some signal grand Event
Of good or Evil both to me or mine.
On yonder Plain I saw the lordly Elk1
Snuffing the empty Air in seeming Sport,
Tossing his Head aloft, as if in Pride
Of his great Bulk and nervous active Limbs,
And Scorn of every Beast that haunts the Wood.
With mighty Stride he travelled to and fro,
And as he mov'd his Size was still increas'd,
Till his wide Branches reached above the Trees,
And his extended Trunk across the Plain.
The other Beasts beheld with wild Amaze,
Stood trembling round, nor dare they to approach
Till the fierce Tyger yell'd the loud Alarm,
When Bears, Cats, Wolves, Panthers, and Porcupines,
And other Beasts of Prey, with Force united
And savage Rage, attack'd the common Foe.
But as the busking Bull, when Summer Flies,
With keenest Sting disturb the grazing Herd,
Stands careless in some shady cool Retreat,
And from his Sides sweeps the invenom'd Mites,
Or shakes them with a Stamp into the Dust;
So he unmov'd amidst their Clamours stood,
Trampled and spurn'd them with his Hoofs and Horns,
Till all dispers'd in wild Disorder fled,
And left him Master of th' extended Plain.

Tenesco. This Dream no doubt is full of some great Meaning,

1 " The Indians have a great veneration for the elk, and imagine that to dream
of it portends good fortune and long life." Rogers, A Concise Account of North
America, p. 260. "The Indians depend much upon their dreams, and really
believe the dream the whole history of their future life, ... for which reason
they make dreaming a kind of religious ceremony ..." Idem, p. 215.

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

And in it bears the Fate of your Design,
But whether good or ill, to me's a Secret.

Philip. It ne'er was counted ill to dream of Elks,
But always thought portentous of Success,
Of happy Life, and Victories in War,
Or Fortune good when we attempt the Chace.

Chekitan. Such is the common Say ; But here the Size
And all the Circumstances are uncommon,
And therefore can contain no common Meaning:
I fear these Things portend no Good to us,
That Mischiefs lurk like Serpents in the Grass,
Whose pois'nous deadly Bite precedes all Warning,
That this Design will end in mighty Ruin
To us and ours, Discord among our Friends,
And Triumph to our Foes.

Philip. A valiant Hero !
Thou always wast a Coward, and hated War,
And lov'st to loll on the soft Lap of Peace.
Thou art a very Woman in thy Heart,
And talk'st of Snakes and Bugbears in the Dark,
Till all is Horror and Amaze about thee,
And even thy own Shadow makes thee tremble.

Cbekitan. Is there no Courage in delib'rate Wisdom?
Is all rank Cowardice but Fire and Fury?
Is it all womanish to re-consider
And weigh the Consequences of our Actions,
Before we desperately rush upon them ?
Let me then be the Coward, a mere Woman,
Mine be the Praise of Coolness, yours of Rage.

Pont each. Peace, Peace, my Sons, nor let this casual Strife
Divide your Hearts; both mean the common Good;
Go Hand in Hand to conquer and promote it.
I'll to our worthy Doctor and the Priest,
Who for our Souls Salvation come from France ;
They sure can solve the Mysteries of Fate,
And all the Secrets of a Dream explain ;
Mean while, Tenesco, warn the other Chiefs
That they attend my Call within an Hour.

(Exeunt Pont. & Tenesco.

Philip. My Warmth perhaps has carried me too far,
But it's not in me to be cool and backward

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

To act or speak when Kingdoms are the Prize.
My Blood runs high at the sweet Sound of Empire/
Such as our Father's Plan ensures to us,
And I'm impatient of the least Delay.

Cbekitan. Thy Fire thou hast a Right to stile a Virtue ;
Heat is our Friend when kept within due Bounds,
But if unbridled and allowed to rage,
It burns and blisters, torments and consumes,
And, Torrent-like, sweeps every Comfort by.
Think if our Father's Plan should prove abortive,
Our Troops repuls'd, or in th' Encounter slain,
Where are our conquer'd Kingdoms then to share, '
Where are our Vict'ries, Trophies, Triumphs, Crowns,
That dazzle in thy Eye, and swell thy Heart;
That nerve thy Arm, and wing thy Feet to War
With this impetuous Violence and Speed?
Crest-fallen then, our native Empire lost,
In captive Chains we drag a wretched Life,
Or fly inglorious from the conquering Foe
To barren Mountains from this fertile Land,
There to repent our Folly when too late,
In Anguish mourn, and curse our wretched Fate.

Philip. But why so much of Mischiefs that may happen?
These are mere possibilities at most;
Creatures of Thought, which ne'er can be Objections,
In valiant Minds, to any great Attempt;
They're empty Echoes of a tim'rous Soul,
Like Bubbles driv'n by the tempestuous Storm,
The Breath of Resolution sweeps them off.
Nor dost thou judge them solid from thy Heart.
I know the secret Motive in thy Breast,
Thus to oppose our Father's great Design,
And from an Undertaking to dissuade,
In which thou'lt share the Profit and the Glory.
Hendrick, the King of Mohawks, hath a Daughter,
With whom I saw you dallying in the Shade,
And thought you then a Captive to her Charms.
The bright Moneiia hangs upon thy Heart,
And softens all the Passions of thy Soul ;
Her thou think'st lost should we proclaim a War,
In which the King her Father will not join.

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PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Cbekitan. What if I have a Value^for Monelia,
Is it a Crime? Does she not merit Love
From all who see her move, or hear her speak?

Philip. True, she is engaging, has a charming Air;
And if thy Love is fix'd, I will assist it,
And put thee in Possession of the Joy
That thou desirest more than Crowns and Empire.

Cbekitan. As how, dear Philip? Should we wage a War
Which Hendrick disapproves, the Prize is lost.
Not Empires then could make Monelia mine;
All Hopes are dash'd upon that fatal Rock;
Nor Gold, nor Prayers, nor Tears, nor Promises,
Nor all the Engin'ry of Love at Work,
Could save a single Moment of my Joy.

Philip. Yes, I will save it all, and make her thine,
Act but thy Part, and do as I prescribe,
In Peace or War thou shalt possess the Prize.

Cbekitan. Thy Words revive my half-despairing Heart.
What must I act? or which Way must I turn?
I'll brave all Dangers, every 111 defy.
Risque Life itself, to call Monelia mine.
Help me, my Philip, and I'll be thy Slave,
Resign my Share of Empire to thy Hand,
And lay a Claim to nothing but Monelia.

Philip. Rewards I do not ask ; I am thy Brother,
And hold my Kindness to thee as a Debt.
Thou know'st I have engag'd to bring King Hendrick
To join the Lists, and fight against our Foes,
To rouse him to Revenge, and Rage, and War,
And make him zealous in the common Cause.
Nay, with uncommon Fury he shall rave,
And urge his Warriors on to Blood and Murder.
When this is done, Monelia may be thine,
Hendrick will court Alliance to our Tribe,
And joy to call great Ponteacb 's Son his own.

Cbekitan. But should you fail in these Attempts, and he
Prove obstinately fix'd against the War,
Where's then Monelia? where is Cbekitan?
My Hopes are blasted, all my Joys are fled,
Like the vain Phantoms of a Midnight Dream,
Are scattered like the Dust before a Whirlwind,

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PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

And all my Soul is left a Void for Pain,
Vexation, Madness, Phrensy, and Despair,
And all the Pains of disappointed Love.
Better I ne*er had flattered my fond Heart,
Nor sooth'd my Mjnd with Prospects of my Joy,
Than thus to perish on the Point of Hope.

Philip. Leave all to me; I've so concerted Matters,
That I defy ev'n Fate to disappoint me.
Kxert thyself, and to Monelia go,
Before th' assembled Chiefs in Council meet;
Urge it to her, and to her Brother Torax,
That should their Father prove refractory,
Withdraw himself, and order his Domesticks
To hasten home at News of our Design ;
Urge it, I say, to them ; Torax loves War;
To linger here in Hopes of his Return,
W7hich tell them I'll effect ere twice the Sun
Has run the Circuit of his daily Race.
Here they may loiter careless, range the Woods,
As tho* the Noise of War had not been heard.
This will give full Success to both our Wishes :
Thoul't gain the Prize of Love, and I of Wrath,
In favour to our Family and State.
Thoul't tame the Turtle, I shall rouse the Tyger;
The one will soothe thy Soul to soft Repose,
The other prove a Terror to our Foes.

Chekitan. I see the subtle Argument thou'lt use,
And how thou'lt work upon the old King's Weakness.
Thou'lt set his strong Affection for his Children
At War against his Kindness for our Foes,
By urging their Attachment to our Cause,
That they'll endure ev'n Banishment and Death,
Rather than cease to be our stedfast Friends.

Philip. All this I'll urge, nay more, I will convince him,
These Foes to us can be no Friends to him ;
I'll thunder in his Ears their growing Power,
Their Villainies and Cheats upon his Subjects :
That their fair Shew of Love is foul Disguise;
That in their Hearts they hate the name of Indians,
And court his Friendship only for their Profit;

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

That when no longer he subserves their Ends,
He may go whistle up some other Friends.

Cbekitan. This must alarm and bring him to our Mind.
I'll hasten to my Charge with utmost Speed,
Strain every Nerve, and every Power exert ;
Plead, promise, swear like any Christian Trader;
But I'll detain them till our Ends are answer'd,
And you have won their Father to our Purpose. (Exit.

Philip, solus.

Oh ! what a wretched Thing is a Man in Love!
All Fear — all Hope — all Diffidence — all Faith —
Distrusts the greatest Strength, depends on Straws —
Soften'd, unprovident, disarm'd, unman'd,
Led blindfold ; every Power denies its Aid,
And every Passion's but a Slave to this;
Honour, Revenge, Ambition, Interest, all
Upon its Altar bleed — Kingdoms and Crowns
Are slighted and contemn'd, and all the Ties
Of Nature are dissolv'd by this poor Passion:
Once have 1 felt its Poison in my Heart,
When this same Chekitan a Captive led
The fair Donanta from the Illinois;
I saw, admir'd, and lov'd the charming Maid,
And as a Favour ask'd her from his Hands,
But he refus'd and sold her for a Slave.
My Love is Dead, but my Resentment lives,
And now's my Time to let the Flame break forth,
For while I pay this antient Debt of Vengeance,
I'll serve my Country, and advance myself.
He loves Monelia — Hendrick must be won —
Monelia and her Brother both must bleed —
This is my Vengeance on her Lover's Head —
Then I'll affirm, 'twas done by Englishmen —
And to gain Credit both with Friends and Foes,
I'll wound myself, and say that I receiv'd it
By striving to assist them in the Combat.
This will rouse Hendrick' s Wrath, and arm his Troops
To Blood and Vengeance on the common Foe.
And further still my Profit may extend ;

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

My Brother's Rage will lead him into Danger,
And, he cut off, the Empire's all my own.
Thus am I fix'd ; my Scheme of Goodness laid,
And I'll effect it, tho' thro' Blood I wade,
To desperate Wounds apply a Desperate Cure,
And to tall Structures lay Foundations sure ;
To Fame and Empire hence my Course I bend,
And every Step I take shall thither tend.

End of the Second ACT.

210

ACT III.
SCENE I. — A Forest.

Chekitan seeing Torax and Monelia coming towards them.

As the young Hunter, anxious in the Chace,

With beating Heart and quivering Hand espies

The wish'd lor Game, and trembles for th' Event,

So I behold the bright Monelia s Steps,

Whom anxiously I've sought, approach this way —

What shall I say ? or how shall I accost her ?

It is a fatal Minute to mistake in.

The Joy or Grief of Life depends upon 't ;

It is the important Crisis of my Fate.

I've thought a thousand things to say and do,

But know not which to say or do the first.

Shall I begin with my old Tale of Love?

Or shall I shock her with the News of War?

Must I put on the Face of Joy or Grief?

Seem unconcern'd or full of Doubts and Fears?

How unprepar'd I am for the Encounter!

I'd rather stand against an Host of Foes —

But she draws near, and Fate must guide me now.

Enter Torax and Monelia.

Where tend your Steps with such an Air of Joy?

Torax. To view the Beauties of th' extended Lake,
And on its mossy Bank recline at Ease,
While we behold the Sports of Fish and Fowl,
Which in this Calm no doubt will be diverting.
And these are new Amusements to Monelia,
She never saw the Sea or Lakes before.

Chekitan. I'm glad our Country's aught to give such Pleasure
To one deservedly so welcome in it.

Monelia. That I am welcome you have oft assur'd me,

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

That I deserve it you may be mistaken,
The outside Shew, the Form, the Dress, the Air,
That please at first Acquaintance, oft deceive us,
And prove more Mimickers of .true Desert,
Which always brightens by a further Trial,
Appears more lovely as we know it better,
At least can never suffer by Acquaintance.
Perhaps then you To-morrow will despise
What you esteem to-Day, and call deserving.

Chekitan. My Love to you, Monelia^ cannot change.
Your Beauty, like the Sun, for ever pleases,
And like the Earth, my Love can never move.

Monelia. The Earth itself is sometimes known to shake,
And the bright Sun by Clouds is oft conceal'd,
And gloomy Night succeeds the Smiles of Day —
So Beauty oft by foulest Faults is veil'd,
And after one short Blaze admir'd no more,
Loses its Lustre, drops its sparkling Charms,
The Lover sickens, and his Passion dies.
Nay worse, he hates what he so doted on.
Time only proves the Truth of Worth and Love,
The one may be a Cheat, the other change,
And Fears, and Jealousies, and mortal Hate,
Succeed the Sunshine of the warmest Passion.

Chekitan. Have I not vow'd my Love to you, Monfliat
And open'd all the Weakness of my Heart ?
You cannot think me false and insincere,
When I repeat my Vows to love you still;
Each time I see you move, or hear you speak,
It adds fresh Fuel to the growing Flame.
You're like the rising Sun, whose Beams increase
As he advances upward to our View;
We gaze with growing Wonder till we 're blind,
And every Beauty fades and dies but his.
Thus shall I always view your growing Charm,
And every Day and Hour with fresh Delight.
Witness thou Sun and Moon, and Stars above,
Witness ye purling Streams and quivering Lakes,
Witness ye Groves and Hills, and Springs and Plains,
Witness ye Shades, and the cool Fountain, where
1 first espied the Image of her Charms,

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

And starting saw her on th* adjacent Bank,
If I to my Monelia prove untrue.

Monelia. Hoh! now your Talk is so much like a Christian's,
That I must be excus'd if I distrust you,
And think your fair Pretenses all designing.
I once was courted by a spruce young Blade,
A lac'd Coat Captain, warlike, active, gay,
Cockaded Hat and Medal on his Breast,
And everything was clever but his Tongue ;
He swore he lov'd, O ! how he swore he lov'd,
Call'd on his God and Stars to witness for him,
Wish'd he might die, be blown to Hell and damn'd,
If ever he lov'd woman so before:
Call'd me his Princess, Charmer, Angel, Goddess,
Swore nothing else was ever half so pretty,
So dear, so sweet, so much to please his Taste,
He kiss'd, he squeez'd, and press'd me to his Bosom,
Vow'd nothing could abate his ardent Passion,
Swore he should die, should drown, or hang himself,
Could not exist if I denied his Suit,
And said a thousand Things I cannot name:
My simple Heart, made soft by so much Heat,
Half gave Consent, meaning to be his Bride.
The Moment thus unguarded, he embrac'd,
And impudently ask'd to stain my Virtue.
With just Disdain I push'd him frcm my Arms,
And let him know he'd kindled my Resentment;
The Scene was chang'd from Sunshine to a Storm,
O ! then he curs'd, and swore, and damn'd, and sunk,
Call'd me proud Bitch, pray'd Heav'n to blast my Soul,
Wish'd Furies, Hell, and Devils had my Body,
To say no more; bid me begone in Haste
Without the smallest Mark of his Affection.
This was an Englishman, a Christian Lover.

Chekitan. Would you compare an Indian Prince to those
Whose Trade it is to cheat, deceive, and flatter?
Who rarely speak the Meaning of their Hearts?
Whose Tongues are full of Promises and Vows ?
Whose very Language is a downright Lie?
Who swear and call on Gods when they mean nothing?
Who call it complaisant, polite good Breeding,

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PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

To say Ten thousand things they don't intend,
And tell their nearest Friends the basest Falsehoods?
I know you cannot think me so perverse,
Such Baseness dwells not in an Indian'.* Heart,
And I'll convince you that I am no Christian.

Mone/ia. Then do not swear, nor vow, nor promise much,
An honest Heart needs none of this Parade;
Its Sense steals softly to the listning Ear,
And Love, like a rich Jewel we most value,
When we ourselves by Chance espy its Blaze
And none proclaims where we may find the Prize.
Mistake me not, I don't impeach your Honour,
Nor think you undeserving my Esteem ;
When our Hands join you may repeat your Love,
But save these Repetitions from the Tongue.

Chekitan. Forgive me, if my Fondness is too pressing,
'Tis Fear, 'tis anxious Fear, that makes it so.

Mone/ia. What do you fear? have I not said enough?
Or would you have me swear some Christian Oath ?

Chekitan. No, but I fear our Love will be oppos'd,
Your Father will forbid our Hands to join.

Monelia. I cannot think it ; you are Ponteach's Son,
Heir to an Empire large and rich as his.

Chekitan. True ; but your Father is a Friend to Britons,
And mine a Foe, and now is fix'd on War,
Immediate War: This Day the Chiefs assemble,
To raise the Hatchet, and to arm the Troops.

Monelia. Then I must leave your Realm, and bid Adieu,
In spite of your fond Passion, or my own;
For I can never disoblige my Father,
Though by it I were sure to gain an Empire.

Chekitan. Then Chekitan s undone, undone forever.
Unless your Father by kind Fate is mov'd
To be our Friend, rnd join the Lists with mine.

Torax. Nothing would please me better; I love War,
And think it time to curb the English Pride,
And give a check to their increasing Power.
The Land is ravag'd by their numerous Bands,
And every Day they're growingliiore~our Lords.

Chekitan. Are you sincere, or do you feign this Speech?

Torax. Indeed my Tongue does not bely my Heart;

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

And but my Father's wrong-turn'd Policy
Forbids, I'd instant join in War with you,
And help to set new Limits to their Power.

Cbektfan. 'Tis plain, if they proceed, nor you nor I
Shall rule an Empire, or possess a Crown,
Our Countries all will soon become a Prey
To Strangers ; we perhaps shall be their Slaves.
But will your Father be convinc'd of this?

Torax. I doubt he'll not. The good old Man esteems
And dotes upon them as most worthy Friends ;
I've told Him often that he cherish'd Serpents
To bite his Children, and destroy his Friends.
But this he calls the Folly of my Youth,
Bids me be silent, shew Respect to Age,
Nor sow Sedition in my Father's Empire.

Cbekitan. Stiff as he is, he yet may be subdued;
And I've a Power prepar'd that will attack him.
Should he refuse his Aid to our Design,
Retire himself, and bid his Troops to follow,
Yet Philip stands engag'd for his Return,
Ere twice the Sun hath ris'n and blest the Earth.
Philip is eloquent, and so prepar'd,
He cannot fail to bend him to our Purpose.
You and Monelia have a Part to act;
To linger here, should he in Haste retreat
Till Philip follows and employs his Force.
Your Stay will add new Life to the Design,
And be of mighty Weight to gain Success.

Monelia. How shall we tarry midst the Noise of War,
In Danger of our Lives from Friends and Foes;
This will be deem'd a Madness by our Father,
And will deserve his most severe Rebuke.

Chekitan. Myself will be a Sponsor for your Safety;
And should your Father baffle our Attempts,
Conduct you home from all the Noise of War,
Where may you long in Peace and Plenty smile,
While I return to mourn my hapless Fate.
But should Success attend on Philip's Purpose,
Your Katherwill not discommend your Stay,
But smiling give new Vigour to the War;
Which being ended, and our Foes subdu'd,

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

The happy Fruits of Peace succeed to all,
But we snail taste the greater Sweets of Love.

Vorax. The Purport of our Stay is hid from me ;
But Philip 's subtle, crafty as the Fox,
We'll give full Scope to his inticing Art,
And help him what we can to take the Prey.

Monelia. In your Protection then I trust myself,
Nor will delay beyond th' appointed Term,
Lest anxious Fears pr jsess our Father's Heart,
Or Mischiefs happen that incur his Anger.

Tor ax. It is agreed; we now pursue our Walk;
Mean time consult what else may be of Use,
You're pain'd with Love, and I'm in Pain for War. (Exeunt.

Chekitan solus. The Game is sure — Her Brother's on my

Side —

Her Brother and my own — My Force is strong —
But could her Father now be rous'd to War,
How should I triumph and defy even Fate?
But Fortune favours all advent'rous Souls :
I'll now to Philip; tell him my Success,
And rouse up every Spark of Vigour in him :
He will conceive fresh Hopes, and be more zealous.

SCENE II. — Ponteach's Cabbin.
Ponteach, an Indian Conjurer, and French Priest.

Ponteach.

Well ! have you found the Secret of my Dream,
By all your Cries, and Howls, and Sweats, and Prayers?
Or is the Meaning still conceal'd from Man,
And only known to Genii and the Gods?

Conjurer. Two Hours I've lain within the sultry Stove,1

1 "Among the tribes to the southward you will find a conjurer in almost every
village, who pretends to great things, both in politics and physic, undertaking to
reveal the most hidden secrets, and to tell what passes in the most secret cabinets,
and cause the most difficult negotiations to succeed, to procure good fortune to
their warriors and hunters, etc.; the conjurer, to prepare himself for these exploits,
takes a sound sweat in a stove and directly after it plunges into a river or lake, be
it ever so cold." Rogers, A Concise Account of North America, p. 247.

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

While Floods of Sweat run trickling from my Skin ;
With Howls and Cries and all the Force of Sound
Have I invok'd your Genius and my own',
Smote on my Breast, and beat against my Head,
To move an Answer and the Secret learn.
But all in Vain, no Answer can I have,
Till I first learn what secret Purposes
And great Designs are brooding in your Mind.

Priest. At our pure Virgin's Shrine I've bowed my Knees,
And there in fervent Prayer pour'd out my Soul ;
Call'd on Saint Peter, call'd on all the Saints
That know the Secrets both of Heaven and Earth,
And can reveal what Gods themselves can do :
I've us'd the Arts of our most holy Mother,
Which I receiv'd when I forsook the World,
And gave myself to Holiness and Heaven;
But can't obtain the Secret of your Dream,
Till I first know the Secrets of your Heart,
Or what you hope or wish to be effected.
'Tis on these Terms we learn the Will of God,
What Good or 111 awaits on Kings or Kingdoms;
And without this, St. Peter's Self can't tell,
But at a Dream like yours would be confounded.

Pont each. You're well agreed — Our Gods are much alike —
And I suspect both Rogues — What! wont they tell!
Should they betray my Scheme, the whole is blown.
And yet I fain would know. I'll charge them first. (aside.
Look here ; if I disclose a Secret to you,
•Tell it to none but silent honest Gods;
Death to you both, if you reveal to Men.

Both. We will, we will, the Gods alone shall know.

Ponteach. Know then that I have fix'd on speedy War,
To drive these new Encroachers from my Country.
For this I mean t'engage our several Tribes,
And when our Foes are driven to their Bounds,
That we may stand and hold our Rights secure,
Unite our Strength under one common Head,
Whom all these petty Kings must own their Lord,
Not even Hendrick's self shall be excused.
This is my purpose. Learn if it shall prosper,
Or will it end in Infamy and Shame?

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PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Conjurer. Smiting on his Breast, groaning and muttering in
bis Cloak or Blanket, falls down upon the Ground,
beats bis Head against it, and pretends to listen ;
then rises, and says with a rumbling hideous Voice,

Success and Victory shall attend your Arms ;

You are the mighty Elk that none can conquer,

And all the Tribes shall own you for their King.

Thus, say the Genii, does your Dream intend.

Priest, (looking up to Heaven in a praying Posture for a small
Space, says)

Had I but known you was resolv'd on War,

And War against those Hereticks the English,

I need not to have ask'd a God or Saint

To signify the Import of your Dream.

Your great Design shall have a prosperous End,

'Tis by the Gods approv'd, and must succeed.

Angels and Saints are dancing now in Heaven:

Your enemies are theirs, are hated by them,

And they'll protect and help you as their Champion,

That fights their Battles, and defends their Cause.

Our great St. Peter is himself a Warrior;

He drew his Sword against such Infidels,

And now, like him, you'll gain immortal Honour,

And Gods in Heaven and Saints on Earth will praise you.
Ponteacb. The Gods and Genii do as you have said.

I'll to the Chiefs, and hasten them to Arms.

(Exeunt Pont. & Conj.
Priest, solus.

This, by St. Peter, goes as I would have it.

The Conjurer agreed with me to pump him,

Or else deny to solve his dubious Vision :

But, that we've so agreed in our responses,

Is all mere Providence, and rul'd by Heaven,

To give us further Credit with this Indian.

Now he is fix'd — will wage immediate War —

This will be joyful News in France and Rome,

That Ponteacb is in Arms, and won't allow

The English to possess their new-gain'd Empire:

That he has slain their Troops, destroy 'd their Forts,

Expell'd them from the Lakes to their old Limits:

That he prefers the French, and will assist

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

To repossess them of this fertile Land.

By all the Saints, of this I'll make a Merit,

Declare myself to be the wise Projector ;

This may advance me towards St. Peter's Chair,

And these blind Infidels by Accident

May have a Hand in making me a Pope —

But stop — Won't this defeat my other Purpose?

To gain the Mohawk Princess to my Wishes ?

No — by the holy Virgin, I'll surprise her,

And have one hearty Revel in her Charms.

But now I'll hasten to this Indian Council;

I may do something there that's a-propos. (Exit.

SCENE III. — An Indian Senate-House.

Ponteach, Tenesco, Philip, Astinaco, Bear, Wolf, and
French Priest.

Ponteacb.

Are all the Chiefs and Warriors here assembled,
That we expect to honour this Day's Council ?

'Tenesco. All are conven'd except the Mohawk King,
Who, as we are inform'd, denies his Presence.

Philip. I've half succeeded with the stubborn Chief,
He will not join in Council, but hath promised,
Till further Notice, not to be our Foe :
He'll see how we unite, and what Success
Attends our Arms ; in short, he gives strong Hints
That he will soon befriend the common Cause.

Ponteach. Do what he will, 'tis this explains my Meaning;

(taking up the Hatchet.
You are all well appris'd of my Design,
Which every passing Moment but confirms:
Nay, my Heart's pain'd while I with-hold my Hand
From Blood and Vengeance on our hated Foes.
Tho' I should stand alone, I'll try my Power
To punish their Encroachments, Frauds, and Pride;
Yet tho' I die, it is my Country's Cause,
'Tis better thus to die than be despis'd ;
Better to die than be a Slave to Cowards,

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Better to die than see my Friends abus'd ;

The Aged scorn'd, the Young despis'd and spurn'd.

Better to die than see my Country ruin'd,

Myself, my Sons, my Friends reduc'd to Famine,

Expell.'d from hence to barren Rocks and Mountains,

To curse our wretched Fate and pine in Want ;

Our pleasant Lakes and Fertile Lands usurp'd

By Strangers, Ravagers, rapacious Christians.

Who is it don't prefer a Death in War

Tc this impending Wretchedness and Shame?

Who is it loves his Country, Friends or Self,

And does not feel Resentment in his Soul?

Who is it sees their growing Strength and Power,

And how we waste and fail by swift Degrees,

That does not think it Time to rouse and arm,

And kill the Serpent ere we feel it sting,

And fall the Victims of its painful Poison?

Oh ! could our Fathers from their Country see

Their antient Rights sncroach'd upon and ravag'dj

And we their Children slow, supine, and careless

To keep the Liberty and Land they left us,

And tamely fall a Sacrifice to Knaves!

How would their Bosoms glow with patriot Shame,

To see their Offspring so unlike themselves?

They dared all Dangers to defend their Rights,

Nor tamely bore an Insult from a Foe.

Their plain rough Souls were brave and full of Fire,

Lovers of War, nor knew the Pain of Fear.

Rouse, then, ye Sons of antient Heroes, rouse,

Put on your Arms, and let us act a Part

Worthy the Sons of such renowned Chiefs.

Nor urge I you to Dangers that I shun,

Or mean to act my Part by words alone;

This Hand shall wield the Hatchet in the Cause,

These Feet pursue the frighted running Foe,

This Body rush into the hottest Battle;

There should I fall, I shall secure my Honour,

And, dying, urge my Countrymen to Vengeance

With more Success than all the Force of Words.

Should I survive, I'll shed the foremost Tear

O'er my brave Countrymen that chance to fall ;

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

I'll be the foremost to revenge their Blood,
And, while I live, honour both them and theirs.
I add no more, but wait to hear your Minds.

'Tenesco. Tho' I'm a Warrior, and delight in Arms,
Have oft with Pleasure heard the Sound of Battle,
And oft return'd with Victory and Triumph ;
Yet I'm not fond to fight without just Cause,
Or shed the Blood of Men for my Diversion:
But I have seen, with my own Eyes I've seen,
High Provocations from our present Foes,
Their Pride and Insults, Knavery and Frauds,
Their large Encroachments on our common Rights,
Which every Day increase, are seen by all,
And grown so common, they are disregarded.
What calls on us more loudly for Revenge,
Is their Contempt and Breach of public Faith.
When we complain, they sometimes promise fair;
When we grow restless, Treaties are propos'd,
And Promises are gilded then with Presents.
What is the End ? Still the old Trade goes on ;
Their Colonels, Governors, and mighty Men,
Cheat, lye, and break their solemn Promises,
And take no Care to have our Wrongs redress'd.
Their King is distant, would he hear our Prayers:
Still we've no other Way to come at Justice,
But by our Arms to punish Wrongs like these,
And Wrongs like these are national and public,
Concern us all, and call for public Vengeance.
And Wrongs like these are recent in our Minds.

Philip. Public or private Wrongs, no matter which.
I think our Hunters ought to be reveng'd ;
Their Bodies are found torn by rav'nous Beasts,
But who doubts they were kill'd by Englishmen?
Their Heads are scalp'd, their Arms and Jewels gone,
And Beasts of Prey can have no Use for these.
No, they were murdered, slily, basely shot,
And who that has a Heart does not resent it?
O how I long to tear their mangled Limbs !
Yes, I could eat their Hearts, and drink their Blood,
And revel in their Torments, Pains, and Tortures;
And, though I go alone, I'll seek Revenge.

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Astinaco. This is the Fire and Madness of your Youth,
And must be curb'd to do your Country Service.
Facts are not always what they seem to be,
And this perhaps may be the Fault of One
Whom their Laws punish if you once detect him.
Shall we then, to revenge your Countrymen,
To recompence a Wrong by one committed,
Rouse all to Arms, and make a general Slaughter?
'Tis higher Motives move my Mind to War,
And make me zealous in the common Cause.
But hear me — 'Tis no Trifle we're upon —
If we have Wisdom, it must now be used;
If we have Numbers, they must be united;
If we have Strength, it must be all exerted;
If we have Courage it must be inflamed,
And every Art and Stratagem be practis'd :
We've more to do than fright a Pigeon Roost,
Or start a timorous flock of running Deer;
Yes, we've a strong, a warlike stubborn Foe,
Unus'd to be repuls'd and quit the Field,
Nay, flush'd with Victories and long Success,
Their Numbers, Strength, and Courage all renown'd,
'Tis little of them that you see or know.
I've seen their Capital, their Troops and Stores,
Their Ships, their Magazines of Death and Vengeance,
And, what is more, I've seen their potent King,
Who like a God sits over all the World,
And thunders forth his Vengeance thro' the Earth,
When he is pleas'd, Smiles sit upon his Face,
And Goodness flows in Rivers at his Feet;
When he's provok'd, 'tis like a fiery Tempest,
All's Terror and Amazement in his Presence,
And frighted Heroes trembling flee his Wrath.
What then is to be done? what may we hope?
At most, by secret, sly, and subtle Means
To curb these vagrant Outcasts of his Subjects,
Secure our Countries from their further Ravage,
And make ourselves of more Importance to them,
Perhaps procure a Peace to our Advantage.
In this I'll join and head my valiant Troops,
Who will not fail to act a valiant Part.

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

'The Bear. What is the Greatness of their King to us?
What of his Strength or Wisdom ? Shall we fear
A Lion chain'd, or in another World?
Or what avails his flowing Goodness to us?
Does not the ravenous Tyger feed her Young?
And the fierce Panther fawn upon his Mate?
Do not the Wolves defend and help their Fellows
The poisonous Serpent feed her hissing Brood,
And open wide her Mouth for their Protection ?
So this good King shews Kindness to his own,
And favours them, to make a Prey of others;
But at his Hands, we may expect no Favour.
Look back, my Friends, to our Forefathers' Time,
Where is their Country? where their pleasant Haunts?
The running Streams and shady Forests where?
They chas'd the flying Game, and liv'd in Plenty.
Lo, these proud Strangers now possess the Whole;
Their Cities, Towns, and Villages arise,
Forests are spoil'd, the Haunts of Game destroy'd,
And all the Sea Coasts made one general Waste.
Between the Rivers Torrent-like they sweep,
And drive our Tribes towards the setting Sun.
They who once liv'd on yon delightful Plains
Are now no more, their very Name is lost.
The Sons of potent Kings, subdu'd and murder'd,
Are Vagrants, and unknown among their Neighbours.
Where will the Ravage stop? the Ruin where?
Does not the Torrent rush with growing Speed,
And hurry us to the same wretched End ?
'Let us grow wise then by our Fathers Folly,
Unite our Strength, too long it's been divided,
And mutual Fears and Jealousies obtain'd:
This has encourag'd our encroaching Foes,
But we'll convince them, once, we dare oppose them.

'The Wolf. Yet we have Strength by which we may oppose,
But every Day this Strength declines and fails.
Our great Forefathers, ere these Strangers came,
Liv'd by the Chace, with Nature's Girts content,
The cooling Fountain quench'd their raging Thirst.
Doctors, and Drugs, and Med'cines were unknown,
Even Age itself was free from Pain and Sickness.

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PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Swift as the Wind, o'er Rocks and Hills they chas'd

The flying Game, the bounding Stag outwinded,

And tir'd the savage Bear, and tam'd the Tyger;

At Evening feasted on the past Day's Toil,

Nor then fatigu'd; the merry Dance and Song

Succeeded ; still with every rising Sun

The Sport renew'd ; or if some daring Foe

Provok'd their Wrath, they bent the hostile Bow,

Nor waited his Approach, but rush'd with Speed,

Fearless of Hunger, Thirst, Fatigue, or Death.

But we their soften'd Sons, a puny Race,

Are weak in Youth, fear Dangers where they're no£;

Are weary 'd with what was to them a Sport,

Panting and breathless in one short Hour's Chace1;

And every Kffort of our Strength is feeble.

We're poison'd with the Infection of our Foes,

Their very Looks and Actions are infectious,

And in deep Silence spread Destruction round them.

Bethink yourselves while any Strength remains;

Dare to be like your Fathers, brave and strong,

Nor further let the growing Poison spread.

And would you stop it, you must resolve to conquer,

Destroy their Forts and Bulwarks, burn their Towns,

And keep them at a greater Distance from us.

O 'tis a Day I long have wish'd to see,

And, aged as I am, my Youth returns

To act with Vigour in so good a Cause.

Yes, you shall see the old Wolf will not fail

To head his Troops, and urge them on to Battle.

Pont each. Your Minds are all for War, we'll not delay;
Nor doubt but others gladly will comply,
When they behold our Union and Success.

Tenesco. This Holy Priest has something to propose
That may excite us all to greater Zeal.

Ponteacb. Let him be heard : 'Tis something from his Gods,
And may import the common Interest much.

Priest. (Coming from one Side, where be batb stood listening.)
'Tis not to show my Eloquence of Speech,
Or drown your Senses with unmeaning Sound,
That I desire Admittance to your Council ;
It is an Impulse from the Gods that moves me,

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

That what I say will be to your Advantage.

Oh ! With what secret Pleasure I behold

So many wise and valiant Kings unite,

And in a Cause by Gods and Saints cspous'd.

Heaven smiles on your Design, and it shall prosper.

You're going to fight the Enemies of God ;

Rebels and Traitors to the King of Kings ;

Nay those who once betray 'd and kill'd his Son,

Who came to save you Indians from Damnation —

He was an Indian, therefore theyjdestroy'd him;1

He rose again and took his flighFto Heaven;

But when his Foes are slain he'll quick return;

And be your kind Protector, Friend, and King.

Be therefore brave and fight his Battles for him ;

Spare not his Enemies, where-e'r you find 'em :

The more you murder them, the more you please him ;

Kill all you captivate, both old and young,

Mothers and Children, let them feel your Tortures;

He that shall kill a Briton, merits Heaven.

And should you chance to fall, you'll be convey'd

By flying Angels to your King that's there

Where these your hated Foes can never come-

Doubt you the Truth of this my Declaration ?

I have a Witness here that cannot lye (pulling out a turning Glass.

This Glass was touch'd by your great Saviour's Hand,

And after left in holy Peter's Care ;

When I command, it brings down Fire from Heaven,

To witness for me that I tell no Lye

(The Indians gather round and gaze.

Behold — Great God, send Fire, convince these Indian Kings
That I'm their Servant, and report the Truth,

(in a very Praying posture and solemn canting 'Tone.
Am sent to teach them what they ought to do,

1 Doubtful authority has it that a part of the far-western Jesuit catechism of
the seventeenth century ran: «' Q^ Who killed Jesus Christ? A. The bloody
English." In 1763 there were many godly and influential priests, Jesuits ind
others, who did unforgettable service in the vicinity of Detroit for the beleaguered
and all but overwhelmed English. Pere Pothier, chief of the Wyandot village
there, tried to dissuade his flock from attack. Perc Jonois, chief of the Ottawa
mission at Mackinac, brought the news of the fall of that post in a letter from
Captain Etherington, "who spoke in the highest terms " of its bearer. Pontiac
Ma. Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac , pp. 214, 243.

225

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

To kill and scalp, to torture and torment

Thy murderous treacherous Foes, the hateful English.

(it takes Firet the Indians-dr* amaz'd, and retreat from it.

Ponteacb. Who can now doubt the Justice of our Cause,
Or this Man's Mission from the King above,
And that we ought to follow his Commands?

Astinaco. 'Tis wonderful indeed — It must be so —

Tene'sco. This cannot be a Cheat — It is from Heaven —

All. We are convinc'd and ready to obey;
We are impatient to revenge our King.

Pont each. (Takes up the bloody Hatchet and flourishes it round)
Thus do I raise the Hatchet from the Ground,
Sharpen'd and bright may it be stain'd with Blood,
And never dull'd nor rusted till we've conquer'd,
And taught proud Englishmen to dread its Edge.

All. (Flourishing their Hatchets^ and striking them upon a

Block.)

Thus will we hew and carve their mangled Bodies,
And give them to the Beasts and Birds for Food.

Ponteacb. And thus our Names and Honours will maintain
While Sun and Moon, Rivers and Trees remain;
Our unborn Children shall rejoice to hear
How we their Fathers made the English fear.

The WAR SONG.

To the Tune of Over the Hills and far away, sung by Ten-
esco the head Warrior. They all join in the Chorus, and
dance while that is singing in a Circle round him; and during
the Chorus the Mustek plays.

Where-e'r the Sun displays his Light,

Or Moon is seen to shine by Night,

Where-e'r the noisy Rivers flow

Or Trees and Grass and Herbage grow. Chorus.

Bc't known that we this War begin
With proud insulting Englishmen;

The Hatchet we have lifted high, (holding up their Hatchets.)
And them we'll conquer or we'll die. Chorus.

The Edge is keen, the Blade is bright,
Nothing saves them but their Flight;

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

And then like Heroes we'll pursue,

Over the Hills and Valleys through. Chorus.

They'll like frighted Women quake,

When they behold a hissing Snake;

Or like timorous Deer away,

And leave both Goods and Arms a Prey. Chorus.

Pain'd with Hunger, Cold, or Heat,
In Haste they'll from our Land retreat;
While we'll employ our scalping Knives —

(drawing and flourishing their scalping Knives.
Take off their Sculls, and spare their Lives. Chorus

Or in their Country they'll complain,
Nor ever dare return again ;
Or if they should they'll rue the Day,
And curse the Guide that.shew'd the Way. Chorus.

If Fortune smiles, we'll not be long

Ere we return with Dance and Song,

But ah ! if we should chance to die,

Dear Wives and Children do not cry. Chorus.

Our Friends will ease your Grief and Woe,

By double Vengeance on the Foe;

Will kill, and scalp, and shed their Blood,

Where-e'er they find them thro' the Wood. Chorus.

No pointing Foe shall ever say

'Twas there the vanquish'd Indian lay ;

Or boasting to his Friends relate

The Tale of our unhappy Fate. Chorus.

Let us with Courage then away

To hunt and seize the frighted Prey;

Nor think of Children, Friend or Wife,

While there's an Englishman alive. Chorus.

In Heat and Cold, thro* Wet and Dry,
Will we pursue, and they shall fly
To Seas which they a Refuge think,
And there in wretched Crouds they'll sink.

Chorus. Exeunt omnes singing.

Tbc End of the Third ACT.

227

ACT IV.

SCENE I. — 7 "be Border of a Grove.

Enter Tenesco to Philip and Chckitan.

Tenesco.

The Troops are all assembled, some have march'd,
Perhaps are now engag'd, and warm in Battle;
The rest have Orders where to bend their Course.
Each Tribe is headed by a valiant Chief,
Except the Bulls which fall to one of you;
The other stays to serve the State at home,
Or back us, should our Forces prove too weak.

Philip. The Bulls are brave, had they a brave Commander,
They'd push the Battle home with sure Success.
I'd chuse of all the Troops to be their Leader;
For tho' I'd neither Courage, Skill, nor Strength,
Honour attends the Man who heads the Brave;
Many are dubb'd for Heroes in these Times,
Who owe their Fame to those whom they commanded.

Tenesco. But we shall ne'er suspect your Title false ;
Already you've confirm'd your Fame and Courage,
And prov'd your Skill and Strength as a Commander.

Philip. Still I'll endeavor to deserve your Praise,
Nor long delay the Honour you propose.

Chekitan. But this will interfere with your Design,
And oversets the Sciieme of winning Hendrick.

Philip. Ah true — and kills your Hopes — This man's in
Love. (To Tenesco.

Tenesco. Indeed! In Love with whom? King Hendrick' s
Daughter?

Philip. The same; and I've engag'd to win her Father.

Tenesco. This may induce him to espouse our Cause.
Which likewise you engag'd should be effected.

Philip. But then I can't command as was propos'd
I must resign that Honour to this Lover,
While I conduct and form this double Treaty.

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Tentsco. I am content if you but please yourselves
By means and Ways not hurtful to the Public.

Chekitan. Was not the Public serv'd, no private Ends
Would tempt me to detain him from the Field,
Or in his Stead propose myself a Leader ;
But every Power I have shall be exerted :
And if in Strength or Wisdom I should fail,
I dare presume you'll ever find me faithful.

Tenesco. I doubt it not — You'll not delay your Charge;
The Troops are all impatient for the Battle.

(Exeunt Tenesco and Philip.

Chekitant solus.

This is not to my Mind — But J must do it —
If Philip heads the Troops, my Hopes are blown —
I must prepare, and leave the Event to Fate
And him — 'Tis fix'd — There is no other Choice;
Monelia I must leave, and think of Battles —
She will be safe — But Oh the Chance of War —
Perhaps I fall — and never see her more —
This shocks my Soul in spite of Resolution —
The bare Perhaps is more than Daggers to me —
To part for ever! I'd rather stand against
Embattled Troops than meet this single Thought;
A Thought in Poison dipp'd and pointed round;

0 how it pains my doubting trembling Heart!

1 must not harbour it — My Word is gone —
My Honour calls — and, what is more, my Love.

(Noise of Monelia striving behind the Scene.
What Sound is that? — It is Monelia s Voice;
And in Distress — What Monster gives her Pain?

( Going towards the Sound, the Scene opens and discovers the
Priest with her.)

SCENE II. — Monelia and Priest.

What do I see? The holy Priest is with her.

Monelia. (Struggling with the Priest ', and trying to disengage
No, I would sooner die than be dishonour'd — [herself.)

Cut my own Throat, or drown me in the Lake.

Priest. Do you love Indians better than us white Men?

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PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Monelia. Nay, should an Indian make the foul Attempt,
I'd murder him, or kill my wretched Self.

Priest. I must, I can, and will enjoy you now.

Monelia. You must! You shan't, you cruel, barbarous

Christian.

Cbekitan. Hold, thou mad Tyger— What Attempt is this?

(seizing him.

Are you a Christian Priest? What do you here? (pushes him.
What was his will, Monelia? He is dumb.

Monelia. May he be dumb and blind, and senseless quite,
That has such brutal Baseness in his Mind.

Cbekitan. Base, false Deceiver, what could you intend ?

(making towards him.

Monelia. Oh I am faint — You have preserv'd my Honour,
Which he, foul Christian, thirsted to destroy.

(Priest attempts to go.

Cbekitan. Stay ; leave your Life to expiate your Crime :
Your heated Blood shall pay for your Presumption.

(offering to strike him with a Hatchet.

Priest. Good Prince, forbear your pious Hand from Blood;
I did not know you was this Maiden's Lover,
1 took her for a Stranger, half your Foe.

Cbekitan. Did you not know she was King Hendrick's

Daughter?

Did you not know that she was not your Wife?
Have you not told us, holy Men like you
Are by the Gods forbid all fleshly Converse?
Have you not told us, Death, and Fire, and Hell
Await those who are incontinent,
Or dare to violate the Rites of Wedlock?
That your God's mother liv'd and died a Virgin,
And thereby set Example to her Sex?
What means all this ? Say you such Things to us,
That you alone may revel in these Pleasures ?

Priest. I have a Dispensation from St. Pett,
To quench the Fire of Love when it grows painful,
This makes it innocent like Marriage Vows;
And all our holy Priests, and she herself,
Commits no Sin in this Relief of Nature:
For, being holy, there is no Pollution
Communicated from us as from others;

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Nay, Maids arc holy after we've enjoy 'd them,
And, should the Seed take Root, the Fruit is pure.

Chekitan. Oh vain Pretence ! Falshood and foul Deception !
None but a Christian could devise such Lies !
Did I not fear it might provoke your Gods,
Your Tongue should never frame Deceit again.
If there are Gods, and such as you have told us,
They must abhor all Baseness and Deceit,
And will not fail to punish Crimes like yours.
To them I leave you — But avoid my Presence,
Nor let me ever see your hated Head,
Or hear your lying Tongue within this Country.

Priest. Now by St. Peter I must go — He's raging, (aside,

Chekitan. That Day I do, by your great dreadful God,
This Hand shall cleave your Head, and spill your Blood,
Not all your Prayers, and Lyes, and Saints shall save you.

Priest. I've got his Father's Secret, and will" use it.
Such JDisappointment ought to be reveng'd. (aside.

Chekitan. Don't mutter here, and conjure up your Saints,
I value not their Curses, or your Prayers.

(stepping towards the Priest to hurry him.

Priest. By all the Saints, young Man, thou shalt repent it.

(Exit.

Monelia. Base, false Dissembler — Tyger, Snake, a Christian !
1 hate the Sight; I fear the very Name.

0 Prince, what has not your kind Presence sav'd me !
Chekitan. It sav'd to me more than my Father's Empire;

Far more than Crowns and Worlds — It sav'd Monelia^
The Hope of whom is more than the Creation.
In this I feel the Triumphs of an Hero,
And glory more than if I'd conquer'd Kingdoms.
Monelia. O I am thine, I'm more than ever thine;

1 am your Captive now, your lawful Prize :
You've taken me in War, a dreadful War!
And snatch'd me from the hungry Tyger's Jaw.
More than my Life and Service is your Due,
And had I more I would devote it to you.

Chekitan. O my Monelia I rich is my Reward,
Had I lost Life itself in the Encounter;
But still I fear that Fate will snatch you from me.
Where is your Brother? Why was you alone?

23'

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Enter Torax, from listening to their Discourse.

Torax. Here am I : What would you of me?

M one Ha. 'Torax !

I've been assaulted by a barbarous Man,
And by mere Accident escap'd my Ruin.

Torax. What Foe is here? The English are not come?

Monelia. No : But a Christian lurk'd within the Grove,
And every Christian is a Foe to Virtue ;
Insidious, subtle, cruel, base, and false!
Like Snakes, their very Eyes are full of Poison ;
And where they are not Innocence is safe.

Torax. ' The holy Priest! Is he so vile a Man?
I heard him mutter Threat'nings as I past him.

Chekitan. I spar'd his guilty Life, but drove him hence,
On Pain of Death and Tortures, never more
To tread the Earth, or breathe the Air with me.
Be warn'd by this to better tend your Charge.
You see how Mischiefs lye conceal'd about us,
We tread on Serpents ere we hear them hiss,
And Tygers lurk to seize the incautious Prey.
I must this Hour lead forth my Troops to Battle, .
They're now in Arms, and waiting my Command.

Monelia. What Safety shall I have when you are gone?
I must not, cannot, will not longer tarry,
Lest other Christians, or some other Foe,
Attempt my Ruin.

Cbekitan. Torax will be your Guard.
My Honour suffers, should I now decline;
It is my Country's Cause; I've pawn'd my Word,
Prevented Philip, to make sure of you.
He stays. 'Tis all in favour to our Love:
We must at present please ourselves with Hopes.

Monelia. Oh! my fond heart no more conceals its Flame;
I fear, my Prince, I fear our Fates are cruel:
There's something whispers in my anxious Breast,
That if you go, I ne'er shall see you more.

Cbekitan. Oh ! how her Words unman and melt my Soul !
As if her Fears were Prophecies of Fate. (aside.

I will not go and leave you thus in Fears;
I'll frame Excuses — Philip shall command —

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

I'll find some other Means to turn the King;

I'll venture Honour, Fortune, Life, and Love,

Rather than trust you from my Sight again.

For what avails all that the World can give ?

If you're with-held, all other Gifts are Curses,

And Fame and Fortune serve to make me wretched.

Monelia. Now you grow wild — You must not think of

staying;

Our only Hope, you know, depends on Philip.
I will not fear, but hope for his Success,
And your Return with Victory and Triumph,
That Love and Honour both may crown our Joy.

Cbekitan. Now this is kind; I am myself again.
You had unman'd and soften'd all rny Soul,
Disarm'd my Hand, and cowardiz'd my Heart:
But now in every Vein I Teel an Hero,
Defy the thickest Tempest of the War:
Yes, like a Lion conscious of his Strength,
Fearless of Death I'll rush into the Battle;
I'll fight, I'll conquer, triumph and return;
Laurels I'll gain and lay them at your Feet.

Monelia. .May the Success attend you that you wish !
May our whole Scheme of Happiness succeed!
May our next Meeting put an End to Fear,
And Fortune shine upon us in full Blaze !

Cbekitan. May Fate preserve you as her Darling Charge !
May all the Gods and Goddesses, and Saints,
If conscious of our Love, turn your Protectors !
And the great thundering God with Lightning burn
Him that but means to interrupt your Peace.

(Exeunt.

SCENE III. — Indian Senate-House.
Ponteach and Philip.

Pont each.
Say you that Torax then is fond of War ?

Philip. He is, and waits impatient my Return.
Ponteach. 'Tis friendly in you thus to help your Brother;

233

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

But I suspect his Courage in the Field ;

A love-sick Boy makes but a cow'rdly Captain.

Philip. His Love may spur him on with greater Courage;
He thinks he's fighting for a double Prize;
And but for this, and Hopes of greater Service
In forwarding the Treaty with the Mohawk,
I now had been in Arms and warm in Battle.

Ponteach. I much commend the Wisdom of your Stay.
Prepare yourself, and hasten to his Quarters ;
You cannot make th' Attempt with too much Speed.
Urge ev'ry Argument with Force upon him,
Urge my strong Friendship, urge your Brother's Love,
His Daughter's Happiness, the common Good;
The general Sense of all the Indian Chiefs,
The Baseness of our Foes, our Hope of Conquest;
The Richness of the Plunder if we speed;
That we'll divide and share it as he pleases ;
That our Success is certain if he joins us.
Urge these, and what besides to you occurs;
AH cannot fail, 1 think, to change his Purpose.

Philip. You'd think so more if you knew all my Plan.

(aside.

I'm all prepar'd now I've receiv'd your Orders,
But first must speak t' his Children ere I part,
I am to meet them in the further Grove.

Ponteach. Hark! there's a shout — We've News of some

Success ;
It is the Noise of Victory and Triumph.

Enter a Messenger.

Huzza! for our brave Warriors are return'd
Loaded with Plunder and the Scalps of Christians.

Enter Warrior.

Ponteach. What have you done? Why all this Noise and

Shouting?
ist Warrior. Three Forts are taken, all consum'd and

plunder'd;

The English in them all destroy'd by Fire,
Except some few escap'd to die with Hunger.

234

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

2nd Warrior. We've smoak'd the Bear in spite of all his Craft,
Burnt up their Den, and made them take the Field :
The mighty Colonel Cockum and his Captain
Have dull'd our Tomhocks; here are both their Scalps:

(nolding out the 'Two Scalps.
Their Heads are split, our Dogs have eat their Brains.

Philip. If that be all they've eat, the Hounds will starve.

$d Warrior. These are the Scalps of those two famous Cheats
Who bought our Furs for Rum, and sold us Water.

(holding out the Scalps, which Ponteach takes.
Our Men are loaded with their Furs again,
And other Plunder from the Villains Stores.

Ponteacb. All this is brave ! (tossing up the scalps^ which others
catchy and toss and throw them about.
This Way we'll serve them all.

Philip. We'll cover all our Cabbins with their Scalps :

Warriors. We'll fat our Dogs upon their Brains and Blood.

Ponteach. Ere long we'll have their Governors in Play :

Philip. And knock their grey-wig'd Scalps about this Way.

Ponteach. The Game is started ; Warriors hunt away,
Nor let them find a Place to shun your Hatchets.

All Warriors. We will ; We will soon shew you other Scalps.

Philip. Bring some alive ; I long to see them dance
In Fire and Flames, it us'd to make them caper.

Warriors. Such Sport enough you'll have before we've done.

(Exeunt.

Ponteach. This still will help to move the Mahawk King.
Spare not to make the most of uur Success.

Philip. Trust me for that — Hark; there's another Shout;

(shouting without.
A Shout for Prisoners — Now I have my Sport.

Ponteach. It is indeed; and there's a Number too.

Enter Warriors.

We've broke the Barrier, burnt their Magazines,
Slew Hundreds of them, and pursu'd the rest
Quite to their Settlements.

2nd Warrior. There we took
Their famous Hunters Honnyman and Orsbourn;
The last is slain, this is his bloody Scalp. (tossing it up.

With them we found the Guns of our lost Hunters,

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

And other Proofs that they're the Murderers ;

Nay, Honnyman confesses the base Deed,

And, boasting, says, he's kill'd a Score of Indians.

jd Warrior. This is the bloody Hunter: This his Wife;

(leading them forward^ pinioned and tied together.
With Two young Brats that will be like their Father.
We took them in their Nest, and spoil'd their E)reams.

Philip. Oh I could eat their Hearts and drink their Blood,
Were they not Poison, and unfit for Dogs.
Here, you Blood-hunter, have you lost your feeling?
You Tygress Bitch ! You Breeder up of Serpents !

(slapping Honnyman in the Facey and kicking his Wife.
Ponteacb. Stop — We must first consult which way to torture.
And whether all shall die — We will retire.

Philip, going.
Take care they don't escape.

Warrior. They're bound secure.

(Exeunt Indians, manent Prisoners.

SCENE IV.

Mrs. Honnyman.

O Honnyman, how desperate is our Case !
There's not a single Hope of Mercy left:
How savage, cruel, bloody did they look !
Rage and Revenge appear'd in every Face.

Honnyman. You may depend upon't, we all must die.
I've made such Havock, they'll have no Compassion;
They only wait to study out new Torments :
All that can be inflicted or endur'd,
We may expect from their relentless Hands.
Their brutal Eyes ne'er shed a pitying Tear ;
Their savage Hearts ne'er had a Thought of Mercy;
Their Bosoms swell with Rancour and Revenge,
And, Devil-like, delight in others Plagues,
Love Torments, Torture, Anguish, Fire, and Pain,
The deep-fetch'd Groan, the melancholy Sigh,
And all the Terrors and Distress of Death,
These are their Musick, and enhance their Joy.
In Silence then submit yourself to Fate:

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PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Make no Complaint, nor ask for their Compassion;

This will confound and half destroy their Mirth ;

Nay, this may put a stop to many Tortures,

To which our Prayers and Tears and Plaints would move them.

Mrs. Hon. O dreadful Scene ! Support me, mighty God,
To pass the Terrors of this dismal Hour,
All dark with Horrors, Torments, Pains, and Death!
O let me not despair of thy kind Help;
Give Courage to my wretched groaning Heart !

Honnyman. Tush, Silence ! You'll be overheard.

Mrs. Hon. O my dear Husband! 'Tis an Hour for Prayer,
An Infidel would pray in our Distress:
An Atheist would believe there was some God
To pity Pains and Miseries so great.

Honnyman. If there's a God, he knows our secret Wishes;
This Noise can be no Sacrifice to him;
It opens all the Springs of our weak Passions.
Besides, it will be Mirth to our Tormentors;
They'll laugh, and call this Cowardice in Christians,
And say Religion makes us all mere Women.

Mrs. Hon. I will suppress my Grief in Silence then,
And secretly implore the Aid of Heaven.
Forbid to pray ! O dreadful Hour indeed! (pausing.

Think you they will not spare our dear sweet Babes?
Must these dear Innocents be put to Tortures,
Or dash'd to Death, and share our wretched Fate?
Must this dear Babe that hangs upon my Breast

(looking upon her Infant.

Be snatch'd by savage Hands and torn in Pieces !
O how it rends my Heart ! It is too much !
Tygers would kindly soothe a Grief like mine ;
Unconscious Rocks would melt, and flow in Tears
At this last Anguish of a Mother's Soul.

(pauses, and views her Child again.
Sweet Innocent! It smiles at this Distress,
And fondly draws this final Comfort from me :
Dear Babe, no more : Dear Tommy too must die,

(looking at her other Child.
Oh my sweet First-born ! Oh I'm overpower'd. (pausing.

Honnyman. I had determin'd not to shed a tear; (weeping.
But you have all unmann'd my Resolution ;

23?

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

You've call'd up all the Father in my Soul ;
Why have you narn'd my Children ? O my Son !

(looking upon him.

My only Son — My Image — Other Self!
How have I doted on the charming Boy,
And fondly plann'd his Happiness in Life!
Now his Life ends : Oh the Soul-bursting Thought !
He falls a Victim for his Father's Folly.
Had I not kill'd their Friends, they might have spar'd
My Wife, my Children, and perhaps myself,
And this sad dreadful Scene had never happen'd, .
But 'tis too late that I perceive my Folly ;
If Heaven forgive, 'tis all I dare to hope for.

Mrs. Hon. What! have you been a Murderer indeed!
And kill'd the Indians for Revenge and Plunder?
I thought you rash to tempt their brutal Rage,
But did not dream you guilty as you said.

Honnyman. I am indeed. I murder'd many of them,
And thought it not amiss, but now I fear.

Mrs. Honn. O shocking Thought ! Why have you let me know
Yourself thus guilty in the Kye of Heaven?
That I and my dear Babes were by you brought
To this Extreme of Wretchedness and Woe?
Why have you let me know the solemn Weight
Of horrid Guilt that lies upon us all?
To have died innocent, and seen these Babes
By savage Hands dash'd to immortal Rest,
This had been light, for this implies no Crime:
But now we die as guilty Murderers,
Not savage Indians^ but just Heaven's Vengeance
Pursues our Lives with all these Pains and Tortures.
This is a Thought that points the keenest Sorrow,
And leaves no Room for Anguish to be heighten'd.

Honnyman. Upbraid me not, nor lay my Guilt to Heart;
You and these Fruits of our past morning Love
Are innocent. I feel the Smart and Anguish,
The Stings of Conscience, and my Soul on Fire.
There's not a Hell more painful than my Bosom,
Nor Torments for the Damn'd more keenly pointed.
How could I think to murder was no Sin?
Oh my lost Neighbour! I seduc'd him too.

238

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Now Death with all its Terrors disappears,
And all I fear's a dreadful Something-after;
My Mind forebodes a horrid woful Scene,
Where Guilt is chain'd and tortur'd with Despair.

Mrs. Hon. The Mind oppress'd with Guilt may find Relief.

Honnyman. Oh could I reach the pitying Ear of Heaven,
And all my Soul evaporate in Sound,
'Twould ask Forgiveness ! but I fear too late ;
And next I'd ask that you and these dear Babes
Might bear no Part in my just Punishment.
Who knows but by pathetic Prayers and Tears
Their savage Bosoms may relent towards you,
And fix their Vengeance where just Heaven points it?
I still will hope, and every Motive urge.
Should I succeed, and melt their rocky Hearts,
I'd take it as a Presage of my Pardon,
And die with Comfort when I see you live.

(Death Halloo is heard without.

Mrs. Hon. Hark! they are coming — Hear that dreadful
Halloo.

Honnyman. It is Death's solemn Sentence to us all;
They are resolv'd, and all Intreaty's vain.
O horrid Scene! how shall I act my Part?
Was it but simple Death to me alone !
But all your Deaths are mine, and mine the Guilt.

Enter Indians, with Stakesy Hatchet s> and Firebrands.

O horrid Preparation, more than Death !

Ponteach. Plant down the Stakes, and let them be confin'd.

(they loose them from each other.
First kill the Tygers, then destroy their Whelps.
Philip. This Brat is in our Way, I will dispatch it.

(offering to snatch the sucking Infant.
Mrs. Hon. No, my dear Babe shall in my Bosom die;
There is its Nourishment, and there its End.

Philip. Die both together then, 'twill mend the Sport ;
Tie the other to his Father, make a Pair;
Then each will have a Consort in their Pains;
Their sweet Brats with them, to increase the Dance.

(they are tied down facing each other upon their
Knees, and their Backs to the Stakes.

239

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Warrior. All now is ready ; they arc bound secure.

Philip. Whene'er you please, their jovial Dance begins.

(to Ponteach.

^ Mrs. Hon. O my dear Husband ! What a Sight is this!
Could ever fabling Poet draw Distress
To such Perfection ! Sad Catastrophe !
There are not Colours for such deep-dyed Woe,
Nor Words expressive of such heighten'd Anguish.
Ourselves, bur Babes, O cruel, cruel Fate!
This, this is Death indeed with all its Terrors.

Honnyman. Is there no secret Pity in your Minds?
Can you not feel some tender Passion move,
When you behold the Innocent distress'd?
True, I am guilty, and will bear your Tortures :
Take your Revenge by all the Arts of Torment;
Invent new Torments, lengthen out my Woe,
And let me feel the keenest Edge of Pain :
But spare this innocent afflicted Woman,
Those smiling fiabes who never yet thought 111,
They never did nor ever will offend you.

Philip. It cannot be: They are akin to you,
Well learnt to hunt and murder, kill and rob.

Pont each. Who ever spar'd a Serpent in the Egg?
Or left young Tygers quiet in their Den ?

Warrior. Or cherishes young Vipers in his Bosom?

Philip. Begin, begin; I'll lead the merry Dance.

(offering at the Woman with a Firebrand.

Ponteach. Stop: Are we not unwise to kill this Woman?
Or sacrifice her Children to our Vengeance ?
They have not wrong'd us ; can't do present Mischief.
1 know her Friends ; they're rich and powerful,
And in their Turn will take severe Revenge:
But if we spare, they'll hold themselves oblig'd,
And purchase their Redemption with rich Presents.
Is not this better than an Hour's Diversion,
To hear their Groans, and Plaints, and piteous Cries ?

Warriors. You Counsel's wise, and much deserves our Praise ;
They shall be spar'd.

Ponteach. Untie, and take them hence;

(they untie the Woman and the oldest Child from Honnyman,
and retire a little to consult his Death.
240

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

When the War ends her Friends shall pay us for it.

Philip. I'd rather have the Sport than all the Pay.

Honnyman. O now, kind Heaven, thou hast heard my Prayer,
And what's to follow I can meet with Patience.

Mrs. Hon. O my dear Husband, could you too be freed !

(weeping,

Yet must I stay and suffer Torments with you.
This seeming Mercy is but Cruelty!
I cannot leave you in this Scene of Woe,
'Tis easier far to stay and die together !

Honnyman. Ah ! but regard our Childrens Preservation ;
Conduct their Youth, and form their Minds to Virtue ;
Nor let them know their Father's wretched End,
Lest lawless Vengeance should betray them too.

Mrs. Hon. If I must live, I must retire from hence,
Nor see your fearful Agonies in Death;
This would be more than all the Train of Torments.
The horrid Sight would sink me to the Dust;
These helpless Infants would become a Prey
To worse than Beasts, to savage, bloody Men.

Honnyman. Leave me — They are prepar'd, and coming on ' —
Heav'n save you all ! O 'tis the last dear Sight!

Mrs. Hon. Oh may we meet where Fear and Grief are

banish'd !
Dearest of Men, adieu — Adieu till then.

(Exit, weeping with her Children.

Philip. Bring Fire and Knives, and Clubs, and Hatchets all;

1 "If the sentence of a prisoner be death, the whole village sets up the death-
hollo or cry, and the execution is no longer deferred than till they can make the
necessary preparations for it. They first strip the person who is to suffer naked
and fixing two posts in the ground, they fasten to them two pieces crossways, one
about two feet from the ground, the other about five or six feet higher ; they then
oblige the unhappy victim to mount upon the lower crosspiece ; and in this pos
ture they burn him all over the body, sometimes first daubing him all over with
pitch. The whole village, men, women, and children, assemble around him, and
everyone has a right r.o torture him in whatever manner they please. If none of
his bystanders are inclined to lengthen out his torments, he is not long kept in
pain, but is either shot to death with arrows or inclosed with dry bark, to which
they set fire ; they then leave him on the frame, and in the evening run from
cabin to cabin and strike with small twigs their furniture, the walls and roof of
their cabins, to prevent his spirit from remaining there to take vengeance for the
evils committed on the body." Rogers, A Concise Account of North America,
p. 235.

241

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Let the old Hunter feel the Smart of Pain.

(they fall upon Honnyman with various Instruments
of Torture.

Honnyman. Oh ! this is exquisite ! (groaning and struggling.

1st Warrior. Hah ! Does this make you dance?

2d Warrior. This is fine fat Game!

Philip. Make him caper.

(striking him with a Club, kicking, &c.

Honnyman. O ye eternal powers, that rule on high,
If in your Minds be Sense of human Woe,
Hear my Complaints, and pity my Distress!

Philip. Ah call upon your Gods, you faint-heart Coward !

Honnyman. Oh dreadful Racks ! When will this Torment end ?
Oh for a Respite from all Sense of Pain !
'Tis come — I go — You can — no more torment (dies.

Philip. He's dead; he'll hunt no more; h' as done with
Game. (striking the dead Body, and spitting in the Fate.

Ponteach. Drive hence his wretched Spirit, lest it plague us;
Let him go hunt the Woods; he's now disarm'd.

( They run round brushing the Walls, &c. to dislodge the Spirit.

All. Out, Hunters, out, your Business here is done. —
Out to the Wilds, but do not take your Gun.

Pont each, (to the Spirit)

Go, tell our Countrymen, whose Blood you shed,
That the great Hunter Honnyman is dead:
That we're alive, we'll make the English know,
Whene'er they dare to serve us Indians so :
This will be joyful News to Friends from France,
We'll join the Chorus then, and have a Dance.

(Exeunt omnes, dancing, and singing the two last Lines.

End of the Fourth ACT.

242

ACT V.

SCENE I. — The Border of a Grove, in which
Monelia and Torax are asleep.

Enter Philip, speaking to himself.

As a dark Tempest brewing in the Air,
For many Days hides. Sun and Moon, and Stars,
At length grown ripe, bursts forth and forms a Flood
That frights both Men and Beasts, and drowns the Land;
So my dark Purpose now must have its Birth,
Long nourish'd in my Bosom, 'tis matur'd,
And ready to astonish and embroil
Kings and their Kingdoms, and decide their Fates.
-Are-they^ notjiere ? Have I delay'd too long?

(he espies them asleep.

Yes, in a Posture too beyond my Hopes,
Asleep ! This is the Providence of Fate,
And proves she patronizes my Design,
And I'll shew her that Philip is no Coward.

(taking up his Hatchet in one Hand, and Scalping Knife in

the other , towards them.

A Moment now is more than Years to come:
Intrepid as I am, the Work is shocking.

(he retreats from them.

Is it their Innocence that shakes my Purpose?
No; I can tear the Suckling from the Breast,
And drink their Blood who never knew a Crime.
Is it because my Brother's Charmer dies?
That cannot be, for that is my Revenge.
Is it because Monelia is a woman ?
I've long been blind and deaf to their Enchantments.
Is it because I take them thus unguarded?
No; though I act the Coward, it's a Secret.
What is it that shakes my firm and fix'd Resolve?

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PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

'Tis childish Weakness: I'll not be unman'd.

(approaches and retreats again.
There's something awful in the Face of Princes,
And he that sheds their Blood, assaults the Gods :
But I'm a Prince, and 'tis by me they die;

(advances arm'd as before.
Each Hand contains the Fate of future Kings,
And, were they Gods, I would not balk my Purpose.

(stabs Monelia with the Knife.
Torax. Hah, Philip^ are you come? What can you mean ?

(Torax starts and cries out.
Philip. Go learn my Meaning in the World of Spirits;

(knocks him down with his Hatchet^ &c.
'Tis now too late to make a Question of it.
The Play is ended (looking upon the Bodies] now succeeds the

Farce.
Hullo! Help! Haste! the Enemy is here.

(calling at one of the Doors, and returning.
Help is at Hand — But I must first be wounded:

(wounds himself.
Now let the Gods themselves detect the Fraud.

Enter an Indian.

What means your Cry? Is any Mischief here?

Philip. Behold this flowing Blood ; a desperate Wound !

(shewing his Wound.
And there's a Deed that shakes the Root of Empires.

(pointing to the Bodies.

2d Ind. O fatal Sight ! the Mohawk Prince is murder'd.
jd Ind. The Princess too is weltering in her Blood.
Philip. Both, both are gone; 'tis well that I escap'd. .

Enter Ponteach.

What means this Outcry, Noise, and Tumult here ?

Philip. O see, my Father ! see the Blood of Princes,
A Sight that might provoke the Gods to weep,
And drown the Country in a Flood of Tears.
Great was my Haste, but could not stop the Deed;
I rush'd among their Numbers for Revenge,
They frighted fled ; there I receiv'd this Wound.

(shewing his Wound to Ponteach.

244

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Ponteacb. Who, what were they? or where did they escape?

Philip. A Band of English Warriors, bloody Dogs !
This Way they ran from my vindictive Arm, (pointing, &c.
Which but for this base Wound would sure have stopp'd them.

Ponteach. Pursue, pursue, with utmost Speed pursue,

(to the Warriors present.
Outfly the Wind till you revenge this Blood ;
'Tis royal Blood, we hold it as our own.

(Exeunt Warriors in haste.
This Scene is dark, and doubtful the Event;
Some great Decree of Kate depends upon it,
And mighty Good or 111 awaits Mankind.
The Blood of Princes cannot flow in vain,
Tht; Gods must be in Council to permit it:
It is the Harbinger of their Designs,
To change, new-mould, and alter Things on Earth :
And much I fear, 'tis ominous of 111
To me and mine; it happen'd in my Kingdom.
Their Father's Rage will swell into a Torrent —
They were my Guests — His Wrath will Centre here;
Our guilty Land hath drunk his Children's Blood.

Philip. Had I not seen the flying Murderers,
Myself been wounded to revenge their Crime,
Had you not hasten'd to pursue the Assassins,
He might have thought us treacherous and false,
Or wanting in our hospitable Care :
But now it cannot but engage his Friendship,
Rouse him to Arms, and with a Father's Rage
He'll point his Vengeance where it ought to fall;
And thus this Deed, though vile and dark as Night,
In its Events will open Day upon us,
And prove of great Advantage to our State.

Ponteach. Haste then ; declare our Innocence and Grief;
Tell the old King we mourn as for our own,
And are determin'd to revenge his Wrongs;
Assure him that our Enemies are his,
And rouse him like a Tyger to the Prey.

Philip. I will with Speed ; but first this bleeding Wound
Demands my Care, lest you lament me too.

(Exit, to have his Wound dress'd.

245

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Ponteacb, solus.
Pale breathless Youths ! Your Dignity still lives :

(viewing the Bodies.

Your Murderers were blind, or they'd have trembled,
Nor dar'd to wound such Majesty and Worth;
Jt would have tam'd the savage running Bear,
And made the raging Tyger fondly fawn;
But your more savage Murderers were Christians.
Oh the distress'd good King ! I feel for him,
And wish to comfort his desponding Heart;
But your last Rites require my present Care. . (Exit.

SCENE II. — The Senate-House.
Ponteach, Tenesco, and others.

Pont each.

Let all be worthy of the royal Dead ;
Spare no Expence to grace th' unhappy Scene,
And aggrandize the solemn gloomy Pomp
With all our mournful melancholy Rites.

Tenesco. It shall be done; all Things are now preparing.

Pont each. Never were Funeral Rites bestow'd more just;
Who knew them living, must lament them dead;
Who sees them dead, must wish to grace their Tombs
With all the sad Respect of Grief and Tears.

Tenesco. The Mourning is as general as the News;
Grief sits on every Face, in every Eye,
And gloomy Melancholy in Silence reigns:
Nothing is heard but Sighs and sad Complaints,
As if the First-born of the Realm were slain.

Ponteacb. Thus would 1 have it; let no Eye be dry,
No Heart unmov'd, let every Bosom swell
With Sighs and Groans. What Shouting do I hear?

(a Shouting without, repeated several Times.

Tenesco. It is the Shout of Warriors from the Battle;
The Sound of Victory and great Success.

(he goes to listen to it.

Ponteacb. Such is the State of Men and human Things;
We weep, we smile, we mourn, and laugh thro' Life,

246

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Here falls a Blessing, there alights a Curse,
As the good Genius or the evil reigns.
It's right it should be so. Should either conquer,
The World would cease, and Mankind be undone
By constant Frowns or Flatteries from Fate;
This constant Mixture makes the Potion safe,
And keeps the sickly Mind of Man in health.

Enter Chekitan.

It is my Son. What has been your Success?

Chekitan. We've fought the Enemy, broke thro* their Ranks,
Slain many on the Spot, pursu'd the rest
Till Night conceal'd and sav'd them from our Arms.

Ponteacb. 'Tis bravely done, and shall be duely honor'd
With all the Signs and Marks of public Joy.

Chekitan. What means this Gloom I see in every Face?
These smother'd Groans and stifled half-drawn Sighs ;
Does it offend that I've return'd in Triumph?

Ponteach. I fear to name — And yet it must be known.

(aside.

Be not alarm'd, my Son, the Laws of Fate
Must be obey'd: She will not hear our Dictates.
I'm not a Stranger to your youthful Passion,
And fear the Disapointment will confound you.

Chekitan. Has he not sped? Has 111 befel my Brother?

Ponteach. Yes, he is wounded but — Monelia's slain,
And Torax both. Slain by the cowardly English^
Who 'scap'd your Brother's wounded threatning Arm,
But are pursued by such as will revenge it —

Chekitan. Oh wretched, wretched, wretched Chekitan I

(aside.

Ponteach. I know your're shock'd — The Scene hath shock'd

us all,

And what we could, we've done to wipe the Stain
From us, our Family, our Land and State ;
And now prepare due Honours for the Dead,
With all the solemn Pomp of public Grief,
To shew Respect as if they were our own.

Chekitan. Is this my Triumph after Victory ?
A solemn dreadful pompous Shew :
Why have I scap'd their Swords and liv'd to see it ? (aside.

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Montlia dead! aught else I cou'd have borne:
I'm stupify'd: I can't believe it true;
Shew me the Dead ; 1 will believe my Eyes,
But cannot mourn or drop a Tear till then.

Tenesco. I will conduct you to them — Follow me —

(Exeunt Tenesco and Chekitan.

Ponteacb. This is a sad Reception from a Conquest,
And puts an awful Gloom upon our Joy ;
I fear his Grief will over-top his Reason;
A Lover weeps with more than common Pain.
Nor flows his greatest Sorrow at his Eyes :
His Grief is inward, and his Heart sheds Tears,
And in his Soul he feels the pointed Woe,
When he beholds the lovely Object lost.
The deep-felt Wound admits no sudden Cure;
The festering Humor will not be dispers'd,
It gathers on the Mind, and Time alone,
That buries all Things, puts an End to this.

(Exeunt omnes.

SCENE III. — The Grove, with the dead Bodies;
Tenesco pointing Chekitan to them.

Tenesco.

There lie the Bodies, Prince, a wretched Sight!
Breathless and pale.

Cbekitan. A wretched Sight indeed ; (going towards them.
O my Monelia ; has thy Spirit fled ?
Art thou no more? a bloody breathless Corpse!
Am I return'd full flush'd with Hopes of Joy,
With all the Honours Victory can give,
To see thee thus? Is this, is this my Welcome?
Is this our Wedding? Wilt thou not return?
O charming Princess, art thou gone for ever ?
Is this the fatal Period of our Love?

0 ! had I never seen thy Beauty bloom,

1 had not now been griev'd to see it pale :
Had I not known such Excellence had liv'd,
I shou'd not now be curs'd to see it dead :

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Had not my Heart been melted by thy Charms,
It would not now have bled to see them lost.

0 wherefore, wherefore, wherefore do I live :
Monelia is not — What's the World to me?
All dark and gloomy, horrid, waste, and void:
The Light of the Creation is put out ! —
The Blessings of the Gods are all withdrawn !
Nothing remains but Wretchedness and Woe; -
Monelia s gone : Monelia is no more.

The Heavens are veil'd because she don't behold them;

The Earth is curs'd, for it hath drunk her Blood ;

The Air is Poison, for she breathes no more :

Why fell I not by the base Briton s Sword ?

Why press'd I not upon the fatal Point?

Then had I never seen this worse than Death,

But dying said, 'tis well — Monelia lives.

Tenesco. Comfort, my Prince, nor let your Passion swell
To such a Torrent, it o'erwhelms your Reason,
And preys upon the Vitals of your Soul.
You do but feed the Viper by this View;
Retire, and drive the Image from your Thought,
And Time will soon replace you every Joy.

Chekitan. O my Tenesco^ had you ever felt
The gilded Sweets, or pointed Pains of Love,
You'd not attempt to sooth a Grief like mine.
Why did you point me to the painful Sight?
Why have you shewn this Shipwreck of my Hopes,
And plac'd me in this beating Storm of Woe.
Why was I told of rny Monelia' s Fate?
Why wa'n't the wretched Ruin all conceal'd
Under some fair Pretence — That she had fled —
Was made a Captive, or had chang'd her Love —
Why wa'n't I left to guess her wretched End ?
Or have some slender Hope that she still liv'd?
You've all been cruel; she died to torment me;
To raise my Pain, and blot out every Joy. —

I'enesco. I fear'd as much : His Passion makes him wild—

(aside.

1 wish it may not end in perfect Phrensy.

Chekitan. Who were the Murderers? Where did they fly?
Where was my Brother, not to take Revenge?

249

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Shew me their Tracks, I'll trace them round the Globe:
I'll fly like lightning, ravage the whole Earth —
Kill every thing I meet, or hear, or see.
Depopulate the World of Men and Beasts,
Tis all too little for that single Death.

(pointing to Monelia's corpse.
I'll tear the Earth that dar'd to drink her Blood;
Kill Trees, and Plants, and every springing Flower :
Nothing shall grow, nothing shall be alive,
Nothing shall move; I'll try to stop the Sun,
And make all dark and barren, dead and sad;
From his tall Sphere down to the lowest Centre,
There I'll descend, and hide my wretched Self,
And reign sole Monarch in a World of Ruin.

Tenesco. This is deep Madness, it hath seiz'd his Brain.

(aside.
Chekitan. But first I'll snatch a parting last Embrace.

(be touches and goes to embrace the Corpse.
Thou dear cold Clay! forgive the daring Touch;
It is thy Chekitan^ thy wounded Lover.
'Tis ; and he hastens to revenge thy Death.

(To rax groans and attempts to speak.
Torax. Oh, oh, I did not— Philip— Philip — Oh.

(Chekitan starts.

Chekitan. What — did I not hear a Groan? and Philip call'd?
Tenesco. It was, it was, and there is Motion too.

(approaches Torax, who groans and speaks again.
Torax. Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Philip — help. Oh! Oh!
Tenesco. He is alive — We'll raise him from the Ground.

(they lift him up and speak to him.
Torie, are you alive ? or are our Ears deceiv'd ?
Torax. Oh Philip, do not — do not — be so cruel.
Cbekitan. He is bewilder'd, and not yet himself.
Pour this into his Lips — it will revive him.

(they give him something.
Tenesco. This is a Joy unhop'd for in Distress.

(Torax revives more.

Torax. Oh! Philip, Philip! — Where is Philip gone?
Tenesco. The Murderers are pursued — He will go soon.
And now can carry Tidings of your Life.

Torax. He carry Tidings ! he's the Murderer.

250

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Tenesco. He is not murder'd; he was slightly wounded,
And hastens now to see the King your Father.

'Tor ax. He is a false, a barbarous bloody Man,
A Murderer, a base disguis'd Assassin.

Chekitan. He still is maz'd, and knows not whom he's with.

Torax. Yes, you are Chekitan, and that's Monelia,

(pointing to the Corpse.
This is Tenesco — Philip stabb'd my Sister,
And struck at me; here was the stunning Blow:

(pointing to his Head.
He took us sleeping in this silent Grove;
There by Appointment from himself we waited.
I saw him draw the bloody Knife from her,
And, starting, ask'd him, Why, or what he meant?
He answered with the Hatchet on my Skull,
And doubtless thought me dead and bound in Silence.
I am myself, and what I say is Fact.

Tenesco. The English 'twas beset you ; Philip ran
For your Assistance, and himself is wounded.

Tor ax. He may be wounded, but he wounded me;
No Englishman was there, he was alone.
I dare confront him with his Villainy :
Depend upon't, he's treacherous, false, and bloody.

Chekitan. May we believe, or is this all a Dream?
Are we awake? Is Tor ax yet alive?
Or is it Juggling, Fascination all ?

'Tenesco. 'Tis most surprising ! What to judge I know not.
I'll lead him hence; perhaps he's still confus'd.

Torax. I gladly will go hence for some Relief,
But shall not change, from what I've now aver'd.

Tenesco. Then this sad Storm of Ruin's but begun, (aside.
Philip must fly, or next it lights on him.

(Exeunt Tenesco and Torax led by him.

Chekitan. And can this be — Can Philip be so false?
Dwells there such Baseness in a Brother's Heart?
So much Dissimulation in the Earth?
Is there such Perfidy among Mankind?
It shocks my Faith — But yet it must be so —
Yes, it was he, Monelia, shed thy Blood.
This made him forward to commence our Friend,
And with unusual Warmth engage to help us;

251

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

It was for this so chearful he resign'd

To me the Honour of Command in War;

The English Troops would never come so near ;

The Wounds were not inflicted by their Arms.

All, all confirms the Guilt on Philip's Head,

You died, Moneliat by my Brother's Hand;

A Brother too intrusted with our Love.

I'm stupify'd and senseless at the Thought;

My Head, my very Heart is petrify'd.

This adds a Mountain to my Weight of Woe.

It now is swell'd too high to be lamented;

Complaints, and Sighs, and Tears are thrown away.

Revenge is all the Remedy that's left;

But what Revenge is equal to the Crime?

His life for her's ! An Atom for the Earth —

A single Fly — a Mite for the Creation:

Turn where I will I find myself confounded :

But I must seek and study out new Means.

Help me, ye Powers of Vengeance ! grant your Aid,

Ye that delight in Blood, and Death, and Pain !

Teach me the Arts of Cruelty and Wrath,

Till I have Vengeance equal to my Love,

And my Munelias Shade is satisfied. (Exit.

SCENE IV.

Philip, solus.

His Grief no Doubt will rise into a Rage,
To see his Charmer rolling in her Blood,
I chuse to see him not till my Return ;
By then the Fierceness of the Flame may cease;
Nay, he'll grow cool, and quite forget his Love,
When I report her Father's kindled Wrath,
And all the Vengeance he intends to take.

(Chekitan comes in sight.
But this he, I cannot now avoid him;
How shall I sooth his Grief — He looks distracted —
I'm such a Stranger grown to Tears and Pity,
I fear he will not think I sympathize.

252

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Enter Chckitan.

Cbekitan. Have I then found thee, thou false hearted

Traitor ?

Thou Tyger, Viper, Snake, thou worse than Christian;
Blood thirsty Butcher, more than Murderer!
Thou every Thing but what Men ought to love !
Do you still live to breathe and see the Sun ?
And face me with your savage guilty Eye ?

Philip. I fear'd, alas, you would run mad and rave.
Why do you blame me that I am not dead?
I risk'd my Life, was wounded for your Sake,
Did all I could for your Monelias Safety,
And to revenge you on her Murderers.
Your Grief distracts you, or you'd thank me for 't.

Cbekitan. Would you still tempt my Rage, and fire my Soul,
Already bent to spill your treacherous Blood?
You base Dissembler ! know you are detected,
T'orax still lives, and has discover'd all.

(Philip starfs and trembles.

Philip. Torax alive ! — It cannot — must not be (aside.

Cbekitan. Well may you shake — You cannot mend your

Blow.

He lived to see, what none but you could think of,
The bloody Knife drawn from Monelia's Breast.
Had you a thousand Lives, they'd be too few;
Had you a Sea of Blood, 'twould be too small
To wash away your deep-dy'd Stain of Guilt.
Now you shall die; and O if there be Powers
That after Death take Vengeance on such Crimes,
May they pursue you with their Flames of Wrath,
Till all their Magazines of Pain are spent.

(be attacks Philip with bis Hatchet.

Philip. I must defend myself (drawing bis Hatchet) the Case
is desperate. (Fight st Philip falls.

Fate is too hard; and I'm oblig'd to yield.
'Twas well begun — but has a wretched End —
Yet I'm reveng'd — She cannot live again.
You cannot boast to've shed more Blood than I —
Oh had I — had I — struck but one Blow more! (dies.

Cbekitan. What have I done ! this is my Brother's Blood !

253

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

A guilty Murderer's Blood! He was no Brother.

All Nature's Laws and Ties are hence dissolv'd;

There is no Kindred, Friendship, Faith, or Love

Among Mankind — Monelia's dead — The World

Is all unhing'd — There's universal War —

She was the Tie, the Centre of the Whole ;

And she remov'd, all is one general Jar.

Where next, Monelia, shall I bend my Arm

To heal this Discord, this Disorder still,

And bring the Chaos Universe to Form?

Blood still must flow and float the scatter'd Limbs

Till thy much injur'd love in Peace subsides.

Then every jarring Discord once will cease,

And a new World from these rude Ruins rise. (pauses.

Here then I point the Edge, from hence shall flow

(pointing his knife to bis Heart.
The raging crimson Flood, this is the Fountain
Whose swift Day's Stream shall waft me to thy Arms,
Lest Philip's Ghost should injure thy Repose. (stabs himself.
I come, I come, Mone/ia> now 1 come —
Philip — away — She's mine in spite of Death. (dies.

Enter Tenesco.

Oh ! I'm too late, the fatal Work is done.

Unhappy Princes; this your wretched End;

Your Country's Hopes and your fond Father's Joy;

Are you no more? Slain by each other's Hands,

Or what is worse; or by the Air you breath'd?

For all is Murder, Death, and Blood about us:

Nothing safe; it is contagious all:

The Earth, and Air, and Skies are full of Treason !

The Evil Genius rules the Universe,

And on Mankind rains Tempests of Destruction.

Where will the Slaughter of the Species end?

When it begins with Kings and with their Sons,

A general Ruin threatens all below.

How will the good King hear the sad Report.

I fear th' Event; but as it can't be hid,

I'll bear it to him in the softest Terms,

And summon every Power to sooth his Grief,

And slack the Torrent of his royal Passion. (Exit.

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

SCENE V. — Senate-House.

Ponteacb, solus.

The Torrent rises, and the Tempest blows ;
Where will this rough rude Storm of Ruin end ?
What crimson Floods are yet to drench the Earth?
What new-form'd Mischiefs hover in the Air,
And point their Stings at this devoted Head?
Has Fate exhausted all her Stores of Wrath,
Or has she other Vengeance in Reserve?
What can she more ? My Sons, my Name is gone ;
My Hopes all blasted, my Delights all fled;
Nothing remains but an afflicted King,
That might be pitied by Earth's greatest Wretch.
My Friends; my Sons, ignobly, basely slain,
Are more than murder'd, more than lost by Death.
Had they died fighting in their Country's Cause,
I should have smil'd and gloried in their Fall;
Yes, boasting that I had such Sons to lose,
I would have rode in Triumph o'er their Tombs.
But thus to die, the Martyrs of their Folly,
Involv'd in all the complicated Guilt
Of Treason, Murder, Falshood, and Deceit,
Unbridled Passion, Cowardice, Revenge,
And every Thing that can debase the Man,
And render him the just Contempt of all,
And fix the foulest Stain of Infamy,
Beyond the Power of Time to blot it out;
This is too much ; and my griev'd Spirit sinks
Beneath the Weight of such gigantic Woe.
Ye that would see a piteous wretched King,
Look on a Father griev'd and curs'd like me;
Look on a King whose Sons have died like mine !
Then you'll confess that these are dangerous Names,
And put it in the Power of Fate to curse us ;
It is on such she shews her highest Spite.
But I'm too far — 'Tis not a Time to grieve
For private Losses, when the Public calls.

Enter Tenesco, looking sorrowful.
What are your Tidings? — I have no more Sons.

255

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Ttncsco. But you have Subjects, and regard their Safety.
The treacherous Priest, intrusted with your Councils,
Has publish'd all, and added his own Falshoods;
The Chiefs have all revolted from your Cause,
Patch'd up a Peace, and lend their Help no more.

Pont each. And is this all ? we must defend ourselves,
Supply the place of Numbers with our Courage,
And learn to conquer with our very Looks :
This is a Time that tries the Truth of Valour;
He shews his Courage that dares stem the Storm,
And live in spite of Violence and Fate.
Shall holy Perfidy and seeming Lyes .
Destroy our Purpose, sink us into Cowards?

Tenesco. May your Hopes prosper! I'll excite the Troops
By your Example still to keep the Field. Exit.

Ponteacb. 'Tis coming on. Thus Wave succeeds to Wave,
Till the Storm's spent, then all subsides again —
The Chiefs revolted: — My Design betray'd: —
May he that trusts a Christian meet the same!
They have no Faith, no Honesty, no God,
And cannot merit Confidence from Men.
Were I alone the boist'rous Tempest's Sport,
I'd quickly move my shatter'd trembling Bark,
And follow my departed Sons to Rest.
But my brave Countrymen, my Friends, my Subjects,
Demand my Care; I'll not desert the Helm,
Nor leave a dang'rous station in Distress;
Yes, I will live, in spite of Fate I'll live;
Was I not Ponteach, was I not a King,
Such Giant Mischiefs would not gather round me.
And since I'm Ponteacb, since I am a King,
I'll shew myself Superior to them all;
I'll rise above this Hurricane of Fate,
And shew my Courage to the Gods themselves.

Enter Tenesco, surprised and pausing.

I am prepar'd, be not afraid to tell ;

You cannot speak what Ponteacb dare not hear.

Tenesco. Our bravest Troops are slain, the rest pursu'd ;
All is Disorder, Tumult, and Rebellion.
Those that remain insist on speedy Flight;

256

PONTEACH: OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

You must attend them, or be left alone

Unto the Fury of a conquering Foe,

Nor will they long expect your royal Pleasure.

Ponteacb. Will they desert their King in such an Hour,
When Pity might induce them to protect him ?
Kings like the Gods are valued and ador'd,
When Men expect their Bounties in Return,
Place them in Want, destroy the giving Power,
All Sacrifices and Regards will cease.
Go, tell my Friends that I'll attend their Call.

(rising. Exit Tenesco.

I will not fear — but must obey my Stars: (looking round.

Ye fertile Fields and glad'ning Streams adieu ;
Ye Fountains that have quench'd my scorching Thirst,
Ye Shades that hid the Sun-beams from my Head,
Ye Groves and Hills that yielded me the Chace,
Ye flow'ry Meads, and Banks, and bending Trees,
And thou proud Earth, made drunk with Royal Blood,
I am no more your Owner and your King.
But witness for me to your new base Lords,
That my unconquer'd Mind defies them still;
And though I fly, 'tis on the Wings of Hope.
Yes, I will hence where there's no British Foe,
And wait a Respite from this Storm of Woe ;
Beget more Sons, fresh Troops collect and arm,
And other Schemes of future Greatness form ;
Britons may boast, the Gods may have their Will,
Ponteacb I am, and shall be Pont each still.1 (Exit,

FINIS.

1 The most severe blow to Pontiac's hopes was, of course, chc successful de
fence of Detroit and Fr-t Pitt. His hopes were finally crushed by the receipt of
a letter from M. Neyon, the French commander at Fort des Chartres, td vising
him to desist from further warfare, as peace had been concluded between France
and Great Britain. However, unwilling to abandon entirely his project, he made
an attempt to incite the tr %s along the Mississippi to join in another effort.
Being unsuccessful in this actempt, he finally made peace at Detroit, August 17,
1765. In 1769 he attended a drinking carousal at Cahokia, Illinois, where he
was murdered by a Kaskaskia Indian. Handbook of American Indians,

257

INDEX

Abercrombie, General,

appoints R. major, 51

at Fort Edward, 53

thanks R., 56

defeat at Ticonderoga, 61
African service of R., 156
Allds, William, 79
Amherst, Sir Jeffrey,

at Ticonderoga, 65

St. Francis expedition, 66

disappoints R., 68

captures Montreal, 69

praises R., 70

Cherokee expedition, 76

fulfills promise to R., 77
Blanchard's rangers, 39, 42, 43, 45
Bloody Run, Battle of, 88
Bougainville, 61
Browne, Rev. Arthur, 73, 80
Browne, Elizabeth, see Rogers, Eliza
beth
Carver, Jonathan, I 20 et stj.

Travels, \ ^ 3

Chippewa-Sioux peace, 128
Claus, Daniel, in, 118, 143
Cohase Meadows, 44
Concise Account of North America, 96,

98, 100

Counterfeiting, R. accused of, 40
Crown Point,

expedition against, 40—50, 65

R. at, 60

capture, 66
Dalyell, Capt. James,

enlists with R., 51

at Lake Champlain, 64—5

at Detroit, 83, 86, 88-9

death, 90
Declaration of Independence, 164

Detroit, 70, 86-9

Indian rising at, 81-3
Fonda, Gysbert, 93
Fort Edward, 45, 5 a, 56, 64

Fort Loudon, 77

Fort Prince George, 77

Fort Wentworth, 44

Fort William Henry, 46, 49

Frye, Major Joseph, 40, 42

Gage, General Thomas

appoints R., 103

instructions to R., 108

removes R., 139

attempted reconciliation, I 56

on R., 104
Goddard, 143
Groesbeck, Stephen, 136
Haverhill, see Methuen
Haviland, Colonel, 58
Howe, Lord, 165, et seq.
Indians,

conference at Mackinac, 1 28

conference at Oswcgo, 1 1 1

R.'s opinion of, 98

trade, 106 et seq.

Abenaki, 66

Algonquin, 8 1

Cherokee, 76-7

Chippewa-Sioux peace, 128

Delaware, 91

Mohawk, 91

Ottawa, see Pontiac

Pennacook, 66

St. Francis, 66

Stockbridge, 50
Isle aux Noix, 70
Johnson, Sir William,

Crown Point campaign, 43—5

recognizes R., 46-7

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Johnson, Sir Willitm, (tontinueJ)
reprimands R., 92
Indian trade, 105-9
instructions to R., 108, 116
Oswego conference, 1 1 1
sends Roberts to Mackinac, 1 26
suspects R., 130
recommends Roberts, i 50
on R., 104, 105, 107
Journals, 48, 59, 96-7, loo, 107
Lake Champlain, 49, 60, 61, 64
Lake George,

campaigns, 45, 46, 62, 65
land at, refused R., 80
Lake Mcmphremagog, 68
London, 94, 146, 149, 171
Long Island, Battle of, 166
Mackinac, R. at, 115 et seq.
Mamaroneck, R. defeated at, 1 66
Massachusetts General Court, 72
Merrimac, 34
Methuen, i 8 et seq.
Michilimackinac, see Mackinac
M-mongahela, Valley of, 30
Montreal, 65, 69-70

traders support R., 1 1 8
New Hampshire Assembly, 72, 79
New Hampshire regiment raised, 42
New York, grant to R., 47
Northwest passage, 102 et seq.t 120

et seq.

second proposal, 154
Oswego, conference at, in
Ponteacbt 101
Pontiac,

meets R., 70, 84
rebellion, 81
defeats Dalycll, 89
submission, i i 5
character, 86
Portsmouth, 73, 79, 158
Potter,

at Mackinac, 1 1 5
quarrel with R., 134
accuses R., 135, 136, 139
Presqu' Isle, 70, 87
Pudney, Joseph, 23, 29
Putnam, Israel, 51, 64
Quebec, 169

Readsboro, Vermont^ 93
Revolution, 1 56 et seq.
Roberts, Benjamin,

Oswego conference, 1 1 1

first quarrel with R., 113

at Niagara, 116

sent to Mackinac, 126, 130

reports R.'s misconduct, 131-2

break with R., 135-7

arrested by R., 138-9

arrested for debt, 143

at Montreal, 145

at London, 149

imprisoned for debt, 153

character, 1 1 1 et seq.
Rogers, Elizabeth,

marriage, 74

loyalty to R., 80

goes to Mackinac, iio

sufferings at Mackinac, 125

divorce, 172

Rogers, James (father), 1 8, 23, 28, 33
Rogers, James (brother), 50, 93

in Revolution, 168, 171

assists R., 155

Rogers, Richard, 48, 50, 56
Rogers, Robert,

birth, 17

boyhood and home, 20, 25

first military service, 30

home destroyed, 31

returns to Lovell's Farm, 32

at Merrimac, 34

frontier travels, 35

accused of counterfeiting, 40

commissioned by Wentworth, 42

appointed captain, 43

builds Fort Wentworth, 44

ranger, 45

at Ticonderoga, 46, 48, 56-65

captain of independent rangcn, 47

at Crown Point, 48, 56-65

appointed major, 51

St. Francis expedition, 66

on St. Lawrence, 69

meets Pontiac, 70, 84

surrender of French posti, 70

sues for back pay, 72

at Portsmouth, 73, 79, 158

260

PONTEACH : OR THE SAVAGES OF AMERICA

Rogers, Robert, {continued}
marriage, 75
Cherokee expedition, 77
at Carolinas, 78
financial troubles, 79—80
refused land at Lake George, 80
rebellion of Pontiac, 81
captain of New York company, 82
at Detroit, 86, 90
engages in Indian trade, 91, 92
loses commission, 92
in London, 94 et seq.
Northwest passage scheme, 102,120
commander at Mackinac, 103 et seq.
Oswego conference, 1 1 1
first quarrel with Roberts, 1 1 3
disobeys Johnson, 117
misconduct at Mackinac, \z^etseq.
seeks governorship, 127
break with Roberts, 1 3 5
suspected of treason, I 36
impeached, 137
arrested tor treason, 140
trial, 142

second visit to England, 146 et seq.
imprisoned for debt, 153
African service, I 56
in Revolution, 159 et seq.
arrested as spy, 163-4.
service with Howe, 165
defeat at Mamaroneck, 166
misconduct at Quebec, 169
flees to England, 171

death, 172

character, 104-5

criticism of works, 97 et seq.

leadership, 52

married life, 92

patriotism, 83
Rogers' Rangers,

at Ticondcroga, 55

at Fort Edward, 56, 64

on Lake Champlain, 60

attacked by Marin, 64

at Crown Point, 66

characteristics, 51
Rumford, 23, 27, 28, 92
St. d'Estresse, 69
St. Johns, 69
St. Lawrence, 69
Salida, Valley of, 77
Seven Years War, 39
Shirley, Governor, 40, 42-3, 47
Spiessmacher, Captain, 115, 134, 144
Stark, John, 51, 53-4, 159
Ticonderoga,

R. at, 46, 48, 56-65

Abercrombie defeated at, 61

capture, 65

Treason, R. accused of, 136,140,142
Venanzo, 83
Washington, George, 37, 39

on R., 162

Wentworth, Governor •, 35, 39, 42, 44
Wattockquitchey, 69
White Plains, Battle of, 167

261

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