THE STRUGGLE FOR FORT DUQUESNE
I. THE SEPARATION BEGINNING BETWEEN THE COLONIES AND ENGLAND
The arrogance and ignorance that so estranged the American colonies
and broke down their spirit of allegiance to Great Britain may be well
exhibited in an extract from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
The experiences of this eminent man in making a visit to General
Braddock came to pass through the following series of events.
Sir John St. Clair was, at this time, in command at Fort Cumberland.
He ordered the colony of Pennsylvania to cut a road through to the
Ohio. The redoubtable commander seemed to think it was only a child’s
job or a few days’ work. As it was not done promptly, he got into a
rage, and, according to the pioneer woodsman, George Croghan, “stormed
like a lion rampant.” He declared that “by fire and sword” he would
oblige the inhabitants to build that road. He said that if the French
defeated him it would be because of the slow Pennsylvanians, and, in
that case, he would declare them “a parcel of traitors,” and the
colony should be treated as being in rebellion against the King.
Likewise, as Braddock got ready to move, Sir John became furious at
obstacles which, not knowing till then that they existed, he
considered that they had no right to exist, and therefore that the
people were to be blamed. In this state of trouble between the people
and the English officers, who knew so little of the wilderness,
Benjamin Franklin, then forty-nine years of age, was called on to act
as peacemaker. He visited Braddock and was received and treated as a
worthy guest. This visit gave him a chance to see into the fatal
ignorance and arrogance of the English government, and to understand
the irreconciliable points of view between the colonies and England.
“In conversation one day,” says Franklin, “General Braddock gave me
some account of his intended progress. ‘After taking Fort Duquesne,’
said he, ‘I am to proceed to Niagara; and, having taken that, on to
Frontenac, if the season will allow time; and I suppose it will, for
Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four days; and then I can
see nothing that can obstruct my march to Niagara.’”
Franklin very tactfully and diplomatically ventured to describe the
long road that must be cut through forests all the way, the thin line
of troops that would have to be stretched out in the march along the
narrow way, and the ambush of Indians breaking out upon that thin,
long line at various places.
“He smiled at my ignorance,” says Franklin, “and replied, ‘These
savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to raw American militia, but
upon the King’s regular and disciplined troops, Sir, it is impossible
that they should make any impression.’”
Franklin adds, “I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing with
a military man in matters of his profession, and said no more.”
To defeat an enemy, it is very clear that one should know how the
enemy thinks and what he does. This was the schooling that George
Washington was now getting. The place he had on General Braddock’s
staff was teaching him the tactics of English generals, against which
he was a few years later to wage a glorious war for an ideal of
American freedom and the establishment of a democratic form of
government in America.
The disastrous defeat of Braddock’s expedition and the death of
Braddock has always formed a stirring chapter in American school
histories, until in recent times it has been more and more lessened
in the length of description because of the increasing story of
American affairs. Washington’s part in it is interesting largely
because of the preparation it gave him for the great work of leading
the colonial armies in the Revolutionary War.
II. LESSONS GATHERED FROM DEFEAT
General Braddock, with the most stupid disdain of both natural
obstacles and native advice, especially regardless of Washington’s
warning, pushed on to overwhelm the French and Indians, as he had
outlined to Franklin. His disastrous defeat and tragic death awoke the
colonists to their danger, but it seemed to have little effect on the
arrogance and ignorance of the supposed military protectors of the
colonies.
Fugitives from the disastrous battle field spread through the colonies
and the news ran from mouth to mouth along the wilderness roads,
gathering in exaggeration as it went. To counteract this news at his
own home, Washington wrote to his mother as speedily as possible.
Referring to the battle, he said, “The Virginia troops showed a good
deal of bravery, and were nearly all killed. The dastardly behavior
of those they called regulars exposed all others, that were ordered to
their duty, to almost certain death; and, at last, in spite of all the
efforts of the officers to the contrary they ran, as sheep pursued by
dogs, and it was impossible to rally them.”
In writing to his half-brother, Augustine, he said, “As I have heard,
since my arrival at this place, a circumstantial account of my death
and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of contradicting the
first, and of assuring you that I have not composed the latter. But,
by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected
beyond all human probability, or expectation; for I had four bullets
through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt,
though death was levelling my companions on every side of me!”
The defeat of Braddock, we may safely set down as one of the most
extensive liberating forces in the new world. It struck out of the
minds of the colonists the respect and fear which held them captive to
the mastery of hands from across the sea. The disaster was not only a
rout and a slaughter but it was at last revealed as a military
disgrace and an inexcusable blunder.
The commander of Fort Duquesne had only a handful of men. He was fully
decided on either abandoning the fort at once, or in surrendering
on the best terms he could get, when Captain de Beaujeu obtained leave
to take two hundred and eighteen French soldiers and six hundred and
thirty Indians, eight hundred and thirty-five in all, for the purpose
of delaying the British advance by ambush. These forest rangers met
Braddock’s twelve hundred select soldiers, and threw them back in such
a panic that, when the commander, Dunbar, reached Fort Cumberland,
where there were fifteen hundred more seasoned troops, no stand was
made, but the flight was continued on to Philadelphia.
[Illustration: Washington in Command.]
Washington’s intimate associate, Dr. Hugh Mercer, was so severely
wounded in the shoulder that he could not keep up with the fugitives.
He hid in a fallen tree and witnessed the terrible scenes of the
battlefield after the soldiers had fled. The wounded were tortured,
scalped and all were stripped of everything the Indians could use.
Then the wild horde left, yelling through the woods, waving aloft the
scalps. The Indians were bedecked with glittering uniforms, and loaded
with booty.
Benjamin Franklin wrote in his autobiography that “this whole
transaction gave us the first suspicion that our exalted ideas of the
powers of British regular troops had not been well founded.”
What Washington thought about it all is well summed up and very
tersely expressed in a letter to his half-brother Augustine. It shows
us what all this had done for the loyal and patriotic mind of
Washington. It reveals how his mind, like that of other colonists, was
being prepared for the event, that led to a break with the
home-country England.
In that very expressive letter he says, “I was employed to go a
journey in Winter, when I believe few or none would have undertaken
it, and what did I get by it?--my expenses home! I was then appointed,
with trifling pay, to conduct a handful of men to the Ohio. What did I
get by that? Why, after putting myself to a considerable expense in
equipping and providing necessaries for the campaign, I went out, was
soundly beaten and lost all! Came in and had my commission taken from
me; or, in other words, my command reduced, under pretense of an order
from home (England). I then went out a volunteer with General
Braddock, and lost all my horses, and many other things. But, this
being a voluntary act, I ought not to have mentioned it; nor should I
have done so, were it not to show that I have been on the losing order
ever since I entered the service, which is now nearly two years.”
This historical summary was the experience in divers ways of very many
colonists, but they did not have any; suggestion of how that bitter
experience was really to become a great blessing to the cause of
liberty throughout the earth.
III. SOME PERSONAL INTERESTS AT HOME
Here and there we catch glimpses of Washington showing that he was not
the sculptured majesty that was pictured for his youth by writers in
the early decades of the nineteenth century. We prefer to think of him
as sympathetic, gallant, and enjoying the familiar courtesies of
common life. That Washington was not without social friendship is
shown in a note which he received from three young ladies written him
from Belvoir on his return from the French and Indian war. It speaks
for itself:
“Dear Sir:
“After thanking heaven for your safe return, I must accuse you
of great unkindness in refusing us the pleasure of seeing you
this evening. If you will not come to us tomorrow morning very
early, we shall be at Mount Vernon.
“SALLIE FAIRFAX.
ANN SPEARING.
ELIZABETH DENT.”
There is no record to complete the picture of these young ladies’
interest in Washington, but if they could have such a view of his
sociability with such propriety, we may be sure that he was not above
the common human sympathies that fill the hard lines of life.
Washington’s connection with the army had ceased at the death of
Braddock, but he was still adjutant-general of the northern division
of the Province. Braddock’s defeat had thoroughly frightened the
colonists, and panic-stricken rumors surged around that French and
Indians were about to make incursions here and there and everywhere.
The slow-going legislative bodies suddenly woke up and voted the
organization of ample supplies and men. An undignified scramble took
place for favorites to be given high commands. Washington was urged by
his friends to be a candidate, but he refused. As to this matter he
wrote, “If the command should be offered me, the case will then be
altered, as I should be at liberty to make such objections as reason,
and my small experience, have pointed out.”
In the midst of this turmoil he received a letter from his mother
begging him not to go back into the war but to return to his home-life
and become a business man. His reply to her is quite significant of
the character of Washington:
“Honored Madam:
“If it is in my power to avoid going to the Ohio again, I
shall; but if the command is pressed upon me by the general
voice of the country, and offered upon such terms as can not
be objected against, it would reflect dishonor upon me to
refuse it; and that, I am sure, must, and ought to give you
greater uneasiness than my going in an honorable command. Upon
no other terms will I accept it. At present, I have no
proposals made to me, nor have I any advice of such an
intention, except from private hands.”
But, it so happened that on the same day, after this letter had been
sent away, he received the news that he had been appointed
commander-in-chief of all the forces of Virginia, and upon the terms
he had outlined to his friends. Besides, his closest friends were
appointed officers next in command to him.
This was a triumph over Governor Dinwiddie, who had a special favorite
whom he had pressed hard for the appointment. It was also made for a
man who had risen to that esteem among his countrymen, not through
victories but through defeats, not through success but through
failure. And, it must be remembered, that Washington was not yet
twenty-four years old. But the general esteem in which he was held
may be gathered from a statement made in a sermon at the time of his
appointment, by the Rev. Samuel Davis. It might have been mere
enthusiasm, but, in the light of such great subsequent events, it
looked like prophecy.
He turned from his religious theme to the needs of the colonies, and
then spoke of “that heroic youth, Colonel George Washington, whom I
can not but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a
manner for some important service to his country.”