_Settlement for the Loss of Wagons. Anecdote. Preparations for
Defence. Franklin appointed to a military Command. Assembles the
Troops at Bethlehem. Farmers killed by Indians. Building Forts.
Extracts from Franklin's Journal. Indian Cunning. Anecdotes of the
Moravians._
1. As soon as the loss of the wagons and horses was generally known,
all the owners came upon Franklin for the valuation which he had given
bond to pay. Their demands troubled him exceedingly. He informed them
that the money was ready in the paymaster's hands, but the order for
paying it must first be obtained from General Shirley; that he had
applied for it; and they must have patience till he could receive it.
All this, however, was not sufficient, and some began to sue him.
General Shirley at length released him from this disagreeable
situation, by appointing commissioners to examine the claims, and
order payment. They amounted to nearly twenty thousand pounds.
2. Before receiving news of the defeat, two gentlemen came to Franklin
with a subscription paper for raising money to pay the expense of a
grand firework, which it was intended to exhibit on receiving the news
of taking Fort Duquesne. Franklin told them gravely, that he thought
it would be time enough to prepare for rejoicing when they knew they
should have occasion to rejoice. They seemed surprised that he did not
immediately comply with their proposal. "Why," said one of them, "you
surely do not suppose that the fort will not be taken?" "I don't
know," replied Franklin, "that it will not be taken; but I know that
the events of war are subject to great uncertainty." The plan was
fortunately abandoned.
3. The assembly now laid a tax, to raise money for the defence of the
province, and Franklin was appointed one of the commissioners to
dispose of it. He had also carried a bill through the house for
establishing and disciplining a voluntary militia. To promote the
association necessary to form the militia, he wrote a dialogue upon
the subject, which was extensively circulated, and thought to have
great effect.
4. While the several companies in the city and country were forming,
and learning their exercise, the governor prevailed upon Franklin to
take charge of the north-western frontier, which was infested by the
enemy, and provide for the defence of the inhabitants, by raising
troops, and building a line of forts. Franklin did not think himself
very well qualified for the military, but was willing to be of all the
service in his power. He received a commission from the governor, with
full authority, and a parcel of blank commissions for officers, to be
given to whom he thought fit. Five hundred and sixty men were soon
raised and placed under his command.
5. The place first selected for a fort was Gnadenhutten, a village
settled by the Moravians, and which had recently been the scene of
terrible destruction and death. In order to march thither, Franklin
assembled the companies at Bethlehem, the chief establishment of those
people. He was surprised to find this place in a good state of
defence. The destruction of Gnadenhutten had made them apprehensive of
danger.
6. They had purchased a quantity of arms and ammunition from New York,
and had even placed quantities of small paving stones between the
windows of their high houses, to be thrown down upon the heads of any
Indians that should attempt to force into them. The armed brethren
kept watch, and relieved each other as regularly as in any garrison
town.
7. In conversation with their bishop, Spangenberg, Franklin mentioned
his surprise; for, knowing they had obtained an act of parliament
excusing them from military duties in the colonies, he supposed they
had motives of conscience which forbade their bearing arms. The bishop
answered--"That it was not one of their established principles; but
that at the time of their obtaining that act it was thought to be a
principle with many of their people. On this occasion, however, to
their surprise they found it adopted but by a few." A strong sense of
danger very soon overcomes such notions.
8. It was the beginning of January when they set out upon the business
of building forts. One detachment was sent towards the Minisink, with
directions to erect one for the upper part of the country, and another
to the lower part, with similar directions. Franklin went in person,
with the remaining troops, to Gnadenhutten, where a force was thought
more immediately necessary. The Moravians procured him five wagons for
their tools, stores, and baggage.
9. Just before they left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, who had been
driven from their homes by the Indians, came to Franklin, requesting a
supply of fire-arms, that they might go back and bring off their
cattle. He gave them each a gun with suitable ammunition.
10. They had not marched many miles when it began to rain, and it
continued raining all day. There were no habitations on the road to
shelter them, till they reached, about night, the house of a German.
Here, in the barn and shed, they were all huddled together as wet as
water could make them. It was well for them that they were not
attacked upon the march, for their arms were of the poorest sort, and
it was impossible to keep the locks of their guns dry. The poor
farmers, before mentioned, suffered on this account. They met with the
Indians, and, the primings being wet with rain, their guns would not
go off, so that only one of them escaped with his life.
11. The next day was fair. The companies continued their march, and
arrived at the desolate Gnadenhutten. There was a mill in the
neighborhood, round which several pine boards had been left. With
these they soon built themselves huts. Their next work was to bury the
dead they found there. On the following morning their fort was planned
and marked out, with a circumference measuring four hundred and
fifty-five feet. Their axes, of which they had seventy, were
immediately set to work to cut down trees for palisades; and, as the
men were very skilful in the use of them, they made great despatch.
12. Seeing the trees fall so fast, Franklin had the curiosity to look
at his watch when two men began to cut at a pine. In six minutes they
had it upon the ground, and it was fourteen inches in diameter. Each
pine made three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end.
While these were preparing, other men dug a trench all round, of three
feet deep, in which the palisades were to be planted. When these were
set up, the carpenters built within them a platform of boards all
round, about six feet high, for the men to stand on and fire through
the loopholes. They had one swivel gun, which they mounted, and fired
as soon as it was fixed, that the Indians might know they had such
pieces. Thus their fort, such as it was, was finished in a week,
though it rained so hard every other day that the men were almost
unable to work.
13. "This gave me occasion to observe," says Franklin, "that when men
are employed they are best contented. For on the days they worked they
were good-natured and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having
done a good day's work, they spent the evening jollily. But, on our
idle days, they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with the
pork and the bread, and were continually in bad humor; which put me in
mind of a sea captain, whose rule it was to keep his men constantly at
work; and when his mate once told him that they had done every thing,
and there was nothing further to employ them about, 'O,' said he,
'_make them scour the anchor_.'"
14. "This kind of fort," he continues, "however contemptible, is a
sufficient defence against Indians who have no cannon. Finding
ourselves now posted securely, and having a place to retreat to on
occasion, we ventured out in parties to scour the adjacent country. We
met with no Indians, but we found the places, on the neighboring
hills, where they had lain to watch our proceedings. There was an art
in their contrivance of those places that seems worth mentioning.
15. "It being winter, a fire was necessary for them; but a common
fire, on the surface of the ground, would, by its light, have
discovered their position at a distance; they had, therefore, dug
holes in the ground about three feet in diameter, and somewhat deeper;
we found where they had, with their hatchets, cut off the charcoal
from the side of burnt logs lying in the woods. With these coals they
had made small fires in the bottom of the holes, and we observed,
among the weeds and grass, the prints of their bodies, made by their
lying all round, with their legs hanging down in the holes, to keep
their feet warm; which, with them, is an essential point. This kind of
fire, so managed, could not discover them either by its light, flame,
sparks, or even smoke; it appeared that the number was not great, and
it seems they saw we were too many to be attacked by them with
prospect of advantage.
16. "We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, Mr.
Beatty, who complained to me that the men did not generally attend his
prayers and exhortations. When they enlisted they were promised,
besides pay and provisions, a gill of rum a day, which was punctually
served out to them, half in the morning and half in the evening, and I
observed they were punctual in attending to receive it.
17. "Upon which I said to Mr. Beatty, 'It is perhaps below the dignity
of your profession to act as steward of the rum; but if you were to
distribute it out only just after prayers, you would have them all
about you.' He liked the thought, undertook the task, and, with the
help of a few hands to measure out the liquor, executed it to
satisfaction; and never were prayers more generally and more
punctually attended. So that I think this method preferable to the
punishment inflicted by some military laws for non-attendance on
divine service.
18. "I had hardly finished this business, and got my fort well stored
with provisions, when I received a letter from the governor,
acquainting me that he had called the assembly, and wished my
attendance there, if the posture of affairs on the frontiers was such
that my remaining there was no longer necessary. My friends, too, of
the assembly pressing me by their letters to be, if possible, at the
meeting, and my three intended forts being now completed, and the
inhabitants contented to remain on their farms under that protection,
I resolved to return; the more willingly, as a New-England officer,
Colonel Clapham, experienced in Indian war, being on a visit to our
establishment, consented to accept the command.
19. "I gave him a commission, and, parading the garrison, had it read
before them, and introduced him to them as an officer, who, from his
skill in military affairs, was much more fit to command them than
myself; and giving them a little exhortation, took my leave. I was
escorted as far as Bethlehem, where I rested a few days to recover
from the fatigue I had undergone. The first night, lying on a good
bed, I could hardly sleep, it was so different from my hard lodging on
the floor of a hut at Gnadenhutten, with only a blanket or two.
20. "While at Bethlehem, I inquired a little into the practices of the
Moravians; some of them had accompanied me, and all were very kind to
me. I found they worked for a common stock, ate at common tables, and
slept in common dormitories, great numbers together. In the
dormitories I observed loop-holes at certain distances, all along just
under the ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed for change of
air. I went to their church, where I was entertained with good music,
the organ being accompanied with violins, hautboys, flutes, and
clarionets.
21. "I understood their sermons were not usually preached to mixed
congregations of men, women and children, as is our common practice;
but that they assembled sometimes the married men, at other times
their wives, then the young men, the young women, and the little
children; each division by itself. The sermon I heard was to the
latter, who came in and were placed in rows on benches, the boys under
the conduct of a young man, their tutor; and the girls conducted by a
young woman. The discourse seemed well adapted to their capacities,
and was delivered in a pleasing, familiar manner, coaxing them, as it
were, to be good. They behaved very orderly, but looked pale and
unhealthy, which made me suspect they were kept too much within doors,
or not allowed sufficient exercise.
22. "I inquired concerning the Moravian marriages, whether the report
was true that they were by lot. I was told that lots were used only in
particular cases, that generally, when a young man found himself
disposed to marry, he informed the elders of his class, who consulted
the elder ladies that governed the young women. As these elders of the
different sexes were well acquainted with the tempers and dispositions
of their respective pupils, they could best judge what matches were
suitable, and their judgments were generally acquiesced in.
23. "But if, for example, it should happen that two or three young
women were found to be equally proper for the young man, the lot was
then recurred to. I objected, if the matches are not made by the
mutual choice of the parties, some of them may chance to be very
unhappy. 'And so they may,' answered my informer, 'if you let the
parties choose for themselves.' Which, indeed, I could not deny."
* * * * *
1. To what embarrassment was Franklin now exposed? How was he
relieved?
2. Relate the anecdote in respect to the subscription for fire-works.
3. What tax was now laid by the assembly? What bill did Franklin carry
through the house?
4. What charge was now committed to Franklin? How many men were placed
under his command?
5. What place was selected for a fort? By whom was Gnadenhutten
settled?
6. What measures had the inhabitants of Bethlehem taken for defence?
7. What was the conversation of Franklin with the bishop Spangenberg?
8. Where were the forts built?
9. Relate the substance of the ninth and tenth paragraphs.
11. What was done on arriving at Gnadenhutten?
12. How was the fort constructed? How long did it take to build it?
13. What remarks does Franklin make about keeping employed?
14. What does Franklin say of the fort?
15. How did they manage to conceal their fires?
18. Why did Franklin leave the fort? Who succeeded him?
20. What does Franklin say of the practice of the Moravians? Of their
dormitories? Of their church?
21. What is said of their congregation?
22. How are the Moravian marriages conducted?
23. What did Franklin suggest on this subject? What was the reply?