SCARCITY IN THE CAMP--DEATH OF COLONEL FRY--PROMOTIONS--MACKAY AND HIS
INDEPENDENT COMPANY--MAJOR MUSE--INDIAN CEREMONIALS--PUBLIC PRAYERS IN
CAMP--ALARMS--INDEPENDENCE OF AN INDEPENDENT COMPANY--AFFAIRS AT THE GREAT
MEADOWS--DESERTION OF THE INDIAN ALLIES--CAPITULATION OF FORT NECESSITY--
VAN BRAAM AS AN INTERPRETER--INDIAN PLUNDERERS--RETURN TO WILLIAMSBURG--
VOTE OF THANKS OF THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES--SUBSEQUENT FORTUNES OF THE
HALF-KING--COMMENTS ON THE AFFAIR OF JUMONVILLE AND THE CONDUCT OF VAN
BRAAM.
Scarcity began to prevail in the camp. Contracts had been made with George
Croghan for flour, of which he had large quantities at his frontier
establishment; for he was now trading with the army as well as with the
Indians. None, however, made its appearance. There was mismanagement in the
commissariat. At one time the troops were six days without flour; and even
then had only a casual supply from an Ohio trader. In this time of scarcity
the half-king, his fellow sachem, Scarooyadi, and thirty or forty warriors,
arrived, bringing with them their wives and children--so many more hungry
mouths to be supplied. Washington wrote urgently to Croghan to send forward
all the flour he could furnish.
News came of the death of Colonel Fry at Wills' Creek, and that he was to
be succeeded in the command of the expedition by Colonel Innes of North
Carolina, who was actually at Winchester with three hundred and fifty North
Carolina troops. Washington, who felt the increasing responsibilities and
difficulties of his situation, rejoiced at the prospect of being under the
command of an experienced officer, who had served in company with his
brother Lawrence at the siege of Carthagena. The colonel, however, never
came to the camp, nor did the North Carolina troops render any service in
the campaign--the fortunes of which might otherwise have been very
different.
By the death of Fry, the command of the regiment devolved on Washington.
Finding a blank major's commission among Fry's papers, he gave it to
Captain Adam Stephen, who had conducted himself with spirit. As there would
necessarily be other changes, he wrote to Governor Dinwiddie in behalf of
Jacob Van Braam. "He has acted as captain ever since we left Alexandria. He
is an experienced officer, and worthy of the command he has enjoyed."
The palisaded fort was now completed, and was named Fort Necessity, from
the pinching famine that had prevailed during its construction. The scanty
force in camp was augmented to three hundred, by the arrival from Wills'
Creek of the men who had been under Colonel Fry. With them came the surgeon
of the regiment, Dr. James Craik, a Scotchman by birth, and one destined to
become a faithful and confidential friend of Washington for the remainder
of his life.
A letter from Governor Dinwiddie announced, however, that Captain Mackay
would soon arrive with an independent company of one hundred men, from
South Carolina.
The title of independent company had a sound ominous of trouble. Troops of
the kind, raised in the colonies, under direction of the governors, were
paid by the Crown, and the officers had king's commissions; such,
doubtless, had Captain Mackay. "I should have been particularly obliged,"
writes Washington to Governor Dinwiddie, "if you had declared whether he
was under my command, or independent of it. I hope he will have more sense
than to insist upon any unreasonable distinction, because he and his
officers have commissions from his majesty. Let him consider, though we are
greatly inferior in respect to advantages of profit, yet we have the same
spirit to serve our gracious king as they have, and are as ready and
willing to sacrifice our lives for our country's good. And here, once more,
and for the last time, I must say, that it will be a circumstance which
will act upon some officers of this regiment, above all measure, to be
obliged to serve upon such different terms, when their lives, their
fortunes, and their operations are equally, and, I dare say, as effectually
exposed as those of others, who are happy enough to have the king's
commission."
On the 9th arrived Washington's early instructor in military tactics,
Adjutant Muse, recently appointed a major in the regiment. He was
accompanied by Montour, the Indian interpreter, now a provincial captain,
and brought with him nine swivels, and a small supply of powder and ball.
Fifty or sixty horses were forthwith sent to Wills' Creek, to bring on
further supplies, and Mr. Gist was urged to hasten forward the artillery.
Major Muse was likewise the bearer of a belt of wampum and a speech, from
Governor Dinwiddie to the half-king; with medals for the chiefs, and goods
for presents among the friendly Indians, a measure which had been suggested
by Washington. They were distributed with that grand ceremonial so dear to
the red man. The chiefs assembled, painted and decorated in all their
savage finery; Washington wore a medal sent to him by the governor for such
occasions. The wampum and speech having been delivered, he advanced, and
with all due solemnity, decorated the chiefs and warriors with the medals,
which they were to wear in remembrance of their father the King of England.
Among the warriors thus decorated was a son of Queen Aliquippa, the savage
princess whose good graces Washington had secured in the preceding year, by
the present of an old watchcoat, and whose friendship was important, her
town being at no great distance from the French fort. She had requested
that her son might be admitted into the war councils of the camp, and
receive an English name. The name of Fairfax was accordingly given to him,
in the customary Indian form; the half-king being desirous of like
distinction, received the name of Dinwiddie. The sachems returned the
compliment in kind, by giving Washington the name of Connotaucarius; the
meaning of which is not explained.
William Fairfax, Washington's paternal adviser, had recently counselled him
by letter, to have public prayers in his camp; especially when there were
Indian families there; this was accordingly done at the encampment in the
Great Meadows, and it certainly was not one of the least striking pictures
presented in this wild campaign--the youthful commander, presiding with
calm seriousness over a motley assemblage of half-equipped soldiery,
leathern-clad hunters and woodsmen, and painted savages with their wives
and children, and uniting them all in solemn devotion by his own example
and demeanor.
On the 10th there was agitation in the camp. Scouts hurried in with word,
as Washington understood them, that a party of ninety Frenchmen were
approaching. He instantly ordered out a hundred and fifty of his best men;
put himself at their head, and leaving Major Muse with the rest, to man the
fort and mount the swivels, sallied forth "in the full hope" as he
afterwards wrote to Governor Dinwiddie, "of procuring him another present
of French prisoners."
It was another effervescence of his youthful military ardor, and doomed to
disappointment. The report of the scouts had been either exaggerated or
misunderstood. The ninety Frenchmen in military array dwindled down into
nine French deserters.
According to their account, the fort at the fork was completed, and named
Duquesne, in honor of the Governor of Canada, It was proof against all
attack, excepting with bombs, on the land side. The garrison did not exceed
five hundred, but two hundred more were hourly expected, and nine hundred
in the course of a fortnight.
Washington's suspicions with respect to La Force's party were justified by
the report of these deserters; they had been sent out as spies, and were to
show the summons if discovered or overpowered. The French commander, they
added, had been blamed for sending out so small a party.
On the same day Captain Mackay arrived, with his independent company of
South Carolinians. The cross-purposes which Washington had apprehended,
soon manifested themselves. The captain was civil and well disposed, but
full of formalities and points of etiquette. Holding a commission direct
from the king, he could not bring himself to acknowledge a provincial
officer as his superior. He encamped separately, kept separate guards,
would not agree that Washington should assign any rallying place for his
men in case of alarm, and objected to receive from him the parole and
countersign, though necessary for their common safety.
Washington conducted himself with circumspection, avoiding every thing that
might call up a question of command, and reasoning calmly whenever such
question occurred; but he urged the governor by letter, to prescribe their
relative rank and authority. "He thinks you have not a power to give
commissions that will command him. If so, I can very confidently say that
his absence would tend to the public advantage."
On the 11th of June, Washington resumed the laborious march for Redstone
Creek. As Captain Mackay could not oblige his men to work on the road
unless they were allowed a shilling sterling a day; and as Washington did
not choose to pay this, nor to suffer them to march at their ease while his
own faithful soldiers were laboriously employed; he left the captain and
his Independent company as a guard at Fort Necessity, and undertook to
complete the military road with his own men.
Accordingly, he and his Virginia troops toiled forward through the narrow
defiles of the mountains, working on the road as they went. Scouts were
sent out in all directions, to prevent surprise. While on the march he was
continually beset by sachems, with their tedious ceremonials and speeches,
all to very little purpose. Some of these chiefs were secretly in the
French interest; few rendered any real assistance, and all expected
presents.
At Gist's establishment, about thirteen miles from Fort Necessity,
Washington received certain intelligence that ample reinforcements had
arrived at Fort Duquesne, and a large force would instantly be detached
against him. Coming to a halt, he began to throw up intrenchments, calling
in two foraging parties, and sending word to Captain Mackay to join him
with all speed. The captain and his company arrived in the evening; the
foraging parties the next morning. A council of war was held, in which the
idea of awaiting the enemy at this place was unanimously abandoned.
A rapid and toilsome retreat ensued. There was a deficiency of horses.
Washington gave up his own to aid in transporting the military munitions,
leaving his baggage to be brought on by soldiers, whom he paid liberally.
The other officers followed his example. The weather was sultry; the roads
were rough; provisions were scanty, and the men dispirited by hunger. The
Virginian soldiers took turns to drag the swivels, but felt almost insulted
by the conduct of the South Carolinians, who, piquing themselves upon their
assumed privileges as "king's soldiers," sauntered along at their ease;
refusing to act as pioneers, or participate in the extra labors incident to
a hurried retreat.
On the 1st of July they reached the Great Meadows. Here the Virginians,
exhausted by fatigue, hunger, and vexation, declared they would carry the
baggage and drag the swivels no further. Contrary to his original
intentions, therefore, Washington determined to halt here for the present,
and fortify, sending off expresses to hasten supplies and reinforcements
from Wills' Creek, where he had reason to believe that two independent
companies from New York, were by this time arrived.
The retreat to the Great Meadows had not been in the least too precipitate.
Captain de Villiers, a brother-in-law of Jumonville, had actually sallied
forth from Fort Duquesne at the head of upwards of five hundred French, and
several hundred Indians, eager to avenge the death of his relative.
Arriving about dawn of day at Gist's plantation, he surrounded the works
which Washington had hastily thrown up there, and fired into them. Finding
them deserted, he concluded that those of whom he came in search had made
good their retreat to the settlements, and it was too late to pursue them.
He was on the point of returning to Fort Duquesne, when a deserter arrived,
who gave word that Washington had come to a halt in the Great Meadows,
where his troops were in a starving condition; for his own part, he added,
hearing that the French were coming, he had deserted to them to escape
starvation.
De Villiers ordered the fellow into confinement; to be rewarded if his
words proved true, otherwise to be hanged. He then pushed forward for the
Great Meadows. [Footnote: Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, vol. iv., p.
22.]
In the mean time Washington had exerted himself to enlarge and strengthen
Fort Necessity, nothing of which had been done by Captain Mackay and his
men, while encamped there. The fort was about a hundred feet square,
protected by trenches and palisades. It stood on the margin of a small
stream, nearly in the centre of the Great Meadows, which is a grassy plain,
perfectly level, surrounded by wooded hills of a moderate height, and at
that place about two hundred and fifty yards wide. Washington asked no
assistance from the South Carolina troops, but set to work with his
Virginians, animating them by word and example; sharing in the labor of
felling trees, hewing off the branches, and rolling up the trunks to form a
breastwork.
At this critical juncture he was deserted by his Indian allies. They were
disheartened at the scanty preparations for defence against a superior
force, and offended at being subjected to military command. The half-king
thought he had not been sufficiently consulted, and that his advice had not
been sufficiently followed; such, at least, were some of the reasons which
he subsequently gave for abandoning the youthful commander on the approach
of danger. The true reason was a desire to put his wife and children in a
place of safety. Most of his warriors followed his example; very few, and
those probably who had no families at risk, remained in the camp.
Early in the morning of the 3d, while Washington and his men were working
on the fort, a sentinel came in wounded and bleeding, having been fired
upon. Scouts brought word shortly afterwards that the French were in force,
about four miles off. Washington drew up his men on level ground outside of
the works, to await their attack. About 11 o'clock there was a firing of
musketry from among trees on rising ground, but so distant as to do no
harm; suspecting this to be a stratagem designed to draw his men into the
woods, he ordered them to keep quiet, and refrain from firing until the foe
should show themselves, and draw near.
The firing was kept up, but still under cover. He now fell back with his
men into the trenches, ordering them to fire whenever they could get sight
of an enemy. In this way there was skirmishing throughout the day; the
French and Indians advancing as near as the covert of the woods would
permit, which in the nearest place was sixty yards, but never into open
sight. In the meanwhile the rain fell in torrents; the harassed and jaded
troops were half drowned in their trenches, and many of their muskets were
rendered unfit for use.
About eight at night the French requested a parley. Washington hesitated.
It might be a stratagem to gain admittance for a spy into the fort. The
request was repeated, with the addition that an officer might be sent to
treat with them, under their parole for his safety. Unfortunately the
Chevalier de Peyrouney, engineer of the regiment, and the only one who
could speak French correctly, was wounded and disabled. Washington had to
send, therefore, his ancient swordsman and interpreter, Jacob Van Braam.
The captain returned twice with separate terms, in which the garrison was
required to surrender; both were rejected. He returned a third time, with
written articles of capitulation. They were in French. As no implements for
writing were at hand, Van Braam undertook to translate them by word of
mouth. A candle was brought, and held close to the paper while he read.
The rain fell in torrents; it was difficult to keep the light from being
extinguished. The captain rendered the capitulation, article by article, in
mongrel English, while Washington and his officers stood listening,
endeavoring to disentangle the meaning. One article stipulated that on
surrendering the fort they should leave all their military stores,
munitions, and artillery in possession of the French. This was objected to,
and was readily modified.
The main articles, as Washington and his officers understood them, were,
that they should be allowed to return to the settlements without
molestation from French or Indians. That they should march out of the fort
with the honors of war, drums beating and colors flying, and with all their
effects and military stores excepting the artillery, which should be
destroyed. That they should be allowed to deposit their effects in some
secret place, and leave a guard to protect them until they could send
horses to bring them away; their horses having been nearly all killed or
lost during the action. That they should give their word of honor not to
attempt any buildings or improvements on the lands of his most Christian
Majesty, for the space of a year. That the prisoners taken in the skirmish
of Jumonville should be restored, and until their delivery Captain Van
Braam and Captain Stobo should remain with the French as hostages.
[Footnote: Horace Walpole, in a flippant notice of this capitulation, says:
"The French have tied up the hands of an excellent _fanfaron_, a Major
Washington, whom they took and engaged not to serve for one year."
(Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 73.) Walpole, at this early date, seems to
have considered Washington a perfect fire-eater.]
The next morning accordingly, Washington and his men marched out of their
forlorn fortress with the honors of war, bearing with them their regimental
colors, but leaving behind a large flag, too cumbrous to be transported.
Scarcely had they begun their march, however, when, in defiance of the
terms of capitulation, they were beset by a large body of Indians, allies
of the French, who began plundering the baggage, and committing other
irregularities. Seeing that the French did not, or could not, prevent them,
and that all the baggage which could not be transported on the shoulders of
his troops would fall into the hands of these savages, Washington ordered
it to be destroyed, as well as the artillery, gunpowder, and other military
stores. All this detained him until ten o'clock, when he set out on his
melancholy march. He had not proceeded above a mile when two or three of
the wounded men were reported to be missing. He immediately detached a few
men back in quest of them, and continued on until three miles from Fort
Necessity, where he encamped for the night, and was rejoined by the
stragglers.
In this affair, out of the Virginia regiment, consisting of three hundred
and five men, officers included, twelve had been killed, and forty-three
wounded. The number killed and wounded in Captain Mackay's company is not
known. The loss of the French and Indians is supposed to have been much
greater.
In the following days' march the troops seemed jaded and disheartened; they
were encumbered and delayed by the wounded; provisions were scanty, and
they had seventy weary miles to accomplish before they could meet with
supplies. Washington, however, encouraged them by his own steadfast and
cheerful demeanor, and by sharing all their toils and privations; and at
length conducted them in safety to Wills' Creek, where they found ample
provisions in the military magazines. Leaving them here to recover their
strength, he proceeded with Captain Mackay to Williamsburg, to make his
military report to the governor.
A copy of the capitulation was subsequently laid before the Virginia House
of Burgesses, with explanations. Notwithstanding the unfortunate result of
the campaign, the conduct of Washington and his officers was properly
appreciated, and they received a vote of thanks for their bravery, and
gallant defence of their country. Three hundred pistoles (nearly eleven
hundred dollars) also were voted to be distributed among the privates who
had been in action.
From the vote of thanks, two officers were excepted; Major Stobo, who was
charged with cowardice, and Washington's unfortunate master of fence and
blundering interpreter, Jacob Van Braam, who was accused of treachery, in
purposely misinterpreting the articles of capitulation.
In concluding this chapter, we will anticipate dates to record the fortunes
of the half-king after his withdrawal from the camp. He and several of his
warriors, with their wives and children, retreated to Aughquick, in the
back part of Pennsylvania, where George Croghan had an agency, and was
allowed money from time to time for the maintenance Of Indian allies. By
the by, Washington, in his letter to William Fairfax, expressed himself
much disappointed in Croghan and Montour, who proved, he said, to be great
pretenders, and by vainly boasting of their interest with the Indians,
involved the country in great calamity, causing dependence to be placed
where there was none. [Footnote: Letter to W. Fairfax, Aug. 11th, 1754.]
For, with all their boast, they never could induce above thirty fighting
men to join the camp, and not more than half of those rendered any service.
As to the half-king, he expressed himself perfectly disgusted with the
white man's mode of warfare. The French, he said, were cowards; the
English, fools. Washington was a good man, but wanted experience: he would
not take advice of the Indians and was always driving them to fight
according to his own notions. For this reason he (the half-king) had
carried off his wife and children to a place of safety.
After a time the chieftain fell dangerously ill, and a conjurer or
"medicine man" was summoned to inquire into the cause or nature of his
malady. He gave it as his opinion that the French had bewitched him, in
revenge for the great blow he had struck them in the affair of Jumonville;
for the Indians gave him the whole credit of that success, he having sent
round the French scalps as trophies. In the opinion of the conjurer all the
friends of the chieftain concurred, and on his death, which took place
shortly afterwards, there was great lamentation, mingled with threats of
immediate vengeance. The foregoing particulars are gathered from a letter
written by John Harris, an Indian trader, to the Governor of Pennsylvania,
at the request of the half-king's friend and fellow sachem, Monacatoocha,
otherwise called Scarooyadi. "I humbly presume," concludes John Harris,
"that his death is a very great loss, especially at this critical time."
[Footnote: Pennsylvania Archives, vol. ii., p. 178.]
NOTE.
We have been thus particular in tracing the affair of the Great Meadows,
step by step, guided by the statements of Washington himself and of one of
his officers, present in the engagement, because it is another of the
events in the early stage of his military career, before the justice and
magnanimity of his character were sufficiently established which have been
subject to misrepresentation. When the articles of capitulation came to be
correctly translated and published, there were passages in them derogatory
to the honor of Washington and his troops, and, which, it would seem, had
purposely been inserted for their humiliation by the French commander; but
which, they protested, had never been rightly translated by Van Braam. For
instance, in the written articles, they were made to stipulate that for the
space of a year, they would not work on any establishment beyond the
mountains; whereas it had been translated by Van Braam "on any
establishment _on the lands of the King of France_" which was quite
another thing, as most of the land beyond the mountains was considered by
them as belonging to the British crown. There were other points, of minor
importance, relative to the disposition of the artillery; but the most
startling and objectionable one was that concerning the previous skirmish
in the Great Meadows. This was mentioned in the written articles as
_l'assassinat du Sieur de Jumonville_, that is to say, the
_murder_ of De Jumonville; an expression from which Washington and his
officers would have revolted with scorn and indignation; and which, if
truly translated, would in all probability have caused the capitulation to
be sent back instantly to the French commander. On the contrary, they
declared it had been translated to them by Van Braam the _death_ of De
Jumonville.
M. de Villiers, in his account of this transaction to the French
government, avails himself of these passages in the capitulation to cast a
slur on the conduct of Washington. He says, "We made the English consent to
sign that they had assassinated my brother in his camp."--"We caused them
to abandon the lands belonging to the king.--We obliged them to leave their
cannon, which consisted of nine pieces, &c." He further adds: "The English,
struck with panic, took to flight, and left their flag and one of their
colors." We have shown that the flag left was the unwieldy one belonging to
the fort; too cumbrous to be transported by troops who could not carry
their own necessary baggage. The regimental colors, as honorable symbols,
were scrupulously carried off by Washington, and retained by him in after
years.
M. de Villiers adds another incident intended to degrade his enemy. He
says, "One of my Indians took ten Englishmen, whom he brought to me, and
whom I sent back by another." These, doubtless, were the men detached by
Washington in quest of the wounded loiterers; and who, understanding
neither French nor Indian, found a difficulty in explaining their peaceful
errand. That they were captured by the Indian seems too much of a
gasconade.
The public opinion at the time was that Van Braam had been suborned by De
Villiers to soften the offensive articles of the capitulation in
translating them, so that they should not wound the pride nor awaken the
scruples of Washington and his officers, yet should stand on record against
them. It is not probable that a French officer of De Villiers' rank would
practise such a base perfidy, nor does the subsequent treatment experienced
by Van Braam from the French corroborate the charge. It is more than
probable the inaccuracy of translation originated in his ignorance of the
precise weight and value of words in the two languages, neither of which
was native to him, and between which he was the blundering agent of
exchange.