RETURN TO QUIET LIFE--FRENCH AND ENGLISH PREPARE FOR HOSTILITIES--PLAN OF A
CAMPAIGN--GENERAL BRADDOCK--HIS CHARACTER--SIR JOHN ST. CLAIR,
QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL--HIS TOUR OF INSPECTION--PROJECTED ROADS--ARRIVAL OF
BRADDOCK--MILITARY CONSULTATIONS AND PLANS--COMMODORE KEPPEL AND HIS
SEAMEN--SHIPS AND TROOPS AT ALEXANDRIA--EXCITEMENT OF WASHINGTON--INVITED
TO JOIN THE STAFF OF BRADDOCK--A MOTHER'S OBJECTIONS--WASHINGTON AT
ALEXANDRIA--GRAND COUNCIL OF GOVERNORS--MILITARY ARRANGEMENTS--COLONEL
WILLIAM JOHNSON--SIR JOHN ST. CLAIR AT FORT CUMBERLAND--HIS EXPLOSIONS OF
WRATH--THEIR EFFECTS--INDIANS TO BE ENLISTED--CAPTAIN JACK AND HIS BAND OF
BUSH-BEATERS.
Having resigned his commission, and disengaged himself from public affairs,
Washington's first care was to visit his mother, inquire into the state of
domestic concerns, and attend to the welfare of his brothers and sisters.
In these matters he was ever his mother's adjunct and counsellor,
discharging faithfully the duties of an eldest son, who should consider
himself a second father to the family.
He now took up his abode at Mount Vernon, and prepared to engage in those
agricultural pursuits, for which, even in his youthful days, he had as keen
a relish as for the profession of arms. Scarcely had he entered upon his
rural occupations, however, when the service of his country once more
called him to the field.
The disastrous affair at the Great Meadows, and the other acts of French
hostility on the Ohio, had roused the attention of the British ministry.
Their ambassador at Paris was instructed to complain of those violations of
the peace. The court of Versailles amused him with general assurances of
amity, and a strict adherence to treaties. Their ambassador at the court of
St. James, the Marquis de Mirepoix, on the faith of his instructions, gave
the same assurances. In the mean time, however, French ships were fitted
out, and troops embarked, to carry out the schemes of the government in
America. So profound was the dissimulation of the court of Versailles, that
even their own ambassador is said to have been kept in ignorance of their
real designs, and of the hostile game they were playing, while he was
exerting himself in good faith, to lull the suspicions of England, and
maintain the international peace. When his eyes, however, were opened, he
returned indignantly to France, and upbraided the cabinet with the
duplicity of which he had been made the unconscious instrument.
The British government now prepared for military operations in America;
none of them professedly aggressive, but rather to resist and counteract
aggressions. A plan of campaign was devised for 1755, having four objects.
To eject the French from lands which they held unjustly, in the province of
Nova Scotia.
To dislodge them from a fortress which they had erected at Crown Point, on
Lake Champlain, within what was claimed as British territory.
To dispossess them of the fort which they had constructed at Niagara,
between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.
To drive them from the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and recover
the valley of the Ohio.
The Duke of Cumberland, captain-general of the British army, had the
organization of this campaign; and through his patronage, Major-general
Edward Braddock was intrusted with the execution of it, being appointed
generalissimo of all the forces in the colonies.
Braddock was a veteran in service, and had been upwards of forty years in
the guards, that school of exact discipline and technical punctilio.
Cumberland, who held a commission in the guards, and was bigoted to its
routine, may have considered Braddock fitted, by his skill and preciseness
as a tactician, for a command in a new country, inexperienced in military
science, to bring its raw levies into order, and to settle those questions
of rank and etiquette apt to arise where regular and provincial troops are
to act together.
The result proved the error of such an opinion. Braddock was a brave and
experienced officer but his experience was that of routine, and rendered
him pragmatical and obstinate, impatient of novel expedients "not laid down
in the books," but dictated by emergencies in a "new country," and his
military precision, which would have been brilliant on parade, was a
constant obstacle to alert action in the wilderness. [Footnote: Horace
Walpole, in his letters, relates some anecdotes of Braddock, which give a
familiar picture of him in the fashionable life in which he had mingled in
London, and are of value, as letting us into the private character of a man
whose name has become proverbial in American history. "Braddock," says
Walpole, "is a very Iroquois in disposition. He had a sister, who, having
gamed away all her little fortune at Bath, hanged herself with a truly
English deliberation, leaving a note on the table with these lines: 'To die
is landing on some silent shore,' &c. When Braddock was told of it, he only
said: 'Poor Fanny! I always thought she would play till she would be forced
to tuck herself up.'"
Braddock himself had been somewhat of a spendthrift. He was touchy also,
and punctilious. "He once had a duel," says Walpole, "with Colonel Glumley,
Lady Bath's brother, who had been his great friend. As they were going to
engage, Glumley, who had good humor and wit (Braddock had the latter) said:
'Braddock, you are a poor dog! here, take my purse, if you kill me you will
be forced to run away, and then you will not have a shilling to support
you.' Braddock refused the purse, insisted on the duel, was disarmed, and
would not even ask for his life."]
Braddock was to lead in person the grand enterprise of the campaign, that
destined for the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania; it was the
enterprise in which Washington became enlisted, and, therefore, claims our
especial attention.
Prior to the arrival of Braddock, came out from England Lieutenant-colonel
Sir John St. Clair, deputy quartermaster-general, eager to make himself
acquainted with the field of operations. He made a tour of inspection, in
company with Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, and appears to have been
dismayed at sight of the impracticable wilderness, the region of
Washington's campaign. From Fort Cumberland, he wrote in February to
Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, to have the road cut, or repaired, toward
the head of the river Youghiogeny, and another opened from Philadelphia for
the transportation of supplies. "No general," writes he, "will advance with
an army without having a communication open to the provinces in his rear,
both for the security of retreat, and to facilitate the transport of
provisions, the supplying of which must greatly depend on your province."
[Footnote: Colonial Records, vi., 300.]
Unfortunately the governor of Pennsylvania had no money at his command, and
was obliged, for expenses, to apply to his Assembly, "a set of men," writes
he, "quite unacquainted with every kind of military service, and
exceedingly unwilling to part with money on any terms." However, by dint of
exertions, he procured the appointment of commissioners to explore the
country, and survey and lay out the roads required. At the head of the
commission was George Croghan, the Indian trader, whose mission to the
Twightwees we have already spoken of. Times had gone hard with Croghan. The
French had seized great quantities of his goods. The Indians, with whom he
traded, had failed to pay their debts, and he had become a bankrupt. Being
an efficient agent on the frontier, and among the Indians, he still enjoyed
the patronage of the Pennsylvania government.
When Sir John St. Clair had finished his tour of inspection, he descended
Wills' Creek and the Potomac for two hundred miles in a canoe to
Alexandria, and repaired to Virginia to meet General Braddock. The latter
had landed on the 20th of February at Hampton, in Virginia, and proceeded
to Williamsburg to consult with Governor Dinwiddie. Shortly afterwards he
was joined there by Commodore Keppel, whose squadron of two ships-of-war,
and several transports, had anchored in the Chesapeake. On board of these
ships were two prime regiments of about five hundred men each; one
commanded by Sir Peter Halket, the other by Colonel Dunbar; together with a
train of artillery, and the necessary munitions of war. The regiments were
to be augmented to seven hundred men, each by men selected by Sir John St.
Clair from Virginia companies recently raised.
Alexandria was fixed upon as the place where the troops should disembark,
and encamp. The ships were accordingly ordered up to that place, and the
levies directed to repair thither.
The plan of the campaign included the use of Indian allies. Governor
Dinwiddie had already sent Christopher Gist, the pioneer, Washington's
guide in 1753, to engage the Cherokees and Catawbas, the bravest of the
Southern tribes, who he had no doubt would take up the hatchet for the
English, peace being first concluded, through the mediation of his
government, between them and the Six Nations; and he gave Braddock reason
to expect at least four hundred Indians to join him at Port Cumberland. He
laid before him also contracts that he had made for cattle, and promises
that the Assembly of Pennsylvania had made of flour; these, with other
supplies, and a thousand barrels of beef on board of the transports, would
furnish six months' provisions for four thousand men.
General Braddock apprehended difficulty in procuring wagons and horses
sufficient to attend him in his march. Sir John St. Clair, in the course of
his tour of inspection, had met with two Dutch settlers, at the foot of the
Blue Ridge, who engaged to furnish two hundred waggons, and fifteen hundred
carrying-horses, to be at Fort Cumberland early in May.
Governor Sharpe was to furnish above a hundred waggons for the
transportation of stores, on the Maryland side of the Potomac.
Keppel furnished four cannons from his ships, for the attack on Fort
Duquesne, and thirty picked seamen to assist in dragging them over the
mountains; for "soldiers," said he, "cannot be as well acquainted with the
nature of purchases, and making use of tackles, as seamen," They were to
aid also in passing the troops and artillery on floats or in boats, across
the rivers, and were under the command of a midshipman and lieutenant.
[Footnote: Keppel's Life of Keppel, p. 205.]
"Every thing," writes Captain Robert Orme, one of the general's
aides-de-camp, "seemed to promise so far the greatest success. The
transports were all arrived safe, and the men in health. Provisions,
Indians, carriages, and horses, were already provided; at least were to be
esteemed so, considering the authorities on which they were promised to the
general."
Trusting to these arrangements, Braddock proceeded to Alexandria. The
troops had all been disembarked before his arrival, and the Virginia levies
selected by Sir John St. Clair, to join the regiments of regulars, were
arrived. There were beside two companies of hatchet men, or carpenters; six
of rangers; and one troop of light horse. The levies, having been clothed,
were ordered to march immediately for Winchester, to be armed, and the
general gave them in charge of an ensign of the 44th, "to make them as like
soldiers as possible." [Footnote: Orme's Journal.] The light horse were
retained by the general as his escort and body guard.
The din and stir of warlike preparation disturbed the quiet of Mount
Vernon. Washington looked down from his rural retreat upon the ships of war
and transports, as they passed up the Potomac, with the array of arms
gleaming along their decks. The booming of cannon echoed among his groves.
Alexandria was but a few miles distant. Occasionally he mounted his horse,
and rode to that place; it was like a garrisoned town, teeming with troops,
and resounding with the drum and fife. A brilliant campaign was about to
open under the auspices of an experienced general, and with all the means
and appurtenances of European warfare. How different from the starveling
expeditions he had hitherto been doomed to conduct! What an opportunity to
efface the memory of his recent disaster! All his thoughts of rural life
were put to flight. The military part of his character was again in the
ascendant; his great desire was to join the expedition as a volunteer.
It was reported to General Braddock. The latter was apprised by Governor
Dinwiddie and others, of Washington's personal merits, his knowledge of the
country, and his experience in frontier service. The consequence was, a
letter from Captain Robert Orme, one of Braddock's aides-de-camp, written
by the general's order, inviting Washington to join his staff; the letter
concluded with frank and cordial expressions of esteem on the part of Orme,
which were warmly reciprocated, and laid the foundation of a soldierlike
friendship between them.
A volunteer situation on the staff of General Braddock offered no emolument
nor command, and would be attended with considerable expense, beside a
sacrifice of his private interests, having no person in whom he had
confidence, to take charge of his affairs in his absence; still he did not
hesitate a moment to accept the invitation. In the position offered to him,
all the questions of military rank which had hitherto annoyed him, would be
obviated. He could indulge his passion for arms without any sacrifice of
dignity, and he looked forward with high anticipation to an opportunity of
acquiring military experience in a corps well organized, and thoroughly
disciplined, and in the family of a commander of acknowledged skill as a
tactician.
His mother heard with concern of another projected expedition into the
wilderness. Hurrying to Mount Vernon, she entreated him not again to expose
himself to the hardships and perils of these frontier campaigns. She
doubtless felt the value of his presence at home, to manage and protect the
complicated interests of the domestic connection, and had watched with
solicitude over his adventurous campaigning, where so much family welfare
was at hazard. However much a mother's pride may have been gratified by his
early advancement and renown, she had rejoiced on his return to the safer
walks of peaceful life. She was thoroughly practical and prosaic in her
notions; and not to be dazzled by military glory. The passion for arms
which mingled with the more sober elements of Washington's character, would
seem to have been inherited from his father's side of the house; it was, in
fact, the old chivalrous spirit of the De Wessyngtons.
His mother had once prevented him from entering the navy, when a gallant
frigate was at hand, anchored in the waters of the Potomac; with all his
deference for her, which he retained through life, he could not resist the
appeal to his martial sympathies, which called him to the head-quarters of
General Braddock at Alexandria.
His arrival was hailed by his young associates, Captains Orme and Morris,
the general's aides-de-camp, who at once received him into frank
companionship, and a cordial intimacy commenced between them, that
continued throughout the campaign.
He experienced a courteous reception from the general, who expressed in
flattering terms the impression he had received of his merits. Washington
soon appreciated the character of the general. He found him stately and
somewhat haughty, exact in matters of military etiquette and discipline,
positive in giving an opinion, and obstinate in maintaining it; but of an
honorable and generous, though somewhat irritable nature.
There were at that time four governors, beside Dinwiddie, assembled at
Alexandria, at Braddock's request, to concert a plan of military
operations; Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts; Lieutenant-governor
Delancey, of New York; Lieutenant-governor Sharpe, of Maryland;
Lieutenant-governor Morris, of Pennsylvania. Washington was presented to
them in a manner that showed how well his merits were already appreciated.
Shirley seems particularly to have struck him as the model of a gentleman
and statesman. He was originally a lawyer, and had risen not more by his
talents, than by his implicit devotion to the crown. His son William was
military secretary to Braddock.
A grand council was held on the 14th of April, composed of General
Braddock, Commodore Keppel, and the governors, at which the general's
commission was read, as were his instructions from the king, relating to a
common fund, to be established by the several colonies, toward defraying
the expenses of the campaign.
The governors were prepared to answer on this head, letters to the same
purport having been addressed to them by Sir Thomas Robinson, one of the
king's secretaries of state, in the preceding month of October. They
informed Braddock that they had applied to their respective Assemblies for
the establishment of such a fund, but in vain, and gave it as their
unanimous opinion, that such a fund could never be established in the
colonies without the aid of Parliament. They had found it impracticable,
also, to obtain from their respective governments the proportions expected
from them by the crown, toward military expenses in America; and suggested
that ministers should find out some mode of compelling them to do it; and
that, in the mean time, the general should make use of his credit upon
government, for current expenses, lest the expedition should come to a
stand. [Footnote: Colonial Records, vol vi., p. 366.]
In discussing the campaign, the governors were of opinion that New York
should be made the centre of operations, as it afforded easy access by
water to the heart of the French possessions in Canada. Braddock, however,
did not feel at liberty to depart from his instructions, which specified
the recent establishments of the French on the Ohio as the objects of his
expedition.
Niagara and Crown Point were to be attacked about the same time with Fort
Duquesne, the former by Governor Shirley, with his own and Sir William
Pepperell's regiments, and some New York companies; the latter by Colonel
William Johnson, sole manager and director of Indian affairs; a personage
worthy of especial note.
He was a native of Ireland, and had come out to this country in 1734, to
manage the landed estates owned by his uncle, Commodore Sir Peter Warren,
in the Mohawk country. He had resided ever since in the vicinity of the
Mohawk River, in the province of New York. By his agency, and his dealings
with the native tribes, he had acquired great wealth, and become a kind of
potentate in the Indian country. His influence over the Six Nations was
said to be unbounded; and it was principally with the aid of a large force
of their warriors that it was expected he would accomplish his part of the
campaign. The end of June, "nearly in July," was fixed upon as the time
when the several attacks upon Forts Duquesne, Niagara, and Crown Point,
should be carried into execution, and Braddock anticipated an easy
accomplishment of his plans.
The expulsion of the French from the lands wrongfully held by them in Nova
Scotia, was to be assigned to Colonel Lawrence, Lieutenant-governor of that
province; we will briefly add, in anticipation, that it was effected by
him, with the aid of troops from Massachusetts and elsewhere, led by
Lieutenant-colonel Monckton.
The business of the Congress being finished, General Braddock would have
set out for Fredericktown, in Maryland, but few waggons or teams had yet
come to remove the artillery. Washington had looked with wonder and dismay
at the huge paraphernalia of war, and the world of superfluities to be
transported across the mountains, recollecting the difficulties he had
experienced in getting over them with his nine swivels and scanty supplies.
"If our march is to be regulated by the slow movements of the train," said
he, "it will be tedious, very tedious, indeed." His predictions excited a
sarcastic smile in Braddock, as betraying the limited notions of a young
provincial officer, little acquainted with the march of armies.
In the mean while, Sir John St. Clair, who had returned to the frontier,
was storming at the camp at Fort Cumberland. The road required of the
Pennsylvania government had not been commenced. George Croghan and the
other commissioners were but just arrived in camp. Sir John, according to
Croghan, received them in a very disagreeable manner; would not look at
their draughts, nor suffer any representations to be made to him in regard
to the province, "but stormed like a lion rampant;" declaring that the want
of the road and of the provisions promised by Pennsylvania had retarded the
expedition, and might cost them, their lives from the fresh numbers of
French that might be poured into the country.--"That instead of marching to
the Ohio, he would in nine days march his army into Cumberland County to
cut the roads, press horses, waggons, &c.--That he would not suffer a
soldier to handle an axe, but by fire and sword oblige the inhabitants to
do it. ... That he would kill all kinds of cattle, and carry away the
horses, burn the houses, &c.; and that if the French defeated them, by the
delays of Pennsylvania, he would, with his sword drawn, pass through the
province and treat the inhabitants as a parcel of traitors to his master.
That he would write to England by a man-of-war; shake Mr. Penn's
proprietaryship, and represent Pennsylvania as a disaffected province. ...
He told us to go to the general, if we pleased, who would give us _ten
bad words for one that he had given_."
The explosive wrath of Sir John, which was not to be appeased, shook the
souls of the commissioners, and they wrote to Governor Morris, urging that
people might be set at work upon the road, if the Assembly had made
provision for opening it; and that flour might be sent without delay to the
mouth of Canococheague River, "as being the only remedy left to prevent
these threatened mischiefs." [Footnote: Colonial Records, vol. vi., p.
368.]
In reply, Mr. Richard Peters, Governor Morris's secretary, wrote in his
name: "Get a number of hands immediately, and further the work by all
possible methods. Your expenses will be paid at the next sitting of
Assembly. Do your duty, and oblige the general and quartermaster if
possible. Finish the road that will be wanted first, and then proceed to
any other that may be thought necessary."
An additional commission, of a different kind, was intrusted to George
Croghan. Governor Morris by letter requested him to convene at Aughquick,
in Pennsylvania, as many warriors as possible of the mixed tribes of the
Ohio, distribute among them wampum belts sent for the purpose, and engage
them to meet General Braddock when on the march, and render him all the
assistance in their power.
In reply, Croghan engaged to enlist a strong body of Indians, being sure of
the influence of Scarooyadi, successor to the half-king, and of his
adjunct, White Thunder, keeper of the speech-belts. [Footnote: Colonial
Records, vol. vi., p, 375.] At the instance of Governor Morris, Croghan
secured the services of another kind of force. This was a band of hunters,
resolute men, well acquainted with the country, and inured to hardships.
They were under the command of Captain Jack, one of the most remarkable
characters of Pennsylvania; a complete hero of the wilderness. He had been
for many years a captive among the Indians; and, having learnt their ways,
had formed this association for the protection of the settlements,
receiving a commission of captain from the Governor of Pennsylvania. The
band had become famous for its exploits, and was a terror to the Indians.
Captain Jack was at present protecting the settlements on the
Canococheague; but promised to march by a circuitous route and join
Braddock with his hunters. "They require no shelter for the night," writes
Croghan; "they ask no pay. If the whole army was composed of such men there
would be no cause of apprehension. I shall be with them in time for duty."
[Footnote: Hazard's Register of Penn., vol. iv., p. 416.]
NOTE.
The following extract of a letter, dated August, 1750, gives one of the
stories relative to this individual:
"The 'Black Hunter,' the 'Black Rifle,' the 'Wild Hunter of Juniata,' is a
white man; his history is this: He entered the woods with a few
enterprising companions; built his cabin; cleared a little land, and amused
himself with the pleasures of fishing and hunting. He felt happy, for then
he had not a care. But on an evening, when he returned from a day of sport,
he found his cabin burnt, his wife and children murdered. From that moment
he forsakes civilized man; hunts out caves, in which he lives; protects the
frontier inhabitants from the Indians; and seizes every opportunity of
revenge that offers. He lives the terror of the Indians and the consolation
of the whites. On one occasion, near Juniata, in the middle of a dark
night, a family were suddenly awaked from sleep by the report of a gun;
they jump from their huts, and by the glimmering light from the chimney saw
an Indian fall to rise no more. The open door exposed to view the wild
hunter. 'I have saved your lives,' he cried, then turned and was buried in
the gloom of night."--_Hazard's Register of Penn_., vol. iv., 389.