WASHINGTON VINDICATES HIS CONDUCT TO LORD LOUDOUN--HIS RECEPTION BY HIS
LORDSHIP--MILITARY PLANS--LORD LOUDOUN AT HALIFAX--MONTCALM ON LAKE
GEORGE--HIS TRIUMPHS--LORD LOUDOUN'S FAILURES--WASHINGTON AT WINCHESTER--
CONTINUED MISUNDERSTANDINGS WITH DINWIDDIE--RETURN TO MOUNT VERNON.
Circumstances had led Washington to think that Lord Loudoun "had received
impressions to his prejudice by false representations of facts," and that a
wrong idea prevailed at head-quarters respecting the state of military
affairs in Virginia. He was anxious, therefore, for an opportunity of
placing all these matters in a proper light; and, understanding that there
was to be a meeting in Philadelphia in the month of March, between Lord
Loudoun and the southern governors, to consult about measures of defence
for their respective provinces, he wrote to Governor Dinwiddie for
permission to attend it.
"I cannot conceive," writes Dinwiddie in reply, "what service you can be of
in going there, as the plan concerted will, in course, be communicated to
you and the other officers. However, as you seem so earnest to go, I now
give you leave."
This ungracious reply seemed to warrant the suspicions entertained by some
of Washington's friends, that it was the busy pen of Governor Dinwiddie
which had given the "false representation of facts," to Lord Loudoun. About
a month, therefore, before the time of the meeting, Washington addressed a
long letter to his lordship, explanatory of military affairs in the quarter
where he had commanded. In this he set forth the various defects in the
militia laws of Virginia; the errors in its system of defence, and the
inevitable confusion which had thence resulted.
Adverting to his own conduct: "The orders I receive," said he, "are full of
ambiguity. I am left like a wanderer in the wilderness to proceed at
hazard. I am answerable for consequences, and blamed, without the privilege
of defence. ... It is not to be wondered at, if, under such peculiar
circumstances, I should be sick of a service which promises so little of a
soldier's reward.
"I have long been satisfied of the impossibility of continuing in this
service, without loss of honor. Indeed, I was fully convinced of it before
I accepted the command the second time, seeing the cloudy prospect before
me; and I did, for this reason, reject the offer, until I was ashamed any
longer to refuse, not caring to expose my character to public censure. The
solicitations of the country overcame my objections, and induced me to
accept it. Another reason has of late operated to continue me in the
service until now, and that is, the dawn of hope that arose, when I heard
your lordship was destined, by his majesty, for the important command of
his armies in America, and appointed to the government of his dominion of
Virginia. Hence it was, that I drew my hopes, and fondly pronounced your
lordship our patron. Although I have not the honor to be known to your
lordship, yet your name was familiar to my ear, on account of the important
services rendered to his majesty in other parts of the world."
The manner in which Washington was received by Lord Loudoun on arriving in
Philadelphia, showed him at once, that his long, explanatory letter had
produced the desired effect, and that his character and conduct were justly
appreciated. During his sojourn in Philadelphia he was frequently consulted
on points of frontier service, and his advice was generally adopted. On one
point it failed. He advised that an attack should be made on Fort Duquesne,
simultaneous with the attempts on Canada. At such time a great part of the
garrison would be drawn away to aid in the defence of that province, and a
blow might be struck more likely to insure the peace and safety of the
southern frontier, than all its forts and defences.
Lord Loudoun, however, was not to be convinced, or at least persuaded.
According to his plan, the middle and southern provinces were to maintain a
merely defensive warfare; and as Virginia would be required to send four
hundred of her troops to the aid of South Carolina, she would, in fact, be
left weaker than before.
Washington was also disappointed a second time, in the hope of having his
regiment placed on the same footing as the regular army, and of obtaining a
king's commission; the latter he was destined never to hold.
His representations with respect to Fort Cumberland had the desired effect
in counteracting the mischievous intermeddling of Dinwiddie. The Virginia
troops and stores were ordered to be again removed to Fort Loudoun, at
Winchester, which once more became head-quarters, while Fort Cumberland was
left to be occupied by a Maryland garrison. Washington was instructed,
likewise, to correspond and co-operate, in military affairs, with Colonel
Stanwix, who was stationed on the Pennsylvania frontier, with five hundred
men from the Royal American regiment, and to whom he would be, in some
measure, subordinate. This proved a correspondence of friendship, as well
as duty; Colonel Stanwix being a gentleman of high moral worth, as well as
great ability in military affairs.
The great plan of operations at the north was again doomed to failure. The
reduction of Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, which had long been meditated,
was laid aside, and the capture of Louisburg substituted, as an acquisition
of far greater importance. This was a place of great consequence, situated
on the isle of Cape Breton, and strongly fortified. It commanded the
fisheries of Newfoundland, overawed New England, and was a main bulwark to
Acadia.
In the course of July, Lord Loudoun set sail for Halifax with all the
troops he could collect, amounting to about six thousand men, to join with
Admiral Holbourne, who had just arrived at that port with eleven ships of
the line, a fire-ship, bomb-ketch, and fleet of transports, having on board
six thousand men. With this united force Lord Loudoun anticipated the
certain capture of Louisburg.
Scarce had the tidings of his lordship's departure reached Canada, when the
active Montcalm again took the field, to follow up the successes of the
preceding year. Fort William Henry, which Sir Wm. Johnson had erected on
the southern shore of Lake George, was now his object; it commanded the
lake, and was an important protection to the British frontier. A brave old
officer, Colonel Monro, with about five hundred men, formed the garrison;
more than three times that number of militia were intrenched near by.
Montcalm had, early in the season, made three ineffectual attempts upon the
fort; he now trusted to be more successful. Collecting his forces from
Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and the adjacent posts, with a considerable
number of Canadians and Indians, altogether nearly eight thousand men, he
advanced up the lake, on the 1st of August, in a fleet of boats, with
swarms of Indian canoes in the advance. The fort came near being surprised;
but the troops encamped without it, abandoned their tents and hurried
within the works. A summons to surrender was answered by a brave defiance.
Montcalm invested the fort, made his approaches, and battered it with his
artillery. For five days its veteran commander kept up a vigorous defence,
trusting to receive assistance from General Webb, who had failed to relieve
Fort Oswego in the preceding year, and who was now at Fort Edward, about
fifteen miles distant, with upwards of five thousand men. Instead of this,
Webb, who overrated the French forces, sent him a letter, advising him to
capitulate. The letter was intercepted by Montcalm, but still forwarded to
Monro. The obstinate old soldier, however, persisted in his defence, until
most of his cannon were burst, and his ammunition expended. At length, in
the month of August, he hung out a flag of truce, and obtained honorable
terms from an enemy who knew how to appreciate his valor. Montcalm
demolished the fort, carried off all the artillery and munitions of war,
with vessels employed in the navigation of the lake; and having thus
completed his destruction of the British defences on this frontier,
returned once more in triumph with the spoils of victory, to hang up fresh
trophies in the churches of Canada.
Lord Loudoun, in the mean time, formed his junction with Admiral Holbourne
at Halifax, and the troops were embarked with all diligence on board of the
transports. Unfortunately, the French were again too quick for them.
Admiral de Bois de la Mothe had arrived at Louisburg, with a large naval
and land force; it was ascertained that he had seventeen ships of the line,
and three frigates, quietly moored in the harbor; that the place was well
fortified and supplied with provisions and ammunition, and garrisoned with
six thousand regular troops; three thousand natives, and thirteen hundred
Indians.
Some hot-heads would have urged an attempt against all such array of force,
but Lord Loudoun was aware of the probability of defeat, and the disgrace
and ruin that it would bring upon British arms in America. He wisely,
though ingloriously, returned to New York. Admiral Holbourne made a silly
demonstration of his fleet off the harbor of Louisburg, approaching within
two miles of the batteries, but retired on seeing the French admiral
preparing to unmoor. He afterwards returned with a reinforcement of four
ships of the line; cruised before Louisburg, endeavoring to draw the enemy
to an engagement, which De la Mothe had the wisdom to decline; was
overtaken by a hurricane, in which one of his ships was lost, eleven were
dismasted, others had to throw their guns overboard, and all returned in a
shattered condition to England. Thus ended the northern campaign by land
and sea, a subject of great mortification to the nation, and ridicule and
triumph to the enemy.
During these unfortunate operations to the north, Washington was stationed
at Winchester, shorn of part of his force by the detachment to South
Carolina, and left with seven hundred men to defend a frontier of more than
three hundred and fifty miles in extent. The capture and demolition of
Oswego by Montcalm had produced a disastrous effect. The whole country of
the five nations was abandoned to the French. The frontiers of
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia were harassed by repeated inroads of
French and Indians, and Washington had the mortification to see the noble
valley of the Shenandoah almost deserted by its inhabitants, and fast
relapsing into a wilderness.
The year wore away on his part in the harassing service of defending a wide
frontier with an insufficient and badly organized force, and the vexations
he experienced were heightened by continual misunderstandings with Governor
Dinwiddie. From the ungracious tenor of several of that gentleman's
letters, and from private information, he was led to believe that some
secret enemy had been making false representations of his motives and
conduct, and prejudicing the governor against him. He vindicated himself
warmly from the alleged aspersions, proudly appealing to the whole course
of his public career in proof of their falsity. "It is uncertain," said he,
"in what light my services may have appeared to your honor; but this I
know, and it is the highest consolation I am capable of feeling, that no
man that ever was employed in a public capacity has endeavored to discharge
the trust reposed in him with greater honesty and more zeal for the
country's interest than I have done; and if there is any person living who
can say, with justice, that I have offered any intentional wrong to the
public, I will cheerfully submit to the most ignominious punishment that an
injured people ought to inflict. On the other hand, it is hard to have my
character arraigned, and my actions condemned, without a hearing."
His magnanimous appeal had but little effect. Dinwiddie was evidently
actuated by the petty pique of a narrow and illiberal mind, impatient of
contradiction, even when in error. He took advantage of his official
station to vent his spleen and gratify his petulance in a variety of ways
incompatible with the courtesy of a gentleman. It may excite a grave smile
at the present day to find Washington charged by this very small-minded man
with looseness in his way of writing to him; with remissness in his duty
towards him; and even with impertinence in the able and eloquent
representations which he felt compelled to make of disastrous mismanagement
in military affairs; and still more, to find his reasonable request, after
a long course of severe duty, for a temporary leave of absence to attend to
his private concerns peremptorily refused, and that with as little courtesy
as though he were a mere subaltern seeking to absent himself on a party of
pleasure.
The multiplied vexations which Washington had latterly experienced from
this man, had preyed upon his spirits, and contributed, with his incessant
toils and anxieties, to undermine his health. For some time he struggled
with repeated attacks of dysentery and fever, and continued in the exercise
of his duties; but the increased violence of his malady, and the urgent
advice of his friend Dr. Craik, the army surgeon, induced him to relinquish
his post towards the end of the year and retire to Mount Vernon.
The administration of Dinwiddie, however, was now at an end. He set sail
for England in January, 1758, very little regretted, excepting by his
immediate hangers-on, and leaving a character overshadowed by the
imputation of avarice and extortion in the exaction of illegal fees, and of
downright delinquency in regard to large sums transmitted to him by
government to be paid over to the province in indemnification of its extra
expenses; for the disposition of which sums he failed to render an account.
He was evidently a sordid, narrow-minded, and somewhat arrogant man;
bustling rather than active; prone to meddle with matters of which he was
profoundly ignorant, and absurdly unwilling to have his ignorance
enlightened.