THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS.
=102. Prosperity of the Early Colonists.=--For fifty years or more after
the colonists had established their homes in the wilderness of the New
World, they were growing rich and strong. They cleared away forests,
planted fields, traded with the Indians, and built for themselves more
comfortable houses.
Especially was this the case during the years when Cromwell and his
party were in power in England, and until after Charles II was restored
to the English throne. The settlers boldly pressed further and further
on, crossing great rivers, climbing steep mountains, and building log
cabins in far distant regions.
The colonists in Pennsylvania and Virginia pushed westward into the
valley of the Ohio, while the English settlers in New York made their
way through the forest toward the Great Lakes.
=103. The French in North America.=--More than seventy years before
Jamestown was settled, a French explorer by the name of Cartier had
entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, sailed up the river of the same name,
and taken possession of the country in the name of France. This same
region became afterwards the great French stronghold in America.
A Frenchman by the name of Champlain sailed up the beautiful river St.
Lawrence, and was so charmed with the scenery of the country that in
1608, the year after Jamestown was settled, he began to plant a colony
on the site of what is now Quebec. The settlement soon became a city and
the capital of the French possessions in America.
The French were also the first explorers of the vast interior regions of
our country. Their fur traders and trappers kept on good terms with the
Indians, and slowly pushed along the shores of the Great Lakes until
they had established a chain of trading-posts from the St. Lawrence to
Lake Superior. About the time of King Philip's War in New England Father
Marquette discovered the upper Mississippi, and floated down this great
river nearly as far as the mouth of the Arkansas.
=104. La Salle floats down the Mighty Mississippi.=--The bravest and
ablest of all the French explorers was a fur-trader by the name of La
Salle. This daring man, whose life was filled with romantic adventures
and hardships, bravely undergone, gave France the right to claim as her
own the vast domain of the Mississippi valley.
On Lake Erie, La Salle built a small vessel, in which he sailed to the
westward over the Great Lakes. In the year 1682, with a few companions,
he floated down the mighty Mississippi until he reached the Gulf of
Mexico.
[Illustration: LA SALLE AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.]
With solemn ceremonies he claimed for France all the country drained by
this great river and its branches. This enormous territory, extending
from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains, he named Louisiana in honor
of his king, Louis XIV. The narrow strip of land held by the English
along the Atlantic seaboard seemed a feeble possession compared with
the vast untrodden wilderness known as "New France."
Hand in hand with the French explorers and fur-traders, and often in
advance of them, went the Jesuit missionaries. In their efforts to carry
their religion to the Indians and convert them to their faith, these
zealous men boldly struck out into the unbroken wilderness of the great
West. They often became brave and intelligent explorers. All hardships
and all dangers, and even torture by the Indians, they endured without a
murmur.
=105. Beginning of the Contests between the French and English
Colonists.=--At the time the French and English were making settlements
on this continent, and for many long and weary years, with very short
intervals of rest, Europe was cursed with war. Whether these cruel
strifes between the nations arose from political ambition, greed for
gain, or common jealousy, there was always intermingled the same old
undercurrent of religious hatred. The French settlers in this country
were Roman Catholics, while the English were almost all Protestants.
Hence it is not strange that these bitter religious controversies were
not confined to the Old World, but stained with blood the soil of the
New.
The English colonists dearly loved their mother country; her wrongs were
their wrongs. Hence when war was declared between France and England,
the English colonists readily took up arms against the French.
=106. The French and Indian Wars.=--In the seventy-four years from 1689 to
1763 the American colonies were involved in four wars, occupying in all
twenty-seven years. These were called by different names; but the last
and most important is known as the "French and Indian War," which began
in 1755 and lasted about eight years.
These long contests really made one continuous series of hostile
operations, with only a breathing-spell now and then. It was one
long-drawn-out and stubborn battle to decide whether the French or the
English should be masters of North America. Jealous of the rich and
prosperous English colonies on the seaboard, and having determined that
England should not control the whole of this vast continent, the French
built a chain of more than sixty forts stretching from Montreal to New
Orleans.
The French had always treated the Indians with more consideration than
had their rivals. The Jesuit missionaries had converted many of the red
men to their religious belief. Sometimes the French took Indian women
for wives, and often they adopted the red man's ways of living.
=107. The Indians ally themselves with the French.=--When these sons of
the forest found the English slowly but surely crowding them out of
their haunts and homes, and saw that their hunting grounds were getting
reduced to mere strips of territory here and there, it was not strange
that they felt bitter towards the ever-encroaching new-comers. The
tribes had steadily diminished, and they were unable to cope
single-handed with the English. Hence they naturally looked to the
French for help, and the French readily induced the Indians to join them
against the English and their American descendants.
It was a fierce struggle. English and American blood flowed like water
before it was ended. The Indians never fought in open field, but always
after their own fashion. They trusted to sudden attacks, especially at
night, and to rapid raids, doing their savage work suddenly and
retreating swiftly into the forest.
Lonely families and small settlements suffered most. Like lightning out
of the clear sky came the horror of an Indian night attack. The
war-whoop waked the midnight sleepers and the glare of burning cabins
lighted up the darkness.
The massacre of defenseless women and children crimsoned the earth in
scores of settlements during these cruel wars.
[Illustration: INDIANS ATTACKING A SETTLER'S CABIN.]
=108. The Indian Attack on Deerfield in the Massachusetts Colony.=--One
bitter cold night in February, 1704, the French and Indians attacked the
town of Deerfield in the western part of Massachusetts. For this purpose
they had walked all the way from Canada on snowshoes. The people had
been warned of their danger, but the watchmen fell asleep, and the
villagers were awakened by the war-whoop of their savage foes. About
fifty men, women, and children were killed, and nearly a hundred
half-clad captives were marched off through the deep snows. Those who
could not keep up were killed with the tomahawk.
The minister of the village, Rev. John Williams, his wife and six
children, were among those captured and carried to Canada. The wife
lagged behind and was killed. Strange to say, however, the minister and
all his children, though they suffered all manner of hardships, and were
sold as captives, after a time reached home in safety. The good man
lived to write an account of his adventures.
One little girl seven years old was treated kindly by her captors and
was brought up as one of their tribe. She married an Indian chief and
long afterwards visited her people in Deerfield. She wore the Indian
dress and had come to love the wild life. Her former friends and
neighbors begged her to stay with them, but "she returned to the fires
of her own wigwam, and to the love of her Mohawk children."
=109. Hannah Dustin's Famous Adventure with the Indians.=--The story of
Hannah Dustin, of Haverhill, Mass., has often been told. One day in 1697
the Indians attacked the village. Mr. Dustin saved all his family except
his wife and her nurse, who were captured. They marched these women and
an English boy many long days to their camp on an island far up the
Merrimac River. As Mrs. Dustin's babe prevented her keeping up well on
the journey, an Indian cruelly killed it.
The boy, who understood the Indian language, heard the savages tell of
the horrible tortures they intended to inflict upon their captives. When
Mrs. Dustin heard of this she laid her plans. She made the lad slyly
learn from the Indians how to swing a tomahawk and where to strike.
One night, when the savages lay around the camp-fire sound asleep, the
three captives arose softly, each killed with one blow the Indian
nearest, then three more, and so on till ten were finished. One young
boy and one squaw escaped. It was an awful thing for Mrs. Dustin to do,
but the memory of her murdered child made her brave and strong. They
seized an Indian canoe, and the three paddled swiftly down the river,
and half dead with hunger and fatigue reached home. Their friends could
hardly believe their eyes. The heroic woman brought home ten Indian
scalps as proof of what she had done.
=110. How the Colonial Boys learned to shoot.=--We can now well understand
that the settlement of a new country amid hostile Indians demanded from
our colonial fathers eternal vigilance, and developed in them remarkable
skill with firearms.
Even the colonial boy, we are told, as soon as he was big enough to
level a musket, was given powder and ball to shoot squirrels. After a
little practice he was required to bring in as many squirrels as he was
given charges for the gun, under penalty of a severe lecture, or even of
having his "jacket tanned"!
At the age of twelve the boy became a block-house soldier, with a
loophole assigned him from which to shoot when the settlement was
attacked by the Indians.
Growing older, he became a hunter of deer, bears, and other wild
animals, and had at any moment, day or night, to be in readiness to pit
his life against those of hostile Indians.
=111. Capture of Louisburg.=--During the third French and Indian war,
which began when George Washington was a boy of fourteen and which
lasted four years, the New England colonists determined to strike a hard
blow against France. They fitted out an army of about four thousand
fishermen and farmers, put their expedition under the command of General
William Pepperell, and sailed from Boston to capture Louisburg on the
island of Cape Breton.
With its walls of masonry thirty feet high this was the strongest
fortress on the continent except Quebec, and was known as the "Gibraltar
of America." It commanded the entrance to the Gulf and the mouth of the
St. Lawrence. With the aid of a British fleet the colonists laid siege
to the great fortress.
After a lively contest of about six weeks, Louisburg was taken (1745).
The colonial army returned to Boston and was received with shouts of
joy. But at the close of the war Louisburg was restored to the French.
Great was the wrath of the colonists, who spoke of the day of surrender
as "a black day, to be forever blotted out of New England calendars."
=112. The Struggle beyond the Alleghanies.=--For a long time the Alleghany
Mountains served as a natural boundary between the English settlements
in the East and the French trading-posts and forts in the West.
Meanwhile the English settlers were steadily pushing westward over the
mountains and beginning to trade with the Indians on the other side. The
French merchants often met their hated rivals in the woods and quarreled
with them. From the first, England claimed all this country as her own,
and looked upon the building of French forts as an invasion of her
territory. The French stirred up the Indians to drive the English away,
and would not even allow them to make so much as a survey of land in the
rich Ohio valley.
=113. Young George Washington selected for an Arduous Undertaking.=--This
action of the French aroused the wrath of the prosperous Virginia colony
and of its energetic governor. He decided to send a letter to the French
commander warning him to leave the country. Governor Dinwiddie selected
for this task a land surveyor only twenty-one years of age. His name was
George Washington. He was even then known for his courage, his sound
judgment, and his knowledge of the Indians.
It was a journey of more than a thousand miles there and back, through
an unbroken wilderness. With seven companions young Washington set out
on his perilous trip in the fall of 1753. They climbed mountains, swam
streams, and threaded their way through mountain ravines, following
Indian trails which no white man had ever seen before.
After many hardships they reached the French posts. The French commander
read the letter that Washington had brought from the governor of
Virginia. He replied that he was there by command of his superior
officers, and that he meant to drive every Englishman out of the Ohio
valley! There was nothing for Washington to do but to start for home.
Winter had now set in and it was soon severely cold. The homeward
journey became a serious matter. The pack-horses gave out. The brave
young leader and his guide pressed ahead on foot. Often as they lay down
at night their wet clothing froze fast upon them. They secured an Indian
as a guide, but he proved a scamp. One evening at dusk he raised his gun
and fired at Washington, but missed his aim. The guide seized the
savage, flung him to the ground, and would have killed him, but
Washington spared his life. After many hardships and dangers the two men
reached home in safety.
=114. The Beginning of the Final Struggle.=--The final struggle was now
impending between England and France to determine which should control
America. The contest began in earnest in Virginia. Washington had taken
advantage of his perilous errand to the French commander to select a
place for an English fort. It was at the point where the Alleghany and
Monongahela rivers unite to form the Ohio. This is the spot where the
city of Pittsburgh now stands. It was the main entrance to the valley of
the Ohio. For many years it was called the "Gateway of the West." The
English built a fort on this spot, but the French easily captured it and
held it under the name of Fort Du Quesne.
=115. Braddock's Ill-Fated Expedition.=--Affairs now became so serious
that General Braddock was sent out from England with two regiments of
regulars. Early in the year 1755 he began his march through the Virginia
forests to recapture the French stronghold. He selected Washington as a
member of his staff. "I want you," said the British general, "to take
your Virginia riflemen and go with me and my veterans to drive the
French from Ohio." Washington consented. He joined Braddock's army with
three companies of Virginia riflemen.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON ATTEMPTING TO RALLY BRADDOCK'S REGULARS.]
The English general and his regulars were brave, but they knew nothing
about fighting Indians. Never did an army seem better prepared. They
felt sure of victory. Soon they plunged into the forest. There were no
roads there. After a hard march of four weeks they came within a few
miles of the French fort. Washington warned the proud British general
of his peril. "The Indians," said he, "may attack us in yonder deep
pass. Let me go ahead with my riflemen and skirmish for the savages."
Braddock was an old soldier, and he thought he knew more than his young
staff-officer who had learned from experience how to fight Indians. The
general laughed at the well-meant advice. Next day, as they were
marching through a deep ravine, suddenly came the yells of savages and
the crack of rifles. The British veterans were eager to fight, but they
could see no foe. The men were shot down like sheep.
The young Virginian and his riflemen leaped behind trees and rocks and
fought the Indians in their own way. All was confusion. Braddock acted
bravely. He had five horses killed under him. He did all that a valiant
man in such a situation could do; but it was in vain.
=116. Washington saves Braddock's Army from Destruction.=--Washington and
his Virginia rangers saved Braddock's army from destruction. The French
and the Indians knew well the tall figure of Washington, who was in the
thickest of the fight, and they kept firing at him. Two horses were shot
under him. Four bullets passed through his clothing, but he did not
receive a scratch.
Many years afterwards an old Indian chief came to see Washington, and
told him that he had fired from ambush on the dreadful day of Braddock's
defeat, and both he and his young warriors had often aimed at him as he
rode about delivering the general's orders; but as they could not hit
him, they had concluded that he was under the protection of the Great
Spirit and could not be slain in battle.
Braddock was at last hit. He sank to the ground mortally wounded. "What
is to be done now?" he faintly asked. "We must retreat," replied
Washington.
A retreat was ordered, and Washington and his riflemen defended the rear
so well that what was left of the routed army at last reached a place of
safety. More than seven hundred of them had fallen, including Braddock
himself and three-fourths of his officers. What a penalty the proud
British general paid for refusing to take good advice!
=117. The Virginians fight desperately for their Homes.=--The French were
now left in full possession of all the region west of the Alleghanies.
The Indians took advantage of the situation to make fresh attacks upon
the Virginia colonists.
The Virginians fought with desperation for their homes. Washington was
put in command of the forces. He wrote that "the supplicating tears of
the women and the moving petitions of the men melted him into deadly
sorrow." Three years after the Braddock calamity, Washington again
marched his men through the woods against Fort Du Quesne and recaptured
it.
The capture of this stronghold was an important event to the colonists,
for a highway which was never afterwards closed was then opened to the
great West. The name of the fort was changed to Pittsburgh, in honor of
England's illustrious prime minister, William Pitt, who had planned the
expedition.
It was just this experience in hard fighting against the French and
Indians that providentially aided in fitting Washington to win success
as commander-in-chief of the American forces in the fast approaching war
of the Revolution.
=118. Quebec, the carefully guarded Stronghold.=--We must remember that
there had been fighting for nearly two years in America before England
really declared war against France in 1756. During this time the French
had held the mastery, and the English had met with sad reverses. A new
leader had now come into power in England, the great statesman, William
Pitt.
The influence of this remarkable man changed the course of affairs as if
by magic. He fully understood America's greatest needs. From this time
the English were everywhere successful. Important forts were taken from
the French, such as Niagara, Ticonderoga, and Crown Point.
There was only one great stronghold left to the French. This was Quebec
on the St. Lawrence. It was not only one of the strongest fortresses in
the world, but it was commanded by the Marquis de Montcalm, one of the
ablest generals of his time.
=119. How Quebec was taken.=--A brave young officer, General Wolfe, was
sent out from England to command the attack on Quebec. The outlook was
enough to discourage any one, however experienced and skillful. The fort
itself is on a high point of land overlooking the city. The English
troops were on the river-bank, hundreds of feet below.
Every movement of the English was reported at once to the French. Wolfe
was at first repulsed at every point. One day, as he was reconnoitering,
he discovered a steep and narrow path which led up the precipitous bluff
to a level spot known as the Plains of Abraham. He made up his mind to
climb it with his men.
Soon afterwards the English troops were quietly rowed down the river,
under the cover of darkness, to a little bay since known as Wolfe's
Cove. As the young English general glided along in his boat, he quoted
extracts from Gray's "Elegy in a Country Churchyard." As he repeated the
stanza beginning, "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power," he said
that he would rather have written that poem than take Quebec. The little
pathway was reached. Wolfe leaped first on shore. Under his leadership
the English soldiers climbed the steep.
[Illustration: WOLFE'S MEN CLIMBING TO THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM.]
At sunrise on the morning of Sept. 13, 1759, the British army, five
thousand strong, stood on the Plains of Abraham. Great was the amazement
of the French general, for he thought it impossible for any one to scale
the cliffs. Montcalm chose to come out of the fortress and fight the
English on the open ground. This was a fatal mistake, for after a
fierce struggle the French were defeated.
In the hour of victory Wolfe was fatally wounded. While dying he heard
the cry, "They run! they run!" Rousing himself he asked, "Who run?" Upon
being told it was the French he exclaimed: "Now God be praised; I will
die in peace!" Montcalm was also fatally wounded. When told he could not
live, the gallant Frenchman cried out, "So much the better; I shall not
live to see the surrender of Quebec!"
The French retired within their fortifications, but in a few days Quebec
was surrendered into the hands of the English. The fate of Canada was
decided by the fall of this city.
=120. The End of the War and the Result.=--Although the victory at Quebec
practically ended the French and Indian War, it was not until 1763 that
peace was declared. By the treaty France gave up to England the whole of
Canada, together with all the territory between the Alleghanies and the
Mississippi, except the city of New Orleans. She retained a few barren
islands near Newfoundland as a shelter for her fishermen. The vast
region spreading westward from the Mississippi towards the Pacific,
under the name Louisiana, together with the city of New Orleans, was
made over to Spain.