parcel, with the horse, being intended as a present for one officer.
They were very thankfully received, and the kindness acknowledged by
letters to me from the colonels of both regiments in the most grateful
terms. The general, too, was highly satisfied with my conduct in
procuring him the wagons, etc., and readily paid my account of
disbursements, thanking me repeatedly, and requesting my further
assistance in sending provisions after him. I undertook this also, and
was busily employed in it till we heard of his defeat, advancing for
the service, of my own money, upward of one thousand pounds sterling,
of which I sent him an account. It came to his hands, luckily for me,
a few days before the battle, and he returned me immediately an order
on the paymaster for the round sum of one thousand pounds, leaving the
remainder to the next account. I consider this payment as good luck,
having never been able to obtain that remainder, of which more
hereafter.
This general was, I think, a brave man, and might probably have made a
figure as a good officer in some European war. But he had too much
self-confidence, too high an opinion of the validity of regular
troops, and too mean a one of both Americans and Indians. George
Croghan, our Indian interpreter, joined him on his march with one
hundred of those people, who might have been of great use to his army
as guides, scouts, etc., if he had treated them kindly; but he
slighted and neglected them, and they gradually left him.
In conversation with him one day he was giving me some account of his
intended progress. "After taking Fort Duquesne,"[172] says he, "I am
to proceed to Niagara; and, having taken that, to Frontenac, if the
season will allow time, and I suppose it will, for Duquesne can hardly
detain me above three or four days; and then I see nothing that can
obstruct my march to Niagara." Having before revolved in my mind the
long line his army must make in their march by a very narrow road, to
be cut for them through the woods and bushes, and also what I had read
of a former defeat of fifteen hundred French, who invaded the Iroquois
country, I had conceived some doubts and some fears for the event of
the campaign. But I ventured only to say: "To be sure, sir, if you
arrive well before Duquesne with these fine troops, so well provided
with artillery, that place, not yet completely fortified, and, as we
hear, with no very strong garrison, can probably make but a short
resistance. The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march
is from ambuscades of Indians, who, by constant practice, are
dexterous in laying and executing them; and the slender line, near
four miles long, which your army must make, may expose it to be
attacked by surprise in its flanks, and to be cut like a thread into
several pieces, which, from their distance, cannot come up in time to
support each other."
He smiled at my ignorance, and replied: "These savages may, indeed, be
a formidable enemy to your raw American militia, but upon the king's
regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make
any impression." I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing
with a military man in matters of his profession, and said no more.
The enemy, however, did not take the advantage of his army which I
apprehended its long line of march exposed it to, but let it advance
without interruption till within nine miles of the place; and then,
when more in a body (for it had just passed a river where the front
had halted till all had come over), and in a more open part of the
woods than any it had passed, attacked its advance guard by a heavy
fire from behind trees and bushes, which was the first intelligence
the general had of an enemy's being near him. This guard being
disordered, the general hurried the troops up to their assistance,
which was done in great confusion, through wagons, baggage, and
cattle; and presently the fire came upon their flank. The officers,
being on horseback, were more easily distinguished, picked out as
marks, and fell very fast; and the soldiers were crowded together in a
huddle, having or hearing no orders, and standing to be shot at till
two thirds of them were killed; and then, being seized with a panic,
the whole fled with precipitation.
The wagoners took each a horse out of his team, and scampered; their
example was immediately followed by others, so that all the wagons,
provisions, artillery, and stores were left to the enemy. The general,
being wounded, was brought off with difficulty; his secretary, Mr.
Shirley, was killed by his side; and out of eighty-six officers,
sixty-three were killed or wounded, and seven hundred and fourteen men
killed out of eleven hundred. These eleven hundred had been picked men
from the whole army; the rest had been left behind with Colonel
Dunbar, who was to follow with the heavier part of the stores,
provisions, and baggage. The flyers, not being pursued, arrived at
Dunbar's camp, and the panic they brought with them instantly seized
him and all his people; and though he had now above one thousand men,
and the enemy who had beaten Braddock did not at most exceed four
hundred Indians and French together, instead of proceeding and
endeavoring to recover some of the lost honor, he ordered all the
stores, ammunition, etc., to be destroyed, that he might have more
horses to assist his flight toward the settlements and less lumber to
remove. He was there met with requests from the governors of Virginia,
Maryland, and Pennsylvania, that he would post his troops on the
frontiers so as to afford some protection to the inhabitants; but he
continued his hasty march through all the country, not thinking
himself safe till he arrived at Philadelphia, where the inhabitants
could protect him. This whole transaction gave us Americans the first
suspicion that our exalted ideas of the prowess of British regulars
had not been well founded.
In their first march, too, from their landing till they got beyond the
settlements, they had plundered and stripped the inhabitants, totally
ruining some poor families, besides insulting, abusing, and confining
the people if they remonstrated. This was enough to put us out of
conceit of such defenders, if we had really wanted any. How different
was the conduct of our French friends in 1781, who, during a march
through the most inhabited part of our country from Rhode Island to
Virginia, near seven hundred miles, occasioned not the smallest
complaint for the loss of a pig, a chicken, or even an apple.
Captain Orme, who was one of the general's aids-de-camp, and, being
grievously wounded, was brought off with him and continued with him to
his death, which happened in a few days, told me that he was totally
silent all the first day, and at night only said: "Who would have
thought it?" that he was silent again the following day, saying only
at last: "We shall better know how to deal with them another time,"
and died in a few minutes after.
The secretary's papers, with all the general's orders, instructions,
and correspondence, falling into the enemy's hands, they selected and
translated into French a number of the articles, which they printed,
to prove the hostile intentions of the British court before the
declaration of war. Among these I saw some letters of the general to
the ministry, speaking highly of the great service I had rendered the
army, and recommending me to their notice. David Hume,[173] too, who
was some years after secretary to Lord Hertford when minister in
France, and afterward to General Conway when secretary of state, told
me he had seen, among the papers in that office, letters from Braddock
highly recommending me. But, the expedition having been unfortunate,
my service, it seems, was not thought of much value, for those
recommendations were never of any use to me.
As to rewards from himself, I asked only one, which was that he would
give orders to his officers not to enlist any more of our bought
servants,[174] and that he would discharge such as had been already
enlisted. This he readily granted, and several were accordingly
returned to their masters on my application. Dunbar, when the command
devolved on him, was not so generous. He being at Philadelphia, on his
retreat, or rather flight, I applied to him for the discharge of the
servants of three poor farmers of Lancaster County that he had
enlisted, reminding him of the late general's orders on that head. He
promised me that, if the masters would come to him at Trenton, where
he should be in a few days on his march to New York, he would there
deliver their men to them. They accordingly were at the expense and
trouble of going to Trenton, and there he refused to perform his
promise, to their great loss and disappointment.
As soon as the loss of the wagons and horses was generally known, all
the owners came upon me for the valuation which I had given bond to
pay. Their demands gave me a great deal of trouble. My acquainting
them that the money was ready in the paymaster's hands, but that
orders for paying it must first be obtained from General Shirley, and
my assuring them that I had applied to that general by letter, but, he
being at a distance, an answer could not soon be received, and they
must have patience,--all this was not sufficient to satisfy, and some
began to sue me. General Shirley at length relieved me from this
terrible situation by appointing commissioners to examine the claims,
and ordering payment. They amounted to near twenty thousand pounds,
which to pay would have ruined me.
Before we had the news of this defeat, the two Doctors Bond came to me
with a subscription paper for raising money to defray the expense of a
grand firework, which it was intended to exhibit at a rejoicing on
receipt of the news of our taking Fort Duquesne. I looked grave, and
said it would, I thought, be time enough to prepare for the rejoicing
when we knew we should have occasion to rejoice. They seemed surprised
that I did not immediately comply with their proposal. "Why," says one
of them, "you surely don't suppose that the fort will not be taken?"
"I don't know that it will not be taken, but I know that the events of
war are subject to great uncertainty." I gave them the reasons of my
doubting; the subscription was dropped, and the projectors thereby
missed the mortification they would have undergone if the firework had
been prepared. Dr. Bond, on some other occasion afterward, said that
he did not like Franklin's forebodings.
Governor Morris, who had continually worried the Assembly with message
after message, before the defeat of Braddock, to beat them into the
making of acts to raise money for the defense of the province without
taxing, among others, the proprietary estates, and had rejected all
their bills for not having such an exempting clause, now redoubled his
attacks with more hope of success, the danger and necessity being
greater. The Assembly, however, continued firm, believing they had
justice on their side, and that it would be giving up an essential
right if they suffered the governor to amend their money bills. In one
of the last, indeed, which was for granting fifty thousand pounds, his
proposed amendment was only of a single word. The bill expressed that
all estates, real and personal, were to be taxed, those of the
proprietaries not excepted. His amendment was, "for _not_ read
_only_"--a small, but very material, alteration.
However, when the news of this disaster reached England, our friends
there, whom we had taken care to furnish with all the Assembly's
answers to the governor's messages, raised a clamor against the
proprietaries for their meanness and injustice in giving their
governor such instructions; some going so far as to say that, by
obstructing the defense of their province, they forfeited their right
to it. They were intimidated by this, and sent orders to their
receiver-general to add five thousand pounds of their money to
whatever sum might be given by the Assembly for such purpose.
This, being notified to the House, was accepted in lieu of their share
of a general tax, and a new bill was formed, with an exempting clause,
which passed accordingly. By this act I was appointed one of the
commissioners for disposing of the money,--sixty thousand pounds. I
had been active in modeling the bill and procuring its passage, and
had, at the same time, drawn a bill for establishing and disciplining
a voluntary militia, which I carried through the House without much
difficulty, as care was taken in it to leave the Quakers at their
liberty. To promote the association necessary to form the militia, I
wrote a dialogue,[175] stating and answering all the objections I
could think of to such a militia, which was printed, and had, as I
thought, great effect.
While the several companies in the city and country were forming, and
learning their exercise, the governor prevailed with me to take charge
of our northwestern frontier, which was infested by the enemy, and
provide for the defense of the inhabitants by raising troops and
building a line of forts. I undertook this military business, though I
did not conceive myself well qualified for it. He gave me a commission
with full powers, and a parcel of blank commissions for officers, to
be given to whom I thought fit. I had but little difficulty in raising
men, having soon five hundred and sixty under my command. My son, who
had in the preceding war been an officer in the army raised against
Canada, was my aid-de-camp, and of great use to me. The Indians had
burned Gnadenhut, a village settled by the Moravians, and massacred
the inhabitants; but the place was thought a good situation for one of
the forts.
In order to march thither, I assembled the companies at
Bethlehem,[176] the chief establishment of those people. I was
surprised to find it in so good a posture of defense; the destruction
of Gnadenhut had made them apprehend danger. The principal buildings
were defended by a stockade, 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 stone houses, for
their women to throw down upon the heads of any Indians that should
attempt to force into them. The armed brethren, too, kept watch, and
relieved[177] as methodically as in any garrison town. In conversation
with the bishop, Spangenberg, I mentioned this my surprise; for,
knowing they had obtained an act of Parliament exempting them from
military duties in the colonies, I had supposed they were
conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms. He answered me 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, they, to their surprise,
found it adopted by but a few. It seems they were either deceived in
themselves or deceived the Parliament; but common sense, aided by
present danger, will sometimes be too strong for whimsical opinions.
It was the beginning of January when we set out upon this business of
building forts. I sent one detachment toward the Minisink,[178] with
instructions to erect one for the security of that upper part of the
country, and another to the lower part, with similar instructions; and
I concluded to go myself with the rest of my force to Gnadenhut, where
a fort was thought more immediately necessary. The Moravians procured
me five wagons for our tools, stores, baggage, etc.
Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, who had been driven
from their plantations by the Indians, came to me requesting a supply
of firearms, that they might go back and fetch off their cattle. I
gave them each a gun with suitable ammunition. We had not marched many
miles before it began to rain, and it continued raining all day. There
were no habitations on the road to shelter us till we arrived, near
night, at the house of a German, where, and in his barn, we were all
huddled together, as wet as water could make us. It was well we were
not attacked in our march, for our arms were of the most ordinary
sort, and our men could not keep their gunlocks dry. The Indians are
dexterous in contrivances for that purpose, which we had not. They met
that day the eleven poor farmers above mentioned, and killed ten of
them. The one who escaped informed us that his and his companions'
guns would not go off, the priming[179] being wet with the rain.
The next day being fair, we continued our march, and arrived at the
desolated Gnadenhut. There was a sawmill near, round which were left
several piles of boards, with which we soon hutted ourselves,--an
operation the more necessary at that inclement season as we had no
tents. Our first work was to bury more effectually the dead we found
there, who had been half interred by the country people.
The next morning our fort was planned and marked out, the
circumference measuring four hundred and fifty-five feet, which would
require as many palisades to be made of trees, one with another, of a
foot diameter each. Our axes, of which we had seventy, were
immediately set to work to cut down trees, and, our men being
dexterous in the use of them, great dispatch was made. Seeing the
trees fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look at my watch when two
men began to cut at a pine; in six minutes they had it upon the
ground, and I found it of fourteen inches' diameter. Each pine made
three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. While these
were preparing, our other men dug a trench all round, of three feet
deep, in which the palisades were to be planted; and our wagons, the
bodies being taken off, and the fore and hind wheels separated by
taking out the pin which united the two parts of the perch,[180] we
had ten carriages, with two horses each, to bring the palisades from
the woods to the spot. When they were set up, our carpenters built a
stage of boards all round within, about six feet high, for the men to
stand on when to fire through the loopholes. We had one swivel
gun,[181] which we mounted on one of the angles, and fired it as soon
as fixed, to let the Indians know, if any were within hearing, that we
had such pieces; and thus our fort, if such a magnificent name may be
given to so miserable a stockade, was finished in a week, though it
rained so hard every other day that the men could not work.
This gave me occasion to observe 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 their pork, the bread,
etc., and in continual ill 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 everything, and there
was nothing further to employ them about, "Oh," says he, "make them
scour the anchor."
This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a sufficient defense
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 mention. 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 saw where they had with their
hatchets cut off the charcoal from the sides 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 their number was not great, and it seems they saw we were too
many to be attacked by them with prospect of advantage.
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 the other half in the evening, and I
observed they were as punctual in attending to receive it; 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 deal it
out, and only just after prayers, you would have them all about you."
He liked the thought, undertook the office, 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 thought this method preferable to the punishment inflicted by
some military laws for nonattendance on divine service.
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. 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,
being in a good bed, I could hardly sleep, it was so different from my
hard lodging on the floor of our hut at Gnaden, wrapped only in a
blanket or two.
While at Bethlehem, I inquired a little into the practice of the
Moravians; some of them had accompanied me, and all were very kind to
me. I found they worked for a common stock,[182] ate at common tables,
and slept in common dormitories, great numbers together. In the
dormitories I observed loopholes, at certain distances all along just
under the ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed for change of
air. I was at their church, where I was entertained with good music,
the organ being accompanied with violins, hautboys, flutes, clarinets,
etc. I understood that 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.