Salle. But after waiting vainly for him several months, he went
northward again, leaving a letter in the fork of a tree, and telling
the Indians to give it to the first white man they saw. Long before
reaching this place, La Salle's men became angry because their
expedition had been a failure. They blamed their leader for all
their sufferings, and, falling upon him unawares, basely murdered
the man who is known as the "father of French colonization in the
Mississippi valley."
Although La Salle was dead, his plan was too good to be abandoned.
Some thirteen years later, therefore, a Frenchman named Iberville
(e-ber-veel´) came out from France to found a fort at the mouth of
the Mississippi. He sailed up the stream, and received from the
Indians Tonty's letter, which, they gravely said, was a "speaking
bark." As Iberville found no good place for a fort near the mouth of
the "Father of Waters," he built Bil-ox´i, on the coast of what is
now the state of Mississippi.
Shortly after, a party of Frenchmen, exploring the banks of the
river, saw an English ship sailing upstream. The newcomers said
they had come to build a fort on the Mississippi; but the Frenchmen
either deceived them by telling them this was not the stream they
sought, or gave them to understand they had come too late. So the
English turned around and sailed away, and ever since that bend in
the great river has been called the "English Turn."
Iberville's brother, Bienville (be-aN-veel´), in 1718 built a fort
and established a colony on the spot where New Or´le-ans now stands.
He gave the place that name in honor of the French city of Orleans.
There was no more trouble with the English, but this colony came
very near being swept away by the Natch´ez Indians, who made an
agreement with the Choc´taws to fall upon the white men on a certain
day and hour, and kill them all. To make sure that there should be
no misunderstanding, each chief was given a small bundle of sticks,
with directions to burn one every day, making the attack only after
the last had been consumed.
An Indian boy, seeing his father burn one of these sticks, stole
two, and secretly set fire to them; and though he thus found out
that they were nothing but ordinary wood, his theft made his father
attack the French two days too soon.
Instead of a general raid upon all the settlements, only one was
surprised, two hundred men being killed, and the women and children
carried off into captivity. The other French colonists had time to
arm, and they defended themselves so bravely that the plans of the
Indians came to naught.
XLIX. INDIANS ON THE WARPATH.
The French were in possession of Acadia, New France, and Louisiana.
The immense tract of land drained by the St. Lawrence and
Mississippi rivers was rich in fur-bearing animals, whose pelts were
brought by Indians and trappers to the missions and trading posts.
There they were loaded in canoes and floated down the Lakes and the
St. Lawrence, or down the Mississippi, so as to be shipped to France
from Quebec and New Orleans.
You might think that the French would have been satisfied with all
they had, but they were not. They longed to control the Hudson also,
which they claimed for France, because they said Verrazano had first
visited New York Bay. Besides, Champlain had come within a few miles
of where Albany now stands, shortly before Hudson sailed up the
river bearing his name.
Longing for an excuse to drive the English away from the Hudson
valley, the French were glad when war was declared, in 1689. Their
king sent over Count Frontenac to be governor of Canada again, and
to lead in the struggle with the English. Frontenac was a good
general, and had much influence over the Indians. He is said to have
joined in their war dances and athletic sports, in spite of his old
age, and to have boasted of the tortures he meant to inflict on his
English foes and their Iroquois allies.
But when Frontenac arrived in Canada (1689), he found that the
Iroquois had struck first. They had destroyed some French villages,
had killed many settlers, and had even roasted and eaten some of
their captives in sight of Montreal. On the other hand, some Indian
allies of the French had surprised Dover, in New Hampshire. Here
dwelt Major Wal´dron, who had taken part in King Philip's war. To
avenge the capture of two hundred of their race at that time, the
savages now tortured Waldron to death, cutting off his hand to see
how much it weighed. To their amazement, the scales marked just one
pound! This awed them greatly, for although the traders had always
told them that a white man's hand exactly balanced a pound of beaver
skins, they had always doubted the truth of that statement. Half the
people in Dover were killed, the rest carried off into captivity,
and the town reduced to ashes.
The next winter (1690), Frontenac sent a small band of French
and Indians against the village of Sche-nec´ta-dy, New York, on
snowshoes. They arrived there in the dead of night. The place was
defended by a high palisade, but the inhabitants felt so sure no one
would attack them that cold night, that they had left both gates
wide open, and guarded only by huge snow sentinels set up there in
fun.
Roused from sound slumbers by blood-curdling Indian war whoops, a
few escaped, but only to die of cold on their way to Albany. Many of
the rest were killed by the attacking party, who, after burning the
place to the ground, withdrew with their captives and plunder.
In the course of this struggle,--which is known in our history as
"King William's War," because it took place during that monarch's
reign,--the French and Indians attacked many villages in New York
and New England. The most daring of all their attempts was against
Hā´ver-hill, a town not very far from Boston. Here much property was
destroyed, and many people killed or captured.
There are countless stories told of the deeds of valor done by men,
women, and even little children in those terrible times. You shall
hear the story of Hannah Dustin, of Haverhill, as an example. This
poor woman was just recovering from illness, and was alone in the
house, with her baby and nurse. Seven other children were out in
the fields with their father, who was busy with his plow. All at
once, they were startled by a war whoop. Mr. Dustin, seeing the
Indians between him and his house, and knowing he could not save
his wife, bade the children run to the blockhouse, while he bravely
covered their retreat.
[Illustration: Mr. Dustin defending his Children.]
Father and children reached the fort in safety; but the Indians
rushed into the house, killed the baby by dashing its head against
the wall, and carried both women off as captives. After several
days' march and much ill treatment Mrs. Dustin, her nurse, and two
captive boys made up their minds to escape. One of the boys had
learned from an Indian how to kill and scalp a foe; so one night,
when their captors were asleep, the four prisoners noiselessly
rose, seized tomahawks, and killed and scalped ten Indians. Then
they took a canoe, and with some trouble made their way home. Mrs.
Dustin received fifty pounds reward for those scalps, besides a
present from the governor of Maryland, who admired her pluck. That
people might not forget what hard times the settlers had, her statue
has been placed in Concord, New Hampshire, where you can see her
grasping a tomahawk, ready to kill her foes.
As long as the war lasted, New Englanders and New Yorkers defended
themselves as bravely as they could. But Indian foes were very hard
to fight, because they always fell upon people unawares. In their
anger, the colonists finally determined to carry the war into the
enemy's country. They therefore sent out a fleet under Sir William
Phips, to attack and destroy Port Royal, in Acadia. This being done,
the fleet tried to take Quebec, while armies from New York and
Connecticut attacked Montreal. But both these attempts failed, and
when the war was ended by the treaty of Rys´wick (1697), neither
party had gained anything, although many lives had been lost.
L. TWO WARS WITH THE FRENCH.
Both the French and the English suffered greatly during King
William's War, but the peace which followed it did not last long.
Five years later, "Queen Anne's War" brought about new sufferings,
and more deeds of heroism.
We are told that, urged by a French priest, the Indians built a
church at St. Re´gis, in Canada. Wishing to have a bell to hang in
the tower of this chapel, each convert brought a pelt, and the bell
was ordered from France. But on its way over, it fell, by accident,
into the hands of the English, who hung it up in the town of
Deerfield, in Massachusetts.
The Indians, feeling that the bell belonged to them, and egged on by
their priest, made a sudden raid upon Deerfield, in 1704, and, after
killing or capturing many of the people, rescued their bell from the
English meetinghouse, or church, and carried it off to St. Regis.
They were so delighted with it that it is said they rang it every
step of the way. This bell was cracked over a hundred years later,
and the Indians, who still prized it greatly, carried it to Troy,
where they had it refounded, while they mounted guard over it day
and night.
France and Spain were allies in this war, so the trouble was not
confined to New York and New England. The Spaniards made a raid from
St. Augustine, and vainly attacked Charleston. A few years later,
the New Englanders conquered Acadia, and at the treaty of U´trecht,
in 1713, the British received this province, Newfoundland, and the
land around Hudson Bay. But Acadia's name was now changed to Nova
Scotia, and Port Royal was called Annapolis, in honor of the English
queen.
For the next thirty years peace reigned unbroken; still, during that
time the French began to build their chain of sixty forts along the
Lakes, the Ohio, and the Mississippi, thus drawing a line from the
mouth of the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi. Most of
these forts have since become cities, and you will find that many
of them still bear the French names given by their founders. Their
strongest fort, however, was at Lou´is-burg, on Cape Breton Island.
It was so well fortified that the French boasted that even women
could defend it against a large army.
[Illustration: NORTH AMERICA
BEFORE THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR]
The third struggle with the French and Indians, which began in 1744,
is known in our country as "King George's War," and in Europe as the
"War of the Austrian Succession."
Now, Louisburg was so near Annapolis that the colonists felt
sure the French would set out from there to recover Acadia. They
therefore sent a messenger to England to explain their danger and
beg for troops to protect them. But the prime minister knew so
little about America that the messenger had to show him Louisburg
and Annapolis on a map. He was so surprised then to discover that
Cape Breton is an island, that he ran off to tell it to the king as
a great piece of news.
Seeing that the British did not supply much help in answer to their
appeal, the colonists before long made up their minds to take
Louisburg themselves; and an army of them bravely set out from New
England, under the leadership of Pep´per-ell, in 1745. After six
weeks' siege, and many deeds of daring, these four thousand New
Englanders took the fortress, and when the news reached Boston
the people almost went mad with joy. Three years later, however,
this joy was turned to equally deep sorrow, for when the treaty of
Aix-la-Cha-pelle´ (1748) was signed, the fortress was given back to
France, in exchange for the town of Ma-dras´ in India.
Three wars had now been fought between the French and the English,
but the vexed question as to who should own North America was not
yet settled. The French had, as you have seen, taken possession of
the Mississippi valley; but although some rumors of their presence
there had reached the colonies, very few people really knew what the
country was like, and what a vast tract of land France could thus
claim.
Many of the English colonies had received grants of land running
"from sea to sea," and now that population was increasing rapidly,
people began to talk of crossing the Alleghany Mountains to settle
on the other side. They were eager to do so, because hunters brought
back to Virginia glowing descriptions of the Ohio, or "Beautiful
River," the "Gateway of the West," and of the fertile lands through
which it flowed. Just at this time, the governor of Virginia
heard that the French were on the point of building a fort on the
Allegheny River, so he bade George Washington, a young surveyor,
find out if this news was true, and carry a letter to the French
officer there to warn him that the Ohio country belonged to Virginia.
LI. WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD.
As you are going to hear a great deal about Washington, it will
interest you to learn something of his family and his youth. Two
Washington brothers came over from England to Virginia about the
year 1657, and settled near the Potomac River. Augustine Washington,
the grandson of one of these men, married twice, and had, in all,
ten children. His eldest son by his second wife was born on February
22, 1732, and named George. Shortly after his birth, the family
went to live on the Rap-pa-han´nock River, and there George spent
his early childhood. He was a fearless, strong, hot-tempered little
lad, but, having good parents, was even then taught to control his
passions.
As he is the greatest man in our history, many stories, true and
untrue, are told about him. Perhaps the most famous is about his
new hatchet. We are told that Father Washington planted young cherry
trees in his garden. He visited them daily to see how they throve,
and was very angry when he saw, one day, that a favorite tree was
badly hacked. On all Virginia plantations, there were many negro
children always running about. Thinking one of these had done the
mischief, Augustine Washington was about to punish him, when his
little son stopped him, saying: "Father, I cannot tell a lie; I did
it with my little hatchet."
Washington was sent to a small school near by, and his blank books,
which can still be seen, show what a careful, painstaking student
he was. In one of these books he copied a set of rules for good
behavior, which he even then tried to put into practice, and of
which the last two were: "Let your recreations be manful, not
sinful," and "Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark
of celestial fire called conscience."
When Washington was only twelve, his father died, leaving an estate
to each of his sons. The care of the six younger children and of
their property was left to his wife, a good and very sensible woman.
She was very strict, and brought up her children so carefully that
they all filled well their places in life. Indeed, her eldest son,
George, like most truly great men, often said that he owed his
mother more than words could ever tell.
Washington was always fond of all athletic exercises, and as a lad
delighted in riding the wildest horses on the plantation. Among
these was one young colt of such a fiery temper that no one was
allowed to mount him. One day, the temptation to do so became too
strong for George, and he suddenly sprang upon the horse's back.
The colt tried to throw him off, and, failing to do so, dashed off
at such a rate that he burst a blood vessel and fell down dead.
[Illustration: Washington and the Colt.]
Washington, dismayed at the result of his disobedience, went
silently home. At table, his mother asked her guests if they had
seen her beautiful young horse. Covered with blushes,--for he was
always modest and reserved,--Washington now confessed what he had
done. Although Mrs. Washington keenly regretted the death of the
colt, she showed no anger, but quietly said: "It is well; but while
I regret the loss of my favorite, I rejoice in my son, who always
speaks the truth."
She was so fond of this son that when one of his half-brothers
wanted him to serve in the British navy, she refused to let him go.
As soon as Washington had finished school, he went to live with this
brother at Mount Vernon, where he learned to know all the people
around there, and, among others, Lord Fair´fax.
This nobleman owned great tracts of land in the valleys of the
Alleghany Mountains, and as they had never been surveyed, he hired
young George to do the work. This was a very hard task, and the
seventeen-year-old Washington was often, for days at a time, far
away from any settlement, forced to depend upon hunting for food,
and obliged to sleep out in the open air.
[Illustration: The Virginia Natural Bridge.]
These hardships, however, only made him strong and self-reliant, and
when he came back to his home, from time to time, he doubly enjoyed
the amusements of the young people, and danced gayly, a pastime
of which he was always fond. It was probably during one of these
surveying expeditions that Washington first visited the Natural
Bridge in Virginia. Here he showed his athletic skill by tossing a
coin on top of it when standing almost directly under it.
We are also told that he scaled the rocks, which were then free from
any except nature's marks, and reaching a high point, carved his
name in the stone. For years, Washington's name is said to have
stood there on the rocks, as far above all the rest as is his worth
compared with that of other men. But a young man once climbed up
there to carve his name above Washington's, an act of presumption
for which every one scorns him. He went up so far that he could not
come down again, but had to climb higher and higher, and at last be
drawn to the top with a rope.
LII. WASHINGTON'S JOURNEY.
By the time Washington was nineteen, he had shown himself so
capable, honest, and thoroughly trustworthy that every one who knew
him greatly respected him. His brother Lawrence having fallen ill of
consumption, Washington went with him to Bar´ba-dos, where he had an
attack of smallpox.
This journey, the only one Washington ever made outside the limits
of our country, was so interesting to him that he kept a diary in
which he made note of all he saw and heard. After a winter spent in
the West Indies, Washington came home to get his sister-in-law; but
before they could sail to join the invalid, they heard he was coming
home to die.
Washington tenderly nursed this older brother to the end, and was
made the guardian of his delicate little girl. Lawrence Washington
said that if his daughter died unmarried, the estate of Mount
Vernon was to belong to George. In spite of all Washington's tender
interest in this little niece, and of the utmost care, she did
not live long, and, as his brother had wished, Washington became
owner of Mount Vernon. There he began his favorite occupation as
a planter, and showed himself to be as careful and painstaking a
farmer as he was a surveyor.
We are told he packed his tobacco himself, and sent such good flour
to the West Indies that barrels marked "George Washington" were
always allowed to pass the customhouse without being examined.
Besides filling his place as surveyor and planter, Washington also
became major in the Virginia militia, and took great interest in all
military affairs.
When the news of the Frenchmen's purpose to build forts along the
Allegheny and the Ohio reached Governor Din-wid´die, he resolved,
as we have seen, to send out a trustworthy person to see if it was
true, and to carry a letter to the commander of the French force
(1753). His choice promptly fell upon Washington, who, receiving his
instructions, and perceiving the need of haste, started out that
same day to carry out the governor's orders.
He made his way across country to Logstown, where he heard that the
French commanding officer was on an upper branch of the Allegheny
River. He therefore went thither, and delivered his letter. But the
Frenchman shrugged his shoulders, and said he would send the letter
on to Governor Duquesne (doo-kān´), whose orders he was in the
meantime bound to carry out. Tramping thus through the wilderness
in the dead of winter, Washington found out all Governor Dinwiddie
wished. Seeing he must hasten, if the French were to be checked, the
young officer left his guides, baggage, and horses, and, alone with
Gist,--an experienced hunter and trapper,--went back to Virginia
by a short cut. During this journey he and Gist had several narrow
escapes.
Once an Indian--who had probably been bribed by the French to kill
them--shot at them. Gist and Washington, suspecting treachery,
pretended it was only an accident; but when the Indian left them at
night, promising to come back in the morning, they promptly broke
camp. Pressing forward all night, they reached the Allegheny early
in the morning, and found it only partly frozen. As they could not
cross on the ice, as they had hoped, they plied their one dull
hatchet with such a will that they soon cut down several trees and
built a rude raft.
But when they got out into the stream, Washington's pole caught in
the ice and jerked him out into ten feet of ice-cold water. Grasping
the raft, Washington escaped; but his clothes were dripping wet, and
a few moments later they were frozen stiff. The raft was now driven
on an island, where Gist lighted a fire as quickly as possible; and
here Washington spent the night, turning around and around so as to
dry his clothes. Luckily, on the next day the travelers found that
the ice was strong enough to bear them, and, crossing over to the
other side of the river, they hurried on.
After visiting an Indian queen, with whom he made friends by giving
her a few trinkets, Washington went on to Virginia, where he gave
Governor Dinwiddie all the necessary information. The governor was
so pleased with what Washington had done, and thought his news so
important, that he published Washington's journal. Then, to carry
out the orders he had received from England, and make sure the land
south of the Ohio should not be snatched away from him, Dinwiddie
raised a force of two hundred men, and sent them to build a fort
at the forks of the Ohio. While these men were busy erecting their
stockade, the French, one thousand strong, came down from Ve-nan´go,
on the Allegheny, and, driving the English away, completed the fort
for their own use, calling it Duquesne, after their governor.
LIII. WASHINGTON'S FIRST BATTLE.
When the Virginians learned that the French had driven their men
away from the forks of the Ohio, and had taken possession of the
fort they had just begun, they were naturally very angry. Seeing
that they would lose all claim to the land unless they drove the
French away, they now determined to raise enough men and money to
equip an army. Before long, therefore, Washington was sent out with
about three hundred men, and he was busy erecting a small breastwork
(called Fort Necessity) at Great Meadows, when he heard that the
French were near there.
Setting out immediately, he surprised and defeated this force; but
learning that more troops were coming, he prudently retreated to
Fort Necessity, at Great Meadows, which he once described as "a
charming field for an encounter." Here the French and Indians soon
attacked him in such numbers that, in spite of his valor, he was
forced to surrender, on July 4, 1754. Washington's men had behaved
so bravely that the French allowed them to march out with the
honors of war; that is, taking their flag and their arms with them.
In describing this battle, Washington is reported to have said:
"I heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, there is something
charming in the sound." But later on, when he had seen what a sad
thing war really is, and some one asked if he had ever said this, he
quietly answered: "If I said so, it was when I was young!"
When Washington and his troops came back to Virginia after the
battle at Great Meadows, the colonies saw that the French were fully
determined to leave them no land west of the Alleghanies. They had
felt so sure of this that a few weeks before the battle they sent
men to Albany to discuss how they could best resist their enemies,
and keep what they claimed as their own.
Still, in one sense, neither French nor English had any right to
this land, for as a bewildered Indian chief remarked when he first
heard of the dispute: "If the French claim all the land north of the
river, and the English all the land south of it, where is the land
of the Indians?"
LIV. STORIES OF FRANKLIN.