CAMP DISCIPLINE--AMHERST'S ANGELS--A BRUSH WITH THE FRENCH, AND THE LOSS
OF CAPTAIN JACOB
In the spring the provincial troops began to meet at Albany. Some of our
officers had been recruiting during the winter, and they returned with
their men.
John Stark had gone home in the fall to get married, and he brought back
one hundred men whom he had enlisted at Amoskeag Falls. Two companies of
Stockbridge Indians also joined us. There were fifty men in each of
these companies.
By the first of June Amherst arrived at Fort Edward with part of the
army, and Gage came up the river with the rest in boats. He brought the
artillery and provisions with him.
The river was so high that the men could not use setting poles, and it
took them two weeks to row up against the swift current.
Most of the provincial troops were without uniforms, and, as I have
said, were ignorant of military life and discipline. Their officers wore
a uniform of blue faced with scarlet, with metal buttons, and had laced
waistcoats and hats. They were sober, sensible men.
When the provincials reached Fort Edward, they were drilled daily and
taught to fire by platoon and to shoot at a mark. They were sent into
the woods to learn how to fight.
One company from each regiment of the regulars was fitted out as light
infantry and clothed lightly. Plenty of powder and ball was given to
these men, and we used to go into the woods with them and give them an
idea of wood-fighting. We had a good deal of fun out of all this. It was
solid comfort to go out with a batch of conceited fellows and show them
how very green they were.
The soldiers were sent in bathing daily. The sick, if they had
sufficient strength, had to go to the doctor for their medicines and to
the river to wash and bathe. Amherst thought that spruce beer was a
remedy against scurvy and made great quantities of it. We could have all
we wanted at the rate of half a penny for a quart.
[Sidenote: MILITARY PUNISHMENTS]
Discipline was very rigid. Men were constantly being flogged. And one
sometimes saw the drummers give a man two or three hundred stripes with
the cat-o'-nine-tails, at the head of his regiment. Every now and then
the drummers would rest, and a surgeon would examine the man to see if
he could endure the remainder of the punishment. Some were punished by
riding the wooden horse, and a couple were hanged for stealing cattle.
The woods along the path from Fort Edward were cut down for quite a
distance on either side of the path, that the enemy might not ambuscade
our parties. And little forts were built every three or four miles along
the road. No one died of idleness that spring.
Our old uniforms were pretty well used up. When a jacket or a pair of
breeches gave out, we replaced them with a deerskin shirt or breeches,
which we made ourselves.
In the spring General Amherst gave the Rangers a new uniform. It was a
blue cap or bonnet, such as the Highlanders wore, and a waistcoat and
short jacket of black frieze lapelled with blue. There were no arms to
the waistcoat or jacket, only armholes, and on the shoulders were little
wings, such as the drummers and grenadiers wore. Hector called us
Amherst's angels. The buttons were of white metal. We had drawers of
linen or light canvas, and over them leggings of black frieze reaching
to the thighs. From the calf down, they were buttoned with white metal
buttons, and came over the feet like splatterdashes. At our waist was
fastened a short kilt of blue stuff, which reached nearly to the knees.
Our dress was much like that of the Highlanders.
Most of the regulars who had joined us since the last campaign came from
Louisburg, and had been sufficiently long in the land to lose a portion
of that feeling of immense superiority which Englishmen have when fresh
from the old country. Still they laughed heartily at the awkward
appearance of the green provincial troops. And no one could help it who
had experience in military life.
[Sidenote: "YANKEE DOODLE"]
"Ben," said Donald, "just listen to the green gawks singing and
whistling that 'Yankee Doodle.' They think it is the finest tune on
earth, and the latest martial music from England. I remember the bit of
a surgeon who wrote that in fun two years ago, just to make sport of
them."
"Well, Donald, I like it myself; and as our boys have taken it up,
they're apt to fight well under it."
"'Deed, man, they'll no do anything with it. It's just a poor foolish
tune."
How little we foresaw the popularity of that air. For years the bands of
the British regiments played it in derision of the provincials. Percy's
troops marched to Lexington to this music. They did not play it on their
return. During the Revolution our men played it whenever the British
were defeated, and the tune gradually became unpopular in the British
army.
"Donald, our men may be green and awkward, but they are God-fearing men,
most of them, members of the church; and they don't drink like fish, nor
swear like pirates, as these newcomers do, whose conceit and
overbearing ways are hard to endure."
"You're right there, Ben. It's no bad thing to have a gude opinion of
oneself, provided it's not altogether too gude. And I maun say that
these men put themselves too high. And a man should have a bridle on his
tongue, and not be drinking too much of this nasty rum."
"They laugh at our ways of speaking, and say we speak through our noses.
You of the Black Watch talk differently from them. I heard a captain,
the other day, telling of pumpkins, which he called pompions. 'Yes,' he
said, 'the pompion is a good vegetable, and an excellent succedaneum to
the cabbage, in the latter part of the winter.' What do you think of
succedaneum, Donald?"
"'Deed, I think it's a fine word. I don't know what it means, but it has
a grand sound. I'll manage to bring it in, in the future, when I hear
people using big words. Benjamin, I'm obliged to you."
"A few days later, I heard this captain talking about the fogs in Nova
Scotia, which he said, 'are owing to the steamy breath of fish and sea
animals.' I put that down at once. If I could only hear him talk right
along, I think I'd learn a good deal about nature. How do you like it?"
[Sidenote: THE ARMY MARCHES TO LAKE GEORGE]
"He's a grand talker, Ben, and has an uncommon gude grip on the
language. But I think his philosophy's gone to his head. He never lived
among our Scotch mists, or he wouldn't be so befogged in his ideas."
When General Gage reached Fort Edward, he was sent over to Lake George
with part of the army. Three companies of Rangers, under Captain Stark,
went with him. The other three companies, under Rogers, remained behind.
On the 20th of June the rest of the army, under Amherst, marched to the
lake.
Our three companies of Rangers, under Rogers, formed the advanced guard,
and threw out flanking parties to scour the woods near by. The artillery
and baggage brought up the rear.
Then nearly a month was consumed in building boats and rafts to carry
the artillery, in raising boats which had been sunk the previous fall,
and in digging up cannon and stores that had been buried.
Amherst wished for information about the French, and Captain Jacob was
sent on a scout to Lake Champlain. At the same time Rogers, McKinstry,
Martin, and I set out to see what force the enemy had at Crown Point.
We put our birches into the water after dark. As I stepped into our
birch, Jacob said: "Good-by, Ben Comee! Never see you again. Heap
Canawaugha Indians at Crown Point. Gray Wolf's friends. All want Ben
Comee's scalp. Me heap sorry."
"Good-by, Jacob. Take care you don't lose your own hair."
The Indians went along the south shore, and we struck across for the
other side. The enemy had several batteaux on the lake, and we paddled
quietly in the dark till we reached the other shore. As it became light,
we lifted our canoe from the water, and hid it in the bushes.
Rogers started off through the woods, and we followed him in a file. We
climbed a mountain near Ticonderoga and had a good view of the fort. We
stayed there for a couple of hours, counting the different bodies of
soldiers. There seemed to be about three thousand men in the
garrison,--regulars, Canadians, and Indians. Then we came down and went
north to Crown Point. We ascended a hill, and looked down on the fort.
It was deserted. The French had concentrated all their men at
Ticonderoga.
[Sidenote: CAPTAIN JACOB IN HOT WATER]
McKinstry called out: "Look up the lake. Captain Jacob is in hot water.
Those two birches that are being chased are his, certain."
"Yes; he and his men are in those two, and there are seven birches after
them. About thirty men. It's a pretty slim chance he's got. Now they're
firing."
Both parties were shooting at each other. As they neared the shore, we
lost sight of them behind a point, but could still hear them popping
away.
Rogers said: "Captain Jacob is in a fix. Presence of mind is a good
thing, but absence of body is a great deal better in a case like this,
and we'd better light out of here at once, and get out of the way before
they run across our trail. There's too few of us to help him. We must
look out for our own scalps. Hurry up."
We went back into the woods a long distance before we turned south to go
to Lake George. We reached camp the next evening, and on the following
day a wounded Indian came in and said that Captain Jacob and the other
four Indians were captured.
There was a report that he was sent to Montreal, but it is more likely
that he was tortured and sang his death-song at the stake.
At last the rafts were ready for the artillery, and on the 21st day of
July the army embarked and moved down the lake in four columns. The
Rangers headed the column on the right. To the left of us was a column
of two brigades of regulars. The third column was mainly made up of
boats and rafts carrying the artillery and provisions, and the
provincials formed the fourth column.
[Sidenote: THE ARMY EMBARKS]
A raft called the _Invincible Radeau_, which carried nine
twelve-pounders, led the army, and the _Halifax_ sloop brought up the
rear.
From these, signals were displayed which informed us what to do. The
weather was hazy. There was a strong wind which made quite a sea, and
put the artillery in considerable danger. Whenever the wind was
favourable, we spread our blankets for sails, which helped us very much.
There were in all about eleven thousand men,--regulars and provincials.