When the expedition moved forward, a heavy rain set in, which sent down

such torrents from the hills that the river arose eight feet in one

night, overflowing its banks October 22-23 and filling its channels with

rafts of drift wood. So suddenly did this freshet occur, that the water

came roaring down the valley where the soldiers were encamped, so

unexpectedly and powerfully that they had barely time to retreat to

their bateaux before the whole plain was overflowed. Seven boats were

overturned and the provisions lost, and others were in imminent peril in

the midst of the flood. They were yet thirty miles from the head of the

Chaudière, and but about twelve days' provisions remained. The storm and

exposure made many sick, and despondency supplanted cheerfulness, for

the future seemed pregnant with misery. A council of war was held, and

it was decided to send the sick and feeble back, and to press forward

with the healthy. Arnold wrote to Greene and Enos, who were in the rear,

to select as many of their best men as they could supply with fifteen

days' provisions, and come on with them, leaving the others to return to

Norridgewock. Enos, either through a false construction of the order or

willful disobedience, returned to Cambridge with his whole division. His

appearance excited the greatest indignation in the Continental camp, and

Enos was looked upon as a traitor for thus deserting his companions and

endangering the whole expedition. He was tried by a court-martial, and

it being proved that he was short of provisions, and that none could be

procured in the wilderness, he was acquitted. He never was restored in

public estimation, however, and soon afterward left the army.

In the mean while Arnold, with the rest of the troops, pressed onward.

The rain changed to snow, and ice formed upon the water in which the men

waded to push the bateaux as

* What the device on this flag, or what its color was, we have no means

of ascertaining. The stripes and stars were not used until 1777. On the

14th of June that year, Congress "resolved that the flag of the thirteen

United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the

Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new

constellation." Since then we have added a star for every new state.

** Tradition asserts that, while the Americans encamped there, Major

Bigelow ascended to the summit of the mountain, with the expectation of

seeing the spires of Quebec! From this supposed adventure the mountain

derives its name. .

Lake Megantie and the Chaudière.--Perilous Voyage.--Narrow Escape.--

Sertigan.--Timely Relief for the Troops

October 29. 193they passed the numerous ponds and marshes near the

sources of the Dead River. Seventeen falls were passed, and on a bleak

day, marching through snow two inches deep, they reached the Highlands

which separated the waters of New England from Canada. A portage of four

miles brought them to a small stream, down which they pushed their

vessels and reached Lake Megantic, the great source of the Chaudière.

There they found Lieutenants Steele and Church, who had been sent

forward from the great carrying-place to explore and clear the portages.

Here also was Jakins, who had been sent to the French settlers on the

Chaudière to ascertain their political sentiments, which he reported to

be favorable. *

The little army encamped on the eastern shore of the lake, and the next

morning Arnold, with a party of fifty-five men on shore, under Captain

Hanchet, and thirteen men with himself, in five bateaux and a birch

canoe, pushed onward down the Chaudière to the French settlements, there

to obtain provisions and send them back to meet the main forces. It was

a fearful voyage. As soon as they left the lake and October 27. 1775

entered the river, the current ran with great rapidity, boil ing and

foaming over a rocky bottom. They had no guide. They lashed their

baggage and provisions to the bateaux and committed themselves to the

mercy of the stream. At length the fearful roar of rushing waters met

their ears, and in a few minutes they were plunging amid rapids. Three

of the boats were dashed in pieces upon the rocks and their contents

ingulfed, but, fortunately, no lives were lost. Six men struggled long

in the waters, but were saved. The other bateaux were moored in shallow

estuaries, while aid was rendered to those in the stream, and this

proved the salvation of the whole party. The apparent calamity was a

mercy in disguise, for had they not been thus checked, they must all

have plunged into destruction over a fall just beyond, which was

discovered by one of the rescued men. For seventy miles falls and rapids

succeeded each other, but the voyagers reached Sertigan (four miles

below the mouth of Des Lou-pis), the first French settlement, in safely.

The people were friendly, and sold provisions freely. As soon as the

wants of his own party were supplied, Arnold sent back some Canadians

and Indians with flour and cattle for the approaching troops, who were

in great distress, all their boats having been destroyed, with their

provisions. They had slaughtered their last ox several days before. In a

few days the whole army emerged in detachments from the forests,

wilderness, and united at Sertigan. **

October 30

* Two Indians were sent forward with Jakins to carry letters, one to

General Schuyler on Lake Champlain, the other to some persons in Quebec.

They betrayed their trusts, for the latter, named Eneas, was known to

have reached Quebec, but the letters went into the hands of Lieutenant-

governor Carmache instead of those for whom they were intended. The

letters to General Schuyler never reached him.

** Judge Henry, who at the close of the last century was president of

the second judicial district in Pennsylvania, was one of the soldiers in

this expedition, and has left behind him a lucid and exceedingly

interesting narrative of the ''hardships and sufferings of that band of

heroes." In reference to the destitute condition of the troops before

food was sent back from Sertigan, he says, "Coming to a low, sandy beach

of the Chaudière, for we sometimes had such, some of our companies were

observed to dart from the file, and with their nails tear out of the

sands roots which they esteemed eatable, and ate them raw, even without

washing. The knowing one sprang; half a dozen followed; he who obtained

it ate the root instantly.... They washed their moose-skin moccasins in

the river, scraping away the dirt and sand with great care. These were

brought to the kettle and boiled a considerable time, under the vague

but consolatory hope that a mucilage would take place. The poor fellows

chewed the leather, but it was leather still. They had not received food

for the last forty-eight hours. Disconsolate and weary we passed the

night." A dog was killed and furnished material for broth, but

starvation would have destroyed them all in a few days. *

* "My dog was very large and a great favorite. I gave him up to several

men of Captain Goodrich's company. They caried him to their company, and

killed and divided him among those who were suffering most severely from

hunger. They ate every part of him, not excepting his entrails."--Letter

of General Dearborn to the Rev. William Allen.

Valley of the Chaudière.--Washington's Manifesto.--Joined by Indians.--

Arrival at Point Levi.--Incidents of the March

194The beautiful valley of the Chaudière was now before them, enlivened

with a friendly population and blessed with abundance of provisions.

Arnold had been furnished with printed copies, in French, of a manifesto

by Washington, to be distributed among the people. It explained the

causes of the contest, and asked them, as neighbors and friends, to join

the standard of liberty. Arnold, with great discretion, circulated these

freely, at the same time acquiescing in the wishes of Washington by

treating the inhabitants with the greatest respect. Every thing received

from them was paid for, and they rendered aid in return with a hearty

good will. *

About forty Indians of the Norridgewoeks, under the famous _Natanis_ and

his brother _Sabatis_, here joined the Americans, and on the 9th of

November the whole army that remained arrived at Point Levi, opposite

Quebec, after one of the most wonderful marches on record, during the

space of two months. Thirty-two days they traversed the gloomy

wilderness without meeting a human being. Frost and snow were upon the

ground, and ice was upon the surface of the marshes and streams, which

they were obliged to traverse and ford, sometimes armpit deep in water

and mud; yet they murmured not, and even women followed in the train of

the suffering patriots. ** It was an effort in the cause of freedom

worthy of its divine character; and the men who thus periled life and

endured pain, whatever may have been their course in after life, deserve

the highest praise from the hearts and lips of posterity. ***

* I met a gentleman at Quebec (August, 1848) who had just made a journey

across the country from the Kennebec to the St. Lawrence by the way of

the Chaudière. He said that many of the old habitans were still living

in that beautiful valley, and spoke very highly of the "good

Bostonians," whose passage through their country was one of the greatest

events in the quiet lives of those isolated and simple people. He showed

me an order for flour and cattle, signed by Arnold at Sertigan, which he

procured from an old man 93 years of age. Many documents of the kind

are, he said, preserved in the families of the old settlers.

** Judge Henry speaks of two women, the wives of soldiers attached to

the division of the army to which he belonged. Their names deserve

preservation for the admiration of posterity. "One was the wife of

Sergeant Grier, a large, virtuous, and respectable woman." The other was

the wife of a private soldier named Warner. Judge H. says, in reference

to their march through the wet country near Megantic Lake, "Entering the

ponds, and breaking the ice here and there with the butts of our guns

and feet, we were soon waist deep in mud and water. As is generally the

case with youths, it came to my mind that a better path might be found

than that of the more elderly guide. Attempting this, the water in a

trice cooling my armpits, made me gladly return in the file. Now Mrs.

Grier had got before me. My mind was humbled, yet astonished, at the

exertions of this good woman. Her clothes more than waist high, she

waded on before me to firm ground. Not one, so long as she was known to

us, dared to intimate a disrespectful idea of her."

*** Those most prominent afterward in the history of our country, who

accompanied Arnold on that expedition, were Morgan, Greene, Dearborn,

Febiger, Meigs, and Burr. "Here it was" (near Sertigan), says Judge

Henry, "that, for the first time. Aaron Burr, a most amiable youth of

twenty, came to my view. He was then a cadet."

American Army at Point Levi.--Alarm of the Canadians.--Storm on the St.

Lawrence.--Passage of the Army.

195

CHAPTER IX.

"Oh, few and weak their numbers were,

A handful of brave men;

But to their God they gave their prayer,

And rush'd to battle then.

They left the plowshare in the mold,

Their flocks and herds without a fold,

The sickle in the unshorn grain,

The corn half garner'd on the plain,

And muster'd in their simple dress

For wrongs to seek a stern redress--

To right those wrongs, come weal, come wo,

To perish or o'ercome their foe."

McLellan.

UCH were the men who followed the bold Arnold, through terrible

difficulties and privations, from their quiet homes in New England, and,

in the midst ol light falling snow, appeared like a specter army on the

heights of Point Levi, to the wondering people of Quebec. Through the

treachery of the Indian Eneas (who pretended to have been taken

prisoner), Cramahé and his council knew that a small American force was

in the wilderness, but they would not believe that it would ever reach

Quebec; therefore the fact was not made known to the military or the

people. They had taken the precaution, however, to keep all boats on the

Quebec side of the river. It was about eight o'clock in the morning when

Arnold and his followers emerged from the forest and displayed upon the

banks of the St. Lawrence., Quebec was at once in a tumult. The drums

beat to arms, and the Canadians were terribly alarmed. Some near Point

Levi had fled across to the city, and their fears caused them to greatly

magnify the number and character of the Americans. By a mistake of a

single word the fears of the people were greatly increased, for the news

spread that the mysterious army that descended from the wilderness was

clad in _sheet iron._ *

Arnold resolved to cross the river immediately, and found means to

communicate his intentions to his friends in Quebec. * But for several

days and nights a tempest of wind and sleet raged upon the St. Lawrence,

and he was obliged to wait its pleasure at Point Levi. In the mean while

the garrison of the city was strengthened by troops from Sorel, under

McLean, and the prospect of success for the patriots was proportionably

lessened. At length the wind ceased. Between thirty and forty birch

canoes were procured, and about nine o'clock in the evening of the 13th

the first division crossed; before daylight five November, 1775 hundred

Americans landed safely, and rendezvoused at Wolfe's Cove. The ene- my

had placed a frigate (the Lizzard) and a sloop in the river, to

intercept them, but the vigilance of these they eluded until just as the

last party passed a guard-boat. One hundred and fifty men were at Point

Levi, but it was too late to return for them. No time was

* Morgan's riflemen wore linen frocks, their common uniform. The

Canadians, who first saw these emerge from the woods, said they were

_vêtu en toile_--clothed in linen cloth. The word _toile_ was changed

_tole_, iron plate.

** In earlier life Arnold was engaged in trafficking in horses, and

shipped many for the West Indies. He visited Quebec several times to

procure stock, and thus became well acquainted with the place and many

people there. His knowledge of the city and vicinity was doubtless one

cause that led to his appointment to the command of the expedition.

Arnold's Troops on the Plains of Abraham.--Expected Aid from within.--

Arnold's formal Summons to surrender

196to be lost, for the garrison would soon be alarmed. Arnold, placing

himself at the head of his little band of heroes, scaled the heights

where Wolfe had ascended sixteen years before, and at dawn they stood

upon the lofty Plains of Abraham. That goal where glory was to be won

and freedom vindicated, which had lured them from the camp at Cambridge,

and haunted them in their disturbed dreams amid the perils of the

wilderness, was now before the zealous patriots; but their hearts sank,

and the whisperings of hope were like the breathings of despair, when

they saw the dark castle and the massy walls that inclosed the garrison

of the enemy. They numbered only seven hundred and fifty men. They had

no artillery, and nearly half their muskets were rendered useless during

their march through the wilderness. They learned, too, that troops from

Sorel and Newfoundland had been added to the garrison, making an attack

upon the town a hopeless waste of effort. * But Arnold relied upon the

friendly disposition of the Canadian militia and the people of the city,

and, to ascertain their feelings, he drew up his men within eight

hundred yards of the walls and gave three cheers, hoping that the

regulars would sally out to attack them, and that then, the gates being

unclosed, he might rush in, and, by the aid of friends within, secure

the city. The parapets of the walls were lined by hundreds of the

people, and many of them huzzaed in return. Several guns were fired by

the Americans, but without effect. The British at length brought a

thirty-two pounder to bear upon the patriots, but not a shot injured

them. Lieutenant-governor Cramahé and M'Lean were too wary to be lured

into such a snare as making a sortie, for they knew well the disloyalty

of the French citizens and most of the leading men of Quebec. The

English citizens were much dissatisfied with the French laws that had

governed them since the passage of the "Quebec Bill," the previous year.

1774 The French, on the other hand, though petted, so as to be won,

could not forget their ancient national animosities, and were willing to

see the English discomfited. The unruly conduct of the soldiery had also

disgusted the people, and some were loud in their complaints against

Carleton and his deputy, for exposing Quebec, by withdrawing its

garrison when Montreal was threatened. The Royal Scotch, under M'Lean,

were all that could be certainly relied upon. These elements of

disaffection combined, made the force in the city, securely sheltered,

quite inactive, for M'Lean well knew that Arnold's little army was too

weak to attempt an assault, and he felt sure that the fierce winter

winds and driving snow would soon force them from their bleak

encampment.

Finding his attempts vain, by frequent hostile displays upon the

heights, to draw out the garrison, Arnold, in accordance with military

usage, sent a flag to M'Lean, with a formal summons to surrender,

threatening him with terrible disasters if he refused. The movement was

exceedingly ridiculous, and was not only treated with utter contempt by

the British commander, but the bearer was fired upon. ** About this time

Arnold learned that Carleton, who had fled from Montreal, was

approaching Quebec. He also inspected his ammunition and stores, and to

his surprise found that nearly all the cartridges were spoiled, hardly

five rounds to a man being left fit for use. Learning, also, from his

friends in the city, that a sortie was about to be made, he broke up his

camp and retreated to _Point aux Trembles_, twenty miles above Quebec,

to await the approaching troops of Montgomery. On his arrival at _Aux

Trembles_, Arnold was informed that Carleton had gone from that place

but a few hours before, and shortly afterward was heard the cannonading

at Quebec that welcomed his

* The garrison, including the regulars and militia within the town, and

the marines in the ships, was about eighteen hundred strong. Surprise

has been expressed that these did not march out and destroy the feeble

force of the Americans. The obvious reason was, that the majority of the

garrison troops were militia, and supposed to be ready to join the

Americans in the event of a battle.

** "It must be confessed," says Judge Henry, "that this ridiculous

affair gave me a contemptible opinion of Arnold. Morgan, Febiger, and

other officers did not hesitate to speak of it in that point of view.

However, Arnold had a vain desire to gratify. He was well known at

Quebee. Formerly, he had traded from this port to the West Indies, most

particularly in the article of horses; hence he was despised by the

principal people. The epithet of _horse-jockey_ was freely and

universally bestowed upon him by the British. Having now obtained power,

he became anxious to display it in the faces of those who had formerly

despised and contemned him."

Junction of Montgomery and Arnold.--Ineffectual Efforts against the

Town.--Mutiny in the Camp.--Plan of Assault

197return to the city. Montgomery landed at _Point aux Trembles_ on the

1st of December, his troops, by sickness and desertion, reduced to a

mere handful. There he took command of the combined troops, amounting to

only about nine hundred effective men. He brought clothing from Montreal

for Arnold's half-naked troops. The next day, in the face of a driving

snow-storm, they started for Quebec, and arrived in sight of the city on

the 5th. Their march was slow and excessively fatiguing, for the snow

was deep, and drifted high in the roads. Montgomery established his

headquarters at Holland House, and Arnold occupied a house near Scott's

Bridge. The Americans were chiefly encamped near the Intendant's Palace,

by the St. Charles, in the suburb St. Roche.

The American forces were considerably inferior in numbers to those of

the garrison, but this was unknown within the city. Montgomery

endeavored to send a summons to surrender, but Carleton would not allow

a flag to approach the walls. At length a letter was conveyed by a

citizen to Governor Carleton, in which Montgomery demanded an immediate

surrender, at the same time magnifying the number of his followers, and

threatening all the calamities of an assault. Although Carleton thought

Montgomery's army larger than it really was, he was not easily

frightened. Montgomery, like Arnold, counted upon friends within the

city, but they were paralyzed by the presence of troops, and dared do

nothing favorable to the besiegers. With no other ordinance than some

light cannon and a few mortars, a feeble, ill-clad, and ill-fed army,

exposed to the severest frost in the open fields, and snow falling

almost constantly, the American commander nearly despaired of success;

yet the love of his adopted country, and thoughts of the depression of

spirit throughout the colonies which a failure would produce, moved him

to extraordinary efforts. He resolved to annoy the people into

submission by harassing attacks upon the city, and accordingly attempted

to throw bombs over the walls. These efforts were unavailing, and he

then erected a six-gun battery upon some heaps of snow and ice within

seven hundred yards of the walls, but his guns were too light for any

efficiency. Nearly three weeks were thus consumed in unavailing attempts

to make an entrance. Mutinous murmurs were audible in the camp, the term

of service of many of the troops had nearly expired, the small-pox

appeared among the soldiers, and the general looked for a speedy

dissolution of his whole army.

Perils were gathering a fearful web around the brave Montgomery. He

called a council of war, and it was resolved, as a last resort, to make

a regular assault upon the town at different points. The troops were

accordingly ordered to parade in three divisions at two o'clock on the

morning of the 31st of December. All obeyed with alacrity, except three

companies of Arnold's detachment, whose term of service was about

expiring. They threatened to leave the army at once unless transferred

to another command, but the firmness and wisdom of Montgomery restored

order, and they took their places in the ranks. * The New York regiments

and a part of Easton's militia paraded at Holland House, under the

immediate command of Montgomery; the Cambridge detachment and Colonel

Lamb's company of artillerists, with one field piece, at Morgan's

quarters; and the two small corps of Livingston and Brown at their

respective parade-grounds. The plan was, for the first and second

divisions to assault the lower town on opposite sides, and the third,

under Livingston and Brown, to make feigned attacks, from the Plains of

Abraham, upon the upper town, in the neighborhood of St. John's and St.

Louis Gates and Cape Diamond Bastion.

Montgomery, at the head of the first division, descended from the Plains

of Abraham to Wolfe's Cove, south of the city, and commenced his march

toward the lower town by a road (now Champlain Street) that ran along

the margin of the river, under Cape Diamond. Ar-

* The cause of this outbreak is not known. Montgomery, in a letter to

Schuyler (the last he ever wrote), spoke of the occurrence, and

intimated that Major Brown was at the bottom of it. He promised a full

explanation in his next, but, alas! "the next" was never written. It

appears that Arnold had quarreled with Hanchet, one of his captains,

before reaching Point Levi, and two others took sides with the captain.

Brown and Arnold had quarreled at Ticonderoga, and it is supposed that

the former took this opportunity to gall Arnold, by widening the breach

between him and his captains, and endeavoring to get them detached from

Arnold's command and joined to his own.

Montgomery's Approach to Cape Diamond.--Opposing Battery.--His Charge

upon the Battery.--His Death.

198nold, at the head of the second division, advanced from the general

hospital, around the north side of the town, on the St. Charles.

Both parties were to meet at Mountain Street, and force Prescott Gate.

The snow was falling fast, and furious winds were piling it in frightful

drifts. Cautiously Montgomery led his men in the dark toward the

narrowest point under Cape Diamond, called _Pres de Ville_, where the

enemy had planted a battery of three pounders. * This post was in charge

of a captain of Canadian militia, with thirty-eight men, and nine

British seamen, under Captain Barnsfare, master of a transport, to work

the guns. On the river side was a precipice, and on the left the rough

crags of dark slate towered far above him. When within fifty yards of

the battery, the Americans halted to reconnoiter. The guard at the

battery and the artillerymen with lighted matches were perfectly silent,

and Montgomery concluded that they were not on the alert.

But Barnsfare, through the dim light of early dawn and the drifting

snow, saw faintly their movements. Montgomery, in the van of his troops,

cried out, "Men of New York, you will not fear to follow where your

general leads. March on!" and rushed boldly over heaps of ice and snow

to charge the battery.

At that moment, when the Americans were within forty paces, Captain

Barnsfare gave the word, the match was applied, and a discharge of

grape-shot swept the American column with terrible effect. Montgomery,

Major M'Phunn his aid, and Captain Cheeseman were killed, together with

several privates near. The rest, appalled at the dreadful havoc and the

death of their general, fled in confusion back to Wolfe's Cove, where

Colonel Campbell took the command, but made no further attempts to force

a junction with Arnold. Ten minutes the battery belched its iron storm

in the dim space, but, after the first discharge, there was no enemy

there to slaughter. **

* Judge Henry, who was one of the American prisoners at Quebec, was

allowed, with some others, to go out and see the place where Montgomery

was slain. He thus describes the British fortification there: It was a

sort of block-house forty or fifty feet square. The logs, neatly hewn,

were tightly bound together by dove-tail work. The lower story contained

loop-holes for musketry, so narrow that those within could not be harmed

by those without. The upper story had four or more port-holes for cannon

of a large caliber. These guns were charged with grape and canister

shot, and were pointed with exactness toward the avenue at Cape Diamond.

The block-house seemed to take up the space between the foot of the hill

and the river, leaving only a cart-way on each side. The bulwarks of the

city came only to the edge of the hill, above that place; hence down the

side of the precipice, slantingly to the brink of the river, there was a

stockade of strong posts fifteen or twenty feet high, knit together by a

stout railing at bottom and top with pins. It was asserted that

Montgomery sawed four of these posts himself, so as to admit four men

abreast to attack the block-house.

** This is a view of the spot where Montgomery was killed. The cliff is

Cape Diamond, crowned with the citadel. The street at the foot of it is

called Champlain, and is inhabited chiefly by a mixed population of

French, Canadians, and Irish. It extends from Mountain Street south

almost to Wolfe's Cove. This view is from Champlain Street, a few rods

south of _Près de Ville_, looking north. High upon the rocks Alfred

Hawkins, Esq., of Quebec, has placed a board with this inscription:

"Here Major-general Montgomery fell, December 31st, 1775."

Arnold's Operations.--Wounded.--Assailants led by Morgan.--Severe Fight-

-Capture of Dearborn.

199While this dreadful scene was in progress at Cape Diamond, Arnold, at

the head of the second division, was pressing onward along the St.

Charles, where the snow was worse drifted than on the St. Lawrence. He

led his men in files until he reached the narrow street called _Sault au

Matelot,_ where, under a high, jutting rock, the enemy had a two-gun

picketed battery, well manned.

Like Montgomery, he headed his men, and, while leading Lamb's artillery

to the attack upon the barrier, was completely disabled by a musket-

wound in the knee, and was carried back to the general hospital, where

he heard of the death of Montgomery. The command of his division now

devolved upon Morgan, and for more than an hour the Americans withstood

the storm of grape-shot and musket-balls at the first barrier, and

finally carried it, for the deadly aim of the riflemen caused great

consternation in the ranks of the enemy. Passing the first barrier, the

patriots rushed on to the second, which commanded both _Sault au

Matelot_ and St. Peter's Streets. The defenses here extended from the

cliff to the river; and the present custom-house, then a private

dwelling, had cannons projecting from the windows of the gable. Here a

fierce contest of three hours ensued, and many were killed on both

sides. At length the Americans took shelter from the fire of the

battery, in the houses on both sides of the street, and in the narrow

pass that leads up to Hope Gate. The English and Canadians already

occupied houses near, and the patriots were terribly galled on all

sides, and from the walls of the city above them.

Captain Lamb was severely wounded by a grape-shot, which carried away a

part of his cheek-bone, and other officers were more or less injured.

The Americans finally captured the barrier, and were preparing to rush

into the town, when Carleton sent a large detachment from the garrison,

through Palace Gate, to attack them in the rear. The news of the death

of Montgomery and the retreat of his detachment gave the people and the

troops within the walls fresh courage. Captain Dearborn, with some

provincials, was stationed near Palace Gate, and was completely

surprised when its leaves were thrown open and the troops rushed out. It

was a movement entirely unlooked for; and so suddenly and in such

overwhelming force did the enemy pour upon them, that: they were obliged

to surrender.

While Morgan was pressing on vigorously into the town, he heard of the

death of Montgomery, the capture of Dearborn and his company, and the

advance of the enemy in his rear. Surrounded by foes on all sides, and

every support cut off,

* This view is in a narrow alley near the north end of _Sault au

Matelot_ Street, in the rear of St. Paul's Street. At the time in

question St. Paul's Street did not exist, and the water, at high tide,

came nearly up to the precipice. The first barrier and battery extended

from the jutting roek seen in the picture, to the water. The present

alley was then the beach. The circular wall on the top of the roek is a

part of the grand battery, one of the most formidable and commanding

defenses in the world.

** This is one of the most beautiful gates of the city, and opens toward

the St. Charles, on the northern side of the town. A strong guard-house

is seen at the left, pierced for muskets to defend the entrance.

Immediately adjoining this gate are the artillery barracks. The gate is

at the northern extremity of Palace Street, one of the broadest in the

city, and "so named," says Hawkins, from the circumstance that it led

out to the Intendants house, or palace, which stood on the beach of the

St. Charles, where the queen's wood-yard now is.

Loss of the Americans at Quebec.--Recovery and Burial of Montgomery's

Body.--His Life and Services.--Courtesy of Carleton

200the patriots yielded, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war. *

The remainder of the division in the rear retreated to their camp,

leaving behind them one field piece and some mortars in a battery at St.

Roche. The whole loss of the Americans at Cape Diamond and _Sault au

Matelot_, in killed and wounded, was about one hundred and sixty. The

British loss was only about twenty killed and wounded.

As soon as hostilities ceased, search was made for the bodies of those

who fell with Montgomery. Thirteen were found nearly buried in the snow,

and with them was Montgomery's orderly sergeant, dreadfully wounded, but

alive. The sergeant would not acknowledge that his general was killed,

and persisted in his silence until he died, an hour afterward. For

several hours Carleton was uncertain whether the general was slain; but

a field officer among the captured troops of Arnold's division

recognized the body of the young hero among those in the guard-house,

and, it is said, he there pronounced a most touching eulogium on the

bravery and worth of the deceased, while tears of grief coursed down his

cheeks. ** Cramahé, the lieutenant governor, who had known Montgomery

years before, took charge of the body, and it was buried within a wall

that surrounded a powder magazine, near the ramparts bounding on St.

Louis Street, where it remained forty-two years. *** It has been well

observed that it would be difficult to select, from so small a body of

men as that engaged in besieging Quebec, so large a number who afterward

distinguished themselves for patriotism and courage, as that little band

presented. Morgan and his rifle corps became world renowned. Dearborn

was distinguished

* The force that surrendered consisted of 1 lieutenant colonel, 2

majors, 8 captains, 15 lieutenants, 1 adjutant, 1 quartermaster, 4

volunteers, 350 rank and file, and 44 officers and soldiers, who were

wounded, making a total of 426. The prisoners were treated humanely. The

officers were confined in the seminary, the oldest literary institution

in Quebec. Major Meigs was sent out for the clothing and baggage of the

prisoners, and all testified to the humanity of Carleton.

** Montgomery had a watch in his pocket which Mrs. M. was very desirous

of obtaining. She made her wishes known to Arnold, who sent word to

Carleton that any sum would be paid for it. Carleton immediately sent

the watch to Arnold, and refused to receive any thing in return.

*** Richard Montgomery was born in the north of Ireland in 1737. He

entered the army at the age of twenty, and was with Wolfe at the

storming of Quebec in 1759. He was in the campaign against the Spanish

West Indies, and afterward resided some time in this country. He quitted

his regiment and returned to England. While here he imbibed an

attachment for the country, and in 1772, returned to make it his home.

He purchased an estate upon the Hudson, in Rhinebeck, Dutchess county,

and married the daughter of Robert R. Livingston. When the Revolution

broke out, he espoused the cause of the colonists, and in the autumn of

1775 was second in command, under Schuyler, in the expedition against

Canada, with the rank of brigadier. The illness of Schuyler caused the

chief command to devolve upon Montgomery, and in the capture of St.

John's, Chambly, and Montreal, and his attack on Quebec, he exhibited

great judgment and military skill. He was commissioned a major general

before he reached Quebec. In "that campaign he had every difficulty to

contend with undisciplined and mutinous troops, scarcity of provisions

and ammunition, want of heavy artillery, lack of clothing, the rigor of

winter, and desertions of whole companies. Yet he pressed onward, and,

in all probability, had his life been spared, would have entered Quebec

in triumph. His death was a great public calamity, and throughout the

land public honors were paid to his memory. The eloquence of Chatham,

Burke, and Barré sounded his praises upon the floor of the British

Parliament, and the prime minister (Lord North), while acknowledging his

worth, and reprobating the cause in which he fell, concluded by saying,

"Curse on his virtues, they have undone his country." As soon as the

news of his death reached Congress, resolutions of condolence with his

family for their bereavement, and expressive of their "grateful

remembrance, profound respect, and high veneration," were adopted. It

was voted to erect a monument to his memory, which was accordingly done,

in the front of St. Paul's Church in New York city, on which is the

following inscription: This monument is erected by order of Congress,

25th of January, 1776, to transmit to posterity a grateful remembrance

of the patriotic conduct, enterprise, and perseverance of Major-general

Richard Montgomery, who, after a series of success amid the most

discouraging difficulties, Fell in the attack on Quebec, 31st December,

1775, aged 37 years.

*** In 1818 a request in behalf of the widow of General Montgomery was

made to the Governor-in-chief of Canada, Sir John Sherbrooke, to allow

his remains to be disinterred and conveyed to New York. The request was

readily acceded to, and Mr. James Thompson, of Quebec, who was one of

the engineers at the time of the storming of the city, and assisted in

burying the general, also assisted in the disinterment, making an

affidavit to the identity of the body. He said, in his affidavit, that

the body was taken to the house of Mr. Gobert, and placed in a coffin

lined with flannel and covered with black cloth; that Rev. Mr. de

Montmolin, chaplain to the garrison, performed the funeral service; that

Montgomery's aids (M'Pherson and Cheeseman) were buried in their

clothes, without coffins; and that he (Thompson) afterward wore

Montgomery's sword, but the American prisoners were so affected by the

sight of it, that he laid it aside. He identified the coffin taken up on

the 16th of June, 1818, as the one. The remains were placed in another

coffin and deposited beneath the monument.

*** The following is the inscription upon a silver plate on the coffin:

"The state of New York, in honor of General Richard Montgomery, who fell

gloriously fighting for the independence and liberty of the United

States before the walls of Quebec, the 31st of December, 1775, caused

these remains of the distinguished hero to be conveyed from Quebec, and

deposited, on the 8th day of July (1818), in St.' Paul's Church, in the

city of New York, near the monument erected to his memory by the United

States."

*** General Montgomery left no children whom "the state, in gratitude

toward their father, distinguished with every mark of kindness and

protection," as Botla asserts. His widow survived him more than half a

century. When at the house of his brother-in-law, the late Peter R.

Livingston, at Rhinebeck, a few years ago, I saw an interesting memento

of the lamented general. A day or two before he left home to join the

army under Schuyler, he was walking on the lawn in the rear of his

brother-in-law's mansion with the owner, and as they came near the

house, Montgomery stuck a willow twig in the ground, and said, "Peter,

let that grow to remember me by." It did grow, and is now a willow with

a trunk at least ten feet in circumference.

Eminent Officers at Quebec.--Promotion of Arnold.--Blockade of Quebec.--

Honor to the Memory of Montgomery.

201as a skillful officer at Saratoga and other fields of the Revolution,

and commanded the troops that captured York, in Upper Canada, in the

spring of 1813. Meigs boldly attacked April 27 and destroyed shipping

and stores at Sag Harbor, and of his regiment, and that of Febiger, were

the forlorn hope at Stony Point. Greene's prowess and skill were well

attested at Red Bank, on the Delaware. Thayer behaved nobly in defense

of Fort Mifilin, opposite Red Bank. Lamb was distinguished at Compo,

Fort Montgomery, and Yorktown. Oswald was at Compo, and fought bravely

at Monmouth; and Poterfield was killed at Camden, in South Carolina,

when Gates was so terribly defeated there. M'Pherson and Cheese-man, *

Montgomery's aids, were brave and accomplished, and gave assurance of

future renown; but they fell with their leader, and share with him the

grateful reverence of posterity.

Colonel Arnold took command of the remnant of the patriot army after the

death of Montgomery, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general.

He could muster only about eight hundred men; and, feeling unsafe in his

camp under the walls of the city, he retired about three miles from the

town, intrenched himself as well as circumstances would allow, and

assumed the attitude of a blockade, hoping, by cutting off supplies for

the city from the country, to bring the enemy to terms. Carleton,

feeling secure within the walls, and expecting re-enforcements from

England as soon as the ice should move out of the St. Law-

* This officer had a presentiment that he should not survive the battle.

When preparing to go forth on that stormy December morning, he dressed

himself with more care than usual, and putting a considerable sum of

money, in gold, in his pocket, remarked, with a smile, "This will insure

me a decent burial." He was of the New York line. A sergeant and eleven

men fell with him. He was not instantly killed, but arose to press

forward to charge the battery. It was a feeble effort, and he fell back

a corpse, in a winding-sheet of snow.

Small-pox in the Army.--Preparations to storm Quebec.--Arrival and Death

of General Thomas.--Temperance Cross.

202rence, remained quiet; and in this relative position the belligerents

continued until the 1st of April, when General Wooster, who had remained

inactive all winter in Montreal, came down, and, being superior in rank

to Arnold, took the chief command. The force which he brought with him,

and the small addition made by troops that reached the encampment from

New England during the winter, and Canadian recruits, swelled the army

to nearly three thousand, eight hundred of whom were sick with the

small-pox, which raged terribly in the American camp.

Preparations were made to beleaguer the city at once. A battery was

erected upon the Plains of Abraham, and another at Point Levi, and a

cannonade was opened upon the town, but without effect. At that moment

the falling of Arnold's horse upon his wounded leg so disabled him, that

he was unfit for active service, and he asked and obtained leave from

General Wooster (with whom he was upon unfriendly terms) to retire to

Montreal. General Thomas, who was appointed to succeed Montgomery,

arrived early in May, but Carleton having received re-enforcements under

Burgoyne, the Americans were obliged to make a hasty retreat, leaving

their stores and sick behind. The latter were kindly treated, and

finally sent home. At the mouth of the Sorel the Americans were re-

enforced, but they could not brave the power of the enemy. General

Thomas died there of small-pox, and Sullivan succeeded to the command. *

But Burgoyne, with a considerable force, was pressing forward, and

ultimately, as we have noted in a preceding chapter, the patriots were

driven out of Canada.

We have taken a long historic ramble; let us vary our pleasure by a ride

to Montmorenci, and a visit to other celebrities about Quebec.

The morning was excessively hot when we left, the city for the falls of

the Montmorenci

Our egress was from the Palace Gate, and with us was quite a train of

vehicles destined for the same point. We passed through the suburb of

St. Boche, in the lower town, and crossed over Dorchester Bridge, a

noble structure which spans the St. Charles, a short distance below the

site of the old bridge fortified by Montcalm. The distance from Quebec

to the Montmorenci is between seven and eight miles. The road

(McAdamized) is very good, and passes through a rich and thoroughly

cultivated region. Like the road from St. John's to Chambly and

Longueuil, it is so thickly strewn with farmhouses that we seemed to be

in a suburban street the whole distance. The village of Beauport, an old

town, where Montcalm's headquarters were, is about midway between the

St. Charles and the Montmorenci, and, like other Lower Canadian

villages, has an antiquated appearance. Between Quebec and Beauport we

passed a large gilt cross reared upon the top of a beautiful Corinthian

column, painted white, green, and vermilion. It was erected, as we were

told, by some priests in Quebec, and consecrated to the cause of

temperance. A strong iron railing incloses it, except in front, where

two o three steps lead to a platform at the foot of the column, whereon

devout passers-by may kneel in prayer. **

* John Thomas was descended from a respectable family of Plymouth,

Massachusetts. He served, with reputation, in the French and Indian war.

At the head of a regiment raised by himself in Kingston, Massachusetts,

he marched to Roxbury in 1775, and joined the Continental army. Congress

appointed him one of the first eight brigadier generals, and he

commanded a division at the siege of Boston. In March, 1776, he was

appointed a major general, and on the 1st of May following joined the

army before Quebec. He died of small-pox, at Chambly, on the second of

June. General Thomas was greatly beloved by his soldiers, and his

judgment, prudence, and firmness commended him to Washington as one

promising to do much for the cause of the colonists.

**This sketch is a view from within Palace Street, looking out upon the

open country beyond the St Charles. The river, with a few masts, is seen

just over the top of the gate. Adjoining the gate, on the right, is seen

a portion of the guard-house.

French Canadian Children.--Falls of Montmorenci.--Island of Orleans.--

Point Levi Quebec in the Distance.

203After passing Beauport, we were beset by troops of urchins, who stood

in groups making polite bows to win attention and coin, or ran beside

the carriage with the speed of trotting horses, lustily crying out, with

extended hand, "_un sou! un sou!_"

They were miniature Falstaffs in figure, some not more than four or five

years old, with dark skins and lustrous black eyes. It was amusing to

see their vigorous but good-natured scrambles for a _sou_ when cast

among them, and the persevering race of the unsuccessful for the next

expected piece of copper. Many a dollar is thus scattered and picked up

by the road side to Montmorenci, during "the season," for the amusement

of the passengers and the comfort of the habitans.

We left our barouche on the south side of the Montmorenci, and crossing,

upon a bridge, the turbulent stream that rushes, leaping and foaming

among broken rocks, toward the cascade 'ust below, we paid a _sou_ each

to a pretty French girl who guarded a gate opening to a winding pathway

through the fields to the margin of the bank a little below the falls.

The path is down a gentle slope for several rods, and at almost every

step the picturesque scenery of the cascade assumes a new aspect.

These falls, though much higher than those of Niagara, have none of the

grandeur of that great wonder. Our first thought here is, How beautiful,

but when the eye and the ear are first impressed with the avalanche of

waters at Niagara, the solemn thought is, How sublime and wonderful!

When we visited the Montmorenci, a long drought had greatly diminished

the volume of its waters, yet it exhibited a scene strikingly

picturesque and pleasing. For two or three hundred yards the river is

confined in a narrow limestone bed, whence it rushes with great velocity

to the brink of the precipice, and leaps into a crescent-shaped bay of

the St. Lawrence, more than two hundred feet below. There, at low tide,

the bare rocks receive the flood, and send up clouds of spray a hundred

feet or more, on which the rays of the evening sun often depict the

beautiful bow. In front, cleaving the broad bosom of the St. Lawrence,

is the Island of Orleans, a paradise of beauty in summer, and a place of

much resort by the citizens of Quebec, particularly the English

residents, who see in it much that resembles their "sweet Devonshire

coast." Its length is nineteen miles, and its average breadth about

five. A population of five thousand inhabit it, and its rich soil is

thoroughly cultivated for the production of vegetables for the Quebec

market. Beyond, on the right, is Point Levi, and up the St. Lawrence,

glittering in the sun, lies Quebec. Grouping the beauties of the natural

scenery, the historical associations, and the delights of a summer ride,

a trip to Montmorenci is an event to be long remembered with pleasure.

The sun was at meridian, and the mercury indicated ninety-

* The river, in this channel, is not more than twelve feet wide, and

here the Natural Steps occur. They rise on one side of the stream like

irregular stairs. They have been formed by the action of the water on

the softer layers of limestone, and present a curiosity for the visitor.

Religious Edifices in Quebec.--The Citadel and the Walls.--View from

Dalhousie Bastion.--Plains of Abraham.

204three degrees in the shade. The points of view were sparsely shadowed

by trees, and we tarried only long enough to glance at the beauties of

the fall and steal its features with a pencil, and then returned to

Quebee, where, before dinner, we visited several churches, the chapel of

the Ursuline Convent, * the Seminary of Quebec, **the chapel of the

Hotel Dieu, *** and the citadel.

The citadel crowning Cape Diamond is a combination of powerful works. It

is three hundred and fifty feet above the river, and is terminated on

the east by a round tower, over which floats the national standard of

England, the flag

"That's braved, a thousand years,

The battle and the breeze."

The approach to the citadel is by a winding road through the acclivity

of the _glacis_ from St. Louis Gate. It is foreign to my plan to notice

in detail modern fortifications upon Revolutionary ground, and we will

stop to consider only a few points of interest in this most perfect

military work. The main entrance is through Dalhousie Gate, where we

presented our permit, and were joined by a young Highland soldier to

guide and guard us. On the top of _Dalhousie Bastion_ is a covered way

with a broad gravel walk, from which is obtained the finest view of the

city, harbor, and surrounding country. The St. Charles is seen winding

through a beautiful undulating plain, and the spires of Beauport.

Charlesbourg, and Lorette, with the white cottages around them, form a

pleasing feature in the landscape. The citadel and its ravelins cover

about forty acres; and the fortifications, consisting of bastions,

curtains of solid masonry, and ramparts twenty-five to thirty feet in

height, mounted with cannon, are continued entirely around the upper

town. Upon the cliff called _Sault au Matelot_ is the grand battery, of

eighteen thirty-two pounders, commanding the basin and harbor below. At

the different gates of the city sentinels are posted day and night, and

in front of the jail and other publie buildings the solemn march of

military guards is seen The garrison at Quebee numbered about three

thousand soldiers. Among them was the 79th regiment of Scotch

Highlanders, lately from Gibraltar. They were six hundred strong, and,

dressed in their picturesque costume, made a fine appearance. To a

stranger the military forms a principal feature of Quebee, and the mind

is constantly carried back to the era of Froissart, when "Everie fayre

towne had strong high walls, and bowmen and spearmen were more numerous

than all others."

We left the citadel, emerged from St. Louis Gate, and, after visiting

the monument where "Wolfe died victorious," rode over the battle-ground

upon the Plains of Abraham, and, crossing to the _St. Foix_ Road, went

into the country as far as Holland House (the headquarters of

Montgomery), and then returned, pleased and wearied, to the Albion. We

strolled at evening through the governor's garden, rested upon Durham

Terrace (see view on page 185), which was crowded with promenaders, and,

losing our way in trying to ferret out the Albion, found ourselves at

Hope Gate, where a kind priest, in long black cassock and broad beaver,

conducted us back to Palace Street.

I devoted the following day to business. Before breakfast I went to

Durham Terrace,

* The Ursuline Convent is situated on Parloir Street, near the English

Cathedral. Influenced by an appeal from the French Jesuits of Canada, a

young widow of Alençon, named Madame de la Poltrie, resolved to devote

her life and fortune to the work of establishing a convent in Quebee.

She founded the Ursuline Convent in 1641. An excellent school for the

education of females is attached to it. In the chapel, as already

noticed, is an inscribed marble slab, in memory of Montcalm, whose body

lies within the grounds of the institution.

** This literary institution was founded in 1633, by De Laval de

Montmorency, the first bishop of Canada The professors, and all attached

to it, receive no money compensation; they are simply guarantied "food

and raiment, in sickness and in health." The chapel contains several

fine paintings. The library has nearly 10,000 volumes.

*** The Hotel Dieu, a nunnery, stands between Palace and Hope Gates. It

was founded in 1636, by the Duchess d'Aquillon, a niece of the famous

Cardinal Richelieu. The cardinal was a liberal benefactor of the

establishment during his life. The chapel is plain, and has but a few

paintings.

Historical Localities at Quebec.--An alarmed Englishman.--Wolfe and

Montcalm's Monument.--Departure for Montreal.

205and sketched Point Levi and the adjacent scenery beyond the St.

Lawrence; and after receiving explicit directions respecting the various

historical localities about the city from an old and intelligent

resident, I procured a caleche and started in search of them, the result

of which is given in the several sketches and the descriptions on

preceding pages. As the day advanced, the heat became almost

intolerable, until we reached the cool retreats of Wolfe's Cove, where,

in the shade of a maple that overhangs a bubbling spring, I loitered an

hour., dreading my intended ramble over the Plains of Abraham above. We

slowly ascended the steep and winding road up Wolfe's Ravine (in pity

for the poor horse, walking half the way), and at the top I dismissed

the vehicle and went over the plains on foot. Hardly a shrub breaks the

smooth surface. The ground slopes from the city, and only a few chimney-

tops and a roof or two indicated the presence of a populous town.

While sketching the broken monument on the spot where Wolfe fell, a

young Englishman, full of zeal for the perpetuity of British colonial

rule, was a spectator, and was very inquisitive respecting my

intentions. With a pointer's keen perception, he determined my

whereabout when at home, and of course looked upon me as a meddling

foreigner. He saw me using the pencil on Durham Terrace in the morning,

and also happened to pass while I was delineating Palace Gate. The idea

of "horrible rebellion" and "Yankee sympathy" seemed to haunt his mind,

and I fed his suspicions so bountifully with sinless fibs, that before I

finished my sketch he started off for the city, fully impressed with the

notion that he had discovered an emissary from the War Department at

Washington, collecting military data preparatory to an invasion of her

majesty's dominions!

I soon followed him, glad to escape from the burning heat upon the

plains, and took shelter under the lofty trees in the governor's garden,

near the citadel, a delightful public promenade on the west side of _Des

Carrières_ Street. In the garden, near the street, is a fine monument,

consisting of an obelisk and pedestal of granite, erected to the memory

of Wolfe and Montcalm. At the suggestion of Earl Dalhousie, who was

Governor of Canada in 1827, a subscription was opened for the purpose,

and when it reached seven hundred pounds, the earl made up the

deficiency and superintended the erection of the monument. It bears the

names of Wolfe and Montcalm, and a Latin explanatory inscription. *

We left Quebec toward evening for Montreal, August 11, 1848 on our way

up the St. Lawrence to Ontario. A gentle shower crossed our track two

miles distant, leaving a cool breeze upon the waters, and dispelling the

haziness of the atmosphere. Like a thin veil, it hung athwart the

eastern sky, not thick enough to cover the face of the moon that gleamed

dimly through it, yet sufficiently dense to refract and reflect the

solar rays, and exhibit the radiant bow. While admiring the beautiful

phenomenon, I had occasion to administer a quiet rebuke to a young fop,

whose attempts at wit, loud tone, and swaggering manner had attracted

our attention at the dinner-table at Quebec. He was accompanied by an

elderly lady and two young maidens, and on the boat I observed him

contributing largely to the amusement of the latter by asking silly

questions of unsuspecting passengers, and receiving grave and polite

answers, over which they made merry. At length it was my turn to be his

"subject."

"Can you tell me," he said, "what causes that rainbow?" "Do you ask for

information?" I inquired, in return. "Well, yes," he said, a little

confused. "Do you understand the Newtonian

* The following is the inscription: Mortem virtus, commtinem famam

historia, monumentum postcrita dedit. Hanc columnam in virorum

illustrium memoriam Wolfe et Montcalm P. C. Georgius Comes De Dalhousie

in Septentrionalis Americæ partibus ad Britannos pertimentibus summam

rerum adminisirans; opus per multos annos prætermissum, quid duci

egregio convenientius? Auctorifate promorens, exemplo stimulans,

munificentia fovens A.S., MDCCCXXVII., Georgio IV., Britanniarum Rege.

A Fop's Lesson.--Arrival at La Chine.--The Cascades.--Dangerous Voyage.-

-Moore's Boat Song.

206theory of light? the laws of refraction and reflection? and are you

familiar with the science of optics?" I asked, with a serious manner.

"No, not much," he mumbled, with an effort to assume a careless air. "I

perceive, sir, that you are not far enough advanced in knowledge to

understand an explanation if I should give it," I mildly replied, and

left him to his own reflections. Perhaps I was rude in the presence of

that matron and those young girls, but the injunction of high authority,

to "answer a fool according to his folly," did not parley with

politeness. The maidens, half smiling, bit their lips, while the young

man gazed steadfastly from the window of the saloon upon the beautiful

shores we were passing by. They were, indeed beautiful, dotted with

villages, neat white farm-houses, fields of grain, and wide-spreading

woods bathed in the light of the evening sun; and I hope the calm beauty

of the scene, above and below, soothed the disquieted spirit of the

young gazer, and awakened in his bosom aspirations for that wisdom which

leads her willing pupils to perceive

"Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in every thing."

We arrived at Montreal at six in the morning, left it by rail-road at

ten for La Chine, nine miles distant, and at the head of La Chine Rapids

embarked in the steamer British Queen for Ogdensburgh. We were soon at

the foot of the Cascades, or St. Ann's Rapids, near the southwestern

extremity of the Island of Montreal.

The St. Lawrence here falls eighty-seven feet in the distance of seven

miles. Steamboats and other vessels go _down_ the rapids, but are

obliged to ascend through the Beauharnois Canal, which we entered at

about noon. This canal is fifteen miles long, fifty feet wide, and nine

feet deep. The navigation of the rapids is very dangerous, and vessels

are sometimes wrecked upon the submerged rocks. A sloop, loaded with

staves and lumber, was lying in the midst of the foaming rapids, where

it had struck the day before while guided by an unskillful pilot. The

canal voyage was slow, for we passed nine locks before we reached the

waters above Lake St. Louis, an expansion of the river, where the Ottawa

or Utawas comes sweeping around each side of Isle Pero, at its mouth,

and swells the volume of

* These rapids are so called from the circumstance that a village of the

same name is near. This was considered by the Canadian _voyageurs_ the

place of departure when going from Montreal on fur-trading excursions,

as here was the last church upon the island. This fact suggested to

Moore the thoughts expressed in the first verse of his _Canadian Boat

Song _:

"Faintly as tolls the evening chime,

Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time,

Soon as the woods on shore look dim,

We'll sing at St. Ann's our evening hymn.

Row, brothers, row, the stream runs fast,

The rapids are near, and the daylight's past."

* Moore says, in reference to this song, "I wrote these words to an air

which our boatmen sung to us frequently while descending the St.

Lawrence from Kingston to Montreal. Our voyageurs had good voices, and

sung perfectly in tune together. I remember when we had entered, at

sunset, upon one of those beautiful lakes into which the St. Lawrence so

grandly and unexpectedly opens, I have heard this simple air with a

pleasure which the finest compositions of the first masters have never

given me."

Junction of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence.--Cedars Rapids.--Garrison there

in 1776.--Conduct of Bedell and Butterfield.

207the St. Lawrence with its turbid flood. * We were most of the time in

full view of the river, and had a fine opportunity to observe the

people, dwellings, and agricultural operations along ihe line of the

canal.

We passed the Cedars Rapids, twenty-four miles from La Chine, at about

three o'clock. These rapids vary in intricacy, depth, and rapidity of

current, and are nine miles long, running at the rate of nine to twelve

miles an hour. In some places the rocks are covered with only a few feet

of water, and the descent is at all times rather perilous. Small

islands, covered with trees and shrubbery, accelerate the speed of the

waters. These rapids derive their name from the village of Cedars, on

the north side of the St. Lawrence, in Vaudreuil district. The sketch

was made from the steam-boat, in the canal, while stopping for wood and

water at St. Timothy.

The Cedars occupy quite a conspicuous place in the annals of the

Northern campaign of 1775--76. Three hundred and ninety Americans, under

Colonel Bedell, of the New Hampshire line, occupied a small fortress

there in the spring of 1776. Early in May, Captain Foster, of the

British army, with a detachment of forty regulars, one hundred

Canadians, and five hundred Indians, under the celebrated Brant, or

Thayendanegea, descended from the British station at the mouth of the

Oswegatchie (now Ogdensburgh), and approached the fort. Bedell, under

pretense of going to Montreal for re-enforcements, left the garrison in

command of Major Butterfield, an officer quite as void of courage as his

superior. Both have been branded by cotemporary writers as cowards, and

their conduct on this occasion confirms the opinion. ** Butterfield did

not even make a fair show of resistance, but quietly

* For several miles below the confluence of the two rivers the muddy

water of the Ottawa and the clear stream of the St. Lawrence are seen

contending for the mastery. The line of derbarkation may be traced by

the color even below the St. Ann's Rapids.

** Washington, writing to General Sehuyler under date of June 10th,

1776, said, "If the accounts of Colonel Bedell and Major Butterfield's

conduct be true, they have certainly acted a part deserving the most

exemplary notice. I hope you will take proper measures, and have good

courts appointed to bring them, and every other officer that has been or

shall be guilty of misconduct, to trial, that they may be punished

according to their offenses. Our misfortunes at the Cedars were

occasioned, as it is said, entirely by their base and cowardly behavior,

and can not be ascribed to any other cause." A late writer for one of

our weekly papers, in giving a "true account of the Northern campaign,"

is particularly laudatory of the bravery of Colonel Bedell at St. John's

and Chambly. He seems to regard all the official and other records of

the events there as quite erroneous, and "sets the matter right" by

quoting a letter written by Bedell to the Committee of Safety of New

Hampshire. He calls the style of the letter "Caesarean," and in the free

use of the pronoun I there is certainly a similarity to Caesar's _Veni,

Vidi, Vici_. Taking the colonel's letter as verity, we must suppose

that, in the capture of Forts Chambly and St. John's, Montgomery and all

other officers were mere puppets in his hands. In a postscript he says,

"This moment I have got possession of St. John's; and the post being

obliged to set off, have not time to copy the articles of capitulation;

and to-morrow shall march for Montreal, leaving a detachment to keep the

fort." Other portions of his letter plainly indicate that he wished to

impress those who sent him to the field with the idea that he was the

master-spirit there. I should not have noticed this matter so minutely

but for the disposition of a class of writers at present to make

prominent the exploits of subalterns, upon ex-parte evidence, by hiding

the brilliant deeds of those to whom compatriots and cotemporary

historians have awarded the highest meed of praise. It is an easy, and

the only, way to make a sapling conspicuous, to fell the noble trees

that surround and overshadow it.

Massacre of Sherburne's Corps.--Attempt of Arnold to release the

Prisoners.--Menaces of the Indians.--Letter from Sherburne

May 15, 1775 surrendered208 the fort and garrison as soon as Foster

arrived. Meanwhile, Major Henry Sherburne was sent by Arnold from

Montreal, with one hundred and forty men, to re-enforce the, garrison,

but Bedell, "valuing safety more than fidelity and honor," * refused to

accompany him. Sherburne arrived upon the shore of Lake St. Louis on the

day of the surrender, and, having crossed the day after, left forty men

as guards, and, with one hundred, proceeded toward the fort, unconscious

of the disgraceful conduct of Butterfield. About five in the evening the

whole force of Foster's Canadians and Indians burst from an ambuscade

and fell upon the republicans. They made a brave defense for nearly an

hour and a half, when the Indians, in number greatly superior, formed a

girdle around them, and at a given signal rushed upon the devoted little

band and disarmed them. Infuriated by the obstinate resistance of the

Americans, the Indians butchered about twenty of them with knives and

tomahawks, and, stripping the remainder almost naked, drove them in

triumph to the fort. ** The loss of the Americans, in the action and by

massacre, was fifty-eight; the enemy lost twenty-two, among whom was a

brave of the Senecas.

As soon as Arnold heard of the disasters at the Cedars, he marched with

about eight hundred men against the enemy, then at Vaudreuil, for the

two-fold purpose of chastising May, 1776 them and releasing the American

prisoners. He arrived at St. Ann's on the afternoon of the 20th, at

which time the bateaux of the enemy were distinctly seen taking the

American prisoners from an island three miles distant, toward the main

land on the south side of the St. Lawrence. About the same time a party

of Caughnawaga Indians, *** whom Arnold had sent to the hostile savages

in the morning, demanding a surrender of the prisoners, and threatening

them with extermination if any more murders of Americans should be

perpetrated, returned with an answer of defiance. The Indians sent back

word to Arnold that they were too numerous to fear him, and that if he

should attempt to cross the river and land, for the purpose of rescuing

the Americans, every prisoner should be immediately put to death.

Unmindful of this threat, Arnold filled his boats with men, and

proceeded to the island which the enemy had just left. Five Americans,

naked and almost famished, were there, and informed him that all the

other prisoners, except two (who, being sick, were butchered), had been

taken to _Quinze Chiens_, four miles below. Arnold, with his flotilla,

proceeded thither. The enemy opened an ineffectual fire upon them, but

as night May 26, 1776 was closing in, and his men were fatigued, the

general returned to St. Ann's and called a council of war. He there

received a flag from the British commander, accompanied by a letter from

Major Sherburne, giving him the assurances that if he persisted in his

design of attacking him, it would be entirely out of his power to

restrain his savages from disencumbering themselves of the prisoners, by

putting them to death. Major Sherburne confirmed the information that a

massacre had already been agreed upon. Foster also demanded of Arnold an

agreement, on his part, to a proposed cartel which Sherburne and the

other officers had been compelled to sign. This agreement covenanted for

the delivery of

* Gordon, ii., 65.

** Stone, in his Life of Brant, asserts that that chief used his best

endeavors to restrain the fury of the In dians after the surrender of

Sherburne. Captain M'Kinstry (late Colonel M'Kinstry, of Livingston's

Manor, Columbia county) commanded the company, on that occasion, which

fought most obstinately with the In dians. On that account the savages

had determined to put him to death by the torture, and had made

preparations for the horrid rite. Brant interposed, and, in connection

with some humane English officers, made up a purse and purchased an ox,

which the Indians roasted for their carousal instead of the prisoner.

Brant and M'Kinstry became personal friends, and the chief often visited

the latter at the manor after the war.--_Life of Brant,_ i., 155.

*** The Caughnawagas called themselves the Seven Nations of Canada. Many

of them were with the Mohawks and others of the Six Nations of New York

in the battle of the Cedars, but those upon the Island of Montreal were

friendly to the republicans. A remnant of the tribe now inhabit a

village called Caughnawaga, about twelve miles from Montreal, and

profess Christianity. They have a handsome church, are industrious,

temperate, and orderly, and, unlike others of the Indian tribes,

increase rather than diminish in population. I saw several of them in

Montreal selling their ingenious birch bark and bead work. They are

quite light, having doubtless a liberal tincture of French blood. Their

language is a mixture of Iroquois and French.

Dishonorable Conduct of a British Commander.--Washington's Opinion.--

Final Adjustment--Cairn on the St. Lawrence

209an equal number of British soldiers in exchange for the Americans,

with the condition that the latter should immediately return to their

homes, and not again take up arms. Four American captains were to go to

Quebec as hostages till the exchange should be effected. Arnold was

strongly averse to making such an agreement, but the dictates of

humanity and the peculiar circumstances of the case caused him to yield

to the terms, except the conditions that the Americans should not again

take up arms, and that they should be pledged not to give any

information, by words, writings, or signs, prejudicial to his majesty's

service. Foster waived these points, and the convention was signed. *

The part performed by Foster in coercing the American officers into

compliance with his demands, by suspending the bloody hatchet of the

Indians over their heads, was thought disgraceful, and Congress refused

to ratify the agreement, except upon such terms as the British

government would never assent to. Although Washington abhorred the act,

he considered the convention binding; and General Howe complained of the

bad faith of Congress. The British government, however, indicated its

appreciation of the matter by letting the waters of oblivion flow

quietly over the whole transaction. The prisoners were finally released

by General Carleton, and the hostages at Quebec were sent home on

parole.

Arnold, with his detachment, returned to Montreal, where, a few days

afterward, a Committee of Congress, consisting of Franklin, Chase, and

Carroll, arrived, to inquire into the state of affairs. Their mission

was fruitless, for all hope of maintaining a foothold in Canada was

abandoned by the military leaders, and, as previously noted, the

Americans soon afterward withdrew entirely from the province.

We entered the lake near Grand Island, above Cedars Rapids, and, passing

the Rapids of _Coteau du Lac_, six miles above the latter, landed at a

pretty little village of the same name. Here the St. Lawrence expands

into one of those broad lakes which mark its course from Ontario to the

gulf. It is called Lake St. Francis, and is forty miles long, and in

some places twelve or thirteen broad. Beautiful islands, covered with

timber and luxuriant shrubbery, are scattered over its bosom. We passed

many of those floating islands--extensive rafts of lumber--which

indicate a chief feature in the commerce of that noble river. On one of

the small islands on the northern shore, opposite the district of

Glengary, is a huge "cairn," sixty feet high, the pinnacle of which is

an iron cannon, from whose muzzle a flag-staff is projected. A spiral

path-way leads from base to summit, sufficiently wide for a person to

pass up and down by it in safety.

It is built of loose stones, without mortar or cement.

The people of the neighboring parish of Glengary (who are chiefly

Scotch), under the direction of Colonel Carmichael, reared it, in

general testimony of their loyalty during the Canadian rebellion so

called, of 1837--8, and in especial honor of Sir John Colborne (now Lord

Seaton), who was the commander-in-chief of the British forces in Canada

at that time. In imitation of the manner in which tradition asserts that

the ancient cairns were built, each person in the district, man, woman,

and child, capable of lifting a stone, went to the island and added one

to the pile. We passed St. Cairn **

* Marshall, Gordon, Allen, Sparks.

** This is probably the only structure of the kind on the American

continent. Cairn is a word of Celtic origin, used to denote the conical

piles of stones frequently found upon the hills of Britain. These piles

are supposed by some to have been erected as memorials of some local

event, while others assign to them a sepulchral character. Some are

supposed to be sacrificial, like the carnedd of the Welsh. They all have

a similar appearance wherever found, being composed of loose stones

piled in a conical form.

St Regis and its ancient Church.--Passage of Rapids.--Wind-mill Point

and Ogdensburgh.--Loyalty of a British Veteran

210Regis, * the first village upon the St. Lawrence within the territory

of the United States, about sunset, and before the twilight had entirely

faded we were again out of the river and in the Cornwall Canal, on the

north side of the St. Lawrence, to avoid the swift rapids, called the

_Long Sault,_ nearly two miles in extent. We passed the _Du Platte_

Rapids in the night, and at dawn entered the _Gallopes or Galoose_

Rapids, nine miles below Ogdensburgh. These are a mile and a half long,

and present a formidable obstacle to the upward passage of vessels. The

channel is exceedingly narrow, and very near the southern shore. With

three men at the tiller-wheel, and a full head of steam, our goodly

"Queen" came up to the most rapid and intricate part, where, for nearly

ten minutes, it was difficult to determine whether an inch of progress

was made, and we were more than half an hour in making the mile and a

half. The usual time occupied in going down from Ogdensburgh to Montreal

by steam-boat is nine hours. On account of rapids and currents, and the

canal navigation, the voyage up occupies about seventeen hours.

We caught the first rays of the morning sun reflected from the spires at

Prescott and Ogdensburgh, flourishing villages, which flank the St.

Lawrence at the head of all its numerous rapids. Wind-mill Point, on the

Canada side, is close by, and as we passed the famous cape we were

edified with a running commentary on the beneficence of monarchy and the

horrors of republicanism, from an old officer of a British corps of

marine engineers, who, with his daughter, was a passenger from Montreal.

He had amused me for an hour the evening previous, after passing St.

Regis, by a relation of his personal adventures in that vicinity during

our last war with Great Britain. He then commanded a gun-boat with

eighty men; and he boasted, with much warmth and satisfaction, of the

terrible manner in which he galled the Yankees with "grape and

cannister" at the time of the engagements at Chrysler's Farm,

Williamsburgh, and near St. Regis. He was bubbling over with loyalty,

and became rabid at the mere mention of _annexation_. His head was white

with the bleaching of threescore and ten years. Great experience and

extensive practical knowledge, with frankness and volubility in

conversation, made him a most agreeable companion, and we much regretted

parting with him and his amiable daughter at Kingston.

I called Wind-mill Point a "famous cape." Its notoriety is very

youthful, yet its history is one of those epitomes of progress worth

noticing, which make up the movements of the nations. It was here that

the Canada patriots (so called) in 1837 took post with a view of

attacking Fort Wellington, a small fortification between the point and

Prescott. There

* St. Regis is an old Indian village, and contains a small Roman

Catholic Church, built about the year 1700. It is said that the priest

informed the Indians that a bell was highly important to their worship,

and they were ordered to collect furs sufficient to purchase one. They

obeyed, and the money was sent to France for the purpose. The French and

English were then at war. The bell was shipped, but the vessel that

conveyed it fell into the hands of the English, and was taken into

Salem, in the fall of 1703. The bell was purchased for a small church at

Deerfield, on the Connecticut River, the pastor of which was the Rev.

Mr. Williams.

The priest of St. Regis heard of the destination of his bell, and, as

the Governor of Canada was about to send an expedition, under Major

Rouville, against the colonies of New England, he exhorted the Indians

to accompany him and get possession of it. Rouville, with 200 French and

142 Indians, arrived near Deerfield in the evening of the 29th of

February, 1704. During the night they attacked the unsuspecting

villagers, killed 47, and made 112 prisoners. The latter, among whom

were the pastor and a part of his family, were taken to Canada. The only

house left standing was that of Mr. Williams, which the assailants

themselves occupied in securing their prisoners. It is still standing,

near the center of the village, and is represented in the annexed cut.

The bell was conveyed in triumph through the forest to Lake Champlain,

to the spot where Burlington now stands, and there they buried it with

the benedictions of Father Nicolas, the priest of St. Regis, who

accompanied them. Thus far they had carried it, by means of timber, upon

their shoulders. They hastened home, and returned in early spring with

oxen and sled to convey the sacred bell, now doubly hallowed in their

minds, to its destination.

The Indians of the village had never heard the sound of a bell, and

powerful was the impression upon their minds when its deep tones, louder

and louder, broke the silence of the forest as it approached their

village at evening, suspended upon a cross piece of timber, and rung

continually by the delighted carriers. It was hung in the steeple, and

there it remains. The material incidents of this narrative doubtless

occurred, but later investigations show that the bell was taken to a

church at Caughnawaga, near Montreal, instead of St. Regis.--See Hough's

_Hist, of St. Lawrence and Franklin Counties_, p 114.

The "Patriots" of 1837.--Preparations for a Battle.--Fort Wellington.--

Battle at Windmill Point.--Defeat of the "Patriots."

211were several stone buildings and a strong stone wind-mill on the

point. These were taken possession of by the insurgents toward noon on

the 12th of November, 1838. They numbered about two hundred, many of

them being from our frontier towns. They came in two schooners, which

were towed down the St. Lawrence by the steamer United States, the

captain (Van Cleve) supposing them to be, as represented by a passenger,

laden with merchandise. As soon as he discovered the character of the

vessels, he resolved to go no further, and stopped at Morristown, ten

miles above Ogdensburgh. The schooners' lines were cast, and the next

morning, filled with armed men, they were at anchor between Ogdensburgh

and Prescott. The insurgents landed at Wind-mill Point, and commenced

fortifying their position. Recruits from our shores swelled their ranks

for the first twelve hours after their landing. Ogdensburgh and Prescott

were in great commotion, and before night not a living being was to be

seen in the latter place, for there would evidently be the battle-field.

Preparations were immediately made at Fort Wellington to dislodge the

patriots, and a British armed steam-boat, lying at Prescott, prepared to

co-operate with the garrison. During the evening the steam-boat

Telegraph arrived, having on board Colonel Worth, of the United States

army, and two companies of troops, with a marshal, to maintain

neutrality. Early next morning two armed British steamers arrived with

troops, and an assault was commenced upon the patriots by throwing bombs

upon the houses and the mill. The field pieces of their battery on shore

returned the fire, and, after a fight of an hour, the British were

driven back into the fort, with the loss of about one hundred men

killed, and many wounded. Many of the patriots had fled in the morning,

and when the action commenced there were only a hundred and twenty-eight

left on the point, while the government troops amounted to more than six

hundred. The insurgents lost five men killed and thirteen wounded. The

next day they sent out a flag, but the bearer was shot. On the 15th the

British received a re-enforcement of four hundred regulars, with cannon

and gun-boats. The patriots were also re-enforced, and numbered more

than two hundred. The government troops, with volunteers from Kingston,

in all about two thousand men, surrounded the patriots by land and

water, and kept up a continual cannonading until the evening of the

16th, when the latter surrendered. A white flag was displayed from the

mill, and three or four others were sent out by the patriots, but the

bearers were shot down. ** Indeed, there seemed to be but little

disposition on the part of the conquerors to give quarter. The dwellings

in the vicinity of the wind-mill were burned, and it is asserted that a

number of the patriots were consumed in one of them, which stood upon

the beach. Other buildings have been burned since, and their blackened

ruins, with the wind-mill, battered by cannon-balls, stand there now,

gloomy mementoes of an abortive attempt to sever the chains of colonial

vassalage.

According to Theller, thirty-six patriots were killed, two escaped, and

ninety were made prisoners. The British lost a hundred and fifty men and

twenty officers killed, among whom was Captain Drummond. The commander

of the insurgents was a young Pole, only thirty-one years of age, named

Von Schoultz, who, with ten others, was hung, and a large portion of the

remainder of the prisoners was banished to Van Diemen's Land.

At Ogdensburgh we left the British Queen, and went on board the Lady of

the Lake, bound for Oswego. Having an hour to pass before her departure,

we employed it in a pleas-

* This view was sketched from the steam-boat, when a little below the

wind-mill, looking west-northwest. The mill is a strong stone structure,

and answered a very good purpose for a fort or block-house. Its narrow

windows were used by the patriots as loop-holes for their muskets during

the action.

** See "Theller's Canada in 1837-8."

The Oswegatchie.--Old French Fort at Ogdeneburgh.--Putnam's Feats.--

Testimony of History.

212ant ramble through the town and along the banks of the dark

Oswegatchie. It was Sabbath morning, and all was quiet in that pleasant

village. We traversed the high banks of the stream, along its majestic

course from the bridge to the dam, about half a mile. The declivity of

the bank is studded with oaks, sycamores, and pines, and lofty trees

shade the pleasant pathway the whole distance, making it a delightful

promenade either at hot noon or in the evening twilight. The water is of

an amber color when not turbid, and from this one of its chief

tributaries, the Black Lake, derives its name.

Ogdensburgh is near the site of the old French fort generally known as

_Fort Oswegatchie_, but on their maps, as early as 1740, it is called

_Fort Presentation_, and sometimes _La Gallette_. This fort was

garrisoned by the French during a part of the Seven Years' War, but was

taken by the English in 1760, while they were descending the St.

Lawrence to attack Montreal. It is related that Putnam, then a

lieutenant colonel, performed one of his daring and original feats here,

in the attack upon the fort and upon the two armed vessels that lay at

the mouth of the Oswegatchie R-iver. Humphreys says that he undertook,

with one thousand men in fifty bateaux, to capture the vessels by

boarding. With beetle and wedges, he proceeded to secure the rudders, to

disable the vessels and prevent them from bringing their broadsides to

bear, and then to make a furious attack upon and board them. As they

approached, the crew of one of the vessels, panic-struck, forced the

commander to surrender, and the other vessel was run ashore. The fort

was the next object of solicitude. With the permission of Amherst,

Putnam caused a number of boats to be prepared with musket-proof

fascines * along the sides, so as to form a shelter from the fire of the

enemy. The fort was defended by an _abatis_ overhanging the water; and,

to overcome such a formidable obstacle, he caused a broad plank, twenty

feet in length, to be attached to the bow of each boat, so that it might

be raised and lowered at pleasure. This was to form a bridge over the

projecting abatis, on which the besiegers might pass to the attack on

the fort. As soon as the boats, thus strangely equipped, began to move

toward the fort, the alarmed garrison, unused to such martial enginery,

surrendered without firing a shot.

These tales, like many others of which Putnam is the reputed hero,

partake somewhat of the marvelous, and in this instance rather conflict

with cotemporary history as well as probability. Colonel Mante, who was

intimate with Rogers and Putnam, says that one of the vessels was

grounded before the attack, and that an action of _four hours_ occurred

with the other. He also says that "the general ordered the vessels [of

the English] to fall down the stream, post themselves as close to the

fort as possible, and man their tops well, in order to fire upon the

enemy, and prevent their making use of their guns, while the grenadiers

rowed in with their broadswords and tomahawks, fascines and scaling-

ladders, under cover of the light infantry, who were to fire into the

embrasures." ** He says nothing about Putnam's project or the "planks."

Dr. Trumbull says, "The general, receiving intelligence that one of the

enemy's vessels was aground and disabled, and that another lay off La

Gallette, determined, with the utmost dispatch, to go down the river and

attack Oswegatchie and Isle Royal. On the 17th of August the row-galleys

fell in with the French sloop commanded by M. de la Broquirie, who,

after a smart engagement, surrendered to the English galleys.... By the

23d two batteries were opened against the fort, and it was cannonaded by

them in concert with the row-galleys in the river. M. Ponchaut, the

commander, beat a parley, and surrendered the fort on terms of

capitulation." *** From personal observation of the ground, I am

inclined to think that a plank twenty feet long could hardly have

_reached the abatis_ from the water, even in a perpendicular position,

unless the altitude of the shores was less then than now. Very possibly

the ingenious idea of wedging up the rudders of the vessels and of

scaling the outworks of the fort was conceived by the fertile

* Fascines, from the Latin fascina, fagot, is a term used in

fortifications to denote bundles of fagots, twigs, or branches of trees,

which, being mixed with earth, are used for filling up ditches, forming

parapets, &c.

** History of the Late War in North America, &c., by Thomas Mante, major

of a brigade in the campaign of 1764; London, 1772.

*** History of Connecticut from 1630 to 1764, by Benjamin Trumbull, D.D.

Capture of Fort Oswegatchie by the English.--Attacks upon Ogdensburgh by

the British in 1813-13.

213mind of Putnam, but it is not one of the strong points upon which the

reputation of the general for skill and bravery rests, for it must have

been a failure if attempted. One thing is certain--Fort Oswegatchie fell

into the hands of the English at that time, after a pretty warm

engagement. Lieutenant-colonel Massey, with the grenadiers, took

possession of the fort, the garrison were sent to New York, and the post

was named by Amherst Fort William Augustus.

Ogdensburgh was a place of considerable importance, in a military point

of view, during our war with England, begun in 1812. Lying directly

opposite a Canadian village (Prescott) and a military post, it was among

the earliest of the points of attack from Canada. As early as the 2d of

October, 1812, it was assaulted by the enemy. General Jacob Brown, with

four hundred Americans, commanded there in person. On Sunday, the 4th,

the British, one thousand in number, in forty boats, approached to storm

the town, but, after a sharp engagement, they were repulsed. Another

attack was planned, and in February following it was carried into

effect. On the 21st of that month, the British, twelve hundred strong,

attacked it in two columns, and, after an hour of hard fighting, drove

Captain Forsyth and his troops out of the place as far as Black Lake,

and took possession of the village. The Americans lost twenty men in

killed and wounded, the British about sixty.

We can not stay longer upon the beautiful banks of the Oswegatchie, for

the signal-bell for departure is ringing merrily upon the Lady of the

Lake.

Departure from Ogdensburgh.--The St. Lawrence and the Thousand Islands.-

-Kingston.

214

CHAPTER X.

August 13, 1848

"Billows! there's not a wave! the waters spread

One broad, unbroken mirror; all around

Is hush'd to silence--silence so profound

That a bird's carol, or an arrow sped

Into the distance, would, like 'larum-bell,

Jar the deep stillness and dissolve the spell."

Park Benjamin.

CALM, sweetly consonant with ideas of Sabbath rest, was upon the main,

the islands, and the river, and all the day long not a breath of air

rippled the silent-flowing but mighty St. Lawrence. We passed the

morning in alternately viewing the ever-changing scene as our vessel

sped toward Ontario, and in perusing Burke's "Essay on the Sublime and

Beautiful." I never read that charming production with so much pleasure

as then, for illustrative examples were on every side. And when, toward

noon, our course was among the Thousand Islands, the propriety of his

citation of the stars as an example, by their number and confusion, of

the cause of the idea of sublimity was forcibly illustrated. "The

apparent disorder," he says, "augments the grandeur, for the appearance

of care is highly contrary to our idea of magnificence." So with these

islands. They fill the St. Lawrence through nearly sixty miles of its

course, commencing fifteen miles below Kingston, and vary in size from a

few yards to eighteen miles in length. Some are mere syenite rocks,

bearing sufficient alluvium to produce cedar, spruce, and pine shrubs,

which seldom grow to the dignity of a tree; while others were

beautifully fringed with luxuriant grass and shaded by lofty trees. A

few of the larger are inhabited and cultivated. They are twelve hundred

and twenty-seven in number. Viewed separately, they present nothing

remarkable; but scattered, as they are, so profusely and in such

disorder over the bosom of the river, their features constantly changing

as we made our rapid way among them, an idea of magnificence and

sublimity involuntarily possessed the mind, and wooed our attention from

the tuition of books to that of nature.

We reached Kingston, Upper Canada, at about four o'clock, where we

remained until nearly sunset. This is a large and flourishing town, at

the lower end of Lake Ontario, and its commercial position is valuable

and important. It stands near the site of old Fort Frontenac, and is now

a British military post. It seems strongly fortified, and completely

commands, by its military works, the entrance of the St. Lawrence from

Ontario. A strong bomb-proof round tower stands upon Cedar Island, just

below the city. Similar structures guard the portals of Fort Henry, the

open space between the city and the fort, and one is a huge sentinel in

the harbor, directly in front of the magnificent market-house that

fronts upon the quay. They are mounted with cannon, and the hollow

buttresses are pierced for musketry. A flourishing Indian settlement,

called _Candaragui_, was upon the site of Kingston when first discovered

by the French, and traces of the builder's art, evidently older than the

fortifications of the whites, have been discovered. I was informed by a

resident at Kingston, whom I met at Quebec, that while excavating to

form a terrace near his residence, a few months previous, his workmen

Fort Frontenac.--Its Capture by Colonel Bradstreet.--His Life.--

Bradstreet's Officers.--Lake Ontario.--Oswego.

215struck the stump of a tree three feet in diameter, and, upon removing

it, a stone wall, regularly laid, was found beneath it.

This spot, known as Fort Frontenac, was a place of much importance

during the intercolonial wars of the last century. It was first a fur

trading and missionary station of the Quebec colony. In 1673, Count

Louis Frontenac, governor of Canada, erected a fort there and gave it

his own name, and for eighty years it was one of the strongest military

posts in America. It was from this point that Father Marquette (under

the patronage of Frontenac) and other missionaries took their final

departure for explorations in the Far West, and here provisions and

stores were kept to supply other military and religious establishments

upon the great lakes. Fort Frontenac remained in possession of the

French until 1758, when Colonel Bradstreet, * with a detachment of men,

chiefly provincials of New York and New England, captured it. After the

disastrous defeat of Abercrombie at Ticonderoga, Colonel Bradstreet

solicited and obtained permission to undertake that expedition. He

traversed the wilderness to Oswego, where he embarked in three vessels

already prepared for him, descended the lake, and suddenly appeared

before Frontenac. The weak garrison, overwhelmed by numbers, surrendered

without resistance. The commander of the fort was exchanged for Colonel

Peter Schuyler, then a prisoner in Canada.

Leaving a small garrison to keep the post, Bradstreet and his troops

returned and aided in building Fort Stanwix, upon the Mohawk, at the

portage between that river and Wood Creek, a tributary of Oneida Lake.

Among his officers were, Colonel Charles Clinton, of Ulster county, New

York; Major Nathaniel Woodhull, who fell on Long Island in 1776, and

Goosen Van Schaick, of Albany, and Lieutenant Marinus Willett, of New

York, who were afterward colonels in the New York Revolutionary line. **

We did not land at Kingston, for the tarrying time of the boat was

uncertain. It was nearly sunset when we left, and we passed the southern

extremity of Gage Island just in time to see its last rays sparkling

upon the tree-tops on Amherst Island, in the far distance. Ontario, like

the St. Lawrence, was unruffled, and the evening voyage between Kingston

and Sackett's Harbor was exceedingly pleasant, rendered so chiefly by a

cool breeze, cushioned seats, agreeable company, and the anticipations

of meeting dear friends at Oswego the next morning. We landed there a

little after daybreak, and tarried three days before starting for the

"Niagara frontier."

Oswego is beautifully situated upon Lake Ontario, on each side of the

Chouegesen or Oswego River, a large and rapid stream, through which flow

the waters of eight considerable lakes in the interior of New York--the

Canandagua, Crooked, Seneca, Cayuga, Owasoo, Skaneateles, Onondaga, and

Oneida, with their numerous little tributaries--and drains a surface of

four thousand five hundred square miles. Beautifully significant are the

Indian names of Oswego and Ontario--_rapid water and pretty lake_--for

the river comes foaming

* John Bradstreet was a native of England. He was Lieutenant-governor of

St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1746, and ten years afterward accompanied

the expeditions against the French on the frontier of New York. In 1756

he was commissary general, and engaged in keeping up a communication

between Albany and Oswego. He had charge of boats that carried

provisions, and so much were they annoyed by the In dians in the French

service, while passing down the Onondaga or Oswego River, that it

required a great deal of skill and bravery to defend them. A small

stockade fort near the site of the present village of Rome was cut off

by the enemy, and they were obliged to depend upon their own power, in

the open forest, for protection. He had a severe engagement near the

margin of Oneida Lake, with a large war party of savages, but gained a

victory, leaving nearly two hundred of the enemy dead upon the field.

His own loss was about thirty. His capture of Fort Frontenac, in 1758,

put into the possession of the English the fort, nine armed vessels,

forty pieces of cannon, a vast quantity of provisions and stores, and

one hundred and ten prisoners. In the summer of 1764 he was employed

against the Indians on the borders of Ontario, and at Presque Isle he

compelled the Delawares, Shawnees, and other tribes to agree to terms of

peace. He was appointed major general in 1772, and died at New York,

October 21st, 1774.

** The captains of the New York troops engaged in this expedition were,

Jonathan Ogden, of West Chester; Peter Dubois, of New York; Samuel

Bladgely and William Humphrey, of Dutchess; Daniel Wright and Richard

Howlet, of Queens; Thomas Arrowsmith, of Richmond; Ebenezer Seely, of

Ulster; and Peter Yates and Goosen Van Schaick, of Albany

Oswego.--Expedition of Frontenac.--Fort built by Governor Burnet.-- Fort

Niagara

216down broad rapids several miles before it expands into the harbor and

mingles its flood with the blue waters of Ontario. Its hydraulic power,

its commercial position relative to Canada and the great West of our own

dominion, and the healthfulness of its climate, mark out Oswego for a

busy and populous city. These advantages of locality were early

perceived by the English, and were probably not entirely overlooked by

the French. But military occupation, for the purpose of spreading wide

the overshadowing wings of empire, through the two-fold influences of

religion and traffic, seemed to be the chief design of the French in

planting small colonies at commanding points.

As early as July, 1696, Frontenac, governor of Canada, fitted out an

expedition to attack the Five Nations in New York, * and Oswego was made

his place of rendezvous. There he built a small stockade fort on the

west side of the river, and then proceeded with fifty men into the

interior as far as the Onondaga Valley. The Indians fled before him, but

upon the shore of Onondaga Lake, near the present Salina, they left

their emblem of defiance--two bundles of rushes suspended from a branch.

The governor returned to Oswego, and sailed for Fort Frontenac, without

accomplishing any good for himself or harm to the Indians, except

burning their dwellings when they fled from them. Three years

previously, Frontenac, by another route, fell upon the Indians on the

Mohawk, near Schenectady, slew many, and took about three hundred

prisoners.

These expeditions seemed to be a part of the grand scheme of the French

to confine the English, now pushing into the wilderness in all

directions, to the Atlantic sea-board; but their forts on the lakes and

upon the Ohio, and their extensive alliances with Indian tribes, could

not repress the spirit of adventure and love of gain which marked their

southern neighbors. The great confederacy of the Five Nations of New

York remained for a long time the fast friends and allies of the

English, none but the Caughnawagas, as the French Jesuits termed their

converts of the confederacy, lifting the hatchet against them. Protected

by these friendly savages, trading posts were founded, and these in turn

became military establishments. In 1722, Governor Burnet, of New York

(son of the celebrated English bishop of that name), established a

trading house at Oswego. His object seemed to be political rather than

commercial, for he desired to gain a foothold there, and thus, in a

measure, command Lake Ontario. He had been advised by the Board of

Trade, after the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, "to extend with caution the

English settlements as far as possible, as there was no probability of

obtaining an arrangement of general boundaries." Acting under this

advice and the promptings of his own clear judgment, he planted the

English standard, for the first time, upon the great lakes, and, in

spite of the remonstrances of the French and the mur-murings of the

Oneidas and Senecas (who disliked to see fortresses rising in their

neighborhood), he built and armed, at his own expense, a small fort at

Oswego in 1727. The French, in the mean while, had strongly fortified

their trading post at the mouth of the Niagara River, and thus

outflanked the English so far as the lake was concerned. Beauharnois,

the governor of Canada, ordered Burnet to desist. Burnet defied, the

Frenchman threatened, but, after blustering for a while, the latter, as

a countervailing measure, took possession of Crown Point and built Fort

St. Frederic there. From that time until 1755, the English had

undisturbed possession of Burnet's fort, and kept it garrisoned by a

lieutenant and twenty-five men.

I am indebted to E. W. Clarke, Esq., of Oswego, for much local

information concerning that city and neighborhood. He kindly permitted

me to use the manuscript of a lecture delivered by him before a literary

society there, and from it I gleaned a description of the trading-house

and fort erected by Governor Burnet. It was situated on the west side of

the river, directly on the bank of the lake, and forty feet above the

water. The bank, composed of rock and hard-pan, was almost

perpendicular. The building was of stone, and about ninety feet square.

The eastern end was circular. It was provided with port-holes and a

* The name of the Confederation of the Five Nations was changed to that

of Six Nations when it was joined by the Tuscaroras of Carolina in 1714.

Description of Burnet's Fort.--Erection of other Fortifications.-- Fort

Ontario.--Shirley's Expedition against Niagara.

217 deep well. The ascent to it from the south was a flight of stone

steps (see engraving), the remains of which have been visible within a

few years.

The earth embankments of the fort, with its ditch and palisades, were

about two hundred feet west of the building, upon' higher ground, and

traces of these might be seen until the late growth of the city

obliterated them. The bluff on which the trading-house and fort rested

has been leveled in filling in the basin, for the construction of

wharves.

While Braddock was making his fatal march against Fort Duquesne, at the

junction of the Ohio and Monongahela, in 1755, Governor Shirley, of

Massachusetts, with a force of about one thousand five hundred men,

composed of provincials and Indians, was on the march from Albany to

Oswego, for the purpose of making attacks simultaneously upon Niagara

and Frontenac.

His march through the wilderness was perilous and fatiguing, and when he

arrived at Oswego in August, his troops were reduced by sickness, and

dispirited by the intelligence of Braddock's defeat. But Shirley, who

succeeded Braddock in the chief command, was not disheartened. He

strengthened Oswego by erecting two other forts; one westward of old

Fort Oswego, called New Fort, one hundred and seventy feet square, with

bastions and a rampart of earth and stones; and another on the opposite

side of the basin, four hundred and seventy yards distant from the old

fort. The east fortification, called Fort Ontario, was built of logs

from twenty to thirty inches in diameter. It was eight hundred feet in

circumference, and its outer walls were fourteen feet high. Around it

was a ditch fourteen feet wide and ten deep, and within were barracks

for three hundred men. It was intended to mount sixteen pieces of

cannon. This fort was on a commanding site, the perpendicular bank being

higher than that upon the west side. **

Shirley built vessels and made other great preparations at Oswego to

proceed against Niagara. He constructed and equipped a sloop and

schooner of sixty tons each, two row-galleys of twenty tons each, and

eight whale-boats, each capable of carrying sixteen men. His views were

promptly seconded by the New York Assembly. That body had already voted

eight thousand pounds toward the enlistment of two thousand men in

Connecticut, and raised four hundred men of their own in addition to

their eight hundred then in the field. Shirley was also directed to

complete the forts, and prepare for building one or more vessels of a

large class, to mount ten six pounders besides swivels, two more row-

galleys, and one hundred whale-boats. But heavy rains delayed his

embarkation so long, that winter approached, and he abandoned the

expedition against Niagara. He left seven hundred men in garrison at

Oswego, and returned to Albany, where the remainder of his troops were

disbanded. Additional fortifications, to complete the works, were made

to the fort on the west side of the river, and stronger outworks were

added to Fort Ontario.

* This view is looking north toward the lake. It is a reduced copy of

the frontispiece to Smith's History of New York, first edition, London,

1757, and represents the encampment of Shirley there at that time.

** Smith's History of New York; Clarke's MS.

*** There are but few traces left of old Fort Oswego. The light-house

that stood upon the bluff between the old fort and the present Fort

Ontario, is removed, and another substantial one is erected upon the

left pier, in front of the harbor. The city, on the east, is now fast

crowding upon the ravelins of the old Fort.

Remains of the "New Fort."--Shirley's Preparations at Albany.--

Montcalm's Approach to Oswego.--Attack on the Works.

1756. 218The remains of the ramparts and ditches of the New Fort are now

quite prominent at the junction of Montcalm and Van Buren Streets. The

annexed engraving is a view of the appearance of these remains when I

August, 1848 visited them. The view is from Montcalm Street, looking

north, toward the lake. The mounds and ditch were covered with a green

sward; and decayed stumps of trees, three feet in diameter, were upon

the former. The fort had been abandoned about ninety years (for Fort

Ontario became the main fortification after 1758), and, therefore, those

large trees must have been produced within that time.

Shirley made vigorous preparations at Albany to re-enforce Oswego, the

following spring, for the Marquis de Montcalm, an enterprising and

experienced commander, was governor of Canada, and offensive operations

on the part of the French were certainly expected. Colonel Bradstreet

was appointed commissary general, and, aided by Captain (afterward

General) Philip Schuyler, forwarded large quantities of provisions to

Oswego. William Alexander, afterward Lord Sterling, of the Revolutionary

army, was Shirley's secretary. Early in the spring an army of seven

thousand men, under General Winslow, was at Albany, waiting the arrival

of the commander-in-chief, Lord Loudon. Has procrastination, which

defeated all the plans for the season's campaign, was fatal in this

instance. He did not arrive until late in the summer. In the mean while

the French, about five thousand in number, under the Marquis de

Montcalm, came up the lake from Fort Frontenac, and landed stealthily

behind a heavily-wooded cape (now called Four-mile Point), a few miles

below Oswego. Montcalm was there nearly two days before the fact was

known to the garrison. He had thirty pieces of heavy artillery, and was

about commencing a march through the forest, to take Fort Ontario by

surprise, when he was discovered by the English. Colonel Mercer, the

commandant of the garrison, ordered a brigantine to cruise eastward, and

prevent any attempt of the enemy to approach the fort by water. The next

day a heavy gale drove the brigantine ashore, and while she was thus

disabled, the French transported their cannon, unmolested, to within two

miles of the fort. One or two other small vessels were sent out to annoy

them, but the heavy guns of the French drove them back to the harbor.

The enemy pressed steadily forward through the woods, and toward noon of

the same day invested the fort with thirty-two pieces of cannon, ranging

from twelve to eighteen pounders, several large brass pounders, and

about five thousand men, one half of whom were Canadians and July 9,

1755 Indians. Some of this artillery was taken from the English when

Braddock was defeated. The garrison, under Colonel Mercer, numbered only

one thousand four hundred, and a large portion of these were withdrawn

to the fort on the west side of the river, to strengthen it, and to

place the river between Mercer's main body and the enemy. The French

began the assault with small arms, which were answered by the guns of

Fort Ontario, and bombs from the small fort on the other side of the

basin. Finding an open assault dangerous, Montcalm commenced approaching

by parallels during the night, and the next day he began another brisk

fire with small arms. On the day following he opened a battery of

cannons within sixty yards of the fort. As soon as Colonel Mercer

perceived this, he sent word to the garrison, consisting of three

hundred and seventy men, to destroy their cannon, ammunition, and

provisions, and retreat to the west side. This they effected without the

loss of a man. During the night of the 13th the enemy were employed, in

the face of a destructive cannonade, in erecting a heavy battery to play

upon the fort. On the morning of the 14th they had finished their

battery of twelve heavy guns, and under its cover two thousand five

hundred Canadians and Indians crossed the river in three divisions.

Colonel Mercer was killed during this movement, and the command devolved

upon Colonel

August 11.

August 12.

Surrender of the Forts and Garrison to Montcalm.--His Courtesy.--

Destruction of the Forts.--St. Leger. Mrs. Grant

219Littlehales. The enemy had a mortar battery in readiness by ten

o'clock, and their forces were so disposed that all the works of defense

were completely enfiladed. At the same time, the regulars, under the

immediate command of Montcalm, were preparing to cross to the attack.

Colonel Littlehales called a council of war, and, it being agreed that a

defense was no longer practicable, a _chamade_, or parley, was beaten by

the drums of the fort, and the firing ceased on both sides. Two officers

were sent to the French general to inquire upon what terms he would

accept a surrender. He sent back a polite and generous answer,

remarking, at the same, time that the English were an enemy to be

esteemed, and that none but a brave nation would have thought of

defending so weak a place so long. * The fort, the whole garrison, one

hundred and twenty cannons, fourteen mortars, a large quantity of

ammunition and stores, and quite a respectable fleet in the harbor, were

the spoils of victory The forts were dismantled, the prisoners were

placed on transports for Frontenac, and, without leaving a garrison

behind, the whole military armament went down the lake, and left Oswego

solitary and desolate.

The destruction of the forts was a stroke of policy on the part of

Montcalm. They had been a continual eyesore to the Six Nations, for they

had reason to suspect that, if the English became strong enough, their

fortifications would be used as instruments to enslave the tribes. This

act of Montcalm was highly approved by the Indians, and caused them to

assume a position of neutrality toward the belligerent Europeans. This

was what Montcalm desired, and he gained far more power by destroying

the forts than he would by garrisoning them. French emissaries were sent

among the Indians, and by their blandishments, and in consequence of

their successes, they seduced four of the tribes wholly from the British

interest. These were the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas.

The following year English troops again took possession of Fort Ontario,

and partially restored it to its former strength, and in 1759 it was

rebuilt on a larger scale.

They also erected a small stockade fort near the Oswego Falls, and built

Fort Stanwix, on the Mohawk. Thus, in a military point of view, Oswego

remained until our war for independence broke out. **

This post was rather too remote for active operations, during the first

years of the war, to attract the serious attention of either party, and

the fort was garrisoned by only a few men until the summer of 1777, when

St. Leger, with seven hundred Hangers, detached from the army of

Burgoyne at St. John's, on the Sorel, made this his place of rendezvous

preparatory to his incursion into the Valley of the Mohawk. Here he was

joined by Sir John Johnson and Colonel Daniel Claus, with nearly seven

hundred Indians, under Brant, and four hundred regular troops. Here a

war feast was given, and, certain of success, the party, in high

spirits, departed to invest Fort Stanwix. A different scene was

exhibited a few weeks later at Oswego. St. Leger, foiled, and his troops

utterly routed, came hastening back in all the terror and confusion of a

retreat, the victors in hot pursuit. His Indian allies, greatly alarmed,

were scattered over the vast forests, and a mere remnant of his army,

1757.

1758.

* His note to Colonel Littlehales was as follows: "The Marquis of

Montcalm, army and field marshal, commander-in-chief of his most

Christian majesty's troops, is ready to receive a capitulation upon the

most honorable conditions, surrendering to him all the forts. They shall

be shown all the regard the politest nation can show. I send an aid-de-

camp on my part, viz., Mons. de Bougainville, captain of dragoons; they

need only send the capitulation to be signed. I require an answer by

noon. I have kept Mr. Drake for a hostage. "Montcalm." "August 14,

1756."

* Mrs. Grant, of Edinburgh, Scotland, in her "Memoirs of an American

Lady," gives a charming picture of the scenery about Oswego in 1761-2.

She was then a child, and resided there with her father; and her book

presents all the vividness of a child's impressions. She noted, in

particular, a feature in the forest scenery which now delights the

sojourner upon the southern shores of Lake Ontario--the sudden bursting

forth of leaves and flowers in the spring. Major Duncan, who was in

command of the fort at that lime, was a gentleman of taste, and, in

addition to a large and well-cultivated garden, he had a bowling green

and other pleasure grounds. These were the delight of the author of the

"Memoirs," whose pleasing pictures may be found in chapters xliv. to

xlvii. inclusive.

Willett's Attempt to Capture Fort Oswego.--Oswego in 1798.--Attack upon

Oswego in 1814.--Fort Oswego

220without arms, half naked, and nearly starved, followed him to Fort

Ontario, whence he fled to Montreal. The details of the siege of Fort

Stanwix will be given hereafter.

There was no engagement at Oswego during the Revolution. Just at the

close of the war, Washington conceived the design of securing Fort

Ontario, and sent an expedition thither under the command of Colonel

Marinus Willett, who had been an efficient officer in the Mohawk Valley

from the time of the siege of Fort Stanwix. Preliminary articles of

peace had been signed in November previous, but as the terms were not

definitely agreed upon, it was the policy of the commander-in-chief to

be prepared for the reopening of hostilities, and, therefore, until the

settlement was finally made, in September, 1783, by the signing of the

definitive treaty, his vigilance was unrelaxed. This enterprise was

undertaken in mid-winter. Willett assembled his troops at Fort Herkimer,

on the German Flats, and on the 9th of February crossed the Oneida Lake

on the ice, and reached Oswego Falls 1783 the next morning. Not being

strong enough in numbers to attempt a siege or an open assault, he there

prepared scaling-ladders, and determined to surprise the garrison that

night. A deep snow lay upon the ground, and the weather was so intensely

cold that one of the soldiers was frozen to death. A young Oneida Indian

acted as guide, but the snow and the darkness caused him to lose his

way.

At daylight they found themselves in sight of the fort, and soon

afterward they discovered three wood-choppers near. Two of them were

captured, but the third escaped to the fort and gave the alarm. Willett

and his party immediately retreated, and thus ended the expedition. * In

1796 this post, with all others upon the frontier, was given up by the

English to the United States.

A prize, in the shape of public stores deposited at the Oswego Falls,

attracted the attention of the British in 1814, and a fleet, bearing

three thousand men, appeared before the town on the fifth of May. Fort

Oswego, (called Ontario when repaired subsequent to the War,) on the

East side of the harbor, was quite dilapidated, and the little garrison

had small means of defense. They had only six cannons, and three of

these had lost their trunnions. As soon as the sail of the enemy

appeared, information was sent to Captain Woolsey, of the navy, then at

the village on the west side of the river, and to the neighboring

militia. Four large ships, three brigs, and a number of gun and other

boats 1814 appeared, about seven miles distant, at dawn on the morning

of the fifth of May.

The Americans prepared a battery on the shore, and gave the enemy such a

warm reception, while approaching in boats to land, that they returned

to their ships. Early on the morning of the 6th the fleet came within

cannon-shot of the works, and for three hours kept up a discharge of

grape and heavy balls against the fort and batteries. *** The troops

finally effected a landing, and the little band of Americans, not

exceeding three hundred in number, after maintaining their ground as

long as possible, withdrew into the rear of the fort, and halted within

four hundred yards of it. After fighting about half an hour, they march-

* Clarke's MS.

** This view is from the west side of the river, near the site of the

present United States Hotel.

*** I visited Fort Ontario, which is now a strong and admirably

appointed fortification. A small garrison is usually stationed there,

but at the time of my visit the fort was vacated by troops and left in

charge of a sergeant (Mr. Brown), whose courtesy made our little party

feel as much at home amid the equipments of war as if we were veritable

soldiers and our ladies _attaches_ of the camp. He gave me a four-pound

cannon-ball, which was fired into the fort from the British ship Wolfe,

the only ship engaged in the action, on the morning of the Sixth of May,

1814. It bears the rude anchor mark of British ordnance shot, and was

labeled by the sergeant, "A present from John Bull to Uncle Sam."

Result of the Battle in 1814.--Oswego at Present.--Major Cochran.--Dr.

John Cochran.

221ed toward the falls, to defend the stores, destroying the bridges in

their rear. The British burned the barracks, and, after spiking some of

the guns, evacuated the fort, and retired to their ships at three

o'clock on the morning of the 7th. The loss of the Americans was six

killed, thirty-eight wounded, and twenty-five missing. The enemy lost,

in killed, wounded, drowned, and missing, two hundred and thirty-five. *

They returned on the 9th, and sent a flag into the village, to inform

the people of their intention to land a large force and capture the

stores; but, being informed that the bridges were destroyed and the

stores removed, the fleet weighed anchor and returned to Kingston.

Scarcely a feature of old Oswego is left. The little hamlet of the

Revolution and the tiny village of 1814 have grown into a flourishing

city. Heavy stone piers, built by the United States government, guard

the harbor from storms, and a strong fortification protects it from

enemies. Lake commerce enlivens the mart, and a canal and rail-road

daily pour their freights of goods and travel into its lap.

"While in Oswego I visited the venerable Major Cochran and his excellent

lady, the daughter of General Philip Schuyler. Major Cochran was then

nearly eighty years old, and feeble in bodily health, but his mind was

active and vigorous. His father was Dr. John Cochran, ** the surgeon

general of the Middle Department of the Revolutionary army; and himself

was a member of Congress during the administration of the elder Adams.

**** His family relationship and position made him acquainted with all

the general officers of the Revolution, and his reminiscences afforded

me much pleasure and instruction during my brief visit. He has since

gone down into the grave, and thus the men of that generation, like the

sands of an hour-glass, fall into their resting-

* Letter of Commodore Chauncy to the Secretary of the Navy.