[Illustration: WASHINGTON RESIGNING HIS COMMISSION AS
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.]
A
POPULAR HISTORY
OF THE
UNITED STATES
OF
AMERICA:
FROM THE DISCOVERY OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT TO THE PRESENT TIME.
BY MARY HOWITT.
Illustrated with Numerous Engravings.
VOL. II.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,
FRANKLIN SQUARE.
1860.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Southern District of
New York.
CONTENTS TO VOL. II.
CHAPTER I.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE GREAT WARS.
The Austrian succession.—Renewed treaty with the six
nations.—Breaking out of the war.—Governor Shirley attacks
Louisburg.—Co-operation of the colonies.—Commodore Warren’s
squadron.—Siege of Louisburg.—The city capitulates.—Franklin’s
scheme for raising troops.—The peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle.—Louisburg and Cape Breton returned to the
French.—Undefined limits of English and French claims on
America.—The Ohio company.—Remonstrance of
Duquesne.—Washington’s first service.—Disputes among the
colonists themselves.—Franklin’s scheme for general union
rejected.—Braddock chosen major-general.—Taxation and
discontent.—The English occupy Nova Scotia.—Acadia.—The outrage
on the Acadians.—Their unhappy fate.—Braddock’s fancied
security.—His discomfiture and death.—Expeditions against
Niagara and Crown Point.—Death of Williams and
Hendricks.—General feeling in North America for liberty.—John
Adams and his teachings 1–19
CHAPTER II.
PROGRESS OF THE WAR.—CONQUEST OF CANADA.
Plan of the campaign of 1756.—Arrival of General
Abercrombie.—The Marquis of Montcalm.—Loudon’s disasters in
1756 and 1757.—Loudon recalled.—Preparations for a new
campaign.—Energetic exertions of the colonists to raise troops
and money.—Siege of Louisburg.—Death of Howe.—Repulse of
Abercrombie.—Forbes’ expedition against Fort Duquesne.—The fort
destroyed.—Campaign of 1759.—Scheme for conquest of
Canada.—General Wolfe.—Amherst at Ticonderoga.—Wolfe undertakes
the siege of Quebec.—Wolfe’s energetic measures.—Taking of
Quebec.—Death of Wolfe and of the French Marquis
Montcalm.—Operations in Canada.—Montreal surrendered.—The
Cherokees humbled.—Peace of 1763.—Indian rising, and terrible
vengeance.—Canada in English hands 20–34
CHAPTER III.
CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
Debt resulting from the struggle with the French.—Amount of
expense incurred.—Growing power of the colonies.—English
encroachments.—Navigation acts.—Duties on various
articles.—Accession of George III.—Stamp-tax.—Indignation in
the colonies.—Barre’s speech in the House of Commons.—The
“Liberty tree.”—First colonial congress at New York.—Franklin
at the bar of the house.—Repeal of the stamp act.—Operations of
the Assembly at Massachusetts.—Reinforcements in New York.—The
breach widens.—Tories and whigs.—Impulse given to the home
manufactures of America.—First settlements in Tennessee.—The
tea dispute.—Boston port bill passed.—Meeting of the Great
Congress.—Efforts to produce a reconciliation.—Preparations for
war.—Indian warfare.—The New England restraining bill.—Breaking
out of the war. 35–60
CHAPTER IV.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR COMMENCES.
The British forces in America.—The affray at Lexington.—Its
effect on the Americans.—Unity among the colonists.—Arnold’s
exploits.—Battle of Bunker’s Hill.—Washington appointed
commander-in-chief of the American army.—The Indians
propitiated.—Montgomery takes possession of Quebec.—Settlement
in Kentucky.—Obstinacy of George III.—Vain attempts at
reconciliation.—British interests in the colonies. 61–74
CHAPTER V.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR (_continued_).—THE BRITISH EXPELLED FROM
BOSTON.—LOSS OF NEW YORK, &C.
Washington resolves to occupy Boston.—The British evacuate the
city.—Washington marches to New York.—Charleston
fortified.—Moultrie’s defence of Charleston harbour.—The siege
raised.—The declaration of independence drawn up and signed on
the 4th July.—Howe arrives at Sandy Hook.—Plots against
Washington.—Offers from Britain of indemnity on
submission.—Disasters of the Americans at Long
Island.—Washington returns to New York.—The British assault
Fort Washington.—The Howes issue a proclamation for
submission.—Despondency among the Americans.—Washington’s
exploit at Trenton.—Attack on the British at Princetown.—The
recovery of the Jerseys.—Franklin sent as envoy to
Paris.—Lafayette joins the Americans. 75–92
CHAPTER VI.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR (_continued_)—1777.
War on the Canadian frontier.—Washington at
Morristown.—Burgoyne’s expedition in the North.—His plan of
operations.—Engagement at Hubbardton.—Burgoyne’s successes: he
reaches the Hudson.—The “Green Mountain Boys” and their
prowess.—Fate of Jenny M‘Crea.—General Gates assumes the
command.—Battle of Saratoga.—Burgoyne falls back on
Saratoga.—Surrender of the British army at Saratoga.—Washington
at Philadelphia.—Battle of the Brandywine river.—Howe enters
Philadelphia.—Washington’s ill success at Germantown.—His
precarious position.—Want and distress in the American
army.—Plan of confederation. 93–110
CHAPTER VII.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR (_continued_)—1778.
Discussions in Parliament on the American war.—Conciliatory
measures proposed and rejected.—Losses suffered by the
Americans.—Increase of warlike spirit among the
Americans.—Treaties of commerce and alliance between France and
the United States.—Offers from Britain rejected.—Philadelphia
evacuated.—Battle of Freehold.—French fleet arrives to assist
the Americans.—Attempt against Newport abandoned by
D’Estaing.—British fleet, sent to oppose D’Estaing, arrives at
New York.—Commissioners for conciliation.—Lafayette challenges
the Earl of Carlisle.—The war assumes a ferocious
character.—Destruction of Fort Wyoming.—The war in the
South.—Savannah captured by the British 111–128
CHAPTER VIII.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR (_continued_)—1779.
Clarke takes the British post of Kaskaskia.—Improved state of
Washington’s army.—John Roberts and Abraham Carlisle executed
for treason.—Operations in the South.—State of Georgia and the
Carolinas.—Loyalists or tories.—Party-spirit.—Victory of the
British at Briar Creek.—March of the British towards
Charleston.—They besiege the town, but soon retreat.—Clinton at
Philipsburg.—Washington at New Jersey.—Tryon’s
devastations.—Stony Point retaken with the bayonet.—Major Lee’s
successes at Paul’s Hook.—Flight of the Americans on the
Penobscot.—New settlements in the West.—Indian and loyalist
depredations 129–145
CHAPTER IX.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR (_continued_).
Events in the West Indies.—Preparations for an attack on
Savannah.—Paul Jones encounters Pearson.—Proposal to employ
negroes in the war.—The British conquer South Carolina.—Action
at Springfield 146–159
CHAPTER X.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR (_continued_)—1780.
General Gates sent to the relief of the southern provinces.—His
discomfiture near Camden.—Women participate in the war.—Treason
at West Point.—Arnold’s treachery.—Enterprise of Major
André.—Failure of the scheme; escape of Arnold; arrest and
death of André.—Gates superseded.—Ferguson slain.—Position of
England at the close of 1780.—Critical state of affairs in
America.—Financial efforts.—Arnold fights on the British
side.—He ravages the banks of the James river 160–174
CHAPTER XI.
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR (_continued_)—1781.
Cornwallis advances towards North Carolina.—Tarleton’s defeat
at the battle of the Cowpens.—Passage of the Yadkin.—State of
the American army.—The tories of North Carolina arm on the
British side.—Greene and his taciturnity.—Battle near
Guilford.—The Americans routed.—Greene’s advance to South
Carolina.—Battle of Hobkirk’s Mill.—Sufferings of both
armies.—The command of the British devolves on Colonel
Stuart.—Execution of Isaac Hayne.—Phillips and Arnold in
Virginia.—Operations of Cornwallis.—Smallness of Washington’s
force.—Threatened attack on New York.—Sudden march towards the
North.—Undecided Battle at Eutaw Springs 175–191
CHAPTER XII.
CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
The French fleet arrives at the Chesapeake.—Du Barras arrives
with his squadron.—Washington’s plans.—Fort Griswold carried by
assault.—Ledyard murdered.—The British force blocked up at
Yorktown.—Cornwallis’s hopes of relief.—Capitulation of the
British army.—Yorktown and Gloucester surrendered.—The news of
Cornwallis’s surrender in England.—Its effects on the king and
on his ministers.—The Rockingham and Shelburne
administrations.—Negotiations.—Dubious conduct of
Vergennes.—The preliminaries of peace signed.—Murder of Joshua
Huddy.—Captain Asgill’s narrow escape 192–204
CHAPTER XIII.
STATE OF THE COUNTRY AFTER THE WAR.
Poverty of the American government.—Destitute condition of the
republican troops.—Financial embarrassments.—Boundary line of
States.—Claims to the territory of Vermont.—New York and other
States oppose the admission of Vermont into the Union.—War on
the Western frontiers.—Fight with the Indians in
Kentucky.—Battle of the Big Blue Lick.—Simon Girty, the
refugee.—Massacre of the Kentuckians.—Passage in the life of a
Kentucky prisoner.—The back settlements of Carolina 205–214
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FIRST YEARS OF PEACE.
Financial difficulties.—A monarchical government
proposed.—Washington’s patriotism.—Discontent in the
army.—Washington negotiates with the troops.—Washington
established as the seat of government.—Peace with Great Britain
formally proclaimed.—Washington’s entry into New
York.—Washington resigns his commission as
commander-in-chief.—Evacuation of America by the
British.—Slaves under British protection.—The loyalists
dissatisfied.—The anti-slavery struggle.—Meeting of
Congress.—Financial arrangements.—Economical efforts.—Jefferson
succeeds Franklin as ambassador to France.—Treaty with the
Indians.—Kentucky and Tennessee.—Decimal
coinage.—Taxation.—Large numbers of malcontents.—The Habeas
Corpus act suspended.—Attempt to capture the arsenal at
Springfield.—Reform of the government.—The Church of England in
America.—Religious excitement in the States 215–231
CHAPTER XV.
FORMATION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
Meeting of the Convention.—Arduous debates.—The Constitution
proposed.—Its provisions.—The various articles of the
Constitution.—Washington elected President.—Amendments in the
Constitution 232–249
CHAPTER XV.
EMIGRATION TO THE WEST.—WASHINGTON PRESIDENT.
Great accession of territory to the States from the treaty with
the six Indian nations.—The Ohio company formed.—Kentucky
applies to be admitted into the Union.—Ohio settlements.—The
city of Marietta founded.—Washington county.—The Constitution
adopted throughout the States.—Washington elected
President.—His disinterestedness.—His mode of life.—The
departments of foreign affairs, of the treasury, and of war,
established.—The President’s tour through the States.—The
session of 1790.—Discussion on the debt in Congress.—Rhode
Island added to the Union.—The Indian chief, M‘Gillivray.—The
act for the encouragement of learning.—The Indian
war.—Disastrous defeat of St. Clair.—The city of Washington
laid out 250–265
CHAPTER XVII.
WASHINGTON’S ADMINISTRATION (_continued_.)
The French revolution and its influence.—Washington
re-elected.—Genet, the minister of the French
republic.—Sympathy in Philadelphia with the French
republic.—Genet’s turbulent conduct.—Reaction.—General Wayne
succeeds St. Clair.—Defeat of the Indians.—Treaty at
Greenville.—Insurrection at Pennsylvania.—Disaffection and
sedition checked by military force.—Act for the establishment
of a navy.—Threatened rupture with Britain.—Unpopular
treaty.—Treaties with Algiers and with Spain.—Petitions against
the British treaty.—Washington’s firmness.—Monroe sent to
France as ambassador.—Failure of his mission.—Washington’s
farewell address 266–280
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ADMINISTRATION OF ADAMS AND JEFFERSON.
Adams elected President and Jefferson Vice-President.—Prospect
of war with France.—Attempt at conciliation.—French
depredations and American reprisals.—Death of
Washington.—Tokens of respect to his memory in America, France,
and England.—Jefferson and Colonel Burr.—Second census of the
United Slates.—Louisiana purchased.—The Illinois territory
acquired.—War with Tripoli.—Burning of the
“Philadelphia.”—Jefferson re-elected President, and Clinton
Vice-President.—England assumes the right of search.—Engagement
between the “Leopard” and the “Chesapeake.”—Bill of embargo
passed by Congress.—Burr’s enterprise in the Western
States.—His arrest.—He is accused of treason, and acquitted 281–294
CHAPTER XIX.
JAMES MADISON’S ADMINISTRATION.—WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN.
Election of Madison.—Hostile attitude of England towards
America.—Engagement between the “President” and the “Little
Belt.”—The Indian chief Tecumseh.—Harrison’s victory over the
Indians.—Preparations for war.—War with Britain
proclaimed.—Proposed invasion of Canada.—Detroit
surrendered.—General Hall arraigned and convicted of
cowardice.—Battle of Queenstown.—Expedition against the
Kickapoo Indians.—The “Guerrière” frigate taken by the
“Constitution.”—Encounter between the “Wasp” and the
“Frolic.”—The “Constitution” takes the “Java.”—Lord Castlereagh
rejects the American proposals for peace.—Madison re-elected
President.—Efforts of the Americans to establish a
navy.—Combats on the lakes.—The “Chesapeake” taken by the
“Shannon,” and the “Argus” by the “Pelican.”—Encounters on Lake
Erie.—The Indian confederacy broken up.—Tecumseh slain 295–309
CHAPTER XX.
EVENTS OF 1814, AND CONCLUSION OF THE WAR.
General Brown advances into Canada.—Battle at Niagara
Falls.—Defeat of the British at Plattsburgh.—Destruction of the
city of Washington.—Enterprise of the British at
Alexandria.—British expedition against New Orleans.—New-year’s
day, 1815.—The British attack repulsed.—Arrival and
ratification of a treaty of peace.—Expedition against the
Algerines.—Second national bank established.—James Monroe
elected President.—African colonisation society.—Great western
canal.—Depredations of the Seminole and Creek Indians.—Debates
on the slavery question.—Operations against the West Indian
pirates.—Death of Adams and of Jefferson 310–323
CHAPTER XXI.
THE EVENTS OF TWENTY YEARS.
Temperance societies formed.—Statistics of
drunkenness.—Anti-Masonic societies founded.—Abduction of
William Morgan, and consequent excitement.—General Jackson
re-elected.—Renewed Indian hostilities.—The celebrated chief,
“Black Hawk.”—His exploits; his capture.—The last days of
“Black Hawk.”—Description of “Black Hawk.”—Growth of
civilisation in the West.—The tariff bill passed.—Excitement
caused by this measure.—Compromise bill introduced by Henry
Clay.—Indian rebellion.—Injustice practised towards the
tribes.—Osceola’s plan of revenge.—Massacre of Major Dade and
his men.—Devastations.—Submission of the Indians.—Van Buren
elected President.—End of the Seminole war.—Osceola’s
imprisonment.—Harrison President.—State repudiation of
debt.—Anti-rent disturbances.—Iowa and Florida received into
the Union 324–340
CHAPTER XXII.
MEXICAN WAR.—ANNEXATION OF TEXAS.—VAST INCREASE OF TERRITORY.—THE
MORMONS.
First settlement of the whites in Texas.—Spanish population of
Texas.—Restrictions on trade.—Texas in the early part of the
present century.—Population in 1833.—Santa Anna and his
operations.—Fortress of the Alamo taken.—Goliad taken.—Santa
Anna captured.—Duplicity of Santa Anna.—Texas admitted into the
Union.—The war with Mexico.—The treaty of 1846.—New
Mexico.—Utah and California.—Puebla and the metropolis Mexico
taken.—Orderly conduct of the victors.—Mexican ideas concerning
the Americans.—Moral state of Mexico.—Treaty of
peace.—Wisconsin admitted into the Union.—Mormonism.—The Great
Salt Lake.—Joseph Smith the Mormon prophet.—His
pretensions.—The Mormons establish themselves.—Murder of Smith
and his brother.—Statistics of Mormonism.—Mormon government and
morality.—Mormon journeys 341–359
CHAPTER XXIII.
CALIFORNIA.—STATISTICAL REVIEW OF THE UNITED STATES.
Upper California discovered by Sir F. Drake.—Sebastian
Viscaino.—Early Spanish settlement in California.—Humboldt’s
statements concerning California.—Mrs. Willard’s account.—The
United States’ exploring expedition under Fremont.—The gold
discoveries and consequent emigration.—Sacramento
city.—Californian Indians.—The cholera.—Distress and famine
among the Californian emigrants.—State organisation of
California.—Convention at Monterey.—Signing of the
convention.—California sends members to Congress.—California
admitted into the Union.—Considerations on the United
States.—Education.—Manufactures.—Railroads.—The electric
telegraph.—Cotton and woollen manufactures.—Printing
operations.—Journals.—Typefounding.—Boot and shoe
manufactures.—Iron foundries.—Art-education.—Commercial
advantages of the American States 360–387
ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II
PAGE
WASHINGTON RESIGNING HIS COMMISSION AS
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF _frontispiece_
DEATH OF GENERAL WOLFE _to face_ 30
STAMP ACT RIOTS „ 39
THROWING THE TAXED TEA INTO BOSTON HARBOUR „ 52
GENERAL BURGOYNE AND THE INDIANS „ 95
WASHINGTON’S RECEPTION AT NEW YORK „ 219
WASHINGTON TAKING LEAVE OF THE ARMY „ 220
TOMB OF WASHINGTON „ 283
A POPULAR
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
CHAPTER I.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE GREAT WARS.
In 1744, the disputed Austrian succession threw the whole of Europe into
arms, and France and England were of course once more at war. In
expectation of this event, when an invasion from Canada might be feared,
New York fortified Albany and Oswego, and the friendship of the Six
Nations was secured. This precaution was additionally necessary, as they
had taken offence, owing to a collision which some of their people had
come into with the backwoodsmen of Virginia. At a convention held at
Lancaster, to which Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were parties,
the Six Nations, with due oratory and ceremonial, relinquished all title
to the valley of the Blue Ridge, the central chain of the Alleganies.
The western frontiers thus secured, New England proposed a combination
of the five northern colonies for their mutual defence, which New York
declined, trusting to enjoy her former neutrality.
The war broke out. Fort Canso, in Nova Scotia, was taken by the French;
Annapolis was besieged by a united force of Canadians and Indians;
privateers issued from Louisburg, and the eastern Indians again attacked
the frontiers of Maine. The northern provinces were routed, and Governor
Shirley of Massachusetts resolved to attack Louisburg. Louisburg, the
capital of Cape Breton, was called, from the strength of its
fortifications, the Dunkirk of America. Its position was one of great
importance, commanding the navigation of the St. Lawrence and the
fisheries of the adjoining seas.
The scheme was a bold one, and Shirley applied to the British ministry
for naval assistance, in the meantime laying open his views to the
general assembly, after having first sworn all the members to secrecy.
Six days were taken to deliberate upon it, and then the scheme was
negatived as too hazardous and expensive. And so it might have ended,
had not one of the members, during his evening devotions, been heard to
pray for the success of the undertaking. The scheme got wind, and the
populace approved; the plan was therefore again proposed in the council,
and carried by one vote.
Troops were immediately raised by New England. Connecticut sent 500 men;
Rhode Island and New Hampshire each 300; but those of Rhode Island did
not arrive until Louisburg was taken. Pennsylvania, refusing troops,
furnished provisions; and New York, £3,000, a quantity of provisions,
and ten eighteen-pounders. The great burden of the war, of course, fell
upon Massachusetts, who furnished an army of 3,250 men, with ten armed
vessels,—all the fishermen, whose trade the war had interrupted,
entering the service as volunteers. The command in chief was given to
William Pepperell, a rich merchant in Maine, who was celebrated for his
universal good fortune; and Whitfield, then preaching in New Hampshire,
suggested as the motto of their flag, “Never despair with Christ for the
captain;” and one of the army chaplains, a disciple of Whitfield,
carried with him a hatchet, to hew down the images in the French
chapels.[1]
An express sent to Commodore Warren, in the West Indies, requesting the
co-operation of such ships as he could spare, returned with a negative
answer just before the expedition was leaving Boston. Nothing daunted,
however, they set sail, and approaching Cape Breton, were prevented from
entering its harbours by the great quantity of floating ice. Returning
then to Casco, they lay there for several days under a bright sky and in
clear weather, and here were agreeably surprised by the arrival of a
squadron from Commodore Warren, who had received subsequent orders to
render all possible assistance. The next day, nine vessels from
Connecticut joined them also, with the troops from that colony. On the
30th of April, the fleet, consisting of 100 vessels, entering Cape
Breton, came in sight of Louisburg. This commanding fortress, the walls
of which were forty feet thick at the base and from twenty to thirty
feet high, was surrounded by a ditch eighty feet wide, and was furnished
with 101 cannon, seventy-six swivels, and six mortars; its garrison
numbered 1,600 men, and the harbour was defended by an island battery of
thirty twenty-two pounders, and by the royal battery on the shore,
having thirty large cannon, a moat, and bastions, all so perfect that it
was supposed 200 men could defend it against 5,000. The assailants, on
the contrary, had only eighteen cannon and three mortars. Reaching the
shore, however, they effected a landing almost without opposition, and
the following day Colonel Vaughan of New Hampshire led a detachment
through the woods, past the city, which they greeted with three cheers.
The French, at their approach, having spiked their guns, fled from the
royal battery in the night, and the next morning Vaughan and thirteen of
his men, having gained possession, defended it against the boats which
were sent from Louisburg to retake it. Seth Pomroy, a gunsmith, and a
major in one of the Massachusetts regiments, was now employed in the
oversight of twenty smiths, who were employed in drilling the cannon;
and in the meantime, and for fourteen nights in succession, the hardy
besiegers were engaged in dragging their artillery over some miles of
boggy morass impassable to wheels, and for the carriage of which a New
Hampshire colonel, a carpenter, constructed sledges, which the men, with
straps over their shoulders and midleg-deep in mud, drew safely over.
Five unsuccessful attempts were made on a battery which defended the
town, and the troops, insufficiently provided with tents and other
comforts, suffered severely in that cold and foggy climate. But nothing
could daunt their ardour. Seth Pomroy, the gunsmith-major, wrote to his
wife: “Louisburg is an exceedingly strong place, and seems impregnable.
It looks as if our campaign would last long; but I am willing to stay
till God’s time comes to deliver the city into our hands.” And his wife
replied in the same resolute spirit: “Suffer no anxious thoughts to rest
in your mind about me. The whole town is much engaged with concern for
the expedition, how Providence will order the affair, for which
religious meetings every week are maintained. I leave you in the hand of
God.”
At length it was resolved that the fleet should enter the harbour and
bombard the city, whilst the land forces attempted to scale the walls.
Whilst this was under meditation, a French ship of sixty-four guns,
laden with supplies, was taken, after an active engagement, within sight
of the town. Fortunately for the besiegers, disaffection prevailed
within the walls, and the governor, dispirited by this success of the
enemy, sent out a flag of truce and offers of capitulation. On the
forty-ninth day of the siege, Louisburg surrendered, together with the
island of Cape Breton. When the conquerors entered the city and beheld
the strength of the works, their very hearts sunk within them at the
greatness of their undertaking; “God has gone out of the way of his
common providence,” said they, “to incline the hearts of the French to
give up this strong city into our hands.”
The loss of Louisburg exasperated the French nation, and a powerful
armament was fitted out to ravage, in return, the whole coast of North
America; but Providence again interfered in their behalf; the fleet,
under the Duke d’Anville, was scattered and destroyed by storms and
wreck, and, to complete its misfortunes, the commander died suddenly,
and his successor, in a fit of delirium, committed suicide. The
following year, a second fleet, sent out for the same purpose, was taken
by Anson and Warren.
The capture of Louisburg was not less a cause of rejoicing in England
than in the colonies. Pepperell was made a baronet, and commissioned as
a colonel in the British army, and Warren promoted to the rank of
rear-admiral. The report of Warren, however, as regarded the New England
people, only confirmed the suspicions which were entertained of them at
home. “They have,” said he, “the highest notions of the rights and
liberties of Englishmen, and, indeed, are almost levellers.”
The Canadian French retaliated immediately for their loss, by attacking
the English frontiers and taking several outposts, but no great damage
was done. This success revived the favourite scheme of the conquest of
Canada, and England, as well as the colonies, began active preparations
for carrying it out. In Pennsylvania, where hitherto peace principles
had been very carefully maintained, an active military spirit, excited
by Benjamin Franklin, who now, after twenty years of industry, had
acquired a handsome property, prevailed. “He was the originator,” says
Logan, “of two lotteries, that raised above £6,000 to pay for the charge
of the batteries on the river, and he found out a way to put the country
on raising above 120 companies of militia, of which Philadelphia raised
ten, or about 100 men each. The women, too, were so zealous that they
furnished ten pair of silk colours, wrought with various mottoes.”
Logan, himself a Quaker, though not a strict one, was highly satisfied,
as he says, with “Benjamin Franklin for contriving the militia,” and he
adds, that, “Franklin, when elected to the command of a regiment,
declined the distinction, and carried a musket among the common
soldiers.”
The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, however, put an end to all these ambitious
schemes of conquest, and the mutual restoration of all places taken
during the war being one of its conditions, Cape Breton and Louisburg,
to the grief and mortification of the northern colonies, were returned
to France. The only thing which consoled Massachusetts for this loss
was, that the British indemnified her for the expenses of this last
enterprise, to the amount of £183,000, a very welcome boon, when her
finances were suffering the most serious embarrassment, owing to her
extensive issues of paper money and the depreciation of the currency. It
was proposed by Thomas Hutchinson, grandson of the celebrated Anne
Hutchinson, and now a wealthy merchant of Boston, and speaker of the
House of Representatives, that the money thus granted should be imported
in silver, and applied to redeem, at its current value, all the
outstanding paper. This was done, and for a quarter of a century, says
Hildreth, Massachusetts enjoyed the blessing of a sound currency.
It was just at this time when a great inroad was attempted on the
rigidity of the Puritan manners, by the attempt of some young Englishmen
at Boston to introduce theatrical entertainments. The play first
announced was Otway’s Orphan, but it proceeded no further than
announcement, such exhibitions being at once prohibited, “as tending to
discourage industry and frugality, and greatly to the increase of
impiety and contempt for religion.” Connecticut immediately followed the
example; neither would she suffer such Babylonish pursuits. Two years
afterwards, a London company of actors came over, and acted the Beau’s
Stratagem and Merchant of Venice, at Annapolis and Williamsburg in
Virginia. Connecticut and Massachusetts being closed against them, they
confined their labours to Annapolis, Williamsburg, Philadelphia,
Perth-Amboy, New York and Newport.
The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle left the great causes of difference, the
undefined limits of the French and English claims in America, still
unsettled. The French, by virtue of the discoveries of La Salle,
Marquette, Champlain and others, claimed all the lands occupied by the
waters flowing into the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi and the Lakes, and
all watered by the Mississippi and its branches. In fact, they claimed
the whole of America, except that portion which lies east of the
Allegany chain, the rivers of which flow into the Atlantic, and even of
this they claimed the basin of the Kennebec and all Maine to the east of
that valley. The British on the contrary, asserted a right to the entire
country, on account of the discovery of Cabot, extending their claims
under the old patents with more than equal extravagance, from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. To strengthen this title, they had lately
purchased from the chiefs of the confederated Six Nations, acknowledged
by the treaties of Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle as being under British
protection, their claim to the country of the Mississippi, which, it was
stated, had at some former period been conquered by them.
The French, as we have already said, had in part carried out their plan
of a chain of forts, to connect their more recent settlements on the
Mississippi with their earlier ones on the St. Lawrence, when in 1750 a
number of gentlemen of Virginia, among whom was Lawrence Washington, the
grandfather of the celebrated George, applied to the British parliament
for an act for incorporating “the Ohio Company,” and granting them
600,000 acres of land on the Ohio river. This was done; the tract was
surveyed, and trade commenced with the Indians. The jealousy of the
French was roused; and the Marquis du Quesne, governor of Canada,
complained to the authorities of New York and Pennsylvania, threatening
to seize their traders if they did not quit this territory. The trade
went on as before, and the French carried out their threat, burning the
village of an Indian tribe which refused submission, and seizing the
English traders and their merchandise; and the following year the number
and importance of the French forts was increased.
Robert Dinwiddie, at that time royal governor of Virginia, alarmed at
those violent proceedings, purchased permission of the Indians on the
Monongahala to build a fort on the junction of that river with the
Allegany, and determined to send a trusty messenger to the French
commandant at Venango, to require explanation and the release of the
captured traders. It was late in the season, and the embassy demanded
both courage and wisdom. A young man of two-and-twenty, a major in the
militia, and by profession a land-surveyor, and who when only sixteen
had been employed as such by Lord Fairfax on his property in the
Northern Neck, was selected for this service. This young man was GEORGE
WASHINGTON.
The journey, about 400 miles through the untracked forest, and at the
commencement of winter, though full of peril and wild adventure, was
performed successfully. Washington was well received by the commandant,
St. Pierre, who promised, after two days’ deliberation, to transmit his
message to his superiors in Canada; and all unconscious of the present
or future importance of their guest, who was making accurate
observations as to the strength of the fort, the French officers
revealed to him, over their wine, the intentions of France to occupy the
whole country.
The reply of St. Pierre, the contents of which were not known till
opened at Williamsburg, leaving no doubt of the hostile intentions of
the French, Dinwiddie began immediately to prepare for resistance,
promising to the officers and soldiers of the Virginian army 200,000
acres of land to be divided amongst them, as an encouragement to enlist.
A regiment of 600 men, of which Washington was appointed
lieutenant-colonel, marched in the month of April, 1754, into the
disputed territory, and, encamping at the Great Meadows, were met by
alarming intelligence; the French had driven the Virginians from a fort
which, owing to his own recommendation, they were building at “the
Fork,” the place where Pittsburg now stands, between the junction of the
Monongahala and the Allegany, the importance of which position he had
become aware of on his journey to Venango. This fort the French had now
finished, and had called Du Quesne, in honour of the governor-general;
besides which, a detachment sent against him were encamped at a few
miles distance. Washington proceeded, surprised the enemy, and killed
the commander, Jumonville—the first blood shed in this war.
On his return to the Great Meadows, Washington was joined by the troops
from New York and South Carolina, and here erected a fort, which he
called Fort Necessity. Frye, the colonel, being now dead, the chief
command devolved upon Washington, who very shortly set out towards Du
Quesne, when he was compelled to return and entrench himself within Fort
Necessity, owing to the approach of a very superior force under De
Villier, the brother of Jumonville. After a day of hard fighting, the
fort itself was surrendered, on condition of the garrison being
permitted to retire unmolested. A singular circumstance occurred in this
capitulation: Washington, who did not understand French, employed a
Dutchman as his interpreter, and he, either from ignorance or treachery,
rendered the terms of the capitulation incorrectly; thus Washington
signed an acknowledgment of having “assassinated” Jumonville, and
engaged not again to appear in arms against the French within twelve
months.
Hitherto, the intercolonial wars had originated in European quarrels;
now, the causes of dispute existed in the colonies themselves, and were
derivable from the growing importance of these American possessions to
the mother-countries; the approaching war, in consequence, assumed an
interest to the colonies which no former war had possessed. It was now,
therefore, proposed by the British cabinet that a union should be formed
among the colonies for their mutual protection and support, and that the
friendship of the Six Nations should be immediately secured. Accordingly
a congress was convened at Albany, in June, 1754, at which delegates
appeared from New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut; Delaney, governor of New York,
being the president. A treaty of peace was signed with the Six Nations,
and the convention entered upon the subject of the great union, a plan
for which had been drawn up by Benjamin Franklin, the delegate from
Pennsylvania, and which was carefully discussed, clause by clause, in
the assembly. Both William Penn, in 1697, and Coxe in his “Carolana,”
had proposed a similar annual congress of all the colonies for the
regulation of trade, and these were the bases of Franklin’s plan of
union.
This plan proposed the establishment of a general government in the
colonies, the administration of which should be placed in the hands of a
governor-general appointed by the crown, and a council of forty-eight
members, representatives of the several provinces, “having the power to
levy troops, declare war, raise money, make peace, regulate the Indian
trade and concert all other measures necessary for the general safety;
the governor-general being allowed a negative on the proceedings of the
council, and all laws to be ratified by the king.” This plan was signed
by all the delegates excepting the one from Connecticut, who objected to
a negative being allowed to the governor-general, on the 4th of July,
the day on which Fort Necessity was surrendered, and the very day
twenty-two years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
This scheme of union was, however, rejected by all the colonial
assemblies, on the plea of giving too much power to the crown; and,
strange to say, was rejected likewise by the crown, because it gave too
much power to the people. The colonial union, therefore, being at an end
for the present, it was proposed by the British ministry that money
should be furnished for the carrying on of the war by England, to be
reimbursed by a tax on the colonies. This scheme, however, the colonies
strongly opposed, being averse, argued Massachusetts, to everything that
shall have the remotest tendency to raise a revenue in America for any
public use or purpose of government. It was, therefore, finally agreed
to carry on the war with British troops, aided by such auxiliaries as
the colonial assemblies would voluntarily furnish. These pending
territorial disputes led to the publication of more complete maps,
whereby the position and danger of the British colonies were more
clearly understood. The British colonies occupied about a thousand miles
of the Atlantic coast, but their extent inland was limited; the
population amounted to about 1,500,000. New France, on the contrary,
contained a population not exceeding 100,000, scattered over a vast
expanse of territory from Cape Breton to the mouth of the Mississippi,
though principally collected on the St. Lawrence. The very remoteness of
the French settlements, separated from the English by unexplored forests
and mountains, placed them in comparative security, while the whole
western frontier of the English, from Maine to Georgia, was exposed to
attacks of the Indians, disgusted by constant encroachments and ever
ready for war.[2]
While negotiations were being carried on with France for the adjustment
of the territorial quarrel, the establishment of French posts on the
Ohio and the attack on Washington being regarded as the commencement of
hostilities, General Braddock was selected as the American
major-general, under the Duke of Cumberland, commander-in-chief of the
British army. Braddock was a man of despotic temper, intrepid in action,
and severe as a disciplinarian; and as the duke had no confidence in any
but regular troops, it was ordered that the general and field officers
of the colonial forces should be of subordinate rank when serving with
the commissioned officers of the king. Washington, on his return from
the Great Meadows, found Dinwiddie re-organising the Virginia militia,
and that, according to the late orders, he himself was lowered to the
rank of captain, on which he indignantly retired from the service.
In February, 1755, Braddock, with two British regiments, arrived in
Chesapeake Bay, the colonies having levied forces in preparation, and a
tax being already imposed on wine and spirituous liquors, spite of the
general opposition to such imposts, and which excited a very general
discontent, each family being required on oath to state the quantity
consumed by themselves each year, and thus either to perjure or to tax
themselves. This unpopular tax gave rise to several newspapers, the
first newspaper of Connecticut dating from this time.
Braddock having arrived, a convention of colonial governors met at
Alexandria, in Virginia, to concert the plan of action, when four
expeditions were determined upon. Lawrence, the lieutenant-governor of
Nova Scotia, was to reduce that province; General Johnson, from his long
acquaintance with the Six Nations, was selected to enrol the Mohawk
warriors in British pay, and conduct an army of Indians and provincial
militia against Crown Point; Governor Shirley was to do the same against
Niagara; while Braddock was to attack Fort Du Quesne, and thus recover
the Ohio Valley and take possession of the North West.
Soon after Braddock sailed, the French sent out a fleet with a large
body of troops under the veteran Baron Dieskau, to reinforce the army in
Canada. Although England at this time had avowed only the design of
resisting encroachment on her territory, Boscawen was sent out to cruise
on the banks of Newfoundland, where he took two of the French ships; of
the remainder, some aided by fog, and others by altering their course,
arrived safely at Quebec and Louisburg; at the same time, De Vaudreuil,
a Canadian by birth, and formerly governor of Louisiana, arrived and
superseded Du Quesne as governor of Canada.
Three thousand men sailed from Boston under Lieutenant-colonel Winslow,
on the 29th of May, for the expedition against Nova Scotia. This Winslow
was the great-grandson of the Plymouth patriarch, and grandson of the
commander of the New England forces in King Philip’s war; he was a
major-general in the Massachusetts militia, and now, under the British
commander-in-chief, was reduced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. At
Chignecto, in the Bay of Fundy, he was joined by Colonel Monckton with
300 British regulars, and advancing against the French forts at Beau
Sejour and Gaspereau, took possession of them in five days, after slight
resistance; and no sooner did the English fleet appear in the St.
John’s, than the French, setting fire to their fort at the mouth of that
river, evacuated the country. The English thus, with the loss of about
twenty men, found themselves in possession of the whole of Nova Scotia:
when great difficulty arose, what was to be done with the people?
Acadia was the oldest French colony in America, having been settled by
Bretons sixteen years before the landing of the pilgrim fathers. Thirty
years before the commencement of the present war, the treaty of Utrecht
had ceded Acadia to Great Britain, yet the settlement remained French in
spirit, character, and religion. By the terms granted to them when the
British took possession, they were excused from bearing arms against
France, and were thence known as “French Neutrals.” From the time of the
Peace of Utrecht, they appear, however, almost to have been forgotten,
until the present war brought them, to their great misfortune, back to
remembrance. Their life had been one of Arcadian peace and simplicity;
neither tax-gatherer nor magistrate was seen among them; their parish
priests, sent over from Canada, were their supreme head. By unwearied
labour they had secured the rich alluvial marshes from the rivers and
sea, and their wealth consisted in flocks and herds. Their houses,
gathered in hamlets, were full of the comforts and simple luxuries of
their position; their clothing was warm, abundant, and home-made, spun
and wove from the flax of their fields and the fleeces of their flocks.
Thus were the Acadians prosperous and happy as one great family of love.
Their population, which had doubled within the last thirty years,
amounted at this time to about 2,000.
Unfortunately, these good Acadians had not strictly adhered to their
character of neutrals; 300 of their young men had been taken in arms at
Beau Sejour, and one of their priests was detected as an active French
agent. It was resolved, therefore, to remove them from their present
position, in which they had every opportunity of aiding the French.
Lawrence, lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia, Boscawen, and Mostyn,
commanders of the British fleet, consulted with Belcher, chief-justice
of the province, and the result was a scheme of kidnapping and conveying
them to the various British provinces, although at the capitulation of
Beau Sejour it had been strictly provided that the neighbouring
inhabitants should not be disturbed. But no matter; they must be got rid
of, for there was no secure possession for the English while they, bound
by all the ties of language, affection, and religion to France, remained
there. A sadder incident of wholesale outrage hardly occurs in history
than this. The design was kept strictly secret, lest the people, excited
by despair, should rise _en masse_ against their oppressors. Obeying the
command, therefore, to assemble at their parish churches, they were
surrounded by soldiers, taken prisoners and marched off, without
ceremony, to the ships, for transportation. At Grand Pré, for example,
says Bancroft, 418 unarmed men came together, when Winslow, the American
commander, addressed them, as follows: “Your lands and tenements, cattle
of all kinds, and live stock of all sorts, are forfeited to the crown,
and you yourselves are to be removed from this province. I am, through,
his Majesty’s goodness, directed to allow you to carry off your money,
and your household goods, as many as you can without discommoding the
vessels you go in.” They were the king’s prisoners; their wives and
families shared their lot; their sons, 527 in number; their daughters,
576; the whole, including women and babes, old men and children,
amounting to about 2,000 souls. They had left home in the morning; they
were never to return. Wonderful it seems, that Heaven left such an
outrage on humanity unavenged on the spot!
The 10th of September was the day of transportation. They were marched
down to the vessels six abreast; the young men first, driven forward by
the bayonet, but not a weapon was allowed to them. It was a scene of
heart-breaking misery, and in the confusion of embarkation, wives were
separated from their husbands, parents from their children, never to
meet again! It was two months before the last of the unhappy people were
conveyed away, and in the meantime many fled to the woods; but even this
availed nothing, the pitiless conquerors had already destroyed the
harvests, to compel their surrender, and burnt their former homes to the
ground.
A quota of these poor, unhappy people were sent to every British North
American colony, where, broken-hearted and disconsolate, they became
burdens on the public charity, and failed not to excite pity by their
misery, spite of the hatred to them as Catholics and the exasperation
produced by the protracted war. Some few made their way to France;
others to Canada, St. Domingo, and Louisiana; and to those who reached
the latter country, lands were assigned above New Orleans, still known
as the Acadian coast. A number of those sent to Georgia constructed rude
boats, and endeavoured to return to their beloved homes in the Bay of
Fundy. Generally speaking, they died in exile, the victims of dejection
and despair.
It will be remembered by our readers, doubtless, that one of the finest
poems which America has produced, “Evangeline,” by Longfellow, is
founded on this cruel and unjustifiable outrage on humanity.
The English, in the meantime, as if their arms were not to be blessed,
had met with a severe repulse in their attempt to drive the French from
the Ohio. Braddock’s troops landed at Alexandria, a small town at the
mouth of the Potomac, early in June; and Colonel Washington, being
permitted to retain his rank in consequence of the reputation he had
already attained, joined the expedition soon after. Braddock made very
light of the whole campaign; being stopped at the commencement of his
march, for want of horses and wagons, he told Benjamin Franklin, that
after having taken Fort Du Quesne, whither he was hastening, he should
proceed to Niagara, and having taken that, to Frontenac. “Du Quesne,”
said he, “will not detain me above three or four days, and then I see
nothing which can obstruct my march to Niagara.” Franklin calmly
replied, that the Indians were dexterous in laying and executing
ambuscades. “The savages,” replied Braddock, “may he formidable to your
raw American militia; upon the king’s regulars it is impossible that
they should make any impression.”
Among the wagoners, whom the energy of Franklin obtained, was Daniel
Morgan, famous as a village wrestler, who had emigrated as a
day-labourer from New Jersey to Virginia, and who, having saved his
wages, was now the owner of a team, all unconscious of his future
greatness.[3] By the advice of Washington, owing to the difficulty of
obtaining horses and wagons, the heavy baggage was left under the care
of Colonel Dunbar, with an escort of 600 men; and Braddock, at the head
of 1,300 picked men, proceeded forward more rapidly. Fort Du Quesne, in
the meantime, was receiving reinforcements.
Braddock was by no means deficient in courage or military skill, but he
was wholly ignorant of the mode of conducting warfare amid American
woods and morasses; and to make this deficiency the greater, he
undervalued the American troops, nor would profit by the opinions and
experience of American officers. Washington urged the expediency of
employing the Indians, who, under the well-known chief Half-king, had
already offered their services as scouts and advance parties; but
Braddock rejected both the advice and this offered aid, and that so
rudely that Half-king himself and his Indians were seriously offended.
It was now the 9th of July, and the governor of Du Quesne almost gave up
his fort as lost; for Braddock and his army were that morning only
twelve miles distant. Washington, about noon riding a little a-head,
looked back from the height above the right bank of the Monongahala, and
beheld the advanced guard of regulars, headed by Lieutenant-colonel
Gage, advancing, with all the glitter of their brilliant uniform, into
an open wood. At that moment the Indian war-whoop sounded, and they were
fired upon from all quarters by an invisible foe. The assailants, about
200 French and 600 Indians, hidden in some ravines on each side of the
road and amid the long grass, poured in a deadly fire: the British
troops, seized with sudden panic, were thrown into hopeless confusion,
and would have fled, but that Braddock rallied them and exerted himself
to the utmost to restore order. Succeeding in part, and preserving
something like the order of battle, the horrors of the moment were
increased; for his men, “penned like sheep in a fold,” were the better
mark for the invisible enemy, who themselves, expecting merely to
harass, never hoping to defeat, were astonished at their own success.
The Indians, singling out the officers, shot down every one; of
eighty-six officers, twenty-six were killed and thirty-seven wounded; of
the men one-half were killed or wounded. Washington alone seemed to be
preserved as by an especial Providence. In vain the Indian singled him
out also as a mark for his rifle; no bullet took his life, though two
horses were shot under him, and four bullets, after the battle, were
found lodged in his coat. Well might the savage exclaim, “Some powerful
Manitou guards his life!” This singular preservation of the young
Washington, in the midst of death, attracted the attention of all. “I
cannot but hope,” said a learned divine, a month afterwards, “that
Providence has preserved that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, in so
especial a manner for some important service to his country.” And in
England Lord Halifax inquired, “Who is this Mr. Washington? I know
nothing of him; but they say that he behaved in Braddock’s action as
bravely as if he loved the whistling of bullets.”
Braddock remained undismayed amid the shower of bullets; five horses
were shot under him, and at length a ball entering his right side, he
fell mortally wounded. With difficulty he was borne off the field; for
many hours he remained silent; towards evening he said, “Who would have
thought it?” On the 12th, Braddock being conveyed to Dunbar’s camp, the
remaining artillery was destroyed, the public stores and heavy baggage
burnt, to the value of £100,000, Dunbar assigning as the reason, the
dying general’s commands. The next day they retreated, and the same
night Braddock died; his last words being, “We shall know better how to
deal with them another time.” His grave may still be seen near the
public road, about a mile west of Fort Necessity.[4]
Philadelphia was preparing for the triumph of victory, when the news of
this shameful defeat reached the city, in the arrival of Dunbar, on whom
the command had now devolved. The whole frontier of Virginia was thus
left open to the depredations of the French and Indians. The French at
Fort Du Quesne endeavoured to withdraw the Cherokees from their fidelity
to the English, and news of this reaching the ears of Glen, governor of
South Carolina, a council of Cherokee chiefs was called, the covenant of
peace was renewed, and the cession of a large tract of land in South
Carolina was obtained.
The expedition against Niagara was entrusted to Governor Shirley, who
now, by the death of Braddock, was commander-in-chief of the British
forces. It was intended that the troops destined for this service should
assemble at Oswego, whence they were to proceed by water to the mouth of
the Niagara. The march, however, was one of extreme difficulty, the
troops being disabled by sickness and disheartened by the news of
Braddock’s defeat; and when after six weeks it was accomplished, various
adverse circumstances, violent winds and rains, and the desertion of
their Indian allies, rendered it unadvisable for them to proceed. Two
strong forts were, however, erected, and vessels built in preparation
for their embarkation.
The troops destined for the expedition against Crown Point, consisting
principally of the militia of Connecticut and Massachusetts, were
entrusted to General (afterwards Sir William) Johnson. In June and July,
about 6,000 New England men, having Phineas Lyman as their
major-general, reached the portage between Hudson River and Lake George,
where they constructed a fort called Fort Lyman, afterwards Fort Edward.
Here they were joined by General Johnson, with about 3,400 irregulars
and Indians, towards the end of August, when he assumed command and
advanced towards Lake George. Dieskau, in the meantime, having ascended
Lake Champlain with 2,000 men from Montreal, was now pushing on to Fort
Lyman, when, altering his route, probably at the request of his Indian
allies, who dreaded the English artillery, he suddenly attacked the camp
of Johnson. Already informed of his intended attack on Fort Edward,
Johnson had sent out 1,000 Massachusetts men, under Ephraim Williams,
and a body of Mohawk warriors, under a famous chief called Hendricks,
for the purpose of intercepting their return. Unfortunately, however,
this detachment fell in with the whole force of Dieskau’s army in a
narrow defile, and were driven back with great slaughter, Williams and
Hendricks being soon slain. It was this Williams who, when passing
through Albany, made his will, leaving his property, in case of his
death, to found a Free School for Western Massachusetts, which is now
the Williams College; a better monument, as Hildreth justly observes,
than any victory would have been. The loss of the enemy was also
considerable.
The firing being heard in the camp of Johnson, the repulse of Williams
was suspected. A breast-work of felled trees was therefore hastily
constructed, and a few cannon mounted, which had just been brought up
from Fort Edward; and scarcely had the fugitives reached the camp, when
the enemy appeared, who met with so warm a reception from the
newly-planted cannon, that the Canadian troops and the Indians soon
fled, greatly to the chagrin of Dieskau. Johnson, being early wounded,
retired from the fight, and the New Englanders, under their own
officers, fought bravely for five hours. It was a terrible day for the
French; nearly all their regulars perished, and Dieskau was mortally
wounded, though he still refused to retire. Two Canadians, who wished to
carry him from the field, were shot dead at his side, and he himself
soon after, being found seated on the stump of a tree, was wantonly shot
by a renegade Frenchman. A small remnant fled, only to be pursued by a
detachment from Fort Edward. Instead of pursuing his advantage, Johnson
spent the autumn in erecting a fort on the site of his encampment,
called Fort William Henry; and the season being late, dispersed his army
to their respective provinces. In the meantime the French were
strengthening their position at Crown Point, and fortifying Ticonderoga.
These actions are known as the battle of Lake George.
Benjamin Franklin having about this time published an account of the
rapid increase of population in the United States, the attention of
England was turned to the immensely growing power of her colonies. Let
us hear the reasoning of the two parties on this subject. “I have
found,” said the royal governor, Shirley, who had been appealed to,
“that the calculations are right. The number of the inhabitants is
doubled every twenty years.” He admitted that the demand for British
manufactures and the employment of shipping increased in an equal ratio;
also that the sagacity which had been displayed in the plan of union
proposed at the late congress at Albany, might justly excite the fear of
England, lest the colonists should throw off their dependence on the
mother-country and set up a government of their own. But, added he, let
it be considered how various are the present constitutions of their
respective governments; how much their interests clash, and how opposed
their tempers are, and any coalition among them will be found to be
impossible. “At all events,” said he, “they could not maintain such an
independency without a strong naval force, which it must ever be in the
power of Great Britain to prevent. Besides, the 7,000 troops which his
Majesty has in America, and the Indians at command, provided the
provincial governors do their duty and are maintained independent of the
assemblies, may easily prevent any such step being taken.”
The royal governor of Virginia, Dinwiddie, urged upon parliament his
plan of a general land and poll tax, begging, however, that the plan
might come entirely as from them; he urged also the subversion of
charter-governments, arguing that all would remain in a distracted
condition until his majesty took the proprietary government into his own
hands. Another advised that Duke William of Cumberland should be sent
out as sovereign of the united provinces of British America, on the plea
that in a few years the colonies of America would be independent of
Britain.
These fears were prophetic of the future, and indeed were but an echo of
the popular sentiment. Franklin was thinking, and acting, and scattering
abroad words, which were winged seeds of liberty; Washington was already
doing great deeds; and John Adams, then the young teacher of a New
England free school, was giving words to ideas which thousands besides
himself were prepared to turn into deeds. “All creation,” said he, “is
liable to change; mighty states are not exempted. Soon after the
Reformation, a few people came out here for conscience sake. This
apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire into
America. If we can remove these turbulent Gallics, our people, according
to the exactest calculation, will in another century become more
numerous than England itself. All Europe will not be able to subdue us.
The only way to keep us from setting up for ourselves, is to disunite
us.” They had learnt already that union was strength.