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diff --git a/35216.txt b/35216.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aba8d73 --- /dev/null +++ b/35216.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5166 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Historic Handbook of the Northern Tour, by +Francis Parkman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Historic Handbook of the Northern Tour + +Author: Francis Parkman + +Release Date: February 8, 2011 [EBook #35216] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NORTHERN TOUR *** + + + + +Produced by Marcia Brooks, Ross Cooling and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + HISTORIC HANDBOOK + + OF THE + + NORTHERN TOUR. + + + + + [Illustration: WOLFE. + + Aged 32.] + + + + + HISTORIC HANDBOOK + + OF THE + + NORTHERN TOUR. + + + LAKES GEORGE AND CHAMPLAIN; NIAGARA; MONTREAL; QUEBEC. + + + BY + + FRANCIS PARKMAN. + + + + BOSTON: + LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. + 1899. + + + + + _Copyright, 1885_, + By Francis Parkman. + + + + University Press: + John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. + + + + +This book is a group of narratives of the most striking events of our +colonial history connected with the principal points of interest to the +tourist visiting Canada and the northern borders of the United States. + +The narratives are drawn, with the addition of explanatory passages, +from "The Conspiracy of Pontiac," "Pioneers of France in the New World," +"The Jesuits in North America," "Count Frontenac," and "Montcalm and +Wolfe." + + + Boston, 1 April, 1885. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + LAKE GEORGE AND LAKE CHAMPLAIN. + + PAGE + + Discovery of Lake Champlain 3 + + Discovery of Lake George 9 + + Battle of Lake George 16 + + A Winter Raid 40 + + Siege and Massacre of Fort William Henry 45 + + Battle of Ticonderoga 65 + + A Legend of Ticonderoga 86 + + + NIAGARA. + + Siege of Fort Niagara 93 + + Massacre of the Devil's Hole 98 + + + MONTREAL. + + The Birth of Montreal 105 + + + QUEBEC. + + Infancy of Quebec 123 + + A Military Mission 128 + + Massachusetts Attacks Quebec 134 + + The Heights of Abraham 154 + + + + + LAKE GEORGE AND LAKE CHAMPLAIN. + + + + + DISCOVERY OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN. + + +This beautiful lake owes its name to Samuel de Champlain, the founder of +Quebec. In 1609, long before the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth, he +joined a band of Huron and Algonquin warriors on an expedition against +their enemies, the Iroquois, since known as the Five Nations of New +York. While gratifying his own love of adventure, he expected to make +important geographical discoveries. + +After a grand war dance at the infant settlement of Quebec, the allies +set out together. Champlain was in a boat, carrying, besides himself, +eleven men, chief among whom were one Marais and a pilot named La +Routte, all armed with the arquebuse, a species of firearm shorter than +the musket, and therefore better fitted for the woods. + +They ascended the St. Lawrence and entered the Richelieu, which forms +the outlet of Lake Champlain. Here, to Champlain's great disappointment, +he found his farther progress barred by the rapids at Chambly, though +the Indians had assured him that his boat could pass all the way +unobstructed. He told them that though they had deceived him, he would +not abandon them, sent Marais with the boat and most of the men back to +Quebec, and, with two who offered to follow him, prepared to go on in +the Indian canoes. + +The warriors lifted their canoes from the water, and in long procession +through the forest, under the flickering sun and shade, bore them on +their shoulders around the rapids to the smooth stream above. Here the +chiefs made a muster of their forces, counting twenty-four canoes and +sixty warriors. All embarked again, and advanced once more, by marsh, +meadow, forest, and scattered islands, then full of game, for it was an +uninhabited land, the war-path and battle-ground of hostile tribes. The +warriors observed a certain system in their advance. Some were in front +as a vanguard; others formed the main body; while an equal number were +in the forests on the flanks and rear, hunting for the subsistence of +the whole; for, though they had a provision of parched maize pounded +into meal, they kept it for use when, from the vicinity of the enemy, +hunting should become impossible. + +Still the canoes advanced, the river widening as they went. Great +islands appeared, leagues in extent: Isle a la Motte, Long Island, +Grande Isle. Channels where ships might float and broad reaches of +expanding water stretched between them, and Champlain entered the lake +which preserves his name to posterity. Cumberland Head was passed, and +from the opening of the great channel between Grande Isle and the main, +he could look forth on the wilderness sea. Edged with woods, the +tranquil flood spread southward beyond the sight. Far on the left, the +forest ridges of the Green Mountains were heaved against the sun, +patches of snow still glistening on their tops; and on the right rose +the Adirondacks, haunts in these later years of amateur sportsmen from +counting-rooms or college halls, nay, of adventurous beauty, with +sketch-book and pencil. Then the Iroquois made them their +hunting-ground; and beyond, in the valleys of the Mohawk, the Onondaga, +and the Genesee, stretched the long line of their five cantons and +palisaded towns. + +The progress of the party was becoming dangerous. They changed their +mode of advance, and moved only in the night. All day, they lay close in +the depth of the forest, sleeping, lounging, smoking tobacco of their +own raising, and beguiling the hours, no doubt, with the shallow banter +and obscene jesting with which knots of Indians are wont to amuse their +leisure. At twilight they embarked again, paddling their cautious way +till the eastern sky began to redden. Their goal was the rocky +promontory where Fort Ticonderoga was long afterward built. Thence, they +would pass the outlet of Lake George, and launch their canoes again on +that Como of the wilderness, whose waters, limpid as a fountain-head, +stretched far southward between their flanking mountains. Landing at the +future site of Fort William Henry, they would carry their canoes through +the forest to the River Hudson, and descending it, attack, perhaps, some +outlying town of the Mohawks. In the next century this chain of lakes +and rivers became the grand highway of savage and civilized war, a +bloody debatable ground linked to memories of momentous conflicts. + +The allies were spared so long a progress. On the morning of the +twenty-ninth of July, after paddling all night, they hid as usual in the +forest on the western shore, not far from Crown Point. The warriors +stretched themselves to their slumbers, and Champlain, after walking for +a time through the surrounding woods, returned to take his repose on a +pile of spruce-boughs. Sleeping, he dreamed a dream, wherein he beheld +the Iroquois drowning in the lake; and, essaying to rescue them, he was +told by his Algonquin friends that they were good for nothing and had +better be left to their fate. Now, he had been daily beset, on +awakening, by his superstitious allies, eager to learn about his dreams; +and, to this moment, his unbroken slumbers had failed to furnish the +desired prognostics. The announcement of this auspicious vision filled +the crowd with joy, and at nightfall they embarked, flushed with +anticipated victories. + +It was ten o'clock in the evening, when they descried dark objects in +motion on the lake before them. These were a flotilla of Iroquois +canoes, heavier and slower than theirs, for they were made of oak or elm +bark. Each party saw the other, and the mingled war-cries pealed over +the darkened water. The Iroquois, who were near the shore, having no +stomach for an aquatic battle, landed, and, making night hideous with +their clamors, began to barricade themselves. Champlain could see them +in the woods, laboring like beavers, hacking down trees with iron axes +taken from the Canadian tribes in war, and with stone hatchets of their +own making. The allies remained on the lake, a bowshot from the hostile +barricade, their canoes made fast together by poles lashed across. All +night, they danced with as much vigor as the frailty of their vessels +would permit, their throats making amends for the enforced restraint of +their limbs. It was agreed on both sides that the fight should be +deferred till daybreak; but meanwhile a commerce of abuse, sarcasm, +menace, and boasting gave unceasing exercise to the lungs and fancy of +the combatants,--"much," says Champlain, "like the besiegers and +besieged in a beleaguered town." + +As day approached, he and his two followers put on the light armor of +the time. Champlain wore the doublet and long hose then in vogue. Over +the doublet he buckled on a breastplate, and probably a back-piece, +while his thighs were protected by _cuisses_ of steel, and his head by a +plumed casque. Across his shoulder hung the strap of his bandoleer, or +ammunition-box; at his side was his sword, and in his hand his +arquebuse, which he had loaded with four balls. Such was the equipment +of this ancient Indian-fighter, whose exploits date eleven years before +the landing of the Puritans at Plymouth, and sixty-six years before King +Philip's War. + +Each of the three Frenchmen was in a separate canoe, and, as it grew +light, they kept themselves hidden, either by lying at the bottom, or +covering themselves with an Indian robe. The canoes approached the +shore, and all landed without opposition at some distance from the +Iroquois, whom they presently could see filing out of their barricade, +tall, strong men, some two hundred in number, of the boldest and +fiercest warriors of North America. They advanced through the forest +with a steadiness which excited the admiration of Champlain. Among them +could be seen several chiefs, made conspicuous by their tall plumes. +Some bore shields of wood and hide, and some were covered with a kind of +armor made of tough twigs interlaced with a vegetable fibre supposed by +Champlain to be cotton. + +[Illustration: CHAMPLAIN'S FIGHT WITH THE IROQUOIS. + +(Drawn by himself)] + +The allies, growing anxious, called with loud cries for their champion, +and opened their ranks that he might pass to the front. He did so, and, +advancing before his red companions-in-arms, stood revealed to the +astonished gaze of the Iroquois, who, beholding the warlike apparition +in their path, stared in mute amazement. But his arquebuse was levelled; +the report startled the woods, a chief fell dead, and another by his +side rolled among the bushes. Then there rose from the allies a yell, +which, says Champlain, would have drowned a thunder-clap, and the +forest was full of whizzing arrows. For a moment, the Iroquois stood +firm and sent back their arrows lustily; but when another and another +gunshot came from the thickets on their flank, they broke and fled in +uncontrollable terror. Swifter than hounds, the allies tore through the +bushes in pursuit. Some of the Iroquois were killed; more were taken. +Camp, canoes, provisions, all were abandoned, and many weapons flung +down in the panic flight. The arquebuse had done its work. The victory +was complete. + +The victors made a prompt retreat from the scene of their triumph. Three +or four days brought them to the mouth of the Richelieu. Here they +separated; the Hurons and Algonquins made for the Ottawa, their homeward +route, each with a share of prisoners for future torments. At parting +they invited Champlain to visit their towns and aid them again in their +wars,--an invitation which this paladin of the woods failed not to +accept. + +Thus did New France rush into collision with the redoubted warriors of +the Five Nations. Here was the beginning, in some measure doubtless the +cause, of a long suite of murderous conflicts, bearing havoc and flame +to generations yet unborn. Champlain had invaded the tiger's den; and +now, in smothered fury, the patient savage would lie biding his day of +blood. + + + + + DISCOVERY OF LAKE GEORGE. + + +It was thirty-three years since Champlain had first attacked the +Iroquois. They had nursed their wrath for more than a generation, and at +length their hour was come. The Dutch traders at Fort Orange, now +Albany, had supplied them with firearms. The Mohawks, the most easterly +of the Iroquois nations, had, among their seven or eight hundred +warriors, no less than three hundred armed with the arquebuse. They were +masters of the thunderbolts which, in the hands of Champlain, had struck +terror into their hearts. + +In the early morning of the second of August, 1642, twelve Huron canoes +were moving slowly along the northern shore of the expansion of the St. +Lawrence known as the Lake of St. Peter. There were on board about forty +persons, including four Frenchmen, one of them being the Jesuit, Isaac +Jogues. During the last autumn he, with Father Charles Raymbault, had +passed along the shore of Lake Huron northward, entered the strait +through which Lake Superior discharges itself, pushed on as far as the +Sault Sainte Marie, and preached the Faith to two thousand Ojibwas, and +other Algonquins there assembled. He was now on his return from a far +more perilous errand. The Huron mission was in a state of destitution. +There was need of clothing for the priests, of vessels for the altars, +of bread and wine for the eucharist, of writing materials,--in short, of +everything; and, early in the summer of the present year, Jogues had +descended to Three Rivers and Quebec with the Huron traders, to procure +the necessary supplies. He had accomplished his task, and was on his way +back to the mission. With him were a few Huron converts, and among them +a noted Christian chief, Eustache Ahatsistari. Others of the party were +in course of instruction for baptism; but the greater part were heathen, +whose canoes were deeply laden with the proceeds of their bargains with +the French fur-traders. + +Jogues sat in one of the leading canoes. He was born at Orleans in 1607, +and was thirty-five years of age. His oval face and the delicate mould +of his features indicated a modest, thoughtful, and refined nature. He +was constitutionally timid, with a sensitive conscience and great +religious susceptibilities. He was a finished scholar, and might have +gained a literary reputation; but he had chosen another career, and one +for which he seemed but ill fitted. Physically, however, he was well +matched with his work; for, though his frame was slight, he was so +active, that none of the Indians could surpass him in running. + +With him were two young men, Rene Goupil and Guillaume Couture, _donnes_ +of the mission,--that is to say, laymen who, from a religious motive and +without pay, had attached themselves to the service of the Jesuits. +Goupil had formerly entered upon the Jesuit novitiate at Paris, but +failing health had obliged him to leave it. As soon as he was able, he +came to Canada, offered his services to the Superior of the mission, was +employed for a time in the humblest offices, and afterwards became an +attendant at the hospital. At length, to his delight, he received +permission to go up to the Hurons, where the surgical skill which he had +acquired was greatly needed; and he was now on his way thither. His +companion, Couture, was a man of intelligence and vigor, and of a +character equally disinterested. Both were, like Jogues, in the foremost +canoes; while the fourth Frenchman was with the unconverted Hurons, in +the rear. + +The twelve canoes had reached the western end of the Lake of St. Peter, +where it is filled with innumerable islands. The forest was close on +their right, they kept near the shore to avoid the current, and the +shallow water before them was covered with a dense growth of tall +bulrushes. Suddenly the silence was frightfully broken. The war-whoop +rose from among the rushes, mingled with the reports of guns and the +whistling of bullets; and several Iroquois canoes, filled with warriors, +pushed out from their concealment, and bore down upon Jogues and his +companions. The Hurons in the rear were seized with a shameful panic. +They leaped ashore; left canoes, baggage, and weapons; and fled into the +woods. The French and the Christian Hurons made fight for a time; but +when they saw another fleet of canoes approaching from the opposite +shores or islands, they lost heart, and those escaped who could. Goupil +was seized amid triumphant yells, as were also several of the Huron +converts. Jogues sprang into the bulrushes, and might have escaped; but +when he saw Goupil and the neophytes in the clutches of the Iroquois, he +had no heart to abandon them, but came out from his hiding-place, and +gave himself up to the astonished victors. A few of them had remained to +guard the prisoners; the rest were chasing the fugitives. Jogues +mastered his agony, and began to baptize those of the captive converts +who needed baptism. + +Couture had eluded pursuit; but when he thought of Jogues and of what +perhaps awaited him, he resolved to share his fate, and, turning, +retraced his steps. As he approached, five Iroquois ran forward to meet +him; and one of them snapped his gun at his breast, but it missed fire. +In his confusion and excitement, Couture fired his own piece, and laid +the savage dead. The remaining four sprang upon him, stripped off all +his clothing, tore away his finger-nails with their teeth, gnawed his +fingers with the fury of famished dogs, and thrust a sword through one +of his hands. Jogues broke from his guards, and, rushing to his friend, +threw his arms about his neck. The Iroquois dragged him away, beat him +with their fists and war-clubs till he was senseless, and, when he +revived, lacerated his fingers with their teeth, as they had done those +of Couture. Then they turned upon Goupil, and treated him with the same +ferocity. The Huron prisoners were left for the present unharmed. More +of them were brought in every moment, till at length the number of +captives amounted in all to twenty-two, while three Hurons had been +killed in the fight and pursuit. The Iroquois, about seventy in number, +now embarked with their prey; but not until they had knocked on the head +an old Huron, whom Jogues, with his mangled hands, had just baptized, +and who refused to leave the place. Then, under a burning sun, they +crossed to the spot on which the town of Sorel now stands, at the mouth +of the River Richelieu, where they encamped. + +Their course was southward, up the River Richelieu and Lake Champlain; +thence, by way of Lake George, to the Mohawk towns. The pain and fever +of their wounds, and the clouds of mosquitoes, which they could not +drive off, left the prisoners no peace by day nor sleep by night. On the +eighth day, they learned that a large Iroquois war-party, on their way +to Canada, were near at hand; and they soon approached their camp, on a +small island near the southern end of Lake Champlain. The warriors, two +hundred in number, saluted their victorious countrymen with volleys from +their guns; then, armed with clubs and thorny sticks, ranged themselves +in two lines, between which the captives were compelled to pass up the +side of a rocky hill. On the way, they were beaten with such fury, that +Jogues, who was last in the line, fell powerless, drenched in blood and +half dead. As the chief man among the French captives, he fared the +worst. His hands were again mangled, and fire applied to his body; while +the Huron chief, Eustache, was subjected to tortures even more +atrocious. When, at night, the exhausted sufferers tried to rest, the +young warriors came to lacerate their wounds and pull out their hair and +beards. + +In the morning they resumed their journey. And now the lake narrowed to +the semblance of a tranquil river. Before them was a woody mountain, +close on their right a rocky promontory, and between these flowed a +stream, the outlet of Lake George. On those rocks, more than a hundred +years after, rose the ramparts of Ticonderoga. They landed, shouldered +their canoes and baggage, took their way through the woods, passed the +spot where the fierce Highlanders and the dauntless regiments of England +breasted in vain the storm of lead and fire, and soon reached the shore +where Abercrombie landed and Lord Howe fell. First of white men, Jogues +and his companions gazed on the romantic lake that bears the name, not +of its gentle discoverer, but of the dull Hanoverian king. Like a fair +Naiad of the wilderness, it slumbered between the guardian mountains +that breathe from crag and forest the stern poetry of war. But all then +was solitude; and the clang of trumpets, the roar of cannon, and the +deadly crack of the rifle had never as yet awakened their angry +echoes.[1] + +Again the canoes were launched, and the wild flotilla glided on its +way,--now in the shadow of the heights, now on the broad expanse, now +among the devious channels of the narrows, beset with woody islets, +where the hot air was redolent of the pine, the spruce, and the +cedar,--till they neared that tragic shore, where, in the following +century, New England rustics baffled the soldiers of Dieskau, where +Montcalm planted his batteries, where the red cross waved so long amid +the smoke, and where at length the summer morning was hideous with +carnage, and an honored name was stained with a memory of blood. + +The Iroquois landed at or near the future site of Fort William Henry, +left their canoes, and, with their prisoners, began their march for the +nearest Mohawk town. Each bore his share of the plunder. Even Jogues, +though his lacerated hands were in a frightful condition and his body +covered with bruises, was forced to stagger on with the rest under a +heavy load. He with his fellow-prisoners, and indeed the whole party, +were half starved, subsisting chiefly on wild berries. They crossed the +upper Hudson, and, in thirteen days after leaving the St. Lawrence, +neared the wretched goal of their pilgrimage, a palisaded town, standing +on a hill by the banks of the River Mohawk. + +Such was the first recorded visit of white men to Lake George. In the +Iroquois villages Jogues was subjected to the most frightful sufferings. +His friend Goupil was murdered at his side, and he himself was saved as +by miracle. At length, with the help of the Dutch of Albany, he made his +escape and sailed for France; whence, impelled by religious enthusiasm, +he returned to Canada and voluntarily set out again for the Iroquois +towns, bent on saving the souls of those who had been the authors of his +woes. Reaching the head of Lake George on Corpus Christi Day, 1646, he +gave it the name of Lac St. Sacrement, by which it was ever after known +to the French. Soon after his arrival the Iroquois killed him by the +blow of a hatchet. + +[Footnote 1: Lake George, according to Jogues, was called by the Mohawks +"Andiatarocte," or _Place where the Lake closes_. "Andiataraque" is +found on a map of Sanson. Spofford, _Gazetteer of New York_, article +"Lake George," says that it was called "Canideri-oit," or _Tail of the +Lake_. Father Martin, in his notes on Bressani, prefixes to this name +that of "Horicon," but gives no original authority. + +I have seen an old Latin map on which the name "Horiconi" is set down as +belonging to a neighboring tribe. This seems to be only a misprint for +"Horicoui," that is, "Irocoui," or "Iroquois." In an old English map, +prefixed to the rare tract, _A Treatise of New England_, the "Lake of +Hierocoyes" is laid down. The name "Horicon," as used by Cooper in his +_Last of the Mohicans_, has no sufficient historical foundation. In +1646, the lake, as we shall see, was named "Lac St. Sacrement."] + + + + + BATTLE OF LAKE GEORGE. + + +For more than a century after the death of Jogues, Lakes George and +Champlain were the great route of war parties between Canada and the +British Colonies. Courcelles came this way in 1666 to lay waste the +Mohawk towns; and Mantet and Sainte-Helene, in 1690, to destroy +Schenectady in the dead of winter; while, in the next year, Major +Schuyler took the same course as he advanced into Canada to retort the +blow. Whenever there was war between France and England, these two lakes +became the scene of partisan conflicts, in which the red men took part +with the white, some as allies of the English, and some as allies of the +French. When at length the final contest took place for the possession +of the continent, the rival nations fiercely disputed the mastery of +this great wilderness thoroughfare, and the borders of Lake George +became the scene of noteworthy conflicts. The first of these was in +1755, the year of Braddock's defeat, when Shirley, governor of +Massachusetts, set on foot an expedition for the capture of Crown Point, +a fort which the French had built on Lake Champlain more than twenty +years before. + +[Illustration: THE REGION OF LAKE GEORGE from surveys made in 1762] + +In January, Shirley had proposed an attack on it to the Ministry; and in +February, without waiting their reply, he laid the plan before his +Assembly. They accepted it, and voted money for the pay and maintenance +of twelve hundred men, provided the adjacent colonies would contribute +in due proportion. Massachusetts showed a military activity worthy of +the reputation she had won. Forty-five hundred of her men, or one in +eight of her adult males, volunteered to fight the French, and enlisted +for the various expeditions, some in the pay of the province, and some +in that of the King. It remained to name a commander for the Crown Point +enterprise. Nobody had power to do so, for Braddock, the +commander-in-chief, was not yet come; but that time might not be lost, +Shirley, at the request of his Assembly, took the responsibility on +himself. If he had named a Massachusetts officer, it would have roused +the jealousy of the other New England colonies; and he therefore +appointed William Johnson, of New York, thus gratifying that important +province and pleasing the Five Nations, who at this time looked on +Johnson with even more than usual favor. Hereupon, in reply to his +request, Connecticut voted twelve hundred men, New Hampshire five +hundred, and Rhode Island four hundred, all at their own charge; while +New York, a little later, promised eight hundred more. When, in April, +Braddock and the Council at Alexandria approved the plan and the +commander, Shirley gave Johnson the commission of major-general of the +levies of Massachusetts; and the governors of the other provinces +contributing to the expedition gave him similar commissions for their +respective contingents. Never did general take the field with authority +so heterogeneous. + +He had never seen service, and knew nothing of war. By birth he was +Irish, of good family, being nephew of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, who, +owning extensive wild lands on the Mohawk, had placed the young man in +charge of them nearly twenty years before. Johnson was born to prosper. +He had ambition, energy, an active mind, a tall, strong person, a rough, +jovial temper, and a quick adaptation to his surroundings. He could +drink flip with Dutch boors, or Madeira with royal governors. He liked +the society of the great, would intrigue and flatter when he had an end +to gain, and foil a rival without looking too closely at the means; but +compared with the Indian traders who infested the border, he was a model +of uprightness. He lived by the Mohawk in a fortified house which was a +stronghold against foes and a scene of hospitality to friends, both +white and red. Here--for his tastes were not fastidious--presided for +many years a Dutch or German wench whom he finally married; and after +her death a young Mohawk squaw took her place. Over his neighbors, the +Indians of the Five Nations, and all others of their race with whom he +had to deal, he acquired a remarkable influence. He liked them, adopted +their ways, and treated them kindly or sternly as the case required, but +always with a justice and honesty in strong contrast with the +rascalities of the commission of Albany traders who had lately managed +their affairs, and whom they so detested that one of their chiefs called +them "not men, but devils." Hence, when Johnson was made Indian +superintendent there was joy through all the Iroquois confederacy. When, +in addition, he was made a general, he assembled the warriors in council +to engage them to aid the expedition. + +This meeting took place at his own house, known as Fort Johnson; and as +more than eleven hundred Indians appeared at his call, his larder was +sorely taxed to entertain them. The speeches were interminable. Johnson, +a master of Indian rhetoric, knew his audience too well not to contest +with them the palm of insufferable prolixity. The climax was reached on +the fourth day, and he threw down the war-belt. An Oneida chief took it +up; Stevens, the interpreter, began the war-dance, and the assembled +warriors howled in chorus. Then a tub of punch was brought in, and they +all drank the King's health. They showed less alacrity, however, to +fight his battles, and scarcely three hundred of them would take the +war-path. Too many of their friends and relatives were enlisted for the +French. + +While the British colonists were preparing to attack Crown Point, the +French of Canada were preparing to defend it. Duquesne, recalled from +his post, had resigned the government to the Marquis de Vaudreuil, who +had at his disposal the battalions of regulars that had sailed in the +spring from Brest under Baron Dieskau. His first thought was to use them +for the capture of Oswego; but letters of Braddock, found on the +battle-field of the Monongahela, warned him of the design against Crown +Point; while a reconnoitring party which had gone as far as the Hudson +brought back news that Johnson's forces were already in the field. +Therefore the plan was changed, and Dieskau was ordered to lead the main +body of his troops, not to Lake Ontario, but to Lake Champlain. He +passed up the Richelieu, and embarked in boats and canoes for Crown +Point. The veteran knew that the foes with whom he had to deal were but +a mob of countrymen. He doubted not of putting them to rout, and meant +never to hold his hand till he had chased them back to Albany. "Make all +haste," Vaudreuil wrote to him; "for when you return we shall send you +to Oswego to execute our first design." + +Johnson on his part was preparing to advance. In July about three +thousand provincials were encamped near Albany, some on the "Flats" +above the town, and some on the meadows below. Hither, too, came a swarm +of Johnson's Mohawks,--warriors, squaws, and children. They adorned the +General's face with war-paint, and he danced the war-dance; then with +his sword he cut the first slice from the ox that had been roasted whole +for their entertainment. "I shall be glad," wrote the surgeon of a New +England regiment, "if they fight as eagerly as they ate their ox and +drank their wine." + +Above all things the expedition needed promptness; yet everything moved +slowly. Five popular legislatures controlled the troops and the +supplies. Connecticut had refused to send her men till Shirley promised +that her commanding officer should rank next to Johnson. The whole +movement was for some time at a deadlock because the five governments +could not agree about their contributions of artillery and stores. The +New Hampshire regiment had taken a short cut for Crown Point across the +wilderness of Vermont; but had been recalled in time to save them from +probable destruction. They were now with the rest in the camp at Albany, +in such distress for provisions that a private subscription was proposed +for their relief. + +Johnson's army, crude as it was, had in it good material. Here was +Phineas Lyman, of Connecticut, second in command, once a tutor at Yale +College, and more recently a lawyer,--a raw soldier, but a vigorous and +brave one; Colonel Moses Titcomb, of Massachusetts, who had fought with +credit at Louisbourg; and Ephraim Williams, also colonel of a +Massachusetts regiment, a tall and portly man, who had been a captain in +the last war, member of the General Court, and deputy-sheriff. He made +his will in the camp at Albany, and left a legacy to found the school +which has since become Williams College. His relative, Stephen Williams, +was chaplain of his regiment, and his brother Thomas was its surgeon. +Seth Pomeroy, gunsmith at Northampton, who, like Titcomb, had seen +service at Louisbourg, was its lieutenant-colonel. He had left a wife at +home, an excellent matron, to whom he was continually writing +affectionate letters, mingling household cares with news of the camp, +and charging her to see that their eldest boy, Seth, then in college at +New Haven, did not run off to the army. Pomeroy had with him his brother +Daniel; and this he thought was enough. Here, too, was a man whose name +is still a household word in New England,--the sturdy Israel Putnam, +private in a Connecticut regiment; and another as bold as he, John +Stark, lieutenant in the New Hampshire levies, and the future victor of +Bennington. + +The soldiers were no soldiers, but farmers and farmers' sons who had +volunteered for the summer campaign. One of the corps had a blue uniform +faced with red. The rest wore their daily clothing. Blankets had been +served out to them by the several provinces, but the greater part +brought their own guns; some under the penalty of a fine if they came +without them, and some under the inducement of a reward. They had no +bayonets, but carried hatchets in their belts as a sort of substitute. +At their sides were slung powder-horns, on which, in the leisure of the +camp, they carved quaint devices with the points of their jack-knives. +They came chiefly from plain New England homesteads,--rustic abodes, +unpainted and dingy, with long well-sweeps, capacious barns, rough +fields of pumpkins and corn, and vast kitchen chimneys, above which in +winter hung squashes to keep them from frost, and guns to keep them from +rust. + +As to the manners and morals of the army there is conflict of evidence. +In some respects nothing could be more exemplary. "Not a chicken has +been stolen," says William Smith, of New York; while, on the other +hand, Colonel Ephraim Williams writes to Colonel Israel Williams, then +commanding on the Massachusetts frontier: "We are a wicked, profane +army, especially the New York and Rhode Island troops. Nothing to be +heard among a great part of them but the language of Hell. If Crown +Point is taken, it will not be for our sakes, but for those good people +left behind." There was edifying regularity in respect to form. Sermons +twice a week, daily prayers, and frequent psalm-singing alternated with +the much-needed military drill. "Prayers among us night and morning," +writes Private Jonathan Caswell, of Massachusetts, to his father. "Here +we lie, knowing not when we shall march for Crown Point; but I hope not +long to tarry. Desiring your prayers to God for me as I am agoing to +war, I am Your Ever Dutiful Son." + +To Pomeroy and some of his brothers in arms it seemed that they were +engaged in a kind of crusade against the myrmidons of Rome. "As you have +at heart the Protestant cause," he wrote to his friend Israel Williams, +"so I ask an interest in your prayers that the Lord of Hosts would go +forth with us and give us victory over our unreasonable, encroaching, +barbarous, murdering enemies." + +Both Williams the surgeon and Williams the colonel chafed at the +incessant delays. "The expedition goes on very much as a snail runs," +writes the former to his wife; "it seems we may possibly see Crown Point +this time twelve months." The Colonel was vexed because everything was +out of joint in the department of transportation: wagoners mutinous for +want of pay; ordnance stores, camp-kettles, and provisions left behind. +"As to rum," he complains, "it won't hold out nine weeks. Things appear +most melancholy to me." Even as he was writing, a report came of the +defeat of Braddock; and, shocked at the blow, his pen traced the words: +"The Lord have mercy on poor New England!" + +Johnson had sent four Mohawk scouts to Canada. They returned on the +twenty-first of August with the report that the French were all astir +with preparation, and that eight thousand men were coming to defend +Crown Point. On this a council of war was called; and it was resolved to +send to the several colonies for reinforcements. Meanwhile the main body +had moved up the river to the spot called the Great Carrying Place, +where Lyman had begun a fortified storehouse, which his men called Fort +Lyman, but which was afterwards named Fort Edward. Two Indian trails led +from this point to the waters of Lake Champlain, one by way of Lake +George, and the other by way of Wood Creek. There was doubt which course +the army should take. A road was begun to Wood Creek; then it was +countermanded, and a party was sent to explore the path to Lake George. +"With submission to the general officers," Surgeon Williams again +writes, "I think it a very grand mistake that the business of +reconnoitring was not done months agone." It was resolved at last to +march for Lake George; gangs of axemen were sent to hew out the way; and +on the twenty-sixth two thousand men were ordered to the lake, while +Colonel Blanchard, of New Hampshire, remained with five hundred to +finish and defend Fort Lyman. + +The train of Dutch wagons, guarded by the homely soldiery, jolted slowly +over the stumps and roots of the newly made road, and the regiments +followed at their leisure. The hardships of the way were not without +their consolations. The jovial Irishman who held the chief command made +himself very agreeable to the New England officers. "We went on about +four or five miles," says Pomeroy in his Journal, "then stopped, ate +pieces of broken bread and cheese, and drank some fresh lemon-punch and +the best of wine with General Johnson and some of the field-officers." +It was the same on the next day. "Stopped about noon and dined with +General Johnson by a small brook under a tree; ate a good dinner of cold +boiled and roast venison; drank good fresh lemon-punch and wine." + +That afternoon they reached their destination, fourteen miles from Fort +Lyman. The most beautiful lake in America lay before them; then more +beautiful than now, in the wild charm of untrodden mountains and virgin +forests. "I have given it the name of Lake George," wrote Johnson to the +Lords of Trade, "not only in honor of His Majesty, but to ascertain his +undoubted dominion here." His men made their camp on a piece of rough +ground by the edge of the water, pitching their tents among the stumps +of the newly felled trees. In their front was a forest of pitch-pine; on +their right, a marsh, choked with alders and swamp-maples; on their +left, the low hill where Fort George was afterwards built; and at their +rear, the lake. Little was done to clear the forest in front, though it +would give excellent cover to an enemy. Nor did Johnson take much pains +to learn the movements of the French in the direction of Crown Point, +though he sent scouts towards South Bay and Wood Creek. Every day stores +and bateaux, or flat boats, came on wagons from Fort Lyman; and +preparation moved on with the leisure that had marked it from the first. +About three hundred Mohawks came to the camp, and were regarded by the +New England men as nuisances. On Sunday the gray-haired Stephen +Williams preached to these savage allies a long Calvinistic sermon, +which must have sorely perplexed the interpreter whose business it was +to turn it into Mohawk; and in the afternoon young Chaplain Newell, of +Rhode Island, expounded to the New England men the somewhat untimely +text, "Love your enemies." On the next Sunday, September seventh, +Williams preached again, this time to the whites from a text in Isaiah. +It was a peaceful day, fair and warm, with a few light showers; yet not +wholly a day of rest, for two hundred wagons came up from Fort Lyman, +loaded with bateaux. After the sermon there was an alarm. An Indian +scout came in about sunset, and reported that he had found the trail of +a body of men moving from South Bay towards Fort Lyman. Johnson called +for a volunteer to carry a letter of warning to Colonel Blanchard, the +commander. A wagoner named Adams offered himself for the perilous +service, mounted, and galloped along the road with the letter. Sentries +were posted, and the camp fell asleep. + +While Johnson lay at Lake George, Dieskau prepared a surprise for him. +The German Baron had reached Crown Point at the head of three thousand +five hundred and seventy-three men, regulars, Canadians, and Indians. He +had no thought of waiting there to be attacked. The troops were told to +hold themselves ready to move at a moment's notice. Officers--so ran the +order--will take nothing with them but one spare shirt, one spare pair +of shoes, a blanket, a bearskin, and provisions for twelve days; Indians +are not to amuse themselves by taking scalps till the enemy is entirely +defeated, since they can kill ten men in the time required to scalp one. +Then Dieskau moved on, with nearly all his force, to Carillon, or +Ticonderoga, a promontory commanding both the routes by which alone +Johnson could advance, that of Wood Creek and that of Lake George. + +The Indian allies were commanded by Legardeur de Saint-Pierre. These +unmanageable warriors were a constant annoyance to Dieskau, being a +species of humanity quite new to him. "They drive us crazy," he says, +"from morning till night. There is no end to their demands. They have +already eaten five oxen and as many hogs, without counting the kegs of +brandy they have drunk. In short, one needs the patience of an angel to +get on with these devils; and yet one must always force himself to seem +pleased with them." + +They would scarcely even go out as scouts. At last, however, on the +fourth of September, a reconnoitring party came in with a scalp and an +English prisoner caught near Fort Lyman. He was questioned under the +threat of being given to the Indians for torture if he did not tell the +truth; but, nothing daunted, he invented a patriotic falsehood; and +thinking to lure his captors into a trap, told them that the English +army had fallen back to Albany, leaving five hundred men at Fort Lyman, +which he represented as indefensible. Dieskau resolved on a rapid +movement to seize the place. At noon of the same day, leaving a part of +his force at Ticonderoga, he embarked the rest in canoes and advanced +along the narrow prolongation of Lake Champlain that stretched southward +through the wilderness to where the town of Whitehall now stands. He +soon came to a point where the lake dwindled to a mere canal, while two +mighty rocks, capped with stunted forests, faced each other from the +opposing banks. Here he left an officer named Roquemaure with a +detachment of troops, and again advanced along a belt of quiet water +traced through the midst of a deep marsh, green at that season with +sedge and water-weeds, and known to the English as the Drowned Lands. +Beyond, on either hand, crags feathered with birch and fir, or hills +mantled with woods, looked down on the long procession of canoes. As +they neared the site of Whitehall, a passage opened on the right, the +entrance to a sheet of lonely water slumbering in the shadow of woody +mountains, and forming the lake then, as now, called South Bay. They +advanced to its head, landed where a small stream enters it, left the +canoes under a guard, and began their march through the forest. They +counted in all two hundred and sixteen regulars of the battalions of +Languedoc and La Reine, six hundred and eighty-four Canadians, and about +six hundred Indians. Every officer and man carried provisions for eight +days in his knapsack. They encamped at night by a brook, and in the +morning, after hearing Mass, marched again. The evening of the next day +brought them near the road that led to Lake George. Fort Lyman was but +three miles distant. A man on horseback galloped by; it was Adams, +Johnson's unfortunate messenger. The Indians shot him, and found the +letter in his pocket. Soon after, ten or twelve wagons appeared in +charge of mutinous drivers, who had left the English camp without +orders. Several of them were shot, two were taken, and the rest ran off. +The two captives declared that, contrary to the assertion of the +prisoner at Ticonderoga, a large force lay encamped at the lake. The +Indians now held a council, and presently gave out that they would not +attack the fort, which they thought well supplied with cannon, but that +they were willing to attack the camp at Lake George. Remonstrance was +lost upon them. Dieskau was not young, but he was daring to rashness, +and inflamed to emulation by the victory over Braddock. The enemy were +reported greatly to outnumber him; but his Canadian advisers had assured +him that the English colony militia were the worst troops on the face of +the earth. "The more there are," he said to the Canadians and Indians, +"the more we shall kill;" and in the morning the order was given to +march for the lake. + +They moved rapidly on through the waste of pines, and soon entered the +rugged valley that led to Johnson's camp. On their right was a gorge +where, shadowed in bushes, gurgled a gloomy brook; and beyond rose the +cliffs that buttressed the rocky heights of French Mountain, seen by +glimpses between the boughs. On their left rose gradually the lower +slopes of West Mountain. All was rock, thicket, and forest; there was no +open space but the road along which the regulars marched, while the +Canadians and Indians pushed their way through the woods in such order +as the broken ground would permit. + +They were three miles from the lake, when their scouts brought in a +prisoner who told them that a column of English troops was approaching. +Dieskau's preparations were quickly made. While the regulars halted on +the road, the Canadians and Indians moved to the front, where most of +them hid in the forest along the slopes of West Mountain, and the rest +lay close among the thickets on the other side. Thus, when the English +advanced to attack the regulars in front, they would find themselves +caught in a double ambush. No sight or sound betrayed the snare; but +behind every bush crouched a Canadian or a savage, with gun cocked and +ears intent, listening for the tramp of the approaching column. + +The wagoners who escaped the evening before had reached the camp about +midnight, and reported that there was a war-party on the road near Fort +Lyman. Johnson had at this time twenty-two hundred effective men, +besides his three hundred Indians. He called a council of war in the +morning, and a resolution was taken which can only be explained by a +complete misconception as to the force of the French. It was determined +to send out two detachments of five hundred men each, one towards Fort +Lyman, and the other towards South Bay, the object being, according to +Johnson, "to catch the enemy in their retreat." Hendrick, chief of the +Mohawks, a brave and sagacious warrior, expressed his dissent after a +fashion of his own. He picked up a stick and broke it; then he picked up +several sticks, and showed that together they could not be broken. The +hint was taken, and the two detachments were joined in one. Still the +old savage shook his head. "If they are to be killed," he said, "they +are too many; if they are to fight, they are too few." Nevertheless, he +resolved to share their fortunes; and mounting on a gun-carriage, he +harangued his warriors with a voice so animated, and gestures so +expressive, that the New England officers listened in admiration, though +they understood not a word. One difficulty remained. He was too old and +fat to go afoot; but Johnson lent him a horse, which he bestrode, and +trotted to the head of the column, followed by two hundred of his +warriors as fast as they could grease, paint, and befeather themselves. + +Captain Elisha Hawley was in his tent, finishing a letter which he had +just written to his brother Joseph; and these were the last words: "I am +this minute agoing out in company with five hundred men to see if we can +intercept 'em in their retreat, or find their canoes in the Drowned +Lands; and therefore must conclude this letter." He closed and directed +it; and in an hour received his death-wound. + +It was soon after eight o'clock when Ephraim Williams left the camp with +his regiment, marched a little distance, and then waited for the rest of +the detachment under Lieutenant-Colonel Whiting. Thus Dieskau had full +time to lay his ambush. When Whiting came up, the whole moved on +together, so little conscious of danger that no scouts were thrown out +in front or flank; and, in full security, they entered the fatal snare. +Before they were completely involved in it, the sharp eye of old +Hendrick detected some sign of an enemy. At that instant, whether by +accident or design, a gun was fired from the bushes. It is said that +Dieskau's Iroquois, seeing Mohawks, their relatives, in the van, wished +to warn them of danger. If so, the warning came too late. The thickets +on the left blazed out a deadly fire, and the men fell by scores. In the +words of Dieskau, the head of the column "was doubled up like a pack of +cards." Hendrick's horse was shot down, and the chief was killed with a +bayonet as he tried to rise. Williams, seeing a rising ground on his +right, made for it, calling on his men to follow; but as he climbed the +slope, guns flashed from the bushes, and a shot through the brain laid +him dead. The men in the rear pressed forward to support their comrades, +when a hot fire was suddenly opened on them from the forest along their +right flank. Then there was a panic: some fled outright, and the whole +column recoiled. The van now became the rear, and all the force of the +enemy rushed upon it, shouting and screeching. There was a moment of +total confusion; but a part of Williams's regiment rallied under command +of Whiting, and covered the retreat, fighting behind trees like +Indians, and firing and falling back by turns, bravely aided by some of +the Mohawks and by a detachment which Johnson sent to their aid. "And a +very handsome retreat they made," writes Pomeroy; "and so continued till +they came within about three quarters of a mile of our camp. This was +the last fire our men gave our enemies, which killed great numbers of +them; they were seen to drop as pigeons." So ended the fray long known +in New England fireside story as the "bloody morning scout." Dieskau now +ordered a halt, and sounded his trumpets to collect his scattered men. +His Indians, however, were sullen and unmanageable, and the Canadians +also showed signs of wavering. The veteran who commanded them all, +Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, had been killed. At length they were +persuaded to move again, the regulars leading the way. + +About an hour after Williams and his men had begun their march, a +distant rattle of musketry was heard at the camp; and as it grew nearer +and louder, the listeners knew that their comrades were on the retreat. +Then, at the eleventh hour, preparations were begun for defence. A sort +of barricade was made along the front of the camp, partly of wagons, and +partly of inverted bateaux, but chiefly of the trunks of trees hastily +hewn down in the neighboring forest and laid end to end in a single row. +The line extended from the southern slopes of the hill on the left +across a tract of rough ground to the marshes on the right. The forest, +choked with bushes and clumps of rank ferns, was within a few yards of +the barricade, and there was scarcely time to hack away the intervening +thickets. Three cannon were planted to sweep the road that descended +through the pines, and another was dragged up to the ridge of the hill. +The defeated party began to come in; first, scared fugitives both white +and red; then, gangs of men bringing the wounded; and at last, an hour +and a half after the first fire was heard, the main detachment was seen +marching in compact bodies down the road. + +Five hundred men were detailed to guard the flanks of the camp. The rest +stood behind the wagons or lay flat behind the logs and inverted +bateaux, the Massachusetts men on the right, and the Connecticut men on +the left. Besides Indians, this actual fighting force was between +sixteen and seventeen hundred rustics, very few of whom had been under +fire before that morning. They were hardly at their posts when they saw +ranks of white-coated soldiers moving down the road, and bayonets that +to them seemed innumerable glittering between the boughs. At the same +time a terrific burst of war-whoops rose along the front; and, in the +words of Pomeroy, "the Canadians and Indians, helter-skelter, the woods +full of them, came running with undaunted courage right down the hill +upon us, expecting to make us flee." Some of the men grew uneasy; while +the chief officers, sword in hand, threatened instant death to any who +should stir from their posts. If Dieskau had made an assault at that +instant, there could be little doubt of the result. + +This he well knew; but he was powerless. He had his small force of +regulars well in hand; but the rest, red and white, were beyond control, +scattering through the woods and swamps, shouting, yelling, and firing +from behind trees. The regulars advanced with intrepidity towards the +camp where the trees were thin, deployed, and fired by platoons, till +Captain Eyre, who commanded the artillery, opened on them with grape, +broke their ranks, and compelled them to take to cover. The fusillade +was now general on both sides, and soon grew furious. "Perhaps," Seth +Pomeroy wrote to his wife, two days after, "the hailstones from heaven +were never much thicker than their bullets came; but, blessed be God! +that did not in the least daunt or disturb us." Johnson received a +flesh-wound in the thigh, and spent the rest of the day in his tent. +Lyman took command; and it is a marvel that he escaped alive, for he was +four hours in the heat of the fire, directing and animating the men. "It +was the most awful day my eyes ever beheld," wrote Surgeon Williams to +his wife; "there seemed to be nothing but thunder and lightning and +perpetual pillars of smoke." To him, his colleague Doctor Pynchon, one +assistant, and a young student called "Billy," fell the charge of the +wounded of his regiment. "The bullets flew about our ears all the time +of dressing them; so we thought best to leave our tent and retire a few +rods behind the shelter of a log-house." On the adjacent hill stood one +Blodget, who seems to have been a sutler, watching, as well as bushes, +trees, and smoke would let him, the progress of the fight, of which he +soon after made and published a curious bird's-eye view. As the wounded +men were carried to the rear, the wagoners about the camp took their +guns and powder-horns, and joined in the fray. A Mohawk, seeing one of +these men still unarmed, leaped over the barricade, tomahawked the +nearest Canadian, snatched his gun, and darted back unhurt. The brave +savage found no imitators among his tribesmen, most of whom did nothing +but utter a few war-whoops, saying that they had come to see their +English brothers fight. Some of the French Indians opened a distant +flank fire from the high ground beyond the swamp on the right, but were +driven off by a few shells dropped among them. + +Dieskau had directed his first attack against the left and centre of +Johnson's position. Making no impression here, he tried to force the +right, where lay the regiments of Titcomb, Ruggles, and Williams. The +fire was hot for about an hour. Titcomb was shot dead, a rod in front of +the barricade, firing from behind a tree like a common soldier. At +length Dieskau, exposing himself within short range of the English line, +was hit in the leg. His adjutant, Montreuil, himself wounded, came to +his aid, and was washing the injured limb with brandy, when the +unfortunate commander was again hit in the knee and thigh. He seated +himself behind a tree, while the Adjutant called two Canadians to carry +him to the rear. One of them was instantly shot down. Montreuil took his +place; but Dieskau refused to be moved, bitterly denounced the Canadians +and Indians, and ordered the Adjutant to leave him and lead the regulars +in a last effort against the camp. + +It was too late. Johnson's men, singly or in small squads, were already +crossing their row of logs; and in a few moments the whole dashed +forward with a shout, falling upon the enemy with hatchets and the butts +of their guns. The French and their allies fled. The wounded General +still sat helpless by the tree, when he saw a soldier aiming at him. He +signed to the man not to fire; but he pulled trigger, shot him across +the hips, leaped upon him, and ordered him in French to surrender. "I +said," writes Dieskau, "'You rascal, why did you fire? You see a man +lying in his blood on the ground, and you shoot him!' He answered: 'How +did I know that you had not got a pistol? I had rather kill the devil +than have the devil kill me.' 'You are a Frenchman?' I asked. 'Yes,' he +replied; 'it is more than ten years since I left Canada;' whereupon +several others fell on me and stripped me. I told them to carry me to +their general, which they did. On learning who I was, he sent for +surgeons, and, though wounded himself, refused all assistance till my +wounds were dressed." + +It was near five o'clock when the final rout took place. Some time +before, several hundred of the Canadians and Indians had left the field +and returned to the scene of the morning fight, to plunder and scalp the +dead. They were resting themselves near a pool in the forest, close +beside the road, when their repose was interrupted by a volley of +bullets. It was fired by a scouting party from Fort Lyman, chiefly +backwoodsmen, under Captains Folsom and McGinnis. The assailants were +greatly outnumbered; but after a hard fight the Canadians and Indians +broke and fled. McGinnis was mortally wounded. He continued to give +orders till the firing was over; then fainted, and was carried, dying, +to the camp. The bodies of the slain, according to tradition, were +thrown into the pool, which bears to this day the name of Bloody Pond. + +The various bands of fugitives rejoined each other towards night, and +encamped in the forest; then made their way round the southern shoulder +of French Mountain, till, in the next evening, they reached their +canoes. Their plight was deplorable; for they had left their knapsacks +behind, and were spent with fatigue and famine. + +Meanwhile their captive general was not yet out of danger. The Mohawks +were furious at their losses in the ambush of the morning, and above all +at the death of Hendrick. Scarcely were Dieskau's wounds dressed, when +several of them came into the tent. There was a long and angry dispute +in their own language between them and Johnson, after which they went +out very sullenly. Dieskau asked what they wanted. "What do they want?" +returned Johnson. "To burn you, by God, eat you, and smoke you in their +pipes, in revenge for three or four of their chiefs that were killed. +But never fear; you shall be safe with me, or else they shall kill us +both." The Mohawks soon came back, and another talk ensued, excited at +first, and then more calm; till at length the visitors, seemingly +appeased, smiled, gave Dieskau their hands in sign of friendship, and +quietly went out again. Johnson warned him that he was not yet safe; and +when the prisoner, fearing that his presence might incommode his host, +asked to be removed to another tent, a captain and fifty men were +ordered to guard him. In the morning an Indian, alone and apparently +unarmed, loitered about the entrance, and the stupid sentinel let him +pass in. He immediately drew a sword from under a sort of cloak which he +wore, and tried to stab Dieskau; but was prevented by the colonel to +whom the tent belonged, who seized upon him, took away his sword, and +pushed him out. As soon as his wounds would permit, Dieskau was carried +on a litter, strongly escorted, to Fort Lyman, whence he was sent to +Albany, and afterwards to New York. He is profuse in expressions of +gratitude for the kindness shown him by the colonial officers, and +especially by Johnson. Of the provincial soldiers he remarked soon after +the battle that in the morning they fought like good boys, about noon +like men, and in the afternoon like devils. In the spring of 1757 he +sailed for England, and was for a time at Falmouth; whence Colonel +Matthew Sewell, fearing that he might see and learn too much, wrote to +the Earl of Holdernesse: "The Baron has great penetration and quickness +of apprehension. His long service under Marshal Saxe renders him a man +of real consequence, to be cautiously observed. His circumstances +deserve compassion, for indeed they are very melancholy, and I much +doubt of his being ever perfectly cured." He was afterwards a long time +at Bath, for the benefit of the waters. In 1760 the famous Diderot met +him at Paris, cheerful and full of anecdote, though wretchedly shattered +by his wounds. He died a few years later. + +On the night after the battle the yeomen warriors felt the truth of the +saying that, next to defeat, the saddest thing is victory. Comrades and +friends by scores lay scattered through the forest. As soon as he could +snatch a moment's leisure, the overworked surgeon sent the dismal +tidings to his wife: "My dear brother Ephraim was killed by a ball +through his head; poor brother Josiah's wound I fear will prove mortal; +poor Captain Hawley is yet alive, though I did not think he would live +two hours after bringing him in." Daniel Pomeroy was shot dead; and his +brother Seth wrote the news to his wife Rachel, who was just delivered +of a child: "Dear Sister, this brings heavy tidings; but let not your +heart sink at the news, though it be your loss of a dear husband. Monday +the eighth instant was a memorable day; and truly you may say, had not +the Lord been on our side, we must all have been swallowed up. My +brother, being one that went out in the first engagement, received a +fatal shot through the middle of the head." Seth Pomeroy found a moment +to write also to his own wife, whom he tells that another attack is +expected; adding, in quaintly pious phrase: "But as God hath begun to +show mercy, I hope he will go on to be gracious." Pomeroy was employed +during the next few days with four hundred men in what he calls "the +melancholy piece of business" of burying the dead. A letter-writer of +the time does not approve what was done on this occasion. "Our people," +he says, "not only buried the French dead, but buried as many of them +as might be without the knowledge of our Indians, to prevent their being +scalped. This I call an excess of civility;" his reason being that +Braddock's dead soldiers had been left to the wolves. + +The English loss in killed, wounded, and missing was two hundred and +sixty-two; and that of the French, by their own account, two hundred and +twenty-eight,--a somewhat modest result of five hours' fighting. The +English loss was chiefly in the ambush of the morning, where the killed +greatly outnumbered the wounded, because those who fell and could not be +carried away were tomahawked by Dieskau's Indians. In the fight at the +camp, both Indians and Canadians kept themselves so well under cover +that it was very difficult for the New England men to pick them off, +while they on their part lay close behind their row of logs. On the +French side, the regular officers and troops bore the brunt of the +battle and suffered the chief loss, nearly all of the former and nearly +half of the latter being killed or wounded. + +Johnson did not follow up his success. He says that his men were tired. +Yet five hundred of them had stood still all day, and boats enough for +their transportation were lying on the beach. Ten miles down the lake, a +path led over a gorge of the mountains to South Bay, where Dieskau had +left his canoes and provisions. It needed but a few hours to reach and +destroy them; but no such attempt was made. Nor, till a week after, did +Johnson send out scouts to learn the strength of the enemy at +Ticonderoga. Lyman strongly urged him to make an effort to seize that +important pass; but Johnson thought only of holding his own position. "I +think," he wrote, "we may expect very shortly a more formidable +attack." He made a solid breastwork to defend his camp; and as +reinforcements arrived, set them at building a fort, which he named Fort +William Henry, on a rising ground by the lake. It is true that just +after the battle he was deficient in stores, and had not bateaux enough +to move his whole force. It is true, also, that he was wounded, and that +he was too jealous of Lyman to delegate the command to him; and so the +days passed till, within a fortnight, his nimble enemy were intrenched +at Ticonderoga in force enough to defy him. + +The Crown Point expedition was a failure disguised under an incidental +success. + + + + + A WINTER RAID. + + +While Johnson was building Fort William Henry at one end of Lake George, +the French began Fort Ticonderoga at the other, though they did not +finish it till the next year. In the winter of 1757, hearing that the +English were making great preparations at Fort William Henry to attack +them, they resolved to anticipate the blow and seize that post by +surprise. To this end, Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, sent a large +detachment from Montreal, while the small body of troops and provincials +who occupied the English fort remained wholly ignorant of the movement. + +On St. Patrick's Day, the seventeenth of March, the Irish soldiers who +formed a part of the garrison of Fort William Henry were paying homage +to their patron saint in libations of heretic rum, the product of New +England stills; and it is said that John Stark's rangers forgot +theological differences in their zeal to share the festivity. The story +adds that they were restrained by their commander, and that their +enforced sobriety proved the saving of the fort. This may be doubted; +for without counting the English soldiers of the garrison who had no +special call to be drunk that day, the fort was in no danger till +twenty-four hours after, when the revellers had had time to rally from +their pious carouse. Whether rangers or British soldiers, it is certain +that watchmen were on the alert during the night between the eighteenth +and nineteenth, and that towards one in the morning they heard a sound +of axes far down the lake, followed by the faint glow of a distant fire. +The inference was plain, that an enemy was there, and that the necessity +of warming himself had overcome his caution. Then all was still for some +two hours, when, listening in the pitchy darkness, the watchers heard +the footsteps of a great body of men approaching on the ice, which at +the time was bare of snow. The garrison were at their posts, and all the +cannon on the side towards the lake vomited grape and round-shot in the +direction of the sound, which thereafter was heard no more. + +Those who made it were the detachment, called by Vaudreuil an army, sent +by him to seize the English fort. Shirley had planned a similar stroke +against Ticonderoga a year before; but the provincial levies had come in +so slowly, and the ice had broken up so soon, that the scheme was +abandoned. Vaudreuil was more fortunate. The whole force, regulars, +Canadians, and Indians, was ready to his hand. No pains were spared in +equipping them. Overcoats, blankets, bearskins to sleep on, tarpaulins +to sleep under, spare moccasins, spare mittens, kettles, axes, needles, +awls, flint and steel, and many miscellaneous articles were provided, to +be dragged by the men on light Indian sledges, along with provisions for +twelve days. The cost of the expedition is set at a million francs, +answering to more than as many dollars of the present time. To the +disgust of the officers from France, the Governor named his brother +Rigaud for the chief command; and before the end of February the whole +party was on its march along the ice of Lake Champlain. They rested +nearly a week at Ticonderoga, where no less than three hundred short +scaling-ladders, so constructed that two or more could be joined in one, +had been made for them; and here, too, they received a reinforcement, +which raised their number to sixteen hundred. Then, marching three days +along Lake George, they neared the fort on the evening of the +eighteenth, and prepared for a general assault before daybreak. + +The garrison, including rangers, consisted of three hundred and +forty-six effective men. The fort was not strong, and a resolute assault +by numbers so superior must, it seems, have overpowered the defenders; +but the Canadians and Indians who composed most of the attacking force +were not suited for such work; and, disappointed in his hope of a +surprise, Rigaud withdrew them at daybreak, after trying in vain to burn +the buildings outside. A few hours after, the whole body reappeared, +filing off to surround the fort, on which they kept up a brisk but +harmless fire of musketry. In the night they were heard again on the +ice, approaching as if for an assault; and the cannon, firing towards +the sound, again drove them back. There was silence for a while, till +tongues of flame lighted up the gloom, and two sloops, ice-bound in the +lake, and a large number of bateaux on the shore were seen to be on +fire. A party sallied to save them; but it was too late. In the morning +they were all consumed, and the enemy had vanished. + +It was Sunday, the twentieth. Everything was quiet till noon, when the +French filed out of the woods and marched across the ice in procession, +ostentatiously carrying their scaling-ladders, and showing themselves to +the best effect. They stopped at a safe distance, fronting towards the +fort, and several of them advanced, waving a red flag. An officer with a +few men went to meet them, and returned bringing Le Mercier, chief of +the Canadian artillery, who, being led blindfold into the fort, +announced himself as bearer of a message from Rigaud. He was conducted +to the room of Major Eyre, where all the British officers were +assembled; and, after mutual compliments, he invited them to give up the +place peaceably, promising the most favorable terms, and threatening a +general assault and massacre in case of refusal. Eyre said that he +should defend himself to the last; and the envoy, again blindfolded, was +led back to whence he came. + +The whole French force now advanced as if to storm the works, and the +garrison prepared to receive them. Nothing came of it but a fusillade, +to which the British made no reply. At night the French were heard +advancing again, and each man nerved himself for the crisis. The real +attack, however, was not against the fort, but against the buildings +outside, which consisted of several storehouses, a hospital, a saw-mill, +and the huts of the rangers, besides a sloop on the stocks and piles of +planks and cord-wood. Covered by the night, the assailants crept up with +fagots of resinous sticks, placed them against the farther side of the +buildings, kindled them, and escaped before the flame rose; while the +garrison, straining their ears in the thick darkness, fired wherever +they heard a sound. Before morning all around them was in a blaze, and +they had much ado to save the fort barracks from the shower of burning +cinders. At ten o'clock the fires had subsided, and a thick fall of snow +began, filling the air with a restless chaos of large moist flakes. This +lasted all day and all the next night, till the ground and the ice were +covered to a depth of three feet and more. The French lay close in their +camps till a little before dawn on Tuesday morning, when twenty +volunteers from the regulars made a bold attempt to burn the sloop on +the stocks, with several storehouses and other structures, and several +hundred scows and whaleboats which had thus far escaped. They were only +in part successful; but they fired the sloop and some buildings near it, +and stood far out on the ice watching the flaming vessel, a superb +bonfire amid the wilderness of snow. The spectacle cost the volunteers a +fourth of their number killed and wounded. + +On Wednesday morning the sun rose bright on a scene of wintry splendor, +and the frozen lake was dotted with Rigaud's retreating followers +toiling towards Canada on snow-shoes. Before they reached it many of +them were blinded for a while by the insufferable glare, and their +comrades led them homewards by the hand. + + + + + SIEGE AND MASSACRE OF FORT WILLIAM HENRY. + + +Having failed to take Fort William Henry by surprise, the French +resolved to attack it with all the force they could bring against it, +and in the summer of 1757 the Marquis de Montcalm and the Chevalier de +Levis advanced against it with about eight thousand regulars, Canadians, +and Indians. The whole assembled at Ticonderoga, where several weeks +were spent in preparation. Provisions, camp equipage, ammunition, +cannon, and bateaux were dragged by gangs of men up the road to the head +of the rapids. The work went on through heat and rain, by day and night, +till, at the end of July, all was done. + +The bateaux lay ready by the shore, but could not carry the whole force; +and Levis received orders to march by the side of the lake with +twenty-five hundred men, Canadians, regulars, and Iroquois. He set out +at daybreak of the thirtieth of July, his men carrying nothing but their +knapsacks, blankets, and weapons. Guided by the unerring Indians, they +climbed the steep gorge at the side of Rogers Rock, gained the valley +beyond, and marched southward along a Mohawk trail which threaded the +forest in a course parallel to the lake. The way was of the roughest; +many straggled from the line, and two officers completely broke down. +The first destination of the party was the mouth of Ganouskie Bay, now +called Northwest Bay, where they were to wait for Montcalm, and kindle +three fires as a signal that they had reached the rendezvous. + +Montcalm left a detachment to hold Ticonderoga; and then, on the first +of August, at two in the afternoon, he embarked at the Burned Camp with +all his remaining force. Including those with Levis, the expedition +counted about seven thousand six hundred men, of whom more than sixteen +hundred were Indians. At five in the afternoon they reached the place +where the Indians, who had gone on before the rest, were smoking their +pipes and waiting for the army. The red warriors embarked, and joined +the French flotilla; and now, as evening drew near, was seen one of +those wild pageantries of war which Lake George has often witnessed. A +restless multitude of birch canoes, filled with painted savages, glided +by shores and islands, like troops of swimming water-fowl. Two hundred +and fifty bateaux came next, moved by sail and oar, some bearing the +Canadian militia, and some the battalions of Old France in trim and gay +attire: first, La Reine and Languedoc; then the colony regulars; then La +Sarre and Guienne; then the Canadian brigade of Courtemanche; then the +cannon and mortars, each on a platform sustained by two bateaux lashed +side by side, and rowed by the militia of Saint-Ours; then the +battalions of Bearn and Royal Roussillon; then the Canadians of Gaspe, +with the provision-bateaux and the field-hospital; and, lastly, a rear +guard of regulars closed the line. So, under the flush of sunset, they +held their course along the romantic lake, to play their part in the +historic drama that lends a stern enchantment to its fascinating +scenery. They passed the Narrows in mist and darkness; and when, a +little before dawn, they rounded the high promontory of Tongue Mountain, +they saw, far on the right, three fiery sparks shining through the +gloom. These were the signal-fires of Levis, to tell them that he had +reached the appointed spot. + +Levis had arrived the evening before, after his hard march through the +sultry midsummer forest. His men had now rested for a night, and at ten +in the morning he marched again. Montcalm followed at noon, and coasted +the western shore, till, towards evening, he found Levis waiting for him +by the margin of a small bay not far from the English fort, though +hidden from it by a projecting point of land. Canoes and bateaux were +drawn up on the beach, and the united forces made their bivouac +together. + +The earthen mounds of Fort William Henry still stand by the brink of +Lake George; and seated at the sunset of an August day under the pines +that cover them, one gazes on a scene of soft and soothing beauty, where +dreamy waters reflect the glories of the mountains and the sky. As it is +to-day, so it was then; all breathed repose and peace. The splash of +some leaping trout, or the dipping wing of a passing swallow, alone +disturbed the summer calm of that unruffled mirror. + +About ten o'clock at night two boats set out from the fort to +reconnoitre. They were passing a point of land on their left, two miles +or more down the lake, when the men on board descried through the gloom +a strange object against the bank; and they rowed towards it to learn +what it might be. It was an awning over the bateau that carried Roubaud +and his brother missionaries. As the rash oarsmen drew near, the +bleating of a sheep in one of the French provision-boats warned them of +danger; and turning, they pulled for their lives towards the eastern +shore. Instantly more than a thousand Indians threw themselves into +their canoes and dashed in hot pursuit, making the lake and the +mountains ring with the din of their war-whoops. The fugitives had +nearly reached land when their pursuers opened fire. They replied; shot +one Indian dead, and wounded another; then snatched their oars again, +and gained the beach. But the whole savage crew was upon them. Several +were killed, three were taken, and the rest escaped in the dark woods. +The prisoners were brought before Montcalm, and gave him valuable +information of the strength and position of the English.[2] + +The Indian who was killed was a noted chief of the Nipissings; and his +tribesmen howled in grief for their bereavement. They painted his face +with vermilion, tied feathers in his hair, hung pendants in his ears and +nose, clad him in a resplendent war-dress, put silver bracelets on his +arms, hung a gorget on his breast with a flame-colored ribbon, and +seated him in state on the top of a hillock, with his lance in his hand, +his gun in the hollow of his arm, his tomahawk in his belt, and his +kettle by his side. Then they all crouched about him in lugubrious +silence. A funeral harangue followed; and next a song and solemn dance +to the thumping of the Indian drum. In the gray of the morning they +buried him as he sat, and placed food in the grave for his journey to +the land of souls. + +As the sun rose above the eastern mountains the French camp was all +astir. The column of Levis, with Indians to lead the way, moved through +the forest towards the fort, and Montcalm followed with the main body; +then the artillery boats rounded the point that had hid them from the +sight of the English, saluting them as they did so with musketry and +cannon; while a host of savages put out upon the lake, ranged their +canoes abreast in a line from shore to shore, and advanced slowly, with +measured paddle-strokes and yells of defiance. + +[Illustration: SIEGE OF +FORT WILLIAM HENRY. +1757.] + +The position of the enemy was full in sight before them. At the head of +the lake, towards the right, stood the fort, close to the edge of the +water. On its left was a marsh; then the rough piece of ground where +Johnson had encamped two years before; then a low, flat, rocky hill, +crowned with an intrenched camp; and, lastly, on the extreme left, +another marsh. Far around the fort and up the slopes of the western +mountain the forest had been cut down and burned, and the ground was +cumbered with blackened stumps and charred carcasses and limbs of fallen +trees, strewn in savage disorder one upon another. Distant shouts and +war-cries, the clatter of musketry, white puffs of smoke in the dismal +clearing and along the scorched edge of the bordering forest, told that +Levis' Indians were skirmishing with parties of the English, who had +gone out to save the cattle roaming in the neighborhood, and burn some +out-buildings that would have favored the besiegers. Others were taking +down the tents that stood on a plateau near the foot of the mountain on +the right, and moving them to the intrenchment on the hill. The garrison +sallied from the fort to support their comrades, and for a time the +firing was hot. + +Fort William Henry was an irregular bastioned square, formed by +embankments of gravel surmounted by a rampart of heavy logs, laid in +tiers crossed one upon another, the interstices filled with earth. The +lake protected it on the north, the marsh on the east, and ditches with +_chevaux-de-frise_ on the south and west. Seventeen cannon, great and +small, besides several mortars and swivels, were mounted upon it; and a +brave Scotch veteran, Lieutenant-Colonel Monro, of the thirty-fifth +regiment, was in command. + +General Webb lay fourteen miles distant at Fort Edward, with twenty-six +hundred men, chiefly provincials. On the twenty-fifth of July he had +made a visit to Fort William Henry, examined the place, given some +orders, and returned on the twenty-ninth. He then wrote to the Governor +of New York, telling him that the French were certainly coming, begging +him to send up the militia, and saying: "I am determined to march to +Fort William Henry with the whole army under my command as soon as I +shall hear of the farther approach of the enemy." Instead of doing so he +waited three days, and then sent up a detachment of two hundred regulars +under Lieutenant-Colonel Young, and eight hundred Massachusetts men +under Colonel Frye. This raised the force at the lake to two thousand +and two hundred, including sailors and mechanics, and reduced that of +Webb to sixteen hundred, besides half as many more distributed at Albany +and the intervening forts. If, according to his spirited intention, he +should go to the rescue of Monro, he must leave some of his troops +behind him to protect the lower posts from a possible French inroad by +way of South Bay. Thus his power of aiding Monro was slight, so rashly +had Loudon, intent on Louisbourg, left this frontier open to attack. The +defect, however, was as much in Webb himself as in his resources. His +conduct in the past year had raised doubts of his personal courage; and +this was the moment for answering them. Great as was the disparity of +numbers, the emergency would have justified an attempt to save Monro at +any risk. That officer sent him a hasty note, written at nine o'clock on +the morning of the third, telling him that the French were in sight on +the lake; and, in the next night, three rangers came to Fort Edward, +bringing another short note, dated at six in the evening, announcing +that the firing had begun, and closing with the words: "I believe you +will think it proper to send a reinforcement as soon as possible." Now, +if ever, was the time to move, before the fort was invested and access +cut off. But Webb lay quiet, sending expresses to New England for help +which could not possibly arrive in time. On the next night another note +came from Monro to say that the French were upon him in great numbers, +well supplied with artillery, but that the garrison were all in good +spirits. "I make no doubt," wrote the hard-pressed officer, "that you +will soon send us a reinforcement;" and again on the same day: "We are +very certain that a part of the enemy have got between you and us upon +the high road, and would therefore be glad (if it meets with your +approbation) the whole army was marched." But Webb gave no sign. + +When the skirmishing around the fort was over, La Corne, with a body of +Indians, occupied the road that led to Fort Edward, and Levis encamped +hard by to support him, while Montcalm proceeded to examine the ground +and settle his plan of attack. He made his way to the rear of the +intrenched camp and reconnoitred it, hoping to carry it by assault; but +it had a breastwork of stones and logs, and he thought the attempt too +hazardous. The ground where he stood was that where Dieskau had been +defeated; and as the fate of his predecessor was not of flattering +augury, he resolved to besiege the fort in form. + +He chose for the site of his operations the ground now covered by the +village of Caldwell. A little to the north of it was a ravine, beyond +which he formed his main camp, while Levis occupied a tract of dry +ground beside the marsh, whence he could easily move to intercept +succors from Fort Edward on the one hand, or repel a sortie from Fort +William Henry on the other. A brook ran down the ravine and entered the +lake at a small cove protected from the fire of the fort by a point of +land; and at this place, still called Artillery Cove, Montcalm prepared +to debark his cannon and mortars. + +Having made his preparations, he sent Fontbrune, one of his +aides-de-camp, with a letter to Monro. "I owe it to humanity," he wrote, +"to summon you to surrender. At present I can restrain the savages, and +make them observe the terms of a capitulation, as I might not have power +to do under other circumstances; and an obstinate defence on your part +could only retard the capture of the place a few days, and endanger an +unfortunate garrison which cannot be relieved, in consequence of the +dispositions I have made. I demand a decisive answer within an hour." +Monro replied that he and his soldiers would defend themselves to the +last. While the flags of truce were flying, the Indians swarmed over the +fields before the fort; and when they learned the result, an Abenaki +chief shouted in broken French: "You won't surrender, eh! Fire away +then, and fight your best; for if I catch you, you shall get no +quarter." Monro emphasized his refusal by a general discharge of his +cannon. + +The trenches were opened on the night of the fourth,--a task of extreme +difficulty, as the ground was covered by a profusion of half-burned +stumps, roots, branches, and fallen trunks. Eight hundred men toiled +till daylight with pick, spade, and axe, while the cannon from the fort +flashed through the darkness, and grape and round-shot whistled and +screamed over their heads. Some of the English balls reached the camp +beyond the ravine, and disturbed the slumbers of the officers off duty, +as they lay wrapped in their blankets and bearskins. Before daybreak the +first parallel was made; a battery was nearly finished on the left, and +another was begun on the right. The men now worked under cover, safe in +their burrows; one gang relieved another, and the work went on all day. + +The Indians were far from doing what was expected of them. Instead of +scouting in the direction of Fort Edward to learn the movements of the +enemy and prevent surprise, they loitered about the camp and in the +trenches, or amused themselves by firing at the fort from behind stumps +and logs. Some, in imitation of the French, dug little trenches for +themselves, in which they wormed their way towards the rampart, and now +and then picked off an artillery-man, not without loss on their own +side. On the afternoon of the fifth, Montcalm invited them to a council, +gave them belts of wampum, and mildly remonstrated with them. "Why +expose yourselves without necessity? I grieve bitterly over the losses +that you have met, for the least among you is precious to me. No doubt +it is a good thing to annoy the English; but that is not the main point. +You ought to inform me of everything the enemy is doing, and always keep +parties on the road between the two forts." And he gently hinted that +their place was not in his camp, but in that of Levis, where +missionaries were provided for such of them as were Christians, and food +and ammunition for them all. They promised, with excellent docility, to +do everything he wished, but added that there was something on their +hearts. Being encouraged to relieve themselves of the burden, they +complained that they had not been consulted as to the management of the +siege, but were expected to obey orders like slaves. "We know more about +fighting in the woods than you," said their orator; "ask our advice, and +you will be the better for it." + +Montcalm assured them that if they had been neglected, it was only +through the hurry and confusion of the time; expressed high appreciation +of their talents for bush-fighting, promised them ample satisfaction, +and ended by telling them that in the morning they should hear the big +guns. This greatly pleased them, for they were extremely impatient for +the artillery to begin. About sunrise the battery of the left opened +with eight heavy cannon and a mortar, joined, on the next morning, by +the battery of the right, with eleven pieces more. The fort replied with +spirit. The cannon thundered all day, and from a hundred peaks and crags +the astonished wilderness roared back the sound. The Indians were +delighted. They wanted to point the guns; and to humor them, they were +now and then allowed to do so. Others lay behind logs and fallen trees, +and yelled their satisfaction when they saw the splinters fly from the +wooden rampart. + +Day after day the weary roar of the distant cannonade fell on the ears +of Webb in his camp at Fort Edward. "I have not yet received the least +reinforcement," he writes to Loudon; "this is the disagreeable situation +we are at present in. The fort, by the heavy firing we hear from the +lake, is still in our possession; but I fear it cannot long hold out +against so warm a cannonading if I am not reinforced by a sufficient +number of militia to march to their relief." The militia were coming; +but it was impossible that many could reach him in less than a week. +Those from New York alone were within call, and two thousand of them +arrived soon after he sent Loudon the above letter. Then, by stripping +all the forts below, he could bring together forty-five hundred men; +while several French deserters assured him that Montcalm had nearly +twelve thousand. To advance to the relief of Monro with a force so +inferior, through a defile of rocks, forests, and mountains, made by +nature for ambuscades,--and this too with troops who had neither the +steadiness of regulars nor the bush-fighting skill of Indians,--was an +enterprise for firmer nerve than his. + +He had already warned Monro to expect no help from him. At midnight of +the fourth, Captain Bartman, his aide-de-camp, wrote: "The General has +ordered me to acquaint you he does not think it prudent to attempt a +junction or to assist you till reinforced by the militia of the +colonies, for the immediate march of which repeated expresses have been +sent." The letter then declared that the French were in complete +possession of the road between the two forts, that a prisoner just +brought in reported their force in men and cannon to be very great, and +that, unless the militia came soon, Monro had better make what terms he +could with the enemy. + +The chance was small that this letter would reach its destination; and +in fact the bearer was killed by La Corne's Indians, who, in stripping +the body, found the hidden paper, and carried it to the General. +Montcalm kept it several days, till the English rampart was half +battered down; and then, after saluting his enemy with a volley from all +his cannon, he sent it with a graceful compliment to Monro. It was +Bougainville who carried it, preceded by a drummer and a flag. He was +met at the foot of the glacis, blindfolded, and led through the fort +and along the edge of the lake to the intrenched camp, where Monro was +at the time. "He returned many thanks," writes the emissary in his +Diary, "for the courtesy of our nation, and protested his joy at having +to do with so generous an enemy. This was his answer to the Marquis de +Montcalm. Then they led me back, always with eyes blinded; and our +batteries began to fire again as soon as we thought that the English +grenadiers who escorted me had had time to re-enter the fort. I hope +General Webb's letter may induce the English to surrender the sooner." + +By this time the sappers had worked their way to the angle of the lake, +where they were stopped by a marshy hollow, beyond which was a tract of +high ground, reaching to the fort and serving as the garden of the +garrison.[3] Logs and fascines in large quantities were thrown into the +hollow, and hurdles were laid over them to form a causeway for the +cannon. Then the sap was continued up the acclivity beyond, a trench was +opened in the garden, and a battery begun, not two hundred and fifty +yards from the fort. The Indians, in great number, crawled forward among +the beans, maize, and cabbages, and lay there ensconced. On the night of +the seventh, two men came out of the fort, apparently to reconnoitre, +with a view to a sortie, when they were greeted by a general volley and +a burst of yells which echoed among the mountains; followed by +responsive whoops pealing through the darkness from the various camps +and lurking-places of the savage warriors far and near. + +The position of the besieged was now deplorable. More than three hundred +of them had been killed and wounded; small-pox was raging in the fort; +the place was a focus of infection, and the casemates were crowded with +the sick. A sortie from the intrenched camp and another from the fort +had been repulsed with loss. All their large cannon and mortars had been +burst, or disabled by shot; only seven small pieces were left fit for +service; and the whole of Montcalm's thirty-one cannon and fifteen +mortars and howitzers would soon open fire, while the walls were already +breached, and an assault was imminent. Through the night of the eighth +they fired briskly from all their remaining pieces. In the morning the +officers held a council, and all agreed to surrender if honorable terms +could be had. A white flag was raised, a drum was beat, and +Lieutenant-Colonel Young, mounted on horseback,--for a shot in the foot +had disabled him from walking,--went, followed by a few soldiers, to the +tent of Montcalm. + +It was agreed that the English troops should march out with the honors +of war, and be escorted to Fort Edward by a detachment of French troops; +that they should not serve for eighteen months; and that all French +prisoners captured in America since the war began should be given up +within three months. The stores, munitions, and artillery were to be the +prize of the victors, except one field-piece, which the garrison were to +retain in recognition of their brave defence. + +Before signing the capitulation Montcalm called the Indian chiefs to +council, and asked them to consent to the conditions, and promise to +restrain their young warriors from any disorder. They approved +everything and promised everything. The garrison then evacuated the +fort, and marched to join their comrades in the intrenched camp, which +was included in the surrender. No sooner were they gone than a crowd of +Indians clambered through the embrasures in search of rum and plunder. +All the sick men unable to leave their beds were instantly butchered. "I +was witness of this spectacle," says the missionary Roubaud; "I saw one +of these barbarians come out of the casemates with a human head in his +hand, from which the blood ran in streams, and which he paraded as if he +had got the finest prize in the world." There was little left to +plunder; and the Indians, joined by the more lawless of the Canadians, +turned their attention to the intrenched camp, where all the English +were now collected. + +The French guard stationed there could not or would not keep out the +rabble. By the advice of Montcalm the English stove their rum-barrels; +but the Indians were drunk already with homicidal rage, and the glitter +of their vicious eyes told of the devil within. They roamed among the +tents, intrusive, insolent, their visages besmirched with war-paint; +grinning like fiends as they handled, in anticipation of the knife, the +long hair of cowering women, of whom, as well as of children, there were +many in the camp, all crazed with fright. Since the last war the New +England border population had regarded Indians with a mixture of +detestation and horror. Their mysterious warfare of ambush and surprise, +their midnight onslaughts, their butcheries, their burnings, and all +their nameless atrocities, had been for years the theme of fireside +story; and the dread they excited was deepened by the distrust and +dejection of the time. The confusion in the camp lasted through the +afternoon. "The Indians," says Bougainville, "wanted to plunder the +chests of the English; the latter resisted; and there was fear that +serious disorder would ensue. The Marquis de Montcalm ran thither +immediately, and used every means to restore tranquillity: prayers, +threats, caresses, interposition of the officers and interpreters who +have some influence over these savages." "We shall be but too happy if +we can prevent a massacre. Detestable position! of which nobody who has +not been in it can have any idea, and which makes victory itself a +sorrow to the victors. The Marquis spared no efforts to prevent the +rapacity of the savages and, I must say it, of certain persons +associated with them, from resulting in something worse than plunder. At +last, at nine o'clock in the evening, order seemed restored. The Marquis +even induced the Indians to promise that, besides the escort agreed upon +in the capitulation, two chiefs for each tribe should accompany the +English on their way to Fort Edward." He also ordered La Corne and the +other Canadian officers attached to the Indians to see that no violence +took place. He might well have done more. In view of the disorders of +the afternoon, it would not have been too much if he had ordered the +whole body of regular troops, whom alone he could trust for the purpose, +to hold themselves ready to move to the spot in case of outbreak, and +shelter their defeated foes behind a hedge of bayonets. + +Bougainville was not to see what ensued; for Montcalm now sent him to +Montreal, as a special messenger to carry news of the victory. He +embarked at ten o'clock. Returning daylight found him far down the lake; +and as he looked on its still bosom flecked with mists, and its quiet +mountains sleeping under the flush of dawn, there was nothing in the +wild tranquillity of the scene to suggest the tragedy which even then +was beginning on the shore he had left behind. + +The English in their camp had passed a troubled night, agitated by +strange rumors. In the morning something like a panic seized them; for +they distrusted not the Indians only, but the Canadians. In their haste +to be gone they got together at daybreak, before the escort of three +hundred regulars had arrived. They had their muskets, but no ammunition; +and few or none of the provincials had bayonets. Early as it was, the +Indians were on the alert; and, indeed, since midnight great numbers of +them had been prowling about the skirts of the camp, showing, says +Colonel Frye, "more than usual malice in their looks." Seventeen wounded +men of his regiment lay in huts, unable to join the march. In the +preceding afternoon Miles Whitworth, the regimental surgeon, had passed +them over to the care of a French surgeon, according to an agreement +made at the time of the surrender; but, the Frenchman being absent, the +other remained with them attending to their wants. The French surgeon +had caused special sentinels to be posted for their protection. These +were now removed, at the moment when they were needed most; upon which, +about five o'clock in the morning, the Indians entered the huts, dragged +out the inmates, and tomahawked and scalped them all, before the eyes of +Whitworth, and in presence of La Corne and other Canadian officers, as +well as of a French guard stationed within forty feet of the spot; and, +declares the surgeon under oath, "none, either officer or soldier, +protected the said wounded men." The opportune butchery relieved them of +a troublesome burden. + +A scene of plundering now began. The escort had by this time arrived, +and Monro complained to the officers that the capitulation was broken; +but got no other answer than advice to give up the baggage to the +Indians in order to appease them. To this the English at length agreed; +but it only increased the excitement of the mob. They demanded rum; and +some of the soldiers, afraid to refuse, gave it to them from their +canteens, thus adding fuel to the flame. When, after much difficulty, +the column at last got out of the camp and began to move along the road +that crossed the rough plain between the intrenchment and the forest, +the Indians crowded upon them, impeded their march, snatched caps, +coats, and weapons from men and officers, tomahawked those that +resisted, and seizing upon shrieking women and children, dragged them +off or murdered them on the spot. It is said that some of the +interpreters secretly fomented the disorder. Suddenly there rose the +screech of the war-whoop. At this signal of butchery, which was given by +Abenaki Christians from the mission of the Penobscot, a mob of savages +rushed upon the New Hampshire men at the rear of the column, and killed +or dragged away eighty of them. A frightful tumult ensued, when +Montcalm, Levis, Bourlamaque, and many other French officers, who had +hastened from their camp on the first news of disturbance, threw +themselves among the Indians, and by promises and threats tried to allay +their frenzy. "Kill me, but spare the English who are under my +protection," exclaimed Montcalm. He took from one of them a young +officer whom the savage had seized; upon which several other Indians +immediately tomahawked their prisoners, lest they too should be taken +from them. One writer says that a French grenadier was killed and two +wounded in attempting to restore order; but the statement is doubtful. +The English seemed paralyzed, and fortunately did not attempt a +resistance, which, without ammunition as they were, would have ended in +a general massacre. Their broken column struggled forward in wild +disorder, amid the din of whoops and shrieks, till they reached the +French advance-guard, which consisted of Canadians; and here they +demanded protection from the officers, who refused to give it, telling +them that they must take to the woods and shift for themselves. Frye was +seized by a number of Indians, who, brandishing spears and tomahawks, +threatened him with death and tore off his clothing, leaving nothing but +breeches, shoes, and shirt. Repelled by the officers of the guard, he +made for the woods. A Connecticut soldier who was present says of him +that he leaped upon an Indian who stood in his way, disarmed and killed +him, and then escaped; but Frye himself does not mention the incident. +Captain Burke, also of the Massachusetts regiment, was stripped, after a +violent struggle, of all his clothes; then broke loose, gained the +woods, spent the night shivering in the thick grass of a marsh, and on +the next day reached Fort Edward. Jonathan Carver, a provincial +volunteer, declares that, when the tumult was at its height, he saw +officers of the French army walking about at a little distance and +talking with seeming unconcern. Three or four Indians seized him, +brandished their tomahawks over his head, and tore off most of his +clothes, while he vainly claimed protection from a sentinel, who called +him an English dog, and violently pushed him back among his tormentors. +Two of them were dragging him towards the neighboring swamp, when an +English officer, stripped of everything but his scarlet breeches, ran +by. One of Carver's captors sprang upon him, but was thrown to the +ground; whereupon the other went to the aid of his comrade and drove his +tomahawk into the back of the Englishman. As Carver turned to run, an +English boy, about twelve years old, clung to him and begged for help. +They ran on together for a moment, when the boy was seized, dragged from +his protector, and, as Carver judged by his shrieks, was murdered. He +himself escaped to the forest, and after three days of famine reached +Fort Edward. + +The bonds of discipline seem for the time to have been completely +broken; for while Montcalm and his chief officers used every effort to +restore order, even at the risk of their lives, many other officers, +chiefly of the militia, failed atrociously to do their duty. How many +English were killed it is impossible to tell with exactness. Roubaud +says that he saw forty or fifty corpses scattered about the field. Levis +says fifty; which does not include the sick and wounded before murdered +in the camp and fort. It is certain that six or seven hundred persons +were carried off, stripped, and otherwise maltreated. Montcalm succeeded +in recovering more than four hundred of them in the course of the day; +and many of the French officers did what they could to relieve their +wants by buying back from their captors the clothing that had been torn +from them. Many of the fugitives had taken refuge in the fort, whither +Monro himself had gone to demand protection for his followers; and here +Roubaud presently found a crowd of half-frenzied women, crying in +anguish for husbands and children. All the refugees and redeemed +prisoners were afterwards conducted to the intrenched camp, where food +and shelter were provided for them, and a strong guard set for their +protection until the fifteenth, when they were sent under an escort to +Fort Edward. Here cannon had been fired at intervals to guide those who +had fled to the woods, whence they came dropping in from day to day, +half dead with famine. + +On the morning after the massacre the Indians decamped in a body and set +out for Montreal, carrying with them their plunder and some two hundred +prisoners, who, it is said, could not be got out of their hands. The +soldiers were set to the work of demolishing the English fort; and the +task occupied several days. The barracks were torn down, and the huge +pine-logs of the rampart thrown into a heap. The dead bodies that filled +the casemates were added to the mass, and fire was set to the whole. The +mighty funeral pyre blazed all night. Then, on the sixteenth, the army +reimbarked. The din of ten thousand combatants, the rage, the terror, +the agony, were gone; and no living thing was left but the wolves that +gathered from the mountains to feast upon the dead. + +[Footnote 2: The remains of Fort William Henry are now crowded between a +hotel and the wharf and station of a railway. A scheme has been set on +foot to level the whole for other railway structures. When I first knew +the place the ground was in much the same state as in the time of +Montcalm.] + +[Footnote 3: Now the site of Fort William Henry Hotel, with its grounds. +The hollow is partly filled by the main road of Caldwell.] + +[Illustration: MONTCALM. + +Aged 29.] + + + + + BATTLE OF TICONDEROGA. + + +In 1758, the English commanders, incensed at the loss of Fort William +Henry, resolved to retaliate by a strong effort to seize Ticonderoga. In +June, the combined British and provincial force destined for the +expedition was gathered at the head of Lake George under General +Abercromby, while the Marquis de Montcalm lay around the walls of the +French stronghold with an army not one fourth so numerous. + +Montcalm hesitated whether he should not fall back to Crown Point. It +was but a choice of difficulties, and he stayed at Ticonderoga. His +troops were disposed as they had been in the summer before; one +battalion, that of Berry, being left near the fort, while the main body, +under Montcalm himself, was encamped by the saw-mill at the Falls, and +the rest, under Bourlamaque, occupied the head of the portage, with a +small advanced force at the landing-place on Lake George. It remained to +determine at which of these points he should concentrate them and make +his stand against the English. Ruin threatened him in any case; each +position had its fatal weakness or its peculiar danger, and his best +hope was in the ignorance or blundering of his enemy. He seems to have +been several days in a state of indecision. + +In the afternoon of the fifth of July the partisan Langy, who had gone +out to reconnoitre towards the head of Lake George, came back in haste +with the report that the English were embarked in great force. Montcalm +sent a canoe down Lake Champlain to hasten Levis to his aid, and ordered +the battalion of Berry to begin a breastwork and abatis on the high +ground in front of the fort. That they were not begun before shows that +he was in doubt as to his plan of defence; and that his whole army was +not now set to work at them shows that his doubt was still unsolved. + +It was nearly a month since Abercromby had begun his camp at the head of +Lake George. Here, on the ground where Johnson had beaten Dieskau, where +Montcalm had planted his batteries, and Monro vainly defended the wooden +ramparts of Fort William Henry, were now assembled more than fifteen +thousand men; and the shores, the foot of the mountains, and the broken +plains between them were studded thick with tents. Of regulars there +were six thousand three hundred and sixty-seven, officers and soldiers, +and of provincials nine thousand and thirty-four. To the New England +levies, or at least to their chaplains, the expedition seemed a crusade +against the abomination of Babylon; and they discoursed in their sermons +of Moses sending forth Joshua against Amalek. Abercromby, raised to his +place by political influence, was little but the nominal commander. "A +heavy man," said Wolfe in a letter to his father; "an aged gentleman, +infirm in body and mind," wrote William Parkman, a boy of seventeen, who +carried a musket in a Massachusetts regiment, and kept in his knapsack a +dingy little note-book, in which he jotted down what passed each day. +The age of the aged gentleman was fifty-two. + +Pitt meant that the actual command of the army should be in the hands of +Brigadier Lord Howe, and he was in fact its real chief; "the noblest +Englishman that has appeared in my time, and the best soldier in the +British army," says Wolfe. And he elsewhere speaks of him as "that great +man." Abercromby testifies to the universal respect and love with which +officers and men regarded him, and Pitt calls him "a character of +ancient times; a complete model of military virtue." High as this praise +is, it seems to have been deserved. The young nobleman, who was then in +his thirty-fourth year, had the qualities of a leader of men. The army +felt him, from general to drummer boy. He was its soul; and while +breathing into it his own energy and ardor, and bracing it by stringent +discipline, he broke through the traditions of the service and gave it +new shapes to suit the time and place. During the past year he had +studied the art of forest warfare, and joined Rogers and his rangers in +their scouting-parties, sharing all their hardships and making himself +one of them. Perhaps the reforms that he introduced were fruits of this +rough self-imposed schooling. He made officers and men throw off all +useless incumbrances, cut their hair close, wear leggings to protect +them from briers, brown the barrels of their muskets, and carry in their +knapsacks thirty pounds of meal, which they cooked for themselves; so +that, according to an admiring Frenchman, they could live a month +without their supply-trains. "You would laugh to see the droll figure we +all make," writes an officer. "Regulars as well as provincials have cut +their coats so as scarcely to reach their waists. No officer or private +is allowed to carry more than one blanket and a bearskin. A small +portmanteau is allowed each officer. No women follow the camp to wash +our linen. Lord Howe has already shown an example by going to the brook +and washing his own." + +Here, as in all things, he shared the lot of the soldier, and required +his officers to share it. A story is told of him that before the army +embarked he invited some of them to dinner in his tent, where they found +no seats but logs, and no carpet but bearskins. A servant presently +placed on the ground a large dish of pork and peas, on which his +lordship took from his pocket a sheath containing a knife and fork and +began to cut the meat. The guests looked on in some embarrassment; upon +which he said: "Is it possible, gentlemen, that you have come on this +campaign without providing yourselves with what is necessary?" And he +gave each of them a sheath, with a knife and fork, like his own. + +Yet this Lycurgus of the camp, as a contemporary calls him, is described +as a man of social accomplishments rare even in his rank. He made +himself greatly beloved by the provincial officers, with many of whom he +was on terms of intimacy, and he did what he could to break down the +barriers between the colonial soldiers and the British regulars. When he +was at Albany, sharing with other high officers the kindly hospitalities +of Mrs. Schuyler, he so won the heart of that excellent matron that she +loved him like a son; and, though not given to such effusion, embraced +him with tears on the morning when he left her to lead his division to +the lake. In Westminster Abbey may be seen the tablet on which +Massachusetts pays grateful tribute to his virtues, and commemorates +"the affection her officers and soldiers bore to his command." + +On the evening of the fourth of July, baggage, stores, and ammunition +were all on board the boats, and the whole army embarked on the morning +of the fifth. The arrangements were perfect. Each corps marched without +confusion to its appointed station on the beach, and the sun was +scarcely above the ridge of French Mountain when all were afloat. A +spectator watching them from the shore says that when the fleet was +three miles on its way, the surface of the lake at that distance was +completely hidden from sight. There were nine hundred bateaux, a hundred +and thirty-five whaleboats, and a large number of heavy flat boats +carrying the artillery. The whole advanced in three divisions, the +regulars in the centre, and the provincials on the flanks. Each corps +had its flags and its music. The day was fair, and men and officers were +in the highest spirits. + +Before ten o'clock they began to enter the Narrows; and the boats of the +three divisions extended themselves into long files as the mountains +closed on either hand upon the contracted lake. From front to rear the +line was six miles long. The spectacle was superb: the brightness of the +summer day; the romantic beauty of the scenery; the sheen and sparkle of +those crystal waters; the countless islets, tufted with pine, birch, and +fir; the bordering mountains, with their green summits and sunny crags; +the flash of oars and glitter of weapons; the banners, the varied +uniforms, and the notes of bugle, trumpet, bagpipe, and drum, answered +and prolonged by a hundred woodland echoes. "I never beheld so +delightful a prospect," wrote a wounded officer at Albany a fortnight +after. + +Rogers with the rangers, and Gage with the light infantry, led the way +in whaleboats, followed by Bradstreet with his corps of boatmen, armed +and drilled as soldiers. Then came the main body. The central column of +regulars was commanded by Lord Howe, his own regiment, the fifty-fifth, +in the van, followed by the Royal Americans, the twenty-seventh, +forty-fourth, forty-sixth, and eightieth infantry, and the Highlanders +of the forty-second, with their major, Duncan Campbell of Inverawe, +silent and gloomy amid the general cheer, for his soul was dark with +foreshadowings of death. With this central column came what are +described as two floating castles, which were no doubt batteries to +cover the landing of the troops. On the right hand and the left were the +provincials, uniformed in blue, regiment after regiment, from +Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. +Behind them all came the bateaux, loaded with stores and baggage, and +the heavy flat boats that carried the artillery, while a rear-guard of +provincials and regulars closed the long procession. + +At five in the afternoon they reached Sabbath-Day Point, twenty-five +miles down the lake, where they stopped till late in the evening, +waiting for the baggage and artillery, which had lagged behind; and here +Lord Howe, lying on a bearskin by the side of the ranger, John Stark, +questioned him as to the position of Ticonderoga and its best points of +approach. At about eleven o'clock they set out again, and at daybreak +entered what was then called the Second Narrows; that is to say, the +contraction of the lake where it approaches its outlet. Close on their +left, ruddy in the warm sunrise, rose the vast bare face of Rogers Rock, +whence a French advanced party, under Langy and an officer named +Trepezec, was watching their movements. Lord Howe, with Rogers and +Bradstreet, went in whaleboats to reconnoitre the landing. At the place +which the French called the Burned Camp, where Montcalm had embarked the +summer before, they saw a detachment of the enemy too weak to oppose +them. Their men landed and drove them off. At noon the whole army was on +shore. Rogers, with a party of rangers, was ordered forward to +reconnoitre, and the troops were formed for the march. + +[Illustration: Sketch of the country round Tyconderoga] + +From this part of the shore[4] a plain covered with forest stretched +northwestward half a mile or more to the mountains behind which lay the +valley of Trout Brook. On this plain the army began its march in four +columns, with the intention of passing round the western bank of the +river of the outlet, since the bridge over it had been destroyed. +Rogers, with the provincial regiments of Fitch and Lyman, led the way, +at some distance before the rest. The forest was extremely dense and +heavy, and so obstructed with undergrowth that it was impossible to see +more than a few yards in any direction, while the ground was encumbered +with fallen trees in every stage of decay. The ranks were broken, and +the men struggled on as they could in dampness and shade, under a canopy +of boughs that the sun could scarcely pierce. The difficulty increased +when, after advancing about a mile, they came upon undulating and broken +ground. They were now not far from the upper rapids of the outlet. The +guides became bewildered in the maze of trunks and boughs; the marching +columns were confused, and fell in one upon the other. They were in the +strange situation of an army lost in the woods. + +The advanced party of French under Langy and Trepezec, about three +hundred and fifty in all, regulars and Canadians, had tried to retreat; +but before they could do so, the whole English army had passed them, +landed, and placed itself between them and their countrymen. They had no +resource but to take to the woods. They seem to have climbed the steep +gorge at the side of Rogers Rock and followed the Indian path that led +to the valley of Trout Brook, thinking to descend it, and, by circling +along the outskirts of the valley of Ticonderoga, reach Montcalm's camp +at the saw-mill. Langy was used to bushranging; but he too became +perplexed in the blind intricacies of the forest. Towards the close of +the day he and his men had come out from the valley of Trout Brook, and +were near the junction of that stream with the river of the outlet, in a +state of some anxiety, for they could see nothing but brown trunks and +green boughs. Could any of them have climbed one of the great pines that +here and there reared their shaggy spires high above the surrounding +forest, they would have discovered where they were, but would have +gained not the faintest knowledge of the enemy. Out of the woods on the +right they would have seen a smoke rising from the burning huts of the +French camp at the head of the portage, which Bourlamaque had set on +fire and abandoned. At a mile or more in front, the saw-mill at the +Falls might perhaps have been descried, and, by glimpses between the +trees, the tents of the neighboring camp where Montcalm still lay with +his main force. All the rest seemed lonely as the grave; mountain and +valley lay wrapped in primeval woods, and none could have dreamed that, +not far distant, an army was groping its way, buried in foliage; no +rumbling of wagons and artillery trains, for none were there; all silent +but the cawing of some crow flapping his black wings over the sea of +tree-tops. + +Lord Howe, with Major Israel Putnam and two hundred rangers, was at the +head of the principal column, which was a little in advance of the three +others. Suddenly the challenge, _Qui vive!_ rang sharply from the +thickets in front. _Francais!_ was the reply. Langy's men were not +deceived; they fired out of the bushes. The shots were returned; a hot +skirmish followed; and Lord Howe dropped dead, shot through the breast. +All was confusion. The dull, vicious reports of musketry in thick +woods, at first few and scattering, then in fierce and rapid volleys, +reached the troops behind. They could hear, but see nothing. Already +harassed and perplexed, they became perturbed. For all they knew, +Montcalm's whole army was upon them. Nothing prevented a panic but the +steadiness of the rangers, who maintained the fight alone till the rest +came back to their senses. Rogers, with his reconnoitring party, and the +regiments of Fitch and Lyman, were at no great distance in front. They +all turned on hearing the musketry, and thus the French were caught +between two fires. They fought with desperation. About fifty of them at +length escaped; a hundred and forty-eight were captured, and the rest +killed or drowned in trying to cross the rapids. The loss of the English +was small in numbers, but immeasurable in the death of Howe. "The fall +of this noble and brave officer," says Rogers, "seemed to produce an +almost general languor and consternation through the whole army." "In +Lord Howe," writes another contemporary, Major Thomas Mante, "the soul +of General Abercromby's army seemed to expire. From the unhappy moment +the General was deprived of his advice, neither order nor discipline was +observed, and a strange kind of infatuation usurped the place of +resolution." The death of one man was the ruin of fifteen thousand. + +The evil news was despatched to Albany, and in two or three days the +messenger who bore it passed the house of Mrs. Schuyler on the meadows +above the town. "In the afternoon," says her biographer, "a man was seen +coming from the north galloping violently without his hat. Pedrom, as he +was familiarly called, Colonel Schuyler's only surviving brother, was +with her, and ran instantly to inquire, well knowing that he rode +express. The man galloped on, crying out that Lord Howe was killed. The +mind of our good aunt had been so engrossed by her anxiety and fears for +the event impending, and so impressed with the merit and magnanimity of +her favorite hero, that her wonted firmness sank under the stroke, and +she broke out into bitter lamentations. This had such an effect on her +friends and domestics that shrieks and sobs of anguish echoed through +every part of the house." + +The effect of the loss was seen at once. The army was needlessly kept +under arms all night in the forest, and in the morning was ordered back +to the landing whence it came. Towards noon, however, Bradstreet was +sent with a detachment of regulars and provincials to take possession of +the saw-mill at the Falls, which Montcalm had abandoned the evening +before. Bradstreet rebuilt the bridges destroyed by the retiring enemy, +and sent word to his commander that the way was open; on which +Abercromby again put his army in motion, reached the Falls late in the +afternoon, and occupied the deserted encampment of the French. + +Montcalm with his main force had held this position at the Falls through +most of the preceding day, doubtful, it seems, to the last whether he +should not make his final stand there. Bourlamaque was for doing so; but +two old officers, Bernes and Montguy, pointed out the danger that the +English would occupy the neighboring heights; whereupon Montcalm at +length resolved to fall back. The camp was broken up at five o'clock. +Some of the troops embarked in bateaux, while others marched a mile and +a half along the forest road, passed the place where the battalion of +Berry was still at work on the breastwork begun in the morning, and made +their bivouac a little farther on, upon the cleared ground that +surrounded the fort. + +The peninsula of Ticonderoga consists of a rocky plateau, with low +grounds on each side, bordering Lake Champlain on the one hand, and the +outlet of Lake George on the other. The fort stood near the end of the +peninsula, which points towards the southeast. Thence, as one goes +westward, the ground declines a little, and then slowly rises, till, +about half a mile from the fort, it reaches its greatest elevation, and +begins still more gradually to decline again. Thus a ridge is formed +across the plateau between the steep declivities that sink to the low +grounds on right and left. Some weeks before, a French officer named +Hugues had suggested the defence of this ridge by means of an abatis. +Montcalm approved his plan; and now, at the eleventh hour, he resolved +to make his stand here. The two engineers, Pontleroy and Desandrouin, +had already traced the outline of the works, and the soldiers of the +battalion of Berry had made some progress in constructing them. At dawn +of the seventh, while Abercromby, fortunately for his enemy, was drawing +his troops back to the landing-place, the whole French army fell to +their task. The regimental colors were planted along the line, and the +officers, stripped to the shirt, took axe in hand and labored with their +men. The trees that covered the ground were hewn down by thousands, the +tops lopped off, and the trunks piled one upon another to form a massive +breastwork. The line followed the top of the ridge, along which it +zigzagged in such a manner that the whole front could be swept by flank +fires of musketry and grape. Abercromby describes the wall of logs as +between eight and nine feet high; in which case there must have been a +rude _banquette_, or platform to fire from, on the inner side. It was +certainly so high that nothing could be seen over it but the crowns of +the soldiers' hats. The upper tier was formed of single logs, in which +notches were cut to serve as loopholes; and in some places sods and bags +of sand were piled along the top, with narrow spaces to fire through. +From the central part of the line the ground sloped away like a natural +glacis; while at the sides, and especially on the left, it was +undulating and broken. Over this whole space, to the distance of a +musket-shot from the works, the forest was cut down, and the trees left +lying where they fell among the stumps, with tops turned outwards, +forming one vast abatis, which, as a Massachusetts officer says, looked +like a forest laid flat by a hurricane. But the most formidable +obstruction was immediately along the front of the breastwork, where the +ground was covered with heavy boughs, overlapping and interlaced, with +sharpened points bristling into the face of the assailant like the +quills of a porcupine. As these works were all of wood, no vestige of +them remains. The earthworks now shown to tourists as the lines of +Montcalm are of later construction; and though on the same ground, are +not on the same plan. + +Here, then, was a position which, if attacked in front with musketry +alone, might be called impregnable. But would Abercromby so attack it? +He had several alternatives. He might attempt the flank and rear of his +enemy by way of the low grounds on the right and left of the plateau, a +movement which the precautions of Montcalm had made difficult, but not +impossible. Or, instead of leaving his artillery idle on the strand of +Lake George, he might bring it to the front and batter the breastwork, +which, though impervious to musketry, was worthless against heavy +cannon. Or he might do what Burgoyne did with success a score of years +later, and plant a battery on the heights of Rattlesnake Hill, now +called Mount Defiance, which commanded the position of the French, and +whence the inside of their breastwork could be scoured with round-shot +from end to end. Or, while threatening the French front with a part of +his army, he could march the rest a short distance through the woods on +his left to the road which led from Ticonderoga to Crown Point, and +which would soon have brought him to the place called Five-Mile Point, +where Lake Champlain narrows to the width of an easy rifle-shot, and +where a battery of field-pieces would have cut off all Montcalm's +supplies and closed his only way of retreat. As the French were +provisioned for but eight days, their position would thus have been +desperate. They plainly saw the danger; and Doreil declares that had the +movement been made, their whole army must have surrendered. Montcalm had +done what he could; but the danger of his position was inevitable and +extreme. His hope lay in Abercromby; and it was a hope well founded. The +action of the English general answered the utmost wishes of his enemy. + +Abercromby had been told by his prisoners that Montcalm had six thousand +men, and that three thousand more were expected every hour. Therefore he +was in haste to attack before these succors could arrive. As was the +general, so was the army. "I believe," writes an officer, "we were one +and all infatuated by a notion of carrying every obstacle by a mere +_coup de mousqueterie_." Leadership perished with Lord Howe, and nothing +was left but blind, headlong valor. + +Clerk, chief engineer, was sent to reconnoitre the French works from +Mount Defiance; and came back with the report that, to judge from what +he could see, they might be carried by assault. Then, without waiting +to bring up his cannon, Abercromby prepared to storm the lines. + +The French finished their breastwork and abatis on the evening of the +seventh, encamped behind them, slung their kettles, and rested after +their heavy toil. Levis had not yet appeared; but at twilight one of his +officers, Captain Pouchot, arrived with three hundred regulars, and +announced that his commander would come before morning with a hundred +more. The reinforcement, though small, was welcome, and Levis was a host +in himself. Pouchot was told that the army was half a mile off. Thither +he repaired, made his report to Montcalm, and looked with amazement at +the prodigious amount of work accomplished in one day. Levis himself +arrived in the course of the night, and approved the arrangement of the +troops. They lay behind their lines till daybreak; then the drums beat, +and they formed in order of battle. The battalions of La Sarre and +Languedoc were posted on the left, under Bourlamaque, the first +battalion of Berry with that of Royal Roussillon in the centre, under +Montcalm, and those of La Reine, Bearn, and Guienne on the right, under +Levis. A detachment of volunteers occupied the low grounds between the +breastwork and the outlet of Lake George; while, at the foot of the +declivity on the side towards Lake Champlain, were stationed four +hundred and fifty colony regulars and Canadians, behind an abatis which +they had made for themselves; and as they were covered by the cannon of +the fort, there was some hope that they would check any flank movement +which the English might attempt on that side. Their posts being thus +assigned, the men fell to work again to strengthen their defences. +Including those who came with Levis, the total force of effective +soldiers was now thirty-six hundred. + +Soon after nine o'clock a distant and harmless fire of small-arms began +on the slopes of Mount Defiance. It came from a party of Indians who had +just arrived with Sir William Johnson, and who, after amusing themselves +in this manner for a time, remained for the rest of the day safe +spectators of the fight. The soldiers worked undisturbed till noon, when +volleys of musketry were heard from the forest in front. It was the +English light troops driving in the French pickets. A cannon was fired +as a signal to drop tools and form for battle. The white uniforms lined +the breastwork in a triple row, with the grenadiers behind them as a +reserve, and the second battalion of Berry watching the flanks and rear. + +Meanwhile the English army had moved forward from its camp by the +saw-mill. First came the rangers, the light infantry, and Bradstreet's +armed boatmen, who, emerging into the open space, began a spattering +fire. Some of the provincial troops followed, extending from left to +right, and opening fire in turn; then the regulars, who had formed in +columns of attack under cover of the forest, advanced their solid red +masses into the sunlight, and passing through the intervals between the +provincial regiments, pushed forward to the assault. Across the rough +ground, with its maze of fallen trees whose leaves hung withering in the +July sun, they could see the top of the breastwork, but not the men +behind it; when, in an instant, all the line was obscured by a gush of +smoke, a crash of exploding firearms tore the air, and grapeshot and +musket-balls swept the whole space like a tempest; "a damnable fire," +says an officer who heard them screaming about his ears. The English had +been ordered to carry the works with the bayonet; but their ranks were +broken by the obstructions through which they struggled in vain to force +their way, and they soon began to fire in turn. The storm raged in full +fury for an hour. The assailants pushed close to the breastwork; but +there they were stopped by the bristling mass of sharpened branches, +which they could not pass under the murderous crossfires that swept them +from front and flank. At length they fell back, exclaiming that the +works were impregnable. Abercromby, who was at the saw-mill, a mile and +a half in the rear, sent orders to attack again, and again they came on +as before. + +The scene was frightful: masses of infuriated men who could not go +forward and would not go back; straining for an enemy they could not +reach, and firing on an enemy they could not see; caught in the +entanglement of fallen trees; tripped by briers, stumbling over logs, +tearing through boughs; shouting, yelling, cursing, and pelted all the +while with bullets that killed them by scores, stretched them on the +ground, or hung them on jagged branches in strange attitudes of death. +The provincials supported the regulars with spirit, and some of them +forced their way to the foot of the wooden wall. + +The French fought with the intrepid gayety of their nation, and shouts +of _Vive le Roi!_ and _Vive notre General!_ mingled with the din of +musketry. Montcalm, with his coat off, for the day was hot, directed the +defence of the centre, and repaired to any part of the line where the +danger for the time seemed greatest. He is warm in praise of his enemy, +and declares that between one and seven o'clock they attacked him six +successive times. Early in the action Abercromby tried to turn the +French left by sending twenty bateaux, filled with troops, down the +outlet of Lake George. They were met by the fire of the volunteers +stationed to defend the low grounds on that side, and, still advancing, +came within range of the cannon of the fort, which sank two of them and +drove back the rest. + +A curious incident happened during one of the attacks. De Bassignac, a +captain in the battalion of Royal Roussillon, tied his handkerchief to +the end of a musket and waved it over the breastwork in defiance. The +English mistook it for a sign of surrender, and came forward with all +possible speed, holding their muskets crossed over their heads in both +hands, and crying _Quarter_. The French made the same mistake; and +thinking that their enemies were giving themselves up as prisoners, +ceased firing, and mounted on the top of the breastwork to receive them. +Captain Pouchot, astonished, as he says, to see them perched there, +looked out to learn the cause, and saw that the enemy meant anything but +surrender. Whereupon he shouted with all his might: "_Tirez! Tirez! Ne +voyez-vous pas que ces gens-la vont vous enlever?_" The soldiers, still +standing on the breastwork, instantly gave the English a volley, which +killed some of them, and sent back the rest discomfited. + +This was set to the account of Gallic treachery. "Another deceit the +enemy put upon us," says a military letter-writer: "they raised their +hats above the breastwork, which our people fired at; they having +loopholes to fire through, and being covered by the sods, we did them +little damage, except shooting their hats to pieces." In one of the last +assaults a soldier of the Rhode Island regiment, William Smith, managed +to get through all obstructions and ensconce himself close under the +breastwork, where in the confusion he remained for a time unnoticed, +improving his advantages meanwhile by shooting several Frenchmen. Being +at length observed, a soldier fired vertically down upon him and +wounded him severely, but not enough to prevent his springing up, +striking at one of his enemies over the top of the wall, and braining +him with his hatchet. A British officer who saw the feat, and was struck +by the reckless daring of the man, ordered two regulars to bring him +off; which, covered by a brisk fire of musketry, they succeeded in +doing. A letter from the camp two or three weeks later reports him as in +a fair way to recover, being, says the writer, much braced and +invigorated by his anger against the French, on whom he was swearing to +have his revenge. + +Toward five o'clock two English columns joined in a most determined +assault on the extreme right of the French, defended by the battalions +of Guienne and Bearn. The danger for a time was imminent. Montcalm +hastened to the spot with the reserves. The assailants hewed their way +to the foot of the breastwork; and though again and again repulsed, they +again and again renewed the attack. The Highlanders fought with stubborn +and unconquerable fury. "Even those who were mortally wounded," writes +one of their lieutenants, "cried to their companions not to lose a +thought upon them, but to follow their officers and mind the honor of +their country. Their ardor was such that it was difficult to bring them +off." Their major, Campbell of Inverawe, found his foreboding true. He +received a mortal shot, and his clansmen bore him from the field. +Twenty-five of their officers were killed or wounded, and half the men +fell under the deadly fire that poured from the loopholes. Captain John +Campbell and a few followers tore their way through the abatis, climbed +the breastwork, leaped down among the French, and were bayoneted there. + +As the colony troops and Canadians on the low ground were left +undisturbed, Levis sent them an order to make a sortie and attack the +left flank of the charging columns. They accordingly posted themselves +among the trees along the declivity, and fired upwards at the enemy, who +presently shifted their position to the right, out of the line of shot. +The assault still continued, but in vain; and at six there was another +effort, equally fruitless. From this time till half-past seven a +lingering fight was kept up by the rangers and other provincials, firing +from the edge of the woods and from behind the stumps, bushes, and +fallen trees in front of the lines. Its only objects were to cover their +comrades, who were collecting and bringing off the wounded, and to +protect the retreat of the regulars, who fell back in disorder to the +Falls. As twilight came on, the last combatant withdrew, and none were +left but the dead. Abercromby had lost in killed, wounded, and missing, +nineteen hundred and forty-four officers and men. The loss of the +French, not counting that of Langy's detachment, was three hundred and +seventy-seven. Bourlamaque was dangerously wounded; Bougainville +slightly; and the hat of Levis was twice shot through. + +Montcalm, with a mighty load lifted from his soul, passed along the +lines, and gave the tired soldiers the thanks they nobly deserved. Beer, +wine, and food were served out to them, and they bivouacked for the +night on the level ground between the breastwork and the fort. The enemy +had met a terrible rebuff; yet the danger was not over. Abercromby still +had more than thirteen thousand men, and he might renew the attack with +cannon. But, on the morning of the ninth, a band of volunteers who had +gone out to watch him brought back the report that he was in full +retreat. The saw-mill at the Falls was on fire, and the last English +soldier was gone. On the morning of the tenth, Levis, with a strong +detachment, followed the road to the landing-place, and found signs that +a panic had overtaken the defeated troops. They had left behind several +hundred barrels of provisions and a large quantity of baggage; while in +a marshy place that they had crossed was found a considerable number of +their shoes, which had stuck in the mud, and which they had not stopped +to recover. They had embarked on the morning after the battle, and +retreated to the head of the lake in a disorder and dejection wofully +contrasted with the pomp of their advance. A gallant army was sacrificed +by the blunders of its chief. + +Montcalm announced his victory to his wife in a strain of exaggeration +that marks the exaltation of his mind. "Without Indians, almost without +Canadians or colony troops,--I had only four hundred,--alone with Levis +and Bourlamaque and the troops of the line, thirty-one hundred fighting +men, I have beaten an army of twenty-five thousand. They repassed the +lake precipitately, with a loss of at least five thousand. This glorious +day does infinite honor to the valor of our battalions. I have no time +to write more. I am well, my dearest, and I embrace you." And he wrote +to his friend Doreil: "The army, the too-small army of the King, has +beaten the enemy. What a day for France! If I had had two hundred +Indians to send out at the head of a thousand picked men under the +Chevalier de Levis, not many would have escaped. Ah, my dear Doreil, +what soldiers are ours! I never saw the like. Why were they not at +Louisbourg?" + +On the morrow of his victory he caused a great cross to be planted on +the battle-field, inscribed with these lines, composed by the +soldier-scholar himself,-- + + "Quid dux? quid miles? quid strata ingentia ligna? + En Signum! en victor! Deus hic, Deus ipse triumphat." + + "Soldier and chief and rampart's strength are nought; + Behold the conquering Cross! 'Tis God the triumph wrought." + +[Footnote 4: Between the old and new steamboat-landings, and parts +adjacent.] + + + + + A LEGEND OF TICONDEROGA. + + +Mention has been made of the death of Major Duncan Campbell of Inverawe. +The following family tradition relating to it was told me in 1878 by the +late Dean Stanley, to whom I am also indebted for various papers on the +subject, including a letter from James Campbell, Esq., the present laird +of Inverawe, and great-nephew of the hero of the tale. The same story is +told, in an amplified form and with some variations, in the _Legendary +Tales of the Highlands_ of Sir Thomas Dick Lauder. As related by Dean +Stanley and approved by Mr. Campbell, it is this:-- + + The ancient castle of Inverawe stands by the banks of the Awe, + in the midst of the wild and picturesque scenery of the western + Highlands. Late one evening, before the middle of the last + century, as the laird, Duncan Campbell, sat alone in the old + hall, there was a loud knocking at the gate; and, opening it, he + saw a stranger, with torn clothing and kilt besmeared with + blood, who in a breathless voice begged for asylum. He went on + to say that he had killed a man in a fray, and that the pursuers + were at his heels. Campbell promised to shelter him. "Swear on + your dirk!" said the stranger; and Campbell swore. He then led + him to a secret recess in the depths of the castle. Scarcely was + he hidden when again there was a loud knocking at the gate, and + two armed men appeared. "Your cousin Donald has been murdered, + and we are looking for the murderer!" Campbell, remembering his + oath, professed to have no knowledge of the fugitive; and the + men went on their way. The laird, in great agitation, lay down + to rest in a large dark room, where at length he fell asleep. + Waking suddenly in bewilderment and terror, he saw the ghost of + the murdered Donald standing by his bedside, and heard a hollow + voice pronounce the words: "_Inverawe! Inverawe! blood has been + shed. Shield not the murderer!_" In the morning Campbell went to + the hiding-place of the guilty man and told him that he could + harbor him no longer. "You have sworn on your dirk!" he replied; + and the laird of Inverawe, greatly perplexed and troubled, made + a compromise between conflicting duties, promised not to betray + his guest, led him to the neighboring mountain, and hid him in a + cave. + + In the next night, as he lay tossing in feverish slumbers, the + same stern voice awoke him, the ghost of his cousin Donald stood + again at his bedside, and again he heard the same appalling + words: "_Inverawe! Inverawe! blood has been shed. Shield not the + murderer!_" At break of day he hastened, in strange agitation, + to the cave; but it was empty, the stranger was gone. At night, + as he strove in vain to sleep, the vision appeared once more, + ghastly pale, but less stern of aspect than before. "_Farewell, + Inverawe!_" it said; "_Farewell, till we meet at TICONDEROGA!_" + + The strange name dwelt in Campbell's memory. He had joined the + Black Watch, or Forty-second Regiment, then employed in keeping + order in the turbulent Highlands. In time he became its major; + and, a year or two after the war broke out, he went with it to + America. Here, to his horror, he learned that it was ordered to + the attack of Ticonderoga. His story was well known among his + brother officers. They combined among themselves to disarm his + fears; and when they reached the fatal spot they told him on the + eve of the battle, "This is not Ticonderoga; we are not there + yet; this is Fort George." But in the morning he came to them + with haggard looks. "I have seen him! You have deceived me! He + came to my tent last night! This is Ticonderoga! I shall die + to-day!" and his prediction was fulfilled. + +Such is the tradition. The indisputable facts are that Major Duncan +Campbell of Inverawe, his arm shattered by a bullet, was carried to Fort +Edward, where, after amputation, he died and was buried. (_Abercromby to +Pitt, 19 August, 1758._) The stone that marks his grave may still be +seen, with this inscription: "_Here lyes the Body of Duncan Campbell of +Inverawe, Esquire., Major to the old Highland Regiment, aged 55 Years, +who died the 17th July, 1758, of the Wounds he received in the Attack +of the Retrenchment of Ticonderoga or Carrillon, on the 8th July, +1758._" + +His son, Lieutenant Alexander Campbell, was severely wounded at the same +time, but reached Scotland alive, and died in Glasgow. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Campbell, the present Inverawe, in the letter mentioned above, says +that forty-five years ago he knew an old man whose grandfather was +foster-brother to the slain major of the forty-second, and who told him +the following story while carrying a salmon for him to an inn near +Inverawe. The old man's grandfather was sleeping with his son, then a +lad, in the same room, but in another bed. This son, father of the +narrator, "was awakened," to borrow the words of Mr. Campbell, "by some +unaccustomed sound, and behold there was a bright light in the room, and +he saw a figure, in full Highland regimentals, cross over the room and +stoop down over his father's bed and give him a kiss. He was too +frightened to speak, but put his head under his coverlet and went to +sleep. Once more he was roused in like manner, and saw the same sight. +In the morning he spoke to his father about it, who told him that it was +Macdonnochie [_the Gaelic patronymic of the laird of Inverawe_] whom he +had seen, and who came to tell him that he had been killed in a great +battle in America. Sure enough, said my informant, it was on the very +day that the battle of Ticonderoga was fought and the laird was killed." + +It is also said that two ladies of the family of Inverawe saw a battle +in the clouds, in which the shadowy forms of Highland warriors were +plainly to be descried; and that when the fatal news came from America, +it was found that the time of the vision answered exactly to that of the +battle in which the head of the family fell. + + + + + NIAGARA. + +[Illustration: HENNEPIN'S PICTURE OF NIAGARA.] + + + + + SIEGE OF FORT NIAGARA. + + +The River Niagara was known to the Jesuits as early as 1640. The Falls +are indicated on Champlain's map of 1632, and in 1648 the Jesuit +Rugueneau speaks of them as a "cataract of frightful height." + +In 1678, the Falls were visited by the friar Louis Hennepin, who gives +an exaggerated description of them, and illustrates it by a curious +picture. The name Niagara is of Iroquois origin, and in the Mohawk +dialect is pronounced Nyagarah. + +In the year of Hennepin's visit, the followers of Cavelier de la Salle +began a fortified storehouse where Lewiston now stands, and on Cayuga +Creek, a few miles above the Falls, La Salle built the "Griffin," the +first vessel that ever sailed on the Upper Lakes. At the same time he +began a fort at the mouth of the river. La Salle's fort fell to ruin, +and another was built in its place a few years after. This, too, was +abandoned to be again rebuilt, and the post remained in French hands +more than half a century. It was of the greatest importance, since it +commanded the chief route from Canada to the interior of the continent. +At length, in 1759, the year of Wolfe's famous victory at Quebec, +General Prideaux was sent to reduce it. + +Prideaux safely reached Niagara, and laid siege to it. Fort Niagara was +a strong work, lately rebuilt in regular form by an excellent officer, +Captain Pouchot, of the battalion of Bearn, who commanded it. It stood +where the present fort stands, in the angle formed by the junction of +the River Niagara with Lake Ontario, and was held by about six hundred +men, well supplied with provisions and munitions of war. Higher up the +river, a mile and a half above the cataract, there was another fort, +called Little Niagara, built of wood, and commanded by the half-breed +officer, Joncaire-Chabert, who with his brother, Joncaire-Clauzonne, and +a numerous clan of Indian relatives, had long thwarted the efforts of +Sir William Johnson to engage the Five Nations in the English cause. But +recent English successes had had their effect. Joncaire's influence was +waning, and Johnson was now in Prideaux's camp with nine hundred Five +Nation warriors pledged to fight the French. Joncaire, finding his fort +untenable, burned it, and came with his garrison and his Indian friends +to reinforce Niagara. + +Pouchot had another resource, on which he confidently relied. In +obedience to an order from Vaudreuil, the French population of the +Illinois, Detroit, and other distant posts, joined with troops of +Western Indians, had come down the Lakes to restore French ascendency on +the Ohio. These mixed bands of white men and red, bushrangers and +savages, were now gathered, partly at Le Boeuf and Venango, but chiefly +at Presquisle, under command of Aubry, Ligneris, Marin, and other +partisan chiefs, the best in Canada. No sooner did Pouchot learn that +the English were coming to attack him than he sent a messenger to summon +them all to his aid. + +The siege was begun in form, though the English engineers were so +incompetent that the trenches, as first laid out, were scoured by the +fire of the place, and had to be made anew. At last the batteries opened +fire. A shell from a cochorn burst prematurely, just as it left the +mouth of the piece, and a fragment striking Prideaux on the head, killed +him instantly. Johnson took command in his place, and made up in energy +what he lacked in skill. In two or three weeks the fort was in +extremity. The rampart was breached, more than a hundred of the garrison +were killed or disabled, and the rest were exhausted with want of sleep. +Pouchot watched anxiously for the promised succors; and on the morning +of the twenty-fourth of July a distant firing told him that they were at +hand. + +Aubry and Ligneris, with their motley following, had left Presquisle a +few days before, to the number, according to Vaudreuil, of eleven +hundred French and two hundred Indians. Among them was a body of colony +troops; but the Frenchmen of the party were chiefly traders and +bushrangers from the West, connecting links between civilization and +savagery; some of them indeed were mere white Indians, imbued with the +ideas and morals of the wigwam, wearing hunting-shirts of smoked +deer-skin embroidered with quills of the Canada porcupine, painting +their faces black and red, tying eagle feathers in their long hair, or +plastering it on their temples with a compound of vermilion and glue. +They were excellent woodsmen, skilful hunters, and perhaps the best +bushfighters in all Canada. + +When Pouchot heard the firing, he went with a wounded artillery officer +to the bastion next the river; and as the forest had been cut away for a +great distance, they could see more than a mile and a half along the +shore. There, by glimpses among trees and bushes, they descried bodies +of men, now advancing, and now retreating; Indians in rapid movement, +and the smoke of guns, the sound of which reached their ears in heavy +volleys, or a sharp and angry rattle. Meanwhile the English cannon had +ceased their fire, and the silent trenches seemed deserted, as if their +occupants were gone to meet the advancing foe. There was a call in the +fort for volunteers to sally and destroy the works; but no sooner did +they show themselves along the covered way than the seemingly abandoned +trenches were thronged with men and bayonets, and the attempt was given +up. The distant firing lasted half an hour, then ceased, and Pouchot +remained in suspense; till, at two in the afternoon, a friendly +Onondaga, who had passed unnoticed through the English lines, came to +him with the announcement that the French and their allies had been +routed and cut to pieces. Pouchot would not believe him. + +Nevertheless his tale was true. Johnson, besides his Indians, had with +him about twenty-three hundred men, whom he was forced to divide into +three separate bodies,--one to guard the bateaux, one to guard the +trenches, and one to fight Aubry and his band. This last body consisted +of the provincial light infantry and the pickets, two companies of +grenadiers, and a hundred and fifty men of the forty-sixth regiment, all +under command of Colonel Massey. They took post behind an abatis at a +place called La Belle Famille, and the Five Nation warriors placed +themselves on their flanks. These savages had shown signs of +disaffection; and when the enemy approached, they opened a parley with +the French Indians, which, however, soon ended, and both sides raised +the war-whoop. The fight was brisk for a while; but at last Aubry's men +broke away in a panic. The French officers seem to have made desperate +efforts to retrieve the day, for nearly all of them were killed or +captured; while their followers, after heavy loss, fled to their canoes +and boats above the cataract, hastened back to Lake Erie, burned +Presquisle, Le Boeuf, and Venango, and, joined by the garrisons of those +forts, retreated to Detroit, leaving the whole region of the upper Ohio +in undisputed possession of the English. + +At four o'clock on the day of the battle, after a furious cannonade on +both sides, a trumpet sounded from the trenches, and an officer +approached the fort with a summons to surrender. He brought also a paper +containing the names of the captive French officers, though some of them +were spelled in a way that defied recognition. Pouchot, feigning +incredulity, sent an officer of his own to the English camp, who soon +saw unanswerable proof of the disaster; for here, under a shelter of +leaves and boughs near the tent of Johnson, sat Ligneris, severely +wounded, with Aubry, Villiers, Montigny, Marin, and their companions in +misfortune,--in all, sixteen officers, four cadets, and a surgeon. + +Pouchot had now no choice but surrender. By the terms of the +capitulation, the garrison were to be sent prisoners to New York, though +honors of war were granted them in acknowledgment of their courageous +conduct. There was a special stipulation that they should be protected +from the Indians, of whom they stood in the greatest terror, lest the +massacre of Fort William Henry should be avenged upon them. Johnson +restrained his dangerous allies, and, though the fort was pillaged, no +blood was shed. + +The capture of Niagara was an important stroke. Thenceforth Detroit, +Michillimackinac, the Illinois, and all the other French interior posts +were severed from Canada and left in helpless isolation. The conquest of +the whole interior became only a question of time. + + + + + MASSACRE OF THE DEVIL'S HOLE. + + +After the conquest of Canada, there was a general uprising of the Indian +tribes, led by the famous Pontiac, against the British forts and +settlements. In the war that followed, a remarkable incident took place +a little way below Niagara Falls. + +The carrying-place of Niagara formed an essential link in the chain of +communication between the province of New York and the interior country. +Men and military stores were conveyed in boats up the river, as far as +the present site of Lewiston. Thence a portage road, several miles in +length, passed along the banks of the stream, and terminated at Fort +Schlosser, above the cataract. This road traversed a region whose +sublime features have gained for it a world-wide renown. The River +Niagara, a short distance below the cataract, assumes an aspect scarcely +less remarkable than that stupendous scene itself. Its channel is formed +by a vast ravine, whose sides, now bare and weather-stained, now shaggy +with forest-trees, rise in cliffs of appalling height and steepness. +Along this chasm pour all the waters of the lakes, heaving their furious +surges with the power of an ocean and the rage of a mountain torrent. +About three miles below the cataract, the precipices which form the +eastern wall of the ravine are broken by an abyss of awful depth and +blackness, bearing at the present day the name of the Devil's Hole. In +its shallowest part, the precipice sinks sheer down to the depth of +eighty feet, where it meets a chaotic mass of rocks, descending with an +abrupt declivity to unseen depths below. Within the cold and damp +recesses of the gulf, a host of forest-trees have rooted themselves; +and, standing on the perilous brink, one may look down upon the mingled +foliage of ash, poplar, and maple, while, above them all, the spruce and +fir shoot their sharp and rigid spires upward into sunlight. The roar of +the convulsed river swells heavily on the ear, and, far below, its +headlong waters may be discerned careering in foam past the openings of +the matted foliage. + +On the thirteenth of September, 1763, a numerous train of wagons and +pack horses proceeded from the lower landing to Fort Schlosser, and on +the following morning set out on their return, guarded by an escort of +twenty-four soldiers. They pursued their slow progress until they +reached a point where the road passed along the brink of the Devil's +Hole. The gulf yawned on their left, while on their right the road was +skirted by low and densely wooded hills. Suddenly they were greeted by +the blaze and clatter of a hundred rifles. Then followed the startled +cries of men, and the bounding of maddened horses. At the next instant, +a host of Indians broke screeching from the woods, and rifle-butt and +tomahawk finished the bloody work. All was over in a moment. Horses +leaped the precipice; men were driven shrieking into the abyss; teams +and wagons went over, crashing to atoms among the rocks below. Tradition +relates that the drummer boy of the detachment was caught, in his fall, +among the branches of a tree, where he hung suspended by his drum-strap. +Being but slightly injured, he disengaged himself, and, hiding in the +recesses of the gulf, finally escaped. One of the teamsters also, who +was wounded at the first fire, contrived to crawl into the woods, where +he lay concealed till the Indians had left the place. Besides these two, +the only survivor was Stedman, the conductor of the convoy, who, being +well mounted, and seeing the whole party forced helplessly towards the +precipice, wheeled his horse, and resolutely spurred through the crowd +of Indians. One of them, it is said, seized his bridle; but he freed +himself by a dexterous use of his knife, and plunged into the woods, +untouched by the bullets which whistled about his head. Flying at full +speed through the forest, he reached Fort Schlosser in safety. + +The distant sound of the Indian rifles had been heard by a party of +soldiers, who occupied a small fortified camp near the lower landing. +Forming in haste, they advanced eagerly to the rescue. In anticipation +of this movement, the Indians, who were nearly five hundred in number, +had separated into two parties, one of which had stationed itself at the +Devil's Hole, to waylay the convoy, while the other formed an ambuscade +upon the road a mile nearer the landing-place. The soldiers, marching +precipitately, and huddled in a close body, were suddenly assailed by a +volley of rifles, which stretched half their number dead upon the road. +Then, rushing from the forest, the Indians cut down the survivors with +merciless ferocity. A small remnant only escaped the massacre, and fled +to Fort Niagara with the tidings. Major Wilkins, who commanded at this +post, lost no time in marching to the spot, with nearly the whole +strength of his garrison. Not an Indian was to be found. At the two +places of ambuscade, about seventy dead bodies were counted, naked, +scalpless, and so horribly mangled that many of them could not be +recognized. All the wagons had been broken to pieces, and such of the +horses as were not driven over the precipice had been carried off, +laden, doubtless, with the plunder. The ambuscade of the Devil's Hole +has gained a traditionary immortality, adding fearful interest to a +scene whose native horrors need no aid from the imagination. + + + + + MONTREAL. + + + + + THE BIRTH OF MONTREAL. + + +We come now to an enterprise as singular in its character as it proved +important in its results. + +At La Fleche, in Anjou, dwelt one Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere, +receiver of taxes. His portrait shows us a round, _bourgeois_ face, +somewhat heavy perhaps, decorated with a slight mustache, and redeemed +by bright and earnest eyes. On his head he wears a black skull-cap; and +over his ample shoulders spreads a stiff white collar, of wide expanse +and studious plainness. Though he belonged to the _noblesse_, his look +is that of a grave burgher, of good renown and sage deportment. +Dauversiere was, however, an enthusiastic devotee, of mystical +tendencies, who whipped himself with a scourge of small chains till his +shoulders were one wound, wore a belt with more than twelve hundred +sharp points, and invented for himself other torments, which filled his +confessor with admiration. One day, while at his devotions, he heard an +inward voice commanding him to become the founder of a new Order of +hospital nuns; and he was further ordered to establish, on the island +called Montreal, in Canada, a hospital, or Hotel-Dieu, to be conducted +by these nuns. But Montreal was a wilderness, and the hospital would +have no patients. Therefore, in order to supply them, the island must +first be colonized. Dauversiere was greatly perplexed. On the one hand, +the voice of Heaven must be obeyed; on the other, he had a wife, six +children, and a very moderate fortune. + +Again: there was at Paris a young priest, about twenty-eight years of +age,--Jean Jacques Olier, afterwards widely known as founder of the +Seminary of St. Sulpice. Judged by his engraved portrait, his +countenance, though marked both with energy and intellect, was anything +but prepossessing. Every lineament proclaims the priest. Yet the Abbe +Olier has high titles to esteem. He signalized his piety, it is true, by +the most disgusting exploits of self-mortification; but, at the same +time, he was strenuous in his efforts to reform the people and the +clergy. So zealous was he for good morals, that he drew upon himself the +imputation of a leaning to the heresy of the Jansenists,--a suspicion +strengthened by his opposition to certain priests, who, to secure the +faithful in their allegiance, justified them in lives of licentiousness. +Yet Olier's catholicity was past attaintment, and in his horror of +Jansenists he yielded to the Jesuits alone. + +He was praying in the ancient church of St. Germain des Pres, when, like +Dauversiere, he thought he heard a voice from Heaven, saying that he was +destined to be a light to the Gentiles. It is recorded as a mystic +coincidence attending this miracle, that the choir was at that very time +chanting the words, _Lumen ad revelationem Gentium_; and it seems to +have occurred neither to Olier nor to his biographer, that, falling on +the ear of the rapt worshipper, they might have unconsciously suggested +the supposed revelation. But there was a further miracle. An inward +voice told Olier that he was to form a society of priests, and establish +them on the island called Montreal, in Canada, for the propagation of +the True Faith; and writers old and recent assert, that, while both he +and Dauversiere were totally ignorant of Canadian geography, they +suddenly found themselves in possession, they knew not how, of the most +exact details concerning Montreal, its size, shape, situation, soil, +climate, and productions. + +The annual volumes of the Jesuit _Relations_, issuing from the renowned +press of Cramoisy, were at this time spread broadcast throughout France; +and, in the circles of _haute devotion_, Canada and its missions were +everywhere the themes of enthusiastic discussion; while Champlain, in +his published works, had long before pointed out Montreal as the proper +site for a settlement. But we are entering a region of miracle, and it +is superfluous to look far for explanations. The illusion, in these +cases, is a part of the history. + +Dauversiere pondered the revelation he had received; and the more he +pondered, the more was he convinced that it came from God. He therefore +set out for Paris, to find some means of accomplishing the task assigned +him. Here, as he prayed before an image of the Virgin in the church of +Notre-Dame, he fell into an ecstasy, and beheld a vision. "I should be +false to the integrity of history," writes his biographer, "if I did not +relate it here." And he adds, that the reality of this celestial favor +is past doubting, inasmuch as Dauversiere himself told it to his +daughters. Christ, the Virgin, and St. Joseph appeared before him. He +saw them distinctly. Then he heard Christ ask three times of his Virgin +Mother, _Where can I find a faithful servant?_ On which, the Virgin, +taking him (Dauversiere) by the hand, replied, _See, Lord, here is that +faithful servant!_--and Christ, with a benignant smile, received him +into his service, promising to bestow on him wisdom and strength to do +his work. From Paris he went to the neighboring chateau of Meudon, which +overlooks the valley of the Seine, not far from St. Cloud. Entering the +gallery of the old castle, he saw a priest approaching him. It was +Olier. Now we are told that neither of these men had ever seen or heard +of the other; and yet, says the pious historian, "impelled by a kind of +inspiration, they knew each other at once, even to the depths of their +hearts; saluted each other by name, as we read of St. Paul, the Hermit, +and St. Anthony, and of St. Dominic and St. Francis; and ran to embrace +each other, like two friends who had met after a long separation." + +"Monsieur," exclaimed Olier, "I know your design, and I go to commend it +to God at the holy altar." + +And he went at once to say mass in the chapel. Dauversiere received the +communion at his hands; and then they walked for three hours in the +park, discussing their plans. They were of one mind, in respect both to +objects and means; and when they parted, Olier gave Dauversiere a +hundred louis, saying, "This is to begin the work of God." + +They proposed to found at Montreal three religious communities,--_three_ +being the mystic number,--one of secular priests to direct the colonists +and convert the Indians, one of nuns to nurse the sick, and one of nuns +to teach the Faith to the children, white and red. To borrow their own +phrases, they would plant the banner of Christ in an abode of desolation +and a haunt of demons; and to this end a band of priests and women were +to invade the wilderness, and take post between the fangs of the +Iroquois. But first they must make a colony, and to do so must raise +money. Olier had pious and wealthy penitents; Dauversiere had a friend, +the Baron de Fancamp, devout as himself and far richer. Anxious for his +soul, and satisfied that the enterprise was an inspiration of God, he +was eager to bear part in it. Olier soon found three others: and the +six together formed the germ of the Society of Notre-Dame de Montreal. +Among them they raised the sum of seventy-five thousand livres, +equivalent to about as many dollars at the present day. + +Now to look for a moment at their plan. Their eulogists say, and with +perfect truth, that, from a worldly point of view, it was mere folly. +The partners mutually bound themselves to seek no return for the money +expended. Their profit was to be reaped in the skies: and, indeed, there +was none to be reaped on earth. The feeble settlement at Quebec was at +this time in danger of utter ruin; for the Iroquois, enraged at the +attacks made on them by Champlain, had begun a fearful course of +retaliation, and the very existence of the colony trembled in the +balance. But if Quebec was exposed to their ferocious inroads, Montreal +was incomparably more so. A settlement here would be a perilous +outpost,--a hand thrust into the jaws of the tiger. It would provoke +attack, and lie almost in the path of the war-parties. The Associates +could gain nothing by the fur-trade; for they would not be allowed to +share in it. On the other hand, danger apart, the place was an excellent +one for a mission; for here met two great rivers: the St. Lawrence, with +its countless tributaries, flowed in from the west, while the Ottawa +descended from the north; and Montreal, embraced by their uniting +waters, was the key to a vast inland navigation. Thither the Indians +would naturally resort; and thence the missionaries could make their way +into the heart of a boundless heathendom. None of the ordinary motives +of colonization had part in this design. It owed its conception and its +birth to religious zeal alone. + +The island of Montreal belonged to Lauson, former president of the great +company of the Hundred Associates; and his son had a monopoly of fishing +in the St. Lawrence. Dauversiere and Fancamp, after much diplomacy, +succeeded in persuading the elder Lauson to transfer his title to them; +and, as there was a defect in it, they also obtained a grant of the +island from the Hundred Associates, its original owners, who, however, +reserved to themselves its western extremity as a site for a fort and +storehouses. At the same time, the younger Lauson granted them a right +of fishery within two leagues of the shores of the island, for which +they were to make a yearly acknowledgment of ten pounds of fish. A +confirmation of these grants was obtained from the King. Dauversiere and +his companions were now _seigneurs_ of Montreal. They were empowered to +appoint a governor, and to establish courts, from which there was to be +an appeal to the Supreme Court of Quebec, supposing such to exist. They +were excluded from the fur-trade, and forbidden to build castles or +forts other than such as were necessary for defence against the Indians. + +Their title assured, they matured their plan. First they would send out +forty men to take possession of Montreal, intrench themselves, and raise +crops. Then they would build a house for the priests, and two convents +for the nuns. Meanwhile, Olier was toiling at Vaugirard, on the +outskirts of Paris, to inaugurate the seminary of priests, and +Dauversiere at La Fleche, to form the community of hospital nuns. How +the school nuns were provided for we shall see hereafter. The colony, it +will be observed, was for the convents, not the convents for the colony. + +The Associates needed a soldier-governor to take charge of their forty +men; and, directed as they supposed by Providence, they found one +wholly to their mind. This was Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, a +devout and valiant gentleman, who in long service among the heretics of +Holland had kept his faith intact, and had held himself resolutely aloof +from the license that surrounded him. He loved his profession of arms, +and wished to consecrate his sword to the Church. Past all comparison, +he is the manliest figure that appears in this group of zealots. The +piety of the design, the miracles that inspired it, the adventure and +the peril, all combined to charm him; and he eagerly embraced the +enterprise. His father opposed his purpose; but he met him with a text +of St. Mark, "There is no man that hath left house or brethren or +sisters or father for my sake, but he shall receive an hundred-fold." On +this the elder Maisonneuve, deceived by his own worldliness, imagined +that the plan covered some hidden speculation, from which enormous +profits were expected, and therefore withdrew his opposition. + +Their scheme was ripening fast, when both Olier and Dauversiere were +assailed by one of those revulsions of spirit, to which saints of the +ecstatic school are naturally liable. Dauversiere, in particular, was a +prey to the extremity of dejection, uncertainty, and misgiving. What had +he, a family man, to do with ventures beyond sea? Was it not his first +duty to support his wife and children? Could he not fulfil all his +obligations as a Christian by reclaiming the wicked and relieving the +poor at La Fleche? Plainly, he had doubts that his vocation was genuine. +If we could raise the curtain of his domestic life, perhaps we should +find him beset by wife and daughters, tearful and wrathful, inveighing +against his folly, and imploring him to provide a support for them +before squandering his money to plant a convent of nuns in a +wilderness. How long his fit of dejection lasted does not appear; but at +length he set himself again to his appointed work. Olier, too, emerging +from the clouds and darkness, found faith once more, and again placed +himself at the head of the great enterprise. + +There was imperative need of more money; and Dauversiere, under +judicious guidance, was active in obtaining it. This miserable victim of +illusions had a squat, uncourtly figure, and was no proficient in the +graces either of manners or of speech: hence his success in commending +his objects to persons of rank and wealth is set down as one of the many +miracles which attended the birth of Montreal. But zeal and earnestness +are in themselves a power; and the ground had been well marked out and +ploughed for him in advance. That attractive, though intricate, subject +of study, the female mind, has always engaged the attention of priests, +more especially in countries where as in France, women exert a strong +social and political influence. The art of kindling the flames of zeal, +and the more difficult art of directing and controlling them, have been +themes of reflection the most diligent and profound. Accordingly we find +that a large proportion of the money raised for this enterprise was +contributed by devout ladies. Many of them became members of the +Association of Montreal, which was eventually increased to about +forty-five persons, chosen for their devotion and their wealth. + +Olier and his associates had resolved, though not from any collapse of +zeal, to postpone the establishment of the seminary and the college +until after a settlement should be formed. The hospital, however, might, +they thought, be begun at once; for blood and blows would be the assured +portion of the first settlers. At least, a discreet woman ought to +embark with the first colonists as their nurse and housekeeper. Scarcely +was the need recognized when it was supplied. + +Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance was born of an honorable family of +Nogent-le-Roi, and in 1640 was thirty-four years of age. These Canadian +heroines began their religious experiences early. Of Marie de +l'Incarnation we read, that at the age of seven Christ appeared to her +in a vision; and the biographer of Mademoiselle Mance assures us, with +admiring gravity, that, at the same tender age, she bound herself to God +by a vow of perpetual chastity. This singular infant in due time became +a woman, of a delicate constitution, and manners graceful, yet +dignified. Though an earnest devotee, she felt no vocation for the +cloister; yet, while still "in the world," she led the life of a nun. +The Jesuit _Relations_, and the example of Madame de la Peltrie, of whom +she had heard, inoculated her with the Canadian enthusiasm, then so +prevalent; and, under the pretence of visiting relatives, she made a +journey to Paris, to take counsel of certain priests. Of one thing she +was assured: the Divine will called her to Canada, but to what end she +neither knew nor asked to know; for she abandoned herself as an atom to +be borne to unknown destinies on the breath of God. At Paris, Father St. +Jure, a Jesuit, assured her that her vocation to Canada was, past doubt, +a call from Heaven; while Father Rapin, a Recollet, spread abroad the +fame of her virtues, and introduced her to many ladies of rank, wealth, +and zeal. Then, well supplied with money for any pious work to which she +might be summoned, she journeyed to Rochelle, whence ships were to sail +for New France. Thus far she had been kept in ignorance of the plan with +regard to Montreal; but now Father La Place, a Jesuit, revealed it to +her. On the day after her arrival at Rochelle, as she entered the Church +of the Jesuits, she met Dauversiere coming out. "Then," says her +biographer, "these two persons, who had never seen nor heard of each +other, were enlightened supernaturally, whereby their most hidden +thoughts were mutually made known, as had happened already with M. Olier +and this same M. de la Dauversiere." A long conversation ensued between +them; and the delights of this interview were never effaced from the +mind of Mademoiselle Mance. "She used to speak of it like a seraph," +writes one of her nuns, "and far better than many a learned doctor could +have done." + +She had found her destiny. The ocean, the wilderness, the solitude, the +Iroquois,--nothing daunted her. She would go to Montreal with +Maisonneuve and his forty men. Yet, when the vessel was about to sail, a +new and sharp misgiving seized her. How could she, a woman, not yet +bereft of youth or charms, live alone in the forest, among a troop of +soldiers? Her scruples were relieved by two of the men, who, at the last +moment, refused to embark without their wives,--and by a young woman, +who, impelled by enthusiasm, escaped from her friends, and took passage, +in spite of them, in one of the vessels. + +All was ready; the ships set sail; but Olier, Dauversiere, and Fancamp +remained at home, as did also the other Associates, with the exception +of Maisonneuve and Mademoiselle Mance. In the following February, an +impressive scene took place in the Church of Notre-Dame, at Paris. The +Associates, at this time numbering about forty-five, with Olier at their +head, assembled before the altar of the Virgin, and, by a solemn +ceremonial, consecrated Montreal to the Holy Family. Henceforth it was +to be called _Villemarie de Montreal_,--a sacred town, reared to the +honor and under the patronage of Christ, St. Joseph, and the Virgin, to +be typified by three persons on earth, founders respectively of the +three destined communities,--Olier, Dauversiere, and a maiden of Troyes, +Marguerite Bourgeoys: the seminary to be consecrated to Christ, the +Hotel-Dieu to St. Joseph, and the college to the Virgin. + +But we are anticipating a little; for it was several years as yet before +Marguerite Bourgeoys took an active part in the work of Montreal. She +was the daughter of a respectable tradesman, and was now twenty-two +years of age. Her portrait has come down to us; and her face is a mirror +of loyalty and womanly tenderness. Her qualities were those of good +sense, conscientiousness, and a warm heart. She had known no miracles, +ecstasies, or trances; and though afterwards, when her religious +susceptibilities had reached a fuller development, a few such are +recorded of her, yet even the Abbe Faillon, with the best intentions, +can credit her with but a meagre allowance of these celestial favors. +Though in the midst of visionaries, she distrusted the supernatural, and +avowed her belief that, in His government of the world, God does not +often set aside its ordinary laws. Her religion was of the affections, +and was manifested in an absorbing devotion to duty. She had felt no +vocation to the cloister, but had taken the vow of chastity, and was +attached, as an _externe_, to the Sisters of the Congregation of Troyes, +who were fevered with eagerness to go to Canada. Marguerite, however, +was content to wait until there was a prospect that she could do good by +going; and it was not till the year 1653, that, renouncing an +inheritance, and giving all she had to the poor, she embarked for the +savage scene of her labors. To this day, in crowded school-rooms of +Montreal and Quebec, fit monuments of her unobtrusive virtue, her +successors instruct the children of the poor, and embalm the pleasant +memory of Marguerite Bourgeoys. In the martial figure of Maisonneuve, +and the fair form of this gentle nun, we find the true heroes of +Montreal. + +Maisonneuve, with his forty men and four women, reached Quebec too late +to ascend to Montreal that season. They encountered distrust, jealousy, +and opposition. The agents of the Company of the Hundred Associates +looked on them askance; and the Governor of Quebec, Montmagny, saw a +rival governor in Maisonneuve. Every means was used to persuade the +adventurers to abandon their project, and settle at Quebec. Montmagny +called a council of the principal persons of his colony, who gave it as +their opinion that the newcomers had better exchange Montreal for the +Island of Orleans, where they would be in a position to give and receive +succor; while, by persisting in their first design, they would expose +themselves to destruction, and be of use to nobody. Maisonneuve, who was +present, expressed his surprise that they should assume to direct his +affairs. "I have not come here," he said, "to deliberate, but to act. It +is my duty and my honor to found a colony at Montreal; and I would go, +if every tree were an Iroquois!" + +At Quebec there was little ability and no inclination to shelter the new +colonists for the winter; and they would have fared ill, but for the +generosity of M. Puiseaux, who lived not far distant, at a place called +St. Michel. This devout and most hospitable person made room for them +all in his rough, but capacious dwelling. Their neighbors were the +hospital nuns, then living at the mission of Sillery, in a substantial, +but comfortless house of stone; where, amidst destitution, sickness, +and irrepressible disgust at the filth of the savages whom they had in +charge, they were laboring day and night with devoted assiduity. Among +the minor ills which beset them were the eccentricities of one of their +lay sisters, crazed with religious enthusiasm, who had the care of their +poultry and domestic animals, of which she was accustomed to inquire, +one by one, if they loved God; when, not receiving an immediate answer +in the affirmative, she would instantly put them to death, telling them +that their impiety deserved no better fate. + +Early in May, Maisonneuve and his followers embarked. They had gained an +unexpected recruit during the winter, in the person of Madame de la +Peltrie, foundress of the Ursulines of Quebec. The piety, the novelty, +and the romance of their enterprise, all had their charms for the fair +enthusiast; and an irresistible impulse--imputed by a slandering +historian to the levity of her sex--urged her to share their fortunes. +Her zeal was more admired by the Montrealists whom she joined than by +the Ursulines whom she abandoned. She carried off all the furniture she +had lent them, and left them in the utmost destitution. Nor did she +remain quiet after reaching Montreal, but was presently seized with a +longing to visit the Hurons, and preach the Faith in person to those +benighted heathen. It needed all the eloquence of a Jesuit, lately +returned from that most arduous mission, to convince her that the +attempt would be as useless as rash. + +It was the eighth of May when Maisonneuve and his followers embarked at +St. Michel; and as the boats, deep-laden with men, arms, and stores, +moved slowly on their way, the forest, with leaves just opening in the +warmth of spring, lay on their right hand and on their left, in a +flattering semblance of tranquillity and peace. But behind woody islets, +in tangled thickets and damp ravines, and in the shade and stillness of +the columned woods, lurked everywhere a danger and a terror. + +On the seventeenth of May, 1642, Maisonneuve's little flotilla--a +pinnace, a flat-bottomed craft moved by sails, and two +row-boats--approached Montreal; and all on board raised in unison a hymn +of praise. Montmagny was with them, to deliver the island, in behalf of +the Company of the Hundred Associates, to Maisonneuve, representative of +the Associates of Montreal. And here, too, was Father Vimont, Superior +of the missions; for the Jesuits had been prudently invited to accept +the spiritual charge of the young colony. On the following day, they +glided along the green and solitary shores now thronged with the life of +a busy city, and landed on the spot which Champlain, thirty-one years +before, had chosen as the fit site of a settlement. It was a tongue or +triangle of land, formed by the junction of a rivulet with the St. +Lawrence, and known afterwards as Point Calliere. The rivulet was +bordered by a meadow, and beyond rose the forest with its vanguard of +scattered trees. Early spring flowers were blooming in the young grass, +and birds of varied plumage flitted among the boughs. + +Maisonneuve sprang ashore, and fell on his knees. His followers imitated +his example; and all joined their voices in enthusiastic songs of +thanksgiving. Tents, baggage, arms, and stores were landed. An altar was +raised on a pleasant spot near at hand; and Mademoiselle Mance, with +Madame de la Peltrie, aided by her servant, Charlotte Barre, decorated +it with a taste which was the admiration of the beholders. Now all the +company gathered before the shrine. Here stood Vimont, in the rich +vestments of his office. Here were the two ladies, with their servant; +Montmagny, no very willing spectator; and Maisonneuve, a warlike figure, +erect and tall, his men clustering around him,--soldiers, sailors, +artisans, and laborers,--all alike soldiers at need. They kneeled in +reverent silence as the Host was raised aloft; and when the rite was +over, the priest turned and addressed them:-- + +"You are a grain of mustard-seed, that shall rise and grow till its +branches overshadow the earth. You are few, but your work is the work of +God. His smile is on you, and your children shall fill the land." + +The afternoon waned; the sun sank behind the western forest, and +twilight came on. Fireflies were twinkling over the darkened meadow. +They caught them, tied them with threads into shining festoons, and hung +them before the altar, where the Host remained exposed. Then they +pitched their tents, lighted their bivouac fires, stationed their +guards, and lay down to rest. Such was the birth-night of Montreal. + +Is this true history, or a romance of Christian chivalry? It is both. + +A few years later there was another emigration to Montreal, of a +character much like the first. The pious little colony led a struggling +and precarious existence. Many of its inhabitants were killed by the +Iroquois, and its escape from destruction was imputed to the +intervention of the Holy Virgin. The place changed as years went on, and +became a great centre of the fur trade, though still bearing strong +marks of its pristine character. The institutions of religion and +charity planted by its founders remain to this day, and the Seminary of +St. Sulpice holds vast possessions in and around the city. During the +war of 1755-1760, Montreal was a base of military operations. In the +latter year three English armies advanced upon it from three different +points, united before its walls, and forced Governor Vaudreuil to +surrender all Canada to the British Crown. + + + + + QUEBEC. + + + + + INFANCY OF QUEBEC. + + +Champlain was the founder of this old capital of French Canada, whose +existence began in 1608. In that year he built a cluster of fortified +dwellings and storehouses, which he called "The Habitation of Quebec," +and which stood on or near the site of the marketplace of the Lower +Town. + +The settlement made little progress for many years. A company of +merchants held the monopoly of its fur-trade, by which alone it lived. +It was half trading-factory, half mission. Its permanent inmates did not +exceed fifty or sixty persons,--fur-traders, friars, and two or three +wretched families, who had no inducement and little wish to labor. The +fort is facetiously represented as having two old women for garrison, +and a brace of hens for sentinels. All was discord and disorder. +Champlain was the nominal commander; but the actual authority was with +the merchants, who held, excepting the friars, nearly every one in their +pay. Each was jealous of the other, but all were united in a common +jealousy of Champlain. From a short-sighted view of self-interest, they +sought to check the colonization which they were pledged to promote. The +few families whom they brought over were forbidden to trade with the +Indians, and compelled to sell the fruits of their labor to the agents +of the company at a low, fixed price, receiving goods in return at an +inordinate valuation. Some of the merchants were of Rouen, some of St. +Malo; some were Catholics, some were Huguenots. Hence unceasing +bickerings. All exercise of the Reformed Religion, on land or water, was +prohibited within the limits of New France; but the Huguenots set the +prohibition at nought, roaring their heretical psalmody with such vigor +from their ships in the river, that the unhallowed strains polluted the +ears of the Indians on shore. The merchants of Rochelle, who had refused +to join the company, carried on a bold, illicit traffic along the +borders of the St. Lawrence, eluding pursuit, or, if hard pressed, +showing fight; and this was a source of perpetual irritation to the +incensed monopolists. + +Champlain, in his singularly trying position, displayed a mingled zeal +and fortitude. He went every year to France, laboring for the interests +of the colony. To throw open the trade to all competitors was a measure +beyond the wisdom of the times; and he aimed only so to bind and +regulate the monopoly as to make it subserve the generous purpose to +which he had given himself. He had succeeded in binding the company of +merchants with new and more stringent engagements; and, in the vain +belief that these might not be wholly broken, he began to conceive fresh +hopes for the colony. In this faith he embarked with his wife for Quebec +in the spring of 1620; and, as the boat drew near the landing, the +cannon welcomed her to the rock of her banishment. The buildings were +falling to ruin; rain entered on all sides; the court-yard, says +Champlain, was as squalid and dilapidated as a grange pillaged by +soldiers. Madame de Champlain was still very young. If the Ursuline +tradition is to be trusted, the Indians, amazed at her beauty and +touched by her gentleness, would have worshipped her as a divinity. Her +husband had married her at the age of twelve; when, to his horror, he +presently discovered that she was infected with the heresies of her +father, a disguised Huguenot. He addressed himself at once to her +conversion, and his pious efforts were something more than successful. +During the four years which she passed in Canada, her zeal, it is true, +was chiefly exercised in admonishing Indian squaws and catechising their +children; but, on her return to France, nothing would content her but to +become a nun. Champlain refused; but, as she was childless, he at length +consented to a virtual, though not formal, separation. After his death +she gained her wish, became an Ursuline nun, founded a convent of that +order at Meaux, and died with a reputation almost saintly. + +A stranger visiting the fort of Quebec would have been astonished at its +air of conventual decorum. Black Jesuits and scarfed officers mingled at +Champlain's table. There was little conversation, but, in its place, +histories and the lives of saints were read aloud, as in a monastic +refectory. Prayers, masses, and confessions followed each other with an +edifying regularity, and the bell of the adjacent chapel, built by +Champlain, rang morning, noon, and night. Godless soldiers caught the +infection, and whipped themselves in penance for their sins. Debauched +artisans outdid each other in the fury of their contrition. Quebec was +become a Mission. Indians gathered thither as of old, not from the +baneful lure of brandy, for the traffic in it was no longer tolerated, +but from the less pernicious attractions of gifts, kind words, and +politic blandishments. To the vital principle of propagandism the +commercial and the military character were subordinated; or, to speak +more justly, trade, policy, and military power leaned on the missions as +their main support, the grand instrument of their extension. The +missions were to explore the interior; the missions were to win over +the savage hordes at once to Heaven and to France. + +Years passed. The mission of the Hurons was established, and here the +indomitable Brebeuf, with a band worthy of him, toiled amid miseries and +perils as fearful as ever shook the constancy of man; while Champlain at +Quebec, in a life uneventful, yet harassing and laborious, was busied in +the round of cares which his post involved. + +Christmas day, 1635, was a dark day in the annals of New France. In a +chamber of the fort, breathless and cold, lay the hardy frame which war, +the wilderness, and the sea had buffeted so long in vain. After two +months and a half of illness, Champlain, at the age of sixty-eight, was +dead. His last cares were for his colony and the succor of its suffering +families. Jesuits, officers, soldiers, traders, and the few settlers of +Quebec followed his remains to the church; Le Jeune pronounced his +eulogy, and the feeble community built a tomb to his honor. + +The colony could ill spare him. For twenty-seven years he had labored +hard and ceaselessly for its welfare, sacrificing fortune, repose, and +domestic peace to a cause embraced with enthusiasm and pursued with +intrepid persistency. His character belonged partly to the past, partly +to the present. The _preux chevalier_, the crusader, the romance-loving +explorer, the curious, knowledge-seeking traveller, the practical +navigator, all claimed their share in him. His views, though far beyond +those of the mean spirits around him, belonged to his age and his creed. +He was less statesman than soldier. He leaned to the most direct and +boldest policy, and one of his last acts was to petition Richelieu for +men and munitions for repressing that standing menace to the colony, +the Iroquois. His dauntless courage was matched by an unwearied +patience, a patience proved by life-long vexations, and not wholly +subdued even by the saintly follies of his wife. He is charged with +credulity, from which few of his age were free, and which in all ages +has been the foible of earnest and generous natures, too ardent to +criticise, and too honorable to doubt the honor of others. Perhaps in +his later years the heretic might like him more had the Jesuit liked him +less. The adventurous explorer of Lake Huron, the bold invader of the +Iroquois, befits but indifferently the monastic sobrieties of the fort +of Quebec and his sombre environment of priests. Yet Champlain was no +formalist, nor was his an empty zeal. A soldier from his youth, in an +age of unbridled license, his life had answered to his maxims; and when +a generation had passed after his visit to the Hurons, their elders +remembered with astonishment the continence of the great French +war-chief. + +His books mark the man,--all for his theme and his purpose, nothing for +himself. Crude in style, full of the superficial errors of carelessness +and haste, rarely diffuse, often brief to a fault, they bear on every +page the palpable impress of truth. + + + + + A MILITARY MISSION. + + +Quebec was without a governor. Who should succeed Champlain? and would +his successor be found equally zealous for the Faith, and friendly to +the mission? These doubts, as he himself tells us, agitated the mind of +the Father Superior, Le Jeune; but they were happily set at rest, when, +on a morning in June, he saw a ship anchoring in the basin below, and, +hastening with his brethren to the landing-place, was there met by +Charles Huault de Montmagny, a Knight of Malta, followed by a train of +officers and gentlemen. As they all climbed the rock together, Montmagny +saw a crucifix planted by the path. He instantly fell on his knees +before it; and nobles, soldiers, sailors, and priests imitated his +example. The Jesuits sang Te Deum at the church, and the cannon roared +from the adjacent fort. Here the new governor was scarcely installed, +when a Jesuit came in to ask if he would be godfather to an Indian about +to be baptized. "Most gladly," replied the pious Montmagny. He repaired +on the instant to the convert's hut, with a company of gayly apparelled +gentlemen; and while the inmates stared in amazement at the scarlet and +embroidery, he bestowed on the dying savage the name of Joseph, in honor +of the spouse of the Virgin and the patron of New France. Three days +after, he was told that a dead proselyte was to be buried, on which, +leaving the lines of the new fortification he was tracing, he took in +hand a torch, De Lisle, his lieutenant, took another, Repentigny and +St. Jean, gentlemen of his suite, with a band of soldiers, followed, two +priests bore the corpse, and thus all moved together in procession to +the place of burial. The Jesuits were comforted. Champlain himself had +not displayed a zeal so edifying. + +A considerable reinforcement came out with Montmagny, and among the rest +several men of birth and substance, with their families and dependants. +"It was a sight to thank God for," exclaims Father Le Jeune, "to behold +these delicate young ladies and these tender infants issuing from their +wooden prison, like day from the shades of night." The Father, it will +be remembered, had for some years past seen nothing but squaws, with +pappooses swathed like mummies and strapped to a board. + +Both Montmagny and De Lisle were half churchmen, for both were Knights +of Malta. More and more the powers spiritual engrossed the colony. As +nearly as might be, the sword itself was in priestly hands. The Jesuits +were all in all. Authority, absolute and without appeal, was vested in a +council composed of the governor, Le Jeune, and the syndic, an official +supposed to represent the interests of the inhabitants. There was no +tribunal of justice, and the governor pronounced summarily on all +complaints. The church adjoined the fort; and before it was planted a +stake bearing a placard with a prohibition against blasphemy, +drunkenness, or neglect of mass and other religious rites. To the stake +was also attached a chain and iron collar; and hard by was a wooden +horse, whereon a culprit was now and then mounted by way of example and +warning. In a community so absolutely priest-governed, overt offences +were, however, rare; and, except on the annual arrival of the ships +from France, when the rock swarmed with godless sailors, Quebec was a +model of decorum, and wore, as its chroniclers tell us, an aspect +unspeakably edifying. + +In the year 1640, various new establishments of religion and charity +might have been seen at Quebec. There was the beginning of a college and +a seminary for Huron children, an embryo Ursuline convent, an incipient +hospital, and a new Algonquin mission at a place called Sillery, four +miles distant. Champlain's fort had been enlarged and partly rebuilt in +stone by Montmagny, who had also laid out streets on the site of the +future city, though as yet the streets had no houses. Behind the fort, +and very near it, stood the church and a house for the Jesuits. Both +were of pine wood; and this year, 1640, both were burned to the ground, +to be afterwards rebuilt in stone. + +Aside from the fur trade of the Company, the whole life of the colony +was in missions, convents, religious schools, and hospitals. Here on the +rock of Quebec were the appendages, useful and otherwise, of an +old-established civilization. While as yet there were no inhabitants, +and no immediate hope of any, there were institutions for the care of +children, the sick, and the decrepit. All these were supported by a +charity in most cases precarious. The Jesuits relied chiefly on the +Company, who, by the terms of their patent, were obliged to maintain +religious worship. + +Quebec wore an aspect half military, half monastic. At sunrise and +sunset, a squad of soldiers in the pay of the Company paraded in the +fort; and, as in Champlain's time, the bells of the church rang morning, +noon, and night. Confessions, masses, and penances were punctiliously +observed; and, from the governor to the meanest laborer, the Jesuit +watched and guided all. The social atmosphere of New England itself was +not more suffocating. By day and by night, at home, at church, or at his +daily work, the colonist lived under the eyes of busy and over-zealous +priests. At times, the denizens of Quebec grew restless. In 1639, +deputies were covertly sent to beg relief in France, and "to represent +the hell in which the consciences of the colony were kept by the union +of the temporal and spiritual authority in the same hands." + +The very amusements of this pious community were acts of religion. Thus, +on the fete-day of St. Joseph, the patron of New France, there was a +show of fireworks to do him honor. In the forty volumes of the Jesuit +_Relations_ there is but one pictorial illustration; and this represents +the pyrotechnic contrivance in question, together with a figure of the +Governor in the act of touching it off. But, what is more curious, a +Catholic writer of the present day, the Abbe Faillon, in an elaborate +and learned work, dilates at length on the details of the display; and +this, too, with a gravity which evinces his conviction that squibs, +rockets, blue-lights, and serpents are important instruments for the +saving of souls. On May-Day of the same year, 1637, Montmagny planted +before the church a May-pole surmounted by a triple crown, beneath which +were three symbolical circles decorated with wreaths, and bearing +severally the names, _Iesus_, _Maria_, _Ioseph;_ the soldiers drew up +before it, and saluted it with a volley of musketry. + +On the anniversary of the Dauphin's birth there was a dramatic +performance, in which an unbeliever, speaking Algonquin for the profit +of the Indians present, was hunted into Hell by fiends. Religious +processions were frequent. In one of them, the Governor in a court +dress and a baptized Indian in beaver-skins were joint supporters of the +canopy which covered the Host. In another, six Indians led the van, +arrayed each in a velvet coat of scarlet and gold sent them by the King. +Then came other Indian converts, two and two; then the foundress of the +Ursuline convent, with Indian children in French gowns; then all the +Indian girls and women, dressed after their own way; then the priests; +then the Governor; and finally the whole French population, male and +female, except the artillery-men at the fort, who saluted with their +cannon the cross and banner borne at the head of the procession. When +all was over, the Governor and the Jesuits rewarded the Indians with a +feast. + +Now let the stranger enter the church of Notre-Dame de la Recouvrance, +after vespers. It is full, to the very porch: officers in slouched hats +and plumes, musketeers, pikemen, mechanics, and laborers. Here is +Montmagny himself; Repentigny and Poterie, gentlemen of good birth; +damsels of nurture ill fitted to the Canadian woods; and, mingled with +these, the motionless Indians, wrapped to the throat in embroidered +moose-hides. Le Jeune, not in priestly vestments, but in the common +black dress of his Order, is before the altar; and on either side is a +row of small red-skinned children listening with exemplary decorum, +while, with a cheerful, smiling face, he teaches them to kneel, clasp +their hands, and sign the cross. All the principal members of this +zealous community are present, at once amused and edified at the grave +deportment, and the prompt, shrill replies of the infant catechumens; +while their parents in the crowd grin delight at the gifts of beads and +trinkets with which Le Jeune rewards his most proficient pupils. + +The methods of conversion were simple. The principal appeal was to fear. +"You do good to your friends," said Le Jeune to an Algonquin chief, "and +you burn your enemies. God does the same." And he painted Hell to the +startled neophyte as a place where, when he was hungry, he would get +nothing to eat but frogs and snakes, and, when thirsty, nothing to drink +but flames. Pictures were found invaluable. "These holy +representations," pursues the Father Superior, "are half the instruction +that can be given to the Indians. I wanted some pictures of Hell and +souls in perdition, and a few were sent us on paper; but they are too +confused. The devils and the men are so mixed up, that one can make out +nothing without particular attention. If three, four, or five devils +were painted tormenting a soul with different punishments,--one applying +fire, another serpents, another tearing him with pincers, and another +holding him fast with a chain,--this would have a good effect, +especially if everything were made distinct, and misery, rage, and +desperation appeared plainly in his face." + +The preparation of the convert for baptism was often very slight. A +dying Algonquin, who, though meagre as a skeleton, had thrown himself, +with a last effort of expiring ferocity, on an Iroquois prisoner, and +torn off his ear with his teeth, was baptized almost immediately. In the +case of converts in health there was far more preparation; yet these +often apostatized. The various objects of instruction may all be +included in one comprehensive word, submission,--an abdication of will +and judgment in favor of the spiritual director, who was the interpreter +and vicegerent of God. + + + + + MASSACHUSETTS ATTACKS QUEBEC. + + +Like Montreal, Quebec transformed itself in time lost much of its +character of a mission, and became the seat of the colonial government. +In short, it became secularized, though not completely so; for the +priesthood still held an immense influence and disputed the mastery with +the civil and military powers. + +In the beginning of William and Mary's War, Count Frontenac, governor of +Canada, sent repeated war-parties to harass the New England borders; +and, in 1690, the General Court of Massachusetts resolved to retort by a +decisive blow. Sir William Phips was chosen to command the intended +expedition. Phips is said to have been one of twenty-six children, all +of the same mother, and was born in 1650 at a rude border settlement, +since called Woolwich, on the Kennebec. His parents were ignorant and +poor; and till eighteen years of age he was employed in keeping sheep. +Such a life ill suited his active and ambitious nature. To better his +condition, he learned the trade of ship-carpenter, and, in the exercise +of it, came to Boston, where he married a widow with some property, +beyond him in years, and much above him in station. About this time, he +learned to read and write, though not too well, for his signature is +like that of a peasant. Still aspiring to greater things, he promised +his wife that he would one day command a king's ship and own a "fair +brick house in the Green Lane of North Boston," a quarter then occupied +by citizens of the better class. He kept his word at both points. +Fortune was inauspicious to him for several years; till at length, under +the pressure of reverses, he conceived the idea of conquering fame and +wealth at one stroke, by fishing up the treasure said to be stored in a +Spanish galleon wrecked fifty years before somewhere in the West Indian +seas. Full of this project, he went to England, where, through +influences which do not plainly appear, he gained a hearing from persons +in high places, and induced the Admiralty to adopt his scheme. A frigate +was given him, and he sailed for the West Indies; whence, after a long +search, he returned unsuccessful, though not without adventures which +proved his mettle. It was the epoch of the buccaneers; and his crew, +tired of a vain and toilsome search, came to the quarter-deck, armed +with cutlasses, and demanded of their captain that he should turn pirate +with them. Phips, a tall and powerful man, instantly fell upon them with +his fists, knocked down the ringleaders, and awed them all into +submission. Not long after, there was a more formidable mutiny; but, +with great courage and address, he quelled it for a time, and held his +crew to their duty till he had brought the ship into Jamaica, and +exchanged them for better men. + +Though the leaky condition of the frigate compelled him to abandon the +search, it was not till he had gained information which he thought would +lead to success; and, on his return, he inspired such confidence that +the Duke of Albemarle, with other noblemen and gentlemen, gave him a +fresh outfit, and despatched him again on his Quixotic errand. This time +he succeeded, found the wreck, and took from it gold, silver, and jewels +to the value of three hundred thousand pounds sterling. The crew now +leagued together to seize the ship and divide the prize; and Phips, +pushed to extremity, was compelled to promise that every man of them +should have a share in the treasure, even if he paid it himself. On +reaching England, he kept his pledge so well that, after redeeming it, +only sixteen thousand pounds was left as his portion, which, however, +was an ample fortune in the New England of that day. He gained, too, +what he valued almost as much, the honor of knighthood. Tempting offers +were made him of employment in the royal service; but he had an ardent +love for his own country, and thither he presently returned. + +Phips was a rude sailor, bluff, prompt, and choleric. He never gave +proof of intellectual capacity; and such of his success in life as he +did not owe to good luck was due probably to an energetic and +adventurous spirit, aided by a blunt frankness of address that pleased +the great, and commended him to their favor. Two years after the +expedition against Quebec, the king, under the new charter, made him +governor of Massachusetts, a post for which, though totally unfit, he +had been recommended by the elder Mather, who, like his son Cotton, +expected to make use of him. He carried his old habits into his new +office, cudgelled Brinton, the collector of the port, and belabored +Captain Short of the royal navy with his cane. Far from trying to hide +the obscurity of his origin, he leaned to the opposite foible, and was +apt to boast of it, delighting to exhibit himself as a self-made man. +New England writers describe him as honest in private dealings; but, in +accordance with his coarse nature, he seems to have thought that +anything is fair in war. On the other hand, he was warmly patriotic, and +was almost as ready to serve New England as to serve himself. + +Returning from an expedition to Acadia, he found Boston alive with +martial preparation. Massachusetts of her own motion had resolved to +attempt the conquest of Quebec. She and her sister colonies had not yet +recovered from the exhaustion of Philip's War, and still less from the +disorders that attended the expulsion of the royal governor and his +adherents. The public treasury was empty, and the recent expeditions +against the eastern Indians had been supported by private subscription. +Worse yet, New England had no competent military commander. The Puritan +gentlemen of the original emigration, some of whom were as well fitted +for military as for civil leadership, had passed from the stage; and, by +a tendency which circumstances made inevitable, they had left none +behind them equally qualified. The great Indian conflict of fifteen +years before had, it is true, formed good partisan chiefs, and proved +that the New England yeoman, defending his family and his hearth, was +not to be surpassed in stubborn fighting; but, since Andros and his +soldiers had been driven out, there was scarcely a single man in the +colony of the slightest training or experience in regular war. Up to +this moment, New England had never asked help of the mother country. +When thousands of savages burst on her defenceless settlements, she had +conquered safety and peace with her own blood and her own slender +resources; but now, as the proposed capture of Quebec would inure to the +profit of the British crown, Governor Bradstreet and his council thought +it not unfitting to ask for a supply of arms and ammunition, of which +they were in great need. The request was refused, and no aid of any kind +came from the English government, whose resources were engrossed by the +Irish war. + +While waiting for the reply, the colonial authorities urged on their +preparations, in the hope that the plunder of Quebec would pay the +expenses of its conquest. Humility was not among the New England +virtues, and it was thought a sin to doubt that God would give his +chosen people the victory over papists and idolaters; yet no pains were +spared to insure the divine favor. A proclamation was issued, calling +the people to repentance; a day of fasting was ordained; and, as Mather +expresses it, "the wheel of prayer was kept in continual motion." The +chief difficulty was to provide funds. An attempt was made to collect a +part of the money by private subscription; but, as this plan failed, the +provisional government, already in debt, strained its credit yet +farther, and borrowed the needful sums. Thirty-two trading and fishing +vessels, great and small, were impressed for the service. The largest +was a ship called the "Six Friends," engaged in the dangerous West India +trade, and carrying forty-four guns. A call was made for volunteers, and +many enrolled themselves; but, as more were wanted, a press was ordered +to complete the number. So rigorously was it applied that, what with +voluntary and enforced enlistment, one town, that of Gloucester, was +deprived of two thirds of its fencible men. There was not a moment of +doubt as to the choice of a commander, for Phips was imagined to be the +very man for the work. One John Walley, a respectable citizen of +Barnstable, was made second in command, with the modest rank of major; +and a sufficient number of ship-masters, merchants, master mechanics, +and substantial farmers, were commissioned as subordinate officers. +About the middle of July, the committee charged with the preparations +reported that all was ready. Still there was a long delay. The vessel +sent early in spring to ask aid from England had not returned. Phips +waited for her as long as he dared, and the best of the season was over +when he resolved to put to sea. The rustic warriors, duly formed into +companies, were sent on board; and the fleet sailed from Nantasket on +the ninth of August. Including sailors, it carried twenty-two hundred +men, with provisions for four months, but insufficient ammunition and no +pilot for the St. Lawrence. + +The delay at Boston, waiting aid from England that never came, was not +propitious to Phips; nor were the wind and the waves. The voyage to the +St. Lawrence was a long one; and when he began, without a pilot, to +grope his way up the unknown river, the weather seemed in league with +his enemies. He appears, moreover, to have wasted time. What was most +vital to his success was rapidity of movement; yet, whether by his fault +or his misfortune, he remained three weeks within three days' sail of +Quebec. While anchored off Tadoussac, with the wind ahead, he passed the +idle hours in holding councils of war and framing rules for the +government of his men; and, when at length the wind veered to the east, +it is doubtful if he made the best use of his opportunity. + +When, after his protracted voyage, Phips sailed into the Basin of +Quebec, one of the grandest scenes on the western continent opened upon +his sight: the wide expanse of waters, the lofty promontory beyond, and +the opposing heights of Levi; the cataract of Montmorenci, the distant +range of the Laurentian Mountains, the warlike rock with its diadem of +walls and towers, the roofs of the Lower Town clustering on the strand +beneath, the Chateau St. Louis perched at the brink of the cliff, and +over it the white banner, spangled with _fleurs-de-lis_, flaunting +defiance in the clear autumnal air. Perhaps, as he gazed, a suspicion +seized him that the task he had undertaken was less easy than he had +thought; but he had conquered once by a simple summons to surrender, and +he resolved to try its virtue again. + +The fleet anchored a little below Quebec; and towards ten o'clock the +French saw a boat put out from the admiral's ship, bearing a flag of +truce. Four canoes went from the Lower Town, and met it midway. It +brought a subaltern officer, who announced himself as the bearer of a +letter from Sir William Phips to the French commander. He was taken into +one of the canoes and paddled to the quay, after being completely +blindfolded by a bandage which covered half his face. An officer named +Prevost, sent by Count Frontenac, received him as he landed, and ordered +two sergeants to take him by the arms and lead him to the governor. His +progress was neither rapid nor direct. They drew him hither and thither, +delighting to make him clamber in the dark over every possible +obstruction; while a noisy crowd hustled him, and laughing women called +him Colin Maillard, the name of the chief player in blindman's buff. +Amid a prodigious hubbub, intended to bewilder him and impress him with +a sense of immense warlike preparation, they dragged him over the three +barricades of Mountain Street, and brought him at last into a large room +of the chateau. Here they took the bandage from his eyes. He stood for a +moment with an air of astonishment and some confusion. The governor +stood before him, haughty and stern, surrounded by French and Canadian +officers, Maricourt, Sainte-Helene, Longueuil, Villebon, Valrenne, +Bienville, and many more, bedecked with gold lace and silver lace, +perukes and powder, plumes and ribbons, and all the martial foppery in +which they took delight, and regarding the envoy with keen, defiant +eyes. After a moment, he recovered his breath and his composure, +saluted Frontenac, and, expressing a wish that the duty assigned him had +been of a more agreeable nature, handed him the letter of Phips. +Frontenac gave it to an interpreter, who read it aloud in French that +all might hear. It ran thus:-- + + _"Sir William Phips, Knight, General and Commander-in-chief in + and over their Majesties' Forces of New England, by Sea and + Land, to Count Frontenac, Lieutenant-General and Governour for + the French King at Canada; or, in his absence, to his Deputy, or + him or them in chief command at Quebeck:_ + + "The war between the crowns of England and France doth not only + sufficiently warrant, but the destruction made by the French and + Indians, under your command and encouragement, upon the persons + and estates of their Majesties' subjects of New England, without + provocation on their part, hath put them under the necessity of + this expedition for their own security and satisfaction. And + although the cruelties and barbarities used against them by the + French and Indians might, upon the present opportunity, prompt + unto a severe revenge, yet, being desirous to avoid all inhumane + and unchristian-like actions, and to prevent shedding of blood + as much as may be, + + "I, the aforesaid William Phips, Knight, do hereby, in the name + and in the behalf of their most excellent Majesties, William and + Mary, King and Queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, + Defenders of the Faith, and by order of their said Majesties' + government of the Massachuset-colony in New England, demand a + present surrender of your forts and castles, undemolished, and + the King's and other stores, unimbezzled, with a seasonable + delivery of all captives; together with a surrender of all your + persons and estates to my dispose: upon the doing whereof, you + may expect mercy from me, as a Christian, according to what + shall be found for their Majesties' service and the subjects' + security. Which, if you refuse forthwith to do, I am come + provided, and am resolved, by the help of God, in whom I trust, + by force of arms to revenge all wrongs and injuries offered, and + bring you under subjection to the Crown of England, and, when + too late, make you wish you had accepted of the favour tendered. + + "Your answer positive in an hour, returned by your own trumpet, + with the return of mine, is required upon the peril that will + ensue." + +When the reading was finished, the Englishman pulled his watch from his +pocket, and handed it to the governor. Frontenac could not, or pretended +that he could not, see the hour. The messenger thereupon told him that +it was ten o'clock, and that he must have his answer before eleven. A +general cry of indignation arose; and Valrenne called out that Phips was +nothing but a pirate, and that his man ought to be hanged. Frontenac +contained himself for a moment, and then said to the envoy:-- + +"I will not keep you waiting so long. Tell your general that I do not +recognize King William; and that the Prince of Orange, who so styles +himself, is a usurper, who has violated the most sacred laws of blood in +attempting to dethrone his father-in-law. I know no king of England but +King James. Your general ought not to be surprised at the hostilities +which he says that the French have carried on in the colony of +Massachusetts; for, as the king my master has taken the king of England +under his protection, and is about to replace him on his throne by force +of arms, he might have expected that his Majesty would order me to make +war on a people who have rebelled against their lawful prince." Then, +turning with a smile to the officers about him: "Even if your general +offered me conditions a little more gracious, and if I had a mind to +accept them, does he suppose that these brave gentlemen would give +their consent, and advise me to trust a man who broke his agreement +with the governor of Port Royal, or a rebel who has failed in his duty +to his king, and forgotten all the favors he had received from him, to +follow a prince who pretends to be the liberator of England and the +defender of the faith, and yet destroys the laws and privileges of the +kingdom and overthrows its religion? The divine justice which your +general invokes in his letter will not fail to punish such acts +severely." + +The messenger seemed astonished and startled; but he presently asked if +the governor would give him his answer in writing. + +"No," returned Frontenac, "I will answer your general only by the mouths +of my cannon, that he may learn that a man like me is not to be summoned +after this fashion. Let him do his best, and I will do mine;" and he +dismissed the Englishman abruptly. He was again blindfolded, led over +the barricades, and sent back to the fleet by the boat that brought him. + +Phips had often given proof of personal courage, but for the past three +weeks his conduct seems that of a man conscious that he is charged with +a work too large for his capacity. He had spent a good part of his time +in holding councils of war; and now, when he heard the answer of +Frontenac, he called another to consider what should be done. A plan of +attack was at length arranged. The militia were to be landed on the +shore of Beauport, which was just below Quebec, though separated from it +by the St. Charles. They were then to cross this river by a ford +practicable at low water, climb the heights of St. Genevieve, and gain +the rear of the town. The small vessels of the fleet were to aid the +movement by ascending the St. Charles as far as the ford, holding the +enemy in check by their fire, and carrying provisions, ammunition, and +intrenching tools, for the use of the land troops. When these had +crossed and were ready to attack Quebec in the rear, Phips was to +cannonade it in front, and land two hundred men under cover of his guns +to effect a diversion by storming the barricades. Some of the French +prisoners, from whom their captors appear to have received a great deal +of correct information, told the admiral that there was a place a mile +or two above the town where the heights might be scaled and the rear of +the fortifications reached from a direction opposite to that proposed. +This was precisely the movement by which Wolfe afterwards gained his +memorable victory; but Phips chose to abide by the original plan. + +While the plan was debated, the opportunity for accomplishing it ebbed +away. It was still early when the messenger returned from Quebec; but, +before Phips was ready to act, the day was on the wane and the tide was +against him. He lay quietly at his moorings when, in the evening, a +great shouting, mingled with the roll of drums and the sound of fifes, +was heard from the Upper Town. The English officers asked their +prisoner, Granville, what it meant. "Ma foi, Messieurs," he replied, +"you have lost the game. It is the Governor of Montreal with the people +from the country above. There is nothing for you now but to pack and go +home." In fact, Callieres had arrived with seven or eight hundred men, +many of them regulars. With these were bands of _coureurs de bois_ and +other young Canadians, all full of fight, singing and whooping with +martial glee as they passed the western gate and trooped down St. Louis +Street. + +The next day was gusty and blustering; and still Phips lay quiet, +waiting on the winds and the waves. A small vessel, with sixty men on +board, under Captain Ephraim Savage, ran in towards the shore of +Beauport to examine the landing, and stuck fast in the mud. The +Canadians plied her with bullets, and brought a cannon to bear on her. +They might have waded out and boarded her, but Savage and his men kept +up so hot a fire that they forbore the attempt; and, when the tide rose, +she floated again. + +There was another night of tranquillity; but at about eleven on +Wednesday morning the French heard the English fifes and drums in full +action, while repeated shouts of "God save King William!" rose from all +the vessels. This lasted an hour or more; after which a great number of +boats, loaded with men, put out from the fleet and rowed rapidly towards +the shore of Beauport. The tide was low, and the boats grounded before +reaching the landing-place. The French on the rock could see the troops +through telescopes, looking in the distance like a swarm of black ants, +as they waded through mud and water, and formed in companies along the +strand. They were some thirteen hundred in number, and were commanded by +Major Walley. Frontenac had sent three hundred sharpshooters, under +Sainte-Helene, to meet them and hold them in check. A battalion of +troops followed; but, long before they could reach the spot, +Sainte-Helene's men, with a few militia from the neighboring parishes, +and a band of Huron warriors from Lorette, threw themselves into the +thickets along the front of the English, and opened a distant but +galling fire upon the compact bodies of the enemy. Walley ordered a +charge. The New England men rushed, in a disorderly manner, but with +great impetuosity, up the rising ground; received two volleys, which +failed to check them; and drove back the assailants in some confusion. +They turned, however, and fought in Indian fashion with courage and +address, leaping and dodging among trees, rocks, and bushes, firing as +they retreated, and inflicting more harm than they received. Towards +evening they disappeared; and Walley, whose men had been much scattered +in the desultory fight, drew them together as well as he could, and +advanced towards the St. Charles, in order to meet the vessels which +were to aid him in passing the ford. Here he posted sentinels, and +encamped for the night. He had lost four killed and about sixty wounded, +and imagined that he had killed twenty or thirty of the enemy. In fact, +however, their loss was much less, though among the killed was a +valuable officer, the Chevalier de Clermont, and among the wounded the +veteran captain of Beauport, Juchereau de Saint-Denis, more than +sixty-four years of age. In the evening, a deserter came to the English +camp, and brought the unwelcome intelligence that there were three +thousand armed men in Quebec. + +Meanwhile, Phips, whose fault hitherto had not been an excess of +promptitude, grew impatient, and made a premature movement inconsistent +with the preconcerted plan. He left his moorings, anchored his largest +ships before the town, and prepared to cannonade it; but the fiery +veteran who watched him from the Chateau St. Louis anticipated him, and +gave him the first shot. Phips replied furiously, opening fire with +every gun that he could bring to bear; while the rock paid him back in +kind, and belched flame and smoke from all its batteries. So fierce and +rapid was the firing, that La Hontan compares it to volleys of musketry; +and old officers, who had seen many sieges, declared that they had never +known the like. The din was prodigious, reverberated from the +surrounding heights, and rolled back from the distant mountains in one +continuous roar. On the part of the English, however, surprisingly +little was accomplished beside noise and smoke. The practice of their +gunners was so bad that many of their shot struck harmlessly against the +face of the cliff. Their guns, too, were very light, and appear to have +been charged with a view to the most rigid economy of gunpowder; for the +balls failed to pierce the stone walls of the buildings, and did so +little damage that, as the French boasted, twenty crowns would have +repaired it all. Night came at length, and the turmoil ceased. + +Phips lay quiet till daybreak, when Frontenac sent a shot to waken him, +and the cannonade began again. Sainte-Helene had returned from Beauport; +and he, with his brother Maricourt, took charge of the two batteries of +the Lower Town, aiming the guns in person, and throwing balls of +eighteen and twenty-four pounds with excellent precision against the +four largest ships of the fleet. One of their shots cut the flagstaff of +the admiral, and the cross of St. George fell into the river. It drifted +with the tide towards the north shore; whereupon several Canadians +paddled out in a birch canoe, secured it, and brought it back in +triumph. On the spire of the cathedral in the Upper Town had been hung a +picture of the Holy Family, as an invocation of divine aid. The Puritan +gunners wasted their ammunition in vain attempts to knock it down. That +it escaped their malice was ascribed to miracle, but the miracle would +have been greater if they had hit it. + +At length, one of the ships, which had suffered most, hauled off and +abandoned the fight. That of the admiral had fared little better, and +now her condition grew desperate. With her rigging torn, her mainmast +half cut through, her mizzen-mast splintered, her cabin pierced, and +her hull riddled with shot, another volley seemed likely to sink her, +when Phips ordered her to be cut loose from her moorings, and she +drifted out of fire, leaving cable and anchor behind. The remaining +ships soon gave over the conflict, and withdrew to stations where they +could neither do harm nor suffer it. + +Phips had thrown away nearly all his ammunition in this futile and +disastrous attack, which should have been deferred till the moment when +Walley, with his land force, had gained the rear of the town. Walley lay +in his camp, his men wet, shivering with cold, famished, and sickening +with the small-pox. Food, and all other supplies, were to have been +brought him by the small vessels, which should have entered the mouth of +the St. Charles and aided him to cross it. But he waited for them in +vain. Every vessel that carried a gun had busied itself in cannonading, +and the rest did not move. There appears to have been insubordination +among the masters of these small craft, some of whom, being owners or +part-owners of the vessels they commanded, were probably unwilling to +run them into danger. Walley was no soldier; but he saw that to attempt +the passage of the river without aid, under the batteries of the town +and in the face of forces twice as numerous as his own, was not an easy +task. Frontenac, on his part, says that he wished him to do so, knowing +that the attempt would ruin him. The New England men were eager to push +on; but the night of Thursday, the day of Phips's repulse, was so cold +that ice formed more than an inch in thickness, and the half-starved +militia suffered intensely. Six field-pieces, with their ammunition, had +been sent ashore; but they were nearly useless, as there were no means +of moving them. Half a barrel of musket powder, and one biscuit for +each man, were also landed; and with this meagre aid Walley was left to +capture Quebec. He might, had he dared, have made a dash across the ford +on the morning of Thursday, and assaulted the town in the rear while +Phips was cannonading it in front; but his courage was not equal to so +desperate a venture. The firing ceased, and the possible opportunity was +lost. The citizen soldier despaired of success; and, on the morning of +Friday, he went on board the admiral's ship to explain his situation. +While he was gone, his men put themselves in motion, and advanced along +the borders of the St. Charles towards the ford. Frontenac, with three +battalions of regular troops, went to receive them at the crossing; +while Sainte-Helene, with his brother Longueuil, passed the ford with a +body of Canadians, and opened fire on them from the neighboring +thickets. Their advance parties were driven in, and there was a hot +skirmish, the chief loss falling on the New England men, who were fully +exposed. On the side of the French, Sainte-Helene was mortally wounded, +and his brother was hurt by a spent ball. Towards evening, the Canadians +withdrew, and the English encamped for the night. Their commander +presently rejoined them. The admiral had given him leave to withdraw +them to the fleet, and boats were accordingly sent to bring them off; +but, as these did not arrive till about daybreak, it was necessary to +defer the embarkation till the next night. + +At dawn, Quebec was all astir with the beating of drums and the ringing +of bells. The New England drums replied; and Walley drew up his men +under arms, expecting an attack, for the town was so near that the +hubbub of voices from within could plainly be heard. The noise gradually +died away; and, except a few shots from the ramparts, the invaders were +left undisturbed. Walley sent two or three companies to beat up the +neighboring thickets, where he suspected that the enemy was lurking. On +the way, they had the good luck to find and kill a number of cattle, +which they cooked and ate on the spot; whereupon, being greatly +refreshed and invigorated, they dashed forward in complete disorder, and +were soon met by the fire of the ambushed Canadians. Several more +companies were sent to their support, and the skirmishing became lively. +Three detachments from Quebec had crossed the river; and the militia of +Beauport and Beaupre had hastened to join them. They fought like +Indians, hiding behind trees or throwing themselves flat among the +bushes, and laying repeated ambuscades as they slowly fell back. At +length, they all made a stand on a hill behind the buildings and fences +of a farm; and here they held their ground till night, while the New +England men taunted them as cowards who would never fight except under +cover. + +Walley, who with his main body had stood in arms all day, now called in +the skirmishers, and fell back to the landing-place, where, as soon as +it grew dark, the boats arrived from the fleet. The sick men, of whom +there were many, were sent on board, and then, amid floods of rain, the +whole force embarked in noisy confusion, leaving behind them in the mud +five of their cannon. Hasty as was their parting, their conduct on the +whole had been creditable; and La Hontan, who was in Quebec at the time, +says of them, "They fought vigorously, though as ill-disciplined as men +gathered together at random could be; for they did not lack courage, +and, if they failed, it was by reason of their entire ignorance of +discipline, and because they were exhausted by the fatigues of the +voyage." Of Phips he speaks with contempt, and says that he could not +have served the French better if they had bribed him to stand all the +while with his arms folded. Some allowance should, nevertheless, be made +him for the unmanageable character of the force under his command, the +constitution of which was fatal to military subordination. + +On Sunday, the morning after the re-embarkation, Phips called a council +of officers, and it was resolved that the men should rest for a day or +two, that there should be a meeting for prayer, and that, if ammunition +enough could be found, another landing should be attempted; but the +rough weather prevented the prayer-meeting, and the plan of a new attack +was fortunately abandoned. + +Quebec remained in agitation and alarm till Tuesday, when Phips weighed +anchor and disappeared, with all his fleet, behind the Island of +Orleans. He did not go far, as indeed he could not, but stopped four +leagues below to mend rigging, fortify wounded masts, and stop +shot-holes. Subercase had gone with a detachment to watch the retiring +enemy; and Phips was repeatedly seen among his men, on a scaffold at the +side of his ship, exercising his old trade of carpenter. This delay was +turned to good use by an exchange of prisoners. Chief among those in the +hands of the French was Captain Davis, late commander at Casco Bay; and +there were also two young daughters of Lieutenant Clark, who had been +killed at the same place. Frontenac himself had humanely ransomed these +children from the Indians; and Madame de Champigny, wife of the +intendant, had, with equal kindness, bought from them a little girl +named Sarah Gerrish, and placed her in charge of the nuns at the +Hotel-Dieu, who had become greatly attached to her, while she, on her +part, left them with reluctance. The French had the better in these +exchanges, receiving able-bodied men, and returning, with the exception +of Davis, only women and children. + +The heretics were gone, and Quebec breathed freely again. Her escape had +been a narrow one; not that three thousand men, in part regular troops, +defending one of the strongest positions on the continent, and commanded +by Frontenac, could not defy the attacks of two thousand raw fishermen +and farmers, led by an ignorant civilian, but the numbers which were a +source of strength were at the same time a source of weakness. Nearly +all the adult males of Canada were gathered at Quebec, and there was +imminent danger of starvation. Cattle from the neighboring parishes had +been hastily driven into the town; but there was little other provision, +and before Phips retreated the pinch of famine had begun. Had he come a +week earlier or stayed a week later, the French themselves believed that +Quebec would have fallen, in the one case for want of men, and in the +other for want of food. + +Phips returned crestfallen to Boston late in November; and one by one +the rest of the fleet came straggling after him, battered and +weather-beaten. Some did not appear till February, and three or four +never came at all. The autumn and early winter were unusually stormy. +Captain Rainsford, with sixty men, was wrecked on the Island of +Anticosti, where more than half their number died of cold and misery. In +the other vessels, some were drowned, some frost-bitten, and above two +hundred killed by small-pox and fever. + +At Boston, all was dismay and gloom. The Puritan bowed before "this +awful frown of God," and searched his conscience for the sin that had +brought upon him so stern a chastisement. Massachusetts, already +impoverished, found herself in extremity. The war, instead of paying +for itself, had burdened her with an additional debt of fifty thousand +pounds. The sailors and soldiers were clamorous for their pay; and, to +satisfy them, the colony was forced for the first time in its history to +issue a paper currency. It was made receivable at a premium for all +public debts, and was also fortified by a provision for its early +redemption by taxation; a provision which was carried into effect in +spite of poverty and distress. + +Massachusetts had made her usual mistake. She had confidently believed +that ignorance and inexperience could match the skill of a tried +veteran, and that the rude courage of her fishermen and farmers could +triumph without discipline or leadership. The conditions of her material +prosperity were adverse to efficiency in war. A trading republic, +without trained officers, may win victories; but it wins them either by +accident or by an extravagant outlay in money and life. + + + + + THE HEIGHTS OF ABRAHAM. + + +The early part of the Seven Years' War was disastrous to England. The +tide turned with the accession to power of the great war minister, +William Pitt. In 1759, he sent General James Wolfe with a combined +military and naval force to capture Quebec. The British troops numbered +somewhat less than nine thousand, while Montcalm and Vaudreuil were +posted to receive them, on positions almost impregnable, with an army of +regulars, Canadians, and Indians, amounting in all to about sixteen +thousand. The great height of the shores made the British ships of +little or no use for purposes of attack. + +Wolfe took possession of Point Levi, from which he bombarded Quebec. He +also seized the high grounds just below the Montmorenci, and vainly +tried to cross that stream above the cataract and gain the rear of +Montcalm's army, which lay encamped along the shore from the Montmorenci +to the city. Failing in this and every other attempt to force the enemy +to a battle, he rashly resolved to attack them in front, up the steep +declivities at the top of which they were intrenched. The grenadiers +dashed forward prematurely and without orders, struggling desperately to +scale the heights under a deadly fire. The result was a complete +repulse, with heavy loss. + +[Illustration: SIEGE OF QUEBEC, +1759.] + +The capture of Quebec now seemed hopeless. Wolfe was almost in despair. +His body was as frail as his spirit was ardent and daring. Since the +siege began he had passed with ceaseless energy from camp to camp, +animating the troops, observing everything, and directing everything; +but now the pale face and tall lean form were seen no more, and the +rumor spread that the General was dangerously ill. He had in fact been +seized by an access of the disease that had tortured him for some time +past; and fever had followed. His quarters were at a French farmhouse in +the camp at Montmorenci; and here, as he lay in an upper chamber, +helpless in bed, his singular and most unmilitary features haggard with +disease and drawn with pain, no man could less have looked the hero. But +as the needle, though quivering, points always to the pole, so, through +torment and languor and the heats of fever, the mind of Wolfe dwelt on +the capture of Quebec. His illness, which began before the twentieth of +August, had so far subsided on the twenty-fifth that Captain Knox wrote +in his Diary of that day: "His Excellency General Wolfe is on the +recovery, to the inconceivable joy of the whole army." On the +twenty-ninth he was able to write or dictate a letter to the three +brigadiers, Monckton, Townshend, and Murray: "That the public service +may not suffer by the General's indisposition, he begs the brigadiers +will meet and consult together for the public utility and advantage, and +consider of the best method to attack the enemy." The letter then +proposes three plans, all bold to audacity. The first was to send a part +of the army to ford the Montmorenci eight or nine miles above its mouth, +march through the forest, and fall on the rear of the French at +Beauport, while the rest landed and attacked them in front. The second +was to cross the ford at the mouth of the Montmorenci and march along +the strand, under the French intrenchments, till a place could be found +where the troops might climb the heights. The third was to make a +general attack from boats at the Beauport flats. Wolfe had before +entertained two other plans, one of which was to scale the heights at +St. Michel, about a league above Quebec; but this he had abandoned on +learning that the French were there in force to receive him. The other +was to storm the Lower Town; but this also he had abandoned, because the +Upper Town, which commanded it, would still remain inaccessible. + +The brigadiers met in consultation, rejected the three plans proposed in +the letter, and advised that an attempt should be made to gain a footing +on the north shore above the town, place the army between Montcalm and +his base of supply, and so force him to fight or surrender. The scheme +was similar to that of the heights of St. Michel. It seemed desperate, +but so did all the rest; and if by chance it should succeed, the gain +was far greater than could follow any success below the town. Wolfe +embraced it at once. + +Not that he saw much hope in it. He knew that every chance was against +him. Disappointment in the past and gloom in the future, the pain and +exhaustion of disease, toils, and anxieties "too great," in the words of +Burke, "to be supported by a delicate constitution, and a body unequal +to the vigorous and enterprising soul that it lodged," threw him at +times into deep dejection. By those intimate with him he was heard to +say that he would not go back defeated, "to be exposed to the censure +and reproach of an ignorant populace." In other moods he felt that he +ought not to sacrifice what was left of his diminished army in vain +conflict with hopeless obstacles. But his final resolve once taken, he +would not swerve from it. His fear was that he might not be able to lead +his troops in person. "I know perfectly well you cannot cure me," he +said to his physician; "but pray make me up so that I may be without +pain for a few days, and able to do my duty: that is all I want." + +In the last of August, he was able for the first time to leave the +house. It was on this same day that he wrote his last letter to his +mother: "My writing to you will convince you that no personal evils +worse than defeats and disappointments have fallen upon me. The enemy +puts nothing to risk, and I can't in conscience put the whole army to +risk. My antagonist has wisely shut himself up in inaccessible +intrenchments, so that I can't get at him without spilling a torrent of +blood, and that perhaps to little purpose. The Marquis de Montcalm is at +the head of a great number of bad soldiers, and I am at the head of a +small number of good ones, that wish for nothing so much as to fight +him; but the wary old fellow avoids an action, doubtful of the behavior +of his army. People must be of the profession to understand the +disadvantages and difficulties we labor under, arising from the uncommon +natural strength of the country." + +On the second of September a vessel was sent to England with his last +despatch to Pitt. It begins thus: "The obstacles we have met with in the +operations of the campaign are much greater than we had reason to expect +or could foresee; not so much from the number of the enemy (though +superior to us) as from the natural strength of the country, which the +Marquis of Montcalm seems wisely to depend upon. When I learned that +succors of all kinds had been thrown into Quebec; that five battalions +of regular troops, completed from the best inhabitants of the country, +some of the troops of the colony, and every Canadian that was able to +bear arms, besides several nations of savages, had taken the field in a +very advantageous situation,--I could not flatter myself that I should +be able to reduce the place. I sought, however, an occasion to attack +their army, knowing well that with these troops I was able to fight, and +hoping that a victory might disperse them." Then, after recounting the +events of the campaign with admirable clearness, he continues: "I found +myself so ill, and am still so weak, that I begged the general officers +to consult together for the general utility. They are all of opinion +that, as more ships and provisions are now got above the town, they +should try, by conveying up a corps of four or five thousand men (which +is nearly the whole strength of the army after the Points of Levi and +Orleans are left in a proper state of defence), to draw the enemy from +their present situation and bring them to an action. I have acquiesced +in the proposal, and we are preparing to put it into execution." The +letter ends thus: "By the list of disabled officers, many of whom are of +rank, you may perceive that the army is much weakened. By the nature of +the river, the most formidable part of this armament is deprived of the +power of acting; yet we have almost the whole force of Canada to oppose. +In this situation there is such a choice of difficulties that I own +myself at a loss how to determine. The affairs of Great Britain, I know, +require the most vigorous measures; but the courage of a handful of +brave troops should be exerted only when there is some hope of a +favorable event; however, you may be assured that the small part of the +campaign which remains shall be employed, as far as I am able, for the +honor of His Majesty and the interest of the nation, in which I am sure +of being well seconded by the Admiral and by the generals; happy if our +efforts here can contribute to the success of His Majesty's arms in any +other parts of America." + +Perhaps he was as near despair as his undaunted nature was capable of +being. In his present state of body and mind he was a hero without the +light and cheer of heroism. He flattered himself with no illusions, but +saw the worst and faced it all. He seems to have been entirely without +excitement. The languor of disease, the desperation of the chances, and +the greatness of the stake may have wrought to tranquillize him. His +energy was doubly tasked: to bear up his own sinking frame, and to +achieve an almost hopeless feat of arms. + +Audacious as it was, his plan cannot be called rash if we may accept the +statement of two well-informed writers on the French side. They say that +on the tenth of September the English naval commanders held a council on +board the flagship, in which it was resolved that the lateness of the +season required the fleet to leave Quebec without delay. They say +further that Wolfe then went to the Admiral, told him that he had found +a place where the heights could be scaled, that he would send up a +hundred and fifty picked men to feel the way, and that if they gained a +lodgment at the top, the other troops should follow; if, on the other +hand, the French were there in force to oppose them, he would not +sacrifice the army in a hopeless attempt, but embark them for home, +consoled by the thought that all had been done that man could do. On +this, concludes the story, the Admiral and his officers consented to +wait the result. + +As Wolfe had informed Pitt, his army was greatly weakened. Since the end +of June his loss in killed and wounded was more than eight hundred and +fifty, including two colonels, two majors, nineteen captains, and +thirty-four subalterns; and to these were to be added a greater number +disabled by disease. + +The squadron of Admiral Holmes above Quebec had now increased to +twenty-two vessels, great and small. One of the last that went up was a +diminutive schooner, armed with a few swivels, and jocosely named the +"Terror of France." She sailed by the town in broad daylight, the +French, incensed at her impudence, blazing at her from all their +batteries; but she passed unharmed, anchored by the Admiral's ship, and +saluted him triumphantly with her swivels. + +Wolfe's first move towards executing his plan was the critical one of +evacuating the camp at Montmorenci. This was accomplished on the third +of September. Montcalm sent a strong force to fall on the rear of the +retiring English. Monckton saw the movement from Point Levi, embarked +two battalions in the boats of the fleet, and made a feint of landing at +Beauport. Montcalm recalled his troops to repulse the threatened attack; +and the English withdrew from Montmorenci unmolested, some to the Point +of Orleans, others to Point Levi. On the night of the fourth a fleet of +flat boats passed above the town with the baggage and stores. On the +fifth, Murray, with four battalions, marched up to the River Etechemin, +and forded it under a hot fire from the French batteries at Sillery. +Monckton and Townshend followed with three more battalions, and the +united force, of about thirty-six hundred men, was embarked on board the +ships of Holmes, where Wolfe joined them on the same evening. + +These movements of the English filled the French commanders with mingled +perplexity, anxiety, and hope. A deserter told them that Admiral +Saunders was impatient to be gone. Vaudreuil grew confident. "The +breaking up of the camp at Montmorenci," he says, "and the abandonment +of the intrenchments there, the re-embarkation on board the vessels +above Quebec of the troops who had encamped on the south bank, the +movements of these vessels, the removal of the heaviest pieces of +artillery from the batteries of Point Levi,--these and the lateness of +the season all combined to announce the speedy departure of the fleet, +several vessels of which had even sailed down the river already. The +prisoners and the deserters who daily came in told us that this was the +common report in their army." He wrote to Bourlamaque on the first of +September: "Everything proves that the grand design of the English has +failed." + +Yet he was ceaselessly watchful. So was Montcalm; and he, too, on the +night of the second, snatched a moment to write to Bourlamaque from his +headquarters in the stone house, by the river of Beauport: "The night is +dark; it rains; our troops are in their tents, with clothes on, ready +for an alarm; I in my boots; my horses saddled. In fact, this is my +usual way. I wish you were here; for I cannot be everywhere, though I +multiply myself, and have not taken off my clothes since the +twenty-third of June." On the eleventh of September he wrote his last +letter to Bourlamaque, and probably the last that his pen ever traced. +"I am overwhelmed with work, and should often lose temper, like you, if +I did not remember that I am paid by Europe for not losing it. Nothing +new since my last. I give the enemy another month, or something less, to +stay here." The more sanguine Vaudreuil would hardly give them a week. + +Meanwhile, no precaution was spared. The force under Bougainville above +Quebec was raised to three thousand men. He was ordered to watch the +shore as far as Jacques-Cartier, and follow with his main body every +movement of Holmes's squadron. There was little fear for the heights +near the town; they were thought inaccessible. Even Montcalm believed +them safe, and had expressed himself to that effect some time before. +"We need not suppose," he wrote to Vaudreuil, "that the enemy have +wings;" and again, speaking of the very place where Wolfe afterwards +landed, "I swear to you that a hundred men posted there would stop their +whole army." He was right. A hundred watchful and determined men could +have held the position long enough for reinforcements to come up. + +The hundred men were there. Captain de Vergor, of the colony troops, +commanded them, and reinforcements were within his call; for the +battalion of Guienne had been ordered to encamp close at hand on the +Plains of Abraham. Vergor's post, called Anse du Foulon, was a mile and +a half from Quebec. A little beyond it, by the brink of the cliffs, was +another post, called Samos, held by seventy men with four cannon; and, +beyond this again, the heights of Sillery were guarded by a hundred and +thirty men, also with cannon. These were outposts of Bougainville, whose +headquarters were at Cap-Rouge, six miles above Sillery, and whose +troops were in continual movement along the intervening shore. Thus all +was vigilance; for while the French were strong in the hope of speedy +delivery, they felt that there was no safety till the tents of the +invader had vanished from their shores and his ships from their river. +"What we knew," says one of them, "of the character of M. Wolfe, that +impetuous, bold, and intrepid warrior, prepared us for a last attack +before he left us." + +Wolfe had been very ill on the evening of the fourth. The troops knew +it, and their spirits sank; but, after a night of torment, he grew +better, and was soon among them again, rekindling their ardor, and +imparting a cheer that he could not share. For himself he had no pity; +but when he heard of the illness of two officers in one of the ships, he +sent them a message of warm sympathy, advised them to return to Point +Levi, and offered them his own barge and an escort. They thanked him, +but replied that, come what might, they would see the enterprise to an +end. Another officer remarked in his hearing that one of the invalids +had a very delicate constitution. "Don't tell me of constitution," said +Wolfe; "he has good spirit, and good spirit will carry a man through +everything." An immense moral force bore up his own frail body and +forced it to its work. + +Major Robert Stobo, who, five years before, had been given as a hostage +to the French at the capture of Fort Necessity, arrived about this time +in a vessel from Halifax. He had long been a prisoner at Quebec, not +always in close custody, and had used his opportunities to acquaint +himself with the neighborhood. In the spring of this year he and an +officer of rangers named Stevens had made their escape with +extraordinary skill and daring; and he now returned to give his +countrymen the benefit of his local knowledge. His biographer says that +it was he who directed Wolfe in the choice of a landing-place. Be this +as it may, Wolfe in person examined the river and the shores as far as +Pointe-aux-Trembles; till at length, landing on the south side a little +above Quebec, and looking across the water with a telescope, he descried +a path that ran with a long slope up the face of the woody precipice, +and saw at the top a cluster of tents. They were those of Vergor's +guard at the Anse du Foulon, now called Wolfe's Cove. As he could see +but ten or twelve of them, he thought that the guard could not be +numerous, and might be overpowered. His hope would have been stronger if +he had known that Vergor had once been tried for misconduct and +cowardice in the surrender of Beausejour, and saved from merited +disgrace by the friendship of the intendant Bigot and the protection of +Vaudreuil. + +The morning of the seventh was fair and warm, and the vessels of Holmes, +their crowded decks gay with scarlet uniforms, sailed up the river to +Cap-Rouge. A lively scene awaited them; for here were the headquarters +of Bougainville, and here lay his principal force, while the rest +watched the banks above and below. The cove into which the little river +runs was guarded by floating batteries; the surrounding shore was +defended by breastworks; and a large body of regulars, militia, and +mounted Canadians in blue uniforms moved to and fro, with restless +activity, on the hills behind. When the vessels came to anchor, the +horsemen dismounted and formed in line with the infantry; then, with +loud shouts, the whole rushed down the heights to man their works at the +shore. That true Briton, Captain Knox, looked on with a critical eye +from the gangway of his ship, and wrote that night in his Diary that +they had made a ridiculous noise. "How different!" he exclaims, "how +nobly awful and expressive of true valor is the customary silence of the +British troops!" + +In the afternoon the ships opened fire, while the troops entered the +boats and rowed up and down as if looking for a landing-place. It was +but a feint of Wolfe to deceive Bougainville as to his real design. A +heavy easterly rain set in on the next morning, and lasted two days +without respite. All operations were suspended, and the men suffered +greatly in the crowded transports. Half of them were therefore landed on +the south shore, where they made their quarters in the village of St. +Nicolas, refreshed themselves, and dried their wet clothing, knapsacks, +and blankets. + +For several successive days the squadron of Holmes was allowed to drift +up the river with the flood tide and down with the ebb, thus passing and +repassing incessantly between the neighborhood of Quebec on one hand, +and a point high above Cap-Rouge on the other; while Bougainville, +perplexed, and always expecting an attack, followed the ships to and fro +along the shore, by day and by night, till his men were exhausted with +ceaseless forced marches. + +At last the time for action came. On Wednesday, the twelfth, the troops +at St. Nicolas were embarked again, and all were told to hold themselves +in readiness. Wolfe, from the flagship "Sutherland," issued his last +general orders. "The enemy's force is now divided, great scarcity of +provisions in their camp, and universal discontent among the Canadians. +Our troops below are in readiness to join us; all the light artillery +and tools are embarked at the Point of Levi; and the troops will land +where the French seem least to expect it. The first body that gets on +shore is to march directly to the enemy and drive them from any little +post they may occupy; the officers must be careful that the succeeding +bodies do not by any mistake fire on those who go before them. The +battalions must form on the upper ground with expedition, and be ready +to charge whatever presents itself. When the artillery and troops are +landed, a corps will be left to secure the landing-place, while the +rest march on and endeavor to bring the Canadians and French to a +battle. The officers and men will remember what their country expects +from them, and what a determined body of soldiers inured to war is +capable of doing against five weak French battalions mingled with a +disorderly peasantry." + +The spirit of the army answered to that of its chief. The troops loved +and admired their general, trusted their officers, and were ready for +any attempt. "Nay, how could it be otherwise," quaintly asks honest +Sergeant John Johnson, of the fifty-eighth regiment, "being at the heels +of gentlemen whose whole thirst, equal with their general, was for +glory? We had seen them tried, and always found them sterling. We knew +that they would stand by us to the last extremity." + +Wolfe had thirty-six hundred men and officers with him on board the +vessels of Holmes; and he now sent orders to Colonel Burton at Point +Levi to bring to his aid all who could be spared from that place and the +Point of Orleans. They were to march along the south bank, after +nightfall, and wait further orders at a designated spot convenient for +embarkation. Their number was about twelve hundred, so that the entire +force destined for the enterprise was at the utmost forty-eight hundred. +With these, Wolfe meant to climb the heights of Abraham in the teeth of +an enemy who, though much reduced, were still twice as numerous as their +assailants. + +Admiral Saunders lay with the main fleet in the Basin of Quebec. This +excellent officer, whatever may have been his views as to the necessity +of a speedy departure, aided Wolfe to the last with unfailing energy and +zeal. It was agreed between them that while the General made the real +attack, the Admiral should engage Montcalm's attention by a pretended +one. As night approached, the fleet ranged itself along the Beauport +shore; the boats were lowered and filled with sailors, marines, and the +few troops that had been left behind; while ship signalled to ship, +cannon flashed and thundered, and shot ploughed the beach, as if to +clear a way for assailants to land. In the gloom of the evening the +effect was imposing. Montcalm, who thought that the movements of the +English above the town were only a feint, that their main force was +still below it, and that their real attack would be made there, was +completely deceived, and massed his troops in front of Beauport to repel +the expected landing. But while in the fleet of Saunders all was uproar +and ostentatious menace, the danger was ten miles away, where the +squadron of Holmes lay tranquil and silent at its anchorage off +Cap-Rouge. + +It was less tranquil than it seemed. All on board knew that a blow would +be struck that night, though only a few high officers knew where. +Colonel Howe, of the light infantry, called for volunteers to lead the +unknown and desperate venture, promising, in the words of one of them, +"that if any of us survived we might depend on being recommended to the +General." As many as were wanted--twenty-four in all--soon came forward. +Thirty large bateaux and some boats belonging to the squadron lay moored +alongside the vessels; and late in the evening the troops were ordered +into them, the twenty-four volunteers taking their place in the +foremost. They held in all about seventeen hundred men. The rest +remained on board. + +Bougainville could discern the movement, and misjudged it, thinking that +he himself was to be attacked. The tide was still flowing; and, the +better to deceive him, the vessels and boats were allowed to drift +upward with it for a little distance, as if to land above Cap-Rouge. + +The day had been fortunate for Wolfe. Two deserters came from the camp +of Bougainville with intelligence that, at ebb tide on the next night, +he was to send down a convoy of provisions to Montcalm. The necessities +of the camp at Beauport, and the difficulties of transportation by land, +had before compelled the French to resort to this perilous means of +conveying supplies; and their boats, drifting in darkness under the +shadows of the northern shore, had commonly passed in safety. Wolfe saw +at once that, if his own boats went down in advance of the convoy, he +could turn the intelligence of the deserters to good account. + +He was still on board the "Sutherland." Every preparation was made, and +every order given; it only remained to wait the turning of the tide. +Seated with him in the cabin was the commander of the sloop-of-war +"Porcupine," his former school-fellow John Jervis, afterwards Earl St. +Vincent. Wolfe told him that he expected to die in the battle of the +next day; and taking from his bosom a miniature of Miss Lowther, his +betrothed, he gave it to him with a request that he would return it to +her if the presentiment should prove true. + +Towards two o'clock the tide began to ebb, and a fresh wind blew down +the river. Two lanterns were raised into the maintop shrouds of the +"Sutherland." It was the appointed signal; the boats cast off and fell +down with the current, those of the light infantry leading the way. The +vessels with the rest of the troops had orders to follow a little later. + + +To look for a moment at the chances on which this bold adventure hung. +First, the deserters told Wolfe that provision-boats were ordered to go +down to Quebec that night; secondly, Bougainville countermanded them; +thirdly, the sentries posted along the heights were told of the order, +but not of the countermand; fourthly, Vergor at the Anse du Foulon had +permitted most of his men, chiefly Canadians from Lorette, to go home +for a time and work at their harvesting, on condition, it is said, that +they should afterwards work in a neighboring field of his own; fifthly, +he kept careless watch, and went quietly to bed; sixthly, the battalion +of Guienne, ordered to take post on the Plains of Abraham, had, for +reasons unexplained, remained encamped by the St. Charles; and lastly, +when Bougainville saw Holmes's vessels drift down the stream, he did not +tax his weary troops to follow them, thinking that they would return as +usual with the flood tide. But for these conspiring circumstances New +France might have lived a little longer, and the fruitless heroism of +Wolfe would have passed, with countless other heroisms, into oblivion. + +For full two hours the procession of boats, borne on the current, +steered silently down the St. Lawrence. The stars were visible, but the +night was moonless and sufficiently dark. The General was in one of the +foremost boats, and near him was a young midshipman, John Robison, +afterwards professor of natural philosophy in the University of +Edinburgh. He used to tell in his later life how Wolfe, with a low +voice, repeated Gray's _Elegy in a Country Churchyard_ to the officers +about him. Probably it was to relieve the intense strain of his +thoughts. Among the rest was the verse which his own fate was soon to +illustrate,-- + + "The paths of glory lead but to the grave." + + +"Gentlemen," he said, as his recital ended, "I would rather have written +those lines than take Quebec." None were there to tell him that the hero +is greater than the poet. + +As they neared their destination, the tide bore them in towards the +shore, and the mighty wall of rock and forest towered in darkness on +their left. The dead stillness was suddenly broken by the sharp _Qui +vive!_ of a French sentry, invisible in the thick gloom. _France!_ +answered a Highland officer of Fraser's regiment from one of the boats +of the light infantry. He had served in Holland, and spoke French +fluently. + +_A quel regiment?_ + +_De la Reine_, replied the Highlander. He knew that a part of that corps +was with Bougainville. The sentry, expecting the convoy of provisions, +was satisfied, and did not ask for the password. + +Soon after, the foremost boats were passing the heights of Samos, when +another sentry challenged them, and they could see him through the +darkness running down to the edge of the water, within range of a +pistol-shot. In answer to his questions, the same officer replied, in +French: "Provision-boats. Don't make a noise; the English will hear us." +In fact, the sloop-of-war "Hunter" was anchored in the stream not far +off. This time, again, the sentry let them pass. In a few moments they +rounded the headland above the Anse du Foulon. There was no sentry +there. The strong current swept the boats of the light infantry a little +below the intended landing-place. They disembarked on a narrow strand at +the foot of heights as steep as a hill covered with trees can be. The +twenty-four volunteers led the way, climbing with what silence they +might, closely followed by a much larger body. When they reached the top +they saw in the dim light a cluster of tents at a short distance, and +immediately made a dash at them. Vergor leaped from bed and tried to run +off, but was shot in the heel and captured. His men, taken by surprise, +made little resistance. One or two were caught, and the rest fled. + +The main body of troops waited in their boats by the edge of the strand. +The heights near by were cleft by a great ravine choked with forest +trees; and in its depths ran a little brook called Ruisseau St.-Denis, +which, swollen by the late rains, fell plashing in the stillness over a +rock. Other than this no sound could reach the strained ear of Wolfe but +the gurgle of the tide and the cautious climbing of his advance-parties +as they mounted the steeps at some little distance from where he sat +listening. At length from the top came a sound of musket-shots, followed +by loud huzzas, and he knew that his men were masters of the position. +The word was given; the troops leaped from the boats and scaled the +heights, some here, some there, clutching at trees and bushes, their +muskets slung at their backs. Tradition still points out the place, near +the mouth of the ravine, where the foremost reached the top. Wolfe said +to an officer near him: "You can try it, but I don't think you'll get +up." He himself, however, found strength to drag himself up with the +rest. The narrow slanting path on the face of the heights had been made +impassable by trenches and abatis; but all obstructions were soon +cleared away, and then the ascent was easy. In the gray of the morning +the long file of red-coated soldiers moved quickly upward, and formed in +order on the plateau above. + +Before many of them had reached the top, cannon were heard close on the +left. It was the battery at Samos firing on the boats in the rear and +the vessels descending from Cap-Rouge. A party was sent to silence it; +this was soon effected, and the more distant battery at Sillery was next +attacked and taken. As fast as the boats were emptied they returned for +the troops left on board the vessels and for those waiting on the +southern shore under Colonel Burton. + +The day broke in clouds and threatening rain. Wolfe's battalions were +drawn up along the crest of the heights. No enemy was in sight, though a +body of Canadians had sallied from the town and moved along the strand +towards the landing-place, whence they were quickly driven back. He had +achieved the most critical part of his enterprise; yet the success that +he coveted placed him in imminent danger. On one side was the garrison +of Quebec and the army of Beauport, and Bougainville was on the other. +Wolfe's alternative was victory or ruin; for if he should be overwhelmed +by a combined attack, retreat would be hopeless. His feelings no man can +know; but it would be safe to say that hesitation or doubt had no part +in them. + +He went to reconnoitre the ground, and soon came to the Plains of +Abraham, so called from Abraham Martin, a pilot known as Maitre Abraham, +who had owned a piece of land here in the early times of the colony. The +Plains were a tract of grass, tolerably level in most parts, patched +here and there with cornfields, studded with clumps of bushes, and +forming a part of the high plateau at the eastern end of which Quebec +stood. On the south it was bounded by the declivities along the St. +Lawrence; on the north, by those along the St. Charles, or rather along +the meadows through which that lazy stream crawled like a writhing +snake. At the place that Wolfe chose for his battle-field the plateau +was less than a mile wide. + +Thither the troops advanced, marched by files till they reached the +ground, and then wheeled to form their line of battle, which stretched +across the plateau and faced the city. It consisted of six battalions +and the detached grenadiers from Louisbourg, all drawn up in ranks three +deep. Its right wing was near the brink of the heights along the St. +Lawrence; but the left could not reach those along the St. Charles. On +this side a wide space was perforce left open, and there was danger of +being outflanked. To prevent this, Brigadier Townshend was stationed +here with two battalions, drawn up at right angles with the rest, and +fronting the St. Charles. The battalion of Webb's regiment, under +Colonel Burton, formed the reserve; the third battalion of Royal +Americans was left to guard the landing; and Howe's light infantry +occupied a wood far in the rear. Wolfe, with Monckton and Murray, +commanded the front line, on which the heavy fighting was to fall, and +which, when all the troops had arrived, numbered less than thirty-five +hundred men. + +Quebec was not a mile distant, but they could not see it; for a ridge of +broken ground intervened, called Buttes-a-Neveu, about six hundred paces +off. The first division of troops had scarcely come up when, about six +o'clock, this ridge was suddenly thronged with white uniforms. It was +the battalion of Guienne, arrived at the eleventh hour from its camp by +the St. Charles. Some time after there was hot firing in the rear. It +came from a detachment of Bougainville's command attacking a house where +some of the light infantry were posted. The assailants were repulsed, +and the firing ceased. Light showers fell at intervals, besprinkling +the troops as they stood patiently waiting the event. + +Montcalm had passed a troubled night. Through all the evening the cannon +bellowed from the ships of Saunders, and the boats of the fleet hovered +in the dusk off the Beauport shore, threatening every moment to land. +Troops lined the intrenchments till day, while the General walked the +field that adjoined his headquarters till one in the morning, +accompanied by the Chevalier Johnstone and Colonel Poulariez. Johnstone +says that he was in great agitation, and took no rest all night. At +daybreak he heard the sound of cannon above the town. It was the battery +at Samos firing on the English ships. He had sent an officer to the +quarters of Vaudreuil, which were much nearer Quebec, with orders to +bring him word at once should anything unusual happen. But no word came, +and about six o'clock he mounted and rode thither with Johnstone. As +they advanced, the country behind the town opened more and more upon +their sight; till at length, when opposite Vaudreuil's house, they saw +across the St. Charles, some two miles away, the red ranks of British +soldiers on the heights beyond. + +"This is a serious business," Montcalm said; and sent off Johnstone at +full gallop to bring up the troops from the centre and left of the camp. +Those of the right were in motion already, doubtless by the Governor's +order. Vaudreuil came out of the house. Montcalm stopped for a few words +with him; then set spurs to his horse, and rode over the bridge of the +St. Charles to the scene of danger. He rode with a fixed look, uttering +not a word. + +The army followed in such order as it might, crossed the bridge in hot +haste, passed under the northern rampart of Quebec, entered at the +Palace Gate, and pressed on in headlong march along the quaint narrow +streets of the warlike town: troops of Indians in scalplocks and +war-paint, a savage glitter in their deep-set eyes; bands of Canadians +whose all was at stake,--faith, country, and home; the colony regulars; +the battalions of Old France, a torrent of white uniforms and gleaming +bayonets, La Sarre, Languedoc, Roussillon, Bearn,--victors of Oswego, +William Henry, and Ticonderoga. So they swept on poured out upon the +plain, some by the gate of St. Louis, and some by that of St. John, and +hurried, breathless, to where the banners of Guienne still fluttered on +the ridge. + +Montcalm was amazed at what he saw. He had expected a detachment, and he +found an army. Full in sight before him stretched the lines of Wolfe: +the close ranks of the English infantry, a silent wall of red, and the +wild array of the Highlanders, with their waving tartans, and bagpipes +screaming defiance. Vaudreuil had not come; but not the less was felt +the evil of a divided authority and the jealousy of the rival chiefs. +Montcalm waited long for the forces he had ordered to join him from the +left wing of the army. He waited in vain. It is said that the Governor +had detained them, lest the English should attack the Beauport shore. +Even if they did so, and succeeded, the French might defy them, could +they but put Wolfe to rout on the Plains of Abraham. Neither did the +garrison of Quebec come to the aid of Montcalm. He sent to Ramesay, its +commander, for twenty-five field-pieces which were on the Palace +battery. Ramesay would give him only three, saying that he wanted them +for his own defence. There were orders and counter-orders; +misunderstanding, haste, delay, perplexity. + +Montcalm and his chief officers held a council of war. It is said that +he and they alike were for immediate attack. His enemies declare that he +was afraid lest Vaudreuil should arrive and take command; but the +Governor was not a man to assume responsibility at such a crisis. Others +say that his impetuosity overcame his better judgment; and of this +charge it is hard to acquit him. Bougainville was but a few miles +distant, and some of his troops were much nearer; a messenger sent by +way of Old Lorette could have reached him in an hour and a half at most, +and a combined attack in front and rear might have been concerted with +him. If, moreover, Montcalm could have come to an understanding with +Vaudreuil, his own force might have been strengthened by two or three +thousand additional men from the town and the camp of Beauport; but he +felt that there was no time to lose, for he imagined that Wolfe would +soon be reinforced, which was impossible, and he believed that the +English were fortifying themselves, which was no less an error. He has +been blamed not only for fighting too soon, but for fighting at all. In +this he could not choose. Fight he must, for Wolfe was now in a position +to cut off all his supplies. His men were full of ardor, and he resolved +to attack before their ardor cooled. He spoke a few words to them in his +keen, vehement way. "I remember very well how he looked," one of the +Canadians, then a boy of eighteen, used to say in his old age; "he rode +a black or dark bay horse along the front of our lines, brandishing his +sword, as if to excite us to do our duty. He wore a coat with wide +sleeves, which fell back as he raised his arm, and showed the white +linen of the wristband." + +The English waited the result with a composure which, if not quite real, +was at least well feigned. The three field-pieces sent by Ramesay plied +them with canister-shot, and fifteen hundred Canadians and Indians +fusilladed them in front and flank. Over all the plain, from behind +bushes and knolls and the edge of cornfields, puffs of smoke sprang +incessantly from the guns of these hidden marksmen. Skirmishers were +thrown out before the lines to hold them in check, and the soldiers were +ordered to lie on the grass to avoid the shot. The firing was liveliest +on the English left, where bands of sharpshooters got under the edge of +the declivity, among thickets, and behind scattered houses, whence they +killed and wounded a considerable number of Townshend's men. The light +infantry were called up from the rear. The houses were taken and +retaken, and one or more of them was burned. + +Wolfe was everywhere. How cool he was, and why his followers loved him, +is shown by an incident that happened in the course of the morning. One +of his captains was shot through the lungs; and on recovering +consciousness he saw the General standing at his side. Wolfe pressed his +hand, told him not to despair, praised his services, promised him early +promotion, and sent an aide-de-camp to Monckton to beg that officer to +keep the promise if he himself should fall. + +It was towards ten o'clock when, from the high ground on the right of +the line, Wolfe saw that the crisis was near. The French on the ridge +had formed themselves into three bodies, regulars in the centre, +regulars and Canadians on right and left. Two field-pieces, which had +been dragged up the heights at Anse du Foulon, fired on them with +grape-shot, and the troops, rising from the ground, prepared to receive +them. In a few moments more they were in motion. They came on rapidly, +uttering loud shouts, and firing as soon as they were within range. +Their ranks, ill ordered at the best, were further confused by a number +of Canadians who had been mixed among the regulars, and who, after +hastily firing, threw themselves on the ground to reload. The British +advanced a few rods; then baited and stood still. When the French were +within forty paces the word of command rang out, and a crash of musketry +answered all along the line. The volley was delivered with remarkable +precision. In the battalions of the centre, which had suffered least +from the enemy's bullets, the simultaneous explosion was afterwards said +by French officers to have sounded like a cannon-shot. Another volley +followed, and then a furious clattering fire that lasted but a minute or +two. When the smoke rose, a miserable sight was revealed: the ground +cumbered with dead and wounded, the advancing masses stopped short and +turned into a frantic mob, shouting, cursing, gesticulating. The order +was given to charge. Then over the field rose the British cheer, mixed +with the fierce yell of the Highland slogan. Some of the corps pushed +forward with the bayonet; some advanced firing. The clansmen drew their +broadswords and dashed on, keen and swift as bloodhounds. At the English +right, though the attacking column was broken to pieces, a fire was +still kept up, chiefly, it seems, by sharpshooters from the bushes and +cornfields, where they had lain for an hour or more. Here Wolfe himself +led the charge, at the head of the Louisbourg grenadiers. A shot +shattered his wrist. He wrapped his handkerchief about it and kept on. +Another shot struck him, and he still advanced, when a third lodged in +his breast. He staggered, and sat on the ground. Lieutenant Brown, of +the grenadiers, one Henderson, a volunteer in the same company, and a +private soldier, aided by an officer of artillery who ran to join them, +carried him in their arms to the rear. He begged them to lay him down. +They did so, and asked if he would have a surgeon. "There's no need," he +answered; "it's all over with me." A moment after, one of them cried +out: "They run; see how they run!" "Who run?" Wolfe demanded, like a man +roused from sleep. "The enemy, sir. Egad, they give way everywhere!" +"Go, one of you, to Colonel Burton," returned the dying man; "tell him +to march Webb's regiment down to Charles River, to cut off their retreat +from the bridge." Then, turning on his side, he murmured, "Now, God be +praised, I will die in peace!" and in a few moments his gallant soul had +fled. + +Montcalm, still on horseback, was borne with the tide of fugitives +towards the town. As he approached the walls a shot passed through his +body. He kept his seat; two soldiers supported him, one on each side, +and led his horse through the St. Louis Gate. On the open space within, +among the excited crowd, were several women, drawn, no doubt, by +eagerness to know the result of the fight. One of them recognized him, +saw the streaming blood, and shrieked, "_O mon Dieu! mon Dieu! le +Marquis est tue!_" "It's nothing, it's nothing," replied the +death-stricken man; "don't be troubled for me, my good friends." ("_Ce +n'est rien, ce n'est rien; ne vous affligez pas pour moi, mes bonnes +amies._") + + * * * * * + +Some of the fugitives took refuge in the city and others escaped across +the St. Charles. In the next night the French army abandoned Quebec to +its fate and fled up the St. Lawrence. The city soon surrendered to +Wolfe's successor, Brigadier Townshend, and the English held it during +the winter. In April, the French under the Chevalier de Levis made a +bold but unsuccessful attempt to retake it. In the following summer, +General Amherst advanced on Montreal, till in September all Canada was +forced to surrender, and the power of France was extinguished on the +North American continent. + + + + University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge + + + =Transcriber's Notes:= + original hyphenation, spelling and grammar have been preserved as in + the original + Page 15, "Day, 1646. he gave" changed to "Day, 1646, he gave" + Page 22, "want of pay: ordnance" changed to "want of pay; ordnance" + Page 41, "moccasons" changed to "moccasins" + Page 99, "rifle-but" changed to "rifle-butt" + Page 114, "seized her How" changed to "seized her. How" + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Historic Handbook of the Northern Tour, by +Francis Parkman + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NORTHERN TOUR *** + +***** This file should be named 35216.txt or 35216.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/2/1/35216/ + +Produced by Marcia Brooks, Ross Cooling and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from +images generously made available by The Internet +Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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