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Title: A Half-Century of Conflict, Vol II - France and England in North America
Author: Parkman, Francis
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "A Half-Century of Conflict, Vol II - France and England in North America" ***
Francis Parkman’s Works.
NEW LIBRARY EDITION.
VOL. VII.
[Illustration: Sir William Pepperrell.
_Copyright 1897 by Little, Brown, & C^o._
_Goupil & C^o. Paris._]
_Sir William Pepperrell._
From the painting by John Smibert.
A HALF CENTURY OF CONFLICT, II., _Frontispiece_
A HALF-CENTURY OF
CONFLICT.
FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN
NORTH AMERICA.
PART SIXTH.
BY
FRANCIS PARKMAN.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
1898.
_Copyright, 1892_,
BY FRANCIS PARKMAN.
_Copyright, 1897_,
BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
University Press:
JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVI.
1716-1761.
SEARCH FOR THE PACIFIC.
PAGE
The Western Sea.--Schemes for reaching it.--Journey of
Charlevoix.--The Sioux Mission.--Varennes de la Vérendrye:
his Enterprise; his Disasters; visits the Mandans; his Sons;
their Search for the Western Sea; their Adventures.--The
Snake Indians.--A Great War-party.--The Rocky Mountains.--A
Panic.--Return of the Brothers; their Wrongs and their Fate 3
CHAPTER XVII.
1700-1750.
THE CHAIN OF POSTS.
Opposing Claims.--Attitude of the Rival Nations.--America a
French Continent.--England a Usurper.--French Demands.--
Magnanimous Proposals.--Warlike Preparation.--Niagara.--
Oswego.--Crown Point.--The Passes of the West secured 44
CHAPTER XVIII.
1744, 1745.
A MAD SCHEME.
War of the Austrian Succession.--The French seize Canseau and
attack Annapolis.--Plan of Reprisal.--William Vaughan.--
Governor Shirley: he advises an Attack on Louisbourg.--The
Assembly refuses, but at last consents.--Preparation.--
William Pepperrell.--George Whitefield.--Parson Moody.--The
Soldiers.--The Provincial Navy.--Commodore Warren.--Shirley
as an Amateur Soldier.--The Fleet sails 59
CHAPTER XIX.
1745.
LOUISBOURG BESIEGED.
Seth Pomeroy.--The Voyage.--Canseau.--Unexpected Succors.--
Delays.--Louisbourg.--The Landing.--The Grand Battery
taken.--French Cannon turned on the Town.--Weakness of
Duchambon.--Sufferings of the Besiegers: their Hardihood;
their Irregular Proceedings.--Joseph Sherburn.--Amateur
Gunnery.--Camp Frolics.--Sectarian Zeal.--Perplexities of
Pepperrell 90
CHAPTER XX.
1745.
LOUISBOURG TAKEN.
A Rash Resolution.--The Island Battery.--The Volunteers.--The
Attack.--The Repulse.--Capture of the “Vigilant.”--A
Sortie.--Skirmishes.--Despondency of the French.--English
Camp threatened.--Pepperrell and Warren.--Warren’s
Plan.--Preparation for a General Attack.--Flag of
Truce.--Capitulation.--State of the Fortress.--Parson
Moody.--Soldiers dissatisfied.--Disorders.--Army and
Navy.--Rejoicings.--England repays Provincial Outlays 117
CHAPTER XXI.
1745-1747.
DUC D’ANVILLE.
Louisbourg after the Conquest.--Mutiny.--Pestilence.--Stephen
Williams: his Diary.--Scheme of Conquering Canada.--Newcastle’s
Promises.--Alarm in Canada.--Promises broken.--Plan against
Crown Point.--Startling News.--D’Anville’s Fleet.--Louisbourg
to be avenged.--Disasters of D’Anville.--Storm.--Pestilence.--
Famine.--Death of D’Anville.--Suicide of the Vice-Admiral.--
Ruinous Failure.--Return Voyage.--Defeat of La Jonquière 145
CHAPTER XXII.
1745-1747.
ACADIAN CONFLICTS.
Efforts of France.--Apathy of Newcastle.--Dilemma of Acadians:
their Character.--Danger of the Province.--Plans of
Shirley.--Acadian Priests.--Political Agitators.--Noble’s
Expedition.--Ramesay at Beaubassin.--Noble at Grand-Pré.--A
Winter March.--Defeat and Death of Noble.--Grand-Pré
reoccupied by the English.--Threats of Ramesay against the
Acadians.--The British Ministry will not protect them 169
CHAPTER XXIII.
1740-1747.
WAR AND POLITICS.
Governor and Assembly.--Saratoga destroyed.--William Johnson.--
Border Ravages.--Upper Ashuelot.--French “Military Movements.”--
Number Four.--Niverville’s Attack.--Phineas Stevens.--The
French repulsed 205
CHAPTER XXIV.
1745-1748.
FORT MASSACHUSETTS.
Frontier Defence.--Northfield and its Minister.--Military
Criticisms of Rev. Benjamin Doolittle.--Rigaud de Vaudreuil:
his Great War-party; he attacks Fort Massachusetts.--Sergeant
Hawks and his Garrison.--A Gallant Defence.--Capitulation.--
Humanity of the French.--Ravages.--Return to Crown Point.--
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle 230
APPENDIX.
A. France claims all North America except the Spanish Colonies 257
B. French Views of the Siege of Louisbourg 274
C. Shirley’s Relations with the Acadians 312
INDEX 361
A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT.
CHAPTER XVI.
1716-1761.
SEARCH FOR THE PACIFIC.
THE WESTERN SEA.--SCHEMES FOR REACHING IT.--JOURNEY OF
CHARLEVOIX.--THE SIOUX MISSION.--VARENNES DE LA VÉRENDRYE:
HIS ENTERPRISE; HIS DISASTERS; VISITS THE MANDANS; HIS SONS;
THEIR SEARCH FOR THE WESTERN SEA; THEIR ADVENTURES.--THE
SNAKE INDIANS.--A GREAT WAR-PARTY.--THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS.--A
PANIC.--RETURN OF THE BROTHERS; THEIR WRONGS AND THEIR FATE.
In the disastrous last years of Louis XIV. the court gave little
thought to the New World; but under the regency of the Duke of Orléans
interest in American affairs revived. Plans for reaching the Mer de
l’Ouest, or Pacific Ocean, were laid before the Regent in 1716. It was
urged that the best hope was in sending an expedition across the
continent, seeing that every attempt to find a westward passage by
Hudson Bay had failed. As starting-points and bases of supply for the
expedition, it was proposed to establish three posts, one on the north
shore of Lake Superior, at the mouth of the river Kaministiguia,
another at Lac des Cristineaux, now called Lake of the Woods, and the 4
third at Lake Winnipeg,--the last being what in American phrase is
called the “jumping-off place,” or the point where the expedition was
to leave behind the last trace of civilization. These posts were to
cost the Crown nothing; since by a device common in such cases, those
who built and maintained them were to be paid by a monopoly of the
fur-trade in the adjacent countries. It was admitted, however, that
the subsequent exploration must be at the charge of the government,
and would require fifty good men, at three hundred francs a year each,
besides equipment and supplies. All things considered, it was reckoned
that an overland way to the Pacific might be found for about fifty
thousand francs, or ten thousand dollars.[1]
The Regent approved the scheme so far as to order the preliminary step
to be taken by establishing the three posts, and in this same year,
Lieutenant La Noue, of the colony troops, began the work by building a
stockade at the mouth of the Kaministiguia. Little more was done in
furtherance of the exploration till three years later, when the
celebrated Jesuit, Charlevoix, was ordered by the Duke of Orléans to
repair to America and gain all possible information concerning the
Western Sea and the way to it.[2]
In the next year he went to the Upper Lakes, and questioned 5
missionaries, officers, _voyageurs_, and Indians. The results
were not satisfactory. The missionaries and the officers had nothing
to tell; the voyagers and Indians knew no more than they, but invented
confused and contradictory falsehoods to hide their ignorance.
Charlevoix made note of everything, and reported to the Comte de
Toulouse that the Pacific probably formed the western boundary of the
country of the Sioux, and that some Indians told him that they had
been to its shores and found white men there different from the
French.
Believing that these stories were not without foundation, Charlevoix
reported two plans as likely to lead to the coveted discovery. One was
to ascend the Missouri, “the source of which is certainly not far from
the sea, as all the Indians I have met have unanimously assured me;”
and the other was to establish a mission among the Sioux, from whom,
after thoroughly learning their language, the missionaries could, as
he thinks, gain all the desired information.[3]
The Regent approved the plan of the mission; but the hostile
disposition of the Sioux and the Outagamies prevented its execution
for several years. In 1727 the scheme was revived, and the colonial 6
minister at Versailles ordered the governor of Canada to send two
missionaries to the Sioux. But the mission required money, and the
King would not give it. Hence the usual expedient was adopted. A
company was formed, and invested with a monopoly of the Sioux
fur-trade, on condition of building a fort, mission-house, and chapel,
and keeping an armed force to guard them. It was specially provided
that none but pious and virtuous persons were to be allowed to join
the Company, “in order,” says the document, “to attract the
benediction of God upon them and their business.”[4] The prospects of
the Company were thought good, and the governor himself was one of the
shareholders. While the mission was given the most conspicuous place
in the enterprise, its objects were rather secular than spiritual,--to
attach the Sioux to the French interest by the double ties of religion
and trade, and utilize their supposed knowledge to reach the
Pacific.[5]
Father Guignas was made the head of the mission, and Boucher de la
Perrière the military chief. The party left Montreal in June, and,
journeying to the Mississippi by way of Michilimackinac, Green Bay,
Fox River, and the Wisconsin, went up the great river to Lake Pepin,
where the adventurous Nicolas Perrot had built two trading-posts more
than forty years before. Even if his time-worn tenements were still 7
standing, La Perrière had no thought of occupying them. On the north,
or rather west, side of the lake his men found a point of land that
seemed fit for their purpose, disembarked, cut down trees, and made a
square stockade enclosing the necessary buildings. It was near the end
of October before they were all well housed. A large band of Sioux
presently appeared, and set up their teepees hard by. When the
birthday of the governor came, the party celebrated it with a display
of fireworks and vociferous shouts of _Vive le Roi_, _Vive
Charles de Beauharnois_, while the Indians yelped in fright and
amazement at the pyrotechnics, or stood pressing their hands upon
their mouths in silent amazement. The French called their fort Fort
Beauharnois, and invited the aid of Saint Michael the Archangel by
naming the mission in his honor. All went well till April, when the
water rose with the spring floods and filled fort, chapel, and houses
to the depth of nearly three feet, ejecting the whole party, and
forcing them to encamp on higher ground till the deluge subsided.[6]
Worse enemies than the floods soon found them out. These were the
irrepressible Outagamies, who rose against the intruding French and
incited the Sioux to join them. There was no profit for the Company,
and no safety for its agents. The stockholders became discouraged, and
would not support the enterprise. The fort was abandoned, till in 1731
a new arrangement was made, followed by another attempt.[7] For a time 8
a prosperous trade was carried on; but, as commonly happened in such
cases, the adventurers seem to have thought more of utilizing their
monopoly than of fulfilling the terms on which they had received it.
The wild Sioux of the plains, instead of being converted and turned
into Frenchmen, proved such dangerous neighbors that, in 1737,
Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, who then commanded the post, found himself
forced to abandon it.[8] The enterprise had failed in both its aims.
The Western Sea was still a mystery, and the Sioux were not friends,
but enemies. Legardeur de Saint-Pierre recommended that they should be
destroyed,--benevolent advice easy to give, and impossible to
execute.[9]
René Gaultier de Varennes, lieutenant in the regiment of Carignan,
married at Three Rivers, in 1667, the daughter of Pierre Boucher,
governor of that place; the age of the bride, Demoiselle Marie
Boucher, being twelve years, six months, and eighteen days. Varennes
succeeded his father-in-law as governor of Three Rivers, with a salary
of twelve hundred francs, to which he added the profits of a farm of
forty acres; and on these modest resources, reinforced by an illicit
trade in furs, he made shift to sustain the dignity of his office. His 9
wife became the mother of numerous offspring, among whom was Pierre,
born in 1685,--an active and hardy youth, who, like the rest of the
poor but vigorous Canadian _noblesse_, seemed born for the forest
and the fur-trade. When, however, the War of the Spanish Succession
broke out, the young man crossed the sea, obtained the commission of
lieutenant, and was nearly killed at the battle of Malplaquet, where
he was shot through the body, received six sabre-cuts, and was left
for dead on the field. He recovered, and returned to Canada, when,
finding his services slighted, he again took to the woods. He had
assumed the designation of La Vérendrye, and thenceforth his full name
was Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de la Vérendrye.[10]
In 1728, he was in command of a small post on Lake Nipigon, north of
Lake Superior. Here an Indian chief from the river Kaministiguia told
him of a certain great lake which discharged itself by a river flowing
westward. The Indian further declared that he had descended this river
till he reached water that ebbed and flowed, and, terrified by the
strange phenomenon, had turned back, though not till he had heard of a
great salt lake, bordered with many villages. Other Indians confirmed
and improved the story. “These people,” said La Vérendrye to the
Jesuit Degonnor, “are great liars, but now and then they tell the 10
truth.”[11] It seemed to him likely that their stories of a western
river flowing to a western sea were not totally groundless, and that
the true way to the Pacific was not, as had been supposed, through the
country of the Sioux, but farther northward, through that of the
Cristineaux and Assiniboins, or, in other words, through the region
now called Manitoba. In this view he was sustained by his friend
Degonnor, who had just returned from the ill-starred Sioux mission.
La Vérendrye, fired with the zeal of discovery, offered to search for
the Western Sea if the King would give him one hundred men and supply
canoes, arms, and provisions.[12] But, as was usual in such cases, the
King would give nothing; and though the governor, Beauharnois, did all
in his power to promote the enterprise, the burden and the risk were
left to the adventurer himself. La Vérendrye was authorized to find a
way to the Pacific at his own expense, in consideration of a monopoly
of the fur-trade in the regions north and west of Lake Superior. This
vast and remote country was held by tribes who were doubtful friends
of the French, and perpetual enemies of each other. The risks of the
trade were as great as its possible profits, and, to reap these, vast
outlays must first be made: forts must be built, manned, provisioned, 11
and stocked with goods brought through two thousand miles of difficult
and perilous wilderness. There were other dangers, more insidious, and
perhaps greater. The exclusive privileges granted to La Vérendrye
would inevitably rouse the intensest jealousy of the Canadian
merchants, and they would spare no effort to ruin him. Intrigue and
calumny would be busy in his absence. If, as was likely, his patron,
Beauharnois, should be recalled, the new governor might be turned
against him, his privileges might be suddenly revoked, the forts he
had built passed over to his rivals, and all his outlays turned to
their profit, as had happened to La Salle on the recall of his patron,
Frontenac. On the other hand, the country was full of the choicest
furs, which the Indians had hitherto carried to the English at Hudson
Bay, but which the proposed trading-posts would secure to the French.
La Vérendrye’s enemies pretended that he thought of nothing but
beaver-skins, and slighted the discovery which he had bound himself to
undertake; but his conduct proves that he was true to his engagements,
and that ambition to gain honorable distinction in the service of the
King had a large place among the motives that impelled him.
As his own resources were of the smallest, he took a number of
associates on conditions most unfavorable to himself. Among them they
raised money enough to begin the enterprise, and on the eighth of
June, 1731, La Vérendrye and three of his sons, together with his 12
nephew, La Jemeraye, the Jesuit Messager, and a party of Canadians,
set out from Montreal. It was late in August before they reached the
great portage of Lake Superior, which led across the height of land
separating the waters of that lake from those flowing to Lake
Winnipeg. The way was long and difficult. The men, who had perhaps
been tampered with, mutinied, and refused to go farther.[13] Some of
them, with much ado, consented at last to proceed, and, under the lead
of La Jemeraye, made their way by an intricate and broken chain of
lakes and streams to Rainy Lake, where they built a fort and called it
Fort St. Pierre. La Vérendrye was forced to winter with the rest of
the party at the river Kaministiguia, not far from the great portage.
Here months were lost, during which a crew of useless mutineers had to
be fed and paid; and it was not till the next June that he could get
them again into motion towards Lake Winnipeg.
This ominous beginning was followed by a train of disasters. His
associates abandoned him; the merchants on whom he depended for
supplies would not send them, and he found himself, in his own words,
“destitute of everything.” His nephew, La Jemeraye, died. The Jesuit
Auneau, bent on returning to Michilimackinac, set out with La
Vérendrye’s eldest son and a party of twenty Canadians. A few days
later, they were all found on an island in the Lake of the Woods, 13
murdered and mangled by the Sioux.[14] The Assiniboins and
Cristineaux, mortal foes of that fierce people, offered to join the
French and avenge the butchery; but a war with the Sioux would have
ruined La Vérendrye’s plans of discovery, and exposed to torture and
death the French traders in their country. Therefore he restrained
himself and declined the proffered aid, at the risk of incurring the
contempt of those who offered it.
Beauharnois twice appealed to the court to give La Vérendrye some
little aid, urging that he was at the end of his resources, and that a
grant of thirty thousand francs, or six thousand dollars, would enable
him to find a way to the Pacific. All help was refused, but La
Vérendrye was told that he might let out his forts to other traders,
and so raise means to pursue the discovery.
In 1740 he went for the third time to Montreal, where, instead of aid,
he found a lawsuit. “In spite,” he says, “of the derangement of my
affairs, the envy and jealousy of various persons impelled them to
write letters to the court insinuating that I thought of nothing but
making my fortune. If more than forty thousand livres of debt which I
have on my shoulders are an advantage, then I can flatter myself that
I am very rich. In all my misfortunes, I have the consolation of
seeing that M. de Beauharnois enters into my views, recognizes the 14
uprightness of my intentions, and does me justice in spite of
opposition.”[15]
Meanwhile, under all his difficulties, he had explored a vast region
hitherto unknown, diverted a great and lucrative fur-trade from the
English at Hudson Bay, and secured possession of it by six fortified
posts,--Fort St. Pierre, on Rainy Lake; Fort St. Charles, on the Lake
of the Woods; Fort Maurepas, at the mouth of the river Winnipeg; Fort
Bourbon, on the eastern side of Lake Winnipeg; Fort La Reine, on the
Assiniboin; Fort Dauphin, on Lake Manitoba. Besides these he built
another post, called Fort Rouge, on the site of the city of Winnipeg;
and, some time after, another, at the mouth of the river Poskoiac, or
Saskatchewan, neither of which, however, was long occupied. These
various forts were only stockade works flanked with blockhouses; but
the difficulty of building and maintaining them in this remote
wilderness was incalculable.[16]
He had inquired on all sides for the Pacific. The Assiniboins could 15
tell him nothing. Nor could any information be expected from them,
since their relatives and mortal enemies, the Sioux, barred their way
to the West. The Cristineaux were equally ignorant; but they supplied
the place of knowledge by invention, and drew maps, some of which seem
to have been made with no other intention than that of amusing
themselves by imposing on the inquirer. They also declared that some
of their number had gone down a river called White River, or River of
the West, where they found a plant that shed drops like blood, and saw
serpents of prodigious size. They said further that on the lower part
of this river were walled towns, where dwelt white men who had knives,
hatchets, and cloth, but no firearms.[17]
Both Assiniboins and Cristineaux declared that there was a distant
tribe on the Missouri, called Mantannes (Mandans), who knew the way to
the Western Sea, and would guide him to it. Lured by this assurance,
and feeling that he had sufficiently secured his position to enable
him to begin his western exploration, La Vérendrye left Fort La Reine
in October, 1738, with twenty men, and pushed up the river Assiniboin
till its rapids and shallows threatened his bark canoes with
destruction. Then, with a band of Assiniboin Indians who had joined
him, he struck across the prairie for the Mandans, his Indian 16
companions hunting buffalo on the way. They approached the first
Mandan village on the afternoon of the third of December, displaying a
French flag and firing three volleys as a salute. The whole population
poured out to see the marvellous visitors, who were conducted through
the staring crowd to the lodge of the principal chief,--a capacious
structure so thronged with the naked and greasy savages that the
Frenchmen were half smothered. What was worse, they lost the bag that
held all their presents for the Mandans, which was snatched away in
the confusion, and hidden in one of the _caches_, called cellars by
La Vérendrye, of which the place was full. The chief seemed much
discomposed at this mishap, and explained it by saying that there were
many rascals in the village. The loss was serious, since without the
presents nothing could be done. Nor was this all; for in the morning
La Vérendrye missed his interpreter, and was told that he had fallen
in love with an Assiniboin girl and gone off in pursuit of her. The
French were now without any means of communicating with the Mandans,
from whom, however, before the disappearance of the interpreter, they
had already received a variety of questionable information, chiefly
touching white men cased in iron who were said to live on the river
below at the distance of a whole summer’s journey. As they were
impervious to arrows,--so the story ran,--it was necessary to shoot
their horses, after which, being too heavy to run, they were easily
caught. This was probably suggested by the armor of the Spaniards, who 17
had more than once made incursions as far as the lower Missouri; but
the narrators drew on their imagination for various additional
particulars.
The Mandans seem to have much declined in numbers during the century
that followed this visit of La Vérendrye. He says that they had six
villages on or near the Missouri, of which the one seen by him was the
smallest, though he thinks that it contained a hundred and thirty
houses.[18] As each of these large structures held a number of
families, the population must have been considerable. Yet when Prince
Maximilian visited the Mandans in 1833, he found only two villages,
containing jointly two hundred and forty warriors and a total
population of about a thousand souls. Without having seen the
statements of La Vérendrye, he speaks of the population as greatly
reduced by wars and the small-pox,--a disease which a few years later
nearly exterminated the tribe.[19]
La Vérendrye represents the six villages as surrounded with ditches 18
and stockades, flanked by a sort of bastion,--defences which, he says,
had nothing savage in their construction. In later times the
fortifications were of a much ruder kind, though Maximilian represents
them as having pointed salients to serve as bastions. La Vérendrye
mentions some peculiar customs of the Mandans which answer exactly to
those described by more recent observers.
He had intended to winter with the tribe; but the loss of the presents
and the interpreter made it useless to stay, and, leaving two men in
the village to learn the language, he began his return to Fort La
Reine. “I was very ill,” he writes, “but hoped to get better on the
way. The reverse was the case, for it was the depth of winter. It
would be impossible to suffer more than I did. It seemed that nothing
but death could release us from such miseries.” He reached Fort La
Reine on the eleventh of February, 1739.
His iron constitution seems to have been severely shaken; but he had
sons worthy of their father. The two men left among the Mandans
appeared at Fort La Reine in September. They reported that they had
been well treated, and that their hosts had parted from them with
regret. They also declared that at the end of spring several Indian 19
tribes, all well supplied with horses, had come, as was their yearly
custom, to the Mandan villages to barter embroidered buffalo hides and
other skins for corn and beans; that they had encamped, to the number
of two hundred lodges, on the farther side of the Missouri, and that
among them was a band said to have come from a distant country towards
the sunset, where there were white men who lived in houses built of
bricks and stones.
The two Frenchmen crossed over to the camp of these western strangers,
among whom they found a chief who spoke, or professed to speak, the
language of the mysterious white men, which to the two Frenchmen was
unintelligible. Fortunately, he also spoke the language of the
Mandans, of which the Frenchmen had learned a little during their
stay, and hence were able to gather that the white men in question had
beards, and that they prayed to the Master of Life in great houses,
built for the purpose, holding books, the leaves of which were like
husks of Indian corn, singing together and repeating _Jésus, Marie_.
The chief gave many other particulars, which seemed to show that he
had been in contact with Spaniards,--probably those of California; for
he described their houses as standing near the great lake, of which
the water rises and falls and is not fit to drink. He invited the two
Frenchmen to go with him to this strange country, saying that it could
be reached before winter, though a wide circuit must be made, to avoid 20
a fierce and dangerous tribe called Snake Indians (_Gens du
Serpent_).[20]
On hearing this story, La Vérendrye sent his eldest son, Pierre, to
pursue the discovery with two men, ordering him to hire guides among
the Mandans and make his way to the Western Sea. But no guides were to
be found, and in the next summer the young man returned from his
bootless errand.[21]
Undaunted by this failure, Pierre set out again in the next spring,
1742, with his younger brother, the Chevalier de la Vérendrye.
Accompanied only by two Canadians, they left Fort La Reine on the
twenty-ninth of April, and following, no doubt, the route of the
Assiniboin and Mouse River, reached the chief village of the Mandans
in about three weeks.
Here they found themselves the welcome guests of this singularly
interesting tribe, ruined by the small-pox nearly half a century ago,
but preserved to memory by the skilful pencil of the artist Charles
Bodmer, and the brush of the painter George Catlin, both of whom saw
them at a time when they were little changed in habits and manners
since the visit of the brothers La Vérendrye.[22]
Thus, though the report of the two brothers is too concise and brief, 21
we know what they saw when they entered the central area, or public
square, of the village. Around stood the Mandan lodges, looking like
round flattened hillocks of earth, forty or fifty feet wide. On
examination they proved to be framed of strong posts and poles,
covered with a thick matting of intertwined willow-branches, over
which was laid a bed of well-compacted clay or earth two or three feet
thick. This heavy roof was supported by strong interior posts.[23] The
open place which the dwellings enclosed served for games, dances, and
the ghastly religious or magical ceremonies practised by the tribe.
Among the other structures was the sacred “medicine lodge,”
distinguished by three or four tall poles planted before it, each
surmounted by an effigy looking much like a scarecrow, and meant as an
offering to the spirits.
If the two travellers had been less sparing of words, they would
doubtless have told us that as they entered the village square the
flattened earthen domes that surrounded it were thronged with squaws
and children,--for this was always the case on occasions of public 22
interest,--and that they were forced to undergo a merciless series of
feasts in the lodges of the chiefs. Here, seated by the sunken hearth
in the middle, under the large hole in the roof that served both for
window and chimney, they could study at their ease the domestic
economy of their entertainers. Each lodge held a _gens_, or
family connection, whose beds of raw buffalo hide, stretched on poles,
were ranged around the circumference of the building, while by each
stood a post on which hung shields, lances, bows, quivers,
medicine-bags, and masks formed of the skin of a buffalo’s head, with
the horns attached, to be used in the magic buffalo dance.
Every day had its sports to relieve the monotony of savage existence,
the game of the stick and the rolling ring, the archery practice of
boys, horse-racing on the neighboring prairie, and incessant games of
chance; while every evening, in contrast to these gayeties, the long,
dismal wail of women rose from the adjacent cemetery, where the dead
of the village, sewn fast in buffalo hides, lay on scaffolds above the
reach of wolves.
[Illustration: PARTS OF MONTANA AND NORTH DAKOTA,
showing approximately the ROUTE of
CHEVALIER DE LA VÉRENDRYE
in 1742, 1743.]
The Mandans did not know the way to the Pacific, but they told the
brothers that they expected a speedy visit from a tribe or band called
Horse Indians, who could guide them thither. It is impossible to
identify this people with any certainty.[24] The two travellers
waited for them in vain till after midsummer, and then, as the season 23
was too far advanced for longer delay, they hired two Mandans to
conduct them to their customary haunts.
They set out on horseback, their scanty baggage and their stock of
presents being no doubt carried by pack-animals. Their general course
was west-southwest, with the Black Hills at a distance on their left,
and the upper Missouri on their right. The country was a rolling
prairie, well covered for the most part with grass, and watered by
small alkaline streams creeping towards the Missouri with an opaque,
whitish current. Except along the watercourses, there was little or no
wood. “I noticed,” says the Chevalier de la Vérendrye, “earths of
different colors, blue, green, red, or black, white as chalk, or
yellowish like ochre.” This was probably in the “bad lands” of the
Little Missouri, where these colored earths form a conspicuous feature
in the bare and barren bluffs, carved into fantastic shapes by the
storms.[25]
For twenty days the travellers saw no human being, so scanty was the
population of these plains. Game, however, was abundant. Deer sprang
from the tall, reedy grass of the river bottoms; buffalo tramped by 24
in ponderous columns, or dotted the swells of the distant prairie with
their grazing thousands; antelope approached, with the curiosity of
their species, to gaze at the passing horsemen, then fled like the
wind; and as they neared the broken uplands towards the Yellowstone,
they saw troops of elk and flocks of mountain-sheep. Sometimes, for
miles together, the dry plain was studded thick with the earthen
mounds that marked the burrows of the curious marmots, called
prairie-dogs, from their squeaking bark. Wolves, white and gray,
howled about the camp at night, and their cousin, the coyote, seated
in the dusk of evening upright on the grass, with nose turned to the
sky, saluted them with a complication of yelpings, as if a score of
petulant voices were pouring together from the throat of one small
beast.
On the eleventh of August, after a march of about three weeks, the
brothers reached a hill, or group of hills, apparently west of the
Little Missouri, and perhaps a part of the Powder River Range. It was
here that they hoped to find the Horse Indians, but nobody was to be
seen. Arming themselves with patience, they built a hut, made fires to
attract by the smoke any Indians roaming near, and went every day to
the tops of the hills to reconnoitre. At length, on the fourteenth of
September, they descried a spire of smoke on the distant prairie.
One of their Mandan guides had left them and gone back to his village.
The other, with one of the Frenchmen, went towards the smoke, and 25
found a camp of Indians, whom the journal calls Les Beaux Hommes, and
who were probably Crows, or Apsaroka, a tribe remarkable for stature
and symmetry, who long claimed that region as their own. They treated
the visitors well, and sent for the other Frenchmen to come to their
lodges, where they were received with great rejoicing. The remaining
Mandan, however, became frightened,--for the Beaux Hommes were enemies
of his tribe,--and he soon followed his companion on his solitary
march homeward.
The brothers remained twenty-one days in the camp of the Beaux Hommes,
much perplexed for want of an interpreter. The tribes of the plains
have in common a system of signs by which they communicate with each
other, and it is likely that the brothers had learned it from the
Sioux or Assiniboins, with whom they had been in familiar intercourse.
By this or some other means they made their hosts understand that they
wished to find the Horse Indians; and the Beaux Hommes, being soothed
by presents, offered some of their young men as guides. They set out
on the ninth of October, following a south-southwest course.[26]
In two days they met a band of Indians, called by them the Little 26
Foxes, and on the fifteenth and seventeenth two villages of another
unrecognizable horde, named Pioya. From La Vérendrye’s time to our
own, this name “villages” has always been given to the encampments of
the wandering people of the plains. All these nomadic communities
joined them, and they moved together southward, till they reached at
last the lodges of the long-sought Horse Indians. They found them in
the extremity of distress and terror. Their camp resounded with howls
and wailings; and not without cause, for the Snakes, or Shoshones,--a
formidable people living farther westward,--had lately destroyed most
of their tribe. The Snakes were the terror of that country. The
brothers were told that the year before they had destroyed seventeen
villages, killing the warriors and old women, and carrying off the
young women and children as slaves.
None of the Horse Indians had ever seen the Pacific; but they knew a
people called Gens de l’Arc, or Bow Indians, who, as they said, had
traded not far from it. To the Bow Indians, therefore, the brothers
resolved to go, and by dint of gifts and promises they persuaded their
hosts to show them the way. After marching southwestward for several
days, they saw the distant prairie covered with the pointed
buffalo-skin lodges of a great Indian camp. It was that of the Bow
Indians, who may have been one of the bands of the western Sioux,--the
predominant race in this region. Few or none of them could ever have 27
seen a white man, and we may imagine their amazement at the arrival of
the strangers, who, followed by staring crowds, were conducted to the
lodge of the chief. “Thus far,” says La Vérendrye, “we had been well
received in all the villages we had passed; but this was nothing
compared with the courteous manners of the great chief of the Bow
Indians, who, unlike the others, was not self-interested in the least,
and who took excellent care of everything belonging to us.”
The first inquiry of the travellers was for the Pacific; but neither
the chief nor his tribesmen knew anything of it, except what they had
heard from Snake prisoners taken in war. The Frenchmen were surprised
at the extent of the camp, which consisted of many separate bands. The
chief explained that they had been summoned from far and near for a
grand war-party against that common foe of all,--the Snakes.[27] In
fact, the camp resounded with war-songs and war-dances. “Come with
us,” said their host; “we are going towards the mountains, where you
can see the great water that you are looking for.”
At length the camp broke up. The squaws took down the lodges, and the
march began over prairies dreary and brown with the withering touch 28
of autumn. The spectacle was such as men still young have seen in
these western lands, but which no man will see again. The vast plain
swarmed with the moving multitude. The tribes of the Missouri and the
Yellowstone had by this time abundance of horses, the best of which
were used for war and hunting, and the others as beasts of burden.
These last were equipped in a peculiar manner. Several of the long
poles used to frame the teepees, or lodges, were secured by one end to
each side of a rude saddle, while the other end trailed on the ground.
Crossbars lashed to the poles just behind the horse kept them three or
four feet apart, and formed a firm support, on which was laid,
compactly folded, the buffalo-skin covering of the lodge. On this,
again, sat a mother with her young family, sometimes stowed for safety
in a large open willow basket, with the occasional addition of some
domestic pet,--such as a tame raven, a puppy, or even a small
bear-cub. Other horses were laden in the same manner with wooden
bowls, stone hammers, and other utensils, along with stores of dried
buffalo-meat packed in cases of rawhide whitened and painted. Many of
the innumerable dogs--whose manners and appearance strongly suggested
their relatives the wolves, to whom, however, they bore a mortal
grudge--were equipped in a similar way, with shorter poles and lighter
loads. Bands of naked boys, noisy and restless, roamed the prairie,
practising their bows and arrows on any small animal they might find. 29
Gay young squaws--adorned on each cheek with a spot of ochre or red
clay, and arrayed in tunics of fringed buckskin embroidered with
porcupine quills--were mounted on ponies, astride like men; while lean
and tattered hags--the drudges of the tribe, unkempt and
hideous--scolded the lagging horses, or screeched at the disorderly
dogs, with voices not unlike the yell of the great horned owl. Most of
the warriors were on horseback, armed with round white shields of
bull-hide, feathered lances, war-clubs, bows, and quivers filled with
stone-headed arrows; while a few of the elders, wrapped in robes of
buffalo-hide, stalked along in groups with a stately air, chatting,
laughing, and exchanging unseemly jokes.[28]
“We continued our march,” says La Vérendrye, “sometimes
south-southwest, and now and then northwest; our numbers constantly
increasing by villages of different tribes which joined us.” The
variations of their course were probably due to the difficulties of
the country, which grew more rugged as they advanced, with broken
hills, tracts of dingy green sage-bushes, and bright, swift streams,
edged with cottonwood and willow, hurrying northward to join the
Yellowstone. At length, on the first of January, 1743, they saw what
was probably the Bighorn Range of the Rocky Mountains, a hundred and 30
twenty miles east of the Yellowstone Park.
A council of all the allied bands was now called, and the Frenchmen
were asked to take part in it. The questions discussed were how to
dispose of the women and children, and how to attack the enemy. Having
settled their plans, the chiefs begged their white friends not to
abandon them; and the younger of the two, the Chevalier, consented to
join the warriors, and aid them with advice, though not with arms.
The tribes of the western plains rarely go on war-parties in winter,
and this great expedition must have been the result of unusual
exasperation. The object was to surprise the Snakes in the security of
their winter camp, and strike a deadly blow, which would have been
impossible in summer.
On the eighth of January the whole body stopped to encamp, choosing,
no doubt, after the invariable winter custom of western Indians, a
place sheltered from wind, and supplied with water and fuel. Here the
squaws and children were to remain, while most of the warriors
advanced against the enemy. By pegging the lower edge of the
lodge-skin to the ground, and piling a ridge of stones and earth upon
it to keep out the air, fastening with wooden skewers the flap of hide
that covered the entrance, and keeping a constant fire, they could
pass a winter endurable to Indians, though smoke, filth, vermin, bad
air, the crowd, and the total absence of privacy, would make it a 31
purgatory to any civilized white man.
The Chevalier left his brother to watch over the baggage of the party,
which was stored in the lodge of the great chief, while he himself,
with his two Canadians, joined the advancing warriors. They were on
horseback, marching with a certain order, and sending watchmen to
reconnoitre the country from the tops of the hills.[29] Their
movements were so slow that it was twelve days before they reached the
foot of the mountains, which, says La Vérendrye, “are for the most
part well wooded, and seem very high.”[30] He longed to climb their
great snow-encumbered peaks, fancying that he might then see the
Pacific, and never dreaming that more than eight hundred miles of
mountains and forests still lay between him and his goal.
Through the whole of the present century the villages of the Snakes
were at a considerable distance west of the Bighorn Range, and some of
them were even on the upper waters of the Pacific slope. It is likely
that they were so in 1743, in which case the war-party would not have
only reached the Bighorn Mountains, but have pushed farther on to
within sight of the great Wind River Range. Be this as it may, their
scouts reached the chief winter camp of the Snakes, and found it 32
abandoned, with lodges still standing, and many household possessions
left behind. The enemy had discovered their approach, and fled.
Instead of encouraging the allies, this news filled them with terror,
for they feared that the Snake warriors might make a circuit to the
rear, and fall upon the camp where they had left their women and
children. The great chief spent all his eloquence in vain, nobody
would listen to him; and with characteristic fickleness they gave over
the enterprise, and retreated in a panic. “Our advance was made in
good order; but not so our retreat,” says the Chevalier’s journal.
“Everybody fled his own way. Our horses, though good, were very tired,
and got little to eat.” The Chevalier was one day riding with his
friend, the great chief, when, looking behind him, he missed his two
French attendants. Hastening back in alarm, he found them far in the
rear, quietly feeding their horses under the shelter of a clump of
trees. He had scarcely joined them when he saw a party of fifteen
hostile Indians stealthily creeping forward, covered by their
bull-hide shields. He and his men let them approach, and then gave
them a few shots; on which they immediately ran off, firearms being to
them an astounding novelty.
The three Frenchmen now tried to rejoin the great chief and his band,
but the task was not easy. The prairie, bare of snow and hard as
flint, showed no trace of foot or hoof; and it was by rare good
fortune that they succeeded, on the second day, not in overtaking
the chief, but in reaching the camp where the women and children had 33
been left. They found them all in safety; the Snakes had not attacked
them, and the panic of the warriors was needless. It was the ninth of
February. They were scarcely housed when a blizzard set in, and on the
night of the tenth the plains were buried in snow. The great chief had
not appeared. With such of his warriors as he could persuade to follow
him, he had made a wide circuit to find the trail of the lost
Frenchmen, but, to his great distress, had completely failed. It was
not till five days after the arrival of the Chevalier and his men that
the chief reached the camp, “more dead than alive,” in the words of
the journal. All his hardships were forgotten when he found his white
friends safe, for he had given them up for lost. “His sorrow turned to
joy, and he could not give us attention and caresses enough.”
The camp broke up, and the allied bands dispersed. The great chief and
his followers moved slowly through the snowdrifts towards the
east-southeast, accompanied by the Frenchmen. Thus they kept on till
the first of March, when the two brothers, learning that they were
approaching the winter village of a people called Gens de la Petite
Cerise, or Choke-Cherry Indians, sent one of their men, with a guide,
to visit them. The man returned in ten days, bringing a message from
the Choke-Cherry Indians, inviting the Frenchmen to their lodges.
The great chief of the Bow Indians, who seems to have regarded his 34
young friends with mingled affection, respect, and wonder, was grieved
at the thought of losing them, but took comfort when they promised to
visit him again, provided that he would make his abode near a certain
river which they pointed out. To this he readily agreed, and then,
with mutual regret, they parted.[31] The Frenchmen repaired to the
village of the Choke-Cherry Indians, who, like the Bow Indians, were
probably a band of Sioux.[32] Hard by their lodges, which stood near
the Missouri, the brothers buried a plate of lead graven with the
royal arms, and raised a pile of stones in honor of the governor of
Canada. They remained at this place till April; then, mounting their
horses again, followed the Missouri upward to the village of the
Mandans, which they reached on the eighteenth of May. After spending a
week here, they joined a party of Assiniboins, journeyed with them
towards Fort La Reine, and reached it on the second of July,--to the
great relief of their father, who was waiting in suspense, having 35
heard nothing of them for more than a year.
Sixty-two years later, when the vast western regions then called
Louisiana had just been ceded to the United States, Captains Lewis and
Clark left the Mandan villages with thirty-two men, traced the
Missouri to the mountains, penetrated the wastes beyond, and made
their way to the Pacific. The first stages of that remarkable
exploration were anticipated by the brothers La Vérendrye. They did
not find the Pacific, but they discovered the Rocky Mountains, or at
least the part of them to which the name properly belongs; for the
southern continuation of the great range had long been known to the
Spaniards. Their bold adventure was achieved, not at the charge of a
government, but at their own cost and that of their father,--not with
a band of well-equipped men, but with only two followers.
The fur-trading privilege which was to have been their compensation
had proved their ruin. They were still pursued without ceasing by the
jealousy of rival traders and the ire of disappointed partners. “Here
in Canada more than anywhere else,” the Chevalier wrote, some years
after his return, “envy is the passion _à la mode_, and there is
no escaping it.”[33] It was the story of La Salle repeated.
Beauharnois, however, still stood by them, encouraged and defended
them, and wrote in their favor to the colonial minister.[34] It was 36
doubtless through his efforts that the elder La Vérendrye was at last
promoted to a captaincy in the colony troops. Beauharnois was
succeeded in the government by the sagacious and able Galissonière,
and he too befriended the explorers. “It seems to me,” he wrote to the
minister, “that what you have been told touching the Sieur de la
Vérendrye, to the effect that he has been more busy with his own
interests than in making discoveries, is totally false, and, moreover,
that any officers employed in such work will always be compelled to
give some of their attention to trade, so long as the King allows them
no other means of subsistence. These discoveries are very costly, and
more fatiguing and dangerous than open war.”[35] Two years later, the
elder La Vérendrye received the cross of the Order of St. Louis,--an
honor much prized in Canada, but which he did not long enjoy; for he
died at Montreal in the following December, when on the point of again
setting out for the West.
His intrepid sons survived, and they were not idle. One of them, the
Chevalier, had before discovered the river Saskatchewan, and ascended
it as far as the forks.[36] His intention was to follow it to the
mountains, build a fort there, and thence push westward in another
search for the Pacific; but a disastrous event ruined all his hopes. 37
La Galissonière returned to France, and the Marquis de la Jonquière
succeeded him, with the notorious François Bigot as intendant. Both
were greedy of money,--the one to hoard, and the other to dissipate
it. Clearly there was money to be got from the fur-trade of Manitoba,
for La Vérendrye had made every preparation and incurred every
expense. It seemed that nothing remained but to reap where he had
sown. His commission to find the Pacific, with the privileges
connected with it, was refused to his sons, and conferred on a
stranger. La Jonquière wrote to the minister: “I have charged M. de
Saint-Pierre with this business. He knows these countries better than
any officer in all the colony.”[37] On the contrary, he had never seen
them. It is difficult not to believe that La Jonquière, Bigot, and
Saint-Pierre were partners in a speculation of which all three were to
share the profits.
The elder La Vérendrye, not long before his death, had sent a large
quantity of goods to his trading-forts. The brothers begged leave to
return thither and save their property from destruction. They declared
themselves happy to serve under the orders of Saint-Pierre, and asked
for the use of only a single fort of all those which their father had
built at his own cost. The answer was a flat refusal. In short, they
were shamefully robbed. The Chevalier writes: “M. le Marquis de la
Jonquière, being pushed hard, and as I thought even touched, by my
representations, told me at last that M. de Saint-Pierre wanted nothing 38
to do with me or my brothers.” “I am a ruined man,” he continues. “I
am more than two thousand livres in debt, and am still only a second
ensign. My elder brother’s grade is no better than mine. My younger
brother is only a cadet. This is the fruit of all that my father, my
brothers, and I have done. My other brother, whom the Sioux murdered
some years ago, was not the most unfortunate among us. We must lose
all that has cost us so much, unless M. de Saint-Pierre should take
juster views, and prevail on the Marquis de la Jonquière to share
them. To be thus shut out from the West is to be most cruelly robbed
of a sort of inheritance which we had all the pains of acquiring, and
of which others will get all the profit.”[38]
His elder brother writes in a similar strain: “We spent our youth and
our property in building up establishments so advantageous to Canada;
and, after all, we were doomed to see a stranger gather the fruit we
had taken such pains to plant.” And he complains that their goods left
in the trading-posts were wasted, their provisions consumed, and the
men in their pay used to do the work of others.[39]
They got no redress. Saint-Pierre, backed by the governor and the
intendant, remained master of the position. The brothers sold a small
piece of land, their last remaining property, to appease their most 39
pressing creditors.[40]
Saint-Pierre set out for Manitoba on the fifth of June, 1750. Though
he had lived more or less in the woods for thirty-six years, and
though La Jonquière had told the minister that he knew the countries
to which he was bound better than anybody else, it is clear from his
own journal that he was now visiting them for the first time. They did
not please him. “I was told,” he says, “that the way would grow harder
and more dangerous as we advanced, and I found, in fact, that one must
risk life and property every moment.” Finding himself and his men
likely to starve, he sent some of them, under an ensign named
Niverville, to the Saskatchewan. They could not reach it, and nearly
perished on the way. “I myself was no more fortunate,” says
Saint-Pierre. “Food was so scarce that I sent some of my people into
the woods among the Indians,--which did not save me from a fast so
rigorous that it deranged my health and put it out of my power to do
anything towards accomplishing my mission. Even if I had had strength
enough, the war that broke out among the Indians would have made it
impossible to proceed.”
Niverville, after a winter of misery, tried to fulfil an order which 40
he had received from his commander. When the Indians guided the two
brothers La Vérendrye to the Rocky Mountains, the course they took
tended so far southward that the Chevalier greatly feared it might
lead to Spanish settlements; and he gave it as his opinion that the
next attempt to find the Pacific should be made farther towards the
north. Saint-Pierre had agreed with him, and had directed Niverville
to build a fort on the Saskatchewan, three hundred leagues above its
mouth. Therefore, at the end of May, 1751, Niverville sent ten men in
two canoes on this errand, and they ascended the Saskatchewan to what
Saint-Pierre calls the “Rock Mountain.” Here they built a small
stockade fort and called it Fort La Jonquière. Niverville was to have
followed them; but he fell ill, and lay helpless at the mouth of the
river in such a condition that he could not even write to his
commander.
Saint-Pierre set out in person from Fort La Reine for Fort La
Jonquière, over ice and snow, for it was late in November. Two
Frenchmen from Niverville met him on the way, and reported that the
Assiniboins had slaughtered an entire band of friendly Indians on whom
Saint-Pierre had relied to guide him. On hearing this he gave up the
enterprise, and returned to Fort La Reine. Here the Indians told him
idle stories about white men and a fort in some remote place towards
the west; but, he observes, “nobody could reach it without encountering
an infinity of tribes more savage than it is possible to imagine.”
He spent most of the winter at Fort La Reine. Here, towards the end of 41
February, 1752, he had with him only five men, having sent out the
rest in search of food. Suddenly, as he sat in his chamber, he saw the
fort full of armed Assiniboins, extremely noisy and insolent. He tried
in vain to quiet them, and they presently broke into the guard-house
and seized the arms. A massacre would have followed, had not
Saint-Pierre, who was far from wanting courage, resorted to an
expedient which has more than once proved effective on such occasions.
He knocked out the heads of two barrels of gunpowder, snatched a
firebrand, and told the yelping crowd that he would blow up them and
himself together. At this they all rushed in fright out of the gate,
while Saint-Pierre ran after them, and bolted it fast. There was great
anxiety for the hunters, but they all came back in the evening,
without having met the enemy. The men, however, were so terrified by
the adventure that Saint-Pierre was compelled to abandon the fort,
after recommending it to the care of another band of Assiniboins, who
had professed great friendship. Four days after he was gone they
burned it to the ground.
He soon came to the conclusion that farther discovery was impossible,
because the English of Hudson Bay had stirred up the western tribes to
oppose it. Therefore he set out for the settlements, and, reaching
Quebec in the autumn of 1753, placed the journal of his futile 42
enterprise in the hands of Duquesne, the new governor.[41]
Canada was approaching her last agony. In the death-struggle of the
Seven Years’ War there was no time for schemes of western discovery.
The brothers La Vérendrye sank into poverty and neglect. A little
before the war broke out, we find the eldest at the obscure Acadian
post of Beauséjour, where he wrote to the colonial minister a
statement of his services, which appears to have received no
attention. After the fall of Canada, the Chevalier de la Vérendrye, he
whose eyes first beheld the snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains,
perished in the wreck of the ship “Auguste,” on the coast of Cape
Breton, in November, 1761.[42]
[1] _Mémoire fait et arresté par le Conseil de Marine, 3
Février, 1717; Mémoire du Roy, 26 Juin, 1717._
[2] _Charlevoix au Comte de Morville, 1 Avril, 1723._
[3] The valuable journal of Charlevoix’s western travels,
written in the form of letters, was published in connection
with his _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_. After his visit
to the Lakes, he went to New Orleans, intending to return in
the spring and continue his inquiries for the Western Sea;
but being unable to do this, he went back to France at the
end of 1722. The official report of his mission is contained
in a letter to the Comte de Toulouse, 20 January, 1723.
[4] _Traité de la Compagnie des Sioux, 6 Juin, 1727._
[5] On this scheme, _Vaudreuil et Bégon au Ministre, 4
Octobre, 1723_; _Longueuil et Bégon au Ministre, 31 Octobre,
1725_; _Beauharnois et Dupuy au Ministre, 25 Septembre,
1727_.
[6] _Guignas à Beauharnois, 28 Mai, 1728._
[7] _Beauharnois et Hocquart au Ministre, 25 Octobre, 1729;
Idem, 12 Octobre, 1731._
[8] _Relation du Sieur de Saint-Pierre, 14 Octobre, 1737._
[9] “Cet officier [Saint-Pierre] a ajouté qu’il seroit
avantageux de détruire cette nation.”--_Mémoire de
Beauharnois_, 1738.
[10] M. Benjamin Sulte has traced out the family history of
the Varennes in the parish registers of Three Rivers and
other trustworthy sources. See _Revue Canadienne_, x. 781,
849, 935.
[11] _Relation du Père Degonnor, Jésuite, Missionnaire des
Sioux, adressée à M. le Marquis de Beauharnois._
[12] _Relation de Degonnor; Beauharnois au Ministre,
1 Octobre, 1731._
[13] _Mémoire du Sieur de la Vérendrye du Sujet des
Établissements pour parvenir à la Découverte de la Mer de
l’Ouest_, in Margry, vi. 585.
[14] _Beauharnois au Ministre, 14 Octobre, 1736_;
_Relation du Massacre au Lac des Bois, en Juin, 1736_;
_Journal de la Vérendrye, joint à la lettre de M. de
Beauharnois du--Octobre, 1737_.
[15] _Mémoire du Sieur de la Vérendrye au Sujet des
Établissements pour parvenir à la Découverte de la Mer de
l’Ouest._
[16] _Mémoire en abrégé de la Carte qui représente les
Établissements faits par le Sieur de la Vérendrye et ses
Enfants_ (Margry, vi. 616); _Carte des Nouvelles Découvertes
dans l’Ouest du Canada dressée sur les Mémoires du M^r. de la
Vérendrye et donnée au Dépôt de la Marine par M. de la
Galissonnière_, 1750; Bellin, _Remarques sur la Carte de
l’Amérique_, 1755; Bougainville, _Mémoire sur l’État de la
Nouvelle France_, 1757.
Most of La Vérendrye’s forts were standing during the Seven
Years’ War, and were known collectively as _Postes de la
Mer de l’Ouest_.
[17] _Journal de la Vérendrye joint à la Lettre de
M. de Beauharnois du--Octobre, 1737._
[18] _Journal de La Vérendrye, 1738, 1739._ This journal,
which is ill-written and sometimes obscure, is printed in
Brymner, _Report on Canadian Archives_, 1889.
[19] Le Prince Maximilien de Wied-Neuwied, _Voyage dans
l’Intérieur de l’Amérique du Nord_, ii. 371, 372 (Paris,
1843). When Captains Lewis and Clark visited the Mandans in
1804, they found them in two villages, with about three
hundred and fifty warriors. They report that, about forty
years before, they lived in nine villages, the ruins of
which the explorers saw about eighty miles below the two
villages then occupied by the tribe. The Mandans had moved
up the river in consequence of the persecutions of the Sioux
and the small-pox, which had made great havoc among them.
_Expedition of Lewis and Clark_, i. 129 (ed. Philadelphia,
1814). These nine villages seem to have been above
Cannon-ball River, a tributary of the Missouri.
[20] _Journal du Sieur de la Vérendrye_, 1740, in Archives
de la Marine.
[21] _Mémoire du Sieur de la Vérendrye, joint à sa lettre
du 31 Octobre, 1744._
[22] Prince Maximilian spent the winter of 1832-33 near the
Mandan villages. His artist, with the instinct of genius,
seized the characteristics of the wild life before him, and
rendered them with admirable vigor and truth. Catlin spent a
considerable time among the Mandans soon after the visit of
Prince Maximilian, and had unusual opportunities of studying
them. He was an indifferent painter, a shallow observer, and
a garrulous and windy writer; yet his enthusiastic industry
is beyond praise, and his pictures are invaluable as
faithful reflections of aspects of Indian life which are
gone forever.
Beauharnois calls the Mandans _Blancs Barbus_, and says that
they have been hitherto unknown. _Beauharnois au Ministre,
14 Août, 1739._ The name Mantannes, or Mandans, is that
given them by the Assiniboins.
[23] The Minnetarees and other tribes of the Missouri built
their lodges in a similar way.
[24] The Cheyennes have a tradition that they were the first
tribe of this region to have horses. This may perhaps
justify a conjecture that the northern division of this
brave and warlike people were the Horse Indians of La
Vérendrye; though an Indian tradition, unless backed by
well-established facts, can never be accepted as substantial
evidence.
[25] A similar phenomenon occurs farther west on the face of
the perpendicular bluffs that, in one place, border the
valley of the river Rosebud.
[26] _Journal du Voyage fait par le Chevalier de la Vérendrye
en 1742._ The copy before me is from the original in the
Dépôt des Cartes de la Marine. A duplicate, in the Archives
des Affaires Étrangères, is printed by Margry. It gives the
above date as November 9 instead of October 9. The context
shows the latter to be correct.
[27] The enmity between the Sioux and the Snakes lasted
to our own time. When the writer lived among the western
Sioux, one of their chiefs organized a war-party against the
Snakes, and numerous bands came to join the expedition from
a distance in some cases of three hundred miles. Quarrels
broke out among them, and the scheme was ruined.
[28] The above descriptive particulars are drawn from
repeated observation of similar scenes at a time when the
primitive condition of these tribes was essentially
unchanged, though with the difference that the concourse of
savages counted by hundreds, and not by thousands.
[29] At least this was done by a band of Sioux with whom the
writer once traversed a part of the country ranged by these
same Snakes, who had lately destroyed an entire Sioux
village.
[30] The Bighorn Range, below the snow line, is in the main
well timbered with pine, fir, oak, and juniper.
[31] The only two tribes of this region who were a match for
the Snakes were the Sioux and the Blackfeet. It is clear
that the Bow Indians could not have been Blackfeet, as in
that case, after the war-party broke up, they would have
moved northward towards their own country, instead of
east-southeast into the country of their enemies. Hence I
incline to think the Bow Indians a band of Sioux, or
Dakota,--a people then, as since, predominant in that
country.
The banks of the Missouri, in the part which La Vérendrye
would have reached in following an east-southeast course,
were occupied by numerous bands or sub-tribes of Sioux, such
as the Minneconjou, Yankton, Oncpapa, Brulé, and others,
friends and relatives of the Bow Indians, supposing these to
have been Sioux.
[32] The Sioux, Cheyennes, and other prairie tribes use the
small astringent wild cherry for food. The squaws pound it,
stones and all, and then dry it for winter use.
[33] _Le Chevalier de la Vérendrye au Ministre, 30 Septembre,
1750._
[34] _La Vérendrye père au Ministre, 1 Novembre, 1746_, in
Margry, vi. 611.
[35] _La Galissonière au Ministre, 23 Octobre, 1747._
[36] _Mémoire en abrégé des Établissements et Découvertes
faits par le Sieur de la Vérendrye et ses Enfants._
[37] _La Jonquière au Ministre, 27 Février, 1750._
[38] _Le Chevalier de la Vérendrye au Ministre, 30 Septembre,
1750._
[39] _Mémoire des Services de Pierre Gautier de la Vérendrye
l’aisné, présenté à Mg^r. Rouillé, ministre et secrétaire
d’État._
[40] Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, in spite of his treatment of
the La Vérendrye brothers, had merit as an officer. It was
he who received Washington at Fort Le Bœuf in 1754. He was
killed in 1755, at the battle of Lake George. See “Montcalm
and Wolfe,” i. 315.
[41] _Journal sommaire du Voyage de Jacques Legardeur de
Saint-Pierre, chargé de là Découverte de la Mer de
l’Ouest_ (British Museum).
[42] The above narrative rests mainly on contemporary documents,
official in character, of which the originals are preserved
in the archives of the French Government. These papers have
recently been printed by M. Pierre Margry, late custodian of
the Archives of the Marine and Colonies at Paris, in the
sixth volume of his _Découvertes et Établissements des
Français dans l’Amérique Septentrionale_,--a documentary
collection of great value, published at the expense of the
American Government. It was M. Margry who first drew
attention to the achievements of the family of La Vérendrye,
by an article in the _Moniteur_ in 1852. I owe to his
kindness the opportunity of using the above-mentioned
documents in advance of publication. I obtained copies from
duplicate originals of some of the principal among them from
the Dépôt des Cartes de la Marine, in 1872. These answer
closely, with rare and trivial variations, to the same
documents as printed from other sources by M. Margry. Some
additional papers preserved in the Archives of the Marine
and Colonies have also been used.
My friends, Hon. William C. Endicott, then Secretary of War,
and Captain John G. Bourke, Third Cavalry, U. S. A., kindly
placed in my hands a valuable collection of Government maps
and surveys of the country between the Missouri and the
Rocky Mountains visited by the brothers La Vérendrye; and I
have received from Captain Bourke, and also from Mr. E. A.
Snow, formerly of the Third Cavalry, much information
concerning the same region, repeatedly traversed by them in
peace and war.
43
CHAPTER XVII. 44
1700-1750.
THE CHAIN OF POSTS.
OPPOSING CLAIMS.--ATTITUDE OF THE RIVAL NATIONS.--AMERICA A FRENCH
CONTINENT.--ENGLAND A USURPER.--FRENCH DEMANDS.--MAGNANIMOUS
PROPOSALS.--WARLIKE PREPARATION.--NIAGARA.--OSWEGO.--CROWN
POINT.--THE PASSES OF THE WEST SECURED.
We have seen that the contest between France and England in America
divided itself, after the Peace of Utrecht, into three parts,--the
Acadian contest; the contest for northern New England; and last,
though greatest, the contest for the West. Nothing is more striking
than the difference, or rather contrast, in the conduct and methods of
the rival claimants to this wild but magnificent domain. Each was
strong in its own qualities, and utterly wanting in the qualities that
marked its opponent.
On maps of British America in the earlier part of the eighteenth
century, one sees the eastern shore, from Maine to Georgia, garnished
with ten or twelve colored patches, very different in shape and size,
and defined, more or less distinctly, by dividing-lines which, in some
cases, are prolonged westward till they touch the Mississippi, or 45
even cross it and stretch indefinitely towards the Pacific. These
patches are the British provinces, and the westward prolongation of
their boundary lines represents their several claims to vast interior
tracts, founded on ancient grants, but not made good by occupation, or
vindicated by any exertion of power.
These English communities took little thought of the region beyond the
Alleghanies. Each lived a life of its own, shut within its own limits,
not dreaming of a future collective greatness to which the possession
of the West would be a necessary condition. No conscious community of
aims and interests held them together, nor was there any authority
capable of uniting their forces and turning them to a common object.
Some of the servants of the Crown had urged the necessity of joining
them all under a strong central government, as the only means of
making them loyal subjects and arresting the encroachments of France;
but the scheme was plainly impracticable. Each province remained in
jealous isolation, busied with its own work, growing in strength, in
the capacity of self-rule and the spirit of independence, and
stubbornly resisting all exercise of authority from without. If the
English-speaking populations flowed westward, it was in obedience to
natural laws, for the King did not aid the movement, the royal
governors had no authority to do so, and the colonial assemblies were
too much engrossed with immediate local interests. The power of these
colonies was that of a rising flood slowly invading and conquering, 46
by the unconscious force of its own growing volume, unless means be
found to hold it back by dams and embankments within appointed limits.
In the French colonies all was different. Here the representatives of
the Crown were men bred in an atmosphere of broad ambition and
masterful and far-reaching enterprise. Achievement was demanded of
them. They recognized the greatness of the prize, studied the strong
and weak points of their rivals, and with a cautious forecast and a
daring energy set themselves to the task of defeating them.
If the English colonies were comparatively strong in numbers, their
numbers could not be brought into action; while if the French forces
were small, they were vigorously commanded, and always ready at a
word. It was union confronting division, energy confronting apathy,
military centralization opposed to industrial democracy; and, for a
time, the advantage was all on one side.
The demands of the French were sufficiently comprehensive. They
repented of their enforced concessions at the Treaty of Utrecht, and
in spite of that compact, maintained that, with a few local and
trivial exceptions, the whole North American continent, except Mexico,
was theirs of right; while their opponents seemed neither to
understand the situation, nor see the greatness of the stakes at
issue.
In 1720 Father Bobé, priest of the Congregation of Missions, drew up 47
a paper in which he sets forth the claims of France with much
distinctness, beginning with the declaration that “England has usurped
from France nearly everything that she possesses in America,” and
adding that the plenipotentiaries at Utrecht did not know what they
were about when they made such concessions to the enemy; that, among
other blunders, they gave Port Royal to England when it belonged to
France, who should “insist vigorously” on its being given back to her.
He maintains that the voyages of Verrazzano and Ribaut made France
owner of the whole continent, from Florida northward; that England was
an interloper in planting colonies along the Atlantic coast, and will
admit as much if she is honest, since all that country is certainly a
part of New France. In this modest assumption of the point at issue,
he ignores John Cabot and his son Sebastian, who discovered North
America more than twenty-five years before the voyage of Verrazzano,
and more than sixty years before that of Ribaut.
When the English, proceeds Father Bobé, have restored Port Royal to
us, which they are bound to do, though we ceded it by the treaty, a
French governor should be at once set over it, with a commission to
command as far as Cape Cod, which would include Boston. We should also
fortify ourselves, “in a way to stop the English, who have long tried
to seize on French America, of which they know the importance, and of
which,” he observes with much candor, “they would make a better use 48
than the French do.[43]... The Atlantic coast, as far as Florida, was
usurped from the French, to whom it belonged then, and to whom it
belongs now.” England, as he thinks, is bound in honor to give back
these countries to their true owner; and it is also the part of wisdom
to do so, since by grasping at too much, one often loses all. But
France, out of her love of peace, will cede to England the countries
along the Atlantic, from the Kennebec in New France to the Jordan[44]
in Carolina, on condition that England will restore to her all that
she gave up by the Treaty of Utrecht. When this is done, France,
always generous, will consent to accept as boundary a line drawn from
the mouth of the Kennebec, passing thence midway between Schenectady
and Lake Champlain and along the ridge of the Alleghanies to the river
Jordan, the country between this line and the sea to belong to
England, and the rest of the continent to France.
If England does not accept this generous offer, she is to be told that
the King will give to the Compagnie des Indes (Law’s Mississippi
Company) full authority to occupy “all the countries which the English
have usurped from France;” and, pursues Father Bobé, “it is certain 49
that the fear of having to do with so powerful a company will bring
the English to our terms.” The company that was thus to strike the
British heart with terror was the same which all the tonics and
stimulants of the government could not save from predestined ruin.
But, concludes this ingenious writer, whether England accepts our
offers or not, France ought not only to take a high tone (_parler
avec hauteur_), but also to fortify diligently, and make good her
right by force of arms.[45]
Three years later we have another document, this time of an official
character, and still more radical in its demands. It admits that Port
Royal and a part of the Nova Scotian peninsula, under the name of
Acadia, were ceded to England by the treaty, and consents that she
shall keep them, but requires her to restore the part of New France
that she has wrongfully seized,--namely, the whole Atlantic coast from
the Kennebec to Florida; since France never gave England this country,
which is hers by the discovery of Verrazzano in 1524. Here, again, the
voyages of the Cabots, in 1497 and 1498, are completely ignored.
“It will be seen,” pursues this curious document, “that our kings have
always preserved sovereignty over the countries between the thirtieth
and the fiftieth degrees of north latitude. A time will come when 50
they will be in a position to assert their rights, and then it will be
seen that the dominions of a king of France cannot be usurped with
impunity. What we demand now is that the English make immediate
restitution.” No doubt, the paper goes on to say, they will pretend to
have prescriptive rights, because they have settled the country and
built towns and cities in it; but this plea is of no avail, because
all that country is a part of New France, and because England
rightfully owns nothing in America except what we, the French, gave
her by the Treaty of Utrecht, which is merely Port Royal and Acadia.
She is bound in honor to give back all the vast countries she has
usurped; but, continues the paper, “the King loves the English nation
too much, and wishes too much to do her kindness, and is too generous
to exact such a restitution. Therefore, provided that England will
give us back Port Royal, Acadia, and everything else that France gave
her by the Treaty of Utrecht, the King will forego his rights, and
grant to England the whole Atlantic coast from the thirty-second
degree of latitude to the Kennebec, to the extent inland of twenty
French leagues [about fifty miles], on condition that she will
solemnly bind herself never to overstep these limits or encroach in
the least on French ground.”
Thus, through the beneficence of France, England, provided that she
renounced all pretension to the rest of the continent, would become
the rightful owner of an attenuated strip of land reaching southward 51
from the Kennebec along the Atlantic seaboard. The document containing
this magnanimous proposal was preserved in the Château St. Louis at
Quebec till the middle of the eighteenth century, when, the boundary
dispute having reached a crisis, and commissioners of the two powers
having been appointed to settle it, a certified copy of the paper was
sent to France for their instruction.[46]
Father Bobé had advised that France should not trust solely to the
justice of her claims, but should back right with might, and build
forts on the Niagara, the Ohio, the Tennessee, and the Alabama, as
well as at other commanding points, to shut out the English from the
West. Of these positions, Niagara was the most important, for the
possession of it would close the access to the Upper Lakes, and stop
the western tribes on their way to trade at Albany. The Five Nations
and the governor of New York were jealous of the French designs,
which, however, were likely enough to succeed, through the prevailing
apathy and divisions in the British colonies. “If those not
immediately concerned,” writes a member of the New York council, “only
stand gazing on while the wolff is murthering other parts of the
flock, it will come to every one’s turn at last.” The warning was well
founded, but it was not heeded. Again: “It is the policy of the French
to attack one colony at a time, and the others are so besotted as to
sit still.”[47]
For gaining the consent of the Five Nations to the building of a 52
French fort at Niagara, Vaudreuil trusted chiefly to his agent among
the Senecas, the bold, skilful, and indefatigable Joncaire, who was
naturalized among that tribe, the strongest of the confederacy.
Governor Hunter of New York sent Peter Schuyler and Philip Livingston
to counteract his influence. The Five Nations, who, conscious of
declining power, seemed ready at this time to be all things to all
men, declared that they would prevent the French from building at
Niagara, which, as they said, would “shut them up as in a prison.”[48]
Not long before, however, they had sent a deputation to Montreal to
say that the English made objection to Joncaire’s presence among them,
but that they were masters of their land, and hoped that the French
agent would come as often as he pleased; and they begged that the new
King of France would take them under his protection.[49] Accordingly,
Vaudreuil sent them a present, with a message to the effect that they
might plunder such English traders as should come among them.[50]
Yet so jealous were the Iroquois of a French fort at Niagara that they
sent three Seneca chiefs to see what was going on there. The chiefs
found a few Frenchmen in a small blockhouse, or loopholed storehouse,
which they had just built near Lewiston Heights. The three 53
Senecas requested them to demolish it and go away, which the Frenchmen
refused to do; on which the Senecas asked the English envoys, Schuyler
and Livingston, to induce the governor of New York to destroy the
obnoxious building. In short, the Five Nations wavered incessantly
between their two European neighbors, and changed their minds every
day. The skill and perseverance of the French emissaries so far
prevailed at last that the Senecas consented to the building of a fort
at the mouth of the Niagara, where Denonville had built one in 1687;
and thus that important pass was made tolerably secure.
Meanwhile the English of New York, or rather Burnet, their governor,
were not idle. Burnet was on ill terms with his assembly, which
grudged him all help in serving the province whose interests it was
supposed to represent. Burnet’s plan was to build a fortified
trading-house at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, in the belief that the
western Indians, who greatly preferred English goods and English
prices, would pass Niagara and bring their furs to the new post. He
got leave from the Five Nations to execute his plan, bought canoes,
hired men, and built a loopholed house of stone on the site of the
present city of Oswego. As the Assembly would give no money, Burnet
furnished it himself; and though the object was one of the greatest
importance to the province, he was never fully repaid.[51] A small
garrison for the new post was drawn from the four independent companies 54
maintained in the province at the charge of the Crown.
The establishment of Oswego greatly alarmed and incensed the French,
and a council of war at Quebec resolved to send two thousand men
against it; but Vaudreuil’s successor, the Marquis de Beauharnois,
learning that the court was not prepared to provoke a war, contented
himself with sending a summons to the commanding officer to abandon
and demolish the place within a fortnight.[52] To this no attention
was given; and as Burnet had foreseen, Oswego became the great centre
of Indian trade, while Niagara, in spite of its more favorable
position, was comparatively slighted by the western tribes. The chief
danger rose from the obstinate prejudice of the Assembly, which, in
its disputes with the Royal Governor, would give him neither men nor
money to defend the new post.
The Canadian authorities, who saw in Oswego an intrusion on their
domain and a constant injury and menace, could not attack it without
bringing on a war, and therefore tried to persuade the Five Nations to
destroy it,--an attempt which completely failed.[53] They then
established a trading-post at Toronto, in the vain hope of stopping 55
the northern tribes on their way to the more profitable English
market, and they built two armed vessels at Fort Frontenac to control
the navigation of Lake Ontario.
_Marquis Charles de Beauharnois._
From the painting by Tournières, in the Musée de Grenoble.
A HALF CENTURY OF CONFLICT, II., 54.
[Illustration: _Copyright, 1897, by Little, Brown & C^o.
Goupil & C^o. Paris_]
Meanwhile, in another quarter the French made an advance far more
threatening to the English colonies than Oswego was to their own. They
had already built a stone fort at Chambly, which covered Montreal from
any English attack by way of Lake Champlain. As that lake was the
great highway between the rival colonies, the importance of gaining
full mastery of it was evident. It was rumored in Canada that the
English meant to seize and fortify the place called Scalp Point
(_Pointe à la Chevelure_) by the French, and Crown Point by the
English, where the lake suddenly contracts to the proportions of a
river, so that a few cannon would stop the passage.
As early as 1726 the French made an attempt to establish themselves on
the east side of the lake opposite Crown Point, but were deterred by
the opposition of Massachusetts. This eastern shore was, however,
claimed not only by Massachusetts, but by her neighbor, New Hampshire,
with whom she presently fell into a dispute about the ownership, and,
as a writer of the time observes, “while they were quarrelling for the
bone, the French ran away with it.”[54]
At length, in 1731, the French took post on the western side of the
lake, and began to intrench themselves at Crown Point, which was 56
within the bounds claimed by New York; but that province, being then
engrossed, not only by her chronic dispute with her governor, but by a
quarrel with her next neighbor, New Jersey, slighted the danger from
the common enemy, and left the French to work their will. It was
Saint-Luc de la Corne, Lieutenant du Roy at Montreal, who pointed out
the necessity of fortifying this place,[55] in order to anticipate the
English, who, as he imagined, were about to do so,--a danger which was
probably not imminent, since the English colonies, as a whole, could
not and would not unite for such a purpose, while the individual
provinces were too much absorbed in their own internal affairs and
their own jealousies and disputes to make the attempt. La Corne’s
suggestion found favor at court, and the governor of Canada was
ordered to occupy Crown Point. The Sieur de la Fresnière was sent
thither with troops and workmen, and a fort was built, and named Fort
Frédéric. It contained a massive stone tower, mounted with cannon to
command the lake, which is here but a musket-shot wide. Thus was
established an advanced post of France,--a constant menace to New York
and New England, both of which denounced it as an outrageous
encroachment on British territory, but could not unite to rid
themselves of it.[56]
While making this bold push against their neighbors of the South, the 57
French did not forget the West; and towards the middle of the century
they had occupied points controlling all the chief waterways between
Canada and Louisiana. Niagara held the passage from Lake Ontario to
Lake Erie. Detroit closed the entrance to Lake Huron, and
Michilimackinac guarded the point where Lake Huron is joined by Lakes
Michigan and Superior; while the fort called La Baye, at the head of
Green Bay, stopped the way to the Mississippi by Marquette’s old route
of Fox River and the Wisconsin. Another route to the Mississippi was
controlled by a post on the Maumee to watch the carrying-place between
that river and the Wabash, and by another on the Wabash where
Vincennes now stands. La Salle’s route, by way of the Kankakee and the
Illinois, was barred by a fort on the St. Joseph; and even if, in
spite of these obstructions, an enemy should reach the Mississippi by
any of its northern affluents, the cannon of Fort Chartres would
prevent him from descending it.
These various western forts, except Fort Chartres and Fort Niagara,
which were afterwards rebuilt, the one in stone and the other in
earth, were stockades of no strength against cannon. Slight as they
were, their establishment was costly; and as the King, to whom Canada
was a yearly loss, grudged every franc spent upon it, means were
contrived to make them self-supporting. Each of them was a station of
the fur-trade, and the position of most of them had been determined 58
more or less with a view to that traffic. Hence they had no slight
commercial value. In some of them the Crown itself carried on trade
through agents who usually secured a lion’s share of the profits.
Others were farmed out to merchants at a fixed sum. In others, again,
the commanding officer was permitted to trade on condition of
maintaining the post, paying the soldiers, and supporting a
missionary; while in one case, at least, he was subjected to similar
obligations, though not permitted to trade himself, but only to sell
trading licenses to merchants. These methods of keeping up forts and
garrisons were of course open to prodigious abuses, and roused endless
jealousies and rivalries.
France had now occupied the valley of the Mississippi, and joined with
loose and uncertain links her two colonies of Canada and Louisiana.
But the strength of her hold on these regions of unkempt savagery bore
no proportion to the vastness of her claims or the growing power of
the rivals who were soon to contest them.[57]
[43] “De manière qu’on puisse arrêter les Anglois, qui depuis
longtems tachent de s’emparer de l’Amérique françoise, dont
ils conoissent l’importance et dont ils feroient un
meillieur usage que celuy qui les françois en font.”
[44] On the river Jordan, so named by Vasquez de Ayllon, see
“Pioneers of France in the New World,” 11, 39, _note_. It was
probably the broad river of South Carolina.
[45] _Second Mémoire concernant les Limites des Colonies
présenté en 1720 par Bobé, prêtre de la Congrégation de la
Mission_ (Archives Nationales).
[46] _Demandes de la France_, 1723 (Archives des Affaires
Étrangères).
[47] _Colonel Heathcote to Governor Hunter, 8 July, 1715.
Ibid, to Townshend, 12 July, 1715._
[48] _Journal of Schuyler and Livingston, 1720._
[49] _Vaudreuil au Conseil de Marine, 24 Octobre, 1717._
[50] _Vaudreuil et Bégon au Conseil de Marine, 26 Octobre, 1719._
[51] “I am ashamed to confess that he built the fort at his
private expense, and that a balance of above £56 remains due
to his estate to this very day.”--Smith, _History of New York_,
267 (ed. 1814).
[52] _Mémoire de Dupuy, 1728._ Dupuy was intendant of Canada.
The King approved the conduct of Beauharnois in not using
force. _Dépêche du Roy, 14 Mai, 1728._
[53] When urged by the younger Longueuil to drive off
the English from Oswego, the Indians replied, “Drive them
off thyself” (_“Chassez-les toi-même”_). _Longueuil fils au
Ministre, 19 Octobre, 1728._
[54] Mitchell, _Contest in America_, 22.
[55] _La Corne au Ministre, 15 Octobre, 1730._
[56] On the establishment of Crown Point, _Beauharnois et
Hocquart au Roy, 10 Octobre, 1731_; _Beauharnois et Hocquart
au Ministre, 14 Novembre, 1731_.
[57] On the claim of France that all North America, except
the Spanish colonies of Mexico and Florida, belonged to her,
see Appendix A.
CHAPTER XVIII. 59
1744, 1745.
A MAD SCHEME.
WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION.--THE FRENCH SEIZE CANSEAU
AND ATTACK ANNAPOLIS.--PLAN OF REPRISAL.--WILLIAM
VAUGHAN.--GOVERNOR SHIRLEY: HE ADVISES AN ATTACK ON
LOUISBOURG.--THE ASSEMBLY REFUSES, BUT AT LAST
CONSENTS.--PREPARATION.--WILLIAM PEPPERRELL.--GEORGE
WHITEFIELD.--PARSON MOODY.--THE SOLDIERS.--THE PROVINCIAL
NAVY.--COMMODORE WARREN.--SHIRLEY AS AN AMATEUR SOLDIER.--THE
FLEET SAILS.
The Peace of Utrecht left unsettled the perilous questions of boundary
between the rival powers in North America, and they grew more perilous
every day. Yet the quarrel was not yet quite ripe; and though the
French governor, Vaudreuil, and perhaps also his successor,
Beauharnois, seemed willing to precipitate it, the courts of London
and Versailles still hesitated to appeal to the sword. Now, as before,
it was a European, and not an American, quarrel that was to set the
world on fire. The War of the Austrian Succession broke out in 1744.
When Frederic of Prussia seized Silesia and began that bloody
conflict, it meant that packs of howling savages would again spread
fire and carnage along the New England border.
News of the declaration of war reached Louisbourg some weeks before it 60
reached Boston, and the French military governor, Duquesnel, thought
he saw an opportunity to strike an unexpected blow for the profit of
France and his own great honor.
One of the French inhabitants of Louisbourg has left us a short sketch
of Duquesnel, whom he calls “capricious, of an uncertain temper,
inclined to drink, and when in his cups neither reasonable or
civil.”[58] He adds that the governor had offended nearly every
officer in the garrison, and denounces him as the “chief cause of our
disasters.” When Duquesnel heard of the declaration of war, his first
thought was to strike some blow before the English were warned. The
fishing-station of Canseau was a tempting prize, being a near and an
inconvenient neighbor, at the southern end of the Strait of Canseau,
which separates the Acadian peninsula from the island of Cape Breton,
or Isle Royale, of which Louisbourg was the place of strength. Nothing
was easier than to seize Canseau, which had no defence but a wooden
redoubt built by the fishermen, and occupied by about eighty
Englishmen thinking no danger. Early in May, Duquesnel sent Captain
Duvivier against it, with six hundred, or, as the English say, nine
hundred soldiers and sailors, escorted by two small armed vessels. The
English surrendered, on condition of being sent to Boston, and the 61
miserable hamlet, with its wooden citadel, was burned to the ground.
Thus far successful, the governor addressed himself to the capture of
Annapolis,--which meant the capture of all Acadia. Duvivier was again
appointed to the command. His heart was in the work, for he was a
descendant of La Tour, feudal claimant of Acadia in the preceding
century. Four officers and ninety regular troops were given him,[59]
and from three to four hundred Micmac and Malicite Indians joined him
on the way. The Micmacs, under command, it is said, of their
missionary, Le Loutre, had already tried to surprise the English fort,
but had only succeeded in killing two unarmed stragglers in the
adjacent garden.[60]
Annapolis, from the neglect and indifference of the British ministry,
was still in such a state of dilapidation that its sandy ramparts were
crumbling into the ditches, and the cows of the garrison walked over
them at their pleasure. It was held by about a hundred effective men
under Major Mascarene, a French Protestant whose family had been
driven into exile by the persecutions that followed the revocation of
the Edict of Nantes. Shirley, governor of Massachusetts, sent him a
small reinforcement of militia; but as most of these came without
arms, and as Mascarene had few or none to give them, they proved of 62
doubtful value.
Duvivier and his followers, white and red, appeared before the fort in
August, made their camp behind the ridge of a hill that overlooked it,
and marched towards the rampart; but being met by a discharge of
cannon-shot, they gave up all thoughts of an immediate assault, began
a fusillade under cover of darkness, and kept the garrison on the
alert all night.
Duvivier had looked for help from the Acadians of the neighboring
village, who were French in blood, faith, and inclination. They would
not join him openly, fearing the consequences if his attack should
fail; but they did what they could without committing themselves, and
made a hundred and fifty scaling-ladders for the besiegers. Duvivier
now returned to his first plan of an assault, which, if made with
vigor, could hardly have failed. Before attempting it, he sent
Mascarene a flag of truce to tell him that he hourly expected two
powerful armed ships from Louisbourg, besides a reinforcement of two
hundred and fifty regulars, with cannon, mortars, and other enginery
of war. At the same time he proposed favorable terms of capitulation,
not to take effect till the French war-ships should have appeared.
Mascarene refused all terms, saying that when he saw the French ships,
he would consider what to do, and meanwhile would defend himself as he
could.
The expected ships were the “Ardent” and the “Caribou,” then at
Louisbourg. A French writer says that when Duquesnel directed their 63
captains to Hail for Annapolis and aid in its capture, they refused,
saying that they had no orders from the court.[61] Duvivier protracted
the parley with Mascarene, and waited in vain for the promised succor.
At length the truce was broken off, and the garrison, who had profited
by it to get rest and sleep, greeted the renewal of hostilities with
three cheers.
Now followed three weeks of desultory attacks; but there was no
assault, though Duvivier had boasted that he had the means of making a
successful one. He waited for the ships which did not come, and kept
the Acadians at work in making ladders and fire-arrows. At length,
instead of aid from Louisbourg, two small vessels appeared from
Boston, bringing Mascarene a reinforcement of fifty Indian rangers.
This discouraged the besiegers, and towards the end of September they
suddenly decamped and vanished. “The expedition was a failure,” writes
the _Habitant de Louisbourg_, “though one might have bet
everything on its success, so small was the force that the enemy had
to resist us.”
This writer thinks that the seizure of Canseau and the attack of
Annapolis were sources of dire calamity to the French. “Perhaps,” he
says, “the English would have let us alone if we had not first
insulted them. It was the interest of the people of New England to
live at peace with us, and they would no doubt have done so, if we had
not taken it into our heads to waken them from their security. They 64
expected that both parties would merely stand on the defensive,
without taking part in this cruel war that has set Europe in a blaze.”
Whatever might otherwise have been the disposition of the
“Bastonnais,” or New England people, the attacks on Canseau and
Annapolis alarmed and exasperated them, and engendered in some heated
brains a project of wild audacity. This was no less than the capture
of Louisbourg, reputed the strongest fortress, French or British, in
North America, with the possible exception of Quebec, which owed its
chief strength to nature, and not to art.
Louisbourg was a standing menace to all the northern British colonies.
It was the only French naval station on the continent, and was such a
haunt of privateers that it was called the American Dunkirk. It
commanded the chief entrance of Canada, and threatened to ruin the
fisheries, which were nearly as vital to New England as was the
fur-trade to New France. The French government had spent twenty-five
years in fortifying it, and the cost of its powerful defences--constructed
after the system of Vauban--was reckoned at thirty million livres.
This was the fortress which William Vaughan of Damariscotta advised
Governor Shirley to attack with fifteen hundred raw New England
militia.[62] Vaughan was born at Portsmouth in 1703, and graduated at 65
Harvard College nineteen years later. His father, also a graduate of
Harvard, was for a time lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire. Soon
after leaving college, the younger Vaughan--a youth of restless and
impetuous activity--established a fishing-station on the island of
Matinicus, off the coast of Maine, and afterwards became the owner of
most of the land on both sides of the little river Damariscotta, where
he built a garrison-house, or wooden fort, established a considerable
settlement, and carried on an extensive trade in fish and timber. He
passed for a man of ability and force, but was accused of a headstrong
rashness, a self-confidence that hesitated at nothing, and a
harebrained contempt of every obstacle in his way. Once, having fitted
out a number of small vessels at Portsmouth for his fishing at
Matinicus, he named a time for sailing. It was a gusty and boisterous
March day, the sea was rough, and old sailors told him that such craft
could not carry sail. Vaughan would not listen, but went on board and
ordered his men to follow. One vessel was wrecked at the mouth of the
river; the rest, after severe buffeting, came safe, with their owner,
to Matinicus.
Being interested in the fisheries, Vaughan was doubly hostile to 66
Louisbourg,--their worst enemy. He found a willing listener in the
governor, William Shirley. Shirley was an English barrister who had
come to Massachusetts in 1731 to practise his profession and seek his
fortune. After filling various offices with credit, he was made
governor of the province in 1741, and had discharged his duties with
both tact and talent. He was able, sanguine, and a sincere well-wisher
to the province, though gnawed by an insatiable hunger for
distinction. He thought himself a born strategist, and was possessed
by a propensity for contriving military operations, which finally cost
him dear. Vaughan, who knew something of Louisbourg, told him that in
winter the snow-drifts were often banked so high against the rampart
that it could be mounted readily, if the assailants could but time
their arrival at the right moment. This was not easy, as that rocky
and tempestuous coast was often made inaccessible by fogs and surf;
Shirley therefore preferred a plan of his own contriving. But nothing
could be done without first persuading his Assembly to consent.
On the ninth of January the General Court of Massachusetts--a
convention of grave city merchants and solemn rustics from the country
villages--was astonished by a message from the governor to the effect
that he had a communication to make, so critical that he wished the
whole body to swear secrecy. The request was novel, but being then on
good terms with Shirley, the representatives consented, and took the 67
oath. Then, to their amazement, the governor invited them to undertake
forthwith the reduction of Louisbourg. The idea of an attack on that
redoubtable fortress was not new. Since the autumn, proposals had been
heard to petition the British ministry to make the attempt, under a
promise that the colonies would give their best aid. But that
Massachusetts should venture it alone, or with such doubtful help as
her neighbors might give, at her own charge and risk, though already
insolvent, without the approval or consent of the ministry, and
without experienced officers or trained soldiers, was a startling
suggestion to the sober-minded legislators of the General Court. They
listened, however, with respect to the governor’s reasons, and
appointed a committee of the two houses to consider them. The
committee deliberated for several days, and then made a report adverse
to the plan, as was also the vote of the Court.
Meanwhile, in spite of the oath, the secret had escaped. It is said
that a country member, more pious than discreet, prayed so loud and
fervently, at his lodgings, for light to guide him on the momentous
question, that his words were overheard, and the mystery of the closed
doors was revealed. The news flew through the town, and soon spread
through all the province.
After his defeat in the Assembly, Shirley returned, vexed and
disappointed, to his house in Roxbury. A few days later, James Gibson,
a Boston merchant, says that he saw him “walking slowly down King 68
Street, with his head bowed down, as if in a deep study.” “He entered
my counting-room,” pursues the merchant, “and abruptly said, ‘Gibson,
do you feel like giving up the expedition to Louisbourg?’” Gibson
replied that he wished the House would reconsider their vote. “You are
the very man I want!” exclaimed the governor.[63] They then drew up a
petition for reconsideration, which Gibson signed, promising to get
also the signatures of merchants, not only of Boston, but of Salem,
Marblehead, and other towns along the coast. In this he was completely
successful, as all New England merchants looked on Louisbourg as an
arch-enemy.
The petition was presented, and the question came again before the
Assembly. There had been much intercourse between Boston and
Louisbourg, which had largely depended on New England for
provisions.[64] The captured militiamen of Canseau, who, after some
delay, had been sent to Boston, according to the terms of surrender,
had used their opportunities to the utmost, and could give Shirley
much information concerning the fortress. It was reported that the
garrison was mutinous, and that provisions were fallen short, so that
the place could not hold out without supplies from France. These,
however, could be cut off only by blockading the harbor with a
stronger naval force than all the colonies together could supply. 69
The Assembly had before reached the reasonable conclusion that the
capture of Louisbourg was beyond the strength of Massachusetts, and
that the only course was to ask the help of the mother-country.[65]
The reports of mutiny, it was urged, could not be depended on; raw
militia in the open field were no match for disciplined troops behind
ramparts; the expense would be enormous, and the credit of the
province, already sunk low, would collapse under it; we should fail,
and instead of sympathy, get nothing but ridicule. Such were the
arguments of the opposition, to which there was little to answer,
except that if Massachusetts waited for help from England, Louisbourg
would be reinforced and the golden opportunity lost. The impetuous and
irrepressible Vaughan put forth all his energy; the plan was carried
by a single vote. And even this result was said to be due to the
accident of a member in opposition falling and breaking a leg as he
was hastening to the House.
The die was cast, and now doubt and hesitation vanished. All alike set
themselves to push on the work. Shirley wrote to all the colonies, as
far south as Pennsylvania, to ask for co-operation. All excused
themselves except Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, and
the whole burden fell on the four New England colonies. These, and
Massachusetts above all, blazed with pious zeal; for as the enterprise
was directed against Roman Catholics, it was supposed in a peculiar 70
manner to commend itself to Heaven. There were prayers without ceasing
in churches and families, and all was ardor, energy, and confidence;
while the other colonies looked on with distrust, dashed with
derision. When Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia, heard what was
afoot, he wrote to his brother in Boston, “Fortified towns are hard
nuts to crack, and your teeth are not accustomed to it; but some seem
to think that forts are as easy taken as snuff.”[66] It has been said
of Franklin that while he represented some of the New England
qualities, he had no part in that enthusiasm of which our own time saw
a crowning example when the cannon opened at Fort Sumter, and which
pushes to its end without reckoning chances, counting costs, or
heeding the scoffs of ill-wishers.
The prevailing hope and faith were, it is true, born largely of
ignorance, aided by the contagious zeal of those who first broached
the project; for as usual in such cases, a few individuals supplied
the initiate force of the enterprise. Vaughan the indefatigable rode
express to Portsmouth with a letter from Shirley to Benning Wentworth,
governor of New Hampshire. That pompous and self-important personage
admired the Massachusetts governor, who far surpassed him in talents
and acquirements, and who at the same time knew how to soothe his
vanity. Wentworth was ready to do his part, but his province had no 71
money, and the King had ordered him to permit the issue of no more
paper currency. The same prohibition had been laid upon Shirley; but
he, with sagacious forecast, had persuaded his masters to relent so
far as to permit the issue of £50,000 in what were called bills of
credit to meet any pressing exigency of war. He told this to
Wentworth, and succeeded in convincing him that his province might
stretch her credit like Massachusetts, in case of similar military
need. New Hampshire was thus enabled to raise a regiment of five
hundred men out of her scanty population, with the condition that a
hundred and fifty of them should be paid and fed by Massachusetts.[67]
Shirley was less fortunate in Rhode Island. The governor of that
little colony called Massachusetts “our avowed enemy, always trying to
defame us.”[68] There was a grudge between the neighbors, due partly
to notorious ill-treatment by the Massachusetts Puritans of Roger
Williams, founder of Rhode Island, and partly to one of those boundary
disputes which often produced ill-blood among the colonies. The
representatives of Rhode Island, forgetting past differences, voted to
raise a hundred and fifty men for the expedition, till, learning that
the project was neither ordered nor approved by the Home Government, 72
they prudently reconsidered their action. They voted, however, that
the colony sloop “Tartar,” carrying fourteen cannon and twelve
swivels, should be equipped and manned for the service, and that the
governor should be instructed to find and commission a captain and a
lieutenant to command her.[69]
Connecticut promised five hundred and sixteen men and officers, on
condition that Roger Wolcott, their commander, should have the second
rank in the expedition. Shirley accordingly commissioned him as
major-general. As Massachusetts was to supply above three thousand
men, or more than three quarters of the whole force, she had a natural
right to name a commander-in-chief.
It was not easy to choose one. The colony had been at peace for twenty
years, and except some grizzled Indian fighters of the last war, and
some survivors of the Carthagena expedition, nobody had seen service.
Few knew well what a fortress was, and nobody knew how to attack one.
Courage, energy, good sense, and popularity were the best qualities to
be hoped for in the leader. Popularity was indispensable, for the
soldiers were all to be volunteers, and they would not enlist under a
commander whom they did not like. Shirley’s choice was William
Pepperrell, a merchant of Kittery. Knowing that Benning Wentworth
thought himself the man for the place, he made an effort to placate
him, and wrote that he would gladly have given him the chief command, 73
but for his gouty legs. Wentworth took fire at the suggestion, forgot
his gout, and declared himself ready to serve his country and assume
the burden of command. The position was awkward, and Shirley was
forced to reply, “On communicating your offer to two or three
gentlemen in whose judgment I most confide, I found them clearly of
opinion that any alteration of the present command would be attended
with great risk, both with respect to our Assembly and the soldiers
being entirely disgusted.”[70]
The painter Smibert has left us a portrait of Pepperrell,--a good
bourgeois face, not without dignity, though with no suggestion of the
soldier. His spacious house at Kittery Point still stands, sound and
firm, though curtailed in some of its proportions. Not far distant is
another noted relic of colonial times, the not less spacious mansion
built by the disappointed Wentworth at Little Harbor. I write these
lines at a window of this curious old house, and before me spreads the
scene familiar to Pepperrell from childhood. Here the river Piscataqua
widens to join the sea, holding in its gaping mouth the large island
of Newcastle, with attendant groups of islets and island rocks,
battered with the rack of ages, studded with dwarf savins, or half
clad with patches of whortleberry bushes, sumach, and the shining
wax-myrtle, green in summer, red with the touch of October. The flood 74
tide pours strong and full around them, only to ebb away and lay bare
a desolation of rocks and stones buried in a shock of brown drenched
seaweed, broad tracts of glistening mud, sand-banks black with
mussel-beds, and half-submerged meadows of eel-grass, with myriads of
minute shell-fish clinging to its long lank tresses. Beyond all these
lies the main, or northern channel, more than deep enough, even when
the tide is out, to float a line-of-battle-ship. On its farther bank
stands the old house of the Pepperrells, wearing even now an air of
dingy respectability. Looking through its small, quaint window-panes,
one could see across the water the rude dwellings of fishermen along
the shore of Newcastle, and the neglected earthwork called Fort
William and Mary, that feebly guarded the river’s mouth. In front, the
Piscataqua, curving southward, widened to meet the Atlantic between
rocky headlands and foaming reefs, and in dim distance the Isles of
Shoals seemed floating on the pale gray sea.
Behind the Pepperrell house was a garden, probably more useful than
ornamental, and at the foot of it were the owner’s wharves, with
storehouses for salt-fish, naval stores, and imported goods for the
country trade.
Pepperrell was the son of a Welshman[71] who migrated in early life 75
to the Isles of Shoals, and thence to Kittery, where, by trade,
ship-building, and the fisheries, he made a fortune, most of which he
left to his son William. The young Pepperrell learned what little was
taught at the village school, supplemented by a private tutor, whose
instructions, however, did not perfect him in English grammar. In the
eyes of his self-made father, education was valuable only so far as it
could make a successful trader; and on this point he had reason to be
satisfied, as his son passed for many years as the chief merchant in
New England. He dealt in ships, timber, naval stores, fish, and
miscellaneous goods brought from England; and he also greatly
prospered by successful land purchases, becoming owner of the greater
part of the growing towns of Saco and Scarborough. When scarcely
twenty-one, he was made justice of the peace, on which he ordered from
London what his biographer calls a law library, consisting of a law
dictionary, Danvers’ “Abridgment of the Common Law,” the “Complete
Solicitor,” and several other books. In law as in war, his best
qualities were good sense and good-will. About the time when he was
made a justice, he was commissioned captain of militia, then major,
then lieutenant-colonel, and at last colonel, commanding all the
militia of Maine. The town of Kittery chose him to represent her in
the General Court, Maine being then a part of Massachusetts. Finally,
he was made a member of the Governor’s Council,--a post which he held
for thirty-two years, during eighteen of which he was president of 76
the board.
These civil dignities served him as educators better than tutor or
village school; for they brought him into close contact with the chief
men of the province; and in the Massachusetts of that time, so
different from our own, the best education and breeding were found in
the official class. At once a provincial magnate and the great man of
a small rustic village, his manners are said to have answered to both
positions,--certainly they were such as to make him popular. But
whatever he became as a man, he learned nothing to fit him to command
an army and lay siege to Louisbourg. Perhaps he felt this, and
thought, with the governor of Rhode Island, that “the attempt to
reduce that prodigiously strong town was too much for New England,
which had not one officer of experience, nor even an engineer.”[72]
Moreover, he was unwilling to leave his wife, children, and business.
He was of a religious turn of mind, and partial to the clergy, who, on
their part, held him in high favor. One of them, the famous preacher,
George Whitefield, was a guest at his house when he heard that Shirley
had appointed him to command the expedition against Louisbourg.
Whitefield had been the leading spirit in the recent religious
fermentation called the Great Awakening, which, though it produced
bitter quarrels among the ministers, besides other undesirable results, 77
was imagined by many to make for righteousness. So thought the Rev.
Thomas Prince, who mourned over the subsiding delirium of his flock as
a sign of backsliding. “The heavenly shower was over,” he sadly
exclaims; “from fighting the devil they must turn to fighting the
French.” Pepperrell, always inclined to the clergy, and now in great
perplexity and doubt, asked his guest Whitefield whether or not he had
better accept the command. Whitefield gave him cold comfort, told him
that the enterprise was not very promising, and that if he undertook
it, he must do so “with a single eye,” prepared for obloquy if he
failed, and envy if he succeeded.[73]
Henry Sherburn, commissary of the New Hampshire regiment, begged
Whitefield to furnish a motto for the flag. The preacher, who, zealot
as he was, seemed unwilling to mix himself with so madcap a business,
hesitated at first, but at length consented, and suggested the words,
_Nil desperandum Christo duce_, which, being adopted, gave the
enterprise the air of a crusade. It had, in fact, something of the
character of one. The cause was imagined to be the cause of Heaven,
crowned with celestial benediction. It had the fervent support of the
ministers, not only by prayers and sermons, but, in one case, by
counsels wholly temporal. A certain pastor, much esteemed for
benevolence, proposed to Pepperrell, who had at last accepted the
command, a plan, unknown to Vauban, for confounding the devices of 78
the enemy. He advised that two trustworthy persons should cautiously
walk together along the front of the French ramparts under cover of
night, one of them carrying a mallet, with which he was to hammer the
ground at short intervals. The French sentinels, it seems to have been
supposed, on hearing this mysterious thumping, would be so bewildered
as to give no alarm. While one of the two partners was thus employed,
the other was to lay his ear to the ground, which, as the adviser
thought, would return a hollow sound if the artful foe had dug a mine
under it; and whenever such secret danger was detected, a mark was to
be set on the spot, to warn off the soldiers.[74]
Equally zealous, after another fashion, was the Rev. Samuel Moody,
popularly known as Father Moody, or Parson Moody, minister of York and
senior chaplain of the expedition. Though about seventy years old, he
was amazingly tough and sturdy. He still lives in the traditions of
York as the spiritual despot of the settlement and the uncompromising
guardian of its manners and doctrine, predominating over it like a
rough little village pope. The comparison would have kindled his
burning wrath, for he abhorred the Holy Father as an embodied
Antichrist. Many are the stories told of him by the descendants of
those who lived under his rod, and sometimes felt its weight; for he
was known to have corrected offending parishioners with his cane.[75] 79
When some one of his flock, nettled by his strictures from the pulpit,
walked in dudgeon towards the church door, Moody would shout after
him, “Come back, you graceless sinner, come back!” or if any ventured
to the alehouse of a Saturday night, the strenuous pastor would go in
after them, collar them, drag them out, and send them home with
rousing admonition.[76] Few dared gainsay him, by reason both of his
irritable temper and of the thick-skinned insensibility that encased
him like armor of proof. And while his pachydermatous nature made him
invulnerable as a rhinoceros, he had at the same time a rough and
ready humor that supplied keen weapons for the warfare of words and
made him a formidable antagonist. This commended him to the rude
borderers, who also relished the sulphurous theology of their
spiritual dictator, just as they liked the raw and fiery liquors that
would have scorched more susceptible stomachs. What they did not like
was the pitiless length of his prayers, which sometimes kept them
afoot above two hours shivering in the polar cold of the unheated
meeting-house, and which were followed by sermons of equal endurance;
for the old man’s lungs were of brass, and his nerves of hammered
iron. Some of the sufferers ventured to remonstrate; but this only
exasperated him, till one parishioner, more worldly wise than the rest, 80
accompanied his modest petition for mercy with the gift of a barrel of
cider, after which the parson’s ministrations were perceptibly less
exhausting than before. He had an irrepressible conscience and a
highly aggressive sense of duty, which made him an intolerable meddler
in the affairs of other people, and which, joined to an underlying
kindness of heart, made him so indiscreet in his charities that his
wife and children were often driven to vain protest against the
excesses of his almsgiving. The old Puritan fanaticism was rampant in
him; and when he sailed for Louisbourg, he took with him an axe,
intended, as he said, to hew down the altars of Antichrist and
demolish his idols.[77]
Shirley’s choice of a commander was perhaps the best that could have
been made; for Pepperrell joined to an unusual popularity as little
military incompetency as anybody else who could be had. Popularity, we
have seen, was indispensable, and even company officers were appointed
with an eye to it. Many of these were well-known men in rustic
neighborhoods, who had raised companies in the hope of being
commissioned to command them. Others were militia officers recruiting
under orders of the governor. Thus, John Storer, major in the Maine
militia, raised in a single day, it is said, a company of sixty-one, 81
the eldest being sixty years old, and the youngest sixteen.[78] They
formed about a quarter of the fencible population of the town of
Wells, one of the most exposed places on the border. Volunteers
offered themselves readily everywhere; though the pay was meagre,
especially in Maine and Massachusetts, where in the new provincial
currency it was twenty-five shillings a month,--then equal to fourteen
shillings sterling, or less than sixpence a day,[79] the soldier
furnishing his own clothing and bringing his own gun. A full third of
the Massachusetts contingent, or more than a thousand men, are
reported to have come from the hardy population of Maine, whose entire
fighting force, as shown by the muster-rolls, was then but 2,855.[80]
Perhaps there was not one officer among them whose experience of war
extended beyond a drill on muster day and the sham fight that closed
the performance, when it generally happened that the rustic warriors
were treated with rum at the charge of their captain, to put them in
good humor, and so induce them to obey the word of command.
As the three provinces contributing soldiers recognized no common
authority nearer than the King, Pepperrell received three several
commissions as lieutenant-general,--one from the governor of 82
Massachusetts, and the others from the governors of Connecticut and
New Hampshire; while Wolcott, commander of the Connecticut forces, was
commissioned as major-general by both the governor of his own province
and that of Massachusetts. When the levies were complete, it was found
that Massachusetts had contributed about 3,300 men, Connecticut 516,
and New Hampshire 304 in her own pay, besides 150 paid by her
wealthier neighbor.[81] Rhode Island had lost faith and disbanded her
150 men; but afterwards raised them again, though too late to take
part in the siege.
Each of the four New England colonies had a little navy of its own,
consisting of from one to three or four small armed vessels; and as
privateering--which was sometimes a euphemism for piracy where
Frenchmen and Spaniards were concerned--was a favorite occupation, it
was possible to extemporize an additional force in case of need. For a
naval commander, Shirley chose Captain Edward Tyng, who had signalized
himself in the past summer by capturing a French privateer of greater
strength than his own. Shirley authorized him to buy for the province
the best ship he could find, equip her for fighting, and take command
of her. Tyng soon found a brig to his mind, on the stocks nearly ready
for launching. She was rapidly fitted for her new destination, 83
converted into a frigate, mounted with 24 guns, and named the
“Massachusetts.” The rest of the naval force consisted of the ship
“Cæsar,” of 20 guns; a vessel called the “Shirley,” commanded by
Captain Rous, and also carrying 20 guns; another, of the kind called a
“snow,” carrying 16 guns; one sloop of 12 guns, and two of 8 guns
each; the “Boston Packet,” of 16 guns; two sloops from Connecticut of
16 guns each; a privateer hired in Rhode Island, of 20 guns; the
government sloop “Tartar,” of the same colony, carrying 14 carriage
guns and 12 swivels; and, finally, the sloop of 14 guns which formed
the navy of New Hampshire.[82]
It was said, with apparent reason, that one or two heavy French
ships-of-war--and a number of such was expected in the spring--would
outmatch the whole colonial squadron, and, after mastering it, would
hold all the transports at mercy; so that the troops on shore, having
no means of return and no hope of succor, would be forced to surrender
or starve. The danger was real and serious, and Shirley felt the
necessity of help from a few British ships-of-war. Commodore Peter
Warren was then with a small squadron at Antigua. Shirley sent an
express boat to him with a letter stating the situation and asking his
aid. Warren, who had married an American woman and who owned large
tracts of land on the Mohawk, was known to be a warm friend to the 84
provinces. It is clear that he would gladly have complied with
Shirley’s request; but when he laid the question before a council of
officers, they were of one mind that without orders from the Admiralty
he would not be justified in supporting an attempt made without the
approval of the King.[83] He therefore saw no choice but to decline.
Shirley, fearing that his refusal would be too discouraging, kept it
secret from all but Pepperrell and General Wolcott, or, as others say,
Brigadier Waldo. He had written to the Duke of Newcastle in the
preceding autumn that Acadia and the fisheries were in great danger,
and that ships-of-war were needed for their protection. On this, the
duke had written to Warren, ordering him to sail for Boston and
concert measures with Shirley “for the annoyance of the enemy, and his
Majesty’s service in North America.”[84] Newcastle’s letter reached
Warren only two or three days after he had sent back his refusal of
Shirley’s request. Thinking himself now sufficiently authorized to
give the desired aid, he made all sail for Boston with his three
ships, the “Superbe,” “Mermaid,” and “Launceston.” On the way he met a
schooner from Boston, and learned from its officers that the
expedition had already sailed; on which, detaining the master as a
pilot, he changed his course and made directly for Canseau,--the place
of rendezvous of the expedition,--and at the same time sent orders by 85
the schooner that any king’s ships that might arrive at Boston should
immediately join him.
Within seven weeks after Shirley issued his proclamation for
volunteers, the preparations were all made, and the unique armament
was afloat. Transports, such as they were, could be had in abundance;
for the harbors of Salem and Marblehead were full of fishing-vessels
thrown out of employment by the war. These were hired and insured by
the province for the security of the owners. There was a great dearth
of cannon. The few that could be had were too light, the heaviest
being of twenty-two-pound calibre. New York lent ten eighteen-pounders
to the expedition. But the adventurers looked to the French for their
chief supply. A detached work near Louisbourg, called the Grand, or
Royal, Battery, was known to be armed with thirty heavy pieces; and
these it was proposed to capture and turn against the town,--which, as
Hutchinson remarks, was “like selling the skin of the bear before
catching him.”
It was clear that the expedition must run for luck against risks of
all kinds. Those whose hopes were highest, based them on a belief in
the special and direct interposition of Providence; others were
sanguine through ignorance and provincial self-conceit. As soon as the
troops were embarked, Shirley wrote to the ministers of what was going
on, telling them that, accidents apart, four thousand New England men
would land on Cape Breton in April, and that, even should they fail to 86
capture Louisbourg, he would answer for it that they would lay the
town in ruins, retake Canseau, do other good service to his Majesty,
and then come safe home.[85] On receiving this communication, the
government resolved to aid the enterprise if there should yet be time,
and accordingly ordered several ships-of-war to sail for Louisbourg.
The sarcastic Dr. Douglas, then living at Boston, writes that the
expedition had a lawyer for contriver, a merchant for general, and
farmers, fishermen, and mechanics for soldiers. In fact, it had
something of the character of broad farce, to which Shirley himself,
with all his ability and general good sense, was a chief contributor.
He wrote to the Duke of Newcastle that though the officers had no
experience and the men no discipline, he would take care to provide
against these defects,--meaning that he would give exact directions
how to take Louisbourg. Accordingly, he drew up copious instructions
to that effect. These seem to have undergone a process of evolution,
for several distinct drafts of them are preserved.[86] The complete 87
and final one is among the Pepperrell Papers, copied entire in the
neat, commercial hand of the general himself.[87] It seems to assume
that Providence would work a continued miracle, and on every occasion
supply the expedition with weather precisely suited to its wants. “It
is thought,” says this singular document, “that Louisbourg may be
surprised if they [the French] have no advice of your coming. To
effect it you must time your arrival about nine of the clock in the
evening, taking care that the fleet be far enough in the offing to
prevent their being seen from the town in the daytime.” He then goes
on to prescribe how the troops are to land, after dark, at a place
called Flat Point Cove, in four divisions, three of which are to march
to the back of certain hills a mile and a half west of the town, where
two of the three “are to halt and keep a profound silence;” the third
continuing its march “under cover of the said hills,” till it comes
opposite the Grand Battery, which it will attack at a concerted
signal; while one of the two divisions behind the hills assaults the
west gate, and the other moves up to support the attack.
While this is going on, the soldiers of the fourth division are to 88
march with all speed along the shore till they come to a certain part
of the town wall, which they are to scale; then proceed “as fast as
can be” to the citadel and “secure the windows of the governor’s
apartments.” After this follow page after page of complicated details
which must have stricken the general with stupefaction. The rocks,
surf, fogs, and gales of that tempestuous coast are all left out of
the account; and so, too, is the nature of the country, which consists
of deep marshes, rocky hills, and hollows choked with evergreen
thickets. Yet a series of complex and mutually dependent operations,
involving long marches through this rugged and pathless region, was to
be accomplished, in the darkness of one April night, by raw soldiers
who knew nothing of the country. This rare specimen of amateur
soldiering is redeemed in some measure by a postscript in which the
governor sets free the hands of the general, thus: “Notwithstanding
the instructions you have received from me, I must leave you to act,
upon unforeseen emergencies, according to your best discretion.”
On the twenty-fourth of March, the fleet, consisting of about ninety
transports, escorted by the provincial cruisers, sailed from Nantasket
Roads, followed by prayers and benedictions, and also by toasts drunk
with cheers, in bumpers of rum punch.[88]
[58] _Lettre d’un Habitant de Louisbourg contenant une Relation
exacte et circonstanciée de la Prise de l’Isle Royale par les
Anglois._
[59] _Lettre d’un Habitant de Louisbourg._
[60] _Mascarene to the Besiegers, 3 July, 1744._ Duquesnel had
written to all the missionaries “d’engager les sauvages à faire
quelque coup important sur le fort” (Annapolis). _Duquesnel à
Beauharnois, 1 Juin, 1744._
[61] _Lettre d’un Habitant de Louisbourg._
[62] Smollett says that the proposal came from Robert Auchmuty,
judge of admiralty in Massachusetts. Hutchinson, Douglas,
Belknap, and other well-informed writers ascribe the scheme
to Vaughan, while Pepperrell says that it originated with
Colonel John Bradstreet. In the Public Record Office there
is a letter from Bradstreet, written in 1753, but without
address, in which he declares that he not only planned the
siege, but “was the Principal Person in conducting
it,”--assertions which may pass for what they are worth,
Bradstreet being much given to self-assertion.
[63] Gibson, _Journal of the Siege of Louisbourg_.
[64] _Lettre d’un Habitant de Louisbourg._
[65] _Report of Council, 12 January, 1745._
[66] Sparks, _Works of Franklin_, vii. 16.
[67] Correspondence of Shirley and Wentworth, in _Belknap
Papers. Provincial Papers of New Hampshire_, v.
[68] _Governor Wanton to the Agent of Rhode Island,
20 December, 1745_, in _Colony Records of Rhode Island_, v.
[69] _Colony Records of Rhode Island_, v. (_February, 1745_).
[70] _Shirley to Wentworth, 16 February, 1745._
[71] “A native of Ravistock Parish, in Wales.” Parsons,
_Life of Pepperrell_. Mrs. Adelaide Cilley Waldron, a
descendant of Pepperrell, assures me, however, that his
father, the emigrant, came, not from Wales, but from
Devonshire.
[72] _Governor Wanton to the Agent of Rhode Island
in London, 20 December, 1745._
[73] Parsons, _Life of Pepperrell_, 51.
[74] Belknap, _Hist. New Hampshire_, ii. 208.
[75] Tradition told me at York by Mr. N. Marshall.
[76] Lecture of Ralph Waldo Emerson, quoted by Cabot, _Memoir
of Emerson_, i. 10.
[77] Moody found sympathizers in his iconoclastic zeal.
Deacon John Gray of Biddeford wrote to Pepperrell: “Oh that
I could be with you and dear Parson Moody in that church [at
Louisbourg] to destroy the images there set up, and hear the
true Gospel of our Lord and Saviour there preached!”
[78] Bourne, _Hist. of Wells and Kennebunk_, 371.
[79] Gibson, _Journal; Records of Rhode Island_, v. Governor
Wanton of that province says, with complacency, that the pay
of Rhode Island was twice that of Massachusetts.
[80] Parsons, _Life of Pepperrell_, 54.
[81] Of the Massachusetts contingent, three hundred men were
raised and maintained at the charge of the merchant James
Gibson.
[82] The list is given by Williamson, ii. 227.
[83] _Memoirs of the Principal Transactions of the Last War_, 44.
[84] _Ibid._, 46. _Letters of Shirley_ (Public Record Office).
[85] _Shirley to Newcastle, 24 March, 1745._ The ministry was
not wholly unprepared for this announcement, as Shirley had
before reported to it the vote of his Assembly consenting to
the expedition. _Shirley to Newcastle, 1 February,
1745._
[86] The first draft of Shirley’s instructions for taking
Louisbourg is in the large manuscript volume entitled _Siege
of Louisbourg_, in the library of the Massachusetts
Historical Society. The document is called _Mem^o for the
attaching of Louisbourg this Spring by Surprise_. After
giving minute instructions for every movement, it goes on to
say that, as the surprise may possibly fail, it will be
necessary to send two small mortars and twelve cannon
carrying nine-pound balls, “so as to bombard them and
endeavour to make Breaches in their walls and then to Storm
them.” Shirley was soon to discover the absurdity of trying
to breach the walls of Louisbourg with nine-pounders.
[87] It is printed in the first volume of the _Collections of
the Massachusetts Historical Society_. Shirley was so well
pleased with it that he sent it to the Duke of Newcastle
enclosed in his letter of 1 February, 1745 (Public Record
Office).
[88] The following letter from John Payne of Boston to Colonel
prevailing religious feeling, illustrates the ardor of the 89
New England people towards their rash adventure:--
BOSTON, Apr. 24, 1745.
Sir,--I hope this will find you at Louisbourg with a Bowl
of Punch a Pipe and a P--k of C--ds in your hand and
whatever else you desire (I had forgot to mention a Pretty
French Madammoselle). We are very Impatiently expecting to
hear from you, your Friend Luke has lost several Beaver
Hatts already concerning the Expedition, he is so very
zealous about it that he has turned Poor Boutier out of
his House for saying he believed you would not Take the
Place.----Damn his Blood says Luke, let him be an
Englishman or a Frenchman and not pretend to be an
Englishman when he is a Frenchman in his Heart. If
drinking to your success would Take Cape Briton, you must
be in Possession of it now, for it’s a standing Toast. I
think the least thing you Military Gent^n can do is to
send us some arrack when you take ye Place to celebrate
your Victory and not to force us to do it in Rum Punch or
Luke’s bad wine or sour cyder.
To Collonell Robert Hale
at (or near) Louisbourg.
I am indebted for a copy of this curious letter to Robert
Hale Bancroft, Esq., a descendant of Colonel Hale.
CHAPTER XIX. 90
1745.
LOUISBOURG BESIEGED.
SETH POMEROY.--THE VOYAGE.--CANSEAU.--UNEXPECTED SUCCORS.--DELAYS.--
LOUISBOURG.--THE LANDING.--THE GRAND BATTERY TAKEN.--FRENCH
CANNON TURNED ON THE TOWN.--WEAKNESS OF DUCHAMBON.--SUFFERINGS
OF THE BESIEGERS: THEIR HARDIHOOD; THEIR IRREGULAR PROCEEDINGS.--
JOSEPH SHERBURN.--AMATEUR GUNNERY.--CAMP FROLICS.--SECTARIAN
ZEAL.--PERPLEXITIES OF PEPPERRELL.
On board one of the transports was Seth Pomeroy, gunsmith at
Northampton, and now major of Willard’s Massachusetts regiment. He had
a turn for soldiering, and fought, ten years later, in the battle of
Lake George. Again, twenty years later still, when Northampton was
astir with rumors of war from Boston, he borrowed a neighbor’s horse,
rode a hundred miles, reached Cambridge on the morning of the battle
of Bunker Hill, left his borrowed horse out of the way of harm, walked
over Charlestown Neck, then swept by the fire of the ships-of-war, and
reached the scene of action as the British were forming for the
attack. When Israel Putnam, his comrade in the last war, saw from the
rebel breastwork the old man striding, gun in hand, up the hill, he
shouted, “By God, Pomeroy, you here! A cannon-shot would waken you out 91
of your grave!”
But Pomeroy, with other landsmen, crowded in the small and malodorous
fishing-vessels that were made to serve as transports, was now in the
gripe of the most unheroic of maladies. “A terrible northeast storm”
had fallen upon them, and, he says, “we lay rolling in the seas, with
our sails furled, among prodigious waves.” “Sick, day and night,”
writes the miserable gunsmith, “so bad that I have not words to set it
forth.”[89] The gale increased and the fleet was scattered, there
being, as a Massachusetts private soldier writes in his diary, “a very
fierse Storm of Snow, som Rain and very Dangerous weather to be so
nigh ye Shore as we was; but we escaped the Rocks, and that was
all.”[90]
On Friday, April 5, Pomeroy’s vessel entered the harbor of Canseau,
about fifty miles from Louisbourg. Here was the English
fishing-hamlet, the seizure of which by the French had first provoked
the expedition. The place now quietly changed hands again. Sixty-eight
of the transports lay here at anchor, and the rest came dropping in
from day to day, sorely buffeted, but all safe. On Sunday there was a
great concourse to hear Parson Moody preach an open-air sermon from
the text, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power,” 92
concerning which occasion the soldier diarist observes,--“Several
sorts of Busnesses was Going on, Som a Exercising, Som a Hearing
Preaching.” The attention of Parson Moody’s listeners was, in fact,
distracted by shouts of command and the awkward drill of squads of
homespun soldiers on the adjacent pasture.
Captain Ammi Cutter, with two companies, was ordered to remain at
Canseau and defend it from farther vicissitudes; to which end a
blockhouse was also built, and mounted with eight small cannon. Some
of the armed vessels had been set to cruise off Louisbourg, which they
did to good purpose, and presently brought in six French prizes, with
supplies for the fortress. On the other hand, they brought the ominous
news that Louisbourg and the adjoining bay were so blocked with ice
that landing was impossible. This was a serious misfortune, involving
long delay, and perhaps ruin to the expedition, as the expected
ships-of-war might arrive meanwhile from France. Indeed, they had
already begun to appear. On Thursday, the eighteenth, heavy
cannonading was heard far out at sea, and again on Friday “the
cannon,” says Pomeroy, “fired at a great rate till about 2 of the
clock.” It was the provincial cruisers attacking a French frigate, the
“Renommée,” of thirty-six guns. As their united force was too much for
her, she kept up a running fight, outsailed them, and escaped after a
chase of more than thirty hours, being, as Pomeroy quaintly observes, 93
“a smart ship.” She carried despatches to the governor of Louisbourg,
and being unable to deliver them, sailed back for France to report
what she had seen.
On Monday, the twenty-second, a clear, cold, windy day, a large ship,
under British colors, sailed into the harbor, and proved to be the
frigate “Eltham,” escort to the annual mast fleet from New England. On
orders from Commander Warren she had left her charge in waiting, and
sailed for Canseau to join the expedition, bringing the unexpected and
welcome news that Warren himself would soon follow. On the next day,
to the delight of all, he appeared in the ship “Superbe,” of sixty
guns, accompanied by the “Launceston” and the “Mermaid,” of forty guns
each. Here was force enough to oppose any ships likely to come to the
aid of Louisbourg; and Warren, after communicating with Pepperrell,
sailed to blockade the port, along with the provincial cruisers,
which, by order of Shirley, were placed under his command.
The transports lay at Canseau nearly three weeks, waiting for the ice
to break up. The time was passed in drilling the raw soldiers and
forming them into divisions of four and six hundred each, according to
the directions of Shirley. At length, on Friday, the twenty-seventh,
they heard that Gabarus Bay was free from ice, and on the morning of
the twenty-ninth, with the first fair wind, they sailed out of Canseau
harbor, expecting to reach Louisbourg at nine in the evening, as 94
prescribed in the governor’s receipt for taking Louisbourg “while the
enemy were asleep.”[91] But a lull in the wind defeated this plan; and
after sailing all day, they found themselves becalmed towards night.
It was not till the next morning that they could see the town,--no
very imposing spectacle, for the buildings, with a few exceptions,
were small, and the massive ramparts that belted them round rose to no
conspicuous height.
[Illustration: SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG
1745.
References:
_A. Landing of New England Men._
_B. Camp of Burr’s Regiment._
_C. ” ” Pepperrell’s ” ”_
_D. ” ” Willard’s ” ”_
_E. ” ” Moulton’s ” ”_
_F. ” ” Moore’s ” ”_
_G. First or, Green Hill Battery._
_H. Second Battery._
_I. Third Battery._
_J. Fourth, or Advanced Battery._
_K. Fifth, or Titcomb’s Battery._
_L. Lighthouse Battery._
_M. Island Battery (French)._
_N. Grand, or Royal Battery (French)._
_O. Burying Ground._
_P. King’s Bastion, or Citadel._
_Q. Barachois._
_R. West Gate._
_S. South Gate._
_T. Maurepas Gate._]
Louisbourg stood on a tongue of land which lay between its harbor and
the sea, and the end of which was prolonged eastward by reefs and
shoals that partly barred the entrance to the port, leaving a
navigable passage not half a mile wide. This passage was commanded by
a powerful, battery called the “Island Battery,” being upon a small
rocky island at the west side of the channel, and was also secured by
another detached work called the “Grand,” or “Royal Battery,” which
stood on the shore of the harbor, opposite the entrance, and more than
a mile from the town. Thus a hostile squadron trying to force its way
in would receive a flank fire from the one battery, and a front fire
from the other. The strongest line of defence of the fortress was
drawn across the base of the tongue of land from the harbor on one
side to the sea on the other,--a distance of about twelve hundred
yards. The ditch was eighty feet wide and from thirty to thirty-six
feet deep; and the rampart, of earth faced with masonry, was about
sixty feet thick. The glacis sloped down to a vast marsh, which formed 95
one of the best defences of the place. The fortress, without counting
its outworks, had embrasures for one hundred and forty-eight cannon;
but the number in position was much less, and is variously stated.
Pomeroy says that at the end of the siege a little above ninety were
found, with “a great number of swivels;” others say seventy-six.[92]
In the Grand and Island batteries there were sixty heavy pieces more.
Against this formidable armament the assailants had brought
thirty-four cannon and mortars, of much inferior weight, to be used in
bombarding the fortress, should they chance to fail of carrying it by
surprise, “while the enemy were asleep.”[93] Apparently they
distrusted the efficacy of their siege-train, though it was far
stronger than Shirley had at first thought sufficient; for they
brought with them good store of balls of forty-two pounds, to be used
in French cannon of that calibre which they expected to capture, their
own largest pieces being but twenty-two-pounders.
According to the _Habitant de Louisbourg_, the garrison consisted
of five hundred and sixty regular troops, of whom several companies
were Swiss, besides some thirteen or fourteen hundred militia,
inhabitants partly of the town, and partly of neighboring settlements.[94] 96
The regulars were in bad condition. About the preceding Christmas they
had broken into mutiny, being discontented with their rations and
exasperated with getting no extra pay for work on the fortifications.
The affair was so serious that though order was restored, some of the
officers lost all confidence in the soldiers; and this distrust proved
most unfortunate during the siege. The governor, Chevalier Duchambon,
successor of Duquesnel, who had died in the autumn, was not a man to
grapple with a crisis, being deficient in decision of character, if
not in capacity.
He expected an attack. “We were informed of the preparations from the
first,” says the _Habitant de Louisbourg_. Some Indians, who had
been to Boston, carried to Canada the news of what was going on there;
but it was not believed, and excited no alarm.[95] It was not so at
Louisbourg, where, says the French writer just quoted, “we lost
precious moments in useless deliberations and resolutions no sooner
made than broken. Nothing to the purpose was done, so that we were as
much taken by surprise as if the enemy had pounced upon us unawares.”
It was about the twenty-fifth of March[96] when the garrison first saw 97
the provincial cruisers hovering off the mouth of the harbor. They
continued to do so at intervals till daybreak of the thirtieth of
April, when the whole fleet of transports appeared standing towards
Flat Point, which projects into Gabarus Bay, three miles west of the
town.[97] On this, Duchambon sent Morpain, captain of a privateer, or
“corsair,” to oppose the landing. He had with him eighty men, and was
to be joined by forty more, already on the watch near the supposed
point of disembarkation.[98] At the same time cannon were fired and
alarm bells rung in Louisbourg, to call in the militia of the
neighborhood.
Pepperrell managed the critical work of landing with creditable skill.
The rocks and the surf were more dangerous than the enemy. Several
boats, filled with men, rowed towards Flat Point; but on a signal from
the flagship “Shirley,” rowed back again, Morpain flattering himself
that his appearance had frightened them off. Being joined by several
other boats, the united party, a hundred men in all, pulled for
another landing-place called Fresh-water Cove, or Anse de la
Cormorandière, two miles farther up Gabarus Bay. Morpain and his party
ran to meet them; but the boats were first in the race, and as soon 98
as the New England men got ashore, they rushed upon the French, killed
six of them, captured as many more, including an officer named
Boularderie, and put the rest to flight, with the loss, on their own
side, of two men slightly wounded.[99] Further resistance to the
landing was impossible, for a swarm of boats pushed against the rough
and stony beach, the men dashing through the surf, till before night
about two thousand were on shore.[100] The rest, or about two thousand
more, landed at their leisure on the next day.
On the second of May Vaughan led four hundred men to the hills near
the town, and saluted it with three cheers,--somewhat to the
discomposure of the French, though they described the unwelcome
visitors as a disorderly crowd. Vaughan’s next proceeding pleased them
still less. He marched behind the hills, in rear of the Grand Battery,
to the northeast arm of the harbor, where there were extensive
magazines of naval stores. These his men set on fire, and the pitch,
tar, and other combustibles made a prodigious smoke. He was returning,
in the morning, with a small party of followers behind the hills, when
coming opposite the Grand Battery, and observing it from the ridge, he
saw neither flag on the flagstaff, nor smoke from the barrack 99
chimneys. One of his party was a Cape Cod Indian. Vaughan bribed him
with a flask of brandy which he had in his pocket,--though, as the
clerical historian takes pains to assure us, he never used it
himself,--and the Indian, pretending to be drunk, or, as some say,
mad, staggered towards the battery to reconnoitre.[101] All was quiet.
He clambered in at an embrasure, and found the place empty. The rest
of the party followed, and one of them, William Tufts, of Medford, a
boy of eighteen, climbed the flagstaff, holding in his teeth his red
coat, which he made fast at the top, as a substitute for the British
flag,--a proceeding that drew upon him a volley of unsuccessful
cannon-shot from the town batteries.[102]
Vaughan then sent this hasty note to Pepperrell: “May it please your
Honour to be informed that by the grace of God and the courage of 13
men, I entered the Royal Battery about 9 o’clock, and am waiting for a
reinforcement and a flag.” Soon after, four boats, filled with men,
approached from the town to reoccupy the battery,--no doubt in order
to save the munitions and stores, and complete the destruction of the
cannon. Vaughan and his thirteen men, standing on the open beach,
under the fire of the town and the Island Battery, plied the boats with
musketry, and kept them from landing, till Lieutenant-Colonel 100
Bradstreet appeared with a reinforcement, on which the French pulled
back to Louisbourg.[103]
The English supposed that the French in the battery, when the clouds
of smoke drifted over them from the burning storehouses, thought that
they were to be attacked in force, and abandoned their post in a
panic. This was not the case. “A detachment of the enemy,” writes the
_Habitant de Louisbourg_, “advanced to the neighborhood of the
Royal Battery.” This was Vaughan’s four hundred on their way to burn
the storehouses. “At once we were all seized with fright,” pursues
this candid writer, “and on the instant it was proposed to abandon
this magnificent battery, which would have been our best defence, if
one had known how to use it. Various councils were held, in a
tumultuous way. It would be hard to tell the reasons for such a
strange proceeding. Not one shot had yet been fired at the battery,
which the enemy could not take, except by making regular approaches,
as if against the town itself, and by besieging it, so to speak, in
form. Some persons remonstrated, but in vain; and so a battery of
thirty cannon, which had cost the King immense sums, was abandoned
before it was attacked.”
Duchambon says that soon after the English landed, he got a letter 101
from Thierry, the captain in command of the Royal Battery, advising
that the cannon should be spiked and the works blown up. It was then,
according to the governor, that the council was called, and a
unanimous vote passed to follow Thierry’s advice, on the ground that
the defences of the battery were in bad condition, and that the four
hundred men posted there could not stand against three or four
thousand.[104] The engineer, Verrier, opposed the blowing up of the
works, and they were therefore left untouched. Thierry and his
garrison came off in boats, after spiking the cannon in a hasty way,
without stopping to knock off the trunnions or burn the carriages.
They threw their loose gunpowder into the well, but left behind a good
number of cannon cartridges, two hundred and eighty large bombshells,
and other ordinance stores, invaluable both to the enemy and to
themselves. Brigadier Waldo was sent to occupy the battery with his
regiment, and Major Seth Pomeroy, the gunsmith, with twenty
soldier-mechanics, was set at drilling out the spiked touch-holes of
the cannon. There were twenty-eight forty-two-pounders, and two
eighteen-pounders.[105] Several were ready for use the next morning, 102
and immediately opened on the town,--which, writes a soldier in his
diary, “damaged the houses and made the women cry.” “The enemy,” says
the _Habitant de Louisbourg_, “saluted us with our own cannon,
and made a terrific fire, smashing everything within range.”
The English occupation of the Grand Battery may be called the decisive
event of the siege. There seems no doubt that the French could have
averted the disaster long enough to make it of little help to the
invaders. The water-front of the battery was impregnable. The rear
defences consisted of a loopholed wall of masonry, with a ditch ten
feet deep and twelve feet wide, and also a covered way and glacis,
which General Wolcott describes as unfinished. In this he mistook.
They were not unfinished, but had been partly demolished, with a view
to reconstruction. The rear wall was flanked by two towers, which,
says Duchambon, were demolished; but General Wolcott declares that
swivels were still mounted on them,[106] and he adds that “two hundred
men might hold the battery against five thousand without cannon.” The
English landed their cannon near Flat Point; and before they could be
turned against the Grand Battery, they must be dragged four miles over
hills and rocks, through spongy marshes and jungles of matted 103
evergreens. This would have required a week or more. The alternative
was an escalade, in which the undisciplined assailants would no doubt
have met a bloody rebuff. Thus this Grand Battery, which, says
Wolcott, “is in fact a fort,” might at least have been held long
enough to save the munitions and stores, and effectually disable the
cannon, which supplied the English with the only artillery they had,
competent to the work before them. The hasty abandonment of this
important post was not Duchambon’s only blunder, but it was the worst
of them all.
On the night after their landing, the New England men slept in the
woods, wet or dry, with or without blankets, as the case might be, and
in the morning set themselves to encamping with as much order as they
were capable of. A brook ran down from the hills and entered the sea
two miles or more from the town. The ground on each side, though
rough, was high and dry, and here most of the regiments made their
quarters,--Willard’s, Moulton’s, and Moore’s on the east side, and
Burr’s and Pepperrell’s on the west. Those on the east, in some cases,
saw fit to extend themselves towards Louisbourg as far as the edge of
the intervening marsh, but were soon forced back to a safer position
by the cannon-balls of the fortress, which came bowling amongst them.
This marsh was that green, flat sponge of mud and moss that stretched
from this point to the glacis of Louisbourg.
There was great want of tents, for material to make them was scarce 104
in New England. Old sails were often used instead, being stretched
over poles,--perhaps after the fashion of a Sioux teepee. When these
could not be had, the men built huts of sods, with roofs of
spruce-boughs overlapping like a thatch; for at that early season,
bark would not peel from the trees. The landing of guns, munitions,
and stores was a formidable task, consuming many days and destroying
many boats, as happened again when Amherst landed his cannon at this
same place. Large flat boats, brought from Boston, were used for the
purpose, and the loads were carried ashore on the heads of the men,
wading through ice-cold surf to the waist, after which, having no
change of clothing, they slept on the ground through the chill and
foggy nights, reckless of future rheumatisms.[107]
A worse task was before them. The cannon were to be dragged over the
marsh to Green Hill, a spur of the line of rough heights that half
encircled the town and harbor. Here the first battery was to be
planted; and from this point other guns were to be dragged onward to
more advanced stations,--a distance in all of more than two miles,
thought by the French to be impassable. So, in fact, it seemed; for
at the first attempt, the wheels of the cannon sank to the hubs in mud 105
and moss, then the carriage, and finally the piece itself slowly
disappeared. Lieutenant-Colonel Meserve, of the New Hampshire
regiment, a ship-builder by trade, presently overcame the difficulty.
By his direction sledges of timber were made, sixteen feet long and
five feet wide; a cannon was placed on each of these, and it was then
dragged over the marsh by a team of two hundred men, harnessed with
rope-traces and breast-straps, and wading to the knees. Horses or oxen
would have foundered in the mire. The way had often to be changed, as
the mossy surface was soon churned into a hopeless slough along the
line of march. The work could be done only at night or in thick fog,
the men being completely exposed to the cannon of the town. Thirteen
years after, when General Amherst besieged Louisbourg again, he
dragged his cannon to the same hill over the same marsh; but having at
his command, instead of four thousand militiamen, eleven thousand
British regulars, with all appliances and means to boot, he made a
road, with prodigious labor, through the mire, and protected it from
the French shot by an epaulement, or lateral earthwork.[108]
Pepperrell writes in ardent words of the cheerfulness of his men
“under almost incredible hardships.” Shoes and clothing failed, till
many were in tatters and many barefooted;[109] yet they toiled on with
unconquerable spirit, and within four days had planted a battery of 106
six guns on Green Hill, which was about a mile from the King’s Bastion
of Louisbourg. In another week they had dragged four twenty-two-pound
cannon and ten coehorns--gravely called “cowhorns” by the bucolic
Pomeroy--six or seven hundred yards farther, and planted them within
easy range of the citadel. Two of the cannon burst, and were replaced
by four more and a large mortar, which burst in its turn, and Shirley
was begged to send another. Meanwhile a battery, chiefly of coehorns,
had been planted on a hillock four hundred and forty yards from the
West Gate, where it greatly annoyed the French; and on the next night
an advanced battery was placed just opposite the same gate, and
scarcely two hundred and fifty yards from it. This West Gate, the
principal gate of Louisbourg, opened upon the tract of high, firm
ground that lay on the left of the besiegers, between the marsh and
the harbor, an arm of which here extended westward beyond the town,
into what was called the Barachois, a salt pond formed by a projecting
spit of sand. On the side of the Barachois farthest from the town was
a hillock on which stood the house of an _habitant_ named
Martissan. Here, on the twentieth of May, a fifth battery was planted,
consisting of two of the French forty-two-pounders taken in the Grand
Battery, to which three others were afterwards added. Each of these
heavy pieces was dragged to its destination by a team of three hundred
men over rough and rocky ground swept by the French artillery. This 107
fifth battery, called the Northwest, or Titcomb’s, proved most
destructive to the fortress.[110]
All these operations were accomplished with the utmost ardor and
energy, but with a scorn of rule and precedent that astonished and
bewildered the French. The raw New England men went their own way,
laughed at trenches and zigzags, and persisted in trusting their lives
to the night and the fog. Several writers say that the English
engineer Bastide tried to teach them discretion; but this could hardly
be, for Bastide, whose station was Annapolis, did not reach Louisbourg
till the fifth of June, when the batteries were finished, and the
siege was nearly ended. A recent French writer makes the curious
assertion that it was one of the ministers, or army chaplains, who
took upon him the vain task of instruction in the art of war on this
occasion.[111]
This ignorant and self-satisfied recklessness might have cost the
besiegers dear if the French, instead of being perplexed and startled
at the novelty of their proceedings, had taken advantage of it; but
Duchambon and some of his officers, remembering the mutiny of the past
winter, feared to make sorties, lest the soldiers might desert or take
part with the enemy. The danger of this appears to have been small. 108
Warren speaks with wonder in his letters of the rarity of desertions,
of which there appear to have been but three during the siege,--one
being that of a half-idiot, from whom no information could be got. A
bolder commander would not have stood idle while his own cannon were
planted by the enemy to batter down his walls; and whatever the risks
of a sortie, the risks of not making one were greater. “Both troops
and militia eagerly demanded it, and I believe it would have
succeeded,” writes the intendant, Bigot.[112] The attempt was actually
made more than once in a half-hearted way,--notably on the eighth of
May, when the French attacked the most advanced battery, and were
repulsed, with little loss on either side.
The _Habitant de Louisbourg_ says: “The enemy did not attack us
with any regularity, and made no intrenchments to cover themselves.”
This last is not exact. Not being wholly demented, they made
intrenchments, such as they were,--at least, at the advanced
battery;[113] as they would otherwise have been swept out of
existence, being under the concentred fire of several French
batteries, two of which were within the range of a musket-shot.
[Illustration: LOUISBOURG.
1745
From a Plan of R. GRIDLEY
Reference:
_A. Dauphin’s Bastion and West Gate._
_B. King’s Bastion, or Citadel._
_C. Queen’s Bastion._
_D. Princess’s Bastion and South Gate._
_E. Maurepas Bastion and East Gate._
_1111. Glacis._
_222. Ditch._]
The scarcity of good gunners was one of the chief difficulties of the
besiegers. As privateering, and piracy also, against Frenchmen and
Spaniards was a favorite pursuit in New England, there were men in 109
Pepperrell’s army who knew how to handle cannon; but their number was
insufficient, and the general sent a note to Warren, begging that he
would lend him a few experienced gunners to teach their trade to the
raw hands at the batteries. Three or four were sent, and they found
apt pupils.
Pepperrell placed the advanced battery in charge of Captain
Joseph[114] Sherburn, telling him to enlist as many gunners as he
could. On the next day Sherburn reported that he had found six, one of
whom seems to have been sent by Warren. With these and a number of raw
men he repaired to his perilous station, where “I found,” he says, “a
very poor intrenchment. Our best shelter from the French fire, which
was very hot, was hogsheads filled with earth.” He and his men made
the West Gate their chief mark; but before they could get a fair sight
of it, they were forced to shoot down the fish-flakes, or stages for
drying cod, that obstructed the view. Some of their party were soon
killed,--Captain Pierce by a cannon-ball, Thomas Ash by a “bumb,” and
others by musketry. In the night they improved their defences, and
mounted on them three more guns, one of eighteen-pound calibre, and
the others of forty-two,--French pieces dragged from the Grand
Battery, a mile and three quarters round the Barachois.
The cannon could be loaded only under a constant fire of musketry, 110
which the enemy briskly returned. The French practice was excellent. A
soldier who in bravado mounted the rampart and stood there for a
moment was shot dead with five bullets. The men on both sides called
to each other in scraps of bad French or broken English; while the
French drank ironical healths to the New England men, and gave them
bantering invitations to breakfast.
Sherburn continues his diary. “Sunday morning. Began our fire with as
much fury as possible, and the French returned it as warmly from the
Citidale [citadel], West Gate, and North East Battery with Cannon,
Mortars, and continual showers of musket balls; but by 11 o’clock we
had beat them all from their guns.” He goes on to say that at noon his
men were forced to stop firing from want of powder, that he went with
his gunners to get some, and that while they were gone, somebody, said
to be Mr. Vaughan, brought a supply, on which the men loaded the
forty-two pounders in a bungling way, and fired them. One was
dismounted, and the other burst; a barrel and a half-barrel of powder
blew up, killed two men, and injured two more. Again: “Wednesday. Hot
fire on both sides, till the French were beat from all their guns. May
29th went to 2 Gun [Titcomb’s] Battery to give the gunners some
directions; then returned to my own station, where I spent the rest of
the day with pleasure, seeing our Shott Tumble down their walls and
Flagg Staff.”
The following is the intendant Bigot’s account of the effect of the 111
New England fire: “The enemy established their batteries to such
effect that they soon destroyed the greater part of the town, broke
the right flank of the King’s Bastion, ruined the Dauphin Battery with
its spur, and made a breach at the Porte Dauphine [West Gate], the
neighboring wall, and the sort of redan adjacent.”[115] Duchambon says
in addition that the cannon of the right flank of the King’s Bastion
could not be served, by reason of the continual fire of the enemy,
which broke the embrasures to pieces; that when he had them repaired,
they were broken to pieces (_démantibulés_) again,--and nobody
could keep his ground behind the wall of the quay, which was shot
through and through and completely riddled.[116] The town was ploughed
with cannon-balls, the streets were raked from end to end, nearly all
the houses damaged, and the people driven for refuge into the stifling
casemates. The results were creditable to novices in gunnery.
The repeated accidents from the bursting of cannon were no doubt
largely due to unskilful loading and the practice of double-shotting,
to which the over-zealous artillerists are said to have often
resorted.[117]
It is said, in proof of the orderly conduct of the men, that not one 112
of them was punished during all the siege; but this shows the mild and
conciliating character of the general quite as much as any peculiar
merit of the soldiers. The state of things in and about the camp was
compared by the caustic Dr. Douglas to “a Cambridge Commencement,”
which academic festival was then attended by much rough frolic and
boisterous horseplay among the disorderly crowds, white and black,
bond and free, who swarmed among the booths on Cambridge Common. The
careful and scrupulous Belknap, who knew many who took part in the
siege, says: “Those who were on the spot have frequently, in my
hearing, laughed at the recital of their own irregularities, and
expressed their admiration when they reflected on the almost
miraculous preservation of the army from destruction.” While the
cannon bellowed in the front, frolic and confusion reigned at the
camp, where the men raced, wrestled, pitched quoits, fired at
marks,--though there was no ammunition to spare,--and ran after the
French cannon-balls, which were carried to the batteries, to be
returned to those who sent them. Nor were calmer recreations wanting.
“Some of our men went a fishing, about 2 miles off,” writes Lieutenant
Benjamin Cleaves in his diary: “caught 6 Troutts.” And, on the same
day, “Our men went to catch Lobsters: caught 30.” In view of this
truant disposition, it is not surprising that the besiegers now and 113
then lost their scalps at the hands of prowling Indians who infested
the neighborhood. Yet through all these gambols ran an undertow of
enthusiasm, born in brains still fevered from the “Great Awakening.”
The New England soldier, a growth of sectarian hotbeds, fancied that
he was doing the work of God. The army was Israel, and the French were
Canaanitish idolaters. Red-hot Calvinism, acting through generations,
had modified the transplanted Englishman; and the descendant of the
Puritans was never so well pleased as when teaching their duty to
other people, whether by pen, voice, or bombshells. The ragged
artillerymen, battering the walls of papistical Louisbourg, flattered
themselves with the notion that they were champions of gospel truth.
Barefoot and tattered, they toiled on with indomitable pluck and
cheerfulness, doing the work which oxen could not do, with no comfort
but their daily dram of New England rum, as they plodded through the
marsh and over rocks, dragging the ponderous guns through fog and
darkness. Their spirit could not save them from the effects of
excessive fatigue and exposure. They were ravaged with diarrhœa and
fever, till fifteen hundred men were at one time on the sick-list, and
at another, Pepperrell reported that of the four thousand only about
twenty-one hundred were fit for duty.[118] Nearly all at last
recovered, for the weather was unusually good; yet the number fit for 114
service was absurdly small. Pepperrell begged for reinforcements, but
got none till the siege was ended.
It was not his nature to rule with a stiff hand,--and this, perhaps,
was fortunate. Order and discipline, the sinews of an army, were out
of the question; and it remained to do as well as might be without
them, keep men and officers in good-humor, and avoid all that could
dash their ardor. For this, at least, the merchant-general was well
fitted. His popularity had helped to raise the army, and perhaps it
helped now to make it efficient. His position was no bed of roses.
Worries, small and great, pursued him without end. He made friends of
his officers, kept a bountiful table at his tent, and labored to
soothe their disputes and jealousies, and satisfy their complaints. So
generous were his contributions to the common cause that according to
a British officer who speaks highly of his services, he gave to it, in
one form or another, £10,000 out of his own pocket.[119]
His letter-books reveal a swarm of petty annoyances, which may have
tried his strength and patience as much as more serious cares. The
soldiers complained that they were left without clothing, shoes, or
rum; and when he implored the Committee of War to send them, Osborne,
the chairman, replied with explanations why it could not be done.
Letters came from wives and fathers entreating that husbands and sons 115
who had gone to the war should be sent back. At the end of the siege a
captain “humble begs leave for to go home,” because he lives in a very
dangerous country, and his wife and children are “in a declining way”
without him. Then two entire companies raised on the frontier offered
the same petition on similar grounds. Sometimes Pepperrell was beset
with prayers for favors and promotion; sometimes with complaints from
one corps or another that an undue share of work had been imposed on
it. One Morris, of Cambridge, writes a moving petition that his slave
“Cuffee,” who had joined the army, should be restored to him, his
lawful master. One John Alford sends the general a number of copies of
the Rev. Mr. Prentice’s late sermon, for distribution, assuring him
that “it will please your whole army of volunteers, as he has shown
them the way to gain by their gallantry the hearts and affections of
the Ladys.” The end of the siege brought countless letters of
congratulation, which, whether lay or clerical, never failed to remind
him, in set phrases, that he was but an instrument in the hands of
Providence.
One of his most persistent correspondents was his son-in-law,
Nathaniel Sparhawk, a thrifty merchant, with a constant eye to
business, who generally began his long-winded epistles with a bulletin
concerning the health of “Mother Pepperrell,” and rarely ended them
without charging his father-in-law with some commission, such as buying 116
for him the cargo of a French prize, if he could get it cheap. Or
thus: “If you would procure for me a hogshead of the best Clarett, and
a hogshead of the best white wine, at a reasonable rate, it would be
very grateful to me.” After pestering him with a few other
commissions, he tells him that “Andrew and Bettsy [children of
Pepperrell] send their proper compliments,” and signs himself, with
the starched flourish of provincial breeding, “With all possible
Respect, Honoured Sir, Your Obedient Son and Servant.”[120] Pepperrell
was much annoyed by the conduct of the masters of the transports, of
whom he wrote: “The unaccountable irregular behaviour of these fellows
is the greatest fatigue I meet with;” but it may be doubted whether
his son-in-law did not prove an equally efficient persecutor.
[89] Diary of Major Seth Pomeroy. I owe the copy before
me to the kindness of his descendant, Theodore Pomeroy, Esq.
[90] Diary of a Massachusetts soldier in Captain Richardson’s
company (Papers of Dr. Belknap).
[91] The words quoted are used by General Wolcott in his
journal.
[92] Brown, _Cape Breton_, 183. Parsons, _Life of
Pepperrell_, 103. An anonymous letter, dated Louisbourg, 4
July, 1745, says that eighty-five cannon and six mortars
have been found in the town.
[93] _Memoirs of the Principal Transactions of the Last
War_, 40.
[94] “On fit venir cinq ou six cens Miliciens aux Habitans
des environs; ce que, avec ceux de la Ville, pouvoit former
treize à quatorze cens hommes.”--_Lettre d’un Habitant de
Louisbourg_. This writer says that three or four hundred
more might have been had from Niganiche and its neighborhood,
if they had been summoned in time. The number of militia
just after the siege is set by English reports at 1,310.
Parsons, 103.
[95] _Shirley to Newcastle, 17 June, 1745_, citing letters
captured on board a ship from Quebec.
[96] 14 March, old style.
[97] Gabarus Bay, sometimes called “Chapeau Rouge” Bay, is a
spacious outer harbor, immediately adjoining Louisbourg.
[98] _Bigot au Ministre, 1 Août, 1745._
[99] _Pepperrell to Shirley, 12 May, 1745._ _Shirley
to Newcastle, 28 October, 1745._ _Journal of the Siege_,
attested by Pepperrell and four other chief officers
(London, 1746).
[100] Bigot says six thousand, or two thousand more than the
whole New England force, which was constantly overestimated
by the French.
[101] Belknap, ii.
[102] John Langdon Sibley, in _N. E. Hist. and Gen.
Register_, xxv. 377. The _Boston Gazette_ of 3 June, 1771,
has a notice of Tufts’ recent death, with an exaggerated
account of his exploit, and an appeal for aid to his
destitute family.
[103] Vaughan’s party seems to have consisted in all of
sixteen men, three of whom took no part in this affair.
[104] _Duchambon au Ministre, 2 Septembre, 1745._ This is
the governor’s official report. “Four hundred men,” is
perhaps a copyist’s error, the actual number in the battery
being not above two hundred.
[105] _Waldo to Shirley, 12 May, 1745._ Some of the French
writers say twenty-eight thirty-six pounders, while all the
English call them forty-twos,--which they must have been, as
the forty-two-pound shot brought from Boston fitted them.
Mr. Theodore Roosevelt draws my attention to the fact that
cannon were differently rated in the French and English
navies of the seventeenth century, and that a French
thirty-six carried a ball as large as an English forty-two,
or even a little larger.
[106] _Journal of Major-General Wolcott._
[107] The author of _The Importance and Advantage of Cape
Breton_ says: “When the hardships they were exposed to come to
be considered, the behaviour of these men will hardly gain
credit. They went ashore wet, had no [dry] clothes to cover
them, were exposed in this condition to cold, foggy nights,
and yet cheerfully underwent these difficulties for the sake
of executing a project they had voluntarily undertaken.”
[108] See “Montcalm and Wolfe,” chap. xix.
[109] _Pepperrell to Newcastle, 28 June, 1745._
[110] _Journal of the Siege_, appended to Shirley’s report
to Newcastle; _Duchambon au Ministre, 2 Septembre, 1745_;
_Lettre d’un Habitant_; Pomeroy, etc.
[111] Ferland, _Cours d’Histoire du Canada_, ii. 477.
“L’ennemi ne nous attaquoit point dans les formes, et ne
pratiquoit point aucun retranchement pour se couvrir.”--
_Habitant de Louisbourg._
[112] _Bigot au Ministre, 1 Août, 1745._
[113] _Diary of Joseph Sherburn, Captain at the Advanced
Battery._
[114] He signs his name Jos. Sherburn; but in a list of
the officers of the New Hampshire Regiment it appears in
full as Joseph.
[115] _Bigot au Ministre, 1 Août, 1745._
[116] _Duchambon au Ministre, 2 Septembre, 1745._
[117] “Another forty-two pound gun burst at the Grand
Battery. All the guns are in danger of going the same way,
by double-shotting them, unless under better regulation than
at present.”--_Waldo to Pepperrell, 20 May, 1745._
Waldo had written four days before: “Captain Hale, of my
regiment, is dangerously hurt by the bursting of another
gun. He was our mainstay for gunnery since Captain Rhodes’s
misfortune” (also caused by the bursting of a cannon).
_Waldo to Pepperrell, 16 May, 1745._
[118] _Pepperrell to Warren, 28 May, 1745._
[119] _Letter from an Officer of Marines_ appended to
_A particular Account of the Taking of Cape Breton_
(London, 1745).
[120] _Sparhawk to Pepperrell,--June, 1745._ This is
but one of many letters from Sparhawk.
CHAPTER XX. 117
1745.
LOUISBOURG TAKEN.
A RASH RESOLUTION.--THE ISLAND BATTERY.--THE VOLUNTEERS.--THE
ATTACK.--THE REPULSE.--CAPTURE OF THE “VIGILANT.”--A
SORTIE.--SKIRMISHES.--DESPONDENCY OF THE FRENCH.--ENGLISH CAMP
THREATENED.--PEPPERRELL AND WARREN.--WARREN’S PLAN.--PREPARATION
FOR A GENERAL ATTACK.--FLAG OF TRUCE.--CAPITULATION.--STATE OF THE
FORTRESS.--PARSON MOODY.--SOLDIERS DISSATISFIED.--DISORDERS.--ARMY
AND NAVY.--REJOICINGS.--ENGLAND REPAYS PROVINCIAL OUTLAYS.
Frequent councils of war were held in solemn form at headquarters. On
the seventh of May a summons to surrender was sent to Duchambon, who
replied that he would answer with his cannon. Two days after, we find
in the record of the council the following startling entry: “Advised
unanimously that the Town of Louisbourg be attacked by storm this
Night.” Vaughan was a member of the board, and perhaps his impetuous
rashness had turned the heads of his colleagues. To storm the fortress
at that time would have been a desperate attempt for the best-trained
and best-led troops. There was as yet no breach in the walls, nor the
beginning of one; and the French were so confident in the strength of
their fortifications that they boasted that women alone could defend 118
them. Nine in ten of the men had no bayonets,[121] many had no shoes,
and it is said that the scaling-ladders they had brought from Boston
were ten feet too short.[122] Perhaps it was unfortunate for the
French that the army was more prudent than its leaders; and another
council being called on the same day, it was “Advised, That, inasmuch
as there appears a great Dissatisfaction in many of the officers and
Soldiers at the designed attack of the Town by Storm this Night, the
said Attack be deferred for the present.”[123]
Another plan was adopted, hardly less critical, though it found favor
with the army. This was the assault of the Island Battery, which
closed the entrance of the harbor to the British squadron, and kept it
open to ships from France. Nobody knew precisely how to find the two
landing-places of this formidable work, which were narrow gaps between
rocks lashed with almost constant surf; but Vaughan would see no
difficulties, and wrote to Pepperrell that if he would give him the
command and leave him to manage the attack in his own way, he would
engage to send the French flag to headquarters within forty-eight
hours.[124] On the next day he seems to have thought the command
assured to him, and writes from the Grand Battery that the carpenters
are at work mending whale-boats and making paddles, asking at the same 119
time for plenty of pistols and one hundred hand-grenades, with men who
know how to use them.[125] The weather proved bad, and the attempt was
deferred. This happened several times, till Warren grew impatient, and
offered to support the attack with two hundred sailors.
At length, on the twenty-third, the volunteers for the perilous
enterprise mustered at the Grand Battery, whence the boats were to set
out. Brigadier Waldo, who still commanded there, saw them with concern
and anxiety, as they came dropping in, in small squads, without
officers, noisy, disorderly, and, in some cases, more or less drunk.
“I doubt,” he told the general, “whether straggling fellows, three,
four, or seven out of a company, ought to go on such a service.”[126]
A bright moon and northern lights again put off the attack. The
volunteers remained at the Grand Battery, waiting for better luck.
“They seem to be impatient for action,” writes Waldo. “If there were a
more regular appearance, it would give me greater sattysfaction.”[127]
On the twenty-sixth their wish for action was fully gratified. The
night was still and dark, and the boats put out from the battery
towards twelve o’clock, with about three hundred men on board.[128]
These were to be joined by a hundred or a hundred and fifty more from 120
Gorham’s regiment, then stationed at Lighthouse Point. The commander
was not Vaughan, but one Brooks,--the choice of the men themselves, as
were also his subordinates.[129] They moved slowly, the boats being
propelled, not by oars, but by paddles, which, if skilfully used,
would make no noise. The wind presently rose; and when they found a
landing-place, the surf was lashing the rocks with even more than
usual fury. There was room for but three boats at once between the
breakers on each hand. They pushed in, and the men scrambled ashore
with what speed they might.
The Island Battery was a strong work, walled in on all sides,
garrisoned by a hundred and eighty men, and armed with thirty cannon,
seven swivels, and two mortars.[130] It was now a little after
midnight. Captain d’Aillebout, the commandant, was on the watch,
pacing the battery platform; but he seems to have seen nothing unusual
till about a hundred and fifty men had got on shore, when they had
the folly to announce their presence by three cheers. Then, in the 121
words of General Wolcott, the battery “blazed with cannon, swivels,
and small-arms.” The crowd of boats, dimly visible through the
darkness, as they lay just off the landing, waiting their turn to go
in, were at once the target for volleys of grape-shot, langrage-shot,
and musket-balls, of which the men on shore had also their share.
These succeeded, however, in planting twelve scaling-ladders against
the wall.[131] It is said that some of them climbed into the place,
and the improbable story is told that Brooks, their commander, was
hauling down the French flag when a Swiss grenadier cut him down with
a cutlass.[132] Many of the boats were shattered or sunk, while those
in the rear, seeing the state of things, appear to have sheered off.
The affair was soon reduced to an exchange of shots between the
garrison and the men who had landed, and who, standing on the open
ground without the walls, were not wholly invisible, while the French,
behind their ramparts, were completely hidden. “The fire of the
English,” says Bigot, “was extremely obstinate, but without effect, as
they could not see to take aim.” They kept it up till daybreak, or
about two hours and a half; and then, seeing themselves at the mercy
of the French, surrendered to the number of one hundred and nineteen, 122
including the wounded, three or more of whom died almost immediately.
By the most trustworthy accounts the English loss in killed, drowned,
and captured was one hundred and eighty-nine; or, in the words of
Pepperrell, “nearly half our party.”[133] Disorder, precipitation, and
weak leadership ruined what hopes the attempt ever had.
As this was the only French success during the siege, Duchambon makes
the most of it. He reports that the battery was attacked by a thousand
men, supported by eight hundred more, who were afraid to show
themselves; and, farther, that there were thirty-five boats, all of
which were destroyed or sunk,[134]--though he afterwards says that two
of them got away with thirty men, being all that were left of the
thousand. Bigot, more moderate, puts the number of assailants at five
hundred, of whom he says that all perished, except the one hundred and
nineteen who were captured.[135]
At daybreak Louisbourg rang with shouts of triumph. It was plain that
a disorderly militia could not capture the Island Battery. Yet
captured or silenced it must be; and orders were given to plant a
battery against it at Lighthouse Point, on the eastern side of the 123
harbor’s mouth, at the distance of a short half-mile. The neighboring
shore was rocky and almost inaccessible. Cannon and mortars were
carried in boats to the nearest landing-place, hauled up a steep
cliff, and dragged a mile and a quarter to the chosen spot, where they
were planted under the orders of Colonel Gridley, who thirty years
after directed the earthworks on Bunker Hill. The new battery soon
opened fire with deadly effect.
The French, much encouraged by their late success, were plunged again
into despondency by a disaster which had happened a week before the
affair of the Island Battery, but did not come to their knowledge till
some time after. On the nineteenth of May a fierce cannonade was heard
from the harbor, and a large French ship-of-war was seen hotly engaged
with several vessels of the squadron. She was the “Vigilant,” carrying
64 guns and 560 men, and commanded by the Marquis de la Maisonfort.
She had come from France with munitions and stores, when on
approaching Louisbourg she met one of the English cruisers,--some say
the “Mermaid,” of 40 guns, and others the “Shirley,” of 20. Being no
match for her, the British or provincial frigate kept up a running
fight and led her towards the English fleet. The “Vigilant” soon found
herself beset by several other vessels, and after a gallant resistance
and the loss of eighty men, struck her colors. Nothing could be more
timely for the New England army, whose ammunition and provisions had 124
sunk perilously low. The French prize now supplied their needs, and
drew from the _Habitant de Louisbourg_ the mournful comment, “We
were victims devoted to appease the wrath of Heaven, which turned our
own arms into weapons for our enemies.”
Nor was this the last time when the defenders of Louisbourg supplied
the instruments of their own destruction; for ten cannon were
presently unearthed at low tide from the flats near the careening
wharf in the northeast arm of the harbor, where they had been hidden
by the French some time before. Most of them proved sound; and being
mounted at Lighthouse Point, they were turned against their late
owners at the Island Battery.
When Gorham’s regiment first took post at Lighthouse Point, Duchambon
thought the movement so threatening that he forgot his former doubts,
and ordered a sortie against it, under the Sieur de Beaubassin.
Beaubassin landed, with a hundred men, at a place called Lorembec, and
advanced to surprise the English detachment; but was discovered by an
outpost of forty men, who attacked and routed his party.[136] Being
then joined by eighty Indians, Beaubassin had several other skirmishes
with English scouting-parties, till, pushed by superior numbers, and
their leader severely wounded, his men regained Louisbourg by sea,
escaping with difficulty from the guard-boats of the squadron. The 125
Sieur de la Vallière, with a considerable party of men, tried to burn
Pepperrell’s storehouses, near Flat Point Cove; but ten or twelve of
his followers were captured, and nearly all the rest wounded. Various
other petty encounters took place between English scouting-parties and
roving bands of French and Indians, always ending, according to
Pepperrell, in the discomfiture of the latter. To this, however, there
was at least one exception. Twenty English were waylaid and surrounded
near Petit Lorembec by forty or fifty Indians, accompanied by two or
three Frenchmen. Most of the English were shot down, several escaped,
and the rest surrendered on promise of life; upon which the Indians,
in cold blood, shot or speared some of them, and atrociously tortured
others.
This suggested to Warren a device which had two objects,--to prevent
such outrages in future, and to make known to the French that the ship
“Vigilant,” the mainstay of their hopes, was in English hands. The
treatment of the captives was told to the Marquis de la Maisonfort,
late captain of the “Vigilant,” now a prisoner on board the ship he
had commanded, and he was requested to lay the facts before Duchambon.
This he did with great readiness, in a letter containing these words:
“It is well that you should be informed that the captains and officers
of this squadron treat us, not as their prisoners, but as their good
friends, and take particular pains that my officers and crew should
want for nothing; therefore it seems to me just to treat them in 126
like manner, and to punish those who do otherwise and offer any insult
to the prisoners who may fall into your hands.”
Captain M’Donald, of the marines, carried this letter to Duchambon
under a flag-of-truce. Though familiar with the French language, he
spoke to the governor through an interpreter, so that the French
officers present, who hitherto had only known that a large ship had
been taken, expressed to each other without reserve their
discouragement and dismay when they learned that the prize was no
other than the “Vigilant.” Duchambon replied to La Maisonfort’s letter
that the Indians alone were answerable for the cruelties in question,
and that he would forbid such conduct for the future.[137]
The besiegers were now threatened by a new danger. We have seen that
in the last summer the Sieur Duvivier had attacked Annapolis.
Undaunted by ill-luck, he had gone to France to beg for help to attack
it again; two thousand men were promised him, and in anticipation of
their arrival the governor of Canada sent a body of French and
Indians, under the noted partisan Marin, to meet and co-operate with
them. Marin was ordered to wait at Les Mines till he heard of the
arrival of the troops from France; but he grew impatient, and resolved
to attack Annapolis without them. Accordingly, he laid siege to it
with the six or seven hundred whites and Indians of his party, aided 127
by the so-called Acadian neutrals. Mascarene, the governor, kept them
at bay till the twenty-fourth of May, when, to his surprise, they all
disappeared. Duchambon had sent them an order to make all haste to the
aid of Louisbourg. As the report of this reached the besiegers,
multiplying Marin’s force fourfold, they expected to be attacked by
numbers more than equal to those of their own effective men. This
wrought a wholesome reform. Order was established in the camp, which
was now fenced with palisades and watched by sentinels and
scouting-parties.
Another tribulation fell upon the general. Shirley had enjoined it
upon him to keep in perfect harmony with the naval commander, and the
injunction was in accord with Pepperrell’s conciliating temper. Warren
was no less earnest than he for the success of the enterprise, lent
him ammunition in time of need, and offered every aid in his power,
while Pepperrell in letters to Shirley and Newcastle praised his
colleague without stint. But in habits and character the two men
differed widely. Warren was in the prime of life, and the ardor of
youth still burned in him. He was impatient at the slow movement of
the siege. Prisoners told him of a squadron expected from Brest, of
which the “Vigilant” was the forerunner; and he feared that even if it
could not defeat him, it might elude the blockade, and with the help
of the continual fogs, get into Louisbourg in spite of him, thus
making its capture impossible. Therefore he called a council of his 128
captains on board his flagship, the “Superbe,” and proposed a plan for
taking the place without further delay. On the same day he laid it
before Pepperrell. It was to the effect that all the King’s ships and
provincial cruisers should enter the harbor, after taking on board
sixteen hundred of Pepperrell’s men, and attack the town from the
water side, while what was left of the army should assault it by
land.[138] To accept the proposal would have been to pass over the
command to Warren, only about twenty-one hundred of the New England
men being fit for service at the time, while of these the general
informs Warren that “six hundred are gone in quest of two bodies of
French and Indians, who, we are informed, are gathering, one to the
eastward, and the other to the westward.”[139]
To this Warren replies, with some appearance of pique, “I am very
sorry that no one plan of mine, though approved by all my captains,
has been so fortunate as to meet your approbation or have any weight
with you.” And to show his title to consideration, he gives an extract
from a letter written to him by Shirley, in which that inveterate
flatterer hints his regret that, by reason of other employments,
Warren could not take command of the whole expedition,--“which I
doubt not,” says the governor, “would be a most happy event for his 129
Majesty’s service.”[140]
Pepperrell kept his temper under this thrust, and wrote to the
commodore with invincible courtesy: “Am extremely sorry the fogs
prevent me from the pleasure of waiting on you on board your ship,”
adding that six hundred men should be furnished from the army and the
transports to man the “Vigilant,” which was now the most powerful ship
in the squadron. In short, he showed every disposition to meet Warren
halfway. But the commodore was beginning to feel some doubts as to the
expediency of the bold action he had proposed, and informed Pepperrell
that his pilots thought it impossible to go into the harbor until the
Island Battery was silenced. In fact, there was danger that if the
ships got in while that battery was still alive and active, they would
never get out again, but be kept there as in a trap, under the fire
from the town ramparts.
Gridley’s artillery at Lighthouse Point had been doing its best,
dropping bombshells with such precision into the Island Battery that
the French soldiers were sometimes seen running into the sea to escape
the explosions. Many of the Island guns were dismounted, and the place
was fast becoming untenable. At the same time the English batteries on
the land side were pushing their work of destruction with relentless
industry, and walls and bastions crumbled under their fire. The French
labored with energy under cover of night to repair the mischief; 130
closed the shattered West Gate with a wall of stone and earth twenty
feet thick, made an epaulement to protect what was left of the
formidable Circular Battery,--all but three of whose sixteen guns had
been dismounted,--stopped the throat of the Dauphin’s Bastion with a
barricade of stone, and built a cavalier, or raised battery, on the
King’s Bastion,--where, however, the English fire soon ruined it.
Against that near and peculiarly dangerous neighbor, the advanced
battery, or, as they called it, the _Batterie de Francœur_, they
planted three heavy cannon to take it in flank. “These,” says
Duchambon, “produced a marvellous effect, dismounted one of the cannon
of the Bastonnais, and damaged all their embrasures,--which,”
concludes the governor, “did not prevent them from keeping up a
constant fire; and they repaired by night the mischief we did them by
day.”[141]
Pepperrell and Warren at length came to an understanding as to a joint
attack by land and water. The Island Battery was by this time
crippled, and the town batteries that commanded the interior of the
harbor were nearly destroyed. It was agreed that Warren, whose
squadron was now increased by recent arrivals to eleven ships, besides
the provincial cruisers, should enter the harbor with the first fair
wind, cannonade the town and attack it in boats, while Pepperrell
stormed it from the land side. Warren was to hoist a Dutch flag under 131
his pennant, at his main-top-gallant mast-head, as a signal that he
was about to sail in; and Pepperrell was to answer by three columns of
smoke, marching at the same time towards the walls with drums beating
and colors flying.[142]
The French saw with dismay a large quantity of fascines carried to the
foot of the glacis, ready to fill the ditch, and their scouts came in
with reports that more than a thousand scaling-ladders were lying
behind the ridge of the nearest hill. Toil, loss of sleep, and the
stifling air of the casemates, in which they were forced to take
refuge, had sapped the strength of the besieged. The town was a ruin;
only one house was untouched by shot or shell. “We could have borne
all this,” writes the intendant Bigot; “but the scarcity of powder,
the loss of the ‘Vigilant,’ the presence of the squadron, and the
absence of any news from Marin, who had been ordered to join us with
his Canadians and Indians, spread terror among troops and inhabitants.
The townspeople said that they did not want to be put to the sword,
and were not strong enough to resist a general assault.”[143] On the
fifteenth of June they brought a petition to Duchambon, begging him to
capitulate.[144]
On that day Captain Sherburn, at the advanced battery, wrote in his 132
diary: “By 12 o’clock we had got all our platforms laid, embrazures
mended, guns in order, shot in place, cartridges ready, dined, gunners
quartered, matches lighted to return their last favours, when we heard
their drums beat a parley; and soon appeared a flag of truce, which I
received midway between our battery and their walls, conducted the
officer to Green Hill, and delivered him to Colonel Richman
[Richmond].”
La Perelle, the French officer, delivered a note from Duchambon,
directed to both Pepperrell and Warren, and asking for a suspension of
arms to enable him to draw up proposals for capitulation.[145] Warren
chanced to be on shore when the note came; and the two commanders
answered jointly that it had come in good time, as they had just
resolved on a general attack, and that they would give the governor
till eight o’clock of the next morning to make his proposals.[146]
They came in due time, but were of such a nature that Pepperrell
refused to listen to them, and sent back Bonaventure, the officer who
brought them, with counter-proposals. These were the terms which
Duchambon had rejected on the seventh of May, with added conditions;
as, among others, that no officer, soldier, or inhabitant of
Louisbourg should bear arms against the King of England or any of his
allies for the space of a year. Duchambon stipulated, as the condition 133
of his acceptance, that his troops should march out of the fortress
with their arms and colors.[147] To this both the English commanders
consented, Warren observing to Pepperrell “the uncertainty of our
affairs, that depend so much on wind and weather, makes it necessary
not to stickle at trifles.”[148] The articles were signed on both
sides, and on the seventeenth the ships sailed peacefully into the
harbor, while Pepperrell with a part of his ragged army entered the
south gate of the town. “Never was a place more mal’d [mauled] with
cannon and shells,” he writes to Shirley; “neither have I red in
History of any troops behaving with greater courage. We gave them
about nine thousand cannon-balls and six hundred bombs.”[149] Thus
this unique military performance ended in complete and astonishing
success.
According to English accounts, the French had lost about three hundred
men during the siege; but their real loss seems to have been not much
above a third of that number. On the side of the besiegers, the deaths
from all causes were only a hundred and thirty, about thirty of which
were from disease. The French used their muskets to good purpose; but
their mortar practice was bad, and close as was the advanced battery
to their walls, they often failed to hit it, while the ground on both
sides of it looked like a ploughed field, from the bursting of their 134
shells. Their surrender was largely determined by want of ammunition,
as, according to one account, the French had but thirty-seven barrels
of gunpowder left,[150]--in which particular the besiegers fared
little better.[151]
The New England men had been full of confidence in the result of the
proposed assault, and a French writer says that the timely
capitulation saved Louisbourg from a terrible catastrophe;[152] yet,
ill-armed and disorderly as the besiegers were, it may be doubted
whether the quiet ending of the siege was not as fortunate for them as
for their foes. The discouragement of the French was increased by
greatly exaggerated ideas of the force of the “Bastonnais.” The
_Habitant de Louisbourg_ places the land-force alone at eight or
nine thousand men, and Duchambon reports to the minister D’Argenson
that he was attacked in all by thirteen thousand. His mortifying
position was a sharp temptation to exaggerate; but his conduct can
only be explained by a belief that the force of his enemy was far
greater than it was in fact.
Warren thought that the proposed assault would succeed, and wrote to
Pepperrell that he hoped they would “soon keep a good house together, 135
and give the Ladys of Louisbourg a Gallant Ball.”[153] During his
visit to the camp on the day when the flag of truce came out, he made
a speech to the New England soldiers, exhorting them to behave like
true Englishmen; at which they cheered lustily. Making a visit to the
Grand Battery on the same day, he won high favor with the regiment
stationed there by the gift of a hogshead of rum to drink his health.
Whether Warren’s “gallant ball” ever took place in Louisbourg does not
clearly appear. Pepperrell, on his part, celebrated the victory by a
dinner to the commodore and his officers. As the redoubtable Parson
Moody was the general’s chaplain and the oldest man in the army, he
expected to ask a blessing at the board, and was, in fact, invited to
do so,--to the great concern of those who knew his habitual prolixity,
and dreaded its effect on the guests. At the same time, not one of
them dared rasp his irritable temper by any suggestion of brevity; and
hence they came in terror to the feast, expecting an invocation of a
good half-hour, ended by open revolt of the hungry Britons; when, to
their surprise and relief, Moody said: “Good Lord, we have so much to
thank thee for, that time will be too short, and we must leave it for
eternity. Bless our food and fellowship upon this joyful occasion, for
the sake of Christ our Lord, Amen.” And with that he sat down.[154]
It is said that he had been seen in the French church hewing at the 136
altar and images with the axe that he had brought for that purpose;
and perhaps this iconoclastic performance had eased the high pressure
of his zeal.[155]
Amazing as their triumph was, Pepperrell’s soldiers were not satisfied
with the capitulation, and one of them utters his disapproval in his
diary thus: “Sabbath Day, ye 16^{th} June. They came to Termes for us
to enter ye Sitty to morrow, and Poore Termes they Bee too.”
The occasion of discontent was the security of property assured to the
inhabitants, “by which means,” says that dull chronicler, Niles, “the
poor soldiers lost all their hopes and just demerit [desert] of
plunder promised them.” In the meagreness of their pay they thought
themselves entitled to the plunder of Louisbourg, which they imagined
to be a seat of wealth and luxury. Nathaniel Sparhawk, Pepperrell’s
thrifty son-in-law, shared this illusion, and begged the general to
get for him (at a low price) a handsome service of silver plate. When
the volunteers exchanged their wet and dreary camp for what they
expected to be the comfortable quarters of the town, they were
disgusted to see the houses still occupied by the owners, and to find
themselves forced to stand guard at the doors, to protect them.[156]
“A great Noys and hubbub a mongst ye Solders a bout ye Plunder; Som 137
Cursing, som a Swarein,” writes one of the disgusted victors.
They were not, and perhaps could not be, long kept in order; and when,
in accordance with the capitulation, the inhabitants had been sent on
board vessels for transportation to France, discipline gave way, and
General Wolcott records that, while Moody was preaching on a Sunday in
the garrison-chapel, there was “excessive stealing in every part of
the town.” Little, however, was left to steal.
But if the army found but meagre gleanings, the navy reaped a rich
harvest. French ships, instead of being barred out of the harbor, were
now lured to enter it. The French flag was kept flying over the town,
and in this way prizes were entrapped to the estimated value of a
million sterling, half of which went to the Crown, and the rest to the
British officers and crews, the army getting no share whatever.
Now rose the vexed question of the relative part borne by the colonies
and the Crown, the army and the navy, in the capture of Louisbourg;
and here it may be well to observe the impressions of a French witness
of the siege. “It was an enterprise less of the English nation and its
King than of the inhabitants of New England alone. This singular
people have their own laws and administration, and their governor 138
plays the sovereign. Admiral [Commodore] Warren had no authority over
the troops sent by the Governor of Boston, and he was only a
spectator.... Nobody would have said that their sea and land forces
were of the same nation and under the same prince. No nation but the
English is capable of such eccentricities (_bizarreries_),--which,
nevertheless, are a part of the precious liberty of which they show
themselves so jealous.”[157]
The French writer is correct when he says that the land and sea forces
were under separate commands, and it is equally true that but for the
conciliating temper of Pepperrell, harmony could not have been
preserved between the two chiefs; but when he calls Warren a mere
spectator, he does glaring injustice to that gallant officer, whose
activity and that of his captains was incessant, and whose services
were invaluable. They maintained, with slight lapses, an almost
impossible blockade, without which the siege must have failed. Two or
three small vessels got into the harbor; but the capture of the
“Vigilant,” more than any other event of the siege, discouraged the
French and prepared them for surrender.
Several English writers speak of Warren and the navy as the captors of
Louisbourg, and all New England writers give the chief honor to
Pepperrell and the army. Neither army nor navy would have been 139
successful without the other. Warren and his officers, in a council of
war, had determined that so long as the Island Battery and the water
batteries of the town remained in an efficient state, the ships could
not enter the harbor; and Warren had personally expressed the same
opinion.[158] He did not mean to enter till all the batteries which
had made the attempt impracticable, including the Circular Battery,
which was the most formidable of all, had been silenced or crippled by
the army, and by the army alone. The whole work of the siege fell upon
the land forces; and though it had been proposed to send a body of
marines on shore, this was not done.[159] Three or four gunners, “to
put your men in the way of loading cannon,”[160] was Warren’s
contribution to the operations of the siege; though the fear of attack
by the ships, jointly with the land force, no doubt hastened the 140
surrender. Beauharnois, governor of Canada, ascribes the defeat to the
extreme activity with which the New England men pushed their attacks.
The _Habitant de Louisbourg_ says that each of the two commanders
was eager that the keys of the fortress should be delivered to him,
and not to his colleague; that before the surrender, Warren sent an
officer to persuade the French that it would be for their advantage to
make their submission to him rather than to Pepperrell; and that it
was in fact so made. Wolcott, on the other hand, with the best means
of learning the truth, says in his diary that Pepperrell received the
keys at the South Gate. The report that it was the British commodore,
and not their own general, to whom Louisbourg surrendered, made a
prodigious stir among the inhabitants of New England, who had the
touchiness common to small and ambitious peoples; and as they had
begun the enterprise and borne most of its burdens and dangers, they
thought themselves entitled to the chief credit of it. Pepperrell was
blamed as lukewarm for the honor of his country because he did not
demand the keys and reject the capitulation if they were refused.
After all this ebullition it appeared that the keys were in his hands,
for when, soon after the siege, Shirley came to Louisbourg, Pepperrell
formally presented them to him, in presence of the soldiers.
Warren no doubt thought that he had a right to precedence, as being 141
an officer of the King in regular standing, while Pepperrell was but a
civilian, clothed with temporary rank by the appointment of a
provincial governor. Warren was an impetuous sailor accustomed to
command, and Pepperrell was a merchant accustomed to manage and
persuade. The difference appears in their correspondence during the
siege. Warren is sometimes brusque and almost peremptory; Pepperrell
is forbearing and considerate to the last degree. He liked Warren,
and, to the last, continued to praise him highly in letters to Shirley
and other provincial governors;[161] while Warren, on occasion of
Shirley’s arrival at Louisbourg, made a speech highly complimentary to
both the general and his soldiers.
The news that Louisbourg was taken, reached Boston at one o’clock in
the morning of the third of July by a vessel sent express. A din of
bells and cannon proclaimed it to the slumbering townsmen, and before
the sun rose, the streets were filled with shouting crowds. At night
every window shone with lamps, and the town was ablaze with fireworks
and bonfires. The next Thursday was appointed a day of general
thanksgiving for a victory believed to be the direct work of
Providence. New York and Philadelphia also hailed the great news with
illuminations, ringing of bells, and firing of cannon.
In England the tidings were received with astonishment and a joy that 142
was dashed with reflections on the strength and mettle of colonists
supposed already to aspire to independence. Pepperrell was made a
baronet, and Warren an admiral. The merchant soldier was commissioned
colonel in the British army; a regiment was given him, to be raised in
America and maintained by the King, while a similar recognition was
granted to the lawyer Shirley.[162]
A question vital to Massachusetts worried her in the midst of her
triumph. She had been bankrupt for many years, and of the large volume
of her outstanding obligations, a part was not worth eight pence in
the pound. Added to her load of debt, she had spent £183,649 sterling
on the Louisbourg expedition. That which Smollett calls “the most
important achievement of the war” would never have taken place but for
her, and Old England, and not New, was to reap the profit; for
Louisbourg, conquered by arms, was to be restored by diplomacy. If the
money she had spent for the mother-country were not repaid, her ruin
was certain. William Bollan, English by birth and a son-in-law of
Shirley, was sent out to urge the just claim of the province, and
after long and vigorous solicitation, he succeeded. The full amount, 143
in sterling value, was paid to Massachusetts, and the expenditures of
New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were also reimbursed.[163]
The people of Boston saw twenty-seven of those long unwieldy trucks
which many elders of the place still remember as used in their youth,
rumbling up King Street to the treasury, loaded with two hundred and
seventeen chests of Spanish dollars, and a hundred barrels of copper
coin. A pound sterling was worth eleven pounds of the old-tenor
currency of Massachusetts, and thirty shillings of the new-tenor.
Those beneficent trucks carried enough to buy in at a stroke
nine-tenths of the old-tenor notes of the province,--nominally worth
above two millions. A stringent tax, laid on by the Assembly, paid the
remaining tenth, and Massachusetts was restored to financial
health.[164]
[121] _Shirley to Newcastle, 7 June, 1745._
[122] Douglas, _Summary_, i. 347.
[123] _Record of the Council of War, 9 May, 1745._
[124] _Vaughan to Pepperrell, 11 May, 1745._
[125] _Vaughan to Pepperrell, 12 May, 1745._
[126] _Waldo to Pepperrell, 23 May, 1745._
[127] _Ibid., 26 May, 1745._
[128] “There is scarce three hundred men on this atact
[attack], so there will be a sufficient number of Whail
boats.”--_Waldo to Pepperrell, 26 May, 10½ p. m._
[129] The list of a company of forty-two “subscribers to go
voluntarily upon an attack against the Island Battery” is
preserved. It includes a negro called “Ruben.” The captain,
chosen by the men, was Daniel Bacon. The fact that neither
this name nor that of Brooks, the chief commander, is to be
found in the list of commissioned officers of Pepperrell’s
little army (see Parsons, _Life of Pepperrell, Appendix_)
suggests the conclusion that the “subscribers” were
permitted to choose officers from their own ranks. This
list, however, is not quite complete.
[130] _Journal of the Siege_, appended to Shirley’s report.
[131] _Duchambon au Ministre, 2 Septembre, 1745. Bigot au
Ministre, 1 Août, 1745._
[132] The exploit of the boy William Tufts in climbing the
French flagstaff and hanging his red coat at the top as a
substitute for the British flag, has also been said to have
taken place on this occasion. It was, as before mentioned,
at the Grand Battery.
[133] Douglas makes it a little less. “We lost in this mad
frolic sixty men killed and drowned, and one hundred and
sixteen prisoners.”--_Summary_, i. 353.
[134] “Toutes les barques furent brisées ou coulées à fond;
le feu fut continuel depuis environ minuit jusqu’à trois
heures du matin.”--_Duchambon au Ministre, 2 Septembre,
1745._
[135] _Bigot au Ministre, 1 Août, 1745._
[136] _Journal of the Siege_, appended to Shirley’s report.
Pomeroy, _Journal_.
[137] _De la Maisonfort à Duchambon, 18 Juin_ (new style),
_1745. Duchambon à De la Maisonfort, 19 Juin_ (new style),
_1745_.
[138] _Report of a Consultation of Officers on board his
Majesty’s ship “Superbe,”_ enclosed in a letter of _Warren
to Pepperrell, 24 May, 1745._
[139] _Pepperrell to Warren, 28 May, 1745._
[140] _Warren to Pepperrell, 29 May, 1745._
[141] _Duchambon au Ministre, 2 Septembre, 1745._
[142] _Warren to Pepperrell, 11 June, 1745. Pepperrell to
Warren, 13 June, 1745._
[143] _Bigot au Ministre, 1 Août, 1745._
[144] _Duchambon au Ministre, 2 Septembre, 1745._
[145] _Duchambon à Pepperrell et Warren, 26 Juin (new style),
1745._
[146] _Warren and Pepperrell to Duchambon, 15 June, 1745._
[147] _Duchambon à Warren et Pepperrell, 27 Juin (new style),
1745._
[148] _Pepperrell to Warren, 16 June, 1745. Warren to
Pepperrell, 16 June, 1745._
[149] _Pepperrell to Shirley, 18 June_ (old style), _1745.
Ibid., 4 July, 1745._
[150] _Habitant de Louisbourg._
[151] Pepperrell more than once complains of a total want of
both powder and balls. Warren writes to him on May 29: “It
is very lucky that we could spare you some powder; I am told
you had not a grain left.”
[152] “C’est par une protection visible de la Providence que
nous avons prévenu une journée qui nous auroit été si
funeste.”--_Lettre d’un Habitant de Louisbourg._
[153] _Warren to Pepperrell, 10 June, 1745._
[154] _Collections of Mass, Hist. Society_, i. 49.
[155] A descendant of Moody, at the village of York, told me
that he was found in the church busy in the work of demolition.
[156] “Thursday, ye 21^{st.} Ye French keep possession yet,
and we are forsed to stand at their Dores to gard them.”--_Diary
of a Soldier, anonymous._
[157] _Lettre d’un Habitant de Louisbourg._
[158] _Report of Consultation on board the “Superbe,” 7 June,
1745._ “Commodore Warren did say publickly that before
the Circular Battery was reduced he would not venture in
here with three times ye sea force he had with him, and,
through divine assistance, we tore that [battery] and this
city almost to pieces.”--_Pepperrell to Shirley, 4 July,
1745._
[159] Warren had no men to spare. He says: “If it should be
thought necessary to join your troops with any men from our
ships, it should only be done for some sudden attack that
may be executed in one day or night.”--_Warren to Pepperrell,
11 May, 1745._ No such occasion arose.
[160] _Ibid., 13 May, 1745._ On the nineteenth of May, 1746,
Warren made a parting speech to the New England men at
Louisbourg, in which he tells them that it was they who
conquered the country, and expresses the hope that should
the French try to recover it, “the same Spirit that induced
you to make this Conquest will prompt you to protect it.”
See the speech in _Beamish-Murdoch_, ii. 100-102.
[161] See extracts in Parsons, 105, 106. The _Habitant de
Louisbourg_ extols Warren, but is not partial to Pepperrell,
whom he calls, incorrectly, “the son of a Boston shoemaker.”
[162] To Rous, captain of a provincial cruiser, whom Warren
had commended for conduct and courage, was given the command
of a ship in the royal navy.
“Tell your Council and Assembly, in his Majesty’s name,”
writes Newcastle to Shirley, “that their conduct will always
entitle them, in a particular manner, to his royal favor and
protection.”--_Newcastle to Shirley, 10 August, 1745._
[163] £183,649 to Massachusetts; £16,355 to New Hampshire;
£28,863 to Connecticut; £6,332 to Rhode Island.
[164] Palfrey, _New England_, v. 101-109; Shirley, _Report
to the Board of Trade_. _Bollan to Secretary Willard_,
in _Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc._, i. 53; Hutchinson, _Hist.
Mass._, ii. 391-395. _Letters of Bollan_ in Massachusetts
Archives.
It was through the exertions of the much-abused Thomas
Hutchinson, Speaker of the Assembly and historian of
Massachusetts, that the money was used for the laudable
purpose of extinguishing the old debt.
Shirley did his utmost to support Bollan in his efforts to
obtain compensation, and after highly praising the zeal and
loyalty of the people of his province, he writes to
Newcastle: “Justice, as well as the affection which I bear
to ’em, constrains me to beseech your Grace to recommend
their Case to his Majesty’s paternal Care & Tenderness in 144
the Strongest manner.”--_Shirley to Newcastle, 6 November,
1745._
The English documents on the siege of Louisbourg are many
and voluminous. The Pepperrell Papers and the Belknap
Papers, both in the library of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, afford a vast number of contemporary letters and
documents on the subject. The large volume entitled _Siege
of Louisbourg_, in the same repository, contains many
more, including a number of autograph diaries of soldiers
and others. To these are to be added the journals of General
Wolcott, James Gibson, Benjamin Cleaves, Seth Pomeroy, and
several others, in print or manuscript, among which is
especially to be noted the journal appended to Shirley’s
Letter to the Duke of Newcastle of October 28, 1745, and
bearing the names of Pepperrell, Brigadier Waldo, Colonel
Moore, and Lieutenant-Colonels Lothrop and Gridley, who
attest its accuracy. Many papers have also been drawn from
the Public Record Office of London.
Accounts of this affair have hitherto rested, with but
slight exceptions, on English sources alone. The archives of
France have furnished useful material to the foregoing
narrative, notably the long report of the governor,
Duchambon, to the minister of war, and the letter of the
intendant, Bigot, to the same personage, within about six
weeks after the surrender. But the most curious French
evidence respecting the siege is the _Lettre d’un Habitant
de Louisbourg contenant une Relation exacte & circonstanciée
de la Prise de l’Isle-Royale par les Anglois. A Québec, chez
Guillaume le Sincère, à l’Image de la Vérité, 1745._ This
little work, of eighty-one printed pages, is extremely rare.
I could study it only by having _a literatim_ transcript
made from the copy in the Bibliothèque Nationale, as it was
not in the British Museum. It bears the signature B. L. N.,
and is dated _à ... ce 28 Août, 1745._ The imprint of
Québec, etc., is certainly a mask, the book having no doubt
been printed in France. It severely criticises Duchambon,
and makes him mainly answerable for the disaster.
For French views of the siege of Louisbourg, _see_ Appendix B.
CHAPTER XXI. 145
1745-1747.
DUC D’ANVILLE.
LOUISBOURG AFTER THE CONQUEST.--MUTINY.--PESTILENCE.--STEPHEN
WILLIAMS: HIS DIARY.--SCHEME OF CONQUERING CANADA.--NEWCASTLE’S
PROMISES.--ALARM IN CANADA.--PROMISES BROKEN.--PLAN AGAINST CROWN
POINT.--STARTLING NEWS.--D’ANVILLE’S FLEET.--LOUISBOURG TO BE
AVENGED.--DISASTERS OF D’ANVILLE.--STORM.--PESTILENCE.--FAMINE.--
DEATH OF D’ANVILLE.--SUICIDE OF THE VICE-ADMIRAL.--RUINOUS
FAILURE.--RETURN VOYAGE.--DEFEAT OF LA JONQUIÈRE.
The troops and inhabitants of Louisbourg were all embarked for France,
and the town was at last in full possession of the victors. The
serious-minded among them--and there were few who did not bear the
stamp of hereditary Puritanism--now saw a fresh proof that they were
the peculiar care of an approving Providence. While they were in camp
the weather had been favorable; but they were scarcely housed when a
cold, persistent rain poured down in floods that would have drenched
their flimsy tents and turned their huts of turf into mud-heaps,
robbing the sick of every hope of recovery. Even now they got little
comfort from the shattered tenements of Louisbourg. The siege had 146
left the town in so filthy a condition that the wells were infected
and the water was poisoned.
The soldiers clamored for discharge, having enlisted to serve only
till the end of the expedition; and Shirley insisted that faith must
be kept with them, or no more would enlist.[165] Pepperrell, much to
the dissatisfaction of Warren, sent home about seven hundred men, some
of whom were on the sick list, while the rest had families in distress
and danger on the exposed frontier. At the same time he begged hard
for reinforcements, expecting a visit from the French and a desperate
attempt to recover Louisbourg. He and Warren governed the place
jointly, under martial law, and they both passed half their time in
holding courts-martial; for disorder reigned among the disgusted
militia, and no less among the crowd of hungry speculators, who
flocked like vultures to the conquered town to buy the cargoes of
captured ships, or seek for other prey. The Massachusetts soldiers,
whose pay was the smallest, and who had counted on being at their
homes by the end of July, were the most turbulent; but all alike were
on the brink of mutiny. Excited by their ringleaders, they one day
marched in a body to the parade and threw down their arms, but
probably soon picked them up again, as in most cases the guns were
hunting-pieces belonging to those who carried them. Pepperrell begged
Shirley to come to Louisbourg and bring the mutineers back to duty. 147
Accordingly, on the sixteenth of August he arrived in a ship-of-war,
accompanied by Mrs. Shirley and Mrs. Warren, wife of the commodore.
The soldiers duly fell into line to receive him. As it was not his
habit to hide his own merits, he tells the Duke of Newcastle that
nobody but he could have quieted the malcontents,--which is probably
true, as nobody else had power to raise their pay. He made them a
speech, promised them forty shillings in Massachusetts new-tenor
currency a month, instead of twenty-five, and ended with ordering for
each man half a pint of rum to drink the King’s health. Though
potations so generous might be thought to promise effects not wholly
sedative, the mutineers were brought to reason, and some even
consented to remain in garrison till the next June.[166]
Small reinforcements came from New England to hold the place till the
arrival of troops from Gibraltar, promised by the ministry. The two
regiments raised in the colonies, and commanded by Shirley and
Pepperrell, were also intended to form a part of the garrison; but
difficulty was found in filling the ranks, because, says Shirley, some
commissions have been given to Englishmen, and men will not enlist,
here except under American officers.
Nothing could be more dismal than the condition of Louisbourg, as
reflected in the diaries of soldiers and others who spent there the
winter that followed its capture. Among these diaries is that of the 148
worthy Benjamin Crafts, private in Hale’s Essex regiment, who to the
entry of each day adds a pious invocation, sincere in its way, no
doubt, though hackneyed, and sometimes in strange company. Thus, after
noting down Shirley’s gift of half a pint of rum to every man to drink
the King’s health, he adds immediately: “The Lord Look upon us and
enable us to trust in him & may he prepare us for his holy Day.” On
“September ye 1, being Sabath,” we find the following record: “I am
much out of order. This forenoon heard Mr. Stephen Williams preach
from ye 18 Luke 9 verse in the afternoon from ye 8 of Ecles: 8 verse:
Blessed be the Lord that has given us to enjoy another Sabath and
opertunity to hear his Word Dispensed.” On the next day, “being
Monday,” he continues, “Last night I was taken very Bad: the Lord be
pleased to strengthen my inner man that I may put my whole Trust in
him. May we all be prepared for his holy will. Rcd part of plunder, 9
small tooth combs.” Crafts died in the spring, of the prevailing
distemper, after doing good service in the commissary department of
his regiment.
Stephen Williams, the preacher whose sermons had comforted Crafts in
his trouble, was a son of Rev. John Williams, captured by the Indians
at Deerfield in 1704, and was now minister of Long Meadow,
Massachusetts. He had joined the anti-papal crusade as one of its
chaplains, and passed for a man of ability,--a point on which those 149
who read his diary will probably have doubts. The lot of the army
chaplains was of the hardest. A pestilence had fallen upon Louisbourg,
and turned the fortress into a hospital. “After we got into the town,”
says the sarcastic Dr. Douglas, whose pleasure it is to put everything
in its worst light, “a sordid indolence or sloth, for want of
discipline, induced putrid fevers and dysenteries, which at length in
August became contagious, and the people died like rotten sheep.” From
fourteen to twenty-seven were buried every day in the cemetery behind
the town, outside the Maurepas Gate, by the old lime-kiln on Rochefort
Point; and the forgotten bones of above five hundred New England men
lie there to this day under the coarse, neglected grass. The
chaplain’s diary is little but a dismal record of sickness, death,
sermons, funerals, and prayers with the dying ten times a day. “Prayed
at Hospital;--Prayed at Citadel;--Preached at Grand Batery;--Visited
Capt. [illegible], very sick;--One of Capt.----’s company dy^d.--Am
but poorly myself, but able to keep about.” Now and then there is a
momentary change of note, as when he writes: “July 29^{th}. One of ye
Captains of ye men of war caind a soldier who struck ye capt. again. A
great tumult. Swords were drawn; no life lost, but great uneasiness is
caused.” Or when he sets down the “say” of some Briton, apparently a
naval officer, “that he had tho’t ye New England men were Cowards--but
now he tho’t yt if they had a pick axe & spade, they w’d dig ye way 150
to Hell & storm it.”[167]
Williams was sorely smitten with homesickness, but he sturdily kept
his post, in spite of grievous yearnings for family and flock. The
pestilence slowly abated, till at length the burying-parties that
passed the Maurepas Gate counted only three or four a day. At the end
of January five hundred and sixty-one men had died, eleven hundred
were on the sick list, and about one thousand fit for duty.[168] The
promised regiments from Gibraltar had not come. Could the French have
struck then, Louisbourg might have changed hands again. The Gibraltar
regiments had arrived so late upon that rude coast that they turned
southward to the milder shores of Virginia, spent the winter there,
and did not appear at Louisbourg till April. They brought with them a
commission for Warren as governor of the fortress. He made a speech of
thanks to the New England garrison, now reduced to less than nineteen
hundred men, sick and well, and they sailed at last for home,
Louisbourg being now thought safe from any attempt of France.
To the zealous and energetic Shirley the capture of the fortress was
but a beginning of greater triumphs. Scarcely had the New England
militia sailed from Boston on their desperate venture, when he wrote 151
to the Duke of Newcastle that should the expedition succeed, all New
England would be on fire to attack Canada, and the other colonies
would take part with them, if ordered to do so by the ministry.[169]
And, some months later, after Louisbourg was taken, he urged the
policy of striking while the iron was hot, and invading Canada at
once. The colonists, he said, were ready, and it would be easier to
raise ten thousand men for such an attack than one thousand to lie
idle in garrison at Louisbourg or anywhere else. France and England,
he thinks, cannot live on the same continent. If we were rid of the
French, he continues, England would soon control America, which would
make her first among the nations; and he ventures what now seems the
modest prediction that in one or two centuries the British colonies
would rival France in population. Even now, he is sure that they would
raise twenty thousand men to capture Canada, if the King required it
of them, and Warren would be an acceptable commander for the naval
part of the expedition; “but,” concludes the governor, “I will take no
step without orders from his Majesty.”[170]
The Duke of Newcastle was now at the head of the Government. Smollett
and Horace Walpole have made his absurdities familiar, in anecdotes
which, true or not, do no injustice to his character; yet he had 152
talents that were great in their way, though their way was a mean one.
They were talents, not of the statesman, but of the political manager,
and their object was to win office and keep it.
Newcastle, whatever his motives, listened to the counsels of Shirley,
and directed him to consult with Warren as to the proposed attack on
Canada. At the same time he sent a circular letter to the governors of
the provinces from New England to North Carolina, directing them,
should the invasion be ordered, to call upon their assemblies for as
many men as they would grant.[171] Shirley’s views were cordially
supported by Warren, and the levies were made accordingly, though not
in proportion to the strength of the several colonies; for those south
of New York felt little interest in the plan. Shirley was told to
“dispose Massachusetts to do its part;” but neither he nor his
province needed prompting. Taking his cue from the Roman senator, he
exclaimed to his Assembly, “_Delenda est Canada_;” and the
Assembly responded by voting to raise thirty-five hundred men, and
offering a bounty equivalent to £4 sterling to each volunteer, besides
a blanket for every one, and a bed for every two. New Hampshire
contributed five hundred men, Rhode Island three hundred, Connecticut
one thousand, New York sixteen hundred, New Jersey five hundred,
Maryland three hundred, and Virginia one hundred. The Pennsylvania 153
Assembly, controlled by Quaker noncombatants, would give no
soldiers; but, by a popular movement, the province furnished four
hundred men, without the help of its representatives.[172]
As usual in the English attempts against Canada, the campaign was to
be a double one. The main body of troops, composed of British regulars
and New England militia, was to sail up the St. Lawrence and attack
Quebec, while the levies of New York and the provinces farther south,
aided, it was hoped, by the warriors of the Iroquois, were to advance
on Montreal by way of Lake Champlain.
Newcastle promised eight battalions of British troops under
Lieutenant-General Saint-Clair. They were to meet the New England men
at Louisbourg, and all were then to sail together for Quebec, under
the escort of a squadron commanded by Warren. Shirley also was to go
to Louisbourg, and arrange the plan of the campaign with the general
and the admiral. Thus, without loss of time, the captured fortress was
to be made a base of operations against its late owners.
Canada was wild with alarm at reports of English preparation. There
were about fifty English prisoners in barracks at Quebec, and every
device was tried to get information from them; but being chiefly
rustics caught on the frontiers by Indian war-parties, they had little
news to give, and often refused to give even this. One of them, who 154
had been taken long before and gained over by the French,[173] was
used as an agent to extract information from his countrymen, and was
called “_notre homme de confiance_.” At the same time the
prisoners were freely supplied with writing materials, and their
letters to their friends being then opened, it appeared that they were
all in expectation of speedy deliverance.[174]
In July a report came from Acadia that from forty to fifty thousand
men were to attack Canada; and on the first of August a prisoner
lately taken at Saratoga declared that there were thirty-two war-ships
at Boston ready to sail against Quebec, and that thirteen thousand men
were to march at once from Albany against Montreal. “If all these
stories are true,” writes the Canadian journalist, “all the English on
this continent must be in arms.”
Preparations for defence were pushed with feverish energy. Fireships
were made ready at Quebec, and fire-rafts at Isle-aux-Coudres;
provisions were gathered, and ammunition was distributed;
reconnoitring parties were sent to watch the gulf and the river; and
bands of Canadians and Indians lately sent to Acadia were ordered to
hasten back.
Thanks to the Duke of Newcastle, all these alarms were needless. The
Massachusetts levies were ready within six weeks, and Shirley, eager 155
and impatient, waited in vain for the squadron from England and the
promised eight battalions of regulars. They did not come; and in
August he wrote to Newcastle that it would now be impossible to reach
Quebec before October, which would be too late.[175] The eight
battalions had been sent to Portsmouth for embarkation, ordered on
board the transports, then ordered ashore again, and finally sent on
an abortive expedition against the coast of France. There were those
who thought that this had been their destination from the first, and
that the proposed attack on Canada was only a pretence to deceive the
enemy. It was not till the next spring that Newcastle tried to explain
the miscarriage to Shirley. He wrote that the troops had been detained
by head-winds till General Saint-Clair and Admiral Lestock thought it
too late; to which he added that the demands of the European war made
the Canadian expedition impracticable, and that Shirley was to stand
on the defensive and attempt no further conquests. As for the
provincial soldiers, who this time were in the pay of the Crown, he
says that they were “very expensive,” and orders the governor to get
rid of them “as cheap as possible.”[176] Thus, not for the first time,
the hopes of the colonies were brought to nought by the failure of the
British ministers to keep their promises.
When, in the autumn of 1746, Shirley said that for the present Canada 156
was to be let alone, he bethought him of a less decisive conquest, and
proposed to employ the provincial troops for an attack on Crown Point,
which formed a halfway station between Albany and Montreal, and was
the constant rendezvous of war-parties against New York, New
Hampshire, and Massachusetts, whose discords and jealousies had
prevented them from combining to attack it. The Dutch of Albany, too,
had strong commercial reasons for not coming to blows with the
Canadians. Of late, however, Massachusetts and New York had suffered
so much from this inconvenient neighbor that it was possible to unite
them against it; and as Clinton, governor of New York, was scarcely
less earnest to get possession of Crown Point than was Shirley
himself, a plan of operations was soon settled. By the middle of
October fifteen hundred Massachusetts troops were on their way to join
the New York levies, and then advance upon the obnoxious post.[177]
Even this modest enterprise was destined to fail. Astounding tidings
reached New England, and startled her like a thunder-clap from dreams
of conquest. It was reported that a great French fleet and army were
on their way to retake Louisbourg, reconquer Acadia, burn Boston, and
lay waste the other seaboard towns. The Massachusetts troops marching
for Crown Point were recalled, and the country militia were mustered
in arms. In a few days the narrow, crooked streets of the Puritan
capital were crowded with more than eight thousand armed rustics from 157
the farms and villages of Middlesex, Essex, Norfolk, and Worcester,
and Connecticut promised six thousand more as soon as the hostile
fleet should appear. The defences of Castle William were enlarged and
strengthened, and cannon were planted on the islands at the mouth of
the harbor; hulks were sunk in the channel, and a boom was laid across
it under the guns of the castle.[178] The alarm was compared to that
which filled England on the approach of the Spanish Armada.[179]
Canada heard the news of the coming armament with an exultation that
was dashed with misgiving as weeks and months passed and the fleet did
not appear. At length in September a vessel put in to an Acadian
harbor with the report that she had met the ships in mid-ocean, and
that they counted a hundred and fifty sail. Some weeks later the
governor and intendant of Canada wrote that on the fourteenth of
October they received a letter from Chibucto with “the agreeable news”
that the Duc d’Anville and his fleet had arrived there about three
weeks before. Had they known more, they would have rejoiced less.
That her great American fortress should have been snatched from her by
a despised militia was more than France could bear; and in the midst 158
of a burdensome war she made a crowning effort to retrieve her honor
and pay the debt with usury. It was computed that nearly half the
French navy was gathered at Brest under command of the Duc d’Anville.
By one account his force consisted of eleven ships-of-the-line, twenty
frigates, and thirty-four transports and fireships, or sixty-five in
all. Another list gives a total of sixty-six, of which ten were
ships-of-the-line, twenty-two were frigates and fireships, and
thirty-four were transports.[180] These last carried the regiment of
Ponthieu, with other veteran troops, to the number in all of three
thousand one hundred and fifty. The fleet was to be joined at
Chibucto, now Halifax, by four heavy ships-of-war lately sent to the
West Indies under M. de Conflans.
From Brest D’Anville sailed for some reason to Rochelle, and here the
ships were kept so long by head-winds that it was the twentieth of
June before they could put to sea. From the first the omens were
sinister. The admiral was beset with questions as to the destination
of the fleet, which was known to him alone; and when, for the sake of
peace, he told it to his officers, their discontent redoubled. The Bay
of Biscay was rough and boisterous, and spars, sails, and bowsprits
were carried away. After they had been a week at sea, some of the
ships, being dull sailers, lagged behind, and the rest were forced 159
to shorten sail and wait for them. In the longitude of the Azores
there was a dead calm, and the whole fleet lay idle for days. Then
came a squall, with lightning. Several ships were struck. On one of
them six men were killed, and on the seventy-gun ship “Mars” a box of
musket and cannon cartridges blew up, killed ten men, and wounded
twenty-one. A store-ship which proved to be sinking was abandoned and
burned. Then a pestilence broke out, and in some of the ships there
were more sick than in health.
On the fourteenth of September they neared the coast of Nova Scotia,
and were in dread of the dangerous shoals of Sable Island, the
position of which they did not exactly know. They groped their way in
fogs till a fearful storm, with thunder and lightning, fell upon them.
The journalist of the voyage, a captain in the regiment of Ponthieu,
says, with the exaggeration common in such cases, that the waves ran
as high as the masts; and such was their violence that a transport,
dashing against the ship “Amazone,” immediately went down, with all on
board. The crew of the “Prince d’Orange,” half blinded by wind and
spray, saw the great ship “Caribou,” without bowsprit or main-topmast,
driving towards them before the gale, and held their breath in
expectation of the shock as she swept close alongside and vanished in
the storm.[181] The tempest raged all night, and the fleet became so 160
scattered that there was no more danger of collision. In the morning
the journalist could see but five sail; but as the day advanced the
rest began to reappear, and at three o’clock he counted thirty-one
from the deck of the “Prince d’Orange.” The gale was subsiding, but
its effects were seen in hencoops, casks, and chests floating on the
surges and telling the fate of one or more of the fleet. The
“Argonaut” was rolling helpless, without masts or rudder; the
“Caribou” had thrown overboard all the starboard guns of her upper
deck; and the vice-admiral’s ship, the “Trident,” was in scarcely
better condition.
On the twenty-third they were wrapped in thick fog and lay firing
guns, ringing bells, and beating drums to prevent collisions. When the
weather cleared, they looked in vain for the admiral’s ship, the
“Northumberland.”[182] She was not lost, however, but with two other
ships was far ahead of the fleet and near Chibucto, though in great
perplexity, having no pilot who knew the coast. She soon after had the
good fortune to capture a small English vessel with a man on board
well acquainted with Chibucto harbor. D’Anville offered him his
liberty and a hundred louis if he would pilot the ship in. To this he
agreed; but when he rejoined his fellow-prisoners they called him a 161
traitor to his country, on which he retracted his promise. D’Anville
was sorely perplexed; but Duperrier, captain of the “Northumberland,”
less considerate of the prisoner’s feelings, told him that unless he
kept his word he should be thrown into the sea, with a pair of
cannon-balls made fast to his feet. At this his scruples gave way, and
before night the “Northumberland” was safe in Chibucto Bay. D’Anville
had hoped to find here the four ships of Conflans, which were to have
met him from the West Indies at this, the appointed rendezvous; but he
saw only a solitary transport of his own fleet. Hills covered with
forests stood lonely and savage round what is now the harbor of
Halifax. Conflans and his four ships had arrived early in the month,
and finding nobody, though it was nearly three months since D’Anville
left Rochelle, he cruised among the fogs for a while, and then sailed
for France a few days before the admiral’s arrival.
D’Anville was ignorant of the fate of his fleet; but he knew that the
two ships which had reached Chibucto with him were full of sick men,
that their provisions were nearly spent, and that there was every
reason to believe such of the fleet as the storm might have spared to
be in no better case. An officer of the expedition describes D’Anville
as a man “made to command and worthy to be loved,” and says that he
had borne the disasters of the voyage with the utmost fortitude and
serenity.[183] Yet suspense and distress wrought fatally upon him, and 162
at two o’clock in the morning of the twenty-seventh he died,--of
apoplexy, by the best accounts; though it was whispered among the
crews that he had ended his troubles by poison.[184]
At six o’clock in the afternoon of the same day D’Estournel, the
vice-admiral, with such ships as remained with him, entered the harbor
and learned what had happened. He saw with dismay that he was doomed
to bear the burden of command over a ruined enterprise and a shattered
fleet. The long voyage had consumed the provisions, and in some of the
ships the crews were starving. The pestilence grew worse, and men were
dying in numbers every day. On the twenty-eighth, D’Anville was buried
without ceremony on a small island in the harbor. The officers met in
council, and the papers of the dead commander were examined. Among
them was a letter from the King in which he urged the recapture of
Louisbourg as the first object of the expedition; but this was thought
impracticable, and the council resolved to turn against Annapolis all
the force that was left. It is said that D’Estournel opposed the
attempt, insisting that it was hopeless, and that there was no
alternative but to return to France. The debate was long and hot, and
the decision was against him.[185] The council dissolved, and he was 163
seen to enter his cabin in evident distress and agitation. An unusual
sound was presently heard, followed by groans. His door was fastened
by two bolts, put on the evening before by his order. It was burst
open, and the unfortunate commander was found lying in a pool of
blood, transfixed with his own sword. Enraged and mortified, he had
thrown himself upon it in a fit of desperation. The surgeon drew out
the blade, but it was only on the urgent persuasion of two Jesuits
that the dying man would permit the wound to be dressed. He then
ordered all the captains to the side of his berth, and said,
“Gentlemen, I beg pardon of God and the King for what I have done, and
I protest to the King that my only object was to prevent my enemies
from saying that I had not executed his orders;” and he named M. de la
Jonquière to command in his place. In fact, La Jonquière’s rank
entitled him to do so. He was afterwards well known as governor of
Canada, and was reputed a brave and able sea-officer.
La Jonquière remained at Chibucto till late in October. Messengers
were sent to the Acadian settlements to ask for provisions, of which
there was desperate need; and as payment was promised in good metal,
and not in paper, the Acadians brought in a considerable supply. The
men were encamped on shore, yet the pestilence continued its ravages.
Two English prisoners were told that between twenty-three and 164
twenty-four hundred men had been buried by sea or land since the fleet
left France; and another declares that eleven hundred and thirty-five
burials took place while he was at Chibucto.[186] The survivors used
the clothing of the dead as gifts to the neighboring Indians, who in
consequence were attacked with such virulence by the disease that of
the band at Cape Sable three fourths are said to have perished. The
English, meanwhile, learned something of the condition of their
enemies. Towards the end of September Captain Sylvanus Cobb, in a
sloop from Boston, boldly entered Chibucto Harbor, took note of the
ships lying there, and, though pursued, ran out to sea and carried the
results of his observations to Louisbourg.[187] A more thorough
reconnoissance was afterwards made by a vessel from Louisbourg
bringing French prisoners for exchange under a flag of truce; and it
soon became evident that the British colonies had now nothing to fear.
La Jonquière still clung to the hope of a successful stroke at
Annapolis, till in October an Acadian brought him the report that the
garrison of that place had received a reinforcement of twelve hundred
men. The reinforcement consisted in reality of three small companies
of militia sent from Boston by Shirley. La Jonquière called a secret
council, and the result seems to have been adverse to any further 165
attempt. The journalist reports that only a thousand men were left in
fighting condition, and that even of these some were dying every day.
La Jonquière, however, would not yet despair. The troops were
re-embarked; five hospital ships were devoted to the sick; the
“Parfait,” a fifty-gun ship no longer serviceable, was burned, as were
several smaller vessels, and on the fourth of October what was left of
the fleet sailed out of Chibucto Harbor and steered for Annapolis,
piloted by Acadians. The flag of truce from Louisbourg was compelled
for a time to bear them company, and Joseph Foster of Beverly, an
exchanged prisoner on board of her, deposed that as the fleet held its
way, he saw “a great number of dead persons” dropped into the sea
every day. Ill-luck still pursued the French. A storm off Cape Sable
dispersed the ships, two of which some days later made their way to
Annapolis Basin in expectation of finding some of their companions
there. They found instead the British fifty-gun ship “Chester” and the
Massachusetts frigate “Shirley” anchored before the fort, on which the
two Frenchmen retired as they had come; and so ended the last
aggressive movement on the part of the great armament.
The journalist reports that on the night of the twenty-seventh there
was a council of officers on board the “Northumberland,” at which it
was resolved that no choice was left but to return to France with the 166
ships that still kept together. On the fourth of November there was
another storm, and when it subsided, the “Prince d’Orange” found
herself with but nine companions, all of which were transports. These
had on board eleven companies of soldiers, of whom their senior
officer reports that only ninety-one were in health. The pestilence
made such ravages among the crews that four or five corpses were
thrown into the sea every day, and there was fear that the vessels
would be left helpless in mid-ocean for want of sailors to work
them.[188] At last, on the seventh of December, after narrowly
escaping an English squadron, they reached Port Louis in Brittany,
where several ships of the fleet had arrived before them. Among these
was the frigate “La Palme.” “Yesterday,” says the journalist, “I
supped with M. Destrahoudal, who commands this frigate; and he told me
things which from anybody else would have been incredible. This is his
story, exactly as I had it from him.” And he goes on to the following
effect.
After the storm of the fourteenth of September, provisions being
almost spent, it was thought that there was no hope for “La Palme” and
her crew but in giving up the enterprise and making all sail at once
for home, since France now had no port of refuge on the western
continent nearer than Quebec. Rations were reduced to three ounces of
biscuit and three of salt meat a day; and after a time half of this
pittance was cut off. There was diligent hunting for rats in the hold; 167
and when this game failed, the crew, crazed with famine, demanded of
their captain that five English prisoners who were on board should be
butchered to appease the frenzy of their hunger. The captain consulted
his officers, and they were of opinion that if he did not give his
consent, the crew would work their will without it. The ship’s butcher
was accordingly ordered to bind one of the prisoners, carry him to the
bottom of the hold, put him to death, and distribute his flesh to the
men in portions of three ounces each. The captain, walking the deck in
great agitation all night, found a pretext for deferring the deed till
morning, when a watchman sent aloft at daylight cried, “A sail!” The
providential stranger was a Portuguese ship; and as Portugal was
neutral in the war, she let the frigate approach to within hailing
distance. The Portuguese captain soon came alongside in a boat,
“accompanied,” in the words of the narrator, “by five sheep.” These
were eagerly welcomed by the starving crew as agreeable substitutes
for the five Englishmen; and, being forthwith slaughtered, were
parcelled out among the men, who would not wait till the flesh was
cooked, but devoured it raw.[189] Provisions enough were obtained from
the Portuguese to keep the frigate’s company alive till they reached
Port Louis.
There are no sufficient means of judging how far the disasters of 168
D’Anville’s fleet were due to a neglect of sanitary precautions or to
deficient seamanship. Certain it is that there were many in
self-righteous New England who would have held it impious to doubt
that God had summoned the pestilence and the storm to fight the
battles of his modern Israel.
Undaunted by disastrous failure, the French court equipped another
fleet, not equal to that of D’Anville, yet still formidable, and
placed it under La Jonquière, for the conquest of Acadia and
Louisbourg. La Jonquière sailed from Rochelle on the tenth of May,
1747, and on the fourteenth was met by an English fleet stronger than
his own and commanded by Admirals Anson and Warren. A fight ensued, in
which, after brave resistance, the French were totally defeated. Six
ships-of-war, including the flag-ship, were captured, with a host of
prisoners, among whom was La Jonquière himself.[190]
[165] _Shirley to Newcastle, 27 September, 1745._
[166] _Shirley to Newcastle, 4 December, 1745._
[167] The autograph diary of Rev. Stephen Williams is in my
possession. The handwriting is detestable.
[168] On May 10, 1746, Shirley writes to Newcastle that eight
hundred and ninety men had died during the winter. The
sufferings of the garrison from cold were extreme.
[169] _Shirley to Newcastle, 4 April, 1745._
[170] _Ibid., 29 October, 1745._
[171] _Newcastle to the Provincial Governors, 14 March, 1746;
Shirley to Newcastle, 31 May, 1746; Proclamation of Shirley,
2 June, 1746._
[172] Hutchinson, ii. 381, _note_. Compare _Memoirs of the
Principal Transactions of the Last War_.
[173] “Un ancien prisonnier affidé que l’on a mis dans nos
interests.”
[174] _Extrait en forme de Journal de ce qui s’est passé
dans la Colonie depuis ... le 1 Décembre, 1745, jusqu’au 9
Novembre, 1746, signé Beauharnois et Hocquart._
[175] _Shirley to Newcastle, 22 August, 1746._
[176] _Newcastle to Shirley, 30 May, 1747._
[177] _Memoirs of the Principal Transactions of the Last War._
[178] _Shirley to Newcastle, 29 September, 1746._ Shirley says
that though the French may bombard the town, he does not
think they could make a landing, as he shall have fifteen
thousand good men within call to oppose them.
[179] Hutchinson, ii. 382.
[180] This list is in the journal of a captured French officer
called by Shirley M. Rebateau.
[181] _Journal historique du Voyage de la Flotte commandée par
M. le Duc d’Enville._ The writer was on board the “Prince
d’Orange,” and describes what he saw (Archives du Séminaire
de Québec; printed in _Le Canada Français_).
[182] The “Northumberland” was an English prize captured by
Captains Serier and Conflans in 1744.
[183] _Journal historique du Voyage._
[184] _Declaration of H. Kannan and D. Deas, 23 October, 1746.
Deposition of Joseph Foster, 24 October, 1746, sworn to
before Jacob Wendell, J. P._ These were prisoners in the
ships at Chibucto.
[185] This is said by all the writers except the author of the
_Journal historique_, who merely states that the council
decided to attack Annapolis, and to detach some soldiers to
the aid of Quebec. This last vote was reconsidered.
[186] _Declaration of Kannan and Deas. Deposition of Joseph
Foster._
[187] _Report of Captain Cobb,_ in _Shirley to Newcastle,
13 October, 1746_.
[188] _Journal historique._
[189] _Relation du Voyage de Retour de M. Destrahoudal après
la Tempête du 14 Septembre_, in _Journal historique_.
[190] _Relation du Combat rendu le 14 Mai_ (new style), _par
l’Escadre du Roy commandée par M. de la Jonquière_, in _Le
Canada Français, Supplément de Documents inédits_, 33.
_Newcastle to Shirley, 30 May, 1747._
CHAPTER XXII. 169
1745-1747.
ACADIAN CONFLICTS.
EFFORTS OF FRANCE.--APATHY OF NEWCASTLE.--DILEMMA OF ACADIANS:
THEIR CHARACTER.--DANGER OF THE PROVINCE.--PLANS OF SHIRLEY.--
ACADIAN PRIESTS.--POLITICAL AGITATORS.--NOBLE’S EXPEDITION.--
RAMESAY AT BEAUBASSIN.--NOBLE AT GRAND PRÉ.--A WINTER MARCH.--
DEFEAT AND DEATH OF NOBLE.--GRAND PRÉ REOCCUPIED BY THE
ENGLISH.--THREATS OF RAMESAY AGAINST THE ACADIANS.--THE BRITISH
MINISTRY WILL NOT PROTECT THEM.
Since the capture of Louisbourg, France had held constantly in view,
as an object of prime importance, the recovery of her lost colony of
Acadia. This was one of the chief aims of D’Anville’s expedition, and
of that of La Jonquière in the next year. And to make assurance still
more sure, a large body of Canadians, under M. de Ramesay, had been
sent to Acadia to co-operate with D’Anville’s force; but the greater
part of them had been recalled to aid in defending Quebec against the
expected attack of the English. They returned when the news came that
D’Anville was at Chibucto, and Ramesay, with a part of his command,
advanced upon Port Royal, or Annapolis, in order to support the fleet
in its promised attack on that place. He encamped at a little distance 170
from the English fort, till he heard of the disasters that had ruined
the fleet,[191] and then fell back to Chignecto, on the neck of the
Acadian peninsula, where he made his quarters, with a force which,
including Micmac, Malicite, and Penobscot Indians, amounted, at one
time, to about sixteen hundred men.
If France was bent on recovering Acadia, Shirley was no less resolved
to keep it, if he could. In his belief, it was the key of the British
American colonies, and again and again he urged the Duke of Newcastle
to protect it. But Newcastle seems scarcely to have known where Acadia
was, being ignorant of most things except the art of managing the
House of Commons, and careless of all things that could not help his
party and himself. Hence Shirley’s hyperboles, though never without a
basis of truth, were lost upon him. Once, it is true, he sent three
hundred men to Annapolis; but one hundred and eighty of them died on
the voyage, or lay helpless in Boston hospitals, and the rest could
better have been spared, some being recruits from English jails, and
others Irish Catholics, several of whom deserted to the French, with
information of the state of the garrison.
The defence of Acadia was left to Shirley and his Assembly, who in
time of need sent companies of militia and rangers to Annapolis, and
thus on several occasions saved it from returning to France. Shirley
was the most watchful and strenuous defender of British interests on 171
the continent; and in the present crisis British and colonial
interests were one. He held that if Acadia were lost, the peace and
safety of all the other colonies would be in peril; and in spite of
the immense efforts made by the French court to recover it, he felt
that the chief danger of the province was not from without, but from
within. “If a thousand French troops should land in Nova Scotia,” he
writes to Newcastle, “all the people would rise to join them, besides
all the Indians.”[192] So, too, thought the French officials in
America. The governor and intendant of Canada wrote to the colonial
minister: “The inhabitants, with few exceptions, wish to return under
the French dominion, and will not hesitate to take up arms as soon as
they see themselves free to do so; that is, as soon as we become
masters of Port Royal, or they have powder and other munitions of war,
and are backed by troops for their protection against the resentment
of the English.”[193] Up to this time, however, though they had aided
Duvivier in his attack on Annapolis so far as was possible without
seeming to do so, they had not openly taken arms, and their refusal to
fight for the besiegers is one among several causes to which Mascarene
ascribes the success of his defence. While the greater part remained
attached to France, some leaned to the English, who bought their
produce and paid them in ready coin. Money was rare with the Acadians, 172
who loved it, and were so addicted to hoarding it that the French
authorities were led to speculate as to what might be the object of
these careful savings.[194]
Though the Acadians loved France, they were not always ready to
sacrifice their interests to her. They would not supply Ramesay’s
force with provisions in exchange for his promissory notes, but
demanded hard cash.[195] This he had not to give, and was near being
compelled to abandon his position in consequence. At the same time, in
consideration of specie payment, the inhabitants brought in fuel for
the English garrison at Louisbourg, and worked at repairing the rotten
_chevaux de frise_ of Annapolis.[196]
Mascarene, commandant at that place, being of French descent, was
disposed at first to sympathize with the Acadians and treat them with
a lenity that to the members of his council seemed neither fitting nor
prudent. He wrote to Shirley: “The French inhabitants are certainly in
a very perilous situation, those who pretend to be their friends and
old masters having let loose a parcel of banditti to plunder them;
whilst, on the other hand, they see themselves threatened with ruin if
they fail in their allegiance to the British Government.”[197]
This unhappy people were in fact between two fires. France claimed 173
them on one side, and England on the other, and each demanded their
adhesion, without regard to their feelings or their welfare. The
banditti of whom Mascarene speaks were the Micmac Indians, who were
completely under the control of their missionary, Le Loutre, and were
used by him to terrify the inhabitants into renouncing their English
allegiance and actively supporting the French cause. By the Treaty of
Utrecht France had transferred Acadia to Great Britain, and the
inhabitants had afterwards taken an oath of fidelity to King George.
Thus they were British subjects; but as their oath had been
accompanied by a promise, or at least a clear understanding, that they
should not be required to take arms against Frenchmen or Indians, they
had become known as the “Neutral French.” This name tended to perplex
them, and in their ignorance and simplicity they hardly knew to which
side they owed allegiance. Their illiteracy was extreme. Few of them
could sign their names, and a contemporary well acquainted with them
declares that he knew but a single Acadian who could read and
write.[198] This was probably the notary, Le Blanc, whose compositions
are crude and illiterate. Ignorant of books and isolated in a wild and
remote corner of the world, the Acadians knew nothing of affairs, and
were totally incompetent to meet the crisis that was soon to come upon
them. In activity and enterprise they were far behind the Canadians, 174
who looked on them as inferiors. Their pleasures were those of the
humblest and simplest peasants; they were contented with their lot,
and asked only to be let alone. Their intercourse was unceremonious to
such a point that they never addressed each other, or, it is said,
even strangers, as _monsieur_. They had the social equality which
can exist only in the humblest conditions of society, and presented
the phenomenon of a primitive little democracy, hatched under the wing
of an absolute monarchy. Each was as good as his neighbor; they had no
natural leaders, nor any to advise or guide them, except the
missionary priest, who in every case was expected by his superiors to
influence them in the interest of France, and who, in fact, constantly
did so. While one observer represents them as living in a state of
primeval innocence, another describes both men and women as extremely
foul of speech; from which he draws inferences unfavorable to their
domestic morals,[199] which, nevertheless, were commendable. As is
usual with a well-fed and unambitious peasantry, they were very
prolific, and are said to have doubled their number every sixteen
years. In 1748 they counted in the peninsula of Nova Scotia between
twelve and thirteen thousand souls.[200] The English rule had been of
the lightest,--so light that it could scarcely be felt; and this was
not surprising, since the only instruments for enforcing it over a 175
population wholly French were some two hundred disorderly soldiers in
the crumbling little fort of Annapolis; and the province was left,
perforce, to take care of itself.
The appearance of D’Anville’s fleet caused great excitement among the
Acadians, who thought that they were about to pass again under the
Crown of France. Fifty of them went on board the French ships at
Chibucto to pilot them to the attack of Annapolis, and to their dismay
found that no attack was to be made. When Ramesay, with his Canadians
and Indians, took post at Chignecto and built a fort at Baye Verte, on
the neck of the peninsula of Nova Scotia, the English power in that
part of the colony seemed at an end. The inhabitants cut off all
communication with Annapolis, and detained the officers whom Mascarene
sent for intelligence.
From the first outbreak of the war it was evident that the French
built their hopes of recovering Acadia largely on a rising of the
Acadians against the English rule, and that they spared no efforts to
excite such a rising. Early in 1745 a violent and cruel precaution
against this danger was suggested. William Shirreff, provincial
secretary, gave it as his opinion that the Acadians ought to be
removed, being a standing menace to the colony.[201] This is the first
proposal of such a nature that I find. Some months later, Shirley
writes that, on a false report of the capture of Annapolis by the 176
French, the Acadians sang _Te Deum_, and that every sign
indicates that there will be an attempt in the spring to capture
Annapolis, with their help.[202] Again, Shirley informs Newcastle that
the French will get possession of Acadia unless the most dangerous of
the inhabitants are removed, and English settlers put in their
place.[203] He adds that there are not two hundred and twenty soldiers
at Annapolis to defend the province against the whole body of Acadians
and Indians, and he tells the minister that unless the expedition
against Canada should end in the conquest of that country, the removal
of some of the Acadians will be a necessity. He means those of
Chignecto, who were kept in a threatening attitude by the presence of
Ramesay and his Canadians, and who, as he thinks, had forfeited their
lands by treasonable conduct. Shirley believes that families from New
England might be induced to take their place, and that these, if
settled under suitable regulations, would form a military frontier to
the province of Nova Scotia “strong enough to keep the Canadians out,”
and hold the Acadians to their allegiance.[204] The Duke of Bedford
thinks the plan a good one, but objects to the expense.[205] Commodore
Knowles, then governor of Louisbourg, who, being threatened with
consumption and convinced that the climate was killing him, vented his
feelings in strictures against everything and everybody, was of opinion 177
that the Acadians, having broken their neutrality, ought to be
expelled at once, and expresses the amiable hope that should his
Majesty adopt this plan, he will charge him with executing it.[206]
Shirley’s energetic nature inclined him to trenchant measures, and he
had nothing of modern humanitarianism; but he was not inhuman, and he
shrank from the cruelty of forcing whole communities into exile. While
Knowles and others called for wholesale expatriation, he still held
that it was possible to turn the greater part of the Acadians into
safe subjects of the British Crown;[207] and to this end he advised
the planting of a fortified town where Halifax now stands, and
securing by forts and garrisons the neck of the Acadian peninsula,
where the population was most numerous and most disaffected. The
garrisons, he thought, would not only impose respect, but would
furnish the Acadians with what they wanted most,--ready markets for
their produce,--and thus bind them to the British by strong ties of 178
interest. Newcastle thought the plan good, but wrote that its
execution must be deferred to a future day. Three years later it was
partly carried into effect by the foundation of Halifax; but at that
time the disaffection of the Acadians had so increased, and the hope
of regaining the province for France had risen so high, that this
partial and tardy assertion of British authority only spurred the
French agents to redoubled efforts to draw the inhabitants from the
allegiance they had sworn to the Crown of England.
Shirley had also other plans in view for turning the Acadians into
good British subjects. He proposed, as a measure of prime necessity,
to exclude French priests from the province. The free exercise of
their religion had been insured to the inhabitants by the Treaty of
Utrecht, and on this point the English authorities had given no just
cause of complaint. A priest had occasionally been warned, suspended,
or removed; but without a single exception, so far as appears, this
was in consequence of conduct which tended to excite disaffection, and
which would have incurred equal or greater penalties in the case of a
layman.[208] The sentence was directed, not against the priest, but 179
against the political agitator. Shirley’s plan of excluding French
priests from the province would not have violated the provisions of
the treaty, provided that the inhabitants were supplied with other
priests, not French subjects, and therefore not politically dangerous;
but though such a measure was several times proposed by the provincial
authorities, the exasperating apathy of the Newcastle Government gave
no hope that it could be accomplished.
The influences most dangerous to British rule did not proceed from
love of France or sympathy of race, but from the power of religion
over a simple and ignorant people, trained in profound love and awe of
their Church and its ministers, who were used by the representatives
of Louis XV. as agents to alienate the Acadians from England.
The most strenuous of these clerical agitators was Abbé Le Loutre,
missionary to the Micmacs, and after 1753 vicar-general of Acadia. He
was a fiery and enterprising zealot, inclined by temperament to
methods of violence, detesting the English, and restrained neither by
pity nor scruple from using threats of damnation and the Micmac
tomahawk to frighten the Acadians into doing his bidding. The worst 180
charge against him, that of exciting the Indians of his mission to
murder Captain Howe, an English officer, has not been proved; but it
would not have been brought against him by his own countrymen if his
character and past conduct had gained him their esteem.
The other Acadian priests were far from sharing Le Loutre’s violence;
but their influence was always directed to alienating the inhabitants
from their allegiance to King George. Hence Shirley regarded the
conversion of the Acadians to Protestantism as a political measure of
the first importance, and proposed the establishment of schools in the
province to that end. Thus far his recommendations are perfectly
legitimate; but when he adds that rewards ought to be given to
Acadians who renounce their faith, few will venture to defend him.
Newcastle would trouble himself with none of his schemes, and Acadia
was left to drift with the tide, as before. “I shall finish my
troubleing your Grace upon the affairs of Nova Scotia with this
letter,” writes the persevering Shirley. And he proceeds to ask, “as a
proper Scheme for better securing the Subjection of the French
inhabitants and Indians there,” that the governor and Council at
Annapolis have special authority and direction from the King to arrest
and examine such Acadians as shall be “most obnoxious and dangerous to
his Majesty’s Government;” and if found guilty of treasonable
correspondence with the enemy, to dispose of them and their estates in 181
such manner as his Majesty shall order, at the same time promising
indemnity to the rest for past offences, upon their taking or renewing
the oath of allegiance.[209]
To this it does not appear that Newcastle made any answer except to
direct Shirley, eight or nine months later, to tell the Acadians that,
so long as they were peaceable subjects, they should be protected in
property and religion.[210] Thus left to struggle unaided with a most
difficult problem, entirely outside of his functions as governor of
Massachusetts, Shirley did what he could. The most pressing danger, as
he thought, rose from the presence of Ramesay and his Canadians at
Chignecto; for that officer spared no pains to induce the Acadians to
join him in another attempt against Annapolis, telling them that if
they did not drive out the English, the English would drive them out.
He was now at Mines, trying to raise the inhabitants in arms for
France. Shirley thought it necessary to counteract him, and force him
and his Canadians back to the isthmus whence they had come; but as the
ministry would give no soldiers, he was compelled to draw them from
New England. The defence of Acadia was the business of the home 182
government, and not of the colonies; but as they were deeply
interested in the preservation of the endangered province,
Massachusetts gave five hundred men in response to Shirley’s call, and
Rhode Island and New Hampshire added, between them, as many more. Less
than half of these levies reached Acadia. It was the stormy season.
The Rhode Island vessels were wrecked near Martha’s Vineyard. A New
Hampshire transport sloop was intercepted by a French armed vessel,
and ran back to Portsmouth. Four hundred and seventy men from
Massachusetts, under Colonel Arthur Noble, were all who reached
Annapolis, whence they sailed for Mines, accompanied by a few soldiers
of the garrison. Storms, drifting ice, and the furious tides of the
Bay of Fundy made their progress so difficult and uncertain that Noble
resolved to finish the journey by land; and on the fourth of December
he disembarked near the place now called French Cross, at the foot of
the North Mountain,--a lofty barrier of rock and forest extending
along the southern shore of the Bay of Fundy. Without a path and
without guides, the party climbed the snow-encumbered heights and
toiled towards their destination, each man carrying provisions for
fourteen days in his haversack. After sleeping eight nights without
shelter among the snowdrifts, they reached the Acadian village of
Grand Pré, the chief settlement of the district of Mines. Ramesay and
his Canadians were gone. On learning the approach of an English force, 183
he had tried to persuade the Acadians that they were to be driven from
their homes, and that their only hope was in joining with him to meet
force by force; but they trusted Shirley’s recent assurance of
protection, and replied that they would not break their oath of
fidelity to King George. On this, Ramesay retreated to his old station
at Chignecto, and Noble and his men occupied Grand Pré without
opposition.
The village consisted of small, low wooden houses, scattered at
intervals for the distance of a mile and a half, and therefore ill
fitted for defence. The English had the frame of a blockhouse, or, as
some say, of two blockhouses, ready to be set up on their arrival; but
as the ground was hard frozen, it was difficult to make a foundation,
and the frames were therefore stored in outbuildings of the village,
with the intention of raising them in the spring. The vessels which
had brought them; together with stores, ammunition, five small cannon,
and a good supply of snow-shoes, had just arrived at the
landing-place,--and here, with incredible fatuity, were allowed to
remain, with most of their indispensable contents still on board. The
men, meanwhile, were quartered in the Acadian houses.
Noble’s position was critical, but he was assured that he could not be
reached from Chignecto in such a bitter season; and this he was too
ready to believe, though he himself had just made a march, which, if
not so long, was quite as arduous. Yet he did not neglect every 184
precaution, but kept out scouting-parties to range the surrounding
country, while the rest of his men took their ease in the Acadian
houses, living on the provisions of the villagers, for which payment
was afterwards made. Some of the inhabitants, who had openly favored
Ramesay and his followers, fled to the woods, in fear of the
consequences; but the greater part remained quietly in the village.
At the head of the Bay of Fundy its waters form a fork, consisting of
Chignecto Bay on the one hand, and Mines Basin on the other. At the
head of Chignecto Bay was the Acadian settlement of Chignecto, or
Beaubassin, in the houses of which Ramesay had quartered his
Canadians. Here the neck of the Acadian peninsula is at its narrowest,
the distance across to Baye Verte, where Ramesay had built a fort,
being little more than twelve miles. Thus he controlled the
isthmus,--from which, however, Noble hoped to dislodge him in the
spring.
In the afternoon of the eighth of January an Acadian who had been sent
to Mines by the missionary Germain, came to Beaubassin with the news
that two hundred and twenty English were at Grand Pré, and that more
were expected.[211] Ramesay instantly formed a plan of extraordinary
hardihood, and resolved, by a rapid march and a night attack, to
surprise the new-comers. His party was greatly reduced by disease, and 185
to recruit it he wrote to La Corne, Récollet missionary at Miramichi,
to join him with his Indians; writing at the same time to Maillard,
former colleague of Le Loutre at the mission of Shubenacadie, and to
Girard, priest of Cobequid, to muster Indians, collect provisions, and
gather information concerning the English. Meanwhile his Canadians
busied themselves with making snow-shoes and dog-sledges for the
march.
Ramesay could not command the expedition in person, as an accident to
one of his knees had disabled him from marching. This was less to be
regretted, in view of the quality of his officers, for he had with him
the flower of the warlike Canadian _noblesse_,--Coulon de Villiers,
who, seven years later, defeated Washington at Fort Necessity;
Beaujeu, the future hero of the Monongahela, in appearance a carpet
knight, in reality a bold and determined warrior; the Chevalier de la
Corne, a model of bodily and mental hardihood; Saint-Pierre,
Lanaudière, Saint-Ours, Desligneris, Courtemanche, Repentigny,
Boishébert, Gaspé, Colombière, Marin, Lusignan,--all adepts in the
warfare of surprise and sudden onslaught in which the Canadians
excelled.
Coulon de Villiers commanded in Ramesay’s place; and on the
twenty-first of January he and the other officers led their men across
the isthmus from Beaubassin to Baye Verte, where they all encamped in
the woods, and where they were joined by a party of Indians and some
Acadians from Beaubassin and Isle St. Jean.[212] Provisions, 186
ammunition, and other requisites were distributed, and at noon of the
twenty-third they broke up their camp, marched three leagues, and
bivouacked towards evening. On the next morning they marched again at
daybreak. There was sharp cold, with a storm of snow,--not the large,
moist, lazy flakes that fall peacefully and harmlessly, but those
small crystalline particles that drive spitefully before the wind, and
prick the cheek like needles. It was the kind of snow-storm called in
Canada _la poudrerie_. They had hoped to make a long day’s march;
but feet and faces were freezing, and they were forced to stop, at
noon, under such shelter as the thick woods of pine, spruce, and fir
could supply. In the morning they marched again, following the border
of the sea, their dog-teams dragging provisions and baggage over the
broken ice of creeks and inlets, which they sometimes avoided by
hewing paths through the forest. After a day of extreme fatigue they
stopped at the small bay where the town of Wallace now stands. Beaujeu
says: “While we were digging out the snow to make our huts, there came
two Acadians with letters from MM. Maillard and Girard.” The two
priests sent a mixture of good and evil news. On one hand the English
were more numerous than had been reported; on the other, they had not
set up the blockhouses they had brought with them. Some Acadians of
the neighboring settlement joined the party at this camp, as also did
a few Indians.
On the next morning, January 27, the adventurers stopped at the 187
village of Tatmagouche, where they were again joined by a number of
Acadians. After mending their broken sledges they resumed their march,
and at five in the afternoon reached a place called Bacouel, at the
beginning of the portage that led some twenty-five miles across the
country to Cobequid, now Truro, at the head of Mines Basin. Here they
were met by Girard, priest of Cobequid, from whom Coulon exacted a
promise to meet him again at that village in two days. Girard gave the
promise unwillingly, fearing, says Beaujeu, to embroil himself with
the English authorities. He reported that the force at Grand Pré
counted at least four hundred and fifty, or, as some said, more than
five hundred. This startling news ran through the camp; but the men
were not daunted. “The more there are,” they said, “the more we shall
kill.”
The party spent the twenty-eighth in mending their damaged sledges,
and in the afternoon they were joined by more Acadians and Indians.
Thus reinforced, they marched again, and towards evening reached a
village on the outskirts of Cobequid. Here the missionary Maillard
joined them,--to the great satisfaction of Coulon, who relied on him
and his brother priest Girard to procure supplies of provisions.
Maillard promised to go himself to Grand Pré with the Indians of his
mission.
The party rested for a day, and set out again on the first of
February, stopped at Maillard’s house in Cobequid for the provisions 188
he had collected for them, and then pushed on towards the river
Shubenacadie, which runs from the south into Cobequid Bay, the head of
Mines Basin. When they reached the river they found it impassable from
floating ice, which forced them to seek a passage at some distance
above. Coulon was resolved, however, that at any risk a detachment
should cross at once, to stop the roads to Grand Pré, and prevent the
English from being warned of his approach; for though the Acadians
inclined to the French, and were eager to serve them when the risk was
not too great, there were some of them who, from interest or fear,
were ready to make favor with the English by carrying them
intelligence. Boishébert, with ten Canadians, put out from shore in a
canoe, and were near perishing among the drifting ice; but they gained
the farther shore at last, and guarded every path to Grand Pré. The
main body filed on snow-shoes up the east bank of the Shubenacadie,
where the forests were choked with snow and encumbered with fallen
trees, over which the sledges were to be dragged, to their great
detriment. On this day, the third, they made five leagues; on the next
only two, which brought them within half a league of Le Loutre’s
Micmac mission. Not far from this place the river was easily passable
on the ice, and they continued their march westward across the country
to the river Kennetcook by ways so difficult that their Indian guide
lost the path, and for a time led them astray. On the seventh,
Boishébert and his party rejoined them, and brought a reinforcement of 189
sixteen Indians, whom the Acadians had furnished with arms. Provisions
were failing, till on the eighth, as they approached the village of
Pisiquid, now Windsor, the Acadians, with great zeal, brought them a
supply. They told them, too, that the English at Grand Pré were
perfectly secure, suspecting no danger.
On the ninth, in spite of a cold, dry storm of snow, they reached the
west branch of the river Avon. It was but seven French leagues to
Grand Pré, which they hoped to reach before night; but fatigue
compelled them to rest till the tenth. At noon of that day, the storm
still continuing, they marched again, though they could hardly see
their way for the driving snow. They soon came to a small stream,
along the frozen surface of which they drew up in order, and, by
command of Coulon, Beaujeu divided them all into ten parties, for
simultaneous attacks on as many houses occupied by the English. Then,
marching slowly, lest they should arrive too soon, they reached the
river Gaspereau, which enters Mines Basin at Grand Pré. They were now
but half a league from their destination. Here they stopped an hour in
the storm, shivering and half frozen, waiting for nightfall. When it
grew dark they moved again, and soon came to a number of houses on the
river-bank. Each of the ten parties took possession of one of these,
making great fires to warm themselves and dry their guns.
It chanced that in the house where Coulon and his band sought shelter, 190
a wedding-feast was going on. The guests were much startled at this
sudden irruption of armed men; but to the Canadians and their chief
the festival was a stroke of amazing good luck, for most of the guests
were inhabitants of Grand Pré, who knew perfectly the houses occupied
by the English, and could tell with precision where the officers were
quartered. This was a point of extreme importance. The English were
distributed among twenty-four houses, scattered, as before mentioned,
for the distance of a mile and a half.[213] The assailants were too
few to attack all these houses at once; but if those where the chief
officers lodged could be surprised and captured with their inmates,
the rest could make little resistance. Hence it was that Coulon had
divided his followers into ten parties, each with one or more chosen
officers; these officers were now called together at the house of the
interrupted festivity, and the late guests having given full
information as to the position of the English quarters and the
military quality of their inmates, a special object of attack was
assigned to the officer of each party, with Acadian guides to conduct
him to it. The principal party, consisting of fifty, or, as another
account says, of seventy-five men, was led by Coulon himself, with
Beaujeu, Desligneris, Mercier, Léry, and Lusignan as his officers. This
party was to attack a stone house near the middle of the village, 191
where the main guard was stationed,--a building somewhat larger than
the rest, and the only one at all suited for defence. The second
party, of forty men, commanded by La Corne, with Rigauville, Lagny,
and Villemont, was to attack a neighboring house, the quarters of
Colonel Noble, his brother, Ensign Noble, and several other officers.
The remaining parties, of twenty-five men each according to Beaujeu,
or twenty-eight according to La Corne, were to make a dash, as nearly
as possible at the same time, at other houses which it was thought
most important to secure. All had Acadian guides, whose services in
that capacity were invaluable; though Beaujeu complains that they were
of no use in the attack. He says that the united force was about three
hundred men, while the English Captain Goldthwait puts it, including
Acadians and Indians, at from five to six hundred. That of the English
was a little above five hundred in all. Every arrangement being made,
and his part assigned to each officer, the whole body was drawn up in
the storm, and the chaplain pronounced a general absolution. Then each
of the ten parties, guided by one or more Acadians, took the path for
its destination, every man on snow-shoes, with the lock of his gun
well sheltered under his capote.
The largest party, under Coulon, was, as we have seen, to attack the
stone house in the middle of the village; but their guide went astray,
and about three in the morning they approached a small wooden house 192
not far from their true object. A guard was posted here, as at all the
English quarters. The night was dark and the snow was still falling,
as it had done without ceasing for the past thirty hours. The English
sentinel descried through the darkness and the storm what seemed the
shadows of an advancing crowd of men. He cried, “Who goes there?” and
then shouted, “To arms!” A door was flung open, and the guard appeared
in the entrance. But at that moment the moving shadows vanished from
before the eyes of the sentinel. The French, one and all, had thrown
themselves flat in the soft, light snow, and nothing was to be seen or
heard. The English thought it a false alarm, and the house was quiet
again. Then Coulon and his men rose and dashed forward. Again, in a
loud and startled voice, the sentinel shouted, “To arms!” A great
light, as of a blazing fire, shone through the open doorway, and men
were seen within in hurried movement. Coulon, who was in the front,
said to Beaujeu, who was close at his side, that the house was not the
one they were to attack. Beaujeu replied that it was no time to
change, and Coulon dashed forward again. Beaujeu aimed at the sentinel
and shot him dead. There was the flash and report of muskets from the
house, and Coulon dropped in the snow, severely wounded. The young
cadet, Lusignan, was hit in the shoulder; but he still pushed on, when
a second shot shattered his thigh. “Friends,” cried the gallant youth, 193
as he fell by the side of his commander, “don’t let two dead men
discourage you.” The Canadians, powdered from head to foot with snow,
burst into the house. Within ten minutes, all resistance was
overpowered. Of twenty-four Englishmen, twenty-one were killed, and
three made prisoners.[214]
Meanwhile, La Corne, with his party of forty men, had attacked the
house where were quartered Colonel Noble and his brother, with Captain
Howe and several other officers. Noble had lately transferred the main
guard to the stone house, but had not yet removed thither himself, and
the guard in the house which he occupied was small. The French burst
the door with axes, and rushed in. Colonel Noble, startled from sleep,
sprang from his bed, receiving two musket-balls in the body as he did
so. He seems to have had pistols, for he returned the fire several
times. His servant, who was in the house, testified that the French
called to the colonel through a window and promised him quarter if he
would surrender; but that he refused, on which they fired again, and a
bullet, striking his forehead, killed him instantly. His brother,
Ensign Noble, was also shot down, fighting in his shirt. Lieutenants
Pickering and Lechmere lay in bed dangerously ill, and were killed
there. Lieutenant Jones, after, as the narrator says, “ridding himself
of some of the enemy,” tried to break through the rest and escape, but
was run through the heart with a bayonet. Captain Howe was 194
severely wounded and made prisoner.
Coulon and Lusignan, disabled by their wounds, were carried back to
the houses on the Gaspereau, where the French surgeon had remained.
Coulon’s party, now commanded by Beaujeu, having met and joined the
smaller party under Lotbinière, proceeded to the aid of others who
might need their help; for while they heard a great noise of musketry
from far and near, and could discern bodies of men in motion here and
there, they could not see whether these were friends or foes, or
discern which side fortune favored. They presently met the party of
Marin, composed of twenty-five Indians, who had just been repulsed
with loss from the house which they had attacked. By this time there
was a gleam of daylight, and as they plodded wearily over the
snowdrifts, they no longer groped in darkness. The two parties of
Colombière and Boishébert soon joined them, with the agreeable news
that each had captured a house; and the united force now proceeded to
make a successful attack on two buildings where the English had stored
the frames of their blockhouses. Here the assailants captured ten
prisoners. It was now broad day, but they could not see through the
falling snow whether the enterprise, as a whole, had prospered or
failed. Therefore Beaujeu sent Marin to find La Corne, who, in the
absence of Coulon, held the chief command. Marin was gone two hours.
At length he returned, and reported that the English in the houses
which had not been attacked, together with such others as had not been 195
killed or captured, had drawn together at the stone house in the
middle of the village, that La Corne was blockading them there, and
that he ordered Beaujeu and his party to join him at once. When
Beaujeu reached the place he found La Corne posted at the house where
Noble had been killed, and which was within easy musket-shot of the
stone house occupied by the English, against whom a spattering fire
was kept up by the French from the cover of neighboring buildings.
Those in the stone house returned the fire; but no great harm was done
on either side, till the English, now commanded by Captain Goldthwait,
attempted to recapture the house where La Corne and his party were
posted. Two companies made a sally; but they had among them only
eighteen pairs of snow-shoes, the rest having been left on board the
two vessels which had brought the stores of the detachment from
Annapolis, and which now lay moored hard by, in the power of the
enemy, at or near the mouth of the Gaspereau. Hence the sallying party
floundered helpless among the drifts, plunging so deep in the dry snow
that they could not use their guns and could scarcely move, while
bullets showered upon them from La Corne’s men in the house, and
others hovering about them on snow-shoes. The attempt was hopeless,
and after some loss the two companies fell back. The firing continued,
as before, till noon, or, according to Beaujeu, till three in the
afternoon, when a French officer, carrying a flag of truce, came out 196
of La Corne’s house. The occasion of the overture was this.
Captain Howe, who, as before mentioned, had been badly wounded at the
capture of this house, was still there, a prisoner, without surgical
aid, the French surgeon being at the houses on the Gaspereau, in
charge of Coulon and other wounded men. “Though,” says Beaujeu, “M.
Howe was a firm man, he begged the Chevalier La Corne not to let him
bleed to death for want of aid, but permit him to send for an English
surgeon.” To this La Corne, after consulting with his officers,
consented, and Marin went to the English with a white flag and a note
from Howe explaining the situation. The surgeon was sent, and Howe’s
wound was dressed, Marin remaining as a hostage. A suspension of arms
took place till the surgeon’s return; after which it was prolonged
till nine o’clock of the next morning, at the instance, according to
French accounts, of the English, and, according to English accounts,
of the French. In either case, the truce was welcome to both sides.
The English, who were in the stone house to the number of nearly three
hundred and fifty, crowded to suffocation, had five small cannon, two
of which were four-pounders, and three were swivels; but these were
probably not in position, as it does not appear that any use was made
of them. There was no ammunition except what the men had in their
powder-horns and bullet-pouches, the main stock having been left, 197
with other necessaries, on board the schooner and sloop now in the
hands of the French. It was found, on examination, that they had
ammunition for eight shots each, and provisions for one day. Water was
only to be had by bringing it from a neighboring brook. As there were
snow-shoes for only about one man in twenty, sorties were out of the
question; and the house was commanded by high ground on three sides.
Though their number was still considerable, their position was growing
desperate. Thus it happened that when the truce expired, Goldthwait,
the English commander, with another officer, who seems to have been
Captain Preble, came with a white flag to the house where La Corne was
posted, and proposed terms of capitulation, Howe, who spoke French,
acting as interpreter. La Corne made proposals on his side, and as
neither party was anxious to continue the fray, they soon came to an
understanding.
It was agreed that within forty-eight hours the English should march
for Annapolis with the honors of war; that the prisoners taken by the
French should remain in their hands; that the Indians, who had been
the only plunderers, should keep the plunder they had taken; that the
English sick and wounded should be left, till their recovery, at the
neighboring settlement of Rivière-aux-Canards, protected by a French
guard, and that the English engaged in the affair at Grand Pré should
not bear arms during the next six months within the district about the 198
head of the Bay of Fundy, including Chignecto, Grand Pré, and the
neighboring settlements.
Captain Howe was released on parole, with the condition that he should
send back in exchange one Lacroix, a French prisoner at
Boston,--“which,” says La Corne, “he faithfully did.”
Thus ended one of the most gallant exploits in French-Canadian annals.
As respects the losses on each side, the French and English accounts
are irreconcilable; nor are the statements of either party consistent
with themselves. Mascarene reports to Shirley that seventy English
were killed, and above sixty captured; though he afterwards reduces
these numbers, having, as he says, received farther information. On
the French side he says that four officers and about forty men were
killed, and that many wounded were carried off in carts during the
fight. Beaujeu, on the other hand, sets the English loss at one
hundred and thirty killed, fifteen wounded, and fifty captured; and
the French loss at seven killed and fifteen wounded. As for the
numbers engaged, the statements are scarcely less divergent. It seems
clear, however, that when Coulon began his march from Baye Verte, his
party consisted of about three hundred Canadians and Indians, without
reckoning some Acadians who had joined him from Beaubassin and Isle
St. Jean. Others joined him on the way to Grand Pré, counting a
hundred and fifty according to Shirley,--which appears to be much too
large an estimate. The English, by their own showing, numbered five 199
hundred, or five hundred and twenty-five. Of eleven houses attacked,
ten were surprised and carried, with the help of the darkness and
storm and the skilful management of the assailants.
“No sooner was the capitulation signed,” says Beaujeu, “than we became
in appearance the best of friends.” La Corne directed military honors
to be rendered to the remains of the brothers Noble; and in all points
the Canadians, both officers and men, treated the English with
kindness and courtesy. “The English commandant,” again says Beaujeu,
“invited us all to dine with him and his officers, so that we might
have the pleasure of making acquaintance over a bowl of punch.” The
repast being served after such a fashion as circumstances permitted,
victors and vanquished sat down together; when, says Beaujeu, “we
received on the part of our hosts many compliments on our polite
manners and our skill in making war.” And the compliments were well
deserved.
At eight o’clock on the morning of the fourteenth of February the
English filed out of the stone house, and with arms shouldered, drums
beating, and colors flying, marched between two ranks of the French,
and took the road for Annapolis. The English sick and wounded were
sent to the settlement of Rivière-aux-Canards, where, protected by a
French guard and attended by an English surgeon, they were to remain
till able to reach the British fort.
La Corne called a council of war, and in view of the scarcity of food 200
and other reasons it was resolved to return to Beaubassin. Many of the
French had fallen ill. Some of the sick and wounded were left at Grand
Pré, others at Cobequid, and the Acadians were required to supply
means of carrying the rest. Coulon’s party left Grand Pré on the
twenty-third of February, and on the eighth of March reached
Beaubassin.[215]
Ramesay did not fail to use the success at Grand Pré to influence the
minds of the Acadians. He sent a circular letter to the inhabitants of
the various districts, and especially to those of Mines, in which he 201
told them that their country had been reconquered by the arms of the
King of France, to whom he commanded them to be faithful subjects,
holding no intercourse with the English under any pretence whatever,
on pain of the severest punishment. “If,” he concludes, “we have
withdrawn our soldiers from among you, it is for reasons known to us
alone, and with a view to your advantage.”[216]
Unfortunately for the effect of this message, Shirley had no sooner
heard of the disaster at Grand Pré than he sent a body of
Massachusetts soldiers to reoccupy the place.[217] This they did in
April. The Acadians thus found themselves, as usual, between two
dangers; and unable to see which horn of the dilemma was the worse,
they tried to avoid both by conciliating French and English alike, and
assuring each of their devoted attachment. They sent a pathetic letter
to Ramesay, telling him that their hearts were always French, and
begging him at the same time to remember that they were a poor,
helpless people, burdened with large families, and in danger of
expulsion and ruin if they offended their masters, the English.[218]
They wrote at the same time to Mascarene at Annapolis, sending him, to 202
explain the situation, a copy of Ramesay’s threatening letter to
them;[219] begging him to consider that they could not without danger
dispense with answering it; at the same time they protested their
entire fidelity to King George.[220]
Ramesay, not satisfied with the results of his first letter, wrote
again to the Acadians, ordering them, in the name of the
governor-general of New France, to take up arms against the English,
and enclosing for their instruction an extract from a letter of the
French governor. “These,” says Ramesay, “are his words: ‘We consider
ourself as master of Beaubassin and Mines, since we have driven off
the English. Therefore there is no difficulty in forcing the Acadians
to take arms for us; to which end we declare to them that they are
discharged from the oath that they formerly took to the English, by
which they are bound no longer, as has been decided by the authorities
of Canada and Monseigneur our Bishop.’”[221]
“In view of the above,” continues Ramesay, “we order all the 203
inhabitants of Memeramcook to come to this place [Beaubassin] as soon
as they see the signal-fires lighted, or discover the approach of the
enemy; and this on pain of death, confiscation of all their goods,
burning of their houses, and the punishment due to rebels against the
King.”[222]
The position of the Acadians was deplorable. By the Treaty of Utrecht,
France had transferred them to the British Crown; yet French officers
denounced them as rebels and threatened them with death if they did
not fight at their bidding against England; and English officers
threatened them with expulsion from the country if they broke their
oath of allegiance to King George. It was the duty of the British
ministry to occupy the province with a force sufficient to protect the
inhabitants against French terrorism, and leave no doubt that the King
of England was master of Acadia in fact as well as in name. This alone
could have averted the danger of Acadian revolt, and the harsh
measures to which it afterwards gave rise. The ministry sent no aid, 204
but left to Shirley and Massachusetts the task of keeping the province
for King George. Shirley and Massachusetts did what they could; but
they could not do all that the emergency demanded.
Shirley courageously spoke his mind to the ministry, on whose favor he
was dependent. “The fluctuating state of the inhabitants of Acadia,”
he wrote to Newcastle, “seems, my lord, naturally to arise from their
finding a want of due protection from his Majesty’s Government.”[223]
[191] _Journal de Beaujeu_, in _Le Canada Français,
Documents_, 53
[192] _Shirley to Newcastle, 29 October, 1745._
[193] _Beauharnois et Hocquart au Ministre, 12 Septembre, 1745._
[194] _Beauharnois et Hocquart au Ministre, 12 Septembre, 1745._
[195] _Ibid._
[196] _Admiral Knowles à----1746._ Mascarene in _Le Canada
Français, Documents_, 82.
[197] Mascarene, in _Le Canada Français, Documents, 81_.
[198] Moïse des Derniers, in _Le Canada Français_, i. 118.
[199] _Journal de Franquet_, Part II.
[200] _Description de l’Acadie, avec le Nom des Paroisses
et le Nombre des Habitants, 1748._
[201] _Shirreff to K. Gould, agent of Philips’s Regiment, March,
1745._
[202] _Shirley to Newcastle, 14 December, 1745._
[203] _Ibid., 10 May, 1746._
[204] _Ibid., 8 July, 1747._
[205] _Bedford to Newcastle, 11 September, 1747._
[206] _Knowles to Newcastle, 8 November, 1746._
[207] Shirley says that the indiscriminate removal of the
Acadians would be “unjust” and “too rigorous.” Knowles had
proposed to put Catholic Jacobites from the Scotch Highlands
into their place. Shirley thinks this inexpedient, but
believes that Protestants from Germany and Ulster might
safely be trusted. The best plan of all, in his opinion, is
that of “treating the Acadians as subjects, confining their
punishment to the most guilty and dangerous among ’em, and
keeping the rest in the country and endeavoring to make them
useful members of society under his Majesty’s Government.”
_Shirley to Newcastle, 21 November, 1746._ If the Newcastle
Government had vigorously carried his recommendations into
effect, the removal of the Acadians in 1755 would not have
taken place.
[208] There was afterwards sharp correspondence between Shirley
and the governor of Canada touching the Acadian priests.
Thus, Shirley writes: “I can’t avoid now, Sir, expressing
great surprise at the other parts of your letter, whereby
you take upon you to call Mr. Mascarene to account for
expelling the missionary from Minas for being guilty of such
treasonable practices within His Majesty’s government as
merited a much severer Punishment.” _Shirley à Galissonière,
9 Mai, 1749._
Shirley writes to Newcastle that the Acadians “are greatly
under the influence of their priests, who continually
receive their directions from the Bishop of Quebec, and are
the instruments by which the governor of Canada makes all
his attempts for the reduction of the province to the French
Crown.” _Shirley to Newcastle, 20 October, 1747._ He
proceeds to give facts in proof of his assertion. Compare
“Montcalm and Wolfe,” i. 110, 111, 275, _note_.
[209] _Shirley to Newcastle, 15 August, 1746._
[210] _Newcastle to Shirley, 30 May, 1747._ Shirley had some
time before directed Mascarene to tell the Acadians that
while they behave peaceably and do not correspond with the
enemy, their property will be safe, but that such as turn
traitors will be treated accordingly. _Shirley to Mascarene,
16 September, 1746._
[211] Beaujeu, _Journal de la Campagne du Détachement de Canada
à l’Acadie_, in _Le Canada Français_, ii. _Documents_, 16.
[212] _Mascarene to Shirley, 8 February, 1746_ (1747, new
style).
[213] _Goldthwait to Shirley, 2 March, 1746 (1747_). Captain
Benjamin Goldthwait was second in command of the English
detachment.
[214] Beaujeu, _Journal_.
[215] The dates are of the new style, which the French had
adopted, while the English still clung to the old style.
By far the best account of this French victory at Mines is
that of Beaujeu, in his _Journal de la Campagne du
Détachement de Canada à l’Acadie et aux Mines en 1746-47_.
It is preserved in the Archives de la Marine et des
Colonies, and is printed in the documentary supplement of
_Le Canada Français_, Vol. II. It supplies the means of
correcting many errors and much confusion in some recent
accounts of the affair. The report of Chevalier de la Corne,
also printed in _Le Canada Français_, though much shorter,
is necessary to a clear understanding of the matter. Letters
of Lusignan fils to the minister Maurepas, 10 October, 1747,
of Bishop Pontbriand (to Maurepas?), 10 July, 1747, and of
Lusignan père to Maurepas, 10 October, 1747, give some
additional incidents. The principal document on the English
side is the report of Captain Benjamin Goldthwait, who
succeeded Noble in command. A copy of the original, in the
Public Record Office, is before me. The substance of it is
correctly given in _The Boston Post Boy_ of 2 March, 1747,
and in _N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg._ x. 108. Various letters from
Mascarene and Shirley (Public Record Office) contain
accounts derived from returned officers and soldiers. The
_Notice of Colonel Arthur Noble_, by William Goold
(_Collections Maine Historical Soc._, 1881), may also be
consulted.
[216] _Ramesay aux Députés et Habitants des Mines, 31 Mars,
1747._ At the end is written “A true copy, with the
misspellings: signed W. Shirley.”
[217] _Shirley to Newcastle, 24 August, 1747._
[218] “Ainsis Monsieur nous vous prions de regarder notre
bon Cœur et en même Temps notre Impuissance pauvre Peuple
chargez la plus part de familles nombreuse point de Recours
sil falois evacuer a quoy nous sommes menacez tous les jours
qui nous tien dans une Crainte perpetuelle en nous voyant a
la proximitet de nos maitre depuis un sy grand nombre
dannes” (printed _literatim_).--_Deputés des Mines à
Ramesay, 24 Mai, 1747._
[219] This probably explains the bad spelling of the letter,
the copy before me having been made from the Acadian
transcript sent to Mascarene, and now in the Public Record
Office.
[220] _Les Habitants à l’honorable gouverneur au for
d’anapolisse royal_ [sic], _Mai (?), 1747_.
On the 27th of June the inhabitants of Cobequid wrote again
to Mascarene: “Monsieur nous prenons la Liberte de vous
recrire celle icy pour vous assurer de nos tres humble
Respect et d’un entiere Sou-mission a vos Ordres”
(_literatim_).
[221] “Nous nous regardons aujourdhuy Maistre de Beaubassin
et des Mines puisque nous en avons Chassé les Anglois; ainsi
il ny a aucune difficulté de forcer les Accadiens à prendre
les armes pour nous, et de les y Contraindre; leur declarons
à cet effêt qu’ils sont dechargé [_sic_] du Serment preté,
cy devant, à l’Anglois, auquel ils ne sont plus obligé
[_sic_] comme il y a été decidé par nos puissances
de Canada et de Monseigneur notre Evesque” (_literatim_).
[222] _Ramesay aux Habitants de Chignecto, etc., 25 Mai, 1747._
A few months later, the deputies of Rivière-aux-Canards
wrote to Shirley, thanking him for kindness which they said
was undeserved, promising to do their duty thenceforth, but
begging him to excuse them from giving up persons who had
acted “contraire aux Interests de leur devoire,” representing
the difficulty of their position, and protesting “une
Soumission parfaite et en touts Respects.” The letter is
signed by four deputies, of whom one writes his name, and
three sign with crosses.
[223] _Shirley to Newcastle, 29 April, 1747._ On Shirley’s
relations with the Acadians, _see_ Appendix C.
CHAPTER XXIII. 205
1740-1747.
WAR AND POLITICS.
GOVERNOR AND ASSEMBLY.--SARATOGA DESTROYED.--WILLIAM
JOHNSON.--BORDER RAVAGES.--UPPER ASHUELOT.--FRENCH “MILITARY
MOVEMENTS.”--NUMBER FOUR.--NIVERVILLE’S ATTACK.--PHINEAS
STEVENS.--THE FRENCH REPULSED.
From the East we turn to the West, for the province of New York passed
for the West at that day. Here a vital question was what would be the
attitude of the Five Nations of the Iroquois towards the rival
European colonies, their neighbors. The Treaty of Utrecht called them
British subjects. What the word “subjects” meant, they themselves
hardly knew. The English told them that it meant children; the French
that it meant dogs and slaves. Events had tamed the fierce
confederates; and now, though, like all savages, unstable as children,
they leaned in their soberer moments to a position of neutrality
between their European neighbors, watching with jealous eyes against
the encroachments of both. The French would gladly have enlisted them
and their tomahawks in the war; but seeing little hope of this, were
generally content if they could prevent them from siding with the 206
English, who on their part regarded them as their Indians, and were
satisfied with nothing less than active alliance.
When Shirley’s plan for the invasion of Canada was afoot, Clinton,
governor of New York, with much ado succeeded in convening the
deputies of the confederacy at Albany, and by dint of speeches and
presents induced them to sing the war-song and take up the hatchet for
England. The Iroquois were disgusted when the scheme came to nought,
their warlike ardor cooled, and they conceived a low opinion of
English prowess.
The condition of New York as respects military efficiency was
deplorable. She was divided against herself, and, as usual in such
cases, party passion was stronger than the demands of war. The
province was in the midst of one of those disputes with the
representative of the Crown, which, in one degree or another, crippled
or paralyzed the military activity of nearly all the British colonies.
Twenty years or more earlier, when Massachusetts was at blows with the
Indians on her borders, she suffered from the same disorders; but her
governor and Assembly were of one mind as to urging on the war, and
quarrelled only on the questions in what way and under what command it
should be waged. But in New York there was a strong party that opposed
the war, being interested in the contraband trade long carried on with
Canada. Clinton, the governor, had, too, an enemy in the person of the
chief justice, James de Lancey, with whom he had had an after-dinner 207
dispute, ending in a threat on the part of De Lancey that he would
make the governor’s seat uncomfortable. To marked abilities, better
education, and more knowledge of the world than was often found in the
provinces, ready wit, and conspicuous social position, the chief
justice joined a restless ambition and the arts of a demagogue.
He made good his threat, headed the opposition to the governor, and
proved his most formidable antagonist. If either Clinton or Shirley
had had the independent authority of a Canadian governor, the conduct
of the war would have been widely different. Clinton was hampered at
every turn. The Assembly held him at advantage; for it was they, and
not the King, who paid his salary, and they could withhold or retrench
it when he displeased them. The people sympathized with their
representatives and backed them in opposition,--at least, when not
under the stress of imminent danger.
A body of provincials, in the pay of the King, had been mustered at
Albany for the proposed Canada expedition; and after that plan was
abandoned, Clinton wished to use them for protecting the northern
frontier and capturing that standing menace to the province, Crown
Point. The Assembly, bent on crossing him at any price, refused to
provide for transporting supplies farther than Albany. As the
furnishing of provisions and transportation depended on that body,
they could stop the movement of troops and defeat the governor’s 208
military plans at their pleasure. In vain he told them, “If you deny
me the necessary supplies, all my endeavors must become fruitless; I
must wash my own hands, and leave at your doors the blood of the
innocent people.”[224]
He urged upon them the necessity of building forts on the two
carrying-places between the Hudson and Lakes George and Champlain,
thus blocking the path of war-parties from Canada. They would do
nothing, insisting that the neighboring colonies, to whom the forts
would also be useful, ought to help in building them; and when it was
found that these colonies were ready to do their part, the Assembly
still refused. Passionate opposition to the royal governor seemed to
blind them to the interests of the province. Nor was the fault all on
their side; for the governor, though he generally showed more
self-control and moderation than could have been expected, sometimes
lost temper and betrayed scorn for his opponents, many of whom were
but the instruments of leaders urged by personal animosities and small
but intense ambitions. They accused him of treating them with
contempt, and of embezzling public money; while he retorted by
charging them with encroaching on the royal prerogative and treating
the representative of the King with indecency. Under such conditions
an efficient conduct of the war was out of the question.
Once, when the frontier was seriously threatened, Clinton, as 209
commander-in-chief, called out the militia to defend it; but they
refused to obey, on the ground that no Act of the Assembly required
them to do so.[225]
Clinton sent home bitter complaints to Newcastle and the Lords of
Trade. “They [the Assembly] are selfish, jealous of the power of the
Crown, and of such levelling principles that they are constantly
attacking its prerogative.... I find that neither dissolutions nor
fair means can produce from them such Effects as will tend to a
publick good or their own preservation. They will neither act for
themselves nor assist their neighbors.... Few but hirelings have a
seat in the Assembly, who protract time for the sake of their wages,
at a great expence to the Province, without contributing anything
material for its welfare, credit, or safety.” And he declares that
unless Parliament takes them in hand he can do nothing for the service
of the King or the good of the province,[226] for they want to usurp
the whole administration, both civil and military.[227]
At Saratoga there was a small settlement of Dutch farmers, with a
stockade fort for their protection. This was the farthest outpost of 210
the colony, and the only defence of Albany in the direction of Canada.
It was occupied by a sergeant, a corporal, and ten soldiers, who
testified before a court of inquiry that it was in such condition that
in rainy weather neither they nor their ammunition could be kept dry.
As neither the Assembly nor the merchants of Albany would make it
tenable, the garrison was withdrawn before winter by order of the
governor.[228]
Scarcely was this done when five hundred French and Indians, under the
partisan Marin, surprised the settlement in the night of the
twenty-eighth of November, burned fort, houses, mills, and stables,
killed thirty persons, and carried off about a hundred prisoners.[229]
Albany was left uncovered, and the Assembly voted £150 in provincial
currency to rebuild the ruined fort. A feeble palisade work was
accordingly set up, but it was neglected like its predecessor. Colonel
Peter Schuyler was stationed there with his regiment in 1747, but was
forced to abandon his post for want of supplies. Clinton then directed
Colonel Roberts, commanding at Albany, to examine the fort, and if he 211
found it indefensible, to burn it,--which he did, much to the
astonishment of a French war-party, who visited the place soon after,
and found nothing but ashes.[230]
The burning of Saratoga, first by the French and then by its own
masters, made a deep impression on the Five Nations, and a few years
later they taunted their white neighbors with these shortcomings in no
measured terms. “You burned your own fort at Seraghtoga and ran away
from it, which was a shame and a scandal to you.”[231] Uninitiated as
they were in party politics and faction quarrels, they could see
nothing in this and other military lapses but proof of a want of
martial spirit, if not of cowardice. Hence the difficulty of gaining
their active alliance against the French was redoubled. Fortunately
for the province, the adverse influence was in some measure
counteracted by the character and conduct of one man. Up to this time
the French had far surpassed the rival nation in the possession of men
ready and able to deal with the Indians and mould them to their will.
Eminent among such was Joncaire, French emissary among the Senecas in
western New York, who, with admirable skill, held back that powerful
member of the Iroquois league from siding with the English. But now,
among the Mohawks of eastern New York, Joncaire found his match in the
person of William Johnson, a vigorous and intelligent young Irishman, 212
nephew of Admiral Warren, and his agent in the management of his
estates on the Mohawk. Johnson soon became intimate with his Indian
neighbors, spoke their language, joined in their games and dances,
sometimes borrowed their dress and their paint, and whooped, yelped,
and stamped like one of themselves. A white man thus playing the
Indian usually gains nothing in the esteem of those he imitates; but,
as before in the case of the redoubtable Count Frontenac, Johnson’s
adoption of their ways increased their liking for him and did not
diminish their respect. The Mohawks adopted him into their tribe and
made him a warchief. Clinton saw his value; and as the Albany
commissioners hitherto charged with Indian affairs had proved wholly
inefficient, he transferred their functions to Johnson; whence arose
more heartburnings. The favor of the governor cost the new functionary
the support of the Assembly, who refused the indispensable presents to
the Indians, and thus vastly increased the difficulty of his task. Yet
the Five Nations promised to take up the hatchet against the French,
and their orator said, in a conference at Albany, “Should any French
priests now dare to come among us, we know no use for them but to
roast them.”[232] Johnson’s present difficulties, however, sprang more
from Dutch and English traders than from French priests, and he begs
that an Act may be passed against the selling of liquor to the Indians, 213
“as it is impossible to do anything with them while there is such a
plenty to be had all round the neighborhood, being forever drunk.” And
he complains especially of one Clement, who sells liquor within twenty
yards of Johnson’s house, and immediately gets from the Indians all
the bounty money they receive for scalps, “which leaves them as poor
as ratts,” and therefore refractory and unmanageable. Johnson says
further: “There is another grand villain, George Clock, who lives by
Conajoharie Castle, and robs the Indians of all their cloaths, etc.”
The chiefs complained, “upon which I wrote him twice to give over that
custom of selling liquor to the Indians; the answer was he gave the
bearer, I might hang myself.”[233] Indian affairs, it will be seen,
were no better regulated then than now.
Meanwhile the French Indians were ravaging the frontiers and burning
farmhouses to within sight of Albany. The Assembly offered rewards for
the scalps of the marauders, but were slow in sending money to pay
them,--to the great discontent of the Mohawks, who, however, at
Johnson’s instigation, sent out various war-parties, two of which,
accompanied by a few whites, made raids as far as the island of
Montreal, and somewhat checked the incursions of the mission Indians
by giving them work near home. The check was but momentary. Heathen
Indians from the West joined the Canadian converts, and the frontiers 214
of New York and New England, from the Mohawk to beyond the Kennebec,
were stung through all their length by innumerable nocturnal surprises
and petty attacks. The details of this murderous though ineffective
partisan war would fill volumes, if they were worth recording. One or
two examples will show the nature of all.
In the valley of the little river Ashuelot, a New Hampshire affluent
of the Connecticut, was a rude border-settlement which later years
transformed into a town noted in rural New England for kindly
hospitality, culture without pretence, and good-breeding without
conventionality.[234] In 1746 the place was in all the rawness and
ugliness of a backwoods hamlet. The rough fields, lately won from the
virgin forest, showed here and there, among the stumps, a few
log-cabins, roofed with slabs of pine, spruce, or hemlock. Near by was
a wooden fort, made, no doubt, after the common frontier pattern, of a
stockade fence ten or twelve feet high, enclosing cabins to shelter
the settlers in case of alarm, and furnished at the corners with what
were called flankers, which were boxes of thick plank large enough to
hold two or more men, raised above the ground on posts, and pierced
with loopholes, so that each face of the stockade could be swept by a
flank fire. One corner of this fort at Ashuelot was, however, guarded 215
by a solid blockhouse, or, as it was commonly called, a “mount.”
On the twenty-third of April a band of sixty, or, by another account,
a hundred Indians, approached the settlement before daybreak, and hid
in the neighboring thickets to cut off the men in the fort as they
came out to their morning work. One of the men, Ephraim Dorman,
chanced to go out earlier than the rest. The Indians did not fire on
him, but, not to give an alarm, tried to capture or kill him without
noise. Several of them suddenly showed themselves, on which he threw
down his gun in pretended submission. One of them came up to him with
hatchet raised; but the nimble and sturdy borderer suddenly struck him
with his fist a blow in the head that knocked him flat, then snatched
up his own gun, and, as some say, the blanket of the half-stunned
savage also, sprang off, reached the fort unhurt, and gave the alarm.
Some of the families of the place were living in the fort; but the
bolder or more careless still remained in their farmhouses, and if
nothing were done for their relief, their fate was sealed. Therefore
the men sallied in a body, and a sharp fight ensued, giving the
frightened settlers time to take refuge within the stockade. It was
not too soon, for the work of havoc had already begun. Six houses and
a barn were on fire, and twenty-three cattle had been killed. The
Indians fought fiercely, killed John Bullard, and captured Nathan
Blake, but at last retreated; and after they were gone, the charred 216
remains of several of them were found among the ruins of one of the
burned cabins, where they had probably been thrown to prevent their
being scalped.
Before Dorman had given the alarm, an old woman, Mrs. McKenney, went
from the fort to milk her cow in a neighboring barn. As she was
returning, with her full milk-pail, a naked Indian was seen to spring
from a clump of bushes, plunge a long knife into her back, and dart
away without stopping to take the gray scalp of his victim. She tried
feebly to reach the fort; but from age, corpulence, and a mortal wound
she moved but slowly, and when a few steps from the gate, fell and
died.
Ten days after, a party of Indians hid themselves at night by this
same fort, and sent one of their number to gain admission under
pretence of friendship, intending, no doubt, to rush in when the gate
should be opened; but the man on guard detected the trick, and instead
of opening the gate, fired through it, mortally wounding the Indian,
on which his confederates made off. Again, at the same place, Deacon
Josiah Foster, who had taken refuge in the fort, ventured out on a
July morning to drive his cows to pasture. A gunshot was heard; and
the men who went out to learn the cause, found the deacon lying in the
wood-road, dead and scalped. An ambushed Indian had killed him and
vanished. Such petty attacks were without number.
There is a French paper, called a record of “military movements,”
which gives a list of war-parties sent from Montreal against the 217
English border between the twenty-ninth of March, 1746, and the
twenty-first of June in the same year. They number thirty-five
distinct bands, nearly all composed of mission Indians living in or
near the settled parts of Canada,--Abenakis, Iroquois of the Lake of
Two Mountains and of Sault St. Louis (Caughnawaga), Algonquins of the
Ottawa, and others, in parties rarely of more than thirty, and often
of no more than six, yet enough for waylaying travellers or killing
women in kitchens or cow-sheds, and solitary laborers in the fields.
This record is accompanied by a list of wild Western Indians who came
down to Montreal in the summer of 1746 to share in these “military
movements.”[235]
No part of the country suffered more than the western borders of
Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and here were seen too plainly the
evils of the prevailing want of concert among the British colonies.
Massachusetts claimed extensive tracts north of her present northern
boundary, and in the belief that her claim would hold good, had built
a small wooden fort, called Fort Dummer, on the Connecticut, for the
protection of settlers. New Hampshire disputed the title, and the
question, being referred to the Crown, was decided in her favor. On
this, Massachusetts withdrew the garrison of Fort Dummer and left New 218
Hampshire to defend her own. This the Assembly of that province
refused to do, on the ground that the fort was fifty miles from any
settlement made by New Hampshire people, and was therefore useless to
them, though of great value to Massachusetts as a cover to Northfield
and other of her settlements lower down the Connecticut, to
protect[236] which was no business of New Hampshire. But some years
before, in 1740, three brothers, Samuel, David, and Stephen
Farnsworth, natives of Groton, Massachusetts, had begun a new
settlement on the Connecticut about forty-five miles north of the
Massachusetts line and on ground which was soon to be assigned to New
Hampshire. They were followed by five or six others. They acted on the
belief that their settlement was within the jurisdiction of
Massachusetts, and that she could and would protect them. The place
was one of extreme exposure, not only from its isolation, far from
help, but because it was on the banks of a wild and lonely river, the
customary highway of war-parties on their descent from Canada. Number
Four--for so the new settlement was called, because it was the fourth
in a range of townships recently marked out along the Connecticut,
but, with one or two exceptions, wholly unoccupied as yet--was a rude
little outpost of civilization, buried in forests that spread unbroken
to the banks of the St. Lawrence, while its nearest English neighbor 219
was nearly thirty miles away. As may be supposed, it grew slowly, and
in 1744 it had but nine or ten families. In the preceding year, when
war seemed imminent, and it was clear that neither Massachusetts nor
New Hampshire would lend a helping hand, the settlers of Number Four,
seeing that their only resource was in themselves, called a meeting to
consider the situation and determine what should be done. The meeting
was held at the house, or log-cabin, of John Spafford, Jr., and being
duly called to order, the following resolutions were adopted: that a
fort be built at the charge of the proprietors of the said township of
Number Four; that John Hastings, John Spafford, and John Avery be a
committee to direct the building; that each carpenter be allowed nine
shillings, old tenor, a day, each laborer seven shillings, and each
pair of oxen three shillings and sixpence; that the proprietors of the
township be taxed in the sum of three hundred pounds, old tenor, for
building the fort; that John Spafford, Phineas Stevens, and John
Hastings be assessors to assess the same, and Samuel Farnsworth
collector to collect it.[237] And to the end that their fort should be
a good and creditable one, they are said to have engaged the services
of John Stoddard, accounted the foremost man of western Massachusetts,
Superintendent of Defence, Colonel of Militia, Judge of Probate, Chief
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, a reputed authority in the 220
construction of backwoods fortifications, and the admired owner of the
only gold watch in Northampton.
Timber was abundant and could be had for the asking; for the
frontiersman usually regarded a tree less as a valuable possession
than as a natural enemy, to be got rid of by fair means or foul. The
only cost was the labor. The fort rose rapidly. It was a square
enclosing about three quarters of an acre, each side measuring a
hundred and eighty feet. The wall was not of palisades, as was more
usual, but of squared logs laid one upon another, and interlocked at
the corners after the fashion of a log-cabin. Within were several
houses, which had been built close together, for mutual protection,
before the fort was begun, and which belonged to Stevens, Spafford,
and other settlers. Apparently they were small log-cabins; for they
were valued at only from eight to thirty-five pounds each, in old
tenor currency wofully attenuated by depreciation; and these sums
being paid to the owners out of the three hundred pounds collected for
building the fort, the cabins became public property. Either they were
built in a straight line, or they were moved to form one, for when the
fort was finished, they all backed against the outer wall, so that
their low roofs served to fire from. The usual flankers completed the
work, and the settlers of Number Four were so well pleased with it
that they proudly declared their fort a better one than Fort Dummer, 221
its nearest neighbor, which had been built by public authority at the
charge of the province.
But a fort must have a garrison, and the ten or twelve men of Number
Four would hardly be a sufficient one. Sooner or later an attack was
certain; for the place was a backwoods Castle Dangerous, lying in the
path of war-parties from Canada, whether coming down the Connecticut
from Lake Memphremagog, or up Otter Creek from Lake Champlain, then
over the mountains to Black River, and so down that stream, which
would bring them directly to Number Four. New Hampshire would do
nothing for them, and their only hope was in Massachusetts, of which
most of them were natives, and which had good reasons for helping them
to hold their ground, as a cover to its own settlements below. The
governor and Assembly of Massachusetts did, in fact, send small
parties of armed men from time to time to defend the endangered
outpost, and the succor was timely; for though, during the first year
of the war, Number Four was left in peace, yet from the nineteenth of
April to the nineteenth of June, 1746, it was attacked by Indians five
times, with some loss of scalps, and more of cattle, horses, and hogs.
On the last occasion there was a hot fight in the woods, ending in the
retreat of the Indians, said to have numbered a hundred and fifty,
into a swamp, leaving behind them guns, blankets, hatchets, spears,
and other things, valued at forty pounds, old tenor,--which, says the 222
chronicle, “was reckoned a great booty for such beggarly
enemies.”[238]
But Massachusetts grew tired of defending lands that had been adjudged
to New Hampshire, and as the season drew towards an end, Number Four
was left again to its own keeping. The settlers saw no choice but to
abandon a place which they were too few to defend, and accordingly
withdrew to the older settlements, after burying such of their effects
as would bear it, and leaving others to their fate. Six men, a dog,
and a cat remained to keep the fort. Towards midwinter the human part
of the garrison also withdrew, and the two uncongenial quadrupeds were
left alone.
When the authorities of Massachusetts saw that a place so useful to
bear the brunt of attack was left to certain destruction, they
repented of their late withdrawal, and sent Captain Phineas Stevens,
with thirty men, to reoccupy it. Stevens, a native of Sudbury,
Massachusetts, one of the earliest settlers of Number Four, and one of
its chief proprietors, was a bold, intelligent, and determined man,
well fitted for the work before him. He and his band reached the fort
on the twenty-seventh of March, 1747, and their arrival gave peculiar
pleasure to its tenants, the dog and cat, the former of whom met them
with lively demonstrations of joy. The pair had apparently lived in 223
harmony, and found means of subsistence, as they are reported to have
been in tolerable condition.
Stevens had brought with him a number of other dogs,--animals found
useful for detecting the presence of Indians and tracking them to
their lurking-places. A week or more after the arrival of the party,
these canine allies showed great uneasiness and barked without
ceasing; on which Stevens ordered a strict watch to be kept, and great
precaution to be used in opening the gate of the fort. It was time,
for the surrounding forest concealed what the New England chroniclers
call an “army,” commanded by General Debeline. It scarcely need be
said that Canada had no General Debeline, and that no such name is to
be found in Canadian annals. The “army” was a large war-party of both
French and Indians, and a French record shows that its commander was
Boucher de Niverville, ensign in the colony troops.[239]
The behavior of the dogs was as yet the only sign of danger, when,
about nine o’clock on the morning of the seventh of April, one of
Stevens’s men took it upon him to go out and find what was amiss.
Accompanied by two or three of the dogs, he advanced, gun in hand,
into the clearing, peering at every stump, lest an Indian should lurk
behind it. When about twenty rods from the gate, he saw a large log,
or trunk of a fallen tree, not far before him, and approached it 224
cautiously, setting on the dogs, or, as Stevens whimsically phrases
it, “saying _Choboy!_” to them. They ran forward barking, on
which several heads appeared above the log, and several guns were
fired at him. He was slightly wounded, but escaped to the fort. Then,
all around, the air rang with war-whoops, and a storm of bullets flew
from the tangle of bushes that edged the clearing, and rapped
spitefully, but harmlessly, against the wooden wall. At a little
distance on the windward side was a log-house, to which, with adjacent
fences, the assailants presently set fire, in the hope that, as the
wind was strong, the flames would catch the fort. When Stevens saw
what they were doing, he set himself to thwart them; and while some of
his men kept them at bay with their guns, the rest fell to work
digging a number of short trenches under the wall, on the side towards
the fire. As each trench was six or seven feet deep, a man could stand
in it outside the wall, sheltered from bullets, and dash buckets of
water, passed to him from within, against the scorching timbers.
Eleven such trenches were dug, and eleven men were stationed in them,
so that the whole exposed front of the wall was kept wet.[240] Thus,
though clouds of smoke drifted over the fort, and burning cinders 225
showered upon it, no harm was done, and the enemy was forced to other
devices. They found a wagon, which they protected from water and
bullets by a shield of planks,--for there was a saw-mill hard by,--and
loaded it with dry fagots, thinking to set them on fire and push the
blazing machine against a dry part of the fort wall; but the task
proved too dangerous, “for,” says Stevens, “instead of performing what
they threatened and seemed to be immediately going to undertake, they
called to us and desired a cessation of arms till sunrise the next
morning, which was granted, at which time they said they would come to
a parley.” In fact, the French commander, with about sixty of his men,
came in the morning with a flag of truce, which he stuck in the ground
at a musket-shot from the fort, and, in the words of Stevens, “said,
if we would send three men to him, he would send as many to us.”
Stevens agreed to this, on which two Frenchmen and an Indian came to
the fort, and three soldiers went out in return. The two Frenchmen
demanded, on the part of their commander, that the garrison should
surrender, under a promise of life, and be carried prisoners to
Quebec; and they farther required that Stevens should give his answer
to the French officer in person.
Wisely or unwisely, Stevens went out at the gate, and was at once 226
joined by Niverville, attended, no doubt, by an interpreter. “Upon
meeting the Monsieur,” says the English captain, “he did not wait for
me to give him an answer,” but said, in a manner sufficiently
peremptory, that he had seven hundred men with him, and that if his
terms were refused, he would storm the fort, “run over it,” burn it to
the ground, and if resistance were offered, put all in it to the
sword; adding that he would have it or die, and that Stevens might
fight or not as he pleased, for it was all one to him. His terms being
refused, he said, as Stevens reports, “Well, go back to your fort and
see if your men dare fight any more, and give me an answer quickly;
for my men want to be fighting.” Stevens now acted as if he had been
the moderator of a town-meeting. “I went into the fort and called the
men together, and informed them what the general said, and then put it
to vote whether they would fight or resign; and they voted to a man to
stand it out, and also declared that they would fight as long as they
had life.”[241]
Answer was made accordingly, but Niverville’s promise to storm the
fort and “run over it” was not kept. Stevens says that his enemies had
not the courage to do this, or even to bring up their “fortification,”
meaning their fire-wagon with its shield of planks. In fact, an open
assault upon a fortified place was a thing unknown in this border
warfare, whether waged by Indians alone, or by French and Indians 227
together. The assailants only raised the war-whoop again, and fired,
as before, from behind stumps, logs, and bushes. This amusement they
kept up from two o’clock till night, when they grew bolder, approached
nearer, and shot flights of fire-arrows into the fort, which, water
being abundant, were harmless as their bullets. At daylight they gave
over this exercise, called out, “Good morning!” to the garrison, and
asked for a suspension of arms for two hours. This being agreed to,
another flag of truce presently appeared, carried by two Indians, who
planted it in the ground within a stone’s throw of the fort, and asked
that two men should be sent out to confer with them. This was done,
and the men soon came back with a proposal that Stevens should sell
provisions to his besiegers, under a promise on their part that they
would give him no farther trouble. He answered that he would not sell
them provisions for money, but would exchange them for prisoners, and
give five bushels of Indian corn for every hostage placed in his hands
as security for the release of an English captive in Canada. To this
their only answer was firing a few shots against the fort, after which
they all disappeared, and were seen no more. The garrison had scarcely
eaten or slept for three days. “I believe men were never known to hold
out with better resolution,” writes Stevens; and “though there were
some thousands of guns shot at us, we had but two men slightly wounded, 228
John Brown and Joseph Ely.”[242]
Niverville and his party, disappointed and hungry, now made a tour
among the scattered farms and hamlets of the country below, which,
incapable of resisting such an inroad, were abandoned at their
approach. Thus they took an easy revenge for their rebuff at Number
Four, and in a march of thirty or forty leagues, burned five small
deserted forts or stockaded houses, “three meeting-houses, several
fine barns, about one hundred dwellings, mostly of two stories,
furnished even to chests of drawers, and killed five to six hundred
sheep and hogs, and about thirty horned cattle. This devastation is
well worth a few prisoners or scalps.”[243] It is curious to find such
exploits mentioned with complacency, as evidence of prowess.
The successful defence of the most exposed place on the frontier was
welcome news throughout New England, and Commodore Charles Knowles,
who was then at Boston, sent Stevens a silver-hilted sword in
recognition of his conduct. The settlers of Number Four, who soon
returned to their backwoods home, were so well pleased with this
compliment to one of their fellows that they gave to the settlement
the baptismal name of the Commodore, and the town that has succeeded
the hamlet of Number Four is Charlestown to this day.[244]
[224] _Extract from the Governor’s Message_, in Smith,
_History of New York_, ii. 124 (1830).
[225] _Clinton to the Lords of Trade, 10 November, 1747._
[226] _Ibid., 30 November, 1745._
[227] _Remarks on the Representation of the Assembly of New York,
May, 1747_, in N. Y. _Col. Docs._, vi. 365. On the disputes of
the governor and Assembly see also Smith, _History of New York_,
ii. (1830), and Stone, _Life and Times of Sir William Johnson_, i.
N. Y. _Colonial Documents_, vi., contains many papers on the
subject, chiefly on the governor’s side.
[228] _Examinations at a Court of Inquiry at Albany, 11 December,
1745_, in N. Y. _Col. Docs._, vi. 374.
[229] The best account of this affair is in the journal of
a French officer in Schuyler, _Colonial New York_, ii.
115. The dates, being in new style, differ by eleven days
from those of the English accounts. The Dutch hamlet of
Saratoga, surprised by Marin, was near the mouth of the Fish
Kill, on the west side of the Hudson. There was also a small
fort on the east side, a little below the mouth of the
Batten Kill.
[230] Schuyler, _Colonial New York_, ii. 121.
[231] _Report of a Council with the Indians at Albany, 28 June,
1754._
[232] _Answer of the Six [Five] Nations to His Excellency the
Governor at Albany, 23 August, 1746._
[233] _Johnson to Clinton, 7 May, 1747._
[234] Keene, originally called Upper Ashuelot. On the same
stream, a few miles below, was a similar settlement, called
Lower Ashuelot,--the germ of the present Swanzey. This, too,
suffered greatly from Indian attacks.
[235] _Extrait sur les différents Mouvements Militaires qui
se sont faits à Montréal à l’occasion de la Guerre, 1745,
1746._ There is a translation in _N. Y. Col. Docs._
[236] _Journal of the Assembly of New Hampshire_, quoted in
Saunderson, _History of Charlestown, N. H._, 20.
[237] Extracts from the Town Record, in Saunderson, _History of
Charlestown, N. H. (Number Four)_, 17, 18.
[238] Saunderson, _History of Charlestown, N. H._ 29.
Doolittle, _Narrative of Mischief done by the Indian
Enemy_,--a contemporary chronicle.
[239] _Extrait en forme de Journal de ce qui s’est passé
d’intéressant dans la Colonie à l’occasion des Mouvements de
Guerre, etc., 1746, 1747._
[240] “Those who were not employed in firing at the enemy were
employed in digging trenches under the bottom of the fort.
We dug no less than eleven of them, so deep that a man could
go and stand upright on the outside and not endanger
himself; so that when these trenches were finished, we could
wet all the outside of the fort, which we did, and kept it
wet all night. We drew some hundreds of barrels of water;
and to undergo all this hard service there were but thirty
men.”--_Stevens to Colonel W. Williams, April, 1747._
[241] _Stevens to Colonel William Williams, April, 1747._
[242] _Stevens to Colonel W. Williams, April, 1747._
[243] _N. Y. Col. Docs._, x. 97.
[244] Just after the withdrawal of the French and Indians,
Stevens wrote two letters giving an account of the affair,
one to Governor Shirley, and the other to Colonel William 229
Williams, who seems to have been his immediate military
superior. At most points they are substantially the same;
but that to Williams contains some passages not found in the
other. The letter to Shirley is printed in Saunderson,
_History of Charlestown, N. H._, 34-37, and that to
Williams in _Collections of the New Hampshire Historical
Society_, iv. 109-113. Stevens also kept a diary, which
was long in possession of his descendants. One of these, Mr.
B. F. Stevens, kindly made a search for it, at my request,
and learned that it had been unfortunately destroyed by
fire, in 1856. Doolittle, in his _Narrative of Mischief_,
and Hoyt, in his _Antiquarian Researches_, give other
accounts. The French notices of the affair are few and
short, as usual in cases of failure. For the principal one,
see _N. Y. Col. Docs._, x. 97. It is here said that Stevens
asked for a parley, in order to capitulate; but all the
English accounts say that the French made the first advances.
CHAPTER XXIV. 230
1745-1748.
FORT MASSACHUSETTS.
FRONTIER DEFENCE.--NORTHFIELD AND ITS MINISTER.--MILITARY
CRITICISMS OF REV. BENJAMIN DOOLITTLE.--RIGAUD DE VAUDREUIL: HIS
GREAT WAR-PARTY; HE ATTACKS FORT MASSACHUSETTS.--SERGEANT HAWKS
AND HIS GARRISON.--A GALLANT DEFENCE.--CAPITULATION.--HUMANITY OF
THE FRENCH.--RAVAGES.--RETURN TO CROWN POINT.--PEACE OF
AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.
Since the last war, the settlements of Massachusetts had pushed
westward and begun to invade the beautiful region of mountains and
valleys that now forms Berkshire. Villages, or rudiments of villages,
had grown up on the Housatonic, and an establishment had been
attempted at Pontoosuc, now Pittsfield, on the extreme western limits
of the province. The position of these new settlements was critical,
for the enemy could reach them with little difficulty by way of Lake
Champlain and Wood Creek. The Massachusetts government was not
unmindful of them, and when war again broke out, three wooden forts
were built for their protection, forming a line of defence westward
from Northfield on the northern frontier of the province. One of these
forts was in the present town of Heath, and was called Fort Shirley; 231
another, named Fort Pelham, was in the present town of Rowe; while the
third, Fort Massachusetts, was farther westward, in what is now the
town of Adams, then known as East Hoosac. Two hundred men from the
militia were taken into pay to hold these posts and patrol the
intervening forests. Other defensive works were made here and there,
sometimes by the votes of town meetings, and sometimes by individuals,
at their own cost. These works consisted of a fence of palisades
enclosing a farmhouse, or sometimes of a blockhouse of timber or heavy
planks. Thus, at Northfield, Deacon Ebenezer Alexander, a veteran of
sixty who had served at Louisbourg, built a “mount,” or blockhouse, on
the knoll behind his house, and carried a stockade from it to enclose
the dwelling, shed, and barn, the whole at the cost of thirty-six
pounds, one shilling, and sixpence, in Massachusetts currency,[245]
which the town repaid him, his fortifications being of public utility
as a place of refuge for families in case of attack. Northfield was a
place notoriously dangerous, and military methods were in vogue there
in season and out of season. Thus, by a vote of the town, the people
were called to the Sunday sermon by beat of drum, and Eleazer Holton
was elected to sound the call in consideration of one pound and ten
shillings a year, the drum being hired of Ensign Field, its fortunate 232
possessor, for the farther sum of three shillings. This was in the
earlier days of Northfield. In 1734 the Sunday drum-beat was stopped,
and the worshippers were summoned by the less obstreperous method of
“hanging out a flagg,” for the faithful discharge of which function
Daniel Wright received in 1744 one pound and five shillings.[246]
The various fortifications, public and private, were garrisoned,
sometimes by the owner and his neighbors, sometimes by men in pay of
the Provincial Assembly. As was to be expected from a legislative body
undertaking warlike operations, the work of defence was but
indifferently conducted. John Stoddard, the village magnate of
Northampton, was charged, among the rest of his multifarious
employments, with the locating and construction of forts; Captain
Ephraim Williams was assigned to the general command on the western
frontier, with headquarters at Fort Shirley and afterwards at Fort
Massachusetts; and Major Israel Williams, of Hatfield, was made
commissary.
At Northfield dwelt the Rev. Benjamin Doolittle, minister, apothecary,
physician, and surgeon of the village; for he had studied medicine no
less than theology. His parishioners thought that his cure of bodies
encroached on his cure of souls, and requested him to confine his
attention to his spiritual charge; to which he replied that he could
not afford it, his salary as minister being seventy-five pounds in 233
irredeemable Massachusetts paper, while his medical and surgical
practice brought him full four hundred a year. He offered to comply
with the wishes of his flock if they would add that amount to his
salary,--which they were not prepared to do, and the minister
continued his heterogeneous labors as before.
As the position of his house on the village street seems to have been
regarded as strategic, the town voted to fortify it with a blockhouse
and a stockade, for the benefit both of the occupant and of all the
villagers. This was accordingly done, at the cost of eighteen pounds,
seven shillings, and sixpence for the blockhouse, and a farther charge
for the stockade; and thenceforth Mr. Doolittle could write his
sermons and mix his doses in peace. To his other callings he added
that of historiographer. When, after a ministry of thirty-six years,
the thrifty pastor was busied one day with hammer and nails in mending
the fence of his yard, he suddenly dropped dead from a stroke of
heart-disease,--to the grief of all Northfield; and his papers being
searched, a record was found in his handwriting of the inroads of the
enemy that had happened in his time on or near the Massachusetts
border. Being rightly thought worthy of publication, it was printed at
Boston in a dingy pamphlet, now extremely rare, and much prized by
antiquarians.[247]
Appended to it are the remarks of the author on the conduct of the 234
war. He complains that plans are changed so often that none of them
take effect; that terms of enlistment are so short that the commissary
can hardly serve out provisions to the men before their time is
expired; that neither bread, meat, shoes, nor blankets are kept on
hand for an emergency, so that the enemy escape while the soldiers are
getting ready to pursue them; that the pay of a drafted man is so
small that twice as much would not hire a laborer to take care of his
farm in his absence; and that untried and unfit persons are
commissioned as officers: in all of which strictures there is no doubt
much truth.
Mr. Doolittle’s rueful narrative treats mainly of miscellaneous
murders and scalpings, interesting only to the sufferers and their
friends; but he also chronicles briefly a formidable inroad that still
holds a place in New England history.
It may be remembered that Shirley had devised a plan for capturing
Fort Frédéric, or Crown Point, built by the French at the narrows of 235
Lake Champlain, and commanding ready access for war-parties to New
York and New England.
The approach of D’Anville’s fleet had defeated the plan; but rumors of
it had reached Canada, and excited great alarm. Large bodies of men
were ordered to Lake Champlain to protect the threatened fort. The two
brothers De Muy were already on the lake with a numerous party of
Canadians and Indians, both Christian and heathen, and Rigaud de
Vaudreuil, town-major of Three Rivers, was ordered to follow with a
still larger force, repel any English attack, or, if none should be
made, take the offensive and strike a blow at the English frontier. On
the third of August, Rigaud[248] left Montreal with a fleet of canoes
carrying what he calls his army, and on the twelfth he encamped on the
east side of the lake, at the mouth of Otter Creek. There was rain,
thunder, and a violent wind all night; but the storm ceased at
daybreak, and, embarking again, they soon saw the octagonal stone
tower of Fort Frédéric.
The party set up their tents and wigwams near the fort, and on the
morning of the sixteenth the elder De Muy arrived with a reinforcement
of sixty Frenchmen and a band of Indians. They had just returned from
an incursion towards Albany, and reported that all was quiet in those
parts, and that Fort Frédéric was in no danger. Now, to their great 236
satisfaction, Rigaud and his band saw themselves free to take the
offensive. The question was, where to strike. The Indians held council
after council, made speech after speech, and agreed on nothing. Rigaud
gave them a wampum-belt, and told them that he meant to attack
Corlaer,--that is, Schenectady; at which they seemed well pleased, and
sang war-songs all night. In the morning they changed their minds, and
begged him to call the whole army to a council for debating the
question. It appeared that some of them, especially the Iroquois
converts of Caughnawaga, disapproved of attacking Schenectady, because
some of their Mohawk relatives were always making visits there, and
might be inadvertently killed by the wild western Indians of Rigaud’s
party. Now all was doubt again, for as Indians are unstable as water,
it was no easy task to hold them to any plan of action.
The Abenakis proposed a solution of the difficulty. They knew the New
England border well, for many of them had lived upon it before the
war, on terms of friendly intercourse with the settlers. They now drew
upon the floor of the council-room a rough map of the country, on
which was seen a certain river, and on its upper waters a fort which
they recommended as a proper object of attack. The river was that
eastern tributary of the Hudson which the French called the
Kaskékouké, the Dutch the Schaticook, and the English the Hoosac. The
fort was Fort Massachusetts, the most westerly of the three posts 237
lately built to guard the frontier. “My father,” said the Abenaki
spokesman to Rigaud, “it will be easy to take this fort, and make
great havoc on the lands of the English. Deign to listen to your
children and follow our advice.”[249] One Cadenaret, an Abenaki chief,
had been killed near Fort Massachusetts in the last spring, and his
tribesmen were keen to revenge him. Seeing his Indians pleased with
the proposal to march for the Hoosac, Rigaud gladly accepted it; on
which whoops, yelps, and war-songs filled the air. Hardly, however,
was the party on its way when the Indians changed their minds again,
and wanted to attack Saratoga; but Rigaud told them that they had made
their choice and must abide by it, to which they assented, and gave
him no farther trouble.
On the twentieth of August they all embarked and paddled southward,
passed the lonely promontory where Fort Ticonderoga was afterwards
built, and held their course till the lake dwindled to a mere canal
creeping through the weedy marsh then called the Drowned Lands. Here,
nine summers later, passed the flotilla of Baron Dieskau, bound to
defeat and ruin by the shores of Lake George. Rigaud stopped at a
place known as East Bay, at the mouth of a stream that joins Wood
Creek, just north of the present town of Whitehall. Here he left the
younger De Muy, with thirty men, to guard the canoes. The rest of the 238
party, guided by a brother of the slain Cadenaret, filed southward on
foot along the base of Skene Mountain, that overlooks Whitehall. They
counted about seven hundred men, of whom five hundred were French, and
a little above two hundred were Indians.[250] Some other French
reports put the whole number at eleven hundred, or even twelve
hundred,[251] while several English accounts make it eight hundred or
nine hundred. The Frenchmen of the party included both regulars and
Canadians, with six regular officers and ten cadets, eighteen militia
officers, two chaplains,--one for the whites and one for the
Indians,--and a surgeon.[252]
After a march of four days, they encamped on the twenty-sixth by a
stream which ran into the Hudson, and was no doubt the Batten Kill,
known to the French as _la rivière de Saratogue_. Being nearly
opposite Saratoga, where there was then a garrison, they changed their
course, on the twenty-seventh, from south to southeast, the better to
avoid scouting-parties, which might discover their trail and defeat
their plan of surprise. Early on the next day they reached the Hoosac,
far above its mouth; and now their march was easier, “for,” says
Rigaud, “we got out of the woods and followed a large road that led
up the river.” In fact, there seem to have been two roads, one on each 239
side of the Hoosac; for the French were formed into two brigades, one
of which, under the Sieur de la Valterie, filed along the right bank
of the stream, and the other, under the Sieur de Sabrevois, along the
left; while the Indians marched on the front, flanks, and rear. They
passed deserted houses and farms belonging to Dutch settlers from the
Hudson; for the Hoosac, in this part of its course, was in the
province of New York.[253] They did not stop to burn barns and houses,
but they killed poultry, hogs, a cow, and a horse, to supply
themselves with meat. Before night they had passed the New York line,
and they made their camp in or near the valley where Williamstown and
Williams College now stand. Here they were joined by the Sieurs
Beaubassin and La Force, who had gone forward, with eight Indians, to
reconnoitre. Beaubassin had watched Fort Massachusetts from a
distance, and had seen a man go up into the watch-tower, but could
discover no other sign of alarm. Apparently, the fugitive Dutch
farmers had not taken pains to warn the English garrison of the coming
danger, for there was a coolness between the neighbors.
Before breaking up camp in the morning, Rigaud called the Indian 240
chiefs together and said to them: “My children, the time is near when
we must get other meat than fresh pork, and we will all eat it
together.” “Meat,” in Indian parlance, meant prisoners; and as these
were valuable by reason of the ransoms paid for them, and as the
Indians had suspected that the French meant to keep them all, they
were well pleased with this figurative assurance of Rigaud that they
should have their share.[254]
The chaplain said mass, and the party marched in a brisk rain up the
Williamstown valley, till after advancing about ten miles they
encamped again. Fort Massachusetts was only three or four miles
distant. Rigaud held a talk with the Abenaki chiefs who had acted as
guides, and it was agreed that the party should stop in the woods near
the fort, make scaling-ladders, battering-rams to burst the gates, and
other things needful for a grand assault, to take place before
daylight; but their plan came to nought through the impetuosity of the
young Indians and Canadians, who were so excited at the first glimpse
of the watch-tower of the fort that they dashed forward, as Rigaud
says, “like lions.” Hence one might fairly expect to see the fort
assaulted at once; but by the maxims of forest war this would have
been reprehensible rashness, and nothing of the kind was attempted. 241
The assailants spread to right and left, squatted behind stumps, and
opened a distant and harmless fire, accompanied with unearthly yells
and howlings.
Fort Massachusetts was a wooden enclosure formed, like the fort at
Number Four, of beams laid one upon another, and interlocked at the
angles. This wooden wall seems to have rested, not immediately upon
the ground, but upon a foundation of stone, designated by Mr. Norton,
the chaplain, as the “underpinning,”--a name usually given in New
England to foundations of the kind. At the northwest corner was a
blockhouse,[255] crowned with the watch-tower, the sight of which had
prematurely kindled the martial fire of the Canadians and Indians.
This wooden structure, at the apex of the blockhouse, served as a
lookout, and also supplied means of throwing water to extinguish
fire-arrows shot upon the roof. There were other buildings in the
enclosure, especially a large log-house on the south side, which seems
to have overlooked the outer wall, and was no doubt loop-holed for
musketry. On the east side there was a well, furnished probably with
one of those long well-sweeps universal in primitive New England. The
garrison, when complete, consisted of fifty-one men under Captain
Ephraim Williams, who has left his name to Williamstown and Williams 242
College, of the latter of which he was the founder. He was born at
Newton, near Boston; was a man vigorous in body and mind; better
acquainted with the world than most of his countrymen, having followed
the seas in his youth, and visited England, Spain, and Holland; frank
and agreeable in manners, well fitted for such a command, and
respected and loved by his men.[256] When the proposed invasion of
Canada was preparing, he and some of his men went to take part in it,
and had not yet returned. The fort was left in charge of a sergeant,
John Hawks, of Deerfield, with men too few for the extent of the
works, and a supply of ammunition nearly exhausted. Canada being then
put on the defensive, the frontier forts were thought safe for a time.
On the Saturday before Rigaud’s arrival, Hawks had sent Thomas
Williams, the surgeon, brother of the absent captain, to Deerfield,
with a detachment of fourteen men, to get a supply of powder and lead.
This detachment reduced the entire force, including Hawks himself and
Norton, the chaplain, to twenty-two men, half of whom were disabled
with dysentery, from which few of the rest were wholly free.[257]
There were also in the fort three women and five children.[258] 243
The site of Fort Massachusetts is now a meadow by the banks of the
Hoosac. Then it was a rough clearing, encumbered with the stumps and
refuse of the primeval forest, whose living hosts stood grimly around
it, and spread, untouched by the axe, up the sides of the neighboring
Saddleback Mountain. The position of the fort was bad, being commanded
by high ground, from which, as the chaplain tells us, “the enemy could
shoot over the north side into the middle of the parade,”--for which
serious defect, John Stoddard, of Northampton, legist, capitalist,
colonel of militia, and “Superintendent of Defence,” was probably
answerable. These frontier forts were, however, often placed on low
ground with a view to an abundant supply of water, fire being the most
dreaded enemy in Indian warfare.[259]
Sergeant Hawks, the provisional commander, was, according to 244
tradition, a tall man with sunburnt features, erect, spare, very
sinewy and strong, and of a bold and resolute temper. He had need to
be so, for counting every man in the fort, lay and clerical, sick and
well, he was beset by more than thirty times his own number; or,
counting only his effective men, by more than sixty times,--and this
at the lowest report of the attacking force. As there was nothing but
a log fence between him and his enemy, it was clear that they could
hew or burn a way through it, or climb over it with no surprising
effort of valor. Rigaud, as we have seen, had planned a general
assault under cover of night, but had been thwarted by the
precipitancy of the young Indians and Canadians. These now showed no
inclination to depart from the cautious maxims of forest warfare. They
made a terrific noise, but when they came within gunshot of the fort,
it was by darting from stump to stump with a quick zigzag movement
that made them more difficult to hit than birds on the wing. The best
moment for a shot was when they reached a stump, and stopped for an
instant to duck and hide behind it. By seizing this fleeting
opportunity, Hawks himself put a bullet into the breast of an Abenaki
chief from St. Francis,--“which ended his days,” says the chaplain. 245
In view of the nimbleness of the assailants, a charge of buckshot was
found more to the purpose than a bullet. Besides the slain Abenaki,
Rigaud reports sixteen Indians and Frenchman wounded,[260]--which,
under the circumstances, was good execution for ten farmers and a
minister; for Chaplain Norton loaded and fired with the rest. Rigaud
himself was one of the wounded, having been hit in the arm and sent to
the rear, as he stood giving orders on the rocky hill about forty rods
from the fort. Probably it was a chance shot, since, though rifles
were invented long before, they were not yet in general use, and the
yeoman garrison were armed with nothing but their own smooth-bore
hunting-pieces, not to be trusted at long range. The supply of
ammunition had sunk so low that Hawks was forced to give the
discouraging order not to fire except when necessary to keep the enemy
in check, or when the chance of hitting him should be unusually good.
Such of the sick men as were strong enough aided the defence by
casting bullets and buckshot.
The outrageous noise lasted till towards nine in the evening, when the
assailants greeted the fort with a general war-whoop, and repeated it
three or four times; then a line of sentinels was placed around it to
prevent messengers from carrying the alarm to Albany or Deerfield. The
evening was dark and cloudy. The lights of a camp could be seen by 246
the river towards the southeast, and those of another near the swamp
towards the west. There was a sound of axes, as if the enemy were
making scaling-ladders for a night assault; but it was found that they
were cutting fagots to burn the wall. Hawks ordered every tub and
bucket to be filled with water, in preparation for the crisis. Two
men, John Aldrich and Jonathan Bridgman, had been wounded, thus
farther reducing the strength of the defenders. The chaplain says: “Of
those that were in health, some were ordered to keep the watch, and
some lay down and endeavored to get some rest, lying down in our
clothes with our arms by us.... We got little or no rest; the enemy
frequently raised us by their hideous outcries, as though they were
about to attack us. The latter part of the night I kept the watch.”
Rigaud spent the night in preparing for a decisive attack, “being
resolved to open trenches two hours before sunrise, and push them to
the foot of the palisade, so as to place fagots against it, set them
on fire, and deliver the fort a prey to the fury of the flames.”[261]
It began to rain, and he determined to wait till morning. That the
commander of seven hundred French and Indians should resort to such 247
elaborate devices to subdue a sergeant, seven militia-men, and a
minister,--for this was now the effective strength of the
besieged,--was no small compliment to the spirit of the defence.
The firing was renewed in the morning, but there was no attempt to
open trenches by daylight. Two men were sent up into the watch-tower,
and about eleven o’clock one of them, Thomas Knowlton, was shot
through the head. The number of effectives was thus reduced to eight,
including the chaplain. Up to this time the French and English
witnesses are in tolerable accord; but now there is conflict of
evidence. Rigaud says that when he was about to carry his plan of
attack into execution, he saw a white flag hung out, and sent the
elder De Muy, with Montigny and D’Auteuil, to hear what the English
commandant--whose humble rank he nowhere mentions--had to say. On the
other hand, Norton, the chaplain, says that about noon the French
“desired to parley,” and that “we agreed to it.” He says farther that
the sergeant, with himself and one or two others, met Rigaud outside
the gate, and that the French commander promised “good quarter” to the
besieged if they would surrender, with the alternative of an assault
if they would not. This account is sustained by Hawks, who says that
at twelve o’clock an Indian came forward with a flag of truce, and
that he, Hawks, with two or three others, went to meet Rigaud, who
then offered honorable terms of capitulation.[262] The sergeant 248
promised an answer within two hours; and going back to the fort with
his companions, examined their means of defence. He found that they
had left but three or four pounds of gunpowder, and about as much
lead. Hawks called a council of his effective men. Norton prayed for
divine aid and guidance, and then they fell to considering the
situation. “Had we all been in health, or had there been only those
eight of us that were in health, I believe every man would willingly
have stood it out to the last. For my part, I should,” writes the
manful chaplain. But besides the sick and wounded, there were three
women and five children, who, if the fort were taken by assault, would
no doubt be butchered by the Indians, but who might be saved by a
capitulation. Hawks therefore resolved to make the best terms he
could. He had defended his post against prodigious odds for
twenty-eight hours. Rigaud promised that all in the fort should be
treated with humanity as prisoners of war, and exchanged at the first
opportunity. He also promised that none of them should be given to the
Indians, though he had lately assured his savage allies that they
should have their share of the prisoners.
At three o’clock the principal French officers were admitted into the
fort, and the French flag was raised over it. The Indians and Canadians 249
were excluded; on which some of the Indians pulled out several of the
stones that formed the foundation of the wall, crawled through, opened
the gate, and let in the whole crew. They raised a yell when they saw
the blood of Thomas Knowlton trickling from the watch-tower where he
had been shot, then rushed up to where the corpse lay, brought it
down, scalped it, and cut off the head and arms. The fort was then
plundered, set on fire, and burned to the ground.
The prisoners were led to the French camp; and here the chaplain was
presently accosted by one Doty, Rigaud’s interpreter, who begged him
to persuade some of the prisoners to go with the Indians. Norton
replied that it had been agreed that they should all remain with the
French; and that to give up any of them to the Indians would be a
breach of the capitulation. Doty then appealed to the men themselves,
who all insisted on being left with the French, according to the terms
stipulated. Some of them, however, were given to the Indians, who,
after Rigaud’s promise to them, could have been pacified in no other
way. His fault was in making a stipulation that he could not keep.
Hawks and Norton, with all the women and children, remained in the
French camp.
Hearing that men were expected from Deerfield to take the places of
the sick, Rigaud sent sixty Indians to cut them off. They lay in wait
for the English reinforcement, which consisted of nineteen men, gave
them a close fire, shot down fifteen of them, and captured the 250
rest.[263] This or another party of Rigaud’s Indians pushed as far as
Deerfield and tried to waylay the farmers as they went to their work
on a Monday morning. The Indians hid in a growth of alder-bushes along
the edge of a meadow where men were making hay, accompanied by some
children. One Ebenezer Hawks, shooting partridges, came so near the
ambushed warriors that they could not resist the temptation of killing
and scalping him. This alarmed the haymakers and the children, who ran
for their lives towards a mill on a brook that entered Deerfield
River, fiercely pursued by about fifty Indians, who caught and scalped
a boy named Amsden. Three men, Allen, Sadler, and Gillet, got under
the bank of the river and fired on the pursuers. Allen and Gillet were
soon killed, but Sadler escaped unhurt to an island. Three children of
Allen--Eunice, Samuel, and Caleb--were also chased by the Indians, who
knocked down Eunice with a tomahawk, but were in too much haste to
stop and scalp her, and she lived to a good old age. Her brother
Samuel was caught and dragged off, but Caleb ran into a field of tall
maize, and escaped.
The firing was heard in the village, and a few armed men, under
Lieutenant Clesson, hastened to the rescue; but when they reached the
spot the Indians were gone, carrying the boy Samuel Allen with them, 251
and leaving two of their own number dead. Clesson, with such men as he
had, followed their trail up Deerfield River, but could not overtake
the light-footed savages.
Meanwhile, the prisoners at Fort Massachusetts spent the first night,
well guarded, in the French and Indian camps. In the morning, Norton,
accompanied by a Frenchman and several Indians, was permitted to nail
to one of the charred posts of the fort a note to tell what had
happened to him and his companions.[264] The victors then marched back
as they had come, along the Hoosac road. They moved slowly, encumbered
as they were by the sick and wounded. Rigaud gave the Indians
presents, to induce them to treat their prisoners with humanity.
Norton was in charge of De Muy, and after walking four miles sat down
with him to rest in Williamstown valley. There was a yell from the
Indians in the rear. “I trembled,” writes Norton, “thinking they had
murdered some of our people, but was filled with admiration when I saw
all our prisoners come up with us, and John Aldrich carried on the
back of his Indian master.” Aldrich had been shot in the foot, and
could not walk. “We set out again, and had gone but a little way before 252
we came up with Josiah Reed.” Reed was extremely ill, and could go no
farther. Norton thought that the Indians would kill him, instead of
which one of them carried him on his back. They were said to have
killed him soon after, but there is good reason to think that he died
of disease. “I saw John Perry’s wife,” pursues the chaplain; “she
complained that she was almost ready to give out.” The Indians
threatened her, but Hawks spoke in her behalf to Rigaud, who
remonstrated with them, and they afterwards treated her well. The wife
of another soldier, John Smead, was near her time, and had lingered
behind. The French showed her great kindness. “Some of them made a
seat for her to sit upon, and brought her to the camp, where, about
ten o’clock, she was graciously delivered of a daughter, and was
remarkably well.... Friday: this morning I baptized John Smead’s
child. He called its name _Captivity_.” The French made a litter
of poles, spread over it a deer-skin and a bear-skin, on which they
placed the mother and child, and so carried them forward. Three days
after, there was a heavy rain, and the mother was completely drenched,
but suffered no harm, though “Miriam, the wife of Moses Scott, hereby
catched a grievous cold.” John Perry was relieved of his pack, so that
he might help his wife and carry her when her strength failed. Several
horses were found at the farms along the way, and the sick Benjamin
Simons and the wounded John Aldrich were allowed to use two of them. 253
Rarely, indeed, in these dismal border-raids were prisoners treated so
humanely; and the credit seems chiefly due to the efforts of Rigaud
and his officers. The hardships of the march were shared by the
victors, some of whom were sorely wounded; and four Indians died
within a few days.
“I divided my army between the two sides of the Kaskékouké” (Hoosac),
says Rigaud, “and ordered them to do what I had not permitted to be
done before we reached Fort Massachusetts. Every house was set on
fire, and numbers of domestic animals of all sorts were killed. French
and Indians vied with each other in pillage, and I made them enter the
[valleys of all the] little streams that flow into the Kaskékouké and
lay waste everything there.... Wherever we went we made the same
havoc, laid waste both sides of the river, through twelve leagues of
fertile country, burned houses, barns, stables, and even a
meeting-house,--in all, above two hundred establishments,--killed all
the cattle, and ruined all the crops. Such, Monseigneur, was the
damage I did our enemies during the eight or nine days I was in their
country.”[265] As the Dutch settlers had escaped, there was no
resistance.
The French and their allies left the Hoosac at the point where they
had reached it, and retraced their steps northward through the forest,
where there was an old Indian trail. Recrossing the Batten Kill, or
“River of Saratoga,” and some branches of Wood Creek, they reached the 254
place where they had left their canoes, and found them safe. Rigaud
says: “I gave leave to the Indians, at their request, to continue
their fighting and ravaging, in small parties, towards Albany,
Schenectady, Deerfield, Saratoga, or wherever they pleased, and I even
gave them a few officers and cadets to lead them.” These small
ventures were more or less successful, and produced, in due time, a
good return of scalps.
The main body, now afloat again, sailed and paddled northward till
they reached Crown Point. Rigaud rejoiced at finding a haven of
refuge, for his wounded arm was greatly inflamed: “and it was time I
should reach a place of repose.” He and his men encamped by the fort
and remained there for some time. An epidemic, apparently like that at
Fort Massachusetts, had broken out among them, and great numbers were
seriously ill.
Norton was lodged in a French house on the east side of the lake, at
what is now called Chimney Point; and one day his guardian, De Muy,
either thinking to impress him with the strength of the place, or with
an amusing confidence in the minister’s incapacity for making
inconvenient military observations, invited him to visit the fort. He
accepted the invitation, crossed over with the courteous officer, and
reports the ramparts to have been twenty feet thick, about twenty feet
high, and mounted with above twenty cannon. The octagonal tower which
overlooked the ramparts, and answered in some sort to the donjon of a 255
feudal castle, was a bomb-proof structure in vaulted masonry, of the
slaty black limestone of the neighborhood, three stories in height,
and armed with nine or ten cannon, besides a great number of
patereroes,--a kind of pivot-gun much like a swivel.[266]
In due time the prisoners reached Montreal, whence they were sent to
Quebec; and in the course of the next year those who remained alive
were exchanged and returned to New England.[267] Mrs. Smead and her
infant daughter “Captivity” died in Canada, and, by a singular
fatality, her husband had scarcely returned home when he was waylaid
and killed by Indians. Fort Massachusetts was soon rebuilt by the
province, and held its own thenceforth till the war was over. Sergeant
Hawks became a lieutenant-colonel, and took a creditable part in the
last French war.
For two years after the incursion of Rigaud the New England borders
were scourged with partisan warfare, bloody, monotonous, and futile,
with no event that needs recording, and no result beyond a momentary
check to the progress of settlement. At length, in July, 1748, news
came that the chief contending powers in Europe had come to terms of 256
agreement, and in the next October the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was
signed. Both nations were tired of the weary and barren conflict, with
its enormous cost and its vast entail of debt. It was agreed that
conquests should be mutually restored. The chief conquest of England
was Louisbourg, with the island of Cape Breton,--won for her by the
farmers and fishermen of New England. When the preliminaries of peace
were under discussion, Louis XV. had demanded the restitution of the
lost fortress; and George II. is said to have replied that it was not
his to give, having been captured by the people of Boston.[268] But
his sense of justice was forced to yield to diplomatic necessity, for
Louisbourg was the indispensable price of peace. To the indignation of
the northern provinces, it was restored to its former owners. “The
British ministers,” says Smollett, “gave up the important island of
Cape Breton in exchange for a petty factory in the East Indies”
(Madras), and the King deigned to send two English noblemen to the
French court as security for the bargain.
Peace returned to the tormented borders; the settlements advanced
again, and the colonists found a short breathing space against the
great conclusive struggle of the Seven Years’ War.
[245] Temple and Sheldon, _History of Northfield_, 237, give
the items from the original account. This is one of the best
of the innumerable town histories of New England.
[246] Temple and Sheldon, _History of Northfield_, 218.
[247] _A short Narrative of Mischief done by the French and
Indian Enemy, on the Western Frontiers of the Province of
the Massachusetts Bay; from the Beginning of the French War,
proclaimed by the King of France, March 15th, 1743-4; and by
the King of Great Britain, March 29th, 1744, to August 2nd,
1748. Drawn up by the Rev. Mr. Doolittle, of Northfield, in
the County of Hampshire; and found among his Manuscripts
after his Death. And at the Desire of some is now Published,
with some small Additions to render it more perfect. Boston;
Printed and sold by S. Kneeland, in Queen Street. MDCCL._
The facts above given concerning Mr. Doolittle are drawn
from the excellent _History of Northfield_ by Temple and
Sheldon, and the introduction to the _Particular History
of the Five Years’ French and Indian War_, by S. G. Drake.
[248] French writers always call him Rigaud, to distinguish
him from his brother, Pierre Rigaud de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal,
afterwards governor of Canada, who is usually mentioned as
Vaudreuil.
[249] _Journal de la Campagne de Rigaud de Vaudreuil en
1746 ... présenté à Monseigneur le Comte de Maurepas,
Ministre et Secrétaire d’État_ (written by Rigaud).
[250] “Le 19, ayant fait passer l’armée en Revue qui se trouva
de 700 hommes, scavoir 500 françois environ et 200 quelques
sauvages.”--_Journal de Rigaud._
[251] See _N. Y. Col. Docs._, x. 103, 132.
[252] _Ibid._, x. 35.
[253] These Dutch settlements on the Hoosac were made under
what was called the “Hoosac Patent,” granted by Governor
Dongan of New York in 1688. The settlements were not begun
till nearly forty years after the grant was made. For
evidence on this point I am indebted to Professor A. L.
Perry, of Williams College.
[254] “Mes enfans, leur dis-je, le temps approche où il faut
faire d’autre viande que le porc frais; au reste, nous la
mangerons tous ensemble; ce mot les flatta dans la crainte
qu’ils avoient qu’après la prise du fort nous ne nous
réservâmes tous les prisonniers.”--_Journal de Rigaud._
[255] The term “blockhouse” was loosely used, and was even
sometimes applied to an entire fort when constructed of hewn
logs, and not of palisades. The true blockhouse of the New
England frontier was a solid wooden structure about twenty
feet high, with a projecting upper story and loopholes above
and below.
[256] See the notice of Williams in _Mass. Hist. Coll._,
viii. 47. He was killed in the bloody skirmish that preceded
the Battle of Lake George in 1755. “Montcalm and Wolfe,”
chap. ix.
[257] “Lord’s day and Monday ... the sickness was very
distressing.... Eleven of our men were sick, and scarcely
one of us in perfect health; almost every man was troubled
with the griping and flux.”--Norton, _The Redeemed Captive_.
[258] Rigaud erroneously makes the garrison a little larger.
“La garnison se trouve de 24 hommes, entre lesquels il y
avoit un ministre, 3 femmes, et 5 enfans.” The names and
residence of all the men in the fort when the attack began
are preserved. Hawks made his report to the provincial
government under the title _“An Account of the Company in
his Majesty’s Service under the command of Serg^t. John
Hawks ... at Fort Massachusetts, August 20_ [31, new
style], 1746.” The roll is attested on oath “Before William
Williams, _Just. Pacis._” The number of men is 22, including
Hawks and Norton. Each man brought his own gun. I am
indebted to the kindness of Professor A. L. Perry for a copy
of Hawks’s report, which is addressed to “the Honble.
Spencer Phipps, Esq., Lieut. Gov^r. and Commander in Chief
[and] the Hon^{ble}. his Majesty’s Council and House of
Representatives in General Court assembled.”
[259] When I visited the place as a college student, no trace
of the fort was to be seen except a hollow, which may have
been the remains of a cellar, and a thriving growth of
horse-radish,--a relic of the garrison garden. My friend,
Dr. D. D. Slade, has given an interesting account of the
spot in the _Magazine of American History_ for October, 1888.
[260] “L’Ennemi me tua un abenakis et me blessa 16 hommes,
tant Iroquois qu’Abenaquis, nipissings et françois.”--_Journal
de Rigaud._
[261] “Je passay la nuit à conduire l’ouvrage auquel j’avois
destiné le jour précédent, résolu à faire ouvrir la tranchée
deux heures avant le lever du soleil, et de la pousser
jusqu’au pied de la palissade, pour y placer les fascines, y
appliquer l’artifice, et livrer le fort en proye à la fureur
du feu.”--_Journal de Rigaud._ He mistakes in calling the
log wall of the fort a palisade.
[262] _Journal of Sergeant Hawks_, cited by William L. Stone,
_Life and Times of Sir William Johnson_, i. 227. What seems
conclusive is that the French permitted Norton to nail to a
post of the fort a short account of its capture, in which it
is plainly stated that the first advances were made by
Rigaud.
[263] One French account says that the Indians failed to meet
the English party. _N. Y. Col. Docs._ x. 35.
[264] The note was as follows: “August 20 [31, new style],
1746. These are to inform you that yesterday, about 9 of the
clock, we were besieged by, as they say, seven hundred
French and Indians. They have wounded two men and killed one
Knowlton. The General de Vaudreuil desired capitulations,
and we were so distressed that we complied with his terms.
We are the French’s prisoners, and have it under the
general’s hand that every man, woman, and child shall be
exchanged for French prisoners.”
[265] _Journal de Rigaud._
[266] Kalm also describes the fort and its tower. Little trace
of either now remains. Amherst demolished them in 1759, when
he built the larger fort, of which the ruins still stand on
the higher ground behind the site of its predecessor.
[267] Of the twenty-two men in the fort when attacked, one,
Knowlton, was killed by a bullet; one, Reed, died just after
the surrender; ten died in Canada, and ten returned home.
_Report of Sergeant Hawks._
[268] _N. Y. Col Docs._, x. 147.
APPENDIX. 257
A.
CHAPTER XVII. ENGLAND HAS NO RIGHTFUL TITLES TO NORTH AMERICA, EXCEPT
THOSE WHICH MAY BE GRANTED HER BY FRANCE.
_Second Mémoire concernant les limites des Colonies presenté en
1720, par Bobé prêtre de la congregation de la Mission. à
Versailles._ Archives Nationales.
(_Extracts, printed literatim._)
“L’année Dernier 1719 je presenté un Memoire Concernant les
prétensions reciproques de la grande bretagne et de la france par
Raport aux Colonies des deux Nations dans L’Amerique, et au Reglement
des limites des dites Colonies.
“Je ne repete pas ce que j’ay dit dans ce memoire, je prie seulement
que l’on pese bien tout ce que j’y dis pour Aneantir les prétensions
des Anglois, et pour les Convaincre, s’ils veullent être de bonne foy,
qu’elles sont des plus mal fondées, trés Exorbitantes, et mêmes
injustes, qu’ayant usurpé sur La france presque tout ce qu’ils
possedent en Amerique, ils deveroient luy rendre au lieu de luy
demander, et qu’ils deveroient estimer Comme un tres grand avantage
pour Eux, la Compensation que j’y propose pour finir cette affaire,
laqu’elle, sans cette Compensation, renaitra toujours jusqu’a ce 258
qu’enfin la france soit rentrée en paisible possession de tout ce qui
luy appartient légitimement, et dont on ne L’a depoüilleé que par la
force et La malheureuse Conjoncture des tems, qui sans doute tôt ou
tard luy seront plus favorables.
“Il Est surprenant que les Anglois entendus Comme ils sont par Raport
à leurs Interests, ne fassent pas attention qu’il Leurs est infiniment
plus Avantageux de s’assurer, par un traité raisonnable, la tranquille
et perpetuelle possession des payis ou ils etoient établis avant la
paix D’utrecht, que de vouloir profiter des Conjonctures pour oster
aux françois des payis qu’ils ne Cederont jamais de bon Coeur, et dont
ils se rempareront quand ils trouveront l’occasion favorable pour
Cela, se persuadant qu’il leur sera alors permis de reprendre par
force, ce que par force on leurs à pris, et ce qu’ils ont été obligé
de Ceder a Utrecht; et meme de reprendre au moins une partie des payis
que l’angleterre à usurpez sur la france, qui ne les à jamais cedez
par aucun traité que je scache....
“Jean Verazan par ordre de françois 1^{er}. fit La decouverte de tous
les payis et Costes qui sont Entre le 33^e. et le 47^e. Degre de
latitude, et y fit deux voyages dont le dernier fut en 1523 et par
ordre et au nom du dit Roy francois 1^{er}. il prit possession de
toute cette Coste et de tous ces payis, bien long tems avant que les
Anglois y Eussent Eté.
“L’an 1562 Les françois s’établirent dans La Caroline. Champlain à La
fin de la relation de ses voyages fait un chapitre exprez Dans lequel
il prouve.
“1^o. Que La france a pris possession de toutes les Costes et payis
depuis la floride inclusivement jusqu’au fleuve S^t. Laurent
inclusivem^t., avant tout autre prince chrêtien.
“2^o. Que nos roys ont eu, dez le Commancement des decouvertes des
lieutenans generaux Dans ces payis et Costes.
“3^o. Que Les françois les ont habitez avant les Anglois. 259
“4^o. Que Les prétensions des Anglois sont Mal fondées.
“La Lecture De ce chapitre fait voir que Champlain prouve
invinciblement tous ces chefs, et de maniere que les Anglois n’ont
rien de bon à y repondre, de sorte que s’ils veullent être de bonne
foy, ils doivent Convenir que tous ces payis appartiennent
Légitimement à la france qu’ils s’en sont emparez et qu’ils les
Retiennent Contre toute justice....
“Il Est A Remarquer que quoyque par le traité de S^t. germain
l’angleterre dut restituer tout ce qu’elle Avoit occupé dans la
Nouvelle france, et par Consequent toute la Coste depuis baston
jusqu’a la virginie inclusivement (car alors les Anglois ne s’etoient
pas encore emparez de la Caroline) laqu’elle Coste est Certainement
partie de la Nouvelle france, les Anglois ne l’ont pas Cependant
restituée et la gardent encore a present Contre la teneur du traité de
S^t. Germain, quoy que la france ne L’ait point Cedée a L’angleterre
ni par le dit traité ni par Aucun Autre que je scache.
“Cecy Merite La plus serieuse attention de la france, et qu’elle fasse
Entendre serieusement aux Anglois que par le traité de S^t. germain
ils se sont obligez de luy rendre toutte cette Coste, qui
incontestablement est partie de la Nouvelle france, Comme je L’ay
prouvé cy devant et encore plus au long dans mon 1^r. memoire et Comme
le prouvent Verazan, Champlain, Denis, et toutes les plus ancienes
Cartes de l’amerique septentrionale....
“Or Le Commun Consentement de toute l’Europe est de depeindre la
Nouvelle france S’étendant au moins au 35^e. et 36^e. degrez de
latitude Ainsy qu’il appert par les mappe-mondes imprimées en Espagne,
Italie, hollande, flandres, allemagne Et Angleterre même, Sinon depuis
que les Anglois se sont Emparez des Costes de la Nouvelle france, ou
est L’Acadie, Etechemains L’almouchicois, et la grande riviere de S^t. 260
l’aurens, ou ils ont imposé a leur fantaisie des Noms de nouvelle
Angleterre, Ecosse, et autres, mais il est mal aisé de pouvoir Effacer
une chose qui est Connué De toute la Chretienteé D’ou je Conclus,
“1^o. Quavant L’Usurpation faite par les Anglois, toute Cette Coste
jusqu’au 35^e. Degre s’appelloit Nouvelle france, laquelle Comprenoit
outre plusieurs autres provinces, l’Etechemains, L’almouchicois, et
L’acadie....
“Les Anglois Doivent remettre à La france le Port Royal, et La france
doit insister vigoureusement sur cette restitution, et ordonner aux
françois de Port Royal, Des Mines, et de Beaubassin, et autres lieux
De reconaitre sa Majesté tres Chretiene pour leur Souverain, et leur
deffendre d’obeir a aucun autre; de plus Commander a tous ces lieux et
payis, et a toute la partie Septentrionale de la Peninsule, ainsi
qu’aux payis des Almouchicois et des Etechemains [_Maine_, _New
Hampshire_, _and Massachusetts_], de Reconaitre le gouverneur
de l’isle Royale pour leur Gouverneur.
“Il Est même apropos De Comprendre Dans le Brevet de gouverneur de
L’isle Royale tous ces payis jusqu’au Cap Cod....
“Que La france ne doit point souffrir que les Anglois s’etablissent
Dans les payis qu’elle n’a pas Cedez.
“Qu’elle Doit incessament s’en remettre en possession, y Envoyer
quantite D’habitans, et s’y fortifier de maniere qu’on puisse Arrêter
les Anglois que depuis long tems tachent de s’emparer de l’amerique
francoise dont ils Conaissent L’importance, et dont ils feroient un
meilleur usage que celuy que les françois en font....
“Si les Anglois disent que les payis qui sont entre les rivieres de
quinibequi [_Kennebec_] et de S^{te}. Croix font partie de la
Nouvelle Angleterre.
JE LEURS REPONS 261
“1^o. Qu’ils scavent bien le Contraire, que Ces payis ont toujours
fait partie de la Nouvelle france, que Les francois les ont toujours
possedez et habitez, que Mons^r. De S^t. Castin gentilhomme francois a
toujours eu, et a encore son habitation entre la Riviere de Quinibequi
et celle de Pentagoet [_Penobscot_] (que même depuis les
usurpations des anglois et leurs etablissements, dans leur Prétenduë
Nouvelle Angleterre) les francois ont toujours prétendu que la
Nouvelle france s’etend qusqu’au Cap Cod et qu’il en est fait mention
dans toutes les patentes de gouverneurs francois.
“2^o Que De L’aveu même des Anglois, la Nouvelle Angleterre a une tres
petite Etenduë du Costé de L’est, il est facile de le prouver par eux
mêmes.
“J’ay Lu une description de la Nouvelle Angleterre et des autres
Colonies Angloises, Composée par un Anglois, traduite en francois,
imprimée à Paris en 1674 par Loüis Billaine, voicy les propres termes
de Cet autheur Anglois, La Nouvelle Angleterre est au Septentrion de
Marylande, au raport du Capitaine Smith, elle a prez de 25 Lieuës de
Coste de mer.
“Ainsi selon les Anglois qui sont de Bonne foy, la Nouvelle
Angleterre, qui n’a que prez de 25 lieuës de Coste de mer, ne scauroit
s’etendre jusqu’e á La Riviere de Quinebequi. C’est tout au plus si
elle s’etend jusqu’a deux ou trois lieuës à l’est De Baston.
“Il Semble même que les Anglois ont basti Baston, et en ont fait une
ville Considerable à l’extremeté de leur pretenduë Nouvelle
Angleterre.
“1^o Pour être a portée et en Etat de s’emparer sur les francois de
tout ce qui est à L’est de Baston.
“2^o Pour être en Etat d’Empecher les francois de s’etablir sur toute 262
Cette Coste jusqu à La Karoline inclusivement, laquelle Coste etant de
Notorieté publique de la Nouvelle france, à eté usurpez sur La france
a qui elle appartenoit alors, et luy appartient Encore, ne L’ayant
jamais cedeé. C’est ce que je vais prouver.
“Apres Avoir Invinciblement Convaincu les Anglois que tout ce qui est
a L’est de quinibequi a Toujours appartenu et appartient encore a La
france, excepté L’Acadie selon ses Ancienes limites, qu’elle a Cedée
par force a L’Angleterre par La paix d’utrecht.
“Il faut Que Presentement je prouve que toute La Coste depuis la
Riviere quinibequi jusqu’ à La Caroline inclusivement appartient par
toutes sortes de droits à La france. Sur qui les Anglois L’ont
usurpée, voicy une partie de mes preuves.
“Les françois ont decouvert tous ces payis Avant les Anglois, et en
ont pris possession avant Eux. Les Roys de france ont nommé ces payis
Caroline et Nouvelle france avant que les Anglois leurs eussent donné
des Noms à leur mode pour faire oublier les Noms que les francois
Leurs avoient imposez. Et que ces payis Appartenoient à La france.
“Les Roys de france ont Donné des lettres patentes à leurs sujets pour
posseder et habiter ces payis, avant que Jacques 1^r. et Charles 1^r.
Roys d’Angleterre en eussent donne à Leurs sujets.
“Pour Convaincre les Anglois de ces veritées il faut Lire avec
attention ce qu’en ont Ecrit Jean verazan, Champlain, Laet, Denis.
“Les traitez faits Entre La france et L’Angleterre, et Le memoire que
j’ay presenté L’anneé Dernier 1719.
“On y Trouvera tant de Choses, lesquelles il seroit trop long de
Copier icy, qui prouvent que ces payis ont toujours appartenu de droit 263
a La france, et que les Anglois s’en sont emparez par force, que La
france ne les a jamais Cedez à l’angleterre par aucun traité, que je
scache.
“Et Partant que La france Conserve toujours son droit sur tous ces
payis, et qu’elle a droit de les redemander à l’Angleterre. Comme elle
les redemande présentement, ou Bien un Equivalent.
“L’Equivalent que la france demande et dont elle veut bien se
Contenter, C’est la restitution de tout ce qu’elle a Cedéé par force à
L’Angleterre par Le traité D’utrecht.
“Il Est De l’honeur et de l’interest de l’angleterre d’accorder à la
france cette Equivalent.
“1^o Parceque n’y ayant point D’honeur à profiter des Malheurs D’un
Roy pour Luy faire Ceder par force les payis qui luy appartiennent, il
est de l’honeur de L’Angleterre de rendre a la france, ce qu’elle a
eté Contrainte de luy ceder, et qu’elle ne possede qu’a ce mauvais
tiltre.
“2^o Il est aussi Contre la justice et l’honeur de l’angleterre de
posseder sans aucun Tiltre, et Contre toute justice les payis qui sont
depuis la Riviere de quinibequi jusqu’à la Caroline inclusivement.
“3^o Il N’est pas moins de l’honeur et de l’interest de l’angleterre
de profiter du moyen que la france veut bien luy presenter, pour
sassurer a perpetuite toute Cette Coste, et pour la posseder justem^t.
par la Cession que la france en fera, et de tous ses droits sur ces
payis moyennant L’Equivalent proposé.
“4^o Parceque L’Angleterre doit Craindre que la france, dont elle ne
Doit mepriser ni le Ressentiment ni la puissance, ne trouve une
Conjoncture favorable pour faire valoir ses pretensions et ses droits,
et pour Rentrer en possession de tout ce que L’Angleterre Luy a
usurpée, et de tout ce qu’elle l’a obligé par force de luy Ceder.
“5^o Quand on veut trop avoir, souvent on n’a Rien, et meme on perd 264
ce que L’on Avoit. Il est donc de la sagesse Et de l’interest de
l’Angleterre de ne pas pousser trop loin ses demandes, et de Convenir
avec La france de sorte qu’elle puisse posseder Avec justice et
tranquillement des payis que la france Aura toujours droit de
reprendre jusqu’a ce qu’elle en ait fait une Cession libre et
volontaire, et qu’il paroisse que L’Angleterre En faveur de Cette
Cession luy ait donné un Equivalent.
“La france s’offre donc pour vivre en paix avec l’Angleterre de luy
Ceder tous ses droits sur toute la Coste qui est entre la riviere de
quinibequi dans la Nouvelle france jusqu’a la Riviere Jourdain, dans
la Caroline, de sorte que ces deux rivieres servent de limites aux
francois et aux Anglois.
“La france Demande pour Equivalent de la Cession de tant de payis, si
grands, si beaux, et si a sa biensceance que l’Angleterre luy rende Et
restituë tout ce qu’elle luy à cedé par le traité Dutrecht.
“Si La france ne peut pas engager L’Angleterre à convenir de Cet
Equivalent, Elle pouroit (mais Ce ne doit être qu’a L’extremité) Ceder
Encore à l’Angleterre la Caroline francoise, C’est a dire, ce qui est
au sud de la Riviere Jourdain, Ou bien Ce qui est Entre la Riviere
quinibequi, et Celle de Pentagoet. Ou bien leur offrir une somme
D’argent.
“Il Semble que L’Angleterre doive estimer Comme un grand Avantage pour
Elle, que La france veuille bien Convenir de Cet Equivalent, qui
Assure Aux Anglois et leur rend legitime La possession de Cette grande
etenduë de Costes qu’ils ont usurpez sur La france, qui ne les a
jamais Cedez, qui ne les Cedera jamais, et sur lesqu’elles elle
Conservera toujours ses legitimes droit et pretensions, jusqu’a ce
qu’elle les ait Cédeés a L’angleterre moyennant un Equivalent
raisonnable tel qu’est la Restitution de tout ce que La France luy a
Cedé par force a Utrecht.
LIMITES. 265
“Suposeé L’acceptation de Cet Equivalent par L’une et l’autre Nation.
“La france toujours genereuse Consentira pour vivre en paix avec les
Anglois, qu’une ligne tirée depuis l’embouchure de la Riviere de
quinibequi, ou bien, depuis l’embouchure de la Riviere de Pentagoet,
qui ira tout droit passer á egale distance entre Corlard
[_Schenectady_] et les lacs de Champlain et du Saint Sacrement,
et joindre la ligne par laqu’elle le sieur de L’isle geographe termine
les terres Angloises, jusqu’a la Riviere Jourdain, ou bien jusqu’à La
Caroline inclusivem^t. La france dis-je Consentira que cette ligne
serve De borne et limites aux terres des deux Nations, de sorte que
tous les payis et terres qui sont entre Cette ligne et la mer
appartiendront à L’Angleterre, et que tout ce qui sera au dela de
cette ligne appartiendra a La france.
“Dans Le fond il est avantageux a la france de faire incessament
regler les limites, tant pour Empecher les Anglois d’empieter toujours
de plus en plus sous pretexte de limites Non regleés, que parcequ’il
est assuré que si le droit de la france est bien soutenu le réglement
lui sera Avantageux, aussi bien que l’equivalent que j’ay proposé.
“Mais il pouroit arriver que les Anglois qui ont demandé le Reglement
des limites, voyant qu’il ne doit pas leur etre favorable s’il est
fait selon la justice, pourroient bien eux mêmes l’eloigner, afin de
pouvoir toujours empieter sur les francois sous pretexte de limites
non regleés, et de se mettre toujours en possession des payis
Appartenans à la france.
“En ce Cas et aussi au Cas que les Anglois ne veullent pas restituer a
la france leur Nouvelle Angleterre et autres payis jusqu’a la Caroline
inclusivement qu’ils luy out usurpez, ou bien leur rendre L’Acadie 266
&^c pour l’equivalent Dont j’ay parlé.
“1^o Il faut que la france mette incessament quantité d’habitans dans
le payis qui est entre la riviere de quinibequi et Celle de S^{te}.
Croix, lequel payis qui selon les Anglois N’est point en Litige, ni
partie de la pretenduë Nouvelle Ecosse, même, selon l’etenduë
imaginaire que luy á donnée leur Roy Jacques 1^r. qui ne la fait
Commancer qu’a La riviere S^{te} Croix, et Celle de quinibequi N’ayant
jamais eté Cedé ni par le traite D’utrecht ni par Aucun autre que je
scache, et ce payis Ayant toujours appartenu a La france, et eté par
elle possedez et habité, M^r. de S^t. Castin gentilhomme francois
ayant son habitation entre la riviere de Pentagoet et Celle de
quinibequi comme je l’ay Deja dit.
“2^o On peut même faire entendre a L’Angleterre que Le Roy donnera Ce
payis a la Compagnie des Indes qui scaura bien le deffendre et le
faire valoir.
“Que Le Roy donnera aussi a la Compagnie des Indes la Caroline
francoise, Comme depandance et province de la loüisiane, a Condition
qu’elle y mettera des habitans, et y fera bâtir de bons forts, et une
bonne Citadelle pour soutenir et deffendre ce beau payis Contre les
Anglois.
“Il Est Certain que si le Roy fait entendre serieusement qu’il est
resolu de donner à la Compagnie des Indes non seulement La Caroline
francoise, et le payis qui est entre les Rivieres de quinibequi et de
S^{te} Croix, mais aussi de luy Ceder et abandonner tous ses droits
sur tous les payis que les Anglois ont usurpez sur la france.
“Il Est Certain Dis je, que les Anglois, Crainte D’Avoir affaire avec
une Compagnie si puissante, se resoudront au Reglement des limites,
tel que je l’ay proposé, et à rendre a la france toute la Nouvelle
Ecosse ou Acadie selon ses Ancienes limites, Enfin tout ce que la
france leur à Cedez a Utrecht, moyennant une somme D’Argent, ou bien
L’equivalent que j’ay Aussi proposé.
“Je finis Ce memoire en priant de faire une tres serieuse attention 267
aux Exorbitantes prétensions des Anglois et a tout ce qu’ils ont fait
Et font encore pour se rendre maitres de la pesche la Moluë, et de
L’Amerique francoise.
“En Effet il est tres important que quand on traitera du reglement des
limites, La france attaque les Anglois au lieu d’etre sur La
defensive, C’est a dire, qu’elle doit demander aux Anglois tout ce
qu’ils ont usurpez sur Elle, et le demander vigoureusement.
“C’est peut être le meilleur moyen de les mettre a la Raison, il est
même apropos qu’elle les presse de finir Cette affaire, Dont sans
doute La Conclusion luy sera Avantageuse, si on luy rend justice.”
II.
DEMANDES DE LA FRANCE (1723).
_Archives du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères._
(_Literatim._)
“Pour tous les Raisons deduites cy devant La france demande a
Langleterre.
“1^o Qu’Elle laisse jouir Tranquillement la france de Tous les pays
qui sont a L’Est de la riviere Quinibequi ou de Celle de S^t. Georges
excepté de la seulle ville de Port Royal avec sa banlieüe et de
L’accadie selon ses anciennes Limites, C’Est a dire La partie
Meridionale de la Peninsule depuis le Cap fourchu jusqua Camseau
Exclusivement, Que la france a cedée par la traite d’Utrecht, Tout le
reste qui est a L’Est de Quinibequi [_Kennebec_], appartenant a
La France en tout souveraineté depuis L’an 1524. Laquélle ne la jamais
cedé ny par le Traitté d’Utrecht ny par aucun autre traitté.
“2^o Que les Anglois Laissent Vivre Tranquillement sous la domination 268
du Roy les nations Sauvages qui sont dans Les payis a L’Est de
Quinibequi et qu’ils Ninquietent point les Missionnaires qui
demeureront Chés les d. Nations Ny les françois qui Iront Chés Elles.
“3^o Que Les Anglois restituent a la france ce qu’ils ont occupé a
L’Est de Quinibequi et qu’ils ne Trouvent pas mauvais que les françois
prennent detruisent ou gardent les forts Postes et habitations, que
les Anglois ont Etablis, ou Etabliront dans tous les Pays a L’Est de
Quinibiqui, ou de la Rivierre S^t Georges Car quand même il ne Seroist
pas sure que Ces d. Paÿs appartiennent a La France, il suffit qu’ils
sont Contesté pour rendre injuste et Violente L’occupation qu’En
feroient les Anglois avant que la Contestation fut finie.
“4^o Que Les Anglois restituent tout ce qu’ils Occupent dans la
Nouvelle france depuis Le 30^e degré jusqua Quinibequi ou jusqua La
Rivierre S^t georges Comme Elle y est obligeé par Le traitté de S^t.
germain En Laye En 1632. La france ne luy ayant jamais cedé par aucun
Traitté aucune partie de toute La Nouvelle france, sinon La Ville de
Port Royal avec sa Banlieüe et lacadie selon ses anciennes Limittes.
“Si les Anglois disent que la France ne s’est point opposeé aux
occupations qu’ils ont fait dans la Nouvelle france
“Je Leur repons que la france sy est toujours opposeé et qu’elle s’Est
Toujours Maintenuë dans la souveraineté de toute la Nouvelle france,
soit en donnant tout ses Paÿs enconcession, soit en y envoyant des
gouverneurs généraux, soit en Nommant Vice Roys de la Nouvelle france
Les plus grands Seigneurs du Roÿaume, Tels Ont esté M. Le Comte de
Soissons, M. Le Prince de Condé, M. de Montmorency, M. Le Duc de
Vantadour, M. Le Cardinal de Richelieu etc. qui des les premiers tems 269
ont este successivement Viceroys de la Nouvelle france et Terres
Circonvoisines, par la Lecture de leurs patentes On verra que Nos Roys
se sont Toujours Conservé la Souveraineté des pays qui sont Entre le
30^e. et Le 50^e. degré, et qu’ils Nont jamais Consenty que les
Anglois y fissent aucun Etablissement et que sy-ils y en ont fait çá
esté Malgré la france, que avoit trop d’affaires en Europe pour
pouvoir les Empecher, Se reservant Toujours ses droits et la Volonté
de les faire Valoir quand Elle en Trouveroit une occasion favorable,
ce qui pourroit bien arriver un jour, alors on Verroit que L’on ne
s’Empare pas Impunement et par Violence, des Domaines d’un Roy de
france et qu’il est assés puissant pour se remettre en pocession Tost
ou tard de ce qu’on a Usurpé sur luy, C’est a quoy les Anglois
deveroient faire attention, et ce qui devroit les obliger de ne pas
mepriser Ny maltraitter La France Comme Ils font.
“La france s’Est encore opposeé aux Usurpations des Anglois Les ayant
obligé par le traitté de S^t. Germain En 1632, de restituer a la
france Tout ce qu’ils avoient jusqual’ors occupe dans la Nouvelle
france, Ils Nont pas cependant Encore fait cette restitution, Mais on
leur demande présentement qu’ils la fassent incessammant N’Etant pas
juste qu’ils retiennent plus Longtems ce qui ne leur appartient pas,
et qu’ils ont promis solennellement de restituer a la france.
“Mais disent Les Anglois Nous sommes Etablis dans La Nouvelle france
depuis la Caroline Inclusivement jusqua Quinibequi depuis 1585, jusqua
presant 1723. Nous y avons mis quantiteé d’habitans et bastis
plusieurs grandes villes. Navons Nous pas prescrit Contre La france
par une sy Longue procession.”
REPONSE. 270
“Non parce que La france sy est Toujours opposeé par les Lettres
pattentes qu’Elle a donneés aux Concésionnaires Generaux, aux
Lieutenants generaux et aux Viceroys de la Nouvelle france.
“Non parce que La france obligea en 1632, par Le traitté de S^t.
Germain, Langleterre de luy restituer tous les lieux occupés dans la
Nouvelle france par les Anglois, Et que le traitté de Breda en 1667,
celuy de Neutralité en 1686, et celuy d’Utrecht en 1713, ne disent
rien d’ou on puisse Inferer que la france ait cedé a Langleterre
aucune partie de la Nouvelle france, sinon la province de la Cadie
selon ses anciennes Limittes, et la seule ville de Port Royal avec ses
dépendances ou Banlieüe. Je dis encore que Cette longue possession des
anglois, ces Villes baties et ce grand Nombre d’habitans mis par eux
dans ces pays Nanéantissent point le droit de la france pour les
redemander....
“Il y avoit Environ 150 ans que les françois avoient abandonné les
postes qu’ils avoient alors sur la Coste du Bresil les Portuguais sy
Etablirent aussitost y Mirent quantité d’habitans et y batirent de
grandes Villes. Ils ne Croyoient pas cependant que pour cela la france
fut dechüe de ses droits de proprieté et de souveraineté sur ces pays
abandonnés par Elle depuis 150 ans, puisqua Utrecht en 1713 Le Roy de
Portugal demanda au Roy qu’il luy abandonnat ses droits sur ces pays,
ce qui Le Roy fit en Consideration du Portugal.
“Les Anglois possedoient depuis longues anneés La Jamaique y avoient
quantité d’habitans, de forts et de riches Villes, persuadés cependant
que les droits de l’Espagne subsisteroient Tant quelle Ny auroit pas
renoncé en leur faveur. Ils demanderent a Utrecht Cette renonciation
au Roy d’Espagne et il la leur accorda.
“Si les Anglois avoient demandé a la france une Cession de tous ces 271
droits sur les pays occupés par Eux dans la Nouvelle france Il y a
apparance que le Roy leur auroit fait cession a des Conditions
raisonnables. Ils nont pas demandés cette cession, ou sy ils lont
demandeé, elle ne leur a pas esté accordeé les droits de la france
subsistent donc Toujours et Elle pretend presentement que les Anglois
qui en usent sy mal avec Elle, luy restituënt Tout ce quelle a usurpé
dans la Nouvelle france depuis le 30^e. jusquau 50^e. degré.”
“Mais disent les Anglois Commant pouvoir restituer un sy vaste pays ou
nous avons une Infinité d’habitans et un trés grand nombre de belles
et riches villes? Une Telle restitution N’Est pas practicable.”
RESPONSE.
“Javouë qu’il est bien difficile de sy resoudre même aux personnes qui
font profession d’aimer L’Equité et La Justice.
“Mais Le Roy aime trop la nation Angloise, a trop de Consideration
pour Elle, desire trop luy faire plaisir, et est trop généreux pour
exiger d’Elle une Telle restitution Voulant luy donner Un Exemple de
la moderation dont il souhaite que Langleterre use a son Egard.
“Il se désistera Volontiers de tous ces droits et consentira que Toute
la Coste jusqua 20 Lieuës dans l’Enfoncement des Terres Depuis le
32^e. degré jusqua la Rivierre de Quinibequi demeure en toute
proprieté et souveraineté a perpetuité a Langleterre a condition
quelle Sobligera par un traitté solennel et décisif de ne jamais
passer ces limites. Que la france ne sera jamais Inquieté par
Langleterre dans la Jouissance en proprieté et souveraineté de Ce qui
est au dela de ces 20 lieuës dans lenfoncement des terres et de Tous 272
les pays qui sont a L’Est de la rivierre de Quinibequi, qui de Ce
Costé la servira de Limites aux deux Nations, et que Langleterre
rendra a la france Le port Royal et la Cadie avec leurs dependances,
Enfin Tout ce que la france luy a Cedé par le traité d’Utrecht sans en
rien Excepter.
“Cet offre du Roy doit estre agreable a Langleterre et luy faire
plaisir, parceque sy elle l’accepte elle possedera a juste Titre cette
grande partie de la Nouvelle france, qu’Elle possedera Toujours
injustement sy Elle Naccepte pas un offre sy raisonnable que Luy fait
Le Roy qui sans cette acceptation Ne renoncera jamais a ses droits de
souveraineté sur une sy grande et sy belle partie de la Nouvelle
France, droits que les anglois doivent Craindre qu’il Ne fasse Valoir
Tost ou tard, Car si puissante que soit Langleterre, Ils ne doivent
pas croire que la france ne luy cede rien en puissance ny en quoy que
ce soit, et qu’on ne la meprise et maltraitte pas Impunement.
“Sy Les Anglois ont quelques autres titres et quelques autres raysons
a alleguer en leur faveur, sy on me veut faire L’honneur de me les
Communiquer, Je moffre d’y repondre d’une maniere a les obliger d’
avouër qu’ils ont tort, sils sont de bonne foy et si ils aiment La
justice et la paix.
ADDITION.
“On vient de me faire voire une carte de la nouvelle france presenté
au Roy par les Anglois sur la quelle est tracé par une ligne tout ce
qu’ils pretendent en vertu du traitté d’Utrecht.
“Ils y etendent sy loin leurs pretentions dans Les terres, qu’il y a
tout lieu de Croire que cette Ligne na pas eté traceé, Ny Cette carte
presenteé par ordre et au scû du Sage et judicieux ministre
dangleterre, mais par quelqu’Un que donne a penser qu’il veut broüiller 273
L’angleterre avec La france.
“Ce qui donne encore plus de lieu a avoir de luy cette penseé C’est
que le traitté d’Utrecht ayant determiné les Limites des deux Nations
pour la pesche, par desairs de vent, quoyque par toutes les nations
les airs de vent se tracent en Ligne droite, il les a tracé en Ceintre
a L’Est de Lisle de Sable, en quoy il semble avoir Intention de se
mocquer de la france et de L’Irriter.
“La prise d’un vaisseau françois dans Le passage de Camceau, La
Construction d’un fort a Canceau, Le nom d’albanie donné a la partye
de la Nouvelle France qui est entre quinibequi et la ville de Port
Royal pays qui n’a point esté Cedé par le traitté d’Utrecht, Les forts
Construits, et Les Concessions donneés, Les Nations sauvages, et Les
missionnaires maltraités dans ce pays appartenant a la france, ou du
moins pretendu et Contesté par Elle.
“Tout cela pourroit bien Venir de quelque Anglois qui voudroit
broüiller les deux Nations. C’est aux Anglois pacifiques a le punir et
a la france a supposer a de telles entreprises jusqu ce que les
Limites soient regleés d’Une Maniere Equitable.
“Collationné et figuré sur une Copie de Mémoire ou notte en papier non
Signeé ni dattée estant au Secrétariat du Chateau S^t. Louis de Quebec
ou elle est resteé Par Le Notaire Royal en la prevosté de Quebec y
resident soussigné ce jourdhuy Vingt cinq Juillet mil sept cent
cinquante.
DU LAURENT.
“François Bigot, Conseiller du Roy en ses Conseils, Intendant de
justice, Police, finances et de la marine en la Nouvelle france.
“Certifions a tousqu’il appartiendra que M^r. Dulaurent qui a signé la
Collation de L’autre part Est notaire Royal en la prevosté de Quebec
Et que foy doit Estre ajouteé a sa signature En la d^e qualité; En 274
temoin de quoy nous avons signeé et fait Contresigner ces presentes
par nôtre secretaire et a Icelles fait apposer le Cachet de nos armes,
fait en nôtre hotel a Quebec Le p^{er}. Aoust, mil sept cent Cinquante.
BIGOT
Cachet PAR MONSEIGNEUR
DESCHENAUX.”
Endorsed. “Envoyé par M^r. Bigot Intend^t. du Canada avec sa lettre au
M^{is}. de Puyzieulx du 1^{er}. aoust 1750. No 25, 1723.”
B.
CHAPTERS XIX., XX., XXI.
THE SIEGE OF LOUISBOURG AS DESCRIBED BY FRENCH WITNESSES.
_Lettre d’un Habitant de Louisbourg contenant une Relation exacte et
circonstanciée de la Prise de l’Isle Royale par les Anglois. À
Québec, chez Guillaume le Sincère, à l’Image de la Vérité._
MDCCXLV. [_Extraits._]
[_Literatim._]
“... Le mauvais succès dont cette entreprise (_against
Annapolis_) a été suivie, est envisagé, avec raison, comme la cause
de notre perte. Les Anglois ne nous auroient peut-être point
inquietés, si nous n’eussions été les premiers à les insulter. Notre
qualité d’aggresseurs nous a été funeste; je l’ai oüi conter à plus
d’un ennemi, & je n’y vois que trop d’apparence. Les habitans de la
nouvelle Angleterre étoient interressés à vivre en paix avec nous. Ils
l’eussent sans doute fait, si nous ne nous étions point avisés mal à 275
propos de les tirer de cette sécurité où ils etoient à notre égard.
Ils comptoient que de part & d’autre, on ne prendroit aucun parti dans
cette cruelle guerre qui a mis l’Europe en feu, et que nous nous
tiendrions comme eux sur la seule défensive. La prudence le dictoit;
mais elle n’est pas toujours la régle des actions des hommes: nous
l’avons plus éprouvé que qui que ce soit....
“... L’expédition de l’Acadie manquée, quoiqu’il y eût tout à parier
qu’il reuissiroit par le peu de forces que les ennemis avoient pour
nous résister, leur fit faire de serieuses réflexions sur notre
crainte, ou notre faiblesse. Selon tous les apparences, ils en
conclurent qu’ils devoient profiter d’une aussi favorable
circonstance, puisque dès-lors ils travaillerent avec ardeur à
l’armement qui leur était necessaire. Ils ne firent pas comme nous:
ils se prêterent un secours mutuel: on arma dans tous leurs Ports,
depuis l’Acadie jusqu’au bas de la Côte: on dépêcha en Angleterre, &
on envoya, dit on, jusqu’à _la Jamaïque_ afin d’en tirer tous les
secours qu’il seroit possible. Cette entreprise fut concertée avec
prudence, et l’on travailla tout l’hiver pour être prêt au premier
beau tems.
“Les préparatifs n’en pouvaient être si secrets, qu’il n’en transpirât
quelque chose. Nous en avions été informés dès les premiers instans, &
assez à tems pour en pouvoir donner avis à la Cour....
“Nous eumes tout l’hiver à nous, c’était plus qu’il n’en falloit pour
nous mettre en état de défense; mais la terreur s’étoit emparée des
esprits: on tenait des conseils, dont le résultat n’avoit rien que de
bizarre et de puérile; cependant le tems s’écoulait, nous perdions de
précieux momens en déliberations inutiles, & en résolutions presque
aussitôt détruites que prises. Quelques ouvrages demandoient qu’on les
parachevât: il en falloit renforcer quelques-uns, augmenter quelques 276
autres, pourvoir à des postes, visiter tous ceux de l’Isle, voir où la
descente étoit plus facile, faire le denombrement des personnes en
état de porter les armes, assigner à chacun son poste; enfin se donner
tous les soins et les mouvemens ordinaires en pareil cas; rien de tout
cela ne se faisoit; de sorte que nous avons été surpris, comme si
l’ennemi fût venu fondre sur nous à l’improviste. Nous aurions eu même
assez de tems pour nous precautionner mieux qu’on ne l’a fait, depuis
le jour où nous vimes paroître les premiers Navires qui nous ont
bloqués; car ils n’y sont venues que les uns après les autres, ainsi
que je le dirai dans la suite. La négligence & la déraison avoient
conjuré la perte de notre malheureuse Isle....
“Ce fut le quatorze [Mars], que nous vimes les premiers Navires
ennemis; ils n’étoient encore que deux, & nous les primes d’abord pour
des Vaisseaux François; mais nous fumes bien tôt détrompés par leur
manœuvre. Le nombre en augmentoit de jour à autre, il en arriva
jusqu’à la fin de Mai. Ils croiserent long-tems, sans rien tenter. Le
rendez-vous général étoit devant notre Isle, où ils arrivoient de tous
côtez; car on avoit armé à l’Acadie, Plaisance, Baston, & dans toute
l’Amerique Anglaise. Les secours d’Europe ne vinrent qu’en Juin.
C’étoit moins une entreprise formée par la Nation ou par le Roi, que
par les seuls habitans de la nouvelle Angleterre. Ces peuples
singuliers ont des Lois & une Police qui leur sont particulières, &
leur Gouverneur tranche du Souverain. Cela est si vrai, que,
quoi-qu’il y eût guerre déclarée entre les deux Couronnes, il nous la
déclara lui de son chef & en son nom, comme s’il avoit fallu qu’il eût
autorisé son maître. Sa declaration portoit, qu’il nous déclaroit la
guerre pour lui, & pour tous ses amis & alliés; il entendoit parler
apparemment des Sauvages qui leur sont soumis, qu’on appelle
_Indiens_, & que l’on distingue des Sauvages qui obéissent à la
France. On verra que l’Amiral _Warren_ n’avoit rien à commander 277
aux troupes envoyées par le Gouverneur de Baston, & que cet Amiral n’a
été que Spectateur, quoique ce soit à lui que nous nous soyons rendus.
Il nous en avoit fait solliciter. Ce qui marque bien l’independance
qu’il y avoit entre l’armée de terre & celle de mer que l’on nous a
toujours distinguées comme si elles eussent été de differentes
Nations. Quelle Monarchie s’est jamais gouvernée de la sorte?
“La plus grande partie des Bâtimens de transport étant arrivés dans le
commencement de Mai, nous les apperçûmes le onze en ordre de bataille,
au nombre de quatre-vingt seize venant du côté de Canceaux & dirigeant
leur route vers la Pointe plate de la Baye de _Gabarus_. Nous ne
doutames plus qu’ils n’y fissent leur descente. C’est alors qu’on vit
la nécessité des precautions que nous aurions dû prendre. On y envoya
à la hâte un détachement de cent hommes, tirés de la garnison & des
Milices, sous le commandement du sieur _Morpain_, Capitaine de
Port. Mais que pouvait un aussi faible corps, contre la multitude que
les ennemis debarquoient! Cela n’aboutit qu’à faire tuer une partie
des nôtres. Le sieur _Morpain_ trouva déjà près de deux milles
hommes débarqués; il en tua quelques-uns & se retira.
“L’Ennemi s’empare de toute la campagne, & un détachement s’avance
jusques auprès de la batterie Royale. Pour le coup, la frayeur nous
saisit tous; on parla dès l’instant d’abandonner cette magnifique
batterie, qui auroit été notre plus grande défense, si l’on eût sçu en
faire usage. On tint tumultuairement divers Conseils là-dessus. Il
seroit bien difficile de dire les raisons qui portoient à un aussi
étrange procédé; si ce n’est une terreur panique, que ne nous a plus
quitté de tout le Siège. Il n’y avoit pas eu encore un seul coup de
fusil tiré sur cette batterie, que les ennemis ne pouvoient prendre
qu’en faisant leurs approches comme pour la Ville, & l’assiégeant,
pour ainsi dire, dans les régles. On en a dit sourdement une raison 278
sur laquelle je ne suis point en état de décider; je l’ai pourtant
entendu assurer par une personne qui était dans la batterie; mais mon
poste étant en Ville, il y avoit long-tems que je n’étois allé à la
batterie Royale: C’est que ce qui détermina à un abandon si criminel,
est qu’il y avoit deux brêches qui n’avoient point été réparées. Si
cela est, le crime est encore plus grand, parce que nous avions eu
plus de loisir qu’il n’en falloit, pour mettre ordre à tout.
“Quoiqu’il en soit, la résolution fut prise de renoncer à ce puissant
boulevard, malgré les représentations de quelques gens sages, qui
gémissoient de voir commettre une si lourde faute. Ils ne purent se
faire écouter. Inutilement remontrèrent-ils que ce seroit témoigner
notre foiblesse aux ennemis, qui ne manqueroient point de profiter
d’une aussi grande étourderie, & qui tourneroient cette même batterie
contre nous; que pour faire bonne contenance & ne point réchauffer le
courage à l’ennemi, en lui donnant dès le premier jour, une si grande
espérance de réussir, il falloit se maintenir dans ce poste important
le plus que l’on pourroit: qu’il étoit évident qu’on s’y conserveroit
plus de quinze jours, & que ce délai pouvoit être employé à retirer
tous les canons dans la Ville. On répondit que le Conseil l’avoit
résolu autrement; ainsi donc par ordre du Conseil, on abandonna le 13
sans avoir essuyé le moindre feu, une batterie de trente pièces de
canon, qui avoit couté au Roi des sommes immenses. Cet abandon se fit
avec tant de précipitation, qu’on ne se donna pas le temps d’encloüer
les canons de la manière que cela se pratique; aussi les ennemis s’en
servirent-ils dès le lendemain. Cependant on se flatoit du contraire;
je fus sur le point de gager qu’ils ne tarderoient guères á nous en
battre. On étoit si peu à soi, qu’avant de se retirer de la batterie,
le feu prit à un baril de poudre, qui pensa faire sauter plusieurs
personnes, & brûla la robe d’un Religieux Récolet. Ce n’étoit pas de 279
ce moment que l’imprudence caracterisoit nos actions, il y avoit
long-tems qu’elle s’étoit refugiée parmi nous.
“Ce que j’avois prévu arriva. Dès le quatorze les ennemis nous
saluèrent avec nos propres Canons, dont ils firent un feu
épouvantable. Nous leur répondimes de dessus les murs; mais nous ne
pouvions leur rendre le mal qu’ils nous faisoient, rasant nos maisons,
& foudroyant tout ce qui étoit à leur portée.
“Tandis que les Anglois nous chauffoient de la batterie Royale, ils
établissoient une Plate-forme de Mortiers sur la hauteur de Rabasse
proche le Barachois du côté de l’Ouest, qui tirerent le seize jour où
a commencé le bombardement. Ils avoient des Mortiers dans toutes les
batteries qu’ils éleverent. Les bombes nous ont beaucoup incommodé....
“Les ennemis paroissoient avoir envie de pousser vigoureusement le
Siège. Ils établirent une batterie auprès de la Plaine de
_Brissonnet_, qui commença à tirer le dix-sept, & travaillerent
encore à une autre, pour battre directement la Porte Dauphine, entre
les maisons du nommé _la Roche & Lescenne_, Canonier. Ils ne s’en
tinrent point à ces batteries, quoiqu’elles nous battissent en brêche;
mais ils en dresserent de nouvelles pour soutenir les premières. La
Plaine marécageuse du bord de la Mer à la Pointe blanche, les
incommodoit fort, & empêchoit qu’ils ne poussassent leurs travaux
comme ils l’auroient souhaité: pour y rémédier, ils pratiquerent
divers boyaux, afin de couper cette Plaine; étant venus à bout de la
dessécher, ils y firent deux batteries qui ne tirerent que quelques
jours après. Il y en avoit une au dessus de l’habitation de
_Martissance_, composée de sept pièces de canon, prises en partie
de la Batterie Royale & de la Pointe plate ou s’etait fait le
débarquement. On la destinoit à miner le Bastion Dauphin; ces deux
dernières batteries ont presque rasé la Porte Dauphine.
“Le dix-huit nous vîmes paroître un Navire, avec Pavillon Français, 280
qui cherchoit à donner dans le Port. Il fut reconnu pour être
effectivement de notre Nation, & afin de favoriser son entrée, nous
fimes un feu continuel sur la Batterie Royale. Les Anglais ne pouvant
resister à la vivacité de notre feu, qui ne discontinuoit point, ne
purent empêcher ce Navire d’entrer, qu’il leur eut été facile sans
cela de couler à fond. Ce petit refraichissement nous fit plaisir;
c’étoit un Navire Basque: il nous en étoit venu un autre dans le
courant d’Avril.
“Nous n’eumes pas le même bonheur pour un Navire de Granville, qui se
présenta aussi pour entrer, quelques jours après; mais qui ayant été
poursuivi, fut contraient de s’echouer, & se battit long-tems. Celui
qui le commandoit, nomme _Daguenet_, étoit un brave homme, lequel
ne se rendit qu’à la dernière extrêmité, & après avoir été accablé par
le nombre. Il avoit transporté tous les Canons d’un même côté, & en
fit un feu si terrible, que les ennemis n’eurent pas bon marché de
lui. Il fallut armer presque toutes leurs Chaloupes pour le prendre.
Nous avons sçu de ce Capitaine, qu’il avoit rencontré _le
Vigilant_, & que c’étoit de ce malheureux Vaisseau, qu’il avoit
apris que l’Isle Royale étoit bloquée. Cette circonstance importe au
récit que je vais faire.
“Vous êtes persuadés, en France, que la prise de ce Vaisseau de guerre
a occasionné la notre, cela est vraie en quelque sorte, mais nous
eussions pu nous soutenir sans lui si nous n’avions pas entassé fautes
sur fautes, ainsi que vous avez dû vous en aperçevoir jusqu’à présent.
Il est vrai que, graces à nos imprudences, lors que ce puissant
secours nous arrivoit, nous commencions à être sans espérance. S’il
fût entré, comme il le pouvoit, nous serions encore dans nos biens, &
les Anglais eussent été forcés de se retirer.
“_Le Vigilant_ parut le vingt-huit ou le vingt-neuf de Mai, à 281
environ une lieue et demie de distance de _Santarge_ [_sic_]. Le
vent était pour lors Nord-Est, & par conséquent bon pour entrer. Il
laissoit la Flotte Anglaise à deux lieues & demi sous le vent. Rien ne
pouvoit donc l’empêcher d’entrer; & c’est par la plus grande de toutes
les fatalités qu’il est devenu la proye de nos Vainqueurs. Témoins de
sa manœuvre, il n’étoit personne de nous qui ne donnât des
malédictions à une manœuvre si mal concertée & si imprudente.
“Le Vaisseau, commandé par M. _de la Maisonfort_, au lieu de
suivre sa route, ou d’envoyer sa chaloupe à terre pour prendre langue,
ainsi que le requéroit la prudence, s’amusa à poursuivre un Corsaire
monté en Senault qu’il rencontra malheureusement sous la terre. Ce
Corsaire, que commandoit un nommé _Brousse_ (Rous) manœuvre d’une
autre manière que le Vaisseau Français. Il se battit toujours en
retraite, forçant de voiles et attirant son ennemi vers l’Escadre
Angloise; ce qui lui réussit; car le Vigilant se trouva tellement
engagé, qu’il ne lui fut plus possible de se sauver, quand on eut vu
le danger. Deux Frégates l’attaquerent d’abord; M. de la Maisonfort
leur répondit par un feu très vif, qui en mit bien-tôt une hors de
combat; elle fut démâtée de son grand mât, désemparée de toutes les
manœuvres, et contrainte de se retirer. Mais il vint cinq autres
Frégates qui chaufferent le Vigilant de toutes parts; le combat que
nous voyons à découvert, dura depuis cinq heures du soir jusqu’à dix.
Enfin il fallut céder à la force, & se rendre. Les ennemis ont
beaucoup perdu dans ce combat, & le commandant Français eut
quatre-vingts hommes tués ou blessés; le Vaisseau n’a été que fort peu
endommagé.
“On doit dire, à la gloire de M. de la Maisonfort, qu’il a fait preuve
d’une extrême valeur dans ce combat; mais il auroit mieux valu qu’il
eût suivi sa destination; c’étoit tout ce que les intérêts du Roi 282
exigeoient. Le Ministre ne l’envoyoit pas pour donner la chasse à
aucun Vaisseau ennemi; chargé de munitions de guerre & de bouche, son
Vaisseau étoit uniquement destiné à ravitailler notre malheureuse
Place, qui n’auroit jamais été en effet emportée, si nous eussions pû
recevoir un si grand secours; mais nous étions des victimes dévouées à
la colère du Ciel, qui a voulu faire servir contre nous jusqu’à nos
propres forces. Nous avons sçu des Anglais, depuis notre reddition,
qu’ils commençoient à manquer de munitions de guerre, & que la poudre
étoit encore plus rare dans leur armée que parmi nous. Ils avoient
même tenu quelques Conseils pour lever le Siége. La poudre trouvée
dans le Vigilant fit bientôt évanouir cette idée; nous nous apperçumes
que leur feu avoit depuis beaucoup augmenté.
“Je sçai que le Commandant de cet infortuné Vaisseau dira, pour se
justifier, qu’il étoit important pour lui d’enlever le Corsaire, afin
de se régler sur les nouvelles qu’il en auroit appris. Mais cela ne
l’excuse point; il sçavoit que Louisbourg étoit bloqué, c’en étoit
assez; qu’avoit-il besoin d’en sçavoir davantage? S’il craignoit que
les Anglais n’eussent été maîtres de la Place, il étoit aisé de s’en
instruire, en envoyant son canot ou sa chaloupe, & sacrifiant quelques
hommes pour sa sûreté; la batterie Royale ne devoit point l’inquiéter,
nous en aurions agi comme avec le Navire Basque, dont nous facilitâmes
l’entrée par un feu excessif. La perte d’un secours si considerable
ralentit le courage de ceux qui avoient le plus conservé de fermeté;
il n’étoit pas difficile de juger que nous serions contraints
d’implorer la clémence des Anglais, & plusieurs personnes furent
d’avis qu’il falloit dès-lors demander à capituler. Nous avons
cependant tenu un mois au-delà; c’est plus qu’on n’auroit pu exiger
dans l’abbatement où venoit de nous jetter un si triste spectacle.
“L’Ennemi s’occupa à nous canoner & à nous bombarder toute le reste du 283
mois, sans faire des progrès bien sensibles, & qui lui pussent donner
de l’espoir. Comme il ne nous attaquoit point dans les formes; qu’il
n’avoit pratiqué aucuns retranchemens pour se couvrir, il n’osoit
s’aprocher de trop près; tous nos coups portoient; au lieu que la
plûpart des siens étoient perdus: aussi ne tirons-nous que lorsque
nous le jugions nécessaire. Il tiroit, lui, plus de cinq à six cens
coups de canon par jour, contre nous vingt; à la vérité, le peu de
poudre que nous avions, obligeoit à n’en user que sobrement. La
mousqueterie étoit peu d’usage.
“J’ai oublié de dire que, dès les premiers jours du siége, les ennemis
nous avoient fait sommer de nous rendre; mais nous répondîmes selon ce
que le devoir nous prescrivoit; l’Officier, deputé pour nous en faire
la proposition, voyant que nous rejettions ses offres, proposa de
faire sortir les Dames, avec assurance qu’elles ne seroient point
insultées, et qu’on les feroit garder dans les maisons qui
subsistoient encore en petit nombre; car l’ennemi, en débarquant,
avoit presque tout brûlé ou détruit dans la campagne. Nous remerçiâmes
cet officier, parceque nos femmes & nos enfans étoient sûrement dans
les logemens que nous leur avions faits. On avoit mis sur les
casemates de longues piéces de bois, placées en biais, qui, en
amortissant le coup de la bombe, la rejettent, & empêchent l’effet de
son poids. C’est là dessous que nous les avions enterrés.
“Au commencement de Juin les Assiégeans parurent reprendre une
nouvelle vigueur; n’étant pas contens du peu de succès qu’ils avoient
eu jusques-là, ils s’attacherent à d’autres entreprises, & voulurent
essayer de nous attaquer par le côté de la mer. Pour réussir, ils
tenterent de nous surprendre la batterie de l’entrée: un Détachement
d’environ cinq cens hommes s’y étant transporté pendant la nuit du 284
six au sept, fut taillé en pièces par le sieur _Daillebout_,
Capitaine de Compagnie, qui y commandoit, & qui tira sur eux à
mitraille; plus de trois cens resterent sur la place, & il n’y eut de
sauvés que ceux qui demandoient quartier, les blessés furent
transférés dans nos hôpitaux. Nous fîmes en cette occasion cent
dix-neuf prisonniers, & n’eûmes que trois hommes de tués ou blessés;
mais nous perdîmes un Canonier, qui fut fort regretté....
“Pour sur croit d’infortune, il arrive aux Anglois le 15 une Escadre
de six Vaisseaux de guerre, venant de Londres. Ces Vaisseaux
croiserent devant la Ville, avec les Frégattes sans tirer un seul
coup. Mais nous avons sçu depuis que, si nous eussions tarder à
capituler, tous les Vaisseaux se seroient embossés, et nous auroient
fait essuyer le feu le plus vif. Leurs dispositions n’ont point été
ignorée, je rapporterai l’ordre qu’ils dévoient tenir.
“Les ennemis ne s’étoient encore point avisés de tirer à boulets
rouges; ils le firent le dix-huit & le dix-neuf, avec un succès qui
auroit eté plus grand, sans le prompt secours qui y fut apporté. Le
feu prit à trois ou quatre maisons, mais on l’eut bientôt éteint. La
promptitude en ces sortes d’occasions, est la seul ressource que l’on
puisse avoir.
“L’Arrivée de l’Escadre étoit, sans doute, l’objet de ce nouveau salut
de la part de l’Armée de terre; son Général qui vouloit avoir
l’honneur de notre conquête, étant bien aisé de nous forcer à nous
soumettre avant que l’Escadre se fût mise en devoir de nous y
contraindre.
“L’Amiral de son côté songeoit à se procurer l’honneur de nous
reduire. Un Officier vint pour cet effet, le vingt-un, nous proposer
de sa part, que si nous avions à nous rendre, il seroit plus
convenable de le faire à lui, qui auroit des égards que nous ne
trouverions peut être pas dans le Commandant de terre. Tout cela
marquoit peu d’intelligence entre les deux Généraux, & verifie assés
la remarque que j’ai ci-devant faite: on n’eût jamais dit en effet 285
que ces troupes fussent de la même Nation & sous l’obéissance du même
Prince. Les Anglais sont les seuls peuples capables de ces
bizarreries, qui font cependant partie de cette précieuse liberté dont
ils se montrent si jaloux.
“Nous répondîmes à l’Officier, par qui l’Amiral Warren nous avoit fait
donner cet avis, que nous n’avions point de réponse à lui faire, & que
quand nous en serions à cette extrémité, nous verrions le parti qu’il
conviendroit d’embrasser. Cette fanfaronade eût fait rire quiconque
auroit été témoin de notre embarras en particulier; il ne pouvoit être
plus grand: cet Officier dût s’en apperçevoir, malgré la bonne
contenance que nous affections. Il est difficile que le visage ne
décéle les mouvements du cœur. Les Conseils étoient plus frequens que
jamais, mais non plus salutaires; on s’assembloit sans trop sçavoir
pourquoi, aussi ne sçavoit-on que résoudre. J’ai souvent ri de ces
assemblées, où il ne se passoit rien que de ridicule, & qui n’annonçat
le trouble & l’indécision. Le soin de notre défense n’étoit plus ce
qui occupoit. Si les Anglois eussent sçu profiter de notre épouvante
il y auroit eu longtems qu’ils nous auroient emportés, l’épée en main.
Mais il faut convenir à leur louange, qu’ils avoient autant de peur
que nous. Cela m’a plusieurs fois rappellé la fable du Liévre & des
Grenouilles.
“Le but de nos frequens Conseils étoit de dresser des articles de
capitulation. On y employa jusqu’au vingt sept, que le sieur Lopinot,
Officier, sortit pour les porter au Commandant de terre. L’on se
flatoit de les lui faire mieux goûter qu’à l’Amiral. Mais ils étoient
si extraordinaires, que malgré l’envie que ce Général avoit de nous
voir rendre à lui, il se donna à peine la patience de les écouter. Je
me souviens que nous demandions par un article, cinq piéces de canon,
& deux mortiers de fonte. De pareilles propositions ne quadroient
guéres avec notre situation.
“Afin de réussir d’un côté ou d’autre, on envoya proposer les mêmes 286
conditions à l’Amiral. Cette négociation avoit été confiée au sieur
_Bonaventure_, Capitaine de Compagnie, qui s’intrigua beaucoup
auprès de M. Warren, & qui, quoique la plûpart de nos articles fussent
rejettez, en obtint pourtant d’assés honorables. On arrêta donc la
Capitulation telle que les nouvelles publiques l’ont raportée. Elle
nous fut annoncée par deux coups de canon tirés à bord de l’Amiral,
ainsi qu’on en avoit donné l’ordre au Sieur _Bonaventure_. A
cette nouvelle, nous reprimes un peu de tranquillité; car nous avions
sujet d’apprehender le sort le plus triste. Nous craignons à tout
moment, que les ennemis, sortant de leur aveuglement, ne se
présentassent pour nous enlever d’assaut. Tout les y convioit; il y
avoit deux bréches de la longueur d’environ cinquante pieds chacune,
l’une à la porte Dauphine, & l’autre à l’Eperon, qui est vis-à-vis.
Ils nous ont dit depuis que la resolution en avoit été prise, &
l’exécution renvoyée au lendemain. Les Navires devoient les favoriser,
& s’embosser de la maniere suivante.
“Quatre Vaisseaux & quatre Frégattes étoient destinés pour le bastion
Dauphin: un egal nombre de Vaisseaux & de Frégattes, parmi lesquels
étoit le Vigilant, devoit attaquer la piéce de la Grave: & trois
autres Vaisseaux & autant de Frégattes avoient ordre de s’attacher à
l’Isle de l’entree. Nous n’eussions jamais pû repondre au feu de tous
ces Vaisseaux & défendre en même tems nos brêches; de façon qu’il
auroit fallu succomber, quelques efforts que nous eussions pû faire, &
nous voir réduits à recourir à la clémence d’un vainqueur, de la
générosité duquel il y avoit à se défier. L’Armée de terre n’étoit
composée que de gens ramassés, sans subordination ni discipline, qui
nous auroit fait éprouver tout ce que l’insolence & la rage ont de
plus furieux. La capitulation n’a point empêché qu’ils ne nous ayent
bien fait du mal.
“C’est donc par une protection visible de la Providence, que nous 287
avons prévenu une journée qui nous auroit été si funeste. Ce qui nous
y a le plus déterminé, est le peu de poudre qui nous restoit: je puis
assurer que nous n’en avions pas pour faire trois décharges. C’est ici
le point critique & sur lequel on cherche le plus à en imposer au
public mal instruit: on voudroit lui persuader qu’il nous en restoit
encore vingt milliers. Fausseté insigne! Je n’ai aucune interêt à
déguiser la vérité; on doit d’autant plus m’en croire, que je ne
prétends pas par-là justifier entierement nos Officiers. S’ils n’ont
pas capitulé trop tôt ils avoient commis assez d’autres fautes, pour
ne les pas laver du blâme qu’ils ont encouru. Il est constant que nous
n’avions plus que trent-sept barils de poudre, à cent livres chacun;
voilà ce qui est veritable, & non pas tout ce qu’on raconte de
contraire. Nous n’en trouvions même d’abord que trente-cinq; mais les
recherches qu’on fit nous en procurerent deux autres, cachés
apparemment par les Canoniers, qu’on sçait être partout accoutumés à
ce larcin.”
II.
“LETTRE DE MONSIEUR DU CHAMBON AU MINISTRE,
À ROCHEFORT, LE 2 SEPTEMBRE, 1745.
“_Archives de la Marine._
“MONSEIGNEUR,
“J’ai l’honneur de vous rendre compte de l’attaque et reddition de
Louisbourg, ainsy que vous me l’avez ordonné par votre lettre du 20 de
ce mois.
“Nous eûmes connaissance d’un battiment le quatorze mars dernier parmy
les glaces qui étaient détachées du golfe; ce battiment parut à 3 ou 4
lieues devant le port et drivait vers la partie du sud-ouest, et il 288
nous disparut l’après-midi.
“Le 19 du d. nous vîmes encore en dehors les glaces un senaux qui
couroit le long de la banquise qui était etendue depuis Escartary
jusques au St Esprit, plusieurs chasseurs et soldats, hivernant dans
le bois, m’informèrent qu’ils avaient vu, les uns deux battiments qui
avoient viré de bord à Menadou, et d’autres qu’ils avoient entendu du
canon du côté du St Esprit, ce qui fit que j’ordonnai aux habitans des
ports de l’isle, qui étaient à portée de la ville, de se renger aux
signaux qui leur seroient faits.
“Je fis en outre rassembler les habitans de la ville et port de
Louisbourg, je formai de ceux de la ville quatre compagnies, et je
donnai ordre à ceux du port de se renger à la batterie Royale, et à
celle de l’isle de l’entrée, au signaux que je leur fit donner.
“Le 9 avril nous aperçûmes à l’éclaircy de la brume, et parmi les
glaces vers la Pointe Blanche, quatre battimens, le premier ayant tiré
quelques coups de canon, l’islot lui répondit d’un coup, et le
battiment l’ayant rendu sur le champ, cela nous confirma dans l’idée
que c’étoient des François qui cherchoient à forcer les glaces pour
entrer dans le port. D’ailleurs ils profitoient des éclaircis pour s’y
enfourner vers le port, et cela nous assuroit pour ainsi dire, que ce
n’étoit pas des corsaires, mais bien des François.
“Etant dans le doute si c’étoit des basttiments François ou Anglois,
j’envoyai ordre à Monsieur Benoit, officier commandant au port
Toulouse, de dettacher quelqu’un de confiance à Canceau, pour
apprendre s’il y avoit des basttiments, et si on y travailloit, ou
s’il y avoit apparance de quelque entreprise sur l’isle Royale.
“Monsieur Benoit dettacha le nommé Jacob Coste, habitant, avec un
soldat de la garnison et un Sauvage, pour faire quelques prisonniers
au dit lieu. Ces trois envoyés mirent pied à terre à la Grande Terre 289
du costé de Canceau; ils eurent le bonheur de faire quatre prisonniers
anglois; et revenant avec eux, les prisonniers se rendirent maitres de
nos trois François, un soir qu’ils étaient endormis, et nous n’avons
pu apprendre aucune nouvelle ni des envoyés ni de l’ennemy.
“Je fus informé, le 22, par deux hommes, venus par terre du port de
Toulouse, qu’on entendait tirer du canon à Canceau, et qu’ils
travailloient au rétablissement de cette isle, et un troisième arrivé
le soir, m’assura avoir été témoin d’un grand combat sur le navire
_St-Esprit_, qu’il avoit vu venir du large trois vaisseaux sur
quatre qui étoient pour lors à cette coste, et que le feu ayant
commencé après la Jonction de ces bastimens, il avoit duré bien avant
dans la nuit, ce qui nous engageoit à nous flatter que nous avions des
vaisseaux sur la coste.
“Le 30 du d. nous vîmes sept vaisseaux parmy les glaces, dont il y
avoit quatre vaisseaux, deux corvettes et un brigantin, et ils se sont
tenus ce jour vers les isles à Dion, sans pavillon, ni flamme.
“Ces battiments continuèrent à se faire voir pendant quelques jours,
depuis la Pointe Blanche jusques à Port de Noue, sous pavillon blanc,
et les glaces s’étant écartées de la coste, nous apperçûmes, le 7 mai,
un navire qui faisait route pour le port; il y entra heureusement; ce
navire venoit de St Jean de Luz, commandé par le Sieur Janson Dufoure;
il nous apprit qu’il avoit été poursuivi la veille par trois
vaisseaux, qu’une frégatte de 24 canons l’avoit joint, et qu’il
s’estoit sauvé, après un combat de trois volées de canon et de
mousquetterie.
“Le 8 à la pointe du jour, nous eûmes connaissance de tous les
vaisseaux au vent du port dans la partie du sud-ouest, ce qui nous
occasionna une alerte, les signaux ayant été faits, les habitans de
Lorembec et de la Baleine, qui étoient les plus proches de la ville, 290
s’y rangèrent aux postes qui leur étoient destinés, ainsi que les
habitans de la ville et du port, le même jour ces vaisseaux prirent à
notre vue deux caboteurs frettés par le Roy et qui venoient du port de
Toulouse chargés de bois de corde pour le chauffage des troupes et des
corps de garde, ils prirent aussy une chaloupe qui venoit des Isles
Madame chargée de gibier.
“Comme nous doutions toujours si ces vaisseaux étoient anglois ou
françois jusqu’à ce jour, les glaces empêchant l’entrée du port depuis
qu’ils avoient paru ensemble, j’avois eu la précaution d’arrêter,
conjointement avec monsieur Bigot, deux battiments pour les faire
partir en cas de nécessité pour la France, pour porter les nouvelles à
Sa Grandeur de la situation où se trouvoit la colonie, et sitôt que
nous fûmes confirmés par le prise de ces caboteurs que c’étoit des
vaisseaux anglois et qu’il y en avoit d’autres à Canceau, au rapport
des équipages qui s’étoient sauvés, nous fîmes partir à la faveur de
la brume et de la nuit obscure du 10 mai, _La Société_, capitaine
Subtil, avec nos lettres pour Monseigneur, pour lui apprendre l’état
de la colonie avec les circonstances de vaisseaux qui bloquèrent le
port; quand à l’autre bâtiment qui avoit été fretté, nous avons été
obligé de la faire couler, après la descente faite par l’ennemy, étant
impossible de la faire sortir.
“Les vaisseaux ennemis qui étoient au devant du port, se servant de la
chaloupe qu’ils avoient prise chargée de gibier pour descendre et
mettre pied à terre à Gabarrus, à notre vue, je fis partir, le 9, un
détachement de 20 soldats sous le commandement du sieur de Lavallière
pour aller par terre à Gabarrus, et un autre de 39 hommes d’habitans,
sous le commandement du sieur Daccarrette dans un charroye pour
s’emparer de cette chaloupe, mais ces deux détachements ne purent
joindre cette chaloupe; celui de terre y resta deux jours et ne rentra
en ville que le onze du soir, et celui du sieur Daccarrette rentra 291
le 12 au matin, ayant été obligé d’abandonner le charroye à fourché où
il avoit été à la sortie du Gabarrus.
“Le 11, à trois ou quatre heures du matin, nous eûmes connoissance de
dessus les remparts de la ville, d’environ 100 voiles qui parurent du
côté de fourché, derrière les isles à Dion, les vents étant de la
partie de nord-ouest, ces battiments s’approchoient à vue d’œil, je ne
doute pas que ce ne fussent des bastiments de transport, je fis tirer
les signaux qui avoient été ordonnés, plusieurs habitans et
particuliers n’ont pu s’y rendre, et entr’autres ceux des havres
éloignés, la campagne étant investie de l’ennemy, et même plusieurs
ont été faits prisonniers voulant se rendre en ville.
“Je fis aussy commander un détachement pour s’opposer à la descente de
l’ennemy, et ce détachement au nombre de 80 hommes et 30 soldats, le
surplus habitans, partit sous le commandement de Monsieur Morpain et
du Sieur Mesilac, il se transporta au-dessous de la Pointe Blanche, â
l’endroit où l’ennemy avoit commencé à faire sa descente, il le fit
rembarquer dans les voitures, mais pendant le temps qu’il étoit en cet
endroit à repousser l’ennemy, celui-cy fit faire une autre descente
plus considérable de troupes de débarquement à l’anse de la
Cormorandière, entre la Pointe-Plate et Gabarrus.
“Il s’y transporta avec ses troupes, sitôt qu’il en eût connoissance,
mais l’ennemy avoit mis pied à terre et s’étoit emparé des lieux les
plus propres qu’il jugea pour sa défense, cela n’empêcha pas ce
détachement d’aller l’attaquer, mais l’ennemy étant beaucoup plus
supérieur en nombre, il fut contraint de se retirer dans le bois; nous
avons eu à cette occasion 4 ou 5 soldats tués ou faits prisonniers,
ainsy que 4 ou 5 habitans ou particuliers du nombre desquels fut
Monsieur Laboularderie; nous eûmes encore 3 ou 4 blessés qui
rentrèrent en ville.
“Depuis la retraite de ce détachement l’ennemy acheva son débarquement 292
au nombre de 4 à 500 hommes, ainsy que des planches et autres
matériaux, au rapport de ceux du détachement qui rentrèrent les
derniers en ville.
“L’ennemy ayant avancé dans la campagne, se fit voir en grand nombre,
mais sans ordre, à la portée du canon de la pointe Dauphine et du
bastion du Roy.
“Les montagnes qui commandent cette porte étoient couvertes de monde:
à deux heures après-midi les canons, qui étoient sur la Barbette,
tirèrent sur plusieurs pelotons qui paroissoient défiler du côté du
fond de la baye, nous nous aperçûmes aussy qu’ils défiloient en
quantité le long du bois vers la batterie royale, je fis fermer les
portes et je fis pourvoir sur le champ à la sûreté de la ville et
placer environ 1100 hommes qui s’y sont trouvés pour la défendre.
“Sur le soir, monsieur Thiery, capitaine de compagnie qui commandoit à
la batterie royale, m’écrivit une lettre par laquelle il me marquoit
le mauvois état de son poste, que cela pourroit donner de grande
facilités à l’ennemy s’il s’en emparoit, qu’il croyoit pour le bien du
service qu’il seroit à propos de travailler à le faire sauter après
avoir encloué les canons.
“Je fis à cette occasion assembler le conseil de guerre, monsieur
Verrier, ingénieur en chef, ayant aussi été appelé, fit son rapport
que cette batterie avoit ses épaulements du costé de la terre démolis
dès l’année dernière, que les chemins couverts n’étoient pas
palissadés, et qu’il étoit hors d’état de résister à une attaque par
terre de trois à quatre mille homme avec 400 hommes qu’il y avoit
dedans pour la défense.
“Sur ce rapport le conseil de guerre décida unanimement qu’il
convenoit pour la sûreté de la ville, manquant de monde pour la
défendre, de l’abandonner après en avoir encloué les canons et enlevé
le plus de munitions de guerre et de bouche qu’on pourroit.
“Je ne dois pas oublier de vous informer que le même conseil de guerre 293
vouloit faire sauter cette batterie; mais que monsieur Verrier, s’y
étant opposé fortement, on la laissa subsister.
“J’envoyai l’ordre en conséquence à monsieur Thiery pour abandonner la
dite batterie, après qu’il auroit encloué les canons, et enlevé le
plus de munitions de guerre et de bouche qu’il pourroit; cet officier
travailla le soir à faire enclouer tous les canons; il fit transporter
partie des vivres et des munitions et se retira à la ville avec sa
troupe vers minuit.
“La dite batterie n’ayant pas été entièrement évacuée ce soir, je fis
partir le lendemain les Sieurs St. Etienne, lieutenant, et Souvigny,
enseigne, avec une vingtaine d’hommes pour parachever la dite
évacuation, ce qu’ils firent à l’exception de tous les boulets de
canon et bombes qui y sont restés, n’ayant pas pu les emporter.
“Ayant jugé nécessaire conjointement avec monsieur Bigot de faire
couler tous les bastiments qui étoient armés dans le port, pour
empêcher l’ennemy de s’en emparer, je commandai, le 12, le sieur
Verger, enseigne, avec 5 soldats et des matelots pour faire couler
ceux qui etoient vis-à-vis la ville, et le sieur Bellemont, enseigne,
avec la même opération au fond de la baye, et retirer l’huile de la
tour de la lanterne, ce qu’ils exécutèrent.
“Le 13, je fis sortir toutes les compagnies de milice avec des haches
et des engins pour démolir les maisons qui étoient à la porte Dauphine
jusqu’au Barruchois, et pour enlever le bois en ville pour le
chauffage de la garnison, n’en ayant pas, et pour faire brûler toutes
celles qu’on ne pourroit pas démolir, afin d’empêcher l’ennemy de s’y
loger.
“Je fis soutenir ces travailleurs par 80 soldats François et Suisses
commandé par monsieur Deganne, capitaine, et Rasser, officier Suisse.
“Comme ils finissaient et qu’ils étoient au moment de se retirer en 294
ville, il parut au Barruchois et dans les vallons des hauteurs
plusieurs pelotons de l’armée ennemie, il y eût même quelques coups de
fusils de tirés par ceux qui étoient les plus près; nous n’eûmes
personne de tué ni de blessé, et nos gens virent tomber deux hommes de
l’ennemy.
“L’ennemy s’est emparé de la batterie Royale, le 13, et le lendemain
il tira sur la ville plusieurs coups de canon de deux qu’il avoit
désencloué.
“Le même jour l’ennemy commença aussi à nous tirer plusieurs bombes de
12 pouches, pesant 180 l. et de 9 pouces d’une batterie de quatre
mortiers qu’ils avoient estably sur la hauteur derrière les plaines,
vis-à-vis le bastion du Roy.
“Cette batterie de mortiers n’a pas cessé de tirer de distance en
distance, ainsi que douze mortiers à grenades royales que l’ennemy y
avoit placés, et deux autres canons qu’ils ont désencloués à la
batterie royale, mais ce feu n’a fait aucun progrès jusqu’au 18, et
n’a tué ni blessé personne.
“Le 16, je fis partir un exprès en chaloupe pour porter une lettre à
monsieur Marin, officier de Canada, qui commandoit un détachement de
Canadiens et des Sauvages à l’Acadie, avec ordre de partir pour se
rendre en toute diligence à Louisbourg, avec son détachement; c’étoit
une course de 20 à 25 jours au plus, s’il avoit été aux mines, ainsi
que l’on m’avoit assuré; mais ce détachement étoit parti pour le port
Royal lorsque l’exprès y arriva.
“Cet exprès fut obligé d’y aller: il lui remit la lettre dont il étoit
chargé, il tint conseil, plusieurs de son party ne voulurent pas le
suivre, mais lui s’étant mis en chemin avec ceux de bonne volonté qui
voulurent le suivre, il eût toutes les peines imaginables, à ce qu’on
m’a assuré, de trouver des voitures dans toute l’Acadie, propres pour
son transport.
“Ils s’y embarquèrent environ 3 à 400 dans un bateau de 25 tonneaux et 295
dans environ une centaine de canots. Comme ils étoient dans la baie à
doubler une pointe, ils furent attaqués par un bateau corsaire de 14
canons et autant de pierriers; cet officier soutint l’attaque avec
vigueur, et dans le temps qu’il étoit au moment d’aborder le corsaire
pour l’enlever, un autre corsaire de la même force vint au secours de
son camarade, ce qui obligea le dit Sieur Marin d’abandonner la partie
et de faire côte.
“Cette rencontre lui a fait perdre plusieurs jours et il n’a pu se
rendre sur les terres de l’Isle Royale qu’au commencement de juillet,
après que Louisbourg a été rendu; si ce détachement s’étoit rendu
quinze ou vingt jours avant la reddition de la ville, je suis plus que
persuadé que l’ennemy auroit été contraint de lever le siège de terre,
par la terreur qu’il avoit de ce détachement qu’il pensoit être au
nombre de plus de 2500.
“Je dois aussi informer Sa Grandeur que ce détachement a tué et pris,
comme il se retiroit du passage de Fronsac, pour aller à l’Acadie,
après notre départ, treize hommes d’un corsaire anglois qui étoit à
leur passage pour les empêcher de passer, ces hommes ayant été avec
leurs canots pour faire de l’eau, ils sont tombés entre les mains de
ceux de ce détachement.
“Le 18, messieurs les généraux anglois me sommèrent de rendre la
ville, forteresses et terres en dépendant, avec l’artillerie, les
armes et les munitions de guerre qui en dépendent sous l’obéissance de
la Grande Bretagne, en conséquence de quoy, promettoient de traiter
humainement tous les sujets du Roy mon maître qui y étoient dedans,
que leurs biens leur seroient assurés, et qu’ils auraient la liberté
de se transporter avec leurs effets dans quelque partie de la
domination du Roy de France, en Europe, qu’ils jugeroit à propos.
“Je répondis sur le champ à cette sommation que le Roy mon maître 296
m’ayant confié la défense de la place, je ne pouvois qu’après la plus
rigoureuse attaque écouter une semblable proposition, et que je
n’avois d’autre réponse à faire à cette demande que par les bouches
des canons.
“L’ennemy commença à établir, le 19, une batterie de sept pièces de
canon dans les plaines et derrière un petit étang, vis-à-vis la face
du bastion du Roy, laquelle batterie n’a pas cessé de tirer des
boulets de 12, 18 et 24 depuis ce jour jusqu’à la reddition de la
place, sur le casernes, le mur du bastion du Roy et sur la ville;
cette batterie étoit, Monseigneur, la plus dangereuse de l’ennemy pour
détruire le monde; tous les boulets enfiloient toutes les rues jusqu’à
la porte Maurepas et au mur crénelé; personne ne pouvoit rester dans
la ville, soit dans les maisons ou dans les rues.
“Aussy pour éteindre le feu de l’ennemy, je fis établir deux pièces de
canon de 18 sur le cavalier du dit Bastion du Roy: on fit pour cet
effet deux coffres en planches qu’on remplit de fascines et de terres
qui formoient deux embrasures par le moyen desquelles les canonniers
et ceux qui servirent ces canons étoient à l’abry du feu de l’ennemy.
“Je fis aussy percer en même temps deux embrasures au mur du parapet
de la face droite du dit bastion; on y mit deux autre canons de 24.
“Ces quatre canons ont été si bien servis que le feu de l’ennemy de la
dite batterie de la plaine a été éteint, puisqu’ils ne tiroient lors
de la reddition de la place qu’un canon, et qu’ils ont eu les autres
démontés à la dite batterie, ainsy que ceux de nos gens qui ont été
voir cette batterie, après la reddition de la place, m’en ont rendu
compte.
“Le matin du 20, je fis assembler messieurs les capitaines des
compagnies pour prendre un party s’il convenoit de faire des sorties
sur l’ennemy. Il fut résolu que la ville étoit entièrement dénuée de
monde, qu’il étoit préjudiciable d’en faire, qu’à peine on pourroit
garder les remparts avec les 1300 hommes qu’il y avoit dans la ville 297
y compris les deux cent de la batterie royale.
“Je fis masquer la porte Dauphine en pierre de taille, fascines et
terre de l’épaisseur d’environ dix-huit pieds, ainsi que les deux
corps de garde qui sont joints. Sans cet ouvrage l’ennemy auroit pu
entrer en ville dés le lendemain qu’il auroit tiré de la batterie de
Francœur; cette porte n’etoit pas plus forte que celle d’une porte
cochère, les murs de la dite porte et des corps de garde n’avoient que
trois pieds ou environ d’épaisseur. La dite porte n’étoit pas non plus
flanquée et n’avoit pour toute défense que quelques créneaux aux corps
de garde, desquels on ne pouvoit plus se servir sitôt qu’on étoit
obligé de garnir les dits corps de garde de pierres, de terre.
“J’ordonnai qu’on fit des embrasures de gazon et de terre, n’ayant pas
le temps d’en faire de pierre, aux quatre canons qui étoient sur la
batterie du bastion Dauphin, sur le corps de garde des soldats,
joignant la porte du dit bastion, afin d’empêcher l’ennemy en ses
travaux sur les hauteurs qui étoient devant la dite porte; lesquelles
embrasures furent faites.
“Tous les flancs des bastions de la ville furent aussy garnis des
canons des corsaires et autres qui se sont trouvés en ville.
“L’ennemy ayant calfeutré une goelette qui étoit échouée au fond de la
baye depuis l’année dernière, il l’a remplit de bois, goudron et
autres matières combustibles, et à la faveur d’une nuit obscure et
d’un vent frais du nord-nord-est qu’il fit le 24, il nous l’envoya en
brûlot sur la ville.
“Tout le monde passoit toutes les nuits sur les remparts, nous
attendions de pied ferme l’ennemy, plustôt que des artifices de cette
nature, et ce brûlot ayant été s’échouer au dehors de la ville
vis-à-vis du terrain du S^r Ste Marie ne fit pas l’effet que l’ennemy
s’attendoit.
“L’ennemy s’étant emparé de la hauteur de Francœur qui est à la queue 298
du glacis de la porte Dauphine, il a commencé à ouvrir des boyaux et
former deux batteries malgré le feu continuel de nos canons de la
barbette et du bastion Dauphin et du flanc droit du bastion du Roy et
de la mousqueterie, et ces deux batteries n’ont point cessé de tirer
depuis le 29 jusqu’à la reddition de la place des boulets de 18, 24,
36 et 42, pour battre en brèche la porte Dauphine et la flanc droit du
bastion du Roy.
“L’ennemy, faisant plusieurs mouvements au fond de la baye et à la
hauteur de la Lanterne, monsieur Vallé, lieutenant de la Compagnie des
Canonniers, vint m’avertir que l’ennemy pourroit faire ces mouvements
à l’occasion de plusieurs canons de dix-huit et de vingt-quatre qui
avoient été mis au carénage pour servir de corps de garde depuis
environ dix ans. Que parmy ces canons il y en avoit plusieurs en état
de servir, qu’il avoit informé les Gouverneurs de cy-devant plusieurs
fois que l’ennemy pourroit les transporter à la tour, établir une
batterie pour battre l’isle de l’entree et les vaisseaux qui
voudroient entrer.
“Sur un avis aussy important, et l’ennemy ayant aboré pavillon à la
tour de la Lanterne, je fis faire un détachement de cinq cent jeunes
gens du pays et autres de la milice et des flibustiers, sous les
ordres du Sieur de Beaubassin, pour aller voir si cela étoit vrai,
tâcher de suprendre l’ennemy ou empêcher de faire leurs travaux en cet
endroit.
“Ce dêtachement partit en trois chaloupes le 27 may avec chacun douze
jours de vivres et les munitions de guerre nécessaires qui leur furent
fournies des magasins du Roy; il mit pied à terre au grand Lorembec.
“Le lendemain, faisant son approche à la tour, il fut découvert par
l’ennemy qui étoit au nombre d’environ 300.
“Ils se tirèrent quelques volées de mousqueterye, et se séparèrent, ce
détachement ne voyant pas son avantage et plusieurs ayant lâché le 299
pied, il fut contraint de se retirer dans le bois, pour brûler s’il
lui étoit possible les magasins qu’il y avoit, on l’avoit assuré que
cela étoit aisé, que l’ennemy dormoit avec sécurité en cet endroit.
“Koller qui étoit second du dit Sieur de Beaubassin, venant de St.
Pierre par terre, quelques jours auparavant, avait été dans une des
barraques du dit camp et avoit emporté une chaudière sans être
découvert, ce détachement, dis-je, étoit à un demi quart de lieue à
l’habitation du dit Koller, il avoit envoyé des découvreurs en
attendant la nuit, mais ils eurent le malheur dêtre découverts par une
douzaine d’Anglois qui se trouvèrent aux environs, ce qui fit que
l’ennemy détacha un party considérable qui fut pour les attaquer. Le
sieur de Beaubassin fut encore obligé de se retirer après quelques
coups tirés de part et d’autre: l’ennemy, depuis lors cherchoit
partout ce détachement, et plusieurs de ceux-ci ayant été obligés de
jeter leurs vivres pour se sauver, ils étoient sans vivres pour passer
leur douze jours, et plusieurs qui étoient des havres voisins
l’avoient abandonné et s’étoient retirés chez eux; il se trouvoit par
conséquent sans vivres et trop faibles pour résister à l’ennemy.
“Il fut donc obligé d’aller au petit Lorembec pour prendre des
chaloupes afin de rentrer dans la ville; il se trouva en ce havre
environ 40 Sauvages de la colonie qui avoient détruit, il y avoit deux
ou trois jours, 18 à 20 Anglois qu’ils avoient trouvés qui pillaient
ce havre.
“Comme ils étaient à même d’embarquer dans les chaloupes, il leur
tomba un détachement de 2 à 300 Anglois. Les Sauvages se joignèrent à
ce détachement et ces deux corps faisaient environ 120 hommes qui
tinrent pied ferme à l’ennemy.
“Le feu commença de part et d’autre vers les deux heures et dura
pendant plus de quatre, les Anglois avoient même été repoussés deux 300
fois et ils auroient été défaits si dès le commencement de l’action,
ceux-ci n’avoient pas envoyé avertir de leurs gens qui étoient à la
batterie royale et à la tour et s’il ne leur étoit pas venu à l’entrée
de la nuit un party considérable qui commença à vouloir l’entourer.
“Notre détachement voyant qu’il n’y avoit pas moyen de résister et
manquant de munitions, plusieurs ayant tiré jusqu’à leur dernier coup,
il se retira dans les bois, l’ennemy, supérieur comme il étoit, les
poursuivit une partie de la nuit, notre détachement fut contraint de
se retirer à Miré et de passer la rivière.
“Nous avons eu en cette occasion deux hommes de tués et environ 20 de
blessés ou prisonniers. Monsieur de Beaubassin fut du nombre des
blessés, il reçut une balle au gras de la jambre et après une heure et
demie de combat, ne pouvant résister à sa blessure, il se retira. Le
sieur Koller continua le combat jusqu’à la fin.
“Le dit sieur de Beaubassin, s’étant rendu en ville quelques jours
après sixième dans une pirogue, m’informa de ce qui s’étoit passé à
l’occasion de son détachement, que le surplus étoit réfugié à Miré où
il l’avait laissé sous la conduite de Koller, qu’il lui manquoit des
vivres et des munitions de guerre ainsy qu’aux Sauvages.
“Sur ce rapport je fis partir une chaloupe avec 20 quarts de farine et
autres vivres et des munitions, tant pour ce détachement, celui de
monsieur Marin que j’attendois tous les jours, que pour les Sauvages.
“On trouva Koller avec ses gens, monsieur Marin n’y étoit pas et les
Sauvages s’étoient retirés à leur village.
“Koller rentra en ville le 14 juin en chaloupe avec ceux de son
détachement et les quelques autres qu’il trouva à Miré, il eût bien de
la peine â passer la nuit parmy bâtiments de l’ennemy qui croisoient
depuis Gabarrus jusqu’à Escatary.
“Nous avons appris depuis la reddition de la place, par des personnes 301
de probité, que l’ennemy avoit eu au moins 150 homme de tués, et 90 de
blessés au choc du petit Lorembec.
“Les canons de la porte Dauphin et ceux du flanc droit du Bastion du
Roy, ne joignant pas bien la batterie que l’ennemy avoit fait sur les
hauteurs de Francœur à la porte Dauphine, on perça trois embrâsures à
la courtine de la grave pour battre à revers la batterie de l’ennemy
de la hauteur de Francœur. Ces trois embrâsures où on avoit placé du
canon de 36 furent ouvertes les 30 mai, et firent un effet
merveilleux; le premier jour on leur démonta un de leurs canons, et
leurs embrâsures furent toutes labourées, cela n’empêcha pas le feu
continuel de l’ennemy, et quant à la batterie ce que nous défaisions
le jour, ils le refaisoit la nuit.
“Le même jour, sur les trois heurs, nous eûmes connoissance d’un gros
vaisseau qui donnoit chasse à un senau et ensuite qui se battoit avec
le dit senau et une frégatte à environ 4 lieues du fort vers le
sud-est, en même tems trois vaisseaux ennemis, qui étoient en passe
vers le Cap Noir et la pointe Blanche, courrurent dessus; le gros
vaisseau après s’être battu longtems prit la chasse sans doute quand
il eut connoissance des trois qui courroient sur lui, et nous avons
entendu tirer du canon jusque vers les 9 à 10 heures du soir, nous
avons appris depuis que ce vaisseau étoit le _Vigilant_.
“J’ordonnai qu’on tirât de la poudrière du Bastion Dauphin les poudres
qui y étoient et les fis transporter sous la poterne de la courtine
qui est entre le Bastion du Roy et celui de la Reine.
“Comme l’ennemy avait coupé par les boulets de la batterie de
Francœur, les chaines du pont levi de la porte Dauphine, j’ordonnay
aussy de couper le pont de la dite porte.
“Le canon de l’ennemy de la batterie de Francœur qui battoit le flanc 302
droit du bastion du Roy, faisant beaucoup de progrès et entr’autres
aux embrasures, je fis commencer à faire percer le mur de la face du
bastion Dauphin de deux embrasures, pour y mettre deux canons, cet
ouvrage malgré la mousqueterie que l’ennemy tiroit toujours, fut mis
en état et notre canon a tiré et fut servi autant qu’on pouvoit
désirer sur celui de l’ennemy.
“L’ennemy a aussi étably une batterie de cinq canons sur les hauteurs
des Mortissans et a commencé à tirer le 2 juin des boulets de 36 et
42, en brèche sur le bastion Dauphin et sur l’éperon. La guérite a été
jetée à bas, et une partie de l’angle saillant, le même jour. Cette
batterie a déboulé l’épéron de la porte Dauphine en ses embrasures,
lesquelles ont été racommodées plusieurs fois, autant bien qu’on
pouvoit, à pierre sèche, avec des pierres de taille et des sacs de
terre.
“Le même jour l’escadre ennemye s’augmenta par l’arrivée d’un
vaisseaux d’environ 40 à 50 canons, et nous vismes aussy, parmy cette
escadre, un vaisseau désemparé, qu’on nous a dit depuis être celui que
nous avions vu se battre le 30 may.
“Le 5 l’ennemy a envoyé vers les deux heures du matin de la batterie
royale, un brulot qui s’est échoué à la calle Frédéric oû il a brûlé
sur une göelette, il n’a pas fait d’autre mal, quoiqu’il fut chargé de
matières combustibles et de bombes qui firent leur effet; toutes les
batteries de l’ennemy ne cessèrent point de tirer, pendant ce temps
nos gens étoient comme de coutume tout le long des remparts et du
quay, à essuyer ce feu avec intrépidité.
“La nuit du 6 au 7 nous eumes une alarme générale de l’isle de
l’entrée; l’ennemy, voulant enlever cette batterie, s’embarqua au
nombre de 1000 sur 35 barques, 800 autres venant derrière devoient les
soutenir. La nuit étoit très obscure et faisoit une petite brume.
“Ces premiers furent mettre pied à terre, les uns à la Pointe à 303
Peletier, les autres vis-à-vis le corps des casernes, et le surplus au
débarquement de la dite isle; l’ennemy en debarquant commença à crier
_hourrah_ par trois fois; ils attachèrent même environ 12 échelles aux
embrasures afin de les escalader, mais Monsieur D’Aillebout, qui
commandoit à cette batterie, les reçut à merveille; le canon et la
mousqueterie de ceux de l’isle fut servi au mieux, toutes les barques,
furent toutes brisées ou coulées à fond; le feu fut continuel depuis
environ minuit jusqu’à trois heures du matin.
“Le dit S D’Ailleboust ainsy que les S^{rs} Duchambon, son Lieutenant,
et Eurry de la Perrelle, son enseigne, étoient les premiers à monter
sur les embrasures et faire feu sur les ennemis pour montrer à leurs
soldats l’exemple, et aux autres qui étoient avec eux à la dite
batterie.
“Les soldats firent même plusieurs fois descendre leurs officiers des
embrasures, leur alléguant qu’ils ne devoient point ainsi s’exposer,
qu’ils n’avoient qu’à les commander et qu’ils en viendroient à bout; à
la fin l’ennemy fut contraint de demander quartier. Les huit cents qui
devoient soutenir les premiers n’osèrent pas s’approcher et s’en
furent: on fit 119 prisonniers, plusieurs blessés sont morts la même
journée, et l’ennemy a eu plus de 250 de tués, noyés ou de blessés, ne
s’étant sauvés, au rapport de nos prisonniers qui étoient à la
batterie royale, que dans deux barges qui pouvoient contenir environ
30 hommes, parmy lesquels il y avoit plusieurs de blessés.
“L’ennemy pouvant attaquer la ville avec des barges par le quay,
j’ordonnay une estacade de mâts qui prenoit depuis l’eperon du bastion
Dauphin jusques à la pièce de grave, et cette estacade a été
parachevée le 11 juin. L’ennemy qui s’étoit aperçu de cet ouvrage, n’a
pas cessé de tirer des canons de ses batteries, sur les travaillants,
mais inutilement.
“Les ennemis ayant toujours continué leurs travaux à la tour de la 304
Lanterne, malgré le feu continuel de bombes et de canons de la
batterie de l’isle de L’entrée, il fut décidé qu’il étoit nécessaire
de blinder les casernes et la boulangerie de la dite isle, et le bois
manquant pour cet ouvrage le magasin du Sieur Dacarrette fut démoli
pour cela.
“Le feu continuel des batteries de l’ennemy ayant démoly les
embrasures du flanc droit du bastion du Roy, où nous avions six canons
de dix-huit et de vingt-quatre qui tiroient continuellement, et ces
canons ne pouvant pas être servis, j’ordonnay qu’on fit aussy des
contremerlons et des embrasures en bois, à quoi on y travailla avec
toute la diligence possible, et ces embrasures étant parachevées le 19
juin, le canon tira toujours; mais ces mêmes embrasures n’ont pas
laissé d’être démantibulées aussy par le canon de l’ennemy.
“Depuis que la batterie de martissan a été établie, elle n’a pas cessé
de tirer en brèche sur la porte Dauphin et sur l’éperon. L’éperon a
été tout démantibulé et racommodée plusieurs fois, ainsy que je l’ai
dit ci-devant; les embrasures qui battent le long du quay ont aussy
été démantelées, par cette batterie et celle de Francœur, et personne
ne pouvoit rester derrière le mur du quay qui a été tout criblé, les
boulets de 24, 36 et 42 le perçant d’outre en outre.
“Le 18, messieurs les généraux anglois m’envoyèrent un officier avec
pavillon, portant une lettre de monsieur Warren chef de l’escadre et
une autre de Monsieur de la Maisonfort, capitaine de vaisseau. Par la
première ce général se plaignait des cruautés que nos François et
Sauvages avoient exercées sur ceux de sa nation, et que si, à
l’avenir, pareille chose arrivoit, il ne pourroit pas empêcher ses
gens d’en agir de même.
“Monsieur de la Maisonfort m’apprenoit sa prise, le 30 mai, et qu’il 305
avoit tout lieu d’être satisfait du traitement qu’on lui faisoit,
ainsy qu’à ses officiers et matelots, et de punir sévèrement, etc.
“Je répondis à celle de monsieur Warren qu’il n’y avoit point de
François parmy les Sauvages qui avoient usé ainsi qu’il disoit de
cruauté, comme de fait il n’y en avoit pas, qu’il devoit être persuadé
que je négligeray rien pour arrêter le cours des cruautés des Sauvages
autant qu’il me seroit possible de communiquer avec eux, etc.
“A celle de monsieur de la Maisonfort, que je ferai défendre aux
Sauvages, lorsque je pourrai avoir communication avec eux, d’en user
mieux [_sic_] par la suite, qu’il n’y avoit aucun des François
avec eux lorsqu’ils ont usé de cruautés, etc., et l’officier porteur
de ces lettres partit sur le champ.
“Le 21, la batterie que les ennemis ont établie à la tour de la
Lanterne de 7 canons et un mortier a commencé à tirer sur celle de
l’isle de L’entrée avec des boulets de 18 et un mortier de 12 pouces,
pesant 180 l. et le feu de la dite batterie n’a pas cessé de tirer
jusqu’à la reddition de la place, malgré le feu continuel de celle de
l’isle.
“Les batteries de l’ennemy faisant un progrès considérable, malgré
notre feu des canons du bastion du Roy, bastion Dauphin, de la pièce
de la grave, et de la mousqueterie à la brèche de la porte Dauphine et
aux corps de garde joignants, j’ordonnai à Monsieur Verrier,
ingénieur, de faire un retranchement dans le bastion Dauphin pour
défendre l’assaut que l’ennemy pourrait donner par la brèche. Cet
ouvrage qui prenoit depuis le quay jusqu’au parapet de la face du
bastion Dauphin, fut mis en état le 24 après bien des travaux de nuit.
“Il se fit le même jour une jonction de 4 vaisseaux, dont deux de 60,
un de 50 et l’autre de 40 canons, avec ceux qui bloquoient le port. 306
Ces vaisseaux sitôt qu’ils eurent tiré les signaux de reconnaissance
s’assemblèrent et après s’être parlés, ils furent vers la baye de
Gabarrus.
“Le lendemain les vaisseaux ennemis au nombre de 13 mouillèrent en
ligne vers la Pointe Blanche à environ 2 lieues du port de Louisbourg.
L’ennemy fit faire en même temps et le lendemain trois piles de bois
pour des signaux sur les hauteurs qui sont à l’ouest du port de
Louisbourg.
“Je ne puis pas m’empêcher d’informer Sa Grandeur et de lui dire avec
vérité que toutes les batteries de l’ennemy soit de mortier ou de
canon n’ont pas cessé de tirer depuis les jours qu’ils les ont
établis, de même que la mousqueterie, sans discontinuer, de la
batterie de Francœur; que toutes les maisons de la ville ont toutes
été écrasées, criblées et mises hors d’état d’être logées; que le
flanc du bastion du Roy a été tout démoli, ainsy que les embrasures en
bois qu’on y avoit remplacées; qu’ils ont fait brèche à la porte
Dauphine, le corps de garde joignant, et qu’il étoit praticable au
moyen des fascines qu’ils avoient transporté pendant deux jours à la
batterie de Francœur; que l’eperon joignant le corps de garde de
l’officier de la porte Dauphine étoit tout demantelé, ainsi que les
embrasures du quai, malgré le feu continuel de tous les canons,
mortiers et mousqueterie que nous tirions de la ville et qui étoient
servis avec toute la vigueur et l’activité qu’on pouvoit espérer en
pareille occasion.
“La preuve en est assez évidente, Monseigneur, puisque de 67 milliers
de poudre que nous avions au commencement du siège, il nous n’en
restoit, le 27 juin, que 47 barils en ville, laquelle quantité m’étoit
absolument nécessaire pour pouvoir capituler; nous avons aussi tiré
toutes les bombes de 12 pouces que nous avions et presque toutes
celles de 9 pouces.
“Je dois rendre justice à tous les officiers de la garnison, aux 307
soldats et aux habitans qui ont défendu la place, ils ont tous en
général supporté la fatigue de ce siège avec une intrépidité sans
égale, pendant les 116 [?] jours qu’il a duré.
“Passant toutes les nuits au chemin couvert de la porte Dauphine,
depuis que l’ennemy avoit commencé à battre en brèche cet endroit, à
soutenir les travaillants qui ôtoient les décombres sur les remparts
aux portes qui leur étoient destinées, sans se reposer aucune nuit et
pour le jour n’ayant pas un seul endroit pour sommeiller sans courir
risque d’être emporté par les canons de l’ennemy qui commandoient
toute la ville.
“Aussy tout le monde étoit fatigué de travail et d’insomnie, et de
1300 que nous étions au commencement du siège, 50 ont été tués, 95
blessés hors d’état de rendre service, plusieurs étoient tombés
malades par la fatigue, aussy les remparts qui n’étoient au
commencement du siège garnis que de 5 à 5 pieds, se trouvoient presque
tous dégarnis le 26 de juin lorsque les habitans de la ville me
présentèrent leur requête tendant à ce que les forces de l’ennemy soit
de terre et de mer, augmentant tous les jours, sans qu’ils nous
parvint aucun secours ni apparence d’en avoir d’assez fort pour forcer
l’ennemy, il me plût capituler avec les généraux afin de leur
conserver le peu qu’il leur restoit.
“Cette requête, Monseigneur, me toucha jusqu’au plus vif de mon âme.
D’un côté je voyois une place telle que Louisbourg et qui a coûte bien
des sommes au Roi, au moment d’être enlevée par la force de l’ennemy
qui avoit une brèche assez practicable pour cela, et des vaisseaux en
ligne qui s’installoient depuis deux jours.
“D’autre côté, il me paroissoit un nombre d’habitans, tous chargés de
familles, au moment de périr, perdre par conséquent le fruit de leurs
travaux depuis le commencement de l’etablissement de la colonie.
“Dans une conjoncture aussy délicate, je fis rendre compte à monsieur 308
Verrier, ingénieur en chef, de l’état des fortifications de la Place,
et à monsieur de Ste Marie, capitaine chargé de l’artillerie, de celui
des munitions de guerre; l’un et l’autre me firent leur rapport, je
fis tenir conseil de guerre qui décida unanimement que vu les forces
de l’ennemy et l’état de la Place il convenoit de capituler.
“J’écrivis une lettre à le sortie du Conseil à messieurs les généraux
anglois, je leur demanday une suspension d’armes, pour le temps qu’il
me seroit convenable pour leur faire des articles de capitulation aux
conditions desquelles je leur remettrois la Place.
“Monsieur de Laperelle, fils, qui étoit porteur de cette lettre, me
rapporta le même soir leur réponse par laquelle ils me donnoient le
temps jusques au lendemain à huit heures du matin, et que si pendant
ce temps, je me déterminois à me rendre prisonnier de guerre, je
pouvois compter que je serois traité avec toute la générosité
possible.
“Je ne m’attendois pas à une telle réponse, aussy le lendemain 27, je
leur envoyai par Monsieur de Bonnaventure les articles de capitulation
avec une seconde lettre, par laquelle je leur mandai que les
conditions faites la veille étoient trop dures, que je ne pouvois les
accepter et que c’étoit à ceux que je faisois par mes propositions que
je consentirois à leur remettre la place [_sic_].
“Messieurs les généraux ne voulurent pas répondre par apostille à ces
propositions, mais ils me renvoyèrent leur réponse séparée par le dit
Sieur de Bonnaventure; cette réponse m’accordoit partie des articles
que j’avois demandés, mais ceux qui m’étoient le plus sensible et
glorieux, qui étoient ceux de sortir de la Place, avec les honneurs de
la guerre, avec arme et bagage, tambour battant et drapeaux déployés,
ne s’y trouvoient pas insérés, aussy je leur écrivis sur le champ deux
lettres, l’une au chef d’escadre et l’autre au général de terre, que
je ne pouvois consentir à laisser sortir les troupes de la place sans 309
ces articles qui étoient des honneurs dûs à des troupes qui avoient
fait leur devoir, que cela accordé je consentois aux articles.
“Messieurs les généraux m’écrivirent en réponse qu’ils accordoient cet
article et monsieur Warren augmenta des conditions pour la reddition
de l’Isle et de la Place.
“Les ratifications ont été signées de part et d’autre, mais messieurs
les généraux Anglois bien loin d’avoir exécuté de leur part la dite
capitulation, ainsy que j’ai fait du mien en tout son contenu, ils ont
manqué en plusieurs articles.
“Au premier article il est dit que tous les effets mobiliers de tous
les sujets du Roy de France qui étoient dans Louisbourg leur seroient
laissés et qu’ils auroient la liberté de les emporter avec eux dans
tels ports d’Europe de la domination de leur Roy qu’ils jugeront à
propos.
“Tous les battiments qui étoient dans le port appartenant aux
particuliers, faisaient partie de leurs effets mobiliers, cependant
les Anglois s’en sont emparés et les ont garde pour eux.
“Tous les particuliers généralement quelconques qui ont passé en
France n’ont pu emporter aucune armoire, chaise, fauteuil, table,
bureau, chenets et autres meubles de cette nature, ny même aucune
grosse marchandise, messieurs les généraux n’ayant point fourni des
battiments pour cela nécessaires, ils n’ont pas été pillés, mais à
bien examiner la chose, ne pouvant pas emporter le peu de meubles
qu’ils avoient faute de battiments, ils ont éte obligés de les
laisser, ce qu’ils ont laissé à Louisbourg est tout comme si on leur
avait pillé, à moins que Sa Grandeur ne fasse faire raison par la cour
d’Angleterre.
“Ils ont encore manqué à cet article, pendant le temps que j’étois à
la colonie; ils ont fait partir à mon insu 436 matelots et
particuliers pour Baston; ils étoient embarqués ainsi que les troupes
sur des vaisseaux de guerre jusqu’à leur embarquement pour la France, 310
mais un matin le vaisseau dans lequel ils étoient eut ordre de partir
pour Baston, et fit voile.
“J’en fus informé, j’en portai ma plainte, mais cela n’aboutit à autre
chose sinon qu’ils n’avoient pu faire autrement faute de vivres et de
battiment et qu’on les feroit repasser de Baston en France.
“Ces matelots n’ont pas été les seuls, j’ai été informé que depuis mon
départ, ils ont agi de même à l’égard des familles qui n’avoient pu
être placées sur les bâtiments de transport qu’ils avoient destiné
pour la France, si les généraux anglois avoient voulu, les bâtiments
qui ont transporté ces familles à Boston les auroient transportées
pour France, ils avoient des vivres en magazin beaucoup plus que pour
la traversée; mais ils n’ont agi ainsi qu’afin de disperser la
colonie.
“Le 2^e article regarde les battiments qui étoient dans le port et
ceux qu’ils devoient fournir en cas que les premiers ne fussent pas
suffisants pour faire le transport.
“J’ay fait mes remarques à ceci au précédent article, c’est un des
plus considérables par rapport à la valeur des choses, y ayant
quantité de battiments dans le port qui étoient coulés ou échoués, et
dont l’ennemy ne pouvoit en faire sortir aucun du port ny faire aucun
usage tant que nos batteries auroient existé.
“Au surplus si plusieurs particuliers de la ville n’avoient pas acheté
des battiments les Anglois auroient profité de tous les effets qu’ils
y ont chargés, ainsi qu’ils ont fait de ceux qui n’avoient pas le
moyen d’en acheter, ces familles auroient été contraintes, ainsi que
celles qui se sont embarquées en payant de gros frets, de passer à
Boston.
“A l’égard du dernier article des armes, tous les habitans avoient les
leurs et les ont remises en dépôt sitôt la reddition de la place; ces
armes étoient partie de leurs effets, les ennemis n’ont pas voulu les
rendre, je m’en suis plaint, ils m’ont fait réponse, lorsqu’ils ont 311
envoyé les 436 matelots, qu’ils leur enverroient leurs armes, les
autres habitans sont dans le même cas.
“Je crois devoir vous informer, Monseigneur, qu’ils se sont aussy
emparés de tous les effets et ustensils de l’hôpital et des magasins
du Roi: par la reddition de la Place ils n’ont que la ville avec les
fortifications et batteries, avec toute l’artillerie armes et
ustensils de guerre qui y étoient et non pas les autres effets;
cependant ils s’en sont emparés, disant que c’étoit au Roy, Monsieur
Bigot leur a fait ses representations qui n’ont eu aucun fruit, il
vous rendra compte à ce sujet.
“Monsieur Bigot a bien voulu se charger lorsqu’il est parti de l’isle
d’Aix pour vous rendre compte de ma lettre du 15 de ce mois avec tous
les originaux des papiers, concernant tout ce qui s’est passé à
l’occasion du siège de Louisbourg; je suis persuadé qu’ils les aura
remis à sa grandeur et qu’après l’examen qu’elle en a fait, elle me
rendra assez de justice que j’ay fait tout mon possible pour la
défense de cette place, et que je ne l’ay rendue qu’a la dernière
extrémité.
“J’oubliois d’informer monseigneur, que messieurs de la Tressillière
et Souvigny, enseignes, et Lopinot, fils cadet, sont du nombre de ceux
qui ont été tués pendant le siege.
“La garnison de Canceau avoit été faite prisonnière au dit lieu le 24
may de l’année dernière; elle ne devoit pas porter les armes contre le
Roy pendant l’an et jour; monsieur Duquesnel donna la liberté à tous
les officiers de cette garnison d’aller sur leur parole d’honneur à
Baston et de passer au dit lieu le temps porté par leur capitulation.
“Le Sieur Jean Blastrick, officier, étoit du nombre, il a manqué à sa
parole, puisqu’il les a prises au mois de mars dernier, c’étoit un des
chefs de ceux qui ont brûlé Toulouse-Port et qui ont fait la descente
à Gabarrus le 11 may.
“Il étoit colonel général de la milice de Baston, et il est entré en 312
ville à la tête de cette milice, le lendemain de la reddition de la
place.”
C.
CHAPTER XXII. SHIRLEY AND THE ACADIANS.
All the following correspondence is from the Public Record Office:
America and West Indies.
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 14 DEC., 1745.
(_Extract._)
“... Having lately procur’d from Fort Major Phillips of Annapolis
Royal the late Lieutenant Governour Armstrong’s Original Instrument
mention’d in my late State of the Province of Nova Scotia to be given
by him to the French Inhabitants of that Province, by virtue of which
and of another of the same tenour given ’em by him in 1730, they claim
an Exemption from bearing Arms in defence of his Majesty’s Government,
I inclose your Grace a Copy of it. Mr. Phillips in his letter
inclosing this Instrument to me observes that the ‘Inhabitants of Nova
Scotia at the first news of Louisbourg’s being surrendred were in
great Consternation and at Minas in particular they appear’d in Tears
in the Publick Places, where nine months before they had assisted in
singing Te Deum, on a false report that Annapolis Royal was surrendred
to Monsieur Duvivier.’ He goes on to say that a report was spread
there that Monsieur Duvivier was arriv’d at Canada with rigging for
two Men of War, and the Renommée a French thirty gun Ship with two 313
Prizes at Quebec. And all the Nova Scotia Priests were gone to Canada
for Instructions; and give out that there are 2000 Canadeans at
Chignecto waiting ready for another attempt against his Majesty’s
Garrison. To which I would beg leave to subjoin that it seems to me
far from being improbable that the French will Attempt the reduction
of Nova Scotia early in the Spring, by gaining which they will have a
fine provision Country to assemble 8 or 10,000 fighting men and all
the tribes of Indians ready to join in an attempt against Louisbourg
at a few days Warning as I observ’d to your Grace in a late Letter;
But if they should not attempt Louisbourg they would irresistably
break up all the Eastern Settlements of this Province and I doubt not
the whole Province of New Hampshire it self, which would make ’em
masters of all Mast Country and Naval Stores and of a rich Soil for
Corn as well as Cattle and this would also enable ’em to make deep
impressions on all the Western frontier of this Province, New York and
Connecticut, and, how far they might penetrate is not Certain but so
far at least as might make it very difficult to dislodge ’em and give
’em such an hold of the Continent as to make ’em think in time of
pushing with the assistance of the Indians for the Mastery of it,
which is richly worth contending for with all their might as it would
in their hands lay the surest foundation for an Universal Monarchy by
Sea and Land that ever a people had. This train of Consequences from
the Enemies being Masters of Nova Scotia may seem remote, my Lord, but
they are not impossible, and it may be very difficult for the French
to regain Louisbourg at least without being Masters of Nova Scotia,
and that seems under the present Circumstances of the Garrison where
no recruits are yet Arriv’d from England and the Inhabitants of the
Country Surrounding it are Enemies in their hearts no difficult
acquisition and to be made with a small Train of Artillery in three 314
weeks at farthest. I would submit it to your Grace’s consideration
whether the Garrison should not be reinforc’d as soon as may be. And
the Inhabitants should not be forthwith put upon a good foot of
Subjection and fidelity. Thus in obedience to your Grace’s Direction I
have troubled you with my whole sentiments concerning the Province of
Nova Scotia which as I can’t think it probable that the French will
sleep the next year after the blow we have given ’em at Louisbourg
(which, if they don’t recover it soon by retaking Cape Breton or
getting Nova Scotia will prove their Death wound in North America)
seems to be most likely to be attack’d by ’em of any place in these
parts, and I hope your Grace will excuse my Repetition of the Danger
of it.
“I am with the most Dutiful Regards
“My Lord Duke,
“Your Grace’s most Obed^t.
“and most Devoted Servant
“W. SHIRLEY.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 11 FEB. 1746.
(_Extract._)
“MY LORD DUKE.
“Since my last to your Grace I have received the Inclos’d packett from
Mr. Mascarene Containing a Representation of the State of Nova Scotia
from himself and his Majesty’s Council of that Province with a copy of
a Letter from him to me, Showing the reasons of his late Conduct
towards the French Inhabitants; Your Grace will perceive that this
representation is drawn up in Stronger Terms against the Inhabitants
than mine; I could wish the Gentlemen had been more Explicit in what
they would Recommend as the most adviseable Method of Securing his
Majesty’s Government within the Province and against the French
Inhabitants--But as that is not done except in Short hints, And Mr. 315
Little, to whom both Mr. Mascarene and Mr. Secretary Shirreff referr
me for a Larger Account of the Sentiments of the Gentlemen of the
Garrison concerning these Matters, Offers his Service to go with my
dispatches to England and return directly with any Orders his Majesty
may be pleased to give thereupon, I have sent him to wait upon your
Grace, and it is possible that when he is upon the Spot ready to
Answer any Questions, it may be of Service--. Having before troubled
your Grace So Largely upon this head, I will beg leave to referr to my
former Letters, Mr. Little Mr. Agent Kilby and Mr. Bollan, which two
last can, I believe, give Considerable Light on the affair; And shall
only add that the Spring before last the Garrison was very narrowly
Saved from the Enemy by the Arrival of the New England Auxiliaries,
and the last Spring, by the Expedition against Cape Breton, that the
preservation of it this Spring will be of the Utmost Importance to his
Majesty’s Service in America, and that nothing will more effectually
Secure that than putting the Inhabitants upon a proper foot of
Subjection, in the most Speedy Manner, to prevent their Revolt, which
Cannot be done without his Majesty’s Special directions for that
purpose; for the procuring of which, I find Mr. Mascarene, and his
whole Council have a dependance upon me; the Language of their Several
Letters being that they _Commit themselves to my Care_; and will
take no step without my Advice or approbation, which has been the Case
for above these last two years, And I mention to your Grace in Excuse
for my being So importunate in the Affairs of another Government,
which the Gentlemen of the Garrison lay me Under a Necessity of being;
And I am further Urg’d to this by the late Accounts, w^{ch}. Mr.
Mascarene and the other Gentlemen have sent me of the Appearance of
four hundred Indians well Cloathed, Arm’d, and Supply’d with Stores 316
from Canada near St. Johns River, Seventeen French Officers being Seen
among ’em, and another Body of French in the Neighbourhood of the
Province, and Reports that Mr. Duvivier in the Parfaite Man of Warr,
and another Ship of Force were at Qubec with Stores, and another was
seen to put into St. Johns Island; That the Priests who went to Canada
for Instructions are returned with Supplies and large promises to the
Indians (before well dispos’d and upon the point of putting themselves
under Our protection on the taking of Louisbourg) and Encouragements
for the Inhabitants to depend upon a powerfull force against the Fort
at Annapolis Royal this Spring. These alarms indeed have been
Something Allay’d by Letters from the Deputies of Minas and other
Districts to Mr. Mascarene, which for my own part I have no great
dependance upon.
“But it seems plain upon the whole, that the French are making the
Utmost Efforts to retain the Indians of those parts in their Interest,
and gaining over the Inhabitants of Nova Scotia, So that the Taking of
Speedy measures for Securing these last and gaining over the former
which will depend upon that, as the preservation of Nova Scotia does
upon both, is a Matter of the Highest Consequence.
“Upon this Occasion it seems necessary for me to apprise your Grace,
that Mr. Mascarene and his Council have not So good an harmony
Subsisting between them as could be wish’d, and that all the Officers
have of late differ’d in Sentiments with him particularly upon the
Behaviour of the French Inhabitants, Concerning whom he indeed has
himself alter’d his Opinion in Some measure; But I think there may be
Still danger of too much tenderness towards ’em on his part, and
perhaps rigour on theirs in carrying any Orders of his Majesty’s into
Execution; So that by their Jarring, the Execution of the Orders may
possibly be Obstructed, if they are left to themselves;
“Wherefore if their Chief Governour’s Age and health, and other 317
Circumstances would have permitted him to have been Upon the Spott,
and Assisted in this Service, it would I believe have been for the
Advantage of it, for him to have made ’em a short Visit at least this
year, And if it could have been repeated for the two or three
proceeding years it would have been still more so....”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 10TH MAY, 1746.
(_Extract._)
“... I think it my indispensable duty to suggest again to Your Grace
my Fears that the Enemy will soon find an opportunity of snatching
Accadie by some Sudden Stroke from his Majesty’s Government unless the
danger is remov’d out of the Heart of it there by a Removal of the
most dangerous of the french Inhabitants from thence, & transplanting
English Families there in their room, which I think very practicable
from hence, having lately found means of transplanting upwards, I
believe, of an hundred Families from the Province to Louisbourg
towards the Settlement of it, which yet I dont esteem of such
Importance to be immediately done as the Settlement of Nova Scotia
with faithful Subjects.
“In the meanwhile ’till this can be happily effected & the Indians in
those parts secur’d in the English Interest, I have propos’d to Mr.
Warren that a Detachment of 100 Men should be sent from Louisbourg to
reinforce the garrison at Annapolis Royal, since the late Miscarriage
of 182 out of 302 of the Recruits designed for Annapolis in their
Passage from England to the garrison there. Ninety-six of the
Remainder of ’em, which came in here, I with difficulty have got
recovered in his Majesty’s Castle William & at the Hospital in Boston,
& sent a month ago to Annapolis where I hear they are safely arriv’d,
and twenty more who are in a fair way of being serviceable, I shall 318
send from the Hospital within three days; But the Garrison will still
be weak as Mr. Mascarene has dismiss’d most of the New England
Auxiliaries, and they have not, I am informed, 220 effective private
Men left besides their Artificers & Workmen: I have also recommended
to Mr. Warren the frequent Sending of a Ship of War to look into the
Bason of Annapolis & make the Garrison there a short Visit in order to
prevent a Surprise; & by his Opinion in Concurrence with Sir Will^m
Pepperrell’s, Mr. Mascarene’s & my own a Sloop has been hir’d &
employ’d for about these last four Months to attend upon that
garrison, & carry Intelligence between Annapolis Royal, Louisbourg &
Boston concerning the State of it & the Enemy’s Motions which we
conceiv’d necessary to be done for its Security, and hope your Grace
will not disapprove of.
“What Mr. Frontenac observed some years ago to M^r Pontchartrain
concerning the french King’s recovering of Accadie & making himself
absolute Master of the great Bank [of Newfoundland] as in the inclos’d
Extract of his Letter, seems so seasonable to be consider’d at this
time, that I would beg leave to observe to your Grace upon it, that
his Maj^{ty’s} holding the Possession of Annapolis Royal &
Newfoundland (already conceded to his Crown by the Treaty of Utrecht)
with his late Acquisition of Cape Breton, will put the whole Cod
Fishery more in his Power than M^r Frontenac’s Scheme could have put
it into the French Kings, and that besides what M^r Frontenac calls a
Commerce more advantageous than the Conquest of the Indies, and
computes the Returns of at twenty Millions (I suppose french Livres)
per annum, it would furnish his Majesty with as good a Nursery of
Seamen for the Royal Navy as the Colliery in England does, not to
mention the great consumption of British Manufactures which must be
occasioned in carrying the Fishery on;--that the holding of Annapolis 319
Royal in particular will be establishing to his Majesty the Mastery of
the Northern Part of this Continent against the French, Secure to him
inexhaustible Nurseries of Masts, Yards, Bowsprits & other Stores for
his Navy, & Timber for Ship building within his Northern Colonies
independent of any foreign State to be purchased with British
Manufactures & transported in British Vessels--that the Inhabitants of
the Northern Colonies would in time make such an Addition of Subjects
to the Crown of Great Britain as would make their number Superior to
that of any Prince’s upon the Continent of Europe; and in the
meanwhile the Vent of Woolen & other British Manufactures, & all Kinds
of European Commodities imported into the Colonies from Great Britain
must increase in proportion to the Increase of their Inhabitants: by
all which means the main Sources of Wealth, & a larger Extent of Power
by Sea & Land than any State in Christendom at present enjoys, seems
capable of being secur’d to his Maj^{ty’s} Dominions; But which will
in the End otherwise be in all human Probability the Lot of the french
Dominions; And I would in particular observe to your Grace the most
practicable Step the Enemy can attempt making towards their obtaining
that seems clearly to be their rendring themselves Masters of Nova
Scotia, the Consequences of w^{ch} would give ’em so strong an hold
upon this Continent as would make it difficult to dislodge ’em & put
it very much in their Power to harrass & annoy his Maj^{tys} Colonies
both by Land & Sea, in such manner as to weaken ’em extremely, if not
by degrees finally subdue ’em.
“I am with the most dutiful Regards,
“My Lord Duke,
“Your Grace’s most devoted
“and obedient Servant
“W. SHIRLEY.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 31 MAY 1746. 320
(_Extract._)
“... I would beg Leave to observe to your Grace, y^t the Danger to his
Majesty’s garrison arises chiefly from within the heart of the
government itself, the Inhabitants & neighboring Indians whose Numbers
are sufficient of themselves with a small assistance from Canada & the
help of a proper Train of Artillery, slipt up the Bay in small
Vessells (w^{ch} would give ’em great Encouragement to take up Arms
ag^t the garrison) to reduce it. However while the Attempt against
Canada is depending, that will certainly go far towards holding the
Inhabitants of Nova Scotia in suspense, till the success of it is
known; & I hope by next Spring they may either be put upon a better
foot of Subjection, or the most dangerous among ’em removed....”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 18 JUNE, 1746.
(_Extract._)
“... I may assure your Grace y^t. one of the principal motives I had
to desire I might succeed General Phillips in his Command, was the
hopes I have of it’s putting it in my power to promote his Majesty’s
Service in his Province of Acadie, or Nova Scotia by securing the
fidelity & Allegiance of the Inhabitants there to his Majesty’s
Government in the best manner, and thereby preventing the French from
making themselves masters of it, the Acquisition of w^{ch} to them
with the help of the Indians would likewise endanger the Loss of the
Province of New Hampshire & the Mast Country to his Majesty with the
Fishery of the Acadie or Cape Sable’s Shoar, including that of Canso,
to his Subjects here in present, & should not Canada be reduc’d, would
enable the enemy to harrass & Diminish all his Majesty’s Colonies 321
& on the Continent, & have an inevitable Tendency to make themselves
masters of the whole of it in time; not to mention the Continual
Danger, w^{ch} their possession of Nova Scotia would at the same time
expose Cape Breton & even Newfoundland to.
“The Considerations have induc’d me to take the Liberty of submitting
it to your Grace, whether it might not be for his Majesty’s Service,
that before the six Regiments to be employ’d ag^t Canada return to
England, orders may be sent that such part of ’em as shall be thought
necessary to assist in removing the most obnoxious of the French
Inhabitants of Nova Scotia from thence, should be employ’d in that
Service, w^{ch} would not take up much time; I am not certain whether
a sufficient Strength might not be spar’d from the Garrison at
Louisbourg a short time for this purpose, w^{ch} if it could, would
make the Assistance of any other Troops needless.
“And I would particularly submit it to your Grace’s Consideration,
whether in case of any Disappoinment in the present Attempt for the
reduction of Canada, the immediate removal of some at least of the
French Inhabitants of Nova Scotia, & securing the province in the best
manner would not be ... adviseable and even necessary.
“If your Grace should think this deserves so much of your Attention
there will be time enough for transmitting his Majesty’s Commands to
me upon it before the present Expedition is over.
“I am with the most Dutifull Regard
“My Lord Duke
“Your Grace’s most Devoted
“& most obedient Servant
“W. SHIRLEY.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 28 JULY, 1746. 322
(_Extract._)
“I must acknowledge I should rather apprehend the french Fleet (if it
is design’d for North America) is order’d to Canada; or else to
Annapolis Royal, where the Enemy may depend that upon the Apperance of
such an Armament the french Inhabitants of Nova Scotia (to the Amount
of between 5 & 6000 fighting men) and a considerable Number of Indians
& some Canadeans, would immediately join ’em, and they would have a
most convenient Country to rendezvous in within a very few days sail
of Chappeaurouge Bay at Cape Breton, and be not far from Canada, than
that they should attempt to enter Louisbourg Harbour with their Ships;
and I am the more inclin’d to this Opinion from the Accounts I have
receiv’d lately from M^r Mascarene, and the Officers of the Garrison
at Annapolis Royal which inform me that the french Inhabitants at
Menis & Schiegneto (in Nova Scotia) have cut off all communication
with the garrison for these last five Weeks, and have stop’d the
Messengers sent from thence by M^r Mascarene for Intelligence; being
in Expectation of an Armament from France; And indeed it seems
probable that this will for ever be the Case; and that the Province of
Nova Scotia will never be out of Danger, whilst the french Inhabitants
are suffer’d to remain in Nova Scotia upon their present Foot of
Subjection.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 15 AUG. 1746.
(_Extract._)
“I shall finish my troubleing your Grace upon the Affairs of Nova
Scotia with this Letter after having once more Submitted it to your 323
Grace’s Consideration as a proper Scheme for better securing the
Subjection of the French Inhabitants and Indians there; that the
Governour & Council or such other Person or Persons as his Majesty
shall think fitt to join with ’em, should have a special authority and
directions from his Majesty, forthwith to Apprehend & Examine a
convenient number of such of the Inhabitants, as shall be by them
judg’d to be most obnoxious & Dangerous to his Majesty’s Government, &
upon finding ’em guilty of holding any treasonable Correspondence with
the Enemy &c to dispose of them & their Estates in such manner, as his
Majesty shall order by his Commissions and to promise his Majesty’s
Gracious Pardon & a general Indemnity to the Rest for what is past
upon their taking the Oaths of Allegiance to his Majesty; And to Cause
either two strong Blockhouses (or small Forts) capable of holding 100
Men each to be Built, one in Menis & the other in Schiegnecto, which
may be Garrison’d out of Phillip’s Regiment when Compleated, or else
that at least one Blockhouse (or small Fort) should be Built at Menis
capable of holding 150 men; and a trading house be kept at the Fort at
Menis or some other part of the Province well Stock’d with all proper
Supplies for the Indians to be sold or barter’d to ’em for Furrs &c at
the most reasonable Rates, and some presents annually distributed to
’em: by which means and removing the Romish Priests out of the
Province, & introducing Protestant English Schools, and French
Protestant Ministers, and due encouragement given to such of the
Inhabitants, as shall Conform to the Protestant Religion, and send
their Children to the English Schools, the present Inhabitants might
probably at least be kept in Subjection to his Majesty’s Government,
and from treasonable correspondencies with the Canadians; and the next
Generation in a great measure become true Protestant Subjects; and 324
the Indians there soon Reclaim’d to an entire dependance upon &
subjection to his Majesty; which might also have an happy Influence
upon some of the Tribes now in the French Interest.
“Your Grace will be pleas’d to Excuse all
“Incorrectness in this rough Sketch.
“I am with the most Dutifull Regard,
“My Lord Duke,
“Your Grace’s most Devoted &
“Most Obedient Servant
“W. SHIRLEY.”
SHIRLEY TO MASCARENE, BOSTON, SEPT^R. 16, 1746.
“SIR,
“Having been inform’d that the french Inhabitants of Nova Scotia
entertain some Jealousy of a Design in the English Government to
remove them with their Families from their Settlements, & transport
them to France or elsewhere; I desire (if you think it may be for his
Majesty’s Service) that you would be pleas’d to signify to ’em, that
it is probable if his Majesty had declar’d such Intention I might have
heard of the same, but that I am perfectly unaquainted with any such
Design, and am perswaded there is no just Ground for this Jealousy;
And be pleas’d to assure ’em that I shall use my best Endeavours by a
proper Representation of their Case to be laid before his Majesty, to
obtain the Continuance of his Royal Favour & Protection to such of
them, as shall behave dutifully, & refuse to hold any Correspondence
with his Enemies; and I doubt not but that all such of ’em will be
protected by his Majesty in the Possession of their Estates &
Settlements in Nova Scotia.
“And I desire you would also be pleas’d to inform them that it is 325
expected from his Maj^{tys} french Subjects in that Province, who have
for so long time enjoyed the same Privileges with his natural born
Subjects there, & have been under a much easier Government than any of
the french King’s Subjects are in the neighbouring Province of Canada
& other Parts of the french King’s Dominions, that their Interest as
well as their Duty and Gratitude should bind them to a strict Fidelity
& Obedience to his Majesty and His Government; But on the contrary if
any of the Inhabitants of the said Province shall join with the Enemy
(especially those that have been sent from Canada to seduce them from
their Duty to his Majesty & Attachment to the English Interest) they
must expect to be treated in the same manner as his Majesty’s English
Subjects would be under the like Provocations.
“I am with great regard
“Sir,
“Your most obedient
“humble servant
“W. SHIRLEY.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, BOSTON, SEPTEMBER 19, 1746.
“MY LORD DUKE,
“I express’d some hopes in my last but one to your Grace, that I
should not be oblig’d to add to my former Accounts of the imminent
danger, his Majesty’s Province of Nova Scotia was in of being
surpriz’d by the Enemy; But find my self under a Necessity of doing it
from the Advices which I have since receiv’d from M^r. Mascarene, and
the Intelligence contain’d in three Declarations upon Oath, Copies of
all which are inclos’d.
“Upon the Receipt of M^r. Mascarene’s Letter, the Contents of which 326
are confirm’d to me by other authentick Accounts, it appear’d to me
that there was no room to doubt but that a considerable Body of French
and Indians from Canada was assembled in Nova Scotia, with
Expectations of a Reinforcement from France; and if they fail’d of
that this Year a Design of at least wintering in Minas or some other
Part of the Country, by which means they would have an Opportunity of
fortifying themselves in it, transporting their great artillery (which
there was then the utmost reason to believe they had landed either at
Bay Verte or Chebucto Harbour) to Annapolis, and work upon the French
Inhabitants already ripe for a Revolt to join ’em in attacking his
Majesty’s Garrison there so early in the Spring that it would be
extremely difficult if not impracticable to relieve it by any Succours
either from Louisbourg or the Colonies on the Continent. Whereupon I
immediately sent M^r Mascarene an Assurance that I would send him as
soon as possible 300 of the new Levies from this Province, 200 of ’em
(which seems to be as many as the Garrison can hold at present besides
the Troops already there) for the Reinforcement of it, and 100 of ’em
to be employ’d in two Sloops up the Bay in the manner M^r Mascarene
proposes in his Letter to me, and that I would do the utmost in my
Power to make the number up 2000 soon afterwards, in order to dislodge
the Enemy, & prevent ’em from wintering in the Province; And in the
mean time upon my advising with Rear Admiral Warren (who is still
here) he immediately sent his Majesty’s Ship Chester a 50 Gun Ship to
Annapolis Royal for the further Countenance & Protection of the
Garrison there.
“Some Days after this I receiv’d Information that a Fleet of upwards
of 30 Sail were discover’d about 15 Leagues to the Westward of
Chibucto Harbour, which lies upon the Cape Sable Shoar (the Coast of
Accadie or Nova Scotia) about 150 Leagues to the Eastward of Boston, 327
and about 60 Leagues Westward of Louisbourg, & about 80 distant from
Annapolis Royal according to Champions inclos’d Deposition, which was
confirm’d by another of the same Tenour made by one Thornton sent me
from Piscataqua, upon which I dispatched an arm’d Brigantine with
orders to look into Chibucto Harbour, & if the Master should discover
any thing to proceed directly to Louisbourg, & give Vice Admiral
Townsend & Govern^r Knowles Intelligence of it, & to send me Advice of
it Express by some fishing Vessel taken up at Sea; But the Brigantine
return’d in less than 24 hours with one Stanwood a Fisherman on board,
whose Vessel fell in with the Fleet on the 9^{th} day of Sept^r about
10 Leagues to the Westward of Chibucto, the particulars of which are
contain’d in his inclos’d Deposition; and the day after Stanwood’s
falling in with this Fleet, Haskell another Master of a fishing Vessel
discover’d it standing a right course for Chibucto about 8 Leagues to
the Westw^d of it, & was chas’d by one of ’em according to the
inclos’d Deposition; which Series of Intelligence, as no Vessel has
arriv’d here yet from this Fleet (which must in all probability have
happen’d had it come from England) compar’d with the Accounts in the
English News Papers of the Brest Fleet’s sailing, & the Intelligence
gain’d from a french Prize lately taken by one of M^r. Townsend’s
Squadron near the Mouth of S^t Lawrence, that she came out with the
Brest Squadron & sail’d in Company with it eight days; the Account we
had of two large french Ships being seen to go into Chibucto Harbour
about two Months ago; the behavior of the French in Nova Scotia, &
their declar’d Expectations of a large French Armament about this
time, seems to make it very probable that these Ships may be part of
the Brest Squadron, & that they have an immediate design upon Nova
Scotia at least.--Hereupon I sent an Express Boat to Louisbourg to 328
apprize Admiral Townsend & M^r Knowles of it, & another to Annapolis
Royal to give M^r Mascarene Advice of it, & to let him know that I was
embarking 300 Men for the Reinforcement of the Garrison under his
Command (which is done & part of ’em sail’d) with a Promise of farther
Succours, and to apprize him that from the publick Accounts in the
English Prints we had reason to depend upon the speedy Arrival of
Lieut^t General S^t Clair with the British Troops under his Command, &
a Squadron of his Majesty’s Ships with ’em at Louisbourg; And as I
have reason to think that an Apprehension generally prevails among the
french Inhabitants of Nova Scotia, that they shall all of ’em soon be
remov’d from their Settlements there without Distinction, which may
have a bad Influence upon ’em in favour of the Enemy at this critical
Time. I have wrote M^r Mascarene a Letter (a copy of which I inclose
to your Grace) which is translated into French, & printed, in order to
be dispers’d among the french inhabitants, if M^r Mascarene (to whose
Discretion I have submitted it either to make Use of or suppress the
printed Copies) shall be of Opinion that the Publication of it among
’em may be for his Majesty’s Service.
“If the Fleet discover’d on the Cape Sable Coast should be Part of
that from Brest, doubtless their visit to Nova Scotia has been
encourag’d by the general Disposition of the Inhabitants, & the
strength they will add to ’em for the Reduction of that Province, &
afterwards for an Attempt upon Louisbourg (if they should think it
adviseable to make one) as also for the defence of Canada. Should they
succeed in an immediate Attempt upon Nova Scotia (which I should not
be surpriz’d at) & General S^t Clair with the Squadron expected from
England should arrive in time for that purpose, I should propose
attempting the immediate recovery of it out of the Enemy’s hands this 329
Year; For their holding that Province till they can fortify it and
farther strengthen themselves there must be attended with very bad
Consequences to his Majesty’s Service, worse than may be immediately
apprehended, & create no inconsiderable Perplexities; at least it
seems a clear point to me, that if the French should hold the
Possession of Nova Scotia in Addition to Canada, the fate of Affairs
in his Majesty’s Northern Colonies will be suddenly alter’d in a
surprizing manner & it will then soon be discern’d that the Mastery of
the Northern Parts of this Continent, together with the Sources of
Wealth & Power depending upon it, will be in a very fair way of being
finally transfer’d to the Enemy.
“Upwards of two Months ago upon receiving Intelligence of the
Appearance of two large French Ships being seen to go into Chibucto
Harbour, M^r Warren & I sent M^r Townsend notice of it; But as we had
not learn’d whether any Vessell had been sent from Louisbourg to look
into that Harbour, I sent an arm’d Brigantine to make Discoveries
there, which was hinder’d from proceeding thither as is before
mention’d; & I have now sent a Schooner thither with a Person who has
undertaken to go into it in a Whale boat high enough to make an exact
discovery of the Enemy’s strength (if any of their Ships are there) &
to carry the Account to Louisbourg; But it seems possible if any of
’em have been there, that after landing some Troops and Stores at
Chibucto, & getting what Intelligence they can from the Nova Scotians,
their Ships may be gone to Canada; for which Place we have been
inform’d that sixteen french Vessels, some of ’em Ships of War, had
some time ago pass’d up the River of St Laurence; & since that six
other Vessels with Stores; so that it is very probable that Quebec is
much better prepar’d to receive a Visit from his Majesty’s Land & Sea
Forces now than it was a little time ago.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 23 OCT. 1746. 330
(_Extract._)
“It is agreed by all the Prisoners that the French have not fortify’d
at Chebucto, nor sent any Troops from thence by Land to join the
Canadeans; as also that M^r. Destonnel the chief D’escadre &
Commandant upon the Death of the Duke D’Anville, who was of Opinion,
to return to France after the Admiral’s Death without attempting any
thing, upon being over rul’d in a Council of War & having his Flagg
struck, fell upon his Sword, & dy’d of his Wound as all of ’em say,
except Sanders.
“It seems very observable from Sander’s Declaration how ready a
Disposition the Nova Scotians show’d to afford Refreshm^{ts}. & Pilots
to the Enemy, & that they had signified to the french Ministry their
readiness to join with any force they should send for the Reduction of
his Majes^{ty’s} Garrison at Annapolis Royal. Also from the number of
Engineers the French had with ’em that their Scheme was to hold &
fortify Annapolis, for w^{ch}. Purpose it seems to be that the 50
brass Cannon were brought, rather than for raising Batteries against
the Fort: and that from the Number of their small Arms, which they had
with ’em to arm the Nova Scotians (doubtless) as well as the Indians,
they had a dependance upon being join’d by them. Likewise the
Apprehensions which prevail among the Nova Scotians that they are at
present rather Neutrals than Subjects to the Crown of Great Britain.
And I think it is not to be doubted now but that the principal Part of
the french Scheme was the Reduction of Nova Scotia in the first Place.
“Upon the whole the sickly State of the French Fleet, w^c. is
extremely ill mann’d, the hurry & Uneasiness they discover’d upon 331
seeing the Contents of the Packets which fell into their hands, &
precipitate departure from Chebucto, with their detaining the Flag of
Truce & English Prisoners ’till they were got 30 Leagues from
Chebucto, & then dismissing ’em with a Notion that their Fleet was
going up the Bay of Fundy to Annapolis (instead of carrying ’em up
there with ’em to prevent that’s being known to us) makes it seem
probable that the Enemy is making the best of their way to France or
the West Indies, & was afraid of even M. Townsend’s following ’em.
“I am with the most dutiful Regard
“My Lord Duke,
“Your Grace’s most Devoted
“and most Obedient Servant
“W. SHIRLEY.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, BOSTON, 21 NOV. 1746.
(_Extracts._)
“MY LORD DUKE,
“I am afraid your Grace will think, from my incessant Representations
of the State of Nova Scotia, that I imagine that Province should be
the sole Object of your Attention: Nothing could induce me to be so
importunate with your Grace upon this Subject, but the fullest
perswasion of the very great Importance of that Place to the Crown, &
the British Subject, of the immediate bad Consequences of the Loss of
it to his majesty’s Service, & the imminent danger of its being lost,
unless something is forthwith done for the effectual Security of it.
“The inclos’d Extract from M^r Mascarene’s Letter & Copy of Lieut^t
Colonel Gorham’s will disclose in a great Measure to your Grace their
Apprehensions, & the Condition of the Province: The number of the
Enemy, are increas’d at Menis; they have again stop’t all Communication 332
between the Inhabitants & the Garrison, & are likely to keep footing
there this Winter; and particularly from Col^o Gorham’s Letter your
Grace will perceive what Pains the Canadeans and Malcontents among the
Inhabitants take to prevent my Letter lately dispers’d among ’em, in
order to setle the Minds of the Inhabitants, (a Copy of which I have
before sent your Grace) from having its proper Influence; & how the
Nova Scotians are alarm’d at the Rumour of a design to remove ’em from
their Settlements; And it appears to me by what I farther learn from
Captain Fotheringham to whom M^r Mascarene refers me in his Letter,
that unless something vigorous, as that Letter intimates, is done by
the Middle of April at farthest, the greatest Part of the Province at
least will be in the hands of the Canadeans, and it will be too late
then to attempt to reclaim the Inhabitants.
* * * * *
“For the securing Nova Scotia from its present dangers I would further
humbly propose it as my Opinion to be consider’d by your Grace, that
if his Majesty should be pleas’d as soon as possibly might be after
the Receipt of this, to cause it to be signified to the Inhabitants of
Nova Scotia, that the Assurances lately given ’em by me of his Royal
Protection to such of ’em as should behave dutifully and avoid all
traiterous Correspondence with the Enemy at this Juncture (or to that
Effect) were approv’d of by him, and should be made good to ’em, it
would have a great Tendency to remove their present Apprehensions of
being sent off with their Families from their Settlements in Nova
Scotia, which seems to distress & perplex ’em; & effectually to
prevent ’em from being drawn over to take up Arms against his Majesty,
unless it should be some of the most obnoxious of ’em; which if his
Majesty would be pleas’d to send over at the same time his special 333
directions to apprehend, and proceed against, such a Proceeding
against the Delinquents and gracious Declaration towards the others,
would, I dare say, have a proper Effect for securing the general
Fidelity of the Inhabitants, at least so far as to keep ’em from
joining with the Enemy; And least the Succours now sent to Annapolis
should not be a sufficient force to dislodge the Enemy this Winter, I
would farther humbly propose it for your Graces’ Consideration, that
his Majesty’s Orders should be forthwith sent to myself and the other
three Governments of New England, that in case the Canadeans should
not be withdrawn out of Nova Scotia, they should immediately cause the
Soldiers rais’d in their respective Colonies & Provinces for his
Majesty’s Service in the Expedition against Canada to be transported
to Annapolis Royal, as their Place of Rendezvous istead of Louisbourg,
& to be employed in driving the Canadeans out of Nova Scotia, and be
farther subjected to such Orders as his Majesty shall be pleas’d to
signify in those Directions; and if this Order was to extend to the
Governour of New York, it might not be an unnecessary Caution. I am
apprehensive if such Orders are not sent, that the Attention of the
several Governm^{ts} to the Reduction of Crown Point might very much
interfere with the Preservation of Nova Scotia, which is of infinitely
more Consequence.
“These are the things which occur to me at present, & which I would
submit to your Grace’s Consideration, as what seems to require more
immediate Dispatch; As to the danger of the french Fleet’s early
Return from the West Indies to Nova Scotia and what Strength of Ships
may be necessary to protect that Province, Cape Breton, and the other
Colonies against that Fleet, or any other french Armament which may be
sent from Europe in the Spring to visit these Parts, I leave to
Admiral Warren, who now goes to England in the Chester, and with whom, 334
pursuant to the Directions of your Grace’s two Letters to me in March
& April last, I have acted in Concert upon all such Occasions as
requir’d my consulting him with the greatest Satisfaction and Harmony,
having had the Pleasure to find my own Sentiments agreable to his in
all Matters of Consequence, and a most hearty Disposition in him for
his Majesty’s Service, and to whom I have often talk’d over the
Affairs of Nova Scotia.
* * * * *
“I will avoid repeating what I have particularly mention’d to your
Grace in late Letters concerning fortifying of Chebucto Harbour and
building a Blockhouse or small Fort for 150 Men at Menis, with a
Trading House there for the Indians, and a Blockhouse only at Canso
for 100 Men, instead of new building and enlarging that at Annapolis
Royal, and erecting a larger Fortification at Canso; which in my
humble Opinion would greatly strengthen that Province, and together
with the introducing of french Protestant Ministers, and English
Schools, & some small Encouragement by Privileges to such as should
conform to the Prtestant Religion, or send their Children to the
English Schools, and Presents to the Indians with Supplies of all
necessaries for ’em at the most reasonable Rates, in Exchange for
their Furrs &^c.; the Disallowance of the publick Exercise of the
Roman Catholic Religion, at least after a short Term of Years, &
forbidding Romish Priests under severe Penalties to come into the
Country either among the Inhabitants or Indians; and if it might be
consistent with his Majesty’s Pleasure, a Civil Government to be in
due time introduc’d among the Inhabitants; These things, I say, my
Lord together with making Examples of the most obnoxious among the
Inhabitants, and his Majesty’s extending his Clemency and the
Continuance of his Protection to the rest upon taking the proper Oath 335
of Allegiance, seem to me to have the most promising Aspect for making
good Subjects of the present Generation of Inhabitants, at least
better than they are now and good Protestants of the next Generation
of ’em; especially if there was to be a Mixture of English or other
Protestants introduc’d among ’em, which the Invitation of a Civil
Government to be set up among ’em would bid fair for doing: and the
Trading House would create in the Indians a firm Dependance upon, and
Attachment to his Majesty’s Government, especially if a proper
Protestant Missionary or two was supported to live among ’em at their
head Quarters, as is the Method of the french Priests; by w^{ch}.
means they gain so great an Ascendency over them.
“Just as I had finished the last Paragraph a Letter from Governor
Knowles to Admiral Warren & myself, dated the 10^{th} Instant, was
deliver’d to me, in which he informs me that ‘he has given his Opinion
in his Letters to your Grace, that it will be necessary to drive
_all the French_ (I suppose he means _Inhabitants_) out of
Accadie (Nova Scotia) in the Spring, and that he hopes he shall have
Orders to assist in doing it, if Admiral Warren does not go upon the
Expedition to Quebeck, which he apprehends is rendred more difficult
than it was, by such a Number of Ships being got safe up to Quebeck
this Year, as no doubt they have carried all manner of warlike
Stores.’ And in his Letter to me of the 24^{th} of October he says ‘if
his Majesty should be pleas’d to transport the Rebels who are Objects
of his Mercy, & encourage other Highland Families to come over, he
thinks the Colony of Nova Scotia would soon be repeopled;’ which it is
possible he may have also propos’d to your Grace as in his Opinion the
best Method for peopling that Colony, after the present french
Inhabitants are drove off.
“As the Sentiments, which I have taken the Liberty to offer to your 336
Grace upon this Subject, happen to be something different from M^r.
Knowles’s, I think it may not only be proper but my Duty to mention
the Reasons of my preferring the Scheme for attempting to make the
present french Inhabitants good Subjects to his Majesty, and keeping
’em in the Country, to that of driving ’em off & introducing some of
the Rebels and other Highlanders in their Room.
“It seems very difficult to drive all the Inhabitants of Accadie out
of so large a Province as that is, and which consists chiefly of
Woods; It is most probable that many of the hardiest Men would retire
(for some time at least) with their Cattle into the Woods, & form
Parties with the Indians; and the remainder would doubtless retreat
with their Families to Canada: Those, who are acquainted with the
Indian Manner of Life & making War know that one hundred of ’em under
Cover of the Woods can confine a very large Frontier within their
Garrisons, even tho’ they have Companies continually scouting between
one Garrison and another: this is at present the Case of this Province
& the other Colonies of New England & New York, tho’ the People there
are us’d to the Woods, & the Skulking of the Indians behind the Bushes
& in Ditches with their other Wiles, & have large numbers of the
Militia constantly upon Guard for their Protection; their Cattle is
continually destroy’d; if any of ’em venture out into their Fields,
they are frequently kill’d & scalp’d; and sometimes not only single
Families or Garrisons are surpriz’d and cut off, as has happen’d
lately in this Province, but even whole Villages, as was the Case of
Sarahtoga in New York a few Months ago; so that those of the french
Inhabitants, who should mix with the Indians in the Woods, would have
it in their Power to put his Majesty’s Garrison under such Circumstances 337
as that it could not possibly subsist longer in the Country than they
could do it without fresh Provisions, Wood & other Materials &
Supplies from thence; from all which they would be wholly cut off,
when the Inhabitants were drove away; And as to such of the
Inhabitants, who should go with their Families to Canada, it must be
expected that a very large Body of the Men would return arm’d next
Spring with some Canadeans to join the Indians; from all which it
seems justly to be apprehended that an Attempt to drive all the french
Inhabitants from their Settlements, should it succeed, would in Effect
be driving 5 or 6000 Men to take up Arms against his Majesty’s
Government there every Year during the War; make the reclaiming of the
Indians of Nova Scotia impracticable, & render it impossible for his
Majesty’s Garrison there to subsist long in the Country in time of War
even with the Indians only; Besides, the Addition of about 6000
fighting Men with their Families to Canada, which would greatly
strengthen the French upon this Continent, and would entail upon the
Posterity of those who are thus expell’d (for several Generations at
least) a Desire of recovering their former Possessions in Nova Scotia,
seems to be no inconsiderable Matter, but what next to the Loss of the
Country itself should be avoided on the Part of his Majesty, & is I
dare say an Event, which the French next to their Acquisition of this
Colony would desire: It is indeed now to be wish’d that General
Nicholson had upon the first Reduction of the Colony to the Obedience
to the Crown of Great Britain, remov’d the french Inhabitants, when
they were but a few, out of the Country, as was done at Louisbourg;
and that during the Interval of Peace the Colony had been planted with
Protestant Subjects; But after their having remain’d so long in the
Country upon the foot of British Subjects under the Sanction of the
treaty of Utrecht, and making Improvements on their Lands for one or 338
two Generations, and being grown up into such a Number of Families, to
drive ’em all off their Settlements without farther Inquiry seems to
be liable to many Objections. Among others it may be doubted whether
under the Circumstances of these Inhabitants it would clearly appear
to be a just Usage of ’em; it is true that the Notion of their
Neutrality (which seems to have been entertain’d for some time by the
English as well as themselves) is ill-grounded, and does not comport
with the Terms of their Allegiance to his Majesty, to which such of
’em as chose to remain in the Province are bound by the treaty of
Utrecht; whereby the french King yielded up the Inhabitants as well as
the Soil of Accadie, and together with their Persons transferred their
Allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain; But if it is consider’d that
this Notion was founded upon an Act of the late Lieut^t Governour
Armstrong then the residing Commander in Chief of the Province,
whereby he took upon himself to grant ’em by a Writing under his Hand
an Exemption from bearing Arms upon any Account whatever, on their
consenting to take an Oath of Allegiance to his present Majesty,
which, whether it was done by him with, or without Authority, appear’d
at least to them to be authentick; it may perhaps be deem’d too
rigorous a Punishment for their behavior grounded on such a Mistake,
to involve the innocent with the Guilty in the Loss of their Estates,
and the Expulsion of their Families out of the Country; it is not
improbable but that there may be many among ’em who would even prefer
his Majesty’s Governm^t. to a french one, & have done nothing to
deserve such a Forfeiture; Some Allowances may likewise be made for
their bad Situation between the Canadeans, Indians & English, the
Ravages of all which they have felt by Turns in the Course of the War;
during which they seem to have been continually plac’d between two 339
fires, the force and Menaces of the Canadeans & Indians plundering ’em
of whatever they wanted, & deterring ’em in the strongest manner from
having any Communication with his Majesty’s Garrison, on the one hand;
and the Resentm^{ts} of the Garrison for their withholding their
Intelligence & Supplies on the other, tho’ at the same time it was not
in a Condition to protect ’em from the Enemy; Wherefore it seems a
Matter worthy of your Grace’s Consideration, whether under such
doubtful Circumstances the driving all the French Inhabitants of Nova
Scotia off their Settlements, and thereby very greatly strengthening
the Enemy upon this Continent, not only against the Garrison in
present, but finally against all the British Colonies there, and
depopulating one of his Majesty’s Provinces for some time (how long
may be uncertain) is more eligible than treating ’em as Subjects,
confining their Punishm^t to the most guilty & dangerous among ’em, &
keeping the rest in the Country, and endeavouring to make them & their
Posterity useful Members of Society under his Majesty’s Government: I
can’t omit likewise observing to your Grace, that it would be
exceeding difficult to fill up the Chasm which driving off the
Inhabitants would make in the Country; During the Rupture with France
it would certainly be impracticable, and I doubt whether it would not
be so when Peace shall be made with France, if the Indians should
continue at War with us; For what Number of Families can be propos’d
to begin a Settlem^t. in the Country, after the Expulsion of the
French Inhabitants, with safety against the Indians, & which would be
continually expos’d to be destroyed by ’em, whilst they were carrying
on their Settlements; They must expect no Protection against the
Indians from within the Garrison, out of the Reach of their great
Guns; the Company of Rangers, which live without the Walls of the 340
Fort, would afford more of that than a thousand Garrison Soldiers
would do: Whereas if the Stock of french Inhabitants was continued in
the Country, an Accommodation with the Indians would be more easily
brought about and preserv’d, they would be a Cover for any Number of
Families that might be introduc’d among ’em whilst they were carrying
on Settlements; & secure to the Garrison its necessary Supplies of
fresh Provisions, Fuel, Materials for repairing the Works, & Stores of
Sorts that the Country affords.
“As to repeopling the Province with some of the late Rebels and other
Highland Families, it seems much to be doubted whether it might not be
too hazardous to fill that Colony, w^{ch}. should be the Barrier of
all his Majesty’s Colonies upon this Continent, with a Set of poor,
ignorant, deluded Wretches just come out of a most unnatural
Rebellion; that from their Neighbourhood to Canada would be
continually expos’d to the Artifices and Attempts of french Romish
Priests upon ’em who it is reasonable to think would not fail to
instill the same Notions into ’em in America, which seduc’d ’em from
their Allegiance in Great Britain, with a Promise of more effectual
Support & Protection from the French here, than they had in the
Highlands; Indeed, my Lord, this seems to be a dangerous experiment,
and what might produce the worst of Consequences.
“I beg leave to submit it to your Grace’s Consideration, whether the
most staunch Protestants, & Families the most zealously affected to
his Majesty’s Government, a Number at least of such, should not
rather, if possible, be transplanted there as soon as may be; I could
wish four or five hundred of ’em could be induc’d to go from some Part
of New England; I think from the Experience I had of the Inhabitants
of this Province at least upon the late Alarm given by the french 341
Fleet, I might safely venture to be answerable to his Majesty, that if
I had suggested in my late Orders for assembling a Body of ’em under
Arms in Boston from all Parts of this Province to oppose any Attempt
of the Enemy, that there was a design of landing a Son of the
Pretender’s here, it would not have been possible to have kept any one
Man, who was capable of marching hither, from appearing under Arms
with the most determin’d Resolution of hazarding his Life to the
utmost in defence of his Majesty’s Governm^t.; And as the late
Appearances of a fondness for removing from hence to Cape Breton seem
to be quite vanished at present, I should not be without hopes of some
families removing from these Parts to Nova Scotia upon due
Encouragement; Protestants likewise from among the Swiss Cantons, &
other Northern Parts in Germany, who are generally bred up in the
Exercise of arms, and make sober and industrious Settlers, might be
safely trusted in Accadie; Great Numbers of ’em yearly flock into
Pensilvania, whereby the Inhabitants of that Province are almost
incredibly increas’d within these twenty Years; And from the behavior
of the Irish coming out of the Northern Parts of Ireland hither, a
Number of which is setled in the Eastern Parts of this Province, I
should think they too might be safely trusted in Nova Scotia; and it
is certain that these poor unhappy Highlanders (I mean such of ’em as
may be design’d to be transported into the Plantations) would be more
safely dispos’d of among the four Governm^{ts}. of New England, or in
New York & the Jerseys, where they would not be in danger either of
corrupting the Inhabitants, or being again seduc’d themselves, but
might make useful Subjects to his Majesty.
“I hope, my Lord, I shall be excus’d if I have gone beyond my Line in
submitting these Observations to your Grace, at a time when the fate
of one of his Majesty’s Northern Colonies, the most important of ’em 342
all to the Crown in many respects, as I apprehend, and which will be
in the hands of the french the Key to all the other British Colonies
upon this Continent, & even to Cape Breton, And in his Majesty’s
Possession the Barrier of ’em against the Enemy seems to come to a
Crisis.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, BOSTON, NEW ENGLAND, 27 FEBRUARY, 1747.
“MY LORD DUKE,
“I am sorry that I am now to Acquaint your Grace with the Advices I
receiv’d last night by Express from Nova Scotia giving me an Account
that the Detachment of Troops under the Command of Lieu^t. Colonel
Noble, which I Inform’d your Grace in my last of the 21^{st.} instant
had taken possession of Minas, and had kept it near two months, was
for want of a proper Security for the Men and Intelligence from the
Inhabitants surpriz’d on the 31^{st.} of January last at three o’Clock
in the morning by between 5 & 600 Canadeans & Indians in which Lieu^t.
Col^o. Noble with four Officers more and about 80 men were killed, and
three Officers and about 60 Men were wounded and taken prisoners
before it was light enough for our people to get together; they
however obliged the Enemy, upwards of 20 of whom were kill’d, and
about 15 wounded, to allow ’em an honourable Capitulation, a Copy of
which I inclose to your Grace together with the Account given of this
Affair by the Officer who was Commandant of the Detachment at the time
of the Capitulation, & Extracts from Lieu^t. Governour Mascarene’s
Letter to me upon this Subject, from whence I choose your Grace should
receive the Acco^t. in the same light it has been Conveyed to me in,
and which upon the best Inquiry I can make, seems to be a just one. I
also Inclose to your Grace an Extract from Col. Noble’s Letter to me
dated two days before his death, giving me an Account of the Situation 343
of Affairs then at Minas; from whence your Grace will perceive that
even then he was in Expectation of being Join’d by the Rhode Island
Forces & the Company from this Province, which had the Misfortune to
be Shipreck’d; and that, had they arriv’d at Annapolis, and the New
Hampshire Companies had not return’d home without acting, the Enemy
would in all probability have been drove out of Nova Scotia, and every
good purpose, which I had propos’d, been answer’d before this time. As
it is I shall use my best Endeavours forthwith to fit out a sufficient
force by Sea to destroy M^r. Ramsay’s Vessels at Schiegnecto, and
recover our own by Spring, & to send M^r. Mascarene such a
Reinforcement of Troops as may still drive the Enemy out of Nova
Scotia by the same time and prevent any bad Consequences from the late
Accident there, which seems necessary to be done (if possible) and I
shall hope to succeed in, if the neighbouring Governments of New
England will assist in, which I shall urge ’em to do.
“I likewise inclose the Answer of the Inhabitants of Minas to the
French Letter which I some time ago Inform’d your Grace I sent M^r.
Mascarene last Fall, and a Paragraph out of one of his Letters to me
upon the same matter; whereby your Grace will perceive that that
Letter seems to have had an happy Effect upon the Inhabitants at a
most critical Conjuncture.
“The late Secresy of the Inhabitants of Minas with regard to the
Enemys Motions, and the very certain Intelligence which the Enemy
gain’d of the particular Quarters of the English Officers,
notwithstanding their Supplying the King’s Troops with Provisions, and
the Curtesy of their Behavior to ’em before this Surprize, and their
professions of being sorry for it afterwards seems to shew the
necessity of his Majesty’s Keeping a strong Blockhouse there with a
Garrison of 150 men; And the constant ill behavior of the Inhabitants
of Schiegnecto seems to make another Blockhouse with a like Garrison 344
there equally necessary, as I at first propos’d to your Grace from
Louisbourg; and these two with a Fort and Garrison at Chebucto of 300
Men at least, and the continuance of a Garrison of 300 at Annapolis
Royal as it is at present, with a strong Blockhouse at Canso
garrison’d with 100 Men would through the constant Correspondence that
might be kept up between the several Garrisons be an effectual
Security to the Province against the Enemy, and oblige the Inhabitants
in a little time to contribute towards the protection & Expence of the
Government, and for ever frustrate any hopes the French could
Entertain of making themselves Masters of it, by their constant
Endeavours to Seduce the Inhabitants from their Allegiance; all which
would make Nova Scotia really His Majesty’s which it seems scarcely to
have been yet: And I would Submit it to your Grace’s Consideration
whether a Company of Rangers consisting of 100 Indians, or rather two
Companies, consisting of 50 each, one to be posted at the Blockhouse
at Minas, and the other in Schiegnecto would not be of the greatest
Service, in Scouting thro’ every part of the Province and in the Woods
upon all Emergencies (for which the Regular Troops are by no means
fit) and particularly in preventing the French from Introducing Men
from Canada into the Province by the Bay Vert; I think the great
Service which Lieu^t Colonel Gorham’s Company of Rangers has been of
to the Garrison at Annapolis Royal, is a demonstration of the
Usefulness of such a Corps, besides that it may be a means of bringing
Indians out of the French Interest into his Majesty’s Service, and go
far towards reclaiming ’em in general; especially if (as I have before
propos’d for your Grace’s Consideration) two Trading or Truck Houses
were to be maintain’d one at Minas, and the other at Chiegnecto, for
supplying the Indians with all necessaries in Exchange for furrs, 345
and proper presents were made to ’em in the manner which the French
use to Keep ’em in their Interest.
“And if your Grace would allow me the Freedom to offer my Sentiments
concerning what appears to me to be farther necessary for putting this
important Province of Nova Scotia (I think I may justly call it the
most important to the Crown of any upon this Continent) in Security, I
sho’d propose one of His Majesty’s Arm’d Sloops (or Snows) with a
Tender to be constantly employ’d in the Bay of Fundy for visiting all
parts of it upon every occasion, as well as the several Harbours on
the Cape Sable Coast; and one of his Majesty’s Frigates to be employ’d
for the protection of the Fishery at Canso (as was always usual in
time of peace) which together with a Tender would also be of great
Service in duly attending the Bay Verte, upon every Occasion, and
likewise visiting the Coast of Accadie (or Cape Sables) besides
protecting the Fishery.
“Since writing the last Paragraph I have heard of some other
particular circumstances, which make it very suspicious that several
of the Inhabitants at least of Minas knew of the Enemy’s Motions, & I
find that it is the general Opinion of the Officers that they did.
“I am with the most dutiful Regard,
“My Lord Duke,
“Your Grace’s most devoted,
“& most humble Servant
“W. SHIRLEY”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, BOSTON, APRIL 29^{TH}., 1747.
(_Extract._)
“MY LORD DUKE,
“Since finishing Governour Knowles’s, & my joint Letter to your Grace,
I have learn’d from one of the English Prisoners just Arriv’d from 346
Schiegnecto in Exchange for one of the French Prisoners sent by me
from Boston, and who was carry’d Captive from Minas, where he was
taken by the Enemy in the late Surprize, that when the Canadeans went
from Minas to Schiegnecto they march’d out of the Grand Prè about 500,
but were reduc’d to about 350 before they reach’d Schiegnecto, by
several of their party’s leaving ’em at every great Village in Minas,
thro’ which they pass’d which makes it Evident that 150 of the
Inhabitants of that District had Join’d the Canadeans in their late
Attack upon the English at Grand Prè, and may Serve farther to shew
your Grace the imminent Danger of all the Inhabitants of Minas’s still
Joining the Enemy, unless speedy measures are taken for driving the
Canadeans out of the Country, and Securing the fidelity of the
Inhabitants in some better manner than it is at present; and how
opportunely the forces sent last Winter from hence to Annapolis, and
the Assurances I took the liberty of sending the Nova Scotians that
those, who behav’d as good Subjects, sho’d have His Majesty’s
protection in their Estates, arriv’d there for saving the whole
District of Minas from an open Revolt.
“This fluctuating State of the Inhabitants of Accadie seems, my Lord,
naturally to arise from their finding a want of due protection from
His Majesty’s Government; and their Apprehensions that the French will
soon be Masters of the Province, which their repeated Attempts every
year for the Reduction of His Majesty’s Fort at Annapolis Royal, and
the Appearance of the late Duke D’Anville’s Squadron from France upon
their Coast with that View strongly Impress upon ’em, as does also the
Residence of the Enemy in the Province, and the Sollicitations of
their own Priests; and to this, I believe, may be added some Jealousy,
which the Enemy and Priests are for ever instilling into ’em, that the
English want only a safe Opportunity of driving all the French 347
Inhabitants off their Settlements; which tho’ M^r. Mascarene assures
me that his communicating to ’em my printed Letter promising ’em His
Majesty’s protection, had so far allay’d as together with the Arrival
of the late Detachment of Soldiers sent from hence in the Winter for
the Defence & protection of the Province, to disappoint M^r. de
Ramsay’s Attempt upon the Inhabitants of Minas for bringing ’em to an
open Revolt, and to make him retire from Minas to Schiegnecto, yet as
the hopes my Letter may have made ’em entertain have not been yet
Confirm’d by Assurances of His Majesty’s Royal protection directly
from England I cant but think, there is a most apparant danger of Nova
Scotia’s being soon lost, if the Expedition against Canada should not
proceed this year, nor any Measures be taken, or particular Orders be
sent by His Majesty for Securing the Province against the Enemy &
strengthening his Government among the Inhabitants, For I perceive
that the General Assembly of this Province, from whence only the
Succours & Support which His Majesty’s Garrison at Annapolis Royal has
hitherto received for the Protection & Defence of Nova Scotia, have
been sent, are tir’d of having ’em drawn wholly from their own people,
and despair of its being effectual without His Majesty’s more
immediate Interposition for the protection of that province; And I
look upon it as a very happy Incident, that I had it in my power to
send M^r. Mascarene the Support, I did the last Winter, and beginning
of the Spring, out of the Levies rais’d for the Expedition against
Canada, which I insisted upon doing as they were in His Majesty’s Pay
(tho’ rais’d for another Service) but should not have been able to do
it (I believe) had it depended wholly upon the Consent of the
Assembly, tho’ generally well dispos’d for His Majesty’s Service.”
NEWCASTLE TO SHIRLEY, 30 MAY, 1747. 348
(_Extract._)
“As you and M^r. Warren have represented, That an Opinion prevailed
amongst the Inhabitants of Nova Scotia, That It was intended to remove
Them from their Settlements and Habitations in that Province; And as
that Report may probably have been artfully spread amongst Them in
order to induce Them to withdraw Themselves from their Allegiance to
His Majesty, and to take Part with the Enemy; His Majesty thinks it
necessary, That proper measures should be taken, to remove any such
ill-grounded Suggestions; and, for that Purpose, It is the King’s
Pleasure, That you should declare in some publick and authentick
manner to His Majesty’s Subjects, Inhabitants of that Province, That
there is not the least Foundation for any Apprehension of that nature;
But That, on the contrary, It is His Majesty’s Resolution to protect,
and maintain, all such of Them as shall continue in their Duty, and
Allegiance to His Majesty, in the quiet & peaceable Possession of
their respective Habitations, and Settlements And That They shall
continue to enjoy the free Exercise of their Religion.
“His Majesty did propose to have signed a Proclamation to the purport
above mentioned and to have transmitted it to you, to have been
published in Nova Scotia; But as the Advices, that have been received
here, of a Body of the New England Troops, which were advanced to
Menis having been surprised by a Party of the French Canadeans and
their Indians, and having been either cut off, or taken Prisoners; And
the great Probability there is, That this Misfortune could not have
happened to that Body of Troops, without the Assistance or, at least,
Connivance of the Inhabitants of Nova Scotia; make it very difficult
to fix the Terms of the intended Proclamation; His Majesty thinks it 349
more advisable to leave it to you to make such a Declaration in His
Name, as you shall be of Opinion, the present Circumstances of the
Province may require.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 8 JUNE, 1747.
(_Extract._)
“I have nothing to add to my Letters, which I have lately transmitted
to your Grace, except that M^r. de Ramsay is still at Chiegnecto with
his party in Expectation of a Reinforcement from Canada, and the
Arrival of an Armament from France, and that he has not thought fit to
venture again to Manis [_Mines_], but insists in his Messages to
the Inhabitants there that they should look upon themselves as
Subjects to the French King since the New England Troops were oblig’d
to retire out of their District by Capitulation, but that this has had
no Effect upon the Inhabitants, the Reinforcement, which I sent there
afterwards, having taken repossession of Manis, and hoisted the King’s
Flagg there, and the Deputies of Manis having thereupon renew’d their
Oaths of Fidelity to His Majesty at Annapolis Royal; I continue the
last Reinforcement at the Garrison still for the Security of that and
Manis; But it is not strong enough to drive the French from
Schiegnecto, it being suspected that the Inhabitants of that District,
who were ever refractory to His Majesty’s Government, would not
scruple to Join the Enemy in case of an attack upon ’em; And I could
not think it adviseable for me to send all the Forces, which I had
rais’d for the Expedition against Canada within this Government upon
another Service (as I must have done to have been strong enough to
force the Enemy out of Schiegnecto after the Action at Minas) when I
was in daily Expectation of receiving His Majesty’s Commands 350
concerning the prosecution of the intended expedition, and besides,
the Assembly, which has been at a great Expence for the raising of the
men for the service of the Expedition only, strongly insisted upon my
reserving 1500 of ’em to go against Crown Point, as your Grace will
perceive by the inclos’d Copy of their Answer to my Message; However
the several Reinforcements, which I did send to Annapolis, have
preserv’d the Garrison and province from falling into the Enemys hands
the last year, and not only made the Enemy quit Manis, but still
Confine ’em to Schiegnecto; and had the Rhode Island & New Hampshire
Troops Join’d the Massachusetts Forces at Manis, as was propos’d, and
both those Governments promis’d me they should, and one of the
Massachusetts Companies had not been lost in their passage, we should
have been strong enough (I am perswaded) to have drove the Enemy the
last Winter quite out of the Province of Nova Scotia: As it is, I
doubt not, if no Armament arrives from France, we shall be able to
keep ’em out of Annapolis and Manis till I receive His Majesty’s
Commands, which I am in daily Expectation of, and will, I hope, Enable
me to take effectual Measures for getting rid of the Enemy and
Securing the Province against their Attempts for the future.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, BOSTON, 25 JUNE, 1747.
(_Extract._)
“MY LORD DUKE,
“Since my last to your Grace, I have Accounts from Nova Scotia, that
the French have rais’d a Battery of Nine Guns on the back of
Schiegnecto to oppose the landing of Forces from Bay Verte, that they
were also building a Fort & had landed Cannon & Mortars there, which
they were now hawling by Land, and may use either for Fortifying that 351
District, or transport from thence to Annapolis Royal for the
Reduction of his Majesty’s Garrison; There has been likewise further
Accounts from thence that the Inhabitants were in Expectation of 1000
Men from Canada, which together with the Indians & People of
Schiegnecto, & some of Manis, it is said, would make up M^r. De
Ramsay’s Party 5000, who were then to proceed against Annapolis; and
that three large French Ships of Force had been seen in Bay Verte,
viz^t. two from Canada & one from France and landed Troops & Stores.
These Accounts gain Credit the more easily as it seems not to be
doubted, but that the French have the Reduction of Nova Scotia
extremely at heart, and will be continually making some Attempt or
other against it, whilst the Warr lasts; and I am sorry to find by a
Message lately sent me from the Assembly desiring I would recall the
Soldiers, I last sent to Annapolis, that they seem out of heart about
the effectual Preservation of it from the Enemy. Should the French
gain it by any sudden Stroke, I am perswaded, they would be so strong
there by the Addition of all the Inhabitants to their other Forces, as
well as the Numbers they would draw from Canada, & by immediate
Fortifications of it, that it would require a very considerable
Armament & Number of Troops to recover it from ’em; which makes me
think it my Indispensable Duty to trouble your Grace with so frequent
a Repetition of my Apprehensions concerning it. The enemy may indeed
be now look’d upon as Masters of Scheignecto which Place it is evident
they are busy in fortifying; & would have been so likewise of Manis by
this time, had they not been oblig’d to withdraw their Troops from
thence last Fall by the Arrival of the Detachments, I sent there.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 8 JULY, 1747. 352
(_Extract._)
“I shall now take the Liberty to submit to your Grace’s Consideration
the most practicable Scheme, that occurs to me at present for
effectually driving & keeping the Canadeans out of Nova Scotia; viz^t.
if M^r. Knowles when the Season is too far advanc’d for the French to
make an Attempt from France against Louisbourg, should detach 1000 Men
out of that Garrison to be join’d by 2000 from New England at
Annapolis Royal, and from thence to proceed to Schiegnecto; that Force
would, I apprehend, drive the Enemy off, and easily make us Masters of
all the Inhabitants of that District, who seem to have ever been so
deeply engaged on the Side of the Enemy as to make ’em forfeit all
pretence of right to hold their Possessions; and if the 2000 New
England Men were to share among ’em that District upon Condition of
their setling there with their Families in such a defensible manner as
they should be directed to do, and the french Inhabitants of that
District were to be transplanted into New England, and distributed
among the four Governments there; That I apprehend might be a
Settlement of the District of Schiegnecto strong enough to keep the
Canadeans out, and to defend themselves against the Indians; and the
Inhabitants of the two other Districts of Nova Scotia, viz^t. Menis &
Annapolis, being thus lock’d up between the Settlement in Schiegnecto
at one End, and his Majesty’s Garrison at the other, and aw’d by the
removal of the french Inhabitants of Schiegnecto from off their Lands,
would be constantly held to their good behaviour, and by
Intermarriages & the spreading of the English Settlement from
Schiegnecto, the whole Province, or at least the greatest part of it,
might in two or three Generations become English Protestants--I would 353
add that such an Exchange of the present Inhabitants of Schiegnecto
for New England Men, would make up to the four Colonies of New England
the Loss of the Families propos’d to be remov’d from thence to Nova
Scotia upon this Occasion hinder Canada’s being strengthened by the
Expulsion of the French from their Possessions, & prevent the English
Settlement at Schiegnecto from being harrass’d by their continual
Attempts to recover their former Lands; And the Encouragement given to
the New England Men by the propos’d Distribution of the Lands among
’em would besides make the raising of 2000 Men for this Service much
more practicable, & less expensive to the Crown.
“Upon the whole, my Lord, if the War continues, unless some measures
are very suddenly taken for the better Security of Nova Scotia, there
seems to be great danger that that Province will not long remain his
Majesty’s.
“I am with the most dutiful regard,
“My Lord Duke,
“Your Grace’s most devoted and
“most Obedient Servant
“W SHIRLEY.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 24 AUGUST, 1747.
“MY LORD DUKE,
“The French Declaration, of which the inclos’d is a Copy, did not come
to my hands till I had finished the letter, w^{ch}. accompanies it:
And I send it your Grace, as it may serve to shew the Views of the
French with respect to Accadie, the Dependance they have upon the
Dispositions of the Inhabitants, what advantage they propos’d to
themselves from the New England Levies under the Command of the late 354
Lieuten^t. Col. Noble’s quitting Menis by Capitulation, and the
necessity there was of my sending the last Detachment of soldiers to
M^r. Mascarene to take repossession of Menis, and make the Inhabitants
of it renew their oath of fidelity to his Majesty; which had its
desir’d Effect.
“I am with the most Dutifull regard
“My Lord Duke,
“Your Grace’s Most Devoted,
“and Most Obedient Humble Servant
“W SHIRLEY.”
SHIRLEY TO NEWCASTLE, 20 OCT. 1747.
(_Extract._)
“The general Inclination which, the french Inhabitants of Nova Scotia
have to the french Interest, proceeds from their Ties of Consanguinity
to the French of Canada, but more especially from those of their
Religion, which last seems to put ’em greatly under the Influence of
their Priests, who continually receive their Directions from the
Bishop of Quebeck, & are the Instruments, by which the Governour of
Canada makes all his Attempts for the Reduction of the Province to the
french Crown, & Keeps the Indians of Nova Scotia (commonly called the
Cape Sable Indians) in their Dependence upon him; particular Instances
of which may be given in the first Body of French & Indians, which
attack’d the King’s Garrison soon after the Declaration of the present
War’s being headed by a Priest of Nova Scotia; and the principal Part
in giving Intelligence to the Enemy, maintaining the Correspondence
between Canada and Nova Scotia, assembling Cape Sable Indians, &
influencing such of the Inhabitants as had joined with or assisted 355
the Enemy, has been manag’d by another Priest of that Province; Other
Instances of this Kind might be given, as particularly the Attempt to
bring the Inhabitants into Revolt soon after the late Surprize at
Menis by endeavouring to influence ’em with the Authority of the
Bishop of Quebeck pronouncing ’em to be free from their Oath of
Allegiance to his Majesty. But I shall content myself with observing
to your Grace only one piece of Policy made use of by the french
Priests in Nova Scotia for preserving the whole Body of the People
intirely french, and Roman Catholick’s, viz^t. forbidding all
Intermarriages with the English under Pain of Excommunication, (of
which I am informed there has been one or two late Instances in actual
Excommunication upon this Occasion) & which has had so general an
Effect as to prevent the Settlement of any one English Family within
the Province, from the first Reduction of it to the present time, tho’
some have attempted to setle in the Country; & to Keep out
Inter-marriages between the French & his Majesty’s English Subjects,
as that I never heard of any one Instance besides the before mentioned
ones; And I would humbly submit it to your Grace’s Consideration if
the free Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion and an unlimited
Toleration of Roman Priests in Nova Scotia should continue to have the
same Effect in that Colony for the next succeeding forty years, as it
has had within these last forty; the Inhabitants there are suffer’d to
remain a distinct Body of French in the Neighbourhood of Canada, with
the Ties of Consanguinity & Religion between _them_ & the
Canadeans still growing stronger, untill they double or perhaps treble
their Number (the French of Canada likewise at the same time
increasing their Strength & Numbers) whether it may not prove in the
End cherishing a Colony of Inhabitants for the subversion of the King’s
Government in it, & the strengthening of the french Interest upon the 356
Continent.
“The Treaty of Utrecht, my Lord, by which the cession of Accadie (or
Nova Scotia) with its Inhabitants was made to the Crown of Great
Britain does not seem to lay his Majesty under an Obligation to allow
the french Inhabitants the Exercise of the Roman Catholick Religion;
and as his Majesty is as yet under no Promise to do it, I should hope
that Methods might be found for weakening the Ties of Consanguinity &
Religion between even the present Generation of the french inhabitants
of Nova Scotia & those of Canada, by beginning new ones between his
Majesty’s English & french subjects there, and at the same time
controuling the pernicious Power of the Romish Priests over the french
Inhabitants & the Indians of that Province, which may possibly be cut
off or at least obstructed by his Majesty’s making a Promise to
continue the french Inhabitants in the free Exercise of their
Religion.
“Wherefore as his Majesty has been pleas’d to refer it to my Opinion
to fix the Terms of the Declaration, which he has commanded me to make
in his Name to the Inhabitants of Nova Scotia; whereby it became my
Duty to avoid every thing in it, which appear’d to me to have a
Tendency to disserve his Government within that Province, I have taken
the Liberty to suspend promissing ’em the free Exercise of the Romish
Religion, tho’ it is mention’d in your Grace’s Letter to have been
part of what was at first propos’d to have been included in his
Majesty’s intended Proclamation, till I could transmit my Sentiments
to your Grace, and I should have his Majesty’s farther Directions upon
it; & have in the mean time made a Declaration of such Points, as
seem’d necessary to be ascertained to the Inhabitants for quieting
their Minds, & would not admit of Delay.
“I might mention to your Grace some local Reasons for my Omitting in 357
the Declaration what I have done, but shall not presume to trouble you
with any but what I thought it my indispensable Duty to lay before
your Grace.
“I am with the most dutiful Regard
“My Lord Duke,
“Your Grace’s most Devoted
“and most Obedient Servant
“W SHIRLEY.”
358
359
360
INDEX. 361
Abenaki Indians, the, i. 36;
villages of, i. 36;
their treacherous conference with Governor Dudley, i. 36-38;
Queen Anne’s War due more to the French than to, i. 46, 47;
spurred on by the French against New England, i. 48, 56;
join an expedition against New England, i. 96;
claimed as subjects by both the French and the English, i. 185;
Father Rale among, i. 217;
their conference with Governor Dudley at Portsmouth, i. 220;
Vaudreuil proclaims them his allies, i. 250;
ratify the Boston treaty, i. 255;
sent from Montreal against the English border, ii. 217;
ii. 236;
urge an attack on Fort Massachusetts, ii. 237.
Abenaki lands, the, i. 236.
Abenaki missions, the, i. 217, 236.
Abenakis of the Androscoggin, the, i. 224.
Abenakis of the Kennebec, the, i. 217.
Abenakis of the Saco, the, i. 224.
Abercrombie, Captain, i. 153.
Acadia, i. 7;
French claims regarding the extent of its territory, i. 47;
its government, i. 110;
the old régime in, i. 110-119;
friction between the temporal and spiritual powers in, i. 118;
forced to make atonement for the sins of Canada, i. 120;
changes hands, i. 120-155;
the capture of Port Royal means the conquest of, i. 155;
claimed by England, i. 184;
France tries to hold, i. 184-186;
England refuses to resign, i. 186;
creed and politics in, i. 193;
let alone by the British government, i. 199;
documents relating to, i. 211;
ceded to England, ii. 49, 50, 173;
strong desire of France to recover, ii. 169;
ii. 154;
Shirley resolved to keep, ii. 170;
the key to the British American colonies, ii. 170;
left by Newcastle to drift with the tide, ii. 180;
ii. 260, 262, 266, 267, 270, 272, 320, 326, 336, 338, 341, 345,
353.
Acadian Church, the, friction of the temporal power with, i. 118.
Acadian peninsula, the, ii. 60, 184.
Acadian priests, the, Shirley’s attitude towards, ii. 178.
Acadians, the,
trade of Boston merchants with, i. 7, 115;
take the oath of allegiance to Queen Anne, i. 191;
break their oath, i. 191;
apply to Vaudreuil for aid, i. 192;
the French and the English rivals for, i. 193, 194; 362
Costebelle complains of the apathy of, i. 197;
increase in the population of the, i. 199;
Governor Phillips undertakes to force them to take the oath of
allegiance, i. 206;
Governor Phillips’ so-called success, i. 208, 209;
totally devoid of natural leaders, i. 210;
refuse to join Duvivier against Annapolis, ii. 62;
addicted to hoarding, ii. 172;
characteristics of, ii. 172;
Mascarene’s treatment of, ii. 172;
between two fires, ii. 172, 173;
known as the “Neutral French,” ii. 173;
illiteracy of, ii. 173;
incompetent to meet the crisis, ii. 173;
their pleasures, ii. 174;
social equality of, ii. 174;
their commendable domestic morals, ii. 174;
population of, ii. 174;
greatly excited by the appearance of D’Anville’s fleet, ii. 175;
Shirreff urges that they are a standing menace to the colony,
ii. 175;
Shirley’s plan for securing the allegiance of, ii. 177;
Shirley’s plan to convert them to Protestantism, ii. 180;
Ramesay tries to persuade them to join his expedition against
Annapolis, ii. 182;
again placed between two dangers, ii. 201;
their letters to Ramesay and to Mascarene, ii. 201, 202;
Ramesay’s peremptory orders to, ii. 203;
deplorable position of, ii. 203;
England fails to do its duty by, ii. 203;
Shirley and, ii. 312-357.
Acadian seas, the, i. 104, 120.
Acadian village, the, life at, i. 113.
Adams, i. 195.
Adams, Mr., of Medfield, i. 230.
Adams, town of, ii. 231.
Addison, i. 147.
Aillebout, Captain d’, commandant at the Island Battery, ii. 120,
284, 303.
Aix-la-Chapelle, the Peace of, signing of, ii. 256.
Akins, Mr., i. 211.
Alabama River, the, ii. 51.
Alabama, State of, i. 301.
Albany, fort at, i. 9;
efforts of the English to draw the fur-trade to, i. 14;
ii. 51, 154, 156, 206, 207;
left uncovered, ii. 210;
ii. 212, 213, 235, 245, 254, 273.
Albany traders, the, opposed to the proposed conquest of Canada,
i. 137.
Aldrich, John, wounded at Fort Massachusetts, ii. 246, 251, 253.
Alexander VI., Pope, i. 305.
Alexander, Deacon Ebenezer, blockhouse of, ii. 231.
Alexander, Joseph, escapes from the French and Indians, i. 71.
Alford, John, ii. 115.
Algonquins of the Ottawa, the, sent from Montreal against the
English border, ii. 217.
Algonquins, the, i. 223.
Alleghanies, the, i. 296; ii. 45, 48.
Allein, i. 117.
Allen, Caleb, escapes from the Indians, ii. 250.
Allen, Eunice, escapes from the Indians, ii. 250.
Allen, Mr., killed by the Indians, ii. 250.
Allen, Samuel, captured by the Indians, ii. 250.
Allen’s River, i. 112, 127, 152.
Allison, Widow, i. 60.
Allouez, the Jesuit, at Fort St. Louis, i. 327.
Alton Bay, i. 96.
“Amazone,” the, ii. 159. 363
Amesbury, attacked by the French and Indians, i. 99.
Amherst, General,
at Louisbourg, ii. 104, 105;
demolishes Crown Point, ii. 255.
Amsden, killed by the Indians, ii. 250.
Andover, i. 260.
Andros, i. 105.
Androscoggin Indians, the, i. 37.
Androscoggin River, the, i. 222.
Anjou, Duc d’, i. 305.
Ann, Cape, i. 244.
Annapolis, i. 112, 170, 190;
pestilence at, i. 191;
almost totally neglected, i. 198;
i. 194;
Duquesnel’s plans against, ii. 61;
its condition, ii. 61;
failure of Duvivier’s attack on, ii. 63;
Duvivier again lays siege to, ii. 126;
the French plan to attack, ii. 162, 164;
crumbling little fort of, ii. 175;
Ramesay tries to persuade the Acadians to join his expedition
against, ii. 181;
Shirley’s plans for the defence of, ii. 182;
ii. 312, 316, 317, 318, 319, 322, 326, 327, 328, 330, 331, 333,
344, 347, 350, 351, 352.
Annapolis Basin, ii. 165.
Annapolis, Council of, i. 199, 201, 204, 205.
Annapolis River, the, i. 112, 127.
Annapolis Royal, see _Port Royal_, and _Annapolis_.
Anne, Fort, i. 140.
Anne, Queen, i. 105;
sustains Governor Dudley, i. 109;
receives the five Mohawk chiefs, i. 147.
Anse de la Cormorandière Bay, ii. 97, 291.
Anson, Admiral, ii. 168.
Anticosti, the Island of, i. 171.
Antigua, ii. 83.
Anville, Duc d’, ii. 157, 158;
disasters of, ii. 159-162;
death of, ii. 162;
burial of, ii. 162;
chief aim of his expedition, ii. 169;
ii. 175, 235, 330, 346.
Appleton, Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel, i. 88;
in the expedition against Port Royal, i. 127;
the “nonsensical malice” of, i. 130.
Apsaroka Indians, the, ii. 25.
Archives de la Marine, the, i. 16.
Archives Nationales, the, i. 16.
“Ardent,” the, ii. 62.
“Argonaut,” the, ii. 160.
Arickaras, the, i. 360.
Arkansas Indians, the, i. 356.
Arkansas River, the, i. 319, 350, 359, 364, 367;
the Canadian Fork of, i. 368.
Armstrong, Lieutenant-Colonel, at Annapolis, i. 198;
governor of Acadia, i. 201, 202;
on the political work of the Acadian missionaries, i. 203, 204;
succeeds Governor Phillips, i. 208;
undertakes to force the Acadians to take the oath of
allegiance, i. 208;
ii. 312, 338.
Arnold, Benedict, i. 213.
Arrowsick Island, i. 224, 231, 237.
Artaguette, Lieutenant Diron d’,
reports on the charges against Bienville, i. 307;
i. 309, 322.
Artaguette, Pierre d’, captured and burned alive by the Chickasaws,
i. 329.
Ash, Thomas, killed at Louisbourg, ii. 109.
Ashuelot, fort at, ii. 215;
Indian attack on, ii. 215.
Ashuelot River, the, ii. 214.
Assagunticooks, the, attend the council at Georgetown, i. 224.
Assiniboin River, the, ii. 14, 15, 20.
Assiniboins, the, ii. 10; 364
offer to join the French against the Sioux, ii. 13;
mislead La Vérendrye concerning the Pacific, ii. 15;
ii. 34, 40;
attack Saint-Pierre, ii. 41.
Atkinson, Mr.,
sent to Montreal as envoy from New Hampshire, i. 252;
received by Vaudreuil, i. 252;
the interview with the Indians, i. 253.
Atlantic coast, the, usurped from the French, ii. 48.
Auchmuty, Robert, ii. 64.
Augusta, i. 222.
“Auguste,” the, wreck of, ii. 42.
Auneau, the Jesuit, murdered by the Sioux, ii. 13.
Austrian Succession, the War of, ii. 59.
Auteuil, D’, i. 331; ii. 247.
Avery, John, at Number Four, ii. 219.
Avon, the river, ii. 189.
Ayllon, Vasquez de, ii. 48.
Azores, the, ii. 159.
Bacon, Captain Daniel, at Louisbourg, ii. 120.
Bacouel, ii. 187.
“Badine,” the, i. 300.
Baker, escapes from Indian captivity, i. 87.
Baker, C. Alice, i. 89, 90.
Baker, Lieutenant, killed at Grand Pré, i. 123.
Bancroft, Robert Hale, ii. 89.
Bangor, i. 244, 254.
Bank, Capt. Louis, i. 302;
his interview with Bienville, i. 303.
Banks, Lieutenant, i. 52, 53.
Banlieue, the, Acadians of, i. 191, 195, 199.
Baptiste, Captain,
captured by the English, i. 81;
exchanged by the English for John Williams, i. 88.
Barachois, the, ii. 106, 109, 279, 293, 294.
Barbadoes, the, i. 182.
Barnard, Rev. John, i. 126;
his experiences in the expedition against Port Royal, i. 128,
130, 131.
Barrett, Ensign John, house of, i. 42.
Barron, Elias, killed by the Pequawkets, i. 265.
Barrot, surgeon of Louisiana, i. 308.
Bart, Jean, of Canada, see _Iberville, Le Moyne d’_.
Bartlett, J. R., on the Mohawk chiefs in England, i. 147.
Basin of Mines, the, i. 110, 196.
Bastide, the English engineer, ii. 107.
“Bastonnais,” the,
monopolize the Acadian fisheries, i. 111;
their trade with the Acadians, i. 115;
i. 156, 157;
La Ronde Denys sent to treat with, i. 159;
take Denys prisoner, i. 160;
exasperated by the attacks on Canseau and Annapolis, ii. 64;
at Louisbourg, ii. 130, 134.
Batten Kill River, the, ii. 210, 238, 253.
Batterie de Francœur, the, at Louisbourg, ii. 130, 297, 298, 301,
306.
Baxter, Rev. Joseph, i. 225;
among the Norridgewocks, i. 228-230;
his controversy with Rale, i. 229.
Bayagoula Indians, the, i. 301.
Baye Verte, i. 196, 206;
Ramesay builds a fort at, ii. 175;
ii. 184, 185, 195, 326, 344, 345, 350, 351.
Bean, Lieutenant, sent out against Norridgewock, i. 245.
Beaubassin, Acadian settlement of, i. 123; ii. 184, 185, 198, 200, 365
202, 203, 260.
Beaubassin, Sieur de,
attacks Falmouth, i. 46;
letter from Ponchartrain to, i. 102;
ii. 124, 239, 298, 299, 300.
Beaubois, Père de, i. 368.
Beaucour, commands an unsuccessful attack on the Connecticut
settlements, i. 95.
Beauharnois, Charles de, the intendant,
on the treachery of the Abenakis, i. 37;
on the French expedition against New England, i. 56;
on Beaucour’s unsuccessful expedition against Connecticut, i. 95;
i. 232;
averse to violent measures against the Indians, i. 337;
slandered by Dupuy, i. 338;
on Lignery’s expedition against the Outagamies, i. 339;
on the scheme to reach the Pacific Ocean, ii. 6;
ii. 7, 8;
tries to obtain aid from the court for La Vérendrye, ii. 13;
on the Mandans, ii. 21;
demands the demolition of Oswego, ii. 54;
on the establishment of Crown Point, ii. 56;
on the capture of Louisbourg by the English, ii. 140;
ii. 171, 172.
Beauharnois, Fort, ii. 7;
abandoned, ii. 7.
Beaujeu, journal of, ii. 170, 184;
the hero of the Monongahela, ii. 185;
ii. 186, 187, 189, 190, 191, 192, 194, 195, 196;
on the losses at Grand Pré, ii. 198;
on the courtesies exchanged between the French and the English
at Grand Pré, ii. 199;
his account of the French victory at Mines, ii. 200.
Beauport, seigniory of, i. 25.
Beaurain, Chevalier de, i. 353, 354, 357, 358.
Beauséjour, Acadian post of, ii. 42.
“Beaux Hommes,” les, ii. 25.
Beaver-trade, the, proposed restriction to Detroit of, i. 23.
Becancour, the Abenaki mission of, i. 217, 233.
Bedford, Duke of, ii. 176.
Bégon, the intendant,
praises the zeal of the Acadian missionaries, i. 204;
i. 231, 331;
on the scheme for reaching the Pacific Ocean, ii. 6;
ii. 52.
Belknap,
on the Indian attack on Wells, i. 46;
on the loss of life in Queen Anne’s War, i. 47;
on Major Church at Port Royal, i. 124;
on March’s failure against Port Royal, i. 131;
on the council at Georgetown, i. 235;
on Lovewell’s expeditions against the Indians, i. 262;
on the plan to attack Louisbourg, ii. 64, 78, 112.
Belknap Papers, the, ii. 144.
Belleisle, Madame de, i. 117.
Bellemont, Ensign, ii. 293.
Bellin, ii. 14.
Bellomont, Lord, governor of Massachusetts,
letter from Brouillan to, i. 7;
his reports to the Lords of Trade, i. 9;
on the ministers among the Indians, i. 12;
tries to influence the Indians against the Jesuits, i. 12.
Bennett, Captain, i. 202.
Benoit, M., ii. 288.
Berkshire, ii. 230.
Berwick, village of, Indian attacks on, i. 48, 99, 266.
Biddeford, village of, i. 46, 266; ii. 80.
Bienville, Jean Baptiste de, resolves to find a better way to Santa
Fé, i. 368.
Bienville, Le Moyne de, i. 301; 366
at Biloxi, i. 302;
explores the Mississippi, i. 302;
his meeting with Capt. Louis Bank, i. 303;
accusations against, i. 307;
De Muys sent to succeed, i. 307;
Artaguette reports favorably upon the charges against, i. 307;
La Mothe-Cadillac succeeds, i. 309;
La Mothe-Cadillac’s quarrel with, i. 313;
reappointed governor of Louisiana, i. 318;
renewed accusations against, i. 320;
Perier takes his place, i. 320;
again made governor of Louisiana, i. 322;
resigns, i. 323;
the “Father of Louisiana,” i. 323;
i. 360.
Bighorn Mountains, the, ii. 31.
Bighorn Range, the, ii. 29, 31.
Bigot, François, the intendant, i. 38; ii. 37, 97, 98, 108;
on the English attack on Louisbourg, ii. 111;
on the English attack on the Island Battery, ii. 121, 122;
on the weak condition of the Louisbourg garrison, ii. 131;
on the siege of Louisbourg, ii. 144;
ii. 273, 274, 290, 293, 311.
Billaine, Louis, ii. 261.
Billerica, village of, i. 259.
Biloxi, the harbor of, French establishment at, i. 302, 305, 312.
Biscay, Bay of, ii. 158.
Blackfeet Indians, the, ii. 34.
Blackhawk, the famous chief, i. 344.
Black Hills, the, i. 353; ii. 23.
Black Point, Indian attack on, i. 48.
Black River, the, ii. 221.
Blake, Nathan, captured by the Indians, ii. 215.
Blancs Barbus, see _Mandans, the_.
Blastrick, Jean, ii. 311.
Bleeker, visits Onondaga, i. 12.
Blenheim, i. 163.
“Blockhouse,” loose use of the term, ii. 241.
Blue Earth River, i. 351.
“Bobasser,” see _Beaubassin, Sieur de_.
Bobé, Father, sets forth the claims of France, ii. 46-50, 257-274.
Bodmer, Charles, the artist, among, the Mandans, i. 345; ii. 20.
Boisbriant, Major Pierre Dugué de, i. 307;
in command of “the Illinois,” i. 329;
i. 360.
Boishébert, ii. 185, 188, 189, 194.
Bolingbroke, Lord, i. 163.
Bollan, William,
secures reimbursement for Massachusetts from England for
expenditures on the Louisbourg expedition, ii. 142, 143;
letters of, ii. 143;
ii. 315.
Bomazeen, Captain, i. 37;
captures Elisha Plaisted, i. 53, 54.
Bonaventure, Captain,
on the trade between Boston and the French of Acadia, i. 108,
115;
his relations with Madame de Freneuse, i. 116;
attacked by De Goutin, i. 117;
on the friction between the temporal and spiritual powers in
Acadia, i. 118;
ii. 132, 286, 308.
Bonaventure, Madame de, i. 154.
Bonaventure, the priest, i. 194.
Bonavista, i. 132.
Bonner, Captain, makes a plan of Boston, i. 170.
Bonner, John, i. 88.
Borland, i. 107.
Boston,
French plans for the destruction of, i. 5, 6;
i. 55;
trade between the French of Acadia and, i. 108;
French scheme to ruin, i. 161;
make plans for the Canadian expedition, i. 164, 165; 367
distrusts the English troops, i. 166;
Bonner's plan of, i. 170;
ii. 47, 60;
rumored attack of the French on, ii. 156;
ii. 261, 309, 310, 312, 318, 327.
Boston Harbor, i. 143.
“Boston Packet,” the, ii. 83.
“Boston Post Boy,” the, ii. 200.
Boston Treaty, the, i. 255.
Boucher, Marie, marriage of, ii. 8.
Boucher, Pierre, governor of Three Rivers, ii. 8.
Boucherville, i. 90.
Bougainville, ii. 14.
Boularderie, killed at Louisbourg, ii. 98.
Bourbon, Fort, on Lake Winnipeg, ii. 14.
Bourgmont, Sieur de, i. 360;
builds Fort Orléans, i. 361;
sets out for the Comanche villages, i. 361;
his journey, i. 361-366.
Bourke, Captain John G., ii. 43.
Bourne, Edward E., i. 40, 42;
on the Indian attack on Wells, i. 46;
on the capture of Elisha Plaisted, i. 54;
ii. 81.
Bouton, on Lovewell’s Expedition, i. 270.
Bow Indians, the, ii. 26;
make an attack on the Snake Indians, ii. 30-33.
Boxford, village of, i. 269.
Bradford, village of, i. 269.
Bradley, Joseph, attacked by Indians, i. 49.
Bradstreet, Colonel John, ii. 64, 65;
at Louisbourg, ii. 100.
“Brahmin caste” of New England, the, i. 269.
Brandon, Arthur, i. 48.
Brandon, Mrs. Arthur, killed by Indians, i. 48.
Brandy, traffic in, i. 20.
Brattleboro, town of, i. 73.
Brazil, ii. 270.
Brébeuf, Jean de, at Matchedash Bay, i. 18; i. 139, 215.
Breda, treaty of, ii. 270.
Brest, ii. 127, 158.
Brest Squadron, the, ii. 327.
Breton, Cape, i. 185;
Raudot urges the occupation by the French of, i. 186;
ii. 42, 60, 85, 104, 114, 256, 314, 315, 318, 321, 322, 333,
342.
Bridgman, Jonathan, wounded at Fort Massachusetts, ii. 246.
Brissonnet, the Plain of, at Louisbourg, ii. 279.
British America, early maps of, ii. 44.
British colonies, the, i. 3.
British provinces, the, ii. 45;
growing power of, ii. 45.
Brittany, ii. 166.
Brookfield, attacked by the French and Indians, i. 99.
Brooks, Commander, at Louisbourg, ii. 120, 121.
Brouillan, Jacques François de,
urges peace between England and France, i. 6;
his letter to Governor Bellomont, i. 7;
in command of Acadia, i. 110;
paucity of his fighting resources, i. 111;
characteristics of, i. 113;
death of, i. 114;
accusations against, i. 114.
Brown, ii. 95.
Brown, Captain, sent out against Norridgewock, i. 245.
Brown, John, wounded at Number Four, ii. 228.
Brown, John Carter, i. 147.
Brulé Indians, the, ii. 34.
Brunswick, i. 218;
burned by the Indians, i. 239.
Bruyas, the Jesuit, i. 11. 368
Brymner, on the journal of La Vérendrye, ii. 17.
Buade, Fort, i. 18.
Buffalo, the, i. 351.
Bullard, John, killed by the Indians, ii. 215.
Bunker Hill, battle of, ii. 90, 123.
Burchett, Secretary of the Admiralty, i. 165.
Burlington, city of, i. 77.
Burnet, Governor, of New York, plans to build a fortified
trading-house at Oswego, ii. 53.
Burr’s regiment, at Louisbourg, ii. 103.
Bute, i. 183.
Butler, Captain, i. 177.
Cabot, John, ii. 47, 49, 79.
Cabot, Sebastian, ii. 47, 49, 79.
_Caches_, ii. 16.
Caddoes, the, i. 356.
Cadenaret, an Abenaki chief, ii. 237, 238.
Cadillac, Seigneur, de, see _La Mothe, Jean de_.
“Cæsar,” the, ii. 83.
Cahokia, village of, i. 328.
Cahouet, i. 191.
Callières, the governor, i. 26, 28.
Cambridge, i. 150; ii. 90.
Canada,
prepares for defence against England, i. 4;
a virtual truce between New York and, i. 16;
divided by two opposing policies, i. 21;
a country of cabals and intrigues, i. 27;
almost inaccessible to New England, i. 120;
plan of Samuel Vetch for the conquest of, i. 133;
the English ministry plan an attack on, i. 163;
the Iroquois cease to be a danger to, i. 216;
Abenaki settlements in, i. 257;
New York her only rival for the control of the West, i. 273;
jealous of Louisiana, i. 324;
plans of the chiefs of, i. 325;
divided between two opposing influences, i. 347;
approaching her last agony, ii. 42;
Shirley’s scheme for capturing, ii. 151;
in alarm at the hostile preparations of the English, ii. 153;
preparations for defence, ii. 154;
the attack abandoned, ii. 155.
Canadian Church, the, influence of, i. 347.
Canadian missions, the, converts of, i. 96, 99.
Canadians, the,
brave, hardy, and well trained, i. 5;
join the expedition against New England, i. 56;
led the way in the path of discovery, i. 346.
Cannon-ball River, the, ii. 18.
Canseau,
fishing-station of, ii. 60;
Duquesnel sends a force against, ii. 60;
surrenders to the French and is burned, ii. 61;
Commodore Warren at, ii. 84;
ii. 86;
Pomeroy at, ii. 91;
passes into the hands of the English, ii. 91, 92, 93;
ii. 267, 273, 288, 289, 290, 311.
Canseau, blockhouse at, i. 198;
the Micmacs attack, i. 244;
ii. 334, 344, 345.
Canseau, Strait of, i. 186; ii. 60.
Canso, see _Canseau_.
Canso, Strait of, see _Canseau, Strait of_.
Canterbury, Archbishop of, i. 147.
Cap Noir, ii. 301.
Cape Breton, Island of, i. 177.
Cape Cod, the Indians of, i. 121; ii. 47, 260, 261.
Cape Sable Indians, ii. 354.
Capuchin Friars, the, i. 118.
Carheil, the Jesuit, 369
on the ruins of Michilimackinac, i. 17;
aversion of Cadillac for, i. 19;
his quarrels with Cadillac, i. 20, 30.
“Caribou,” the, ii. 62, 159, 160.
Carignan, regiment of, ii. 8.
Carolina, i. 148;
French settlement in, ii. 258;
ii. 259, 262, 263, 264, 265, 266, 269.
Carolina traders, the, i. 321, 323.
Carter, Ebenezer, released from Indian captivity, i. 87.
Carter, Marah, murdered by the French and Indians, i. 65.
Carthagena expedition, the, ii. 72.
Cartier, Jacques, at Hochelaga, i. 18, 279.
Casco, i. 36, 39;
attacked by the French and Indians, i. 99.
Casco Bay, i. 129;
the Boston treaty ratified at, i. 255.
Casco, the treaty of, i. 39.
Casgrain, Abbé, i. 196, 211.
Castine, town of, i. 38, 122.
Castle William, ii. 157, 317.
Catholicism, bound up with the old political order, i. 192.
Catholic Jacobites, ii. 177.
Catlin, George, the painter, among the Mandans, ii. 20.
Catlin, John, killed by the French and Indians, i. 64.
Catlin, Mrs. John,
shows wonderful generosity to a wounded French officer, i. 64;
death of, i. 65.
Catlin, Joseph, attacked by the French and Indians, i. 63.
Caughnawaga, ii. 236;
see also _Sault St. Louis_.
Caughnawaga,
the Iroquois mission of, i. 13;
the converted Iroquois settle at, i. 14;
Eunice Williams at, i. 80;
i. 217, 234.
Caughnawagas, the, i. 13;
carry on a contraband trade between New York and Canada, i. 15;
i. 36;
join the expedition against New England, i. 56;
draw out of an expedition against New England, i. 96;
promise Schuyler not to attack New England, i. 100;
in the conquest of Canada, i. 139.
Caulfield, deputy-governor at Annapolis, i. 196, 205, 206.
Chacornacle, Lieutenant, joins Cadillac, i. 28.
Chamberlain, John, tradition of his meeting with Paugus, i. 268.
Chambly, death of, i. 98.
Chambly,
settlement of, i. 75, 77, 140, 141, 142;
stone fort built by the French at, ii. 55.
Champigny, the intendant,
opposes Cadillac’s plan of a settlement at Detroit, i. 26, 28;
i. 348.
Champlain, Lake, i. 15, 77, 135, 139, 140, 165, 177, 252; ii. 48,
55, 153, 208, 221, 230, 235, 265.
Champlain, Samuel de, in the Onondaga country, i. 18, 279; ii. 259,
262.
“Chapeau Rouge” Bay, see _Gabarus Bay_.
Chardon, the missionary, urges the extermination of the Outagamies,
i. 337.
Charles I., ii. 262.
Charles II., of England, i. 133, 273.
Charlestown, named after Commodore Charles Knowles, ii. 228.
See also _Number Four_.
Charlestown Neck, ii. 90.
Charlevoix, the Jesuit historian,
on the French responsibility for Queen Anne’s War, i. 46;
on the essential purpose of Queen Anne’s War, i. 47;
on Ramesay’s expedition against Nicholson, i. 141; 370
on the pestilences in Nicholson’s camp, i. 143;
on the siege of Port Royal, i. 155;
on the chief bond between the French and the Indians, i. 216;
on the English attack on Norridgewock, i. 248;
on “the Illinois,” i. 327;
journey of, ii. 4;
his report on the Pacific Ocean, ii. 5;
returns to France, ii. 5.
Chartres, Duc de, i. 329.
Chartres, Fort, i. 329; ii. 57.
Chassin, Michel de, i. 317, 329.
Chateauguay, accusations against, i. 307.
Château Richer, John Williams at, i. 82.
Château St. Louis, the, i. 26, 51; ii. 273.
Chaudière River, the, i. 5, 6, 213, 217.
Cherokees, the, i. 324.
“Chester,” the, i. 151;
captured by Paradis, i. 170;
ii. 165, 334.
Chevereaux, i. 201.
Chevry, M. de, i. 102.
Cheyenne Indians, the, ii. 22, 34.
Chibucto, i. 110; ii. 157, 158, 160, 161, 162, 164, 175.
Chibucto Bay, D’Anville’s fleet in, ii. 261; ii. 164, 165.
Chibucto Harbor, ii. 326, 327, 329, 331, 334, 344.
Chicago, i. 33, 338, 342.
Chicago portage, the, i. 341.
Chickasaws, the, make war on the French, i. 321, 323; i. 324, 329,
356.
Chignecto, Acadian settlement of, i. 196, 208; ii. 170, 175, 176,
181, 183, 198, 203, 313, 323, 343, 344, 346, 347, 349, 351, 352,
353.
See also _Beaubassin_.
Chignecto Bay, ii. 184.
Chimney Point, ii. 254.
China, i. 368.
Choctaws, the, make war on the French, i. 321; i. 324.
Choke-Cherry Indians, the, ii. 33;
village of, ii. 34.
Christian, the Mohawk, i. 248.
Church, Major Benjamin,
attacked by the French and Indians, i. 63;
in King Philip’s War, i. 121;
proposes a stroke of retaliation against the French, i. 121;
Governor Dudley approves his plan, i. 121;
attacks Grand Pré, i. 123;
at Port Royal, i. 123.
Church, Thomas,
on Major Church’s attack on Grand Pré, i. 123;
on Major Church at Port Royal, i. 124.
Cid, the, of Canada, see _Iberville, Le Moyne d’_.
Cimarron, the, i. 367.
Circular Battery, the, at Louisbourg, ii. 130, 139.
Clairembault, the regiment of, i. 19.
Clark, Captain,
among the Mandans, ii. 17;
makes his way to the Pacific, ii. 35.
Clark, Fort, i. 367.
Cleaves, Lieutenant Benjamin,
at Louisbourg, ii. 112;
his diary, ii. 112, 144.
Clement, sells liquor to the Indians, ii. 213.
Clesson, Lieutenant, ii. 250, 251.
Clinton, governor of New York, ii. 156;
convenes the deputies of the Five Nations at Albany, ii. 206;
dispute between James de Lancey and, ii. 207;
hampered at every turn, ii. 207;
his controversy with the Assembly, ii. 208;
complains to Newcastle, ii. 209; 371
sees the value of William Johnson, ii. 212.
Clock, George, ii. 213.
Cobb, Captain Sylvanus, ii. 164.
Cobequid, Girard at, ii. 185; ii. 187, 188, 200, 202.
See also _Truro_.
Cobequid Bay, ii. 188.
Cockerill, Thomas, i. 137.
Cod fishery, ii. 318.
Coffin, i. 107.
Colbert, the minister, the wholesome policy of, i. 4.
Cole, Isaac,
killed by Indians, i. 52.
Colombière, ii. 185, 194.
Colorado, i. 367.
Colton, Mrs., i. 91.
Comanches, the, i. 359, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364.
Compagnie des Indes (Law’s Mississippi Company), ii. 48.
Company of Rangers, the, ii. 339, 344.
Company of the Colony of Canada, the,
founded by the King, i. 29;
the entire control of the fur-trade given to, i. 29;
burdens of, i. 29;
discontent, i. 30.
Conajoharie Castle, ii. 213.
Condé, Prince de, ii. 268.
Conflans, Captain de, ii. 158, 160, 161.
Congregation of Missions, the, ii. 46.
Connecticut, the colony of, i. 8;
unsuccessful expedition of the French and Indians against the
settlements of, i. 95;
refuses to join an expedition against Port Royal, i. 125;
ordered to furnish troops for the conquest of Canada, i. 135;
her prompt response, i. 137;
decides to attack Port Royal, i. 145, 150;
ordered to make ready for the Canadian expedition, i. 165;
joins Shirley’s expedition against Louisbourg, ii. 69, 72;
make-up of her contingent, ii. 82;
reimbursed by England for expenditures on the Louisbourg
expedition, ii. 143;
supports the plan to conquer Canada, ii. 152;
promises to assist Boston in case of French attack, ii. 157;
ii. 313.
Connecticut River, the, i. 50; ii. 214, 217, 218, 221.
Continental war, the, i. 163.
Conway, i. 256.
Coos Meadows, the, i. 50, 76.
Copp’s Hill, i. 166.
Corlaer, ii. 236, 265.
See also _Schenectady_.
Cornbury, Lord, governor of New York, i. 8, 59, 331.
Corsairs, the French, i. 112.
Corse, Elizabeth, marriage of, i. 89.
Cortlandt, contributes to the support of New York, i. 9.
Coste, Jacob, ii. 288.
Costebelle, governor at Placentia, i. 133;
on England’s real purpose in delaying promised aid to New
England, i. 156;
warns Vaudreuil of the English preparations against Canada,
i. 178;
his mandate from the King, i. 189;
in command at Louisbourg, i. 194;
complains of the apathy of the Acadians, i. 197.
Côte de Beaupré, the, i. 348.
Coulon, see _Villiers, Coulon de_.
County courts, the, i. 41.
_Coureurs de bois_, the,
at Michilimackinac, i. 17;
at Detroit, i. 279;
at “the Illinois,” i. 328.
Courtemanche,
falls ill at Boston, i. 87;
ii. 185.
Covenanters, the, i. 193. 372
Coxe, i. 303.
Crafts, Benjamin,
diary of, ii. 148;
death of, ii. 148.
Craggs, Secretary, i. 198, 203, 206.
Cranston, Governor, i. 181.
Crawford Notch, i. 256.
Creeks, the, i. 324.
Crespel, Père Emanuel, i. 339.
Cristineaux, the, ii. 10;
offer to join the French against the Sioux, ii. 13;
mislead La Vérendrye concerning the Pacific, ii. 15.
Croisil, on the Kennebec, i. 234.
Crow Indians, the, ii. 25.
Crown Point, i. 141; ii. 55;
the French intrenched at, ii. 55, 56;
La Corne urges the fortifying of, ii. 56;
fort built at, ii. 56;
Shirley plans to attack, ii. 156, 207, 234;
Rigaud at, ii. 254;
description of, ii. 254, 255;
demolished by Amherst, ii. 255;
ii. 350.
Crozat, Antoine,
Louisiana farmed out to, i. 310;
extent of his monopoly, i. 311;
his disappointments, i. 315;
gives up his charter, i. 315.
Cummings, William, wounded in Lovewell’s expeditions against the
Indians, i. 260.
Cushnoc, stone fort at, i. 222.
Cutter, Captain Ammi, at Canseau, ii. 92.
Daccarrette, Sieur, ii. 290, 291, 304.
Daguenet, at Louisbourg, ii. 280.
D’Aillebout, Captain, see _Aillebout, Captain d’_.
Dakota Indians, the, ii. 34.
Damariscotta River, the, ii. 65.
D’Anville, Duc, see _Anville, Duc d’_.
D’Argenson, see _Argenson, D’_.
Darien Scheme, the, i. 134.
Dartmouth College, i. 91.
Dartmouth, Earl of, i. 192.
Daulnay, Jean, marriage of, i. 89.
Dauphin, the lost, son of Louis XVI., i. 91.
Dauphin Battery, the, at Louisbourg, ii. 111.
Dauphin, Fort, on Lake Manitoba, ii. 14.
Dauphin Island, French establishment at, i. 306, 309, 312.
Dauphin’s Bastion, the, at Louisbourg, ii. 130, 279, 286, 297, 298,
301, 302, 303, 305.
D’Auteuil, see _Auteuil, D’_.
Davis, in the defence of Haverhill against the French and Indians,
i. 97.
Davis, Eleazer, wounded by the Pequawkets, i. 265, 266.
Deas, D., ii. 162, 164.
Debeline, General, ii. 223.
Deerfield,
village of, i. 56;
location of, i. 57;
reinforced with a garrison, i. 59;
attacked by the French and Indians, i. 59-66;
the captives, i. 67;
loss suffered by the French, i. 68;
not abandoned, i. 69;
again attacked by the French and Indians, i. 95;
ii. 148, 242, 245, 249, 250, 254.
Deerfield River, ii. 250, 251.
De Gannes, see _Gannes, De_.
Degonner, the Jesuit, his theory concerning the Pacific, ii. 10.
De Goutin, see _Goutin, M. de_.
De Lancey, James, see _Lancey, James de_.
De Léry, see _Léry, De_.
De l’Isle, see _L’Isle, De_.
De Muys, see _Muys, De_.
Denis, ii. 259, 262. 373
Denonville, Marquis de,
recognizes the importance of possessing Detroit, i. 22;
ii. 53.
Denys, M. de la Ronde, i. 157;
sent to treat with the “Bastonnais,” i. 159;
taken prisoner, i. 160;
on the losses of the English expedition against Canada, i. 181;
sent to Annapolis, i. 194;
in the Acadian settlements, i. 196.
“Deptford,” the, i. 125.
Derniers, Moïse des, on the illiteracy of the Acadians, ii. 173.
Deruisseau, i. 141.
Des Chaillons, Saint-Ours, commands an expedition against New England,
i. 96.
Deschenaux, ii. 274.
Des Enclaves, Père, i. 202.
Desliettes,
in command in the Illinois country, i. 336;
proposes to exterminate the Outagamies, i. 336;
joins Lignery’s expedition, i. 338.
Desligneris, ii. 185, 190.
“Despatch,” the, i. 173.
Destonnel, Mr., ii. 330.
D’Estournel, Vice-Admiral, see _Estournel, Vice Admiral d’_.
Destrahoudal, M., ii. 166, 167.
Des Ursins, La Loire, i. 329.
Detroit,
important location of, i. 22; ii. 57;
occupied by Du Lhut, i. 22;
Livingston urges the occupation of, i. 22;
its rivalry with Michilimackinac, i. 23;
Cadillac’s plans for, i. 23;
proposed restriction of the beaver-trade to, i. 23;
Cadillac lays the foundations for, i. 28;
in the hands of the company of the Colony of Canada, i. 29;
is given over to Cadillac, i. 32;
the Indian population at, i. 275;
Dubuisson in command at, i. 279;
its loss of strength in the departure of La Mothe-Cadillac,
i. 327.
Detroit, fort, i. 279.
Detroit River, the, i. 29.
Dièreville, i. 131.
Dieskau, Baron, flotilla of, ii. 237.
Dion, ii. 289, 291.
Doddridge, i. 51.
Dominique, Father, i. 190.
Doolittle, Rev. Benjamin, ii. 222;
on the defence of Number Four, ii. 229;
sketch of, ii. 232;
his sudden death, ii. 233;
his famous narrative, ii. 233, 234.
Dorchester,
joins the expedition against Port Royal, i. 126;
i. 150.
Dorman, Ephraim, ii. 215.
Doty, ii. 249.
Doucette, at Annapolis, i. 196.
Douglas, Dr.,
on the plan to attack Louisbourg, ii. 64, 86, 112, 118;
on the attack on the Island Battery, ii. 122;
on the life at Louisbourg after the conquest, ii. 149.
Dover, attacked by French and Indians, i. 95, 99.
Downing, Joshua, killed by Indians, i. 52.
“Dragon,” the, i. 136, 147, 151.
Dragonades, the, i. 4.
Drake, S. G., ii. 234.
Drowned Lands, the, ii. 237.
Dubuisson, Sieur,
in command at Detroit, i. 279;
dangerous visitors, i. 280;
timely succor, i. 282;
attacks the camp of the Outagamies, i. 285;
the siege, i. 286;
overtures from the enemy, i. 287;
renewed hostilities, i. 290;
wavering allies, i. 291;
the enemy begs for mercy, i. 293; 374
they surrender, i. 295;
his report to Vaudreuil, i. 296;
i. 344.
Duchambon, Chevalier,
governor of Canada, ii. 96;
deficient in capacity, ii. 96;
at Louisbourg, ii. 97;
on the capture of the Grand Battery, ii. 100, 101, 102;
his serious blunder, ii. 103, 107;
on the English attack on Louisbourg, ii. 111;
summoned to surrender, but refuses, ii. 117;
on the English attack on the Island Battery, ii. 121, 122, 124;
letter from La Maisonfort to, ii. 125;
his reply, ii. 126;
on the effect of the English fire, ii. 130;
asked by his troops to capitulate, ii. 131;
surrenders to the English, ii. 133;
on the number of English at Louisbourg, ii. 134;
his report on the siege of Louisbourg, ii. 144, 287-312.
Ducking-stool, the, i. 41.
Duclos, i. 313, 314.
Dudley, Captain, i. 173.
Dudley, Joseph,
governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, i. 36;
his conference with the Abenakis, i. 37, 38;
takes the offensive against the Indians, i. 50;
on the French loss at Deerfield, i. 69;
refuses to buy the release of prisoners, i. 86;
his correspondence with Vaudreuil concerning the exchange of
prisoners, i. 90;
refuses to allow a raid into Canada, i. 100;
urges the capture of Quebec, i. 103;
proposes a treaty of neutrality to Vaudreuil, i. 103;
characteristics of, i. 105;
sent as prisoner to England, i. 105;
made lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Wight, i. 105;
sent back to Massachusetts as governor, i. 105;
opposition of the Puritan party to, i. 105;
his abilities, i. 106;
accusations against, i. 107;
sustained by the Queen, i. 109;
approves of Major Church’s plan for retaliation against the
French, i. 121;
refuses to allow an attack on Port Royal, i. 121;
on Mayor Church at Port Royal, i. 124;
plans to assist in the conquest of Canada, i. 136;
his letters to Lord Sunderland, i. 145;
joins in the Canadian expedition, i. 165-168;
his conference with the Abenakis at Portsmouth, i. 220.
Dudley, Thomas, governor of Massachusetts, i. 105.
Dudley, William, i. 87, 103;
secretary of the expedition against Port Royal, i. 126, 130;
sent by Governor Dummer as envoy to Montreal, i. 252;
received by Vaudreuil, i. 252;
the interview with the Indians, i. 253.
Dufoure, Sieur Janson, ii. 289.
Dugué, Lieutenant, joins Cadillac, i. 28.
Du Laurent, ii. 274.
Du Lhut, Greysolon, occupies Detroit, i. 22.
Dummer, Fort,
Massachusetts and New Hampshire dispute ownership of, ii. 217;
left without a garrison, ii. 217;
the New Hampshire Assembly refuses to support, ii. 218;
ii. 221.
Dummer, Jeremiah, i. 108;
on the French attack on St. John, i. 132;
agent of Massachusetts in England, i. 162.
Dummer, William,
lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, i. 240; 375
his first meeting with the council, i. 241;
his difficulties with the Assembly, i. 242;
sends a force against Norridgewock, i. 245;
accuses Vaudreuil of instigating the Indians, i. 250;
correspondence between Vaudreuil and, i. 250-252.
Dumont, i. 321.
Dumontel, Jean, marriage of, i. 90.
Dunkirk, the American, ii. 64.
Dunstable,
town of, i. 257, 259.
attacked by the Indians, i. 258.
Duperrier, Captain, ii. 161.
Du Pratz, Le Page, i. 333, 355, 366.
Dupuy, the intendant,
slanders Beauharnois, i. 338;
on the scheme to reach the Pacific Ocean, ii. 6;
ii. 54.
Dupuy, Paul, i. 180.
Duquesne, governor of Canada, ii. 42.
Duquesnel,
the French military governor, ii. 60;
sketch of, ii. 60;
sends a force against Canseau, ii. 60;
his plans against Annapolis, ii. 61;
death of, ii. 96;
ii. 311.
Dutch, the, do little to protect the Indians, i. 11.
Dutch traders of Albany, the, i. 15, 16, 275, 276; ii. 212.
Du Tisné, expedition of, i. 359, 360.
Duvivier, Captain, i. 118;
sent against Canseau, ii. 60;
sent against Annapolis, ii. 61-63;
failure of his expedition, ii. 63;
again lays siege to Annapolis, ii. 126, 171;
ii. 312, 316.
Duxbury, i 121.
East Bay, ii. 237.
East Boston, i. 166.
East Hoosac, town of, ii. 231.
East Indies, the, ii. 256.
East Jersey, i. 8.
Eastern Indians, the, English declare war against, i. 239.
Eastern missions, the, cultivated with diligence by the Jesuits,
i. 216.
“Edgar,” the,
Walker’s flagship, i. 171, 172;
blown up in the Thames, i. 181.
Edward, Fort, i. 140.
Eliot, John, attacked by the Indians, i. 244.
“Eltham,” the, ii. 93.
Ely, Joseph, wounded at Number Four, ii. 228.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, ii. 79.
Emery, Samuel, minister at Wells, i. 41.
Endicott, Hon. William C., ii. 42.
Engelran, Father, i. 30.
England,
the War of the Spanish Succession, i. 3;
insulted by Louis XIV., i. 4;
declares war against France, i. 4;
her object in delaying promised aid to New England, i. 156;
critical questions between France and, i. 185;
refuses to resign Acadia, i. 186;
her policy of inaction towards her colonies, i. 199;
division of the contest between France and, ii. 44;
receives the news of the victory at Louisbourg with joy and
astonishment, ii. 142;
repays provincial outlays on the Louisbourg expedition, ii. 143;
fails to do her duty by the Acadians, ii. 203;
Bobé’s claim that she has no rightful titles to North America
except those France may grant her, ii. 257-274. 376
English, the,
do little to protect the Indians, i. 11;
rumors spread by the French against, i. 11;
wish to spur the Five Nations to active hostility, i. 13;
their interest in the “Far Indians,” i. 14;
importance of Detroit to, i. 22;
send envoys to Montreal, i. 252;
their conference with the Penobscots at the St. George, i. 254;
the Boston treaty ratified, i. 255.
English colonies, the, ii. 46.
English Revolution, the, i. 192.
English traders, the, i. 275, 276;
had one powerful attraction for the Indians, i. 277;
ii. 212.
English Turn, i. 302.
Éraque, D’, i. 353.
Erie, Lake, i. 22; ii. 57.
Escatary, ii. 288, 300.
Essex, village of, ii. 157.
Estournel, Vice-Admiral d’, ii. 162;
suicide of, ii. 163.
Ethier, Dr., on the attack on Deerfield, i. 70.
Eugene, Prince, i. 119.
Exeter, town of, attacked by the French and Indians, i. 99.
Fabry, Sieur, see _La Bruyère, Fabry de_.
Falmouth, hamlet of,
Indian attack on, i. 45;
rises from its ashes, i. 222.
“Falmouth,” the, i. 151.
“Far Indians,” the, i. 13;
opposing interests of the French, the English, and the Five
Iroquois Nations in, i. 14, 15.
Farmer, on the death of Cadillac, i. 19.
Farnsworth, David, at Number Four, ii. 218.
Farnsworth, Samuel, at Number Four, ii. 218, 219.
Farnsworth, Stephen, at Number Four, ii. 218.
Farrar, Jacob, mortally wounded by the Pequawkets, i. 264.
Farwell, Josiah,
escapes from the Indians, i. 258;
raises a company to hunt Indians, i. 259;
wounded, i. 262;
death of, i. 266.
Featherstonhaugh, the geologist, i. 353.
Félix, Père, i. 118.
Ferland, i. 341; ii. 107.
Ferryland, destroyed by the French, i. 132.
Feudalism, Canadian, develops good partisan leaders, i. 126.
“Feversham,” the, i. 151.
Field, Ensign, ii. 232.
Fight Brook, i. 268.
Filles de la Congrégation, i. 188.
Fisheries, the Acadian, i. 111;
New England has a lion’s share of, i. 111, 146;
the Newfoundland, i. 186;
at Matinicus, ii. 65.
Fish Kill River, the, ii. 210.
Five Nations of the Iroquois, the,
receives poor treatment from New York, i. 9, 10;
suffered greatly from war, i. 10;
the Dutch and English do little to protect, i. 11;
French agents, among, i. 11;
Protestant clergymen among, i. 12;
the French try to preserve neutrality among, i. 12;
the English try to spur them on to active hostility, i. 13;
their interest in the “Far Indians,” i. 14;
appeal to King William for protection against the French,
i. 33;
deed over their beaver-hunting ground to King William, i. 33; 377
Abraham Schuyler seeks to gain their aid in the conquest of
Canada, i. 138;
their policy with the French and English, i. 139;
acknowledged to be British subjects, i. 184;
the Tuscaroras joined to, i. 274;
a change comes over, i. 274;
importance of their friendship, i. 275;
jealous of French designs, ii. 51;
refuse to allow the French to build a fort at Niagara, ii. 52;
finally yield to the French, ii. 53;
refuse to destroy Oswego, ii. 54;
convene with Governor Clinton at Albany, ii. 206;
deeply impressed by the burning of Saratoga, ii. 211;
agree to go against the French, ii. 212.
Flanders, i. 164.
Flat Point, ii. 97, 102.
Flat Point Cove, ii. 87, 125.
Florida, i. 161; ii. 49.
Flynt, Rev. Henry, i. 222, 230.
Folsom, on the Indian attack on Wells, i. 46.
Fort Hill, i. 166.
Fortified houses, i. 39.
Foster, Deacon Josiah, killed by the Indians, ii. 216.
Foster, Joseph, ii. 162, 164, 165.
Fox, on Lovewell’s Expedition, i. 270.
Fox River of Green Bay, the,
Indian population on, i. 275, 278, 332;
i. 338, 340, 343; ii. 57.
Foxes, the, i. 14, 275. See also, _Outagamies, the_.
France,
Great Britain gains a maritime preponderance over, i. 3;
drunk with the wild dreams of Rousseau, i. 4;
England declares war against, i. 4;
burdened with an insupportable load of debt, i. 183;
critical questions between England and, i. 185;
does not neglect Acadia, i. 200;
occupies the mouth of the Mississippi River, i. 298;
John Law undertakes to deliver it from financial ruin, i. 315;
division of the contest between England and, ii. 44;
Father Bobé sets forth the claims of, ii. 46-50;
fortifies the West, ii. 57;
angered by the capture of Louisbourg, ii. 157;
D’Anville’s expedition, ii. 158-162;
La Jonquière’s expedition, ii. 168;
her strong desire to recover Acadia, ii. 169;
Bobé’s claim that England has no rightful titles to North
America except those which may be granted her by, ii. 257-274.
Franche-Comté, i. 217.
Francis, Dr. Convers, on the character of Rale, i. 229, 231, 249.
Francis I., ii. 258.
Francœur, heights of, ii. 301.
Franklin, Benjamin, lacking in enthusiasm, ii. 70.
Franquet, journal of, ii. 174.
Frederic of Prussia seizes Silesia, ii. 59.
Frédéric, Fort, ii. 56, 234, 235. See also _Crown Point_.
French, the,
rumors spread against the English by, i. 11;
try to keep the Five Nations neutral, i. 12;
their interest in the “Far Indians,” i. 14;
importance of Detroit to, i. 22;
Queen Anne’s War due to, i. 46;
their claims for the territory of Acadia, i. 47;
spur on the Abenakis against New England, i. 48;
their motives, i. 100-102.
French of Acadia, the, 378
trade between Boston and, i. 138.
French colonies, the, ii. 46.
French Cross, ii. 182.
French, Deacon, i. 60.
French explorers, characteristics of, i. 346.
French, Freedom,
converted and baptized as Marie Françoise, i. 89;
her marriage, i. 89.
French Indians, the,
in the Coos meadows, i. 50;
attacked by Caleb Lyman, i. 50;
ravaging the frontiers, ii. 213.
French, Martha,
baptized as Marguerite, i. 89;
her marriage, i. 89.
French priests, the, in Acadia, ii. 178, 179.
French River, the, i. 76.
French, Thomas, town clerk of Deerfield, i. 60, 68, 89.
French traders, the, i. 15.
French West Indies, the, i. 308.
Freneuse, Madame de,
Brouillan’s relations with, i. 114;
Bonaventure’s relations with, i. 116;
her quarrel with Madame de Saint-Vincent, i. 117.
Fresh-water Cove, ii. 97.
Fronsac, ii. 295, 304.
Frontenac, Count,
admiration of Cadillac for, i. 19;
the strongest champion for the policy of expansion, i. 21;
i. 101;
humbles the pride of the Five Nations, i. 274;
i. 348; ii. 11, 212, 318.
Frontenac, Fort, i. 29, 138, 142; ii. 55.
Frye, Jonathan,
chaplain of Lovewell’s expeditions, i. 260;
mortally wounded, i. 264;
death of, i. 266.
Frye, General Joseph, i. 269.
Fryeburg, village of, i. 256, 257, 261, 268.
Fundy, Bay of, i. 123; ii. 182, 198, 331, 345.
Fur-trade, the,
between the French and the Indians, i. 14;
restrictions placed by the King upon, i. 29;
Cadillac has transferred to him the monopoly in, i. 32.
Fur-trading, ii. 57, 58.
Gabarus Bay, ii. 93, 97, 277, 290, 291, 300, 306, 311.
Gaillard, i. 362, 363, 364.
Gandalie, Charles de la, curé at Mines, i. 209.
Gannes, Captain de, i. 155; ii. 293.
Gardner, attacks the French and Indians, i. 98.
Garnier, Charles, i. 139, 215.
Gaspé, ii. 185.
Gaspé, Bay of, i. 171.
Gaspereau, the river, ii. 189, 194, 195, 196.
Gaulin,
missionary of the Micmacs, i. 191, 194;
receives a “gratification,” i. 203.
Gayarré, i. 303, 304, 307, 310, 313.
General Court of Massachusetts, the, offers a bounty for Indian
scalps, i. 50.
_Gens_, the, ii. 22.
Gens de la Petite Cerise, ii. 33.
Gens de l’Arc, see _Bow Indians_.
Gens du Serpent, see _Snake Indians_.
George I., i. 205, 206.
George II.,
the accession of, i. 208;
restores Louisbourg to the French, ii. 256.
George, Fort, i. 222.
George, Lake, ii. 208, 237.
Georgetown, hamlet of,
rises from its ashes, i. 222;
Governor Shute calls a council with the Indians at, i. 224; 379
the second council at, i. 233.
Germain, Father, the missionary, i. 30; ii. 184.
Germany, i. 163;
Protestants from, ii. 177, 341.
Gibraltar, ii. 147, 150.
Gibson, James,
assists Shirley in his plans against Louisbourg, ii. 67, 68,
81, 82;
journal of, ii. 144.
Gill, Charles, on the Gill family, i. 93.
Gill, Samuel,
captured by the Abenakis, i. 92;
converted, i. 92;
his marriage, i. 92;
his descendants, i. 93.
Gillet, killed by the Indians, ii. 250.
Girard, priest of Cobequid, ii. 185, 186, 187.
Goat Island, i. 151.
Goddard, Captain, i. 172.
Godolphin, i. 163;
the fall of, i. 184.
Goldthwait, Captain Benjamin, ii. 190, 191, 195, 197, 200.
Goold, William, ii. 200.
Gorham, Lieutenant-Colonel, ii. 331, 332, 344.
Gorham’s regiment, at Louisbourg, ii. 120, 124.
Gould, K., ii. 175.
Goutin, M. de,
makes accusations against Brouillan, i. 114;
his quarrel with Subercase, i. 117;
attacks Bonaventure, i. 117;
i. 133.
Grand Battery, the, ii. 85, 87, 94, 95;
captured by Vaughan, ii. 98, 99;
the English occupation of, ii. 102;
ii. 106, 109, 111, 118, 119, 121, 135.
Grand Pré, Acadian village of,
attacked by Major Church, i. 123;
Noble at, ii. 182;
description of, ii. 183;
ii. 187, 188, 189;
the French attack on Noble at, ii. 191-193;
capitulation, ii. 197, 198;
losses on each side at, ii. 198;
ii. 200;
reoccupied by the English, ii. 201;
ii. 346.
Grand River, i. 359, 361.
Gratiot, Fort, i. 22.
Gravier, the Jesuit, at Fort St. Louis, i. 327.
Gray, Deacon John, ii. 80.
“Great Awakening,” the, ii. 76, 113.
Great Britain, gains a maritime and colonial preponderance over France
and Spain, i. 3.
Great Butte des Morts, the, i. 343.
Great Carrying Place, the, i. 140.
Great Lakes, the,
Indian tribes of, i. 14;
i. 185, 272.
Great West, the, conflict for, i. 272.
Green, Dr. Samuel A., i. 93.
Green Bay, i. 91, 332;
Sieur de Lignery calls a council of Indians at, i. 336;
fort at, i. 338;
ii. 6, 57.
Green Bay of Lake Michigan, the, Indian population near, i. 275.
Green Dragon Tavern, the, i. 150.
Greenfield meadows, i. 71.
Green Hill, ii. 104, 106, 132.
Green Mountains, the, i. 76.
Green River, i. 72.
Grey Lock, the noted chief, i. 244.
Gridley, Colonel, at Louisbourg, ii. 123, 129, 144.
Grignon, Augustus, i. 344.
Groton, town of, attacked by the French and Indians, i. 259; ii. 218.
Guignas, Father, i. 339;
made the head of the Sioux Mission, ii. 6;
ii. 7.
Guillaume le Sincère, ii. 274. 380
Guinea, i. 309, 311, 319.
Habitant de Louisbourg, the,
on Duvivier’s attack on Annapolis, ii. 62, 63;
on the plan to attack Louisbourg, ii. 68;
on the garrison at Louisbourg, ii. 95;
on the poor condition of the garrison, ii. 96;
on the capture of the Grand Battery, ii. 100;
ii. 107;
on the attack of the English, ii. 108;
on the capture of the “Vigilant” by the English, ii. 124;
on the number of English at Louisbourg, ii. 134;
on the siege, ii. 137;
on the rivalry between Pepperrell and Warren, ii. 140, 141;
remarkable letter of, ii. 144;
describes the siege of Louisbourg, ii. 274, 287.
Hadley, village of, i. 57.
Hagar, displays heroism in the defence of Haverhill against the French
and Indians, i. 98.
Hale, Captain, at Louisbourg, ii. 111.
Hale, Colonel Roberetter from John Payne to, ii. 88, 69.
Hale’s Essex Regiment, ii. 148.
Halifax, i. 110;
settlement of the English at, i. 205;
ii. 158, 161, 177, 178.
Hampton, village of, Indian attack on, i. 48.
Harcourt, Duc d’, i. 305.
Harding, Stephen, attacked by Indians, i. 43.
Harley, Lord Treasurer, i. 163.
Harmon, Captain,
sent out against Norridgewock, i. 245;
the official journal of, i. 248.
Harpswell, i. 239.
Harvard College, i. 40.
Haskell, ii. 327.
Hassall, Benjamin, deserts from Lovewell, i. 263, 265, 267, 270.
Hastings, John, at Number Four, ii. 219.
Hatfield, village of, i. 57;
proposed French and Indian attack on, i. 95;
ii. 232.
Haverhill,
French and Indian attacks on, i. 49, 97;
i. 259.
Hawks, Ebenezer, killed by the Indians, ii. 50.
Hawks, Sergeant John, ii. 242, 243;
sketch of, ii. 244;
in charge at Fort Massachusetts, ii. 243;
attacked by Rigaud, ii. 244, 245;
a parley, ii. 247;
capitulation, ii. 248, 249;
journal of, ii. 248;
becomes a lieutenant-colonel, ii. 255;
in the French war, ii. 255.
Heath, Captain, sent against the Penobscots, i. 254.
Heath, Joseph, i. 218, 233.
Heath, town of, ii. 231.
Heathcote, Colonel, ii. 51.
Hill, John,
appointed to command the troops in the Canadian expedition,
i. 164;
poorly fitted for his position, i. 175;
gives up the expedition, i. 176;
his journal, i. 182.
Hill, Mrs., i. 181.
Hill, Samuel, captured by the Indians, i. 44, 87, 103.
Hilton, Col. Winthrop,
commands an expedition against Port Royal, i. 125;
destroys Norridgewock, i. 218.
Hix, Jacob, dies of starvation, i. 76.
Hobby, Sir Charles, in the attack on Port Royal, i. 151, 153, 154.
Hochelaga, Cartier at, i. 18, 279.
Hocquart, i. 340;
ii. 8;
on the establishment of Crown Point, ii. 56; 381
ii. 154, 171, 172.
Holland, i. 163.
Holton, Eleazer, ii. 231.
Hook, Sergeant, at Falmouth, i. 45.
“Hoosac Patent,” the, ii. 239.
Hoosac River, the, ii. 236, 237, 238, 239;
Dutch settlements on, ii. 239;
ii. 243.
Hoosac Road, the, ii. 251.
“Hope,” the, i. 88.
Hôpital Général of Paris, the, i. 314.
Horse Indians, the, ii. 22, 24, 25, 26.
Hospital Nuns, the, of Quebec, i. 25.
Hough, on the legend of the “Bell of St. Regis,” i. 92.
Housatonic River, the, ii. 230.
Howe, Captain, murder of, ii. 180; ii. 193, 194, 196, 197, 198.
Hoyt,
on the “Old Indian House,” at Deerfield, i. 68;
i. 91;
on the defence of Number Four, ii. 229.
Hoyt, David,
attacked by the French and Indians, i. 63;
dies of starvation, i. 76.
Hoyt, Mrs. David, wounded by the French and Indians, i. 63.
Hubert, plans to explore the Missouri, i. 354, 355.
Hudson Bay,
claimed by England, i. 184;
the forts of, i. 186;
i. 306;
failure to find western passage to, ii. 3;
La Vérendrye secures possession of, ii. 14.
Hudson River, the, i. 15, 139, 273; ii. 210.
Huecos, the, i. 357.
Huguenots, the,
petition Louis XIV. for permission to settle in Louisiana,
i. 303;
the petition refused, i. 304.
Huillier, Fort l’, i. 351, 353.
Hunter, Governor, of New York, ii. 51, 52.
Huron Indians, the,
villages of, i. 18;
thorough savages, i. 18;
Cadillac’s estimate of, i. 18;
draw out of an expedition against New England, i. 96;
i. 235;
at Detroit, i. 275, 279, 280, 283, 284;
set out against the Outagamies, i. 341.
Huron-Iroquois customs, survival at Michilimackinac of, i. 18.
Huron Lake, i. 22, 28; ii. 57.
Hurst, Benjamin, murdered by the French and Indians, i. 90.
Hurst, Sarah, i. 90.
Hurtado, General, i. 368.
Hutchinson, Thomas,
on the French and Indian attack on Haverhill, i. 99;
on the negotiations for neutrality between Dudley and
Vaudreuil, i. 104;
on the opposition to Governor Dudley, i. 107;
on the Queen’s sustaining Governor Dudley, i. 109;
on Major Church at Port Royal, i. 124;
on March’s failure against Port Royal, i. 131;
on Shannon’s order to attack Quebec, i. 149;
on the council at Georgetown, i. 228;
on the controversy between Governor Shute and the Massachusetts
Assembly, i. 240;
on the Indian attack on Oxford, i. 243;
on the death of Rale, i. 247;
on Lovewell’s expeditions against the Indians, i. 262, 270;
on the plan to attack Louisbourg, ii. 64, 85;
ii. 143;
on the English plan to conquer Canada, ii. 153;
ii. 157.
Iberville, Le Moyne d’,
plans for an expedition against New England, i. 6;
offers to plant a colony in Louisiana, i. 300; 382
his offer accepted, i. 300;
enters the Mississippi River, i. 301;
at Biloxi, i. 302;
sails for France, i. 302;
royal instructions to, i. 304;
returns to Biloxi, i. 304;
establishes a post at Mobile Bay, i. 305;
forms a third establishment at Dauphin Island, i. 306;
accused of peculation, i. 306;
i. 354.
“Illinois, the,” i. 327;
annexed to Louisiana, i. 328;
Boisbriant in command at, i. 329.
Illinois Indians, the,
Father Rale among, i. 217, 220;
at Fort St. Louis, i. 275;
at Detroit, i. 283, 289;
furiously attacked by the Outagamies, i. 330, 335;
i. 356.
Illinois River, the, i. 275, 311, 324, 327, 340, 354, 359; ii. 57.
Illinois, State of, i. 278.
Illinois, the mission of the, i. 350.
Indian Old Point, i. 219.
Indian Old Town, i. 254.
Indians, the,
show a lack of confidence in the English, i. 9;
Cadillac’s plan of civilizing, i. 24;
the Jesuits’ plan of civilizing, i. 24;
their forbearance towards female prisoners, i. 76;
the cost to Massachusetts of killing, i. 100;
benevolence of Samuel Sewall towards, i. 223;
their petty attacks on the frontier settlements, ii. 214-216.
See also:--
Abenakis,
Algonquins,
Androscoggins,
Apsarokas,
Arickaras,
Arkansas,
Assagunticooks,
Assiniboins,
Bayagoulas,
Blackfeet,
Blancs Barbus,
Bows,
Caddoes,
Cape Cod,
Cape Sable,
Caughnawagas,
Cherokees,
Cheyennes,
Chickasaws,
Choctaws,
Choke-Cherry,
Comanches,
Creeks,
Crows,
Dakotas,
Eastern,
“Far,”
Five Nations,
Foxes,
French,
Horse,
Hurons,
Illinois,
Iroquois,
Kansas,
Kaskaskias,
Kennebecs,
Kickapoos,
Little Fox,
Malicites,
Mandans,
Mascoutins,
Menominies,
Micmacs,
Minneconjous,
Minnetarees,
Mississagas,
Missouris,
Mohawks,
Mohegans,
Montagnais,
Musquawkies,
Nassonites,
Natchez,
Norridgewocks,
Ojibwas,
Omahas,
Oncpapas,
Oneidas,
Onondagas,
Osages,
Ottawas,
Otoes,
Ouacos,
Outagamies,
Padoucas,
Pawnee Picts,
Pawnees,
Penacooks,
Penobscots,
Pequawkets,
Pigwackets,
Pioyas,
Pottawattamies,
Puants,
Quinipissas,
Renards,
Sacs,
Sacs and Foxes,
Sakis,
Saukis,
Senecas,
Shoshones,
Sioux,
Six Nations,
Snakes,
Sokokis,
Taensas,
Tuscaroras,
“Upper Nations,”
Western,
Wichitas,
Winnebagoes,
Yanktons.
Ingoldsby, Colonel,
lieutenant-governor of New York, i. 137;
in the conquest of Canada, i. 139.
Ipswich, town of, joins the expedition against Port Royal, i. 126.
Ireland, i. 192; ii. 341.
Iroquois Indians, the, i. 17;
superstitions in connection with sexual abstinence, i. 76;
accused of causing the pestilence in Nicholson’s camp, i. 143;
cease to be a danger to Canada, i. 216.
Iroquois of the Lake of Two Mountains, the, 383
sent from Montreal against the English border, ii. 217.
Iroquois of the Mountain, the, i. 235.
Iroquois of Sault St. Louis, the, sent from Montreal against the
English border, ii. 217.
“Island Battery,” the,
at Louisbourg, ii. 94, 95, 99;
attacked by the English, ii. 118, 119;
description of, ii. 120;
failure of the attack, ii. 122, 129;
ii. 130, 139.
Iroquois, the converted, i. 36.
Isle au Cochon, i. 295.
Isle-aux-Coudres, ii. 154.
Isle aux Œufs, i. 174, 175, 179.
Isle d’Aix, ii. 311.
Isle of Wight, the, Dudley lieutenant-governor of, i. 105.
Isle Royale, i. 186, 188, 189, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 200,
201, 203, 207, 210; ii. 60, 260, 280, 288, 295.
Isle St. Jean, ii. 186, 198, 207.
Isles of Shoals, the, ii. 74.
Isthmus of Panama, the, i. 134.
Jamaica, ii. 270, 275.
James I., ii. 262.
James II., of England, i. 4, 148.
Jaques, Benjamin, kills Father Rale at Norridgewock, i. 247.
Jerseys, the, ii. 341.
Jesuit missions, the,
reproach of, i. 24;
meagre results of, i. 26;
a change comes over, i. 214.
Jesuits, the Canadian,
among Indians, i. 11;
among the Mohawks, i. 13;
at Michilimackinac, i. 17;
Cadillac’s aversion for, i. 19;
opposed to Cadillac’s plans to civilize the Indians, i. 24;
vast possessions of, i. 25;
Cadillac’s relations with, i. 30;
find John Williams a stubborn heretic, i. 78, 79;
refuse to give up Eunice Williams, i. 80;
characteristics of, i. 215;
their functions become as much political as religious, i. 215;
charged to keep firm the bond between the French and the
Indians, i. 216;
their methods of converting the Indians, i. 216;
cultivate with diligence the Eastern missions, i. 216;
the early missionaries compared with their successors, i. 217.
Jews, the, expelled from Louisiana, i. 316.
Jogues, Father Isaac,
on the banks of the Mohawk, i. 18;
i. 139, 215.
Johnson, William,
among the Mohawks, ii. 211;
charged with Indian affairs by Governor Clinton, ii. 212;
loses the support of the Assembly, ii. 212;
difficulties of, ii. 212.
Joncaire,
agent of France among the Senecas, i. 11, 13, 138; ii. 52;
his important work in moulding the Indians, ii. 211.
Jones, Esther, disperses the Indians at Dover, i. 95.
Jones, Josiah, wounded by the Pequawkets, i. 265, 266.
Jones, Lieutenant, death of, ii. 193.
Jordan, the river, ii. 48, 264, 265.
Juchereau, Mother, see _Saint-Denis, Mother Juchereau de_.
Judicial officers, method of electing, i. 41.
Justinien, Père, the Récollet, curé of Mines, i. 194, 206.
Kalm, the Swedish naturalist, i. 177; 384
describes Crown Point, ii. 255.
Kaministiguia, the river, ii. 3; 9;
La Noue at the mouth of, ii. 4.
Kankakee River, the, ii. 57.
Kannan, H., ii. 162, 164.
Kansas Indians, the,
villages of, i. 361, 363;
i. 365.
Kansas River, the, i. 360, 362, 363.
Kaskaskia,
town of, i. 327;
mixed marriages of, i. 328.
Kaskaskias, the, i. 327.
Kaskékouké River, the, ii. 236, 253.
Keene, Indian attack on, ii. 214.
Kellogg, escapes from Indian captivity, i. 87.
Kellogg, Joanna, i. 90.
Kennebec Indians, the, i. 224.
Kennebec lands, the, titles to, i. 222.
Kennebec mission, the, i. 219.
Kennebec River, the, i. 5, 6, 35, 36, 47;
the dividing line between the French and New England, i. 213;
watched with greatest jealousy, i. 213;
the Norridgewocks on, i. 213, 217, 234;
ii. 48, 49, 50, 51, 260, 261, 262, 263, 267, 268, 269, 271, 272.
Kennebunk, i. 40.
Kennetcook River, the, ii. 188.
Kent, killed by Indians, i. 45.
Kentucky, State of, i. 321.
Keyes, Solomon, mortally wounded by the Pequawkets, i. 264, 266.
Kickapoos, the,
on Rock River, i. 278;
i. 335;
villages of, i. 341.
Kidder, Benjamin,
on the expeditions of Capt. John Lovewell, i. 258, 270;
falls seriously ill, i. 261.
Kidder, Frederic, on the treaty between Governor Dudley and the
Abenakis, i. 221.
Kilby, Mr., ii. 315.
King, Colonel, i. 166, 169;
narrow escape of, i. 173;
his journal, i. 182.
King Philip’s War, i. 57, 63, 76, 121, 220, 223.
King’s Bastion, the, at Louisbourg, ii. 106, 111, 130, 292, 294, 296,
301, 302, 304, 306.
“King’s girls,” the, i. 306, 307.
King’s Road, the, i. 40.
Kingston, attacked by the French and Indians, i. 99.
Kittery, town of, i. 39;
attacked by the French and Indians, i. 99;
ii. 72, 75.
Kittery Point, Pepperrell’s house at, ii. 73.
Knowles, Admiral Charles,
on the character of the Acadians, ii. 172;
urges the expulsion of the Acadians, ii. 177;
Charlestown named after, ii. 228;
ii. 327, 328, 335, 336, 345, 352.
Knowlton, Thomas, killed at Fort Massachusetts, ii. 247, 249, 251,
255.
Koller, Sieur, ii. 299, 300.
Labat, M., i. 116;
on the English attack on Acadia, i. 123;
on Major Church at Port Royal, i. 124;
on the failure of the English expedition against Port Royal,
i. 131.
La Baye, Fort, ii. 57.
Laboularderie, M., ii. 291.
Labrador, i. 179.
La Bruyère, Fabry de, i. 368.
Lac des Cristineaux, see _Woods, Lake of the_.
La Chasse, Père,
Superior of the Missions, i. 219;
his eulogy on Father Rale, i. 220; 385
prevents peace being made at Georgetown, i. 233, 234;
his story of the death of Rale, i. 248;
acts as interpreter between the English and the Indians, i. 253;
his animosity toward the English, i. 254.
La Chine, i. 28.
Lacroix, ii. 198.
La Corne, Récollet missionary at Miramichi, ii. 185.
La Corne, Saint-Luc de,
advises the fortifying of Crown Point, ii. 56;
a model of bodily and mental hardihood, ii. 185;
at Grand Pré, ii. 191, 194, 195, 196, 197, 200;
his report of the French victory at Mines, ii. 200.
Laet, De, ii. 262.
La Force, Sieur, ii. 239.
La Forest, at Fort St. Louis, i. 275.
La Fresnière, Sieur de, i. 313, 338;
at Crown Point, ii. 56.
La Galissonnière, M. de, ii. 14;
succeeds Beauharnois in the government, ii. 36;
befriends La Vérendrye, ii. 36;
returns to France, ii. 37.
Lagny, at Grand Pré, ii. 191.
La Harpe, Bénard de, i. 303, 315, 320;
his expedition of exploration, i. 355-359;
i. 368.
La Hontan, the romance of, i. 354.
La Jemeraye,
joins La Vérendrye in his search for the Pacific, ii. 12;
at Fort St. Pierre, ii. 12;
death of, ii. 12.
La Jonquière, Marquis de,
succeeds La Galissonière in the government, ii. 37;
robs the brothers La Vérendrye, ii. 37, 38;
at Chibucto, ii. 163;
makes a last effort, ii. 165;
pursued by the pestilence, ii. 166;
his second expedition, ii. 168;
taken prisoner by the English, ii. 168;
chief aim of his expedition, ii. 169.
La Jonquière, Fort, ii. 40.
Lake country, the, Indian tribes of, i. 330, 337.
Lake George, the battle of, ii. 39, 90, 242.
Lake tribes, the, at Michilimackinac, i. 17.
Lalande, i. 84.
Lalemant, Charles, i. 139.
Lalemant, Gabriel, i. 215.
La Maisonfort, Marquis de,
in command of the “Vigilant,” ii. 123;
taken prisoner, ii. 125;
his letter to the French, ii. 125;
ii. 281, 304, 305.
Lamberville, Jacques, the Jesuit, i. 11;
at Onondaga, i. 138.
La Mothe-Cadillac, Antoine de,
at Michilimackinac, i. 17;
on the Huron Indians, i. 18;
sketch of, i. 19;
his aversion to the Jesuits, i. 19;
family of, i. 19;
early history of, i. 19;
his quarrels with Carheil, i. 20;
a strong champion for the policy of expansion, i. 21;
his motives, i. 22;
presents a memorial to Count de Maurepas, i. 23;
his plans for Detroit, i. 23, 24;
his plan for civilizing the Indians, i. 24;
his plan of a settlement at Detroit opposed by Champigny, i. 26;
sails for France, i. 27;
his interview with Ponchartrain, i. 27;
his letter to La Touche, i. 27;
Ponchartrain accepts his plan, i. 28;
his return to Canada, i. 28;
lays the foundation for Detroit, i. 28;
his delight in ruining Michilimackinac, i. 30;
his relations with the Jesuits, i. 30; 386
his letters to Ponchartrain, i. 30-32;
Detroit given over to, i. 32;
made governor of Louisiana, i. 279, 309;
his report on the condition of the country, i. 309;
petition of the people of Louisiana to, i. 312;
his reply, i. 312;
his quarrel with Bienville, i. 313;
Detroit feels the loss of, i. 327;
on the strange customs of the Sioux, i. 352;
sends Saint-Denis to explore western Louisiana, i. 355.
La Mothe, Jean de, i. 19.
Lanaudière, ii. 185.
Lancaster, village of, i. 259;
attacked by the French and Indians, i. 99.
Lancey, James de,
dispute between Governor Clinton and, ii. 206, 207;
characteristics of, ii. 207.
Languedoc, i. 19.
La Noue, Lieutenant, at the mouth of the Kaministiguia, ii. 4.
“La Palme,” ii. 166;
the story of, ii. 167.
La Perelle, ii. 132, 303.
Laperelle, M. de, ii. 308.
La Perrière, Boucher de, i. 338;
made the military chief of the Sioux mission, ii. 6;
his journey to the Mississippi, ii. 6.
La Plaine, spreads a panic at Quebec, i. 142.
“La Poudrerie,” ii. 186.
La Reine, Port,
on the Assiniboin, ii. 14;
La Vérendrye at, ii. 15, 18, 34;
Saint-Pierre at, ii. 40.
La Renaudière, i. 360, 362, 363.
La Ronde, M. de, i. 116.
La Salle, Chevalier de, i. 28;
his schemes concerning Louisiana, i. 298, 324;
on the Illinois, i. 327;
ii. 11, 57.
La Salle, Nicolas de,
accuses Iberville and his brothers to the minister, i. 306, 308;
i. 315;
proposes to explore the Missouri, i. 354.
“La Société,” ii. 290.
La Touche,
letter from Cadillac to, i. 27;
on the accusations against Brouillan, i. 114.
La Tour, feudal claimant of Acadia, ii. 61.
La Tressillière, Ensign, ii. 311.
Launay, Seigneur de, see _La Mothe, Jean de_.
“Launceston,” the, ii. 84, 93.
Laumet, Seigneur de, see _La Mothe, Jean de_.
Laurain, i. 354.
Lauverjat, Father, among the Penobscots, i. 244, 245.
La Vallière, Sieur de, ii. 125, 290.
La Valterie, Sieur de, i. 179; ii. 239.
Laval University, at Quebec, i. 211.
La Vente, curé of Mobile, i. 307;
his memorial to Ponchartrain, i. 313.
La Vérendrye, Chevalier,
among the Mandans, ii. 20;
his adventures searching for the Pacific, ii. 22-35;
discovers the Rocky Mountains, ii. 35;
jealousy of rivals, ii. 35;
discovers the river Saskatchewan, ii. 36;
ruined hopes, ii. 37, 38;
death of, ii. 42.
La Vérendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de,
early history of, ii. 9;
at Lake Nipigon, ii. 9;
offers to search for the Western Sea, ii. 10;
not supported by the King, ii. 10;
privileges granted to, ii. 10;
his motives, ii. 11;
undertakes the expedition, ii. 11;
winters at the river Kaministiguia, ii. 12;
followed by a train of disasters, ii. 12; 387
avoids a war with the Sioux, ii. 13;
refused aid by the court, ii. 13;
goes to Montreal, ii. 13;
lawsuit against, ii. 13;
work accomplished by, ii. 14;
secures possession of Hudson’s Bay, ii. 14;
forts established by, ii. 14;
fruitless inquiries, ii. 15;
again starts out for the Pacific, ii. 15;
among the Mandans, ii. 16-20;
his journal, ii. 17;
returns to Fort La Reine, ii. 18;
his adventures searching for the Pacific, ii. 22-35;
discovers the Rocky Mountains, ii. 35;
jealousy of rivals, ii. 35;
promoted to a captaincy in the colony troops, ii. 36;
befriended by Galissonière, ii. 36;
receives the cross of the order of St. Louis, ii. 36;
death of, ii. 36;
ruined hopes, ii. 37, 38;
at Beauséjour, ii. 42.
La Vérendrye (son), murdered by the Sioux, ii. 13.
Law, John,
undertakes to deliver France from financial ruin, i. 315;
flees for his life, i. 319.
Law’s Mississippi Company, ii. 48.
Lawson, i. 107.
Le Ber, Mademoiselle, the recluse of Montreal, i. 179.
Le Blanc, the Acadian notary, ii. 173.
Le Bœuf, Fort, ii. 39.
Lechmere, Lieutenant, death of, ii. 194.
Lee, Colonel, i. 181.
Leisler, Jacob, the revolution under, i. 8.
Le Loutre, Abbé,
missionary among the Micmacs, ii. 61;
his absolute control over the Micmacs, ii. 173;
characteristics of, ii. 179;
his Micmac mission, ii. 188.
Le Moine, on the legend of the “Bell of St. Regis,” i. 92.
L’Épinay,
succeeds La Mothe Cadillac as governor of Louisiana, i. 318;
removed by the Mississippi Company, i. 318.
Le Petit Père, i. 321.
Le Rocher, i. 340.
Léry De,
the engineer, i. 280, 294, 295, 297;
on Ramesay’s expedition against Nicholson, i. 141;
ii. 190.
Les Mines, ii. 126.
Lestock, Admiral, ii. 155.
Le Sueur,
expedition of, i. 348-350;
on the St. Peter, i. 351;
among the Sioux, i. 352;
returns to Louisiana, i. 353;
sails for France, i. 353;
returns to Louisiana, i. 353;
his death, i. 353.
Leverett, John, in the attack on Port Royal, i. 129.
Lewis, Captain,
among the Mandans, ii. 17;
makes his way to the Pacific, ii. 35.
Lewis, C. W., on Lovewell’s Expedition, i. 270.
Lewiston Heights, ii. 52.
Lighthouse Point, ii. 120, 123, 124, 129.
Limoges, the Jesuit, i. 350.
Lignery, Sieur de,
calls a council of Indians at Green Bay, i. 336;
in favor of exterminating the Outagamies, i. 337;
sets out on his expedition, i. 338;
burns the chief village of the Outagamies, i. 339;
failure of his expedition, i. 339.
Lion Rampant, the, i. 127.
L’Isle, De, manuscript map of, i. 353.
Little, Mr., ii. 315.
Little Butte des Morts, i. 340, 343.
Littlefield, Edmund, house of, i. 42. 388
Littlefield, Francis, house of, i. 42.
Little Fox Indians, the, ii. 26.
Little Harbor, Governor Wentworth’s house at, ii. 73.
Little Missouri, the, bad lands of, ii. 23, 24.
Livingston, contributes to the support of New York, i. 9.
Livingston, Captain,
visits Montreal as envoy, i. 85;
secures the exchange of five prisoners, i. 87.
Livingston, Philip, ii. 52.
Livingston, Robert, i. 134;
urges the occupation of Detroit, i. 22.
Long Meadow, ii. 148.
Longueuil, i. 11;
uses pacific measures toward the Indians, i. 336;
on the scheme to reach the Pacific Ocean, ii. 6.
Longueuil (the younger), ii. 54.
Lopinot, Sieur, at Louisbourg, ii. 285, 311.
Lords of Trade, the, i. 8, 9, 12, 198, 202.
Lorembec, ii. 124, 289, 298, 299, 301.
Lorette, the Huron mission of, i. 217, 234.
Lotbinière, ii. 194.
Lothrop, Lieutenant-Colonel, ii. 144.
Louisbourg,
founding of, i. 187;
purely the offspring of the Crown and the Church, i. 188;
the “Dunquerque of America,” i. 188;
its inhabitants, i. 188;
Costebelle in command at, i. 194, 200;
receives news of the War of the Austrian Succession, ii. 60;
English project to capture, ii. 64;
a standing menace to all northern British colonies, ii. 64;
its construction, ii. 64;
completing plans against, 65-89;
besieged by the English, ii. 90-116;
location of, ii. 94;
not properly prepared for the attack, ii. 96;
strength of its fortifications, ii. 117;
surrenders to the English, ii. 133;
French losses at, ii. 133;
comparative work of the army and navy at, ii. 138, 139;
English documents on the siege of, ii. 144;
after the conquest, ii. 145;
restored to the French by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, ii. 256;
the siege described by French witnesses, ii. 274-312;
Duchambon’s report on the siege of, ii. 287-312;
ii. 312, 313, 317, 318, 321, 322, 326, 327, 328, 329, 333, 344,
352.
Louis XIV.,
the War of the Spanish Succession springs from the ambition of,
i. 4;
places his grandson on the throne of Spain, i. 4;
recognizes the son of James II. as King of England, i. 4;
abhors republics, i. 159;
old age of, i. 183;
makes important concessions in America, i. 184;
had deeply at heart the recovery of Acadia, i. 185;
his mandate to Costebelle, i. 189;
refuses to allow the Huguenots to settle in Louisiana, i. 304.
Louis XV., ii. 179;
demands the restoration of Louisbourg by the English, ii. 256.
Louis XVI., of France, i. 91.
Louisiana, i. 22;
La Mothe-Cadillac made governor of, i. 279;
La Salle’s schemes for, i. 298;
Tonty urges the French to seize, i. 298;
Rémonville proposes to form a company for the settlement of, 389
i. 299;
Iberville offers to plant a colony in, i. 300;
the first foundations of, i. 302;
marriageable girls sent from France to, i. 306, 314;
famine and pestilence in, i. 306;
farmed out to Antoine Crozat, i. 310;
the effects of the change, i. 311, 312;
the people petition to La Mothe-Cadillac, i. 312;
his reply, i. 312;
passes over to the Mississippi Company, i. 315;
becomes the basis of financial salvation for France, i. 315;
population of, i. 316;
a prison, i. 316;
the French scheme for peopling, i. 317;
L’Épinay succeeds La Mothe-Cadillac as governor of, i. 318;
Bienville reappointed governor of, i. 318;
the total amount of money sunk in, i. 320;
Sieur Perier succeeds Bienville, i. 320;
Indian wars in, i. 321;
again passes over to the Crown, i. 322;
Bienville again made governor of, i. 322;
Bienville resigns, i. 323;
at last shows signs of growth, i. 324;
plans of the chiefs of, i. 324;
ceded to the United States, ii. 35;
ii. 57, 266.
Louvigny,
makes plans to attack the Outagamies, i. 332;
illness of, i. 332;
sets out on his expedition, i. 332;
attacks the fortified village of the Outagamies, i. 333;
his description of the defences, i. 334;
the Outagamies sue for peace, i. 334;
returns to Quebec with hostages, i. 335.
Lovelace, Lord, governor of New York, i. 135;
death of, i. 137.
Lovewell, Hannah, i. 257.
Lovewell, Captain John, i. 257, 258;
raises a company to hunt Indians, i. 259;
his expeditions, i. 260-268;
seriously wounded, i. 262;
attacked by the Pequawkets, i. 262;
burial of, i. 267.
Lovewell’s Pond, i. 257, 261, 268.
Lower Ashuelot, settlement of, attacked by the Indians, ii. 214.
“Lowestoffe,” the, i. 151.
Loyola, the organizing zeal of, i. 214.
Lund, Thomas, on the Indian attack on Dunstable, i. 258.
Lusignan (père), ii. 185, 190;
letters of, ii. 200.
Lusignan (fils),
wounded, ii. 192;
letters of, ii. 200.
Lydius, Fort, i. 140.
Lyman, Caleb, attacks the French Indians, i. 50.
Lynn, joins the expedition against Port Royal, i. 126.
Madras, ii. 256.
Maillard, the priest, ii. 185, 186, 187.
Maine, State of,
the whole burden of war falls upon, i. 16;
an unbroken forest, i. 34;
its beasts of prey, i. 36;
the Indian tribes of, i. 36;
the settlements of, i. 39;
a dependency of Massachusetts, i. 40;
characteristics of the people of, i. 40;
the Abenaki tribes of, i. 101;
the settlements again inhabited, i. 221;
ii. 260.
Makisabie, war-chief of the Pottawattamies, i. 282.
Malicite Indians, the, i. 220;
join Duvivier’s expedition against Annapolis, ii. 61;
ii. 170.
Mallet, the brothers, in Colorado and New Mexico, i. 367, 368.
Malplaquet, battle of, ii. 9.
Mandans, the, ii. 15; 390
La Vérendrye among, ii. 16, 17;
decline in numbers, ii. 17;
visited by Prince Maximilian, ii. 17;
villages of, ii. 17, 18;
visited by Captains Lewis and Clark, ii. 17;
persecuted by the Sioux and the small-pox, ii. 17;
customs of, ii. 19;
Pierre and Chevalier La Vérendrye among, ii. 20;
Bodmer and Catlin among, ii. 20;
origin of the name, ii. 21;
lodges of, ii. 21;
the “medicine lodge,” ii. 21.
Mandan villages, the, i. 367; ii. 17, 18.
Mandeville, M. de, i. 309.
Manitoba, ii. 10;
fur-trade of, i. 37.
Manitoba, Lake, ii. 14.
Mann, Fort, i. 357.
Mantannes, the, see _Mandans, the_.
Maquas, the, see _Caughnawagas_.
Marblehead, ii. 68, 85.
March, Colonel John,
at Falmouth, i. 45;
attacked by the Indians, i. 45;
attacks the Pequawkets, i. 50, 56;
commander-in-chief of the expedition against Port Royal, i. 125;
characteristics of, i. 126;
ill-fitted for his position, i. 126;
his disorderly camp, i. 127;
his failure, i. 129.
Marcy, i. 357.
Marest, Father, the Jesuit,
aversion of Cadillac for, i. 19;
i. 30;
at Fort St. Louis, i. 327;
i. 331, 350.
Mareuil, the Jesuit,
at Onondaga, i. 138;
on the destruction of the Jesuit mission-house at Onondaga,
i. 139.
Marganne, François de, see _La Valterie, Sieur de_.
Margry, Pierre, i. 18, 21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 298, 299, 300, 301,
302, 303, 304, 354, 355, 356, 358, 360, 366, 368; ii. 12, 25,
36;
on the achievements of the family of La Vérendrye, ii. 42.
Marguerite, see _French, Martha_, and _Stebbins, Abigail_.
Maricourt, i. 11.
Marie Françoise, see _French, Freedom_.
Marie Jeanne, see _Hurst, Sarah_.
“Marie-Joseph,” the, i. 194.
Marin, a French trader, i. 343, 344.
Marin, ii. 126, 131, 185, 194, 196;
attacks Saratoga, ii. 210;
ii. 294, 295, 300.
“Marin,” the, i. 300, 302.
Marlborough, town of, attacked by the French and Indians, i. 99.
Marlborough, Duke of, i. 118;
rancorously attacked, i. 163;
the prestige of his victories, i. 163;
the disgrace of, i. 184.
Marlborough, Sarah, Duchess of, i. 164.
Marquette, the Jesuit,
at Michilimackinac, i. 17;
at Fort St. Louis, i. 327;
ii. 57.
“Mars,” the, ii. 159.
Marshall, N., on Parson Moody, ii. 79.
Martha’s Vineyard, ii. 182.
Martin, Judge M. L., i. 344.
Martinique, i. 130, 192, 193.
Martissan, ii. 106.
Martissan, battery of, at Louisbourg, ii. 304.
Martissans, heights of the, ii. 302.
Maryland, the colony of, i. 8, 148;
supports the plan to conquer Canada, ii. 152;
ii. 261.
Mascarene, Major,
in command at Annapolis, ii. 61;
attacked by Duvivier, ii. 62; 391
refuses to surrender, ii. 62;
ii. 127, 171;
his treatment of the Acadians, ii. 172;
his letter to Shirley, ii. 172;
ii. 175, 178, 181, 186;
on the losses at Grand Pré, ii. 198;
ii. 200;
letter from the Acadians to, ii. 202;
ii. 315, 316, 318, 322;
letter from Shirley to, ii. 324;
ii. 325, 326, 328, 331, 332, 342, 343, 347, 354.
Mascarene, Paul,
the engineer, i. 191, 198;
on the political work of the Acadian missionaries, i. 202.
Mascoutins, the,
on Rock River, i. 278;
at Detroit, i. 280;
their camp attacked, i. 285;
the siege, i. 286;
their desperate position, i. 287;
make overtures to Dubuisson, i. 287;
renewed hostilities, i. 290;
beg for mercy, i. 293;
they surrender, i. 295;
i. 335;
villages of, i. 341.
Masham, Mrs., i. 164, 181.
Mason, Edward G., i. 328.
Massachusetts,
the colony of, i. 7;
the whole burden of war falls upon, i. 16;
the settlements of Maine a dependency of, i. 40;
the cost of killing an Indian, to, i. 100;
passes a resolve for an expedition against Port Royal, i. 125;
ordered to furnish troops for the conquest of Canada, i. 135;
plans made for the expedition by, i. 136, 143;
decides to attack Port Royal, i. 145;
expense of her futile expedition of 1707, i. 146;
England’s desire to reduce it to submission, i. 156;
enters heartily into the Canadian expedition, i. 167, 168;
ii. 55;
enters into Shirley’s plans against Louisbourg with pious zeal,
ii. 69;
make-up of her contingent, ii. 81, 82;
bankrupt condition of, ii. 142;
reimbursed by England for expenditures on the Louisbourg
expedition, ii. 142;
restored to financial health, ii. 143;
votes to support the plan to conquer Canada, ii. 152;
ii. 156;
responds to Shirley’s call to the defence of Annapolis, ii. 182;
suffers from Indian border attacks, ii. 217;
New Hampshire disputes her claim to Fort Dummer, ii. 217;
her settlements pushed farther westward into Berkshire, ii. 230;
builds a line of forts, ii. 230;
ii. 260, 350.
“Massachusetts,” the, ii. 83.
Massachusetts, the Assembly of, i. 109, 146;
controversy with Governor Shute, i. 239, 240.
Massachusetts, General Court of,
refuses to sanction the plan for an attack on Louisbourg,
ii. 66, 67;
reconsiders the question favorably, ii. 69.
Massachusetts, Fort, ii. 231, 232, 236;
Rigaud plans to attack, ii. 237-240;
description of, ii. 241;
site of, ii. 243;
the attack, ii. 243, 244;
a parley, ii. 247;
capitulation, ii. 248, 249;
plundered and set on fire, ii. 249;
rebuilt, ii. 255.
Matchedash Bay, Brébeuf at, i. 18.
Mather, Cotton,
the _Decennium luctuosum_ of, i. 50;
i. 105;
his opposition to Governor Dudley, i. 106, 107.
Mather, Increase, i. 105.
Matinicus, i. 122; ii. 65.
Maumee River, the, ii. 57.
Maurault, Abbé, on the Gill family, i. 92, 93.
Maurepas, Count de, 392
memorial of Cadillac presented to, i. 23;
ii. 200, 237.
Maurepas, Fort, on the Winnipeg, ii. 14.
Maurepas Gate, at Louisbourg, ii. 149, 150, 296.
Maurepas, Lake, i. 302.
Maximilian, Prince, of Wied,
among the Mandans, i. 345;
ii. 17, 18.
McKenney, Mrs., killed by the Indians, ii. 216.
M’Donald, Captain, ii. 126.
Medfield, village of, i. 228.
Medford, ii. 99.
“Medicine lodge,” the, ii. 21.
“Medicine men,” the Indian, the natural enemies of the missionary,
i. 219.
“Medicines,” Indian, i. 79, 216.
Medoctec, Abenaki mission of, i. 236.
Memeramcook, ii. 203.
Memphremagog, Lake, ii. 221.
Menadou, ii. 288.
Ménard, Jean Louis, marriage of, i. 89.
Menominies, the,
on Fox River, i. 275;
at Detroit, i. 283;
i. 340.
Mercier, ii. 190.
Mer de l’Ouest, the, see _Pacific Ocean_.
Meriel, Father,
forces Samuel Williams to turn Catholic, i. 83;
i. 90.
“Mermaid,” the, ii. 84, 93, 123.
Merrimac River, the, i. 37, 97, 259.
Merry-meeting Bay, i. 239.
Meserve, Lieutenant-Colonel, at Louisbourg, ii. 105.
Mesilac, Sieur, ii. 291.
Messager, the Jesuit, joins La Vérendrye in his search for the
Pacific, ii. 12.
Mexico, i. 298; ii. 46.
Mexico, city of, i. 355.
Mexico, the Gulf of, i. 135, 299;
Spain bent on making good her claim to, i. 301;
i. 319, 324.
Miamis, the, raided by the Saginaws, i. 335.
Michigan, Lake, i. 341; ii. 57.
Michilimackinac,
the Jesuit mission of, i. 17;
La Mothe-Cadillac at, i. 17;
the centre of the western fur-trade, i. 17;
the favorite haunt of the _coureurs de bois_, i. 17;
curious survival of Huron-Iroquois customs at, i. 18;
its rivalry with Detroit, i. 23;
i. 332, 338, 339; ii. 6;
important position of, ii. 57.
Micmac Indians, the, i. 101, 188;
fiercely hostile to the English, i. 191;
the massacre, i. 191;
i. 197, 203, 207, 235;
attack Canseau, i. 244;
join Duvivier’s expedition against Annapolis, ii. 61;
ii. 170;
Le Loutre’s absolute control over, ii. 173.
Micmac missions, Le Loutre’s, ii. 188.
Middlesex, village of, ii. 157.
“Military Movements,” French, ii. 216.
Minas, ii. 178, 312, 316, 323, 326, 334, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347,
349, 351, 354, 355.
Mines, parish of, i. 208, 209;
Ramesay at, ii. 181;
Noble at, ii. 182;
the French victory at, ii. 200;
ii. 202, 260.
Mines Basin, ii. 184, 187, 188, 189.
Minneconjou Indians, the, ii. 34.
Minnesota, State of, i. 348.
Minnetarees, the, ii. 21.
Minot, John, i. 233.
Miramichi, La Corne at, ii. 185.
Miré, ii. 300.
Mississagas, the, i. 281, 295. 393
Mississippi Company, the,
Louisiana passes into the hands of, i. 315;
efforts of the French government to maintain, i. 315, 316;
removes L’Épinay and reappoints Bienville as governor of
Louisiana, i. 318;
the struggle to obtain stock in, i. 318;
the bubble bursts, i. 319;
relinquish the claim to Louisiana, i. 322.
Mississippi River, the, i. 22, 275, 296;
France occupies the mouth of, i. 298;
i. 300;
Spain bent on making good her claims to, i. 301;
Iberville enters, i. 301;
Bienville explores, i. 302;
i. 311, 319, 327, 328, 349; ii. 6, 57.
Mississippi, State of, i. 301, 302, 321.
Mississippi, the Valley of the, i. 22, 185;
occupied by the French, ii. 58.
Missionaries, the Acadian,
beginning of the political work of, i. 201;
Governor Phillips advises the recall of, i. 203.
Mission of Two Mountains, the,
converted Iroquois at, i. 341;
set out against the Outagamies, i. 341.
Missions Étrangères, the priests of, i. 24.
Missouri Indians at Detroit, the, i. 283;
village of, i. 359;
join Bourgmont’s expedition, i. 361;
i. 365.
Missouri River, the, i. 311;
plans to explore, i. 354;
Indian tribes of, i. 360;
ii. 5.
Missouri, State of, i. 359.
Missouri, the, tribes of, ii. 28.
Mitchell, ii. 55.
Mobile, i. 307.
Mobile, the Bay of, French establishment at, i. 305, 312.
Mogg, the Norridgewock chief, killed by the English, i. 247.
Mohawk Indians, the,
Jesuits among, i. 13;
in the conquest of Canada, i. 139;
Peter Schuyler takes five of their chiefs to England, i. 147;
their flattering reception, i. 147;
William Johnson among, ii. 211.
Mohawk River, the,
Father Jogues on the banks of, i. 18;
ii. 83.
Mohegan Indians, the, i. 50.
Monongahela, the, ii. 185.
Montagnais, the, i. 235.
Montigny, ii. 247.
Montmorency, M. de, ii. 268.
Montreal, i. 13;
the fur-trade at, i. 14, 22;
i. 96;
the English plan to attack, i. 135, 140;
excited in expectation of Nicholson’s attack, i. 142;
Walker’s expedition plans to attack, i. 165;
ii. 6;
La Vérendrye at, ii. 13;
the English plan to attack, ii. 153;
war-parties sent against the English border from, ii. 217;
ii. 235.
Moody, Captain,
at St. John, i. 132;
his letter to Sunderland, i. 146;
dismissed by the Massachusetts Assembly, i. 242.
Moody, Father (Parson), see _Moody, Rev. Samuel_.
Moody, Rev. Samuel,
senior chaplain of the expedition against Louisbourg, ii. 78;
anecdotes of, ii. 78-80;
at Canseau, ii. 91;
at Louisbourg, ii. 135, 137.
Moore, Colonel, ii. 144.
Moore’s regiment, at Louisbourg, ii. 103.
Moosehead Lake, i. 36.
Morpain, Captain, 394
opposes the landing of the English, ii. 97;
defeated by the English, ii. 98;
ii. 277, 291.
Morris, ii. 115.
Morville, Comte de, ii. 4.
Moulton, Captain, sent out against Norridgewock, i. 245.
Moulton’s regiment at Louisbourg, ii. 103.
Mount Desert, i. 122.
Mouse River, the, ii. 20.
Musquawkies, the, see _Outagamies, the_.
Mussey, Widow, killed by Indians, i. 48.
Muy, De, the elder,
send to succeed Bienville, i. 307;
death of, i. 307;
ii. 235, 247, 251, 254.
Muy, De, the younger, ii. 235, 238.
Nantasket, i. 165.
Nantasket Roads, i. 165; ii. 88.
Nantes, the Edict of, i. 4;
revocation of, ii. 61.
Napoleonic wars, the, i. 4.
Narantsouak, see _Norridgewock_.
Narragansett Swamp Fight, the, i. 257.
Nassonites, the, i. 356.
Natchez, city of, i, 304.
Natchez Indians, the, i. 304;
massacre the French, i. 320, 321.
Natchitoches, French post at, 355, 356, 358.
Nathaniel, Captain, captures Elisha Plaisted, i. 53.
Naurantsouak, see _Norridgewock_.
Neal, Andrew, fortified house of, attacked by Indians, i. 48.
Necessity, Fort, Washington at, i. 339; ii. 185.
“Neutral French,” the, ii. 173.
Neuvillette, Lieutenant, death of, i. 111.
New Brunswick, i. 110, 212.
Newbury,
proposed French and Indian attack on, i. 96, 97;
i. 126.
Newcastle, Duke of, ii. 84, 86, 87, 105, 107, 118, 127, 142, 143,
144, 146, 147, 150;
at the head of the government, ii. 151;
his absurdities, ii. 151;
approves of Shirley’s plan to conquer Canada, ii. 152;
his promises, ii. 153;
he fails to keep his promises, ii. 154, 155;
ii. 157, 164, 168;
his apathy regarding the defence of Acadia, ii. 170;
Shirley’s letters regarding the Acadian dilemma to, ii. 171,
175, 176, 179, 312, 314, 317, 320, 322, 325, 330, 331, 342,
345, 349, 350, 352, 353, 354;
leaves Acadia to drift with the tide, ii. 180;
ii. 201;
blamed by Shirley for not protecting the Acadians, ii. 204;
Clinton complains to, ii. 209;
letter to Shirley from, ii. 348.
Newcastle, island of, ii. 73, 74.
New England,
loose use of the name, i. 5;
French plans for the destruction of, i. 5;
the whole burden of war falls upon, i. 16;
the Abenakis spurred on by the French against, i. 48;
Vaudreuil sends a large war-party against, i. 55;
another expedition against, i. 96;
contribution to the sufferers of the Island of St. Christopher
from, i. 100;
has a lion’s share in the Acadian fisheries, i. 111;
disappointment in the delay of the British fleet, i. 145;
barred out from the fur-trade by New York, i. 272.
Newfoundland,
divided between two conflicting powers, i. 131;
i. 156, 161; 395
claimed by England, i. 184;
i. 188, 189; ii. 318, 321.
New France,
the early missions of, i. 214;
fatal error of her rulers in not acquiring possession of New
York, i. 273;
has two heads, i. 324.
New Hampshire,
the colony of, i. 7;
the whole burden of war falls upon, i. 16;
i. 56;
the Abenaki tribes of, i. 101;
joins an expedition against Port Royal, i. 125;
ordered to furnish troops for the conquest of Canada, i. 135;
her prompt response, i. 138, 143;
decides to attack Port Royal, i. 145;
expense of her futile expedition of 1707, i. 146, 150;
ii. 55;
joins Shirley’s expedition against Louisbourg, ii. 69, 70, 71;
make-up of her contingent, ii. 82;
reimbursed by England for expenditures on the Louisbourg
expedition, ii. 143;
supports the plan to conquer Canada, ii. 152;
ii. 156;
responds to Shirley’s call to the defence of Annapolis, ii. 182;
suffers from Indian border attacks, ii. 217;
disputes the claim of Massachusetts to Fort Dummer, ii. 217;
ii. 260, 313, 320, 343, 350.
New Hampshire Assembly, the, i. 109;
refuses to support Fort Dummer, ii. 218.
New Hampshire Regiment, the, ii. 109.
New Haven, i. 136.
New Jersey, State of,
ordered to furnish troops for the conquest of Canada, i. 135;
refuses to comply, i. 137;
quarrel between New York and, ii. 56;
supports the plan to conquer Canada, ii. 152.
New London, i. 165.
New Mexico, i. 311, 346, 354, 357, 360, 367.
New Orleans, site of, i. 302;
feeble foundations laid, i. 318;
i. 328, 368;
Charlevoix at, ii. 5.
Newton, ii. 242.
New York,
French plans for the destruction of, i. 5, 6;
assistance received in waging war from the different colonies
by, i. 8;
in a wretched condition for defence, i. 9;
private assistance received by, i. 9;
its short-sighted treatment of the Five Nations, i. 9, 10;
a mixture of races and religions, i. 10;
Indian trade in, i. 14;
a virtual truce between Canada and, i. 16;
ordered to furnish troops for the conquest of Canada, i. 135;
her decided change of policy, i. 137;
sees the necessity of continuing her warlike policy, i. 146;
ordered to make ready for the Canadian expedition, i. 165;
the only rival of Canada for the control of the West, i. 273;
quarrels with New Jersey, ii. 56;
gives aid to the Louisbourg expedition, ii. 85;
supports plan to conquer Canada, ii. 152;
ii. 156;
her deplorable condition as respects military efficiency,
ii. 206;
ii. 313, 336, 341.
New York Assembly, the, i. 137;
hampers Governor Clinton, ii. 207, 208.
New York City, receives the news of the capture of Louisbourg by the
English, ii. 141.
New York traders, the, i. 15.
Niagara,
the Five Nations refuse to allow the French to build a fort at, 396
ii. 52;
the French build the fort at, ii. 53;
slighted by the western tribes, ii. 54;
important position of, ii. 57.
Niagara, Fort, ii. 57.
Niagara River, the, ii. 51.
Nicholson, Colonel Francis,
commands the conquest of Canada, i. 136, 139;
his march to Wood Creek, i. 140;
his meeting with Ramesay, i. 140, 141;
pestilence in his camp, i. 143;
sails for Europe, i. 146;
commissioned to command the attack against Port Royal, i. 147;
characteristics of, i. 148;
the attack on Port Royal, i. 151;
demands the surrender of the fort, i. 153;
Subercase surrenders to, i. 153;
the journal of, i. 155;
makes ready for the Canadian expedition, i. 164;
his rage at the failure of the fleet, i. 177;
disbands his army, i. 178;
governor of Nova Scotia, i. 191;
resolves to keep the Acadians in the province, i. 195;
ii. 337.
Nicholson, Fort, i. 140.
Niganiche, ii. 96.
Niles, on the Indian attacks on the frontier of Maine, i. 46.
Nims, escapes from Indian captivity, i. 87.
Nipigon, Lake, ii. 9.
Niverville, Boucher de,
sent by Saint-Pierre to the Saskatchewan, ii. 39, 40;
his sufferings, ii. 39, 40;
commands an attacking force against Number Four, ii. 223;
his interview with Stevens, ii. 226;
retires from the siege, ii. 227.
Noble, Colonel Arthur,
at Grand Pré, ii. 182, 183;
critical position of, ii. 183, 184;
Ramesay plans to surprise, ii. 184;
the attack, ii. 191-193;
killed, ii. 193;
military honors rendered to the remains of, ii. 199;
ii. 342, 354.
Noble, Ensign, ii. 191;
shot down, ii. 193;
military honors rendered to the remains of, ii. 199.
Noddle’s Island, i. 165, 166, 169.
Noiville, Noël-Alexandre, priest at Pigiquid, i. 209.
Norfolk, village of, ii. 157.
Norridgewock,
mission village of, i. 37, 50, 217;
description of, i. 218;
destroyed by Colonel Hilton, i. 218;
Colonel Westbrook at, i. 218;
life at, i. 218;
Father Rale at, i. 218, 236;
Dummer sends a force against, i. 245;
the attack on, i. 246-248;
destruction of, i. 250.
Norridgewock Abenakis, the, i. 37;
join an expedition against New England, i. 96;
on the Kennebec, i. 213;
Father Sebastien Rale among, i. 214;
i. 217;
description of their village, i. 218;
at the convention at Portsmouth, i. 220;
embittered against the English, i. 223;
alarmed by the intrusion of settlers, i. 224;
attend a council at Georgetown, i. 224;
urged to war by Rale, i. 231;
the second council at Georgetown, i. 233;
on the warpath, i. 235;
completely broken, i. 256.
Northampton, i. 50;
Indian attack on, i. 94;
ii. 90, 220.
North Carolina, ii. 48, 152.
Northeast Battery, the, at Louisbourg, ii. 110.
Northfield, 397
settlement of, i. 56;
ii. 218, 230;
notoriously dangerous, ii. 231;
early days of, ii, 232.
North Mountain, the, ii. 182.
“Northumberland,” the, ii. 160, 161, 165.
Northwest Battery, the, at Louisbourg, ii. 107.
Norton, Mr., chaplain at Fort Massachusetts, ii. 241, 242, 243, 245,
247, 248, 249, 251.
Notre Dame, church of, at Montreal, i. 90.
Nova Scotia, i. 110, 191, 212; ii. 159, 174, 175, 176, 312, 313,
314, 316, 320, 321, 322, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331,
333, 335, 337, 339, 341, 342, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 350, 351,
352, 354, 355, 356.
Nova Scotian Peninsula, the, ii. 49.
Noyes, Dr., i. 222.
Noyon, Jacques de, i. 90.
Number Four,
settled by the Farnsworth brothers, ii. 218;
fort built at, ii. 219;
Indian attacks on, ii. 221;
looks to Massachusetts for defence, ii. 221;
left to its own keeping, ii. 222;
the fort abandoned, ii. 222;
Massachusetts sends Stevens to reoccupy, ii. 222;
attacked by Niverville, ii. 223;
Stevens’ successful defence, ii. 224-227;
name changed to Charlestown, ii. 228.
Ohio River, the, i. 311, 349, 350; ii. 51.
Ojibwas, the, i. 281, 295, 340.
“Old Indian House,” the, at Deerfield, i. 68.
Omahas, the, i. 363, 365.
Oncpapa Indians, the, ii. 34.
Oneida Indians, the, i. 13.
Onion River, the, i. 76.
Onondaga,
the Iroquois capital, i. 11;
the Jesuits at, i. 11;
Protestant clergymen at, i. 12;
the centre of intrigue, i. 13;
Abraham Schuyler at, i. 138;
divided between France and England, i. 138.
Onondaga country, the, Champlain in, i. 18, 279.
Onondagas, the, plunder and burn the Jesuit mission-house at
Onondaga, i. 138.
Ontario, Lake, i. 33; ii. 53, 55, 57.
Orléans, Duke of, i. 315;
interest in the New World revives under regency of, ii. 3;
orders Charlevoix to investigate the Western Sea, ii. 4.
Orléans, Fort, i. 361, 362, 363, 366.
Osage River, the, i. 359.
Osages, the, i. 356;
village of, i. 359;
join Bourgmont’s expedition, i. 361;
i. 365.
Osborne, ii. 114.
Ossipee, Lake, i. 257, 261, 263, 266.
Ossipee River, the, i. 265.
Oswego,
Burnet’s plan for a fortified trading-house at, ii. 53;
its establishment alarms the French, ii. 54;
becomes the great centre of Indian trade, ii. 54;
the French fail to ruin, ii. 54.
Otoes, the, i. 363, 365.
Ottawa, i. 16.
Ottawa Indians, the, i. 14;
villages of, i. 18;
at Detroit, i. 275, 279, 283, 284;
i. 340.
Ottawa River, the, i. 28, 338; ii. 217.
Otter Creek, ii. 221, 235.
Ouacos, the, i. 357. 398
Oushala, the principal Outagamie war-chief, i. 335.
Outagamies, the,
on Fox River, i. 275;
a source of endless trouble to the French, i. 275, 278;
at Detroit, i. 280;
their camp attacked, i. 285;
the siege, i. 286;
their desperate position, i. 287;
make overtures to Dubuisson, i. 287;
renewed hostilities, i. 290;
beg for mercy, i. 293;
they surrender, i. 295;
make a furious attack on the Illinois, i. 330;
the scourge of the West, i. 330;
attacked by the Saginaws, i. 330;
Vaudreuil determines to destroy, i. 331;
Louvigny attacks the fortified village of, i. 333;
sue for peace, i. 334;
again attack the Illinois, i. 335;
called to a council at Green Bay, i. 336;
conflicting plans against, i. 337;
Lignery sets out against, i. 338;
Lignery burns the chief village of, i. 339;
Sieur de Villiers strikes them a deadly blow, i. 339;
another blow, i. 341-344;
incorporate themselves with the Sacs, i. 344;
i. 350;
their hostile disposition toward the French, ii. 5, 7.
Oxford, village of, attacked by the Indians, i. 243.
Oyster River, Indian attack on, i. 94.
Pacific Ocean, the, plans for reaching, ii. 3;
probable cost of reaching, ii. 4;
report of Charlevoix on, ii. 5;
the brothers La Vérendrye search for, ii. 22-35;
Captains Lewis and Clark make their way to, ii. 35.
See also _Western Sea, the_.
Paddon, Captain, i, 172, 173.
Padoucas, the, i. 359, 365.
See also _Comanches, the_.
Padoucas, the River of the, i. 367.
Pain, Father Félix, i. 190, 194.
Palfrey, John G.,
on the controversy between Governor Shute and the Massachusetts
Assembly, i. 240;
on the difficulties of Lieutenant-Governor Dummer, i. 242;
on the Lovewell Fight, i. 271;
ii. 143.
Panawamské,
Abenaki mission of, i. 236;
burned by Colonel Westbrook, i. 244, 245.
Paradis, captures the “Chester,” i. 170.
“Parfait,” the, ii. 165.
Parisian House of Correction, the, i. 317.
Parliament of Paris, the, i. 318.
Parsons, ii. 77, 95, 96, 120, 141.
Parsons, Widow, carried off by Indians, i. 48.
Partridge, Colonel Samuel, on the attack of Deerfield, i. 70.
Passadumkeag, i. 244.
Passamaquoddy Bay, i. 122.
Patterson, on Samuel Vetch, i. 134, 192.
Paugus, war-chief of the Pequawkets, i. 257;
death of, i. 267.
Pawnee Picts, the, i. 357.
Pawnees, the, i. 335, 359, 365.
Pawnee villages, the, i. 367.
Payne, John, letter to Colonel Robert Hale from, ii. 88, 89.
Pearl-fisheries, i. 304, 306.
Pelham, Fort, ii. 231.
Pemoussa, the Outagamie chief, i. 288, 292, 296.
Penacook Indians, the, i. 37.
Penecaut, i. 350, 351, 352, 355.
Penhallow, Captain,
on the conference between Governor Dudley and the Abenakis, 399
i. 37, 38;
on the Indian attacks on the frontier of Maine, i. 46;
on Caleb Lyman’s attack on the French Indians, i. 50;
on the attack of Deerfield, i. 70;
on Beaucour’s unsuccessful expedition against Connecticut, i. 96;
on the French and Indian attack on Haverhill, i. 99;
on Major Church at Port Royal, i. 124;
on the French force at St. John, i. 132;
on the treaty between Governor Dudley and the Abenakis, i. 221;
i. 222;
on the council at Georgetown, i. 228;
at Georgetown, i. 234;
on the Indian attack on Oxford, i. 243;
on the Micmac raids, i. 244;
the Boston treaty, i. 255;
on Lovewell’s expeditions against the Indians, i. 262, 270.
Pennsylvania, i. 51;
ordered to furnish troops for the conquest of Canada, i. 135;
refuses to comply, i. 137;
not a serious rival in the fur-trade, i. 272;
refuses to join Shirley’s expedition against Louisbourg, ii. 69;
supports the plan to conquer Canada, ii. 153;
ii. 341.
Pennsylvania Assembly, the, refuses to support the plan to conquer
Canada, ii. 153.
Penobscot, Abenaki mission of, i. 236.
Penobscot Abenakis, the, i. 37;
join an expedition against New England, i. 96;
join the Micmacs against the English, i. 191;
i. 217;
at the conference at Portsmouth, i. 220;
attend a council at Georgetown, i. 224;
attack the fort on St. George’s River, i. 244;
Colonel Westbrook sent against, i. 244;
their attacks on Fort St. George, i. 254;
Captain Heath sent against, i. 254;
their conference with the English at the St. George, i. 254.
Penobscot Indians, the, ii. 170.
Penobscot River, the, i. 5, 35, 36, 213; ii. 261, 264, 265, 266.
Penobscot village, the, destroyed by Captain Heath, i. 254.
Pensacola, i. 135, 312.
Pensens,
sent to Annapolis, i. 194;
in the Acadian settlements, i. 196.
Pepin, Lake, i. 348, 351; ii. 6.
Pepperrell, Andrew, ii. 116.
Pepperrell, Betsy, ii. 116.
Pepperrell Papers, the, ii. 87, 144.
Pepperrell, William,
on the plan to attack Louisbourg, ii. 64;
chosen commander-in-chief of the expedition against Louisbourg,
ii. 72;
portrait of, ii. 73;
sketch of, ii. 74;
his skill in landing at Louisbourg, ii. 97;
effectiveness of his command, ii. 114;
his generous contributions, ii. 114;
ii. 125;
disagreement with Warren, ii. 126-129;
comes to an understanding with Warren, ii. 130;
receives Duchambon’s offer of capitulation, ii. 132;
the surrender, ii. 133;
discontent of his soldiers at his terms of capitulation,
ii. 136;
shares the honor of victory with Warren, ii. 138, 139;
rivalry between Warren and, ii. 140, 141;
made a baronet, ii. 142;
governs Louisbourg jointly with Warren, ii. 146;
mutiny of the soldiers, ii. 146;
ii. 318.
Pequawket, village of, i. 261.
Pequawket Indians, the, i. 37;
Colonel March attacks, i. 50; 400
attend a council at Georgetown, i. 224;
take up the quarrels of the Norridgewocks, i. 257;
their attack on Lovewell’s party, i. 262.
Perelle, Ensign, i. 152.
Perier, Sieur, succeeds Bienville as governor of Louisiana, i. 320;
difficulties of his position, i. 320;
has little success against the Indians, i. 321;
removed, i. 322.
Perkins, Captain, i. 173.
Perrot, Fort, i. 351.
Perrot, Nicolas, the famous _voyageur_, i. 348; ii. 6.
Perry, Professor A. L., ii. 239, 243.
Perry, John, ii. 252.
Perry, Mrs. John, ii. 252.
Petit Lorembec, ii. 125.
Petit, M., i. 117.
Petty, escapes from Indian captivity, i. 87.
Petty’s Plain, i. 56.
Philadelphia, ii. 70;
receives the news of the capture of Louisbourg by the English,
ii. 141.
Philips’s Regiment, ii. 175, 323.
Phillips, Governor Richard, i. 107;
at Annapolis, i. 198, 202;
advises the recall of the French priests, i. 203;
undertakes to force the Acadians to take the oath of allegiance,
i. 206;
fails in his attempt, i. 207;
reports success, i. 208, 209.
Phippeny, killed by Indians, i. 45.
Phipps, Spencer, ii. 243.
Phips, Sir William, i. 101;
captures Port Royal, i. 155;
brings his fleet safely to Quebec, i. 175.
Pickering, Lieutenant, death of, ii. 193.
Pierce, Captain, killed at Louisbourg, ii. 109.
Pigiquid, i. 209.
Pigwacket Indians, the, see _Pequawkets, the_.
Pine Hill, i. 257.
Pinet, the Jesuit, i. 328.
Pioya Indians, the, ii. 26.
Piscataqua, ii. 327.
Piscataqua River, the, ii. 73, 74.
Pisiquid, village of, i. 209; ii. 189.
See also _Windsor_.
Pitt, i. 162;
goes out of office, i. 183.
Pittsfield, ii. 230.
Placentia,
chief station of the French at, i. 131, 132, 133, 156, 178, 181,
186, 188;
the inhabitants of, i. 189;
Gaulin at, i. 192.
Plaisance, i. 188, 189.
Plaisted, Elisha, interrupted wedding of, i. 51;
captured by Indians, i. 52;
his letter to his father, i. 53;
ransomed, i. 54.
Platte, the, i. 367.
Plessis, Joseph, bishop of Quebec, i. 89.
Plymouth, i. 121.
Plymouth (England), i. 148.
Plymouth Company, the, i. 232.
Pointe à la Chevelure, see _Crown Point_ and _Scalp Point_.
Pointe à Peletier, the, ii. 303.
Pointe Blanche, ii. 288, 289, 291, 301, 306.
Pointe-Plate, ii. 291.
Pomeroy, Seth, at the siege of Louisbourg, ii. 90, 91, 95, 101, 106,
107, 124;
journal of, ii. 144.
Pomeroy, Theodore, ii. 91.
Ponchartrain, the colonial minister,
interview of Cadillac with, i. 27;
accepts Cadillac’s plan, i. 28;
letters from Cadillac to, i. 30-32;
gives over Detroit to Cadillac, i. 32; 401
Vaudreuil reports the attack on Deerfield to, i. 68;
his attitude concerning the inciting of the Indians to war
against the English, i. 102;
letter from Subercase to, i. 116;
De Goutin’s reports to, i. 117;
Subercase’s complaints to, i. 117;
Acadian gossip reported to, i. 118, 119;
Nicholson’s expedition reported to, i. 142;
Subercase’s report of the siege of Port Royal to, i. 155;
approves of Costebelle’s scheme, i. 158;
his letter to the Acadian priests, i. 190;
Iberville and his brothers accused to, i. 306, 307;
La Vente’s memorial to, i. 313;
ii. 318.
Ponchartrain, Fort, built by Cadillac, i. 28, 279.
See also _Detroit, Fort_.
Ponchartrain, Lake, i. 302.
Pontbriand, Bishop, letters of, ii. 200.
Ponthieu, regiment of, ii. 158, 159.
Pontoosuc, see _Pittsfield_.
Popple, Mr., i. 137.
Porpoise, Cape, Indian attack on, i. 44.
Port à l’Anglois, i. 187.
Porte Dauphine, the, see _West Gate_.
Portland, city of, i. 45.
Port Louis, ii. 166, 167.
Port Royal, i. 107, 110;
the seat of government, i. 11.2;
Major Church plans an attack on, i. 121;
Governor Dudley refuses to allow an attack to be made on,
i. 121;
Major Church at, i. 123;
Massachusetts passes a resolve for an expedition against,
i. 125;
failure of the expedition, i. 129-131;
New England plans another attack on, i. 145;
the attack on, i. 151;
surrenders to Nicholson, i. 153;
its name changed to Annapolis Royal, i. 154;
Vetch commissioned as governor of, i. 154;
previously in the possession of New England, i. 154;
its capture means the conquest of Acadia, i. 155;
ii. 47, 49, 50;
Ramesay advances upon, ii. 169;
should be restored to France, ii. 260; ii. 267, 268, 270, 272,
273.
See also _Annapolis_.
Port Royal Basin, i. 127.
Portsmouth, i. 5, 49, 51;
proposed French and Indian attack on, i. 96, 97;
Vetch at, i. 136;
conference between Governor Dudley and the Abenakis at, i. 220;
ii. 65, 155, 182.
Portugal, i. 145; ii. 167, 270.
Poskoiac River, the, ii. 14.
Postes de la Mer de l’Ouest, ii. 14.
Pottawattamies, the, i. 14;
at Detroit, i. 275, 283;
the village of, i. 279.
Poubomcoup, Marie Muis de, i. 118.
Poutrincourt, Baron de, i. 113.
Powder River Range, the, ii. 24.
Preble, Captain, ii. 197.
Prentice, Rev. Mr., ii. 115.
Price, attacks the French and Indians, i. 98.
Priests, the, in Canada, vast possessions of, i. 25.
“Prince d’Orange,” the, ii. 159, 160, 165.
Prince Edward’s Island, i. 207.
Prince, Rev. Thomas, ii. 77.
Protestantism, bound up with the new political order, i. 192.
Protestant Reformation, the, i. 214.
Protestants, the, excluded from Louisiana, i. 316. 402
Providence, i. 147.
“Province Galley,” the, i. 46, 112, 122, 125, 151.
Provincial Assembly, the, ii. 232.
Puants, the, see _Winnebagoes, the_.
Puritanism, the antique, i. 223.
Puritans, the, dislike Joseph Dudley, i. 105.
Purpooduck Point, Indian attack on, i. 45.
Putnam, Israel, at Bunker Hill, ii. 90.
Puyzieulx, De, ii. 274.
Quakers, the, in Pennsylvania, i. 137.
Quary, Colonel, i. 8;
on the trade between Boston and the French of Acadia, i. 108.
Quebec, i. 6;
Dudley urges the capture of, i. 103;
the English plan to attack, i. 135;
excited in expectation of Nicholson’s attack, i. 142;
Viscount Shannon ordered to attack, i. 149;
Walker’s expedition plans to attack, i. 165;
its joy over its deliverance from the English, i. 180;
Saint-Pierre at, ii. 41;
the English plan to attack, ii. 153;
ii. 335, 354.
Quebec, the Bishop of, i. 194, 200; ii. 179, 354, 355.
Queen Anne’s War, i. 3, 17, 34-54;
the attack on Wells, i. 42;
on the Falls of the Saco, i. 44;
on Spurwink, i. 44;
on Cape Porpoise, i. 44;
on Winter Harbor, i. 44;
on Scarborough, i. 44;
on Purpooduck Point, i. 45;
on Falmouth, i. 45;
due less to the Abenakis than to the French, i. 46;
the loss of life, i. 47;
the essential purpose of, i. 47;
attack on Hampton, i. 48;
on Black Point, i. 48;
on York, i. 48;
on Berwick, i. 48;
on Haverhill, i. 49.
Queen’s Bastion, the, at Louisbourg, ii. 301.
Quesnel, i. 363, 364.
Quinipissas, the, see _Bayagoulas, the_.
Rainy Lake, ii. 12;
Fort St. Pierre at, ii. 14.
Rale, Father Sebastien, the Jesuit,
at Norridgewock, i. 37;
the most conspicuous and interesting figure among the later
French-American Jesuits, i. 214;
early life of, i. 217;
among the Abenakis, i. 217;
his work at Norridgewock, i. 218-220;
his knowledge of the Indian languages, i. 220;
on the treaty between Governor Dudley and the Abenakis, i. 221;
on the land trades between the English and the Indians, i. 222;
foments the irritation of the Norridgewocks, i. 224;
his controversy with Baxter, i. 229;
his correspondence with the New England ministers, i. 230;
urges the Norridgewocks to war, i. 231;
prevents peace being made at Georgetown, i. 233, 234;
price placed on his head by the English, i. 237;
Colonel Westbrook tries to arrest, i. 238;
his papers secured by the English, i. 238;
killed by Benjamin Jaques, i. 247;
estimate of his character, i. 248, 249;
his commission from Vaudreuil, i. 250;
at Fort St. Louis, i. 327.
Ralle, Rallé, Rallee, see _Rale_.
Rameau, i. 209, 327. 403
Ramesay, governor of Montreal,
on the attack of Deerfield, i. 70;
on Beaucour’s unsuccessful expedition against Connecticut,
i. 96;
sent out against Nicholson’s expedition, i. 140;
accomplishes nothing, i. 141;
on the number of Nicholson’s force, i. 142;
complains of English instigation, i. 331;
sent to Acadia, ii. 169;
advances upon Port Royal, ii. 169;
ii. 172, 175, 176;
tries to persuade the Acadians to join his expedition against
Annapolis, ii. 181;
retreats from Grand Pré to Chignecto, ii. 182, 183, 184;
plans to surprise Noble, ii. 184;
accident to, ii. 185;
makes good use of the victory over the English at Grand Pré,
ii. 200;
letter from the Acadians to, ii. 201;
his peremptory orders to the Acadians, ii. 203;
ii. 343, 347, 349, 351.
Ramillies, i. 163.
Ramsay, R. A., on the Gill family, i. 93.
Rasle, Rasles, see _Rale_.
Rasser, ii. 293.
Raudot, the Canadian intendant,
on the French and Indian attack on Haverhill, i. 99;
his letters to Ponchartrain, i. 119;
urges the occupation by the French of Cape Breton, i. 186.
Ravistock Parish, ii. 74.
Reade, Gen. J. Meredith, i. 350.
Rebald, Père, i. 368.
Rebateau, M., ii. 158.
Récollet Friars, the, i. 24, 25, 118.
Rednap, the English engineer, in the expedition against Port Royal,
i. 125, 126, 128.
Red River, i. 355.
Red River Raft, the, i. 356.
Reed, Josiah, ii. 252;
death of, ii. 255.
Rémonville, Sieur de,
proposes to form a company for the settlement of Louisiana,
i. 299;
i. 309.
Renaissance, the, far more than a revival of arts and letters, i. 214.
Renards, the, see _Outagamies, the_.
Renaudière, see _La Renaudière_.
“Renommé,” the, ii. 92, 312.
Repentigny, ii. 185.
Rhode Island,
the colony of, i. 8, 121;
joins an expedition against Port Royal, i. 125;
ordered to furnish troops for the conquest of Canada, i. 135,
143;
decides to attack Port Royal, i. 145;
expense of her futile expedition of 1707, i. 146, 150;
French scheme to destroy, i. 162;
ordered to make ready for the Canadian expedition, i. 165;
joins Shirley’s expedition against Louisbourg, ii. 69, 71;
loses faith, ii. 82;
reimbursed by England for expenditures on the Louisbourg
expedition, ii. 143;
supports the plan to conquer Canada, ii. 152;
responds to Shirley’s call to the defence of Annapolis, ii. 182;
ii. 343, 350.
Rhodes, Captain, at Louisbourg, ii. 112.
Ribaut, voyages of, ii. 47.
Richardson, Captain, ii. 91.
Richelieu, Cardinal, ii. 268.
Richmond, Colonel, at Louisbourg, ii. 132.
Richmond, Fort, i. 222, 245.
Richmond, town of, i. 222.
Richmond’s Island, i. 53.
Rigaud, see _Vaudreuil, Rigaud de_.
Rigauville, at Grand Pré, ii. 191. 404
Ring, Joseph, burned alive by Indians, i. 48.
Rio del Norte, the, i. 311.
Rio Grande, the, i. 355.
Rivière-aux-Canards, settlement of, ii. 197, 199, 203.
Robbins, Jonathan, i. 258;
raises a company to hunt Indians, i. 259;
wounded, i. 262, 264.
Roberts, Colonel, burns the fort at Albany, ii. 210.
Robinson, John, attacked by the Indians, i. 244.
Rochefort, i. 153.
Rochefort Point, ii. 149.
Rochelle, i. 153, 308; ii. 158, 161, 168.
“Rock Mountains,” the, ii. 40.
Rock River, Indian population on, i. 278; i. 341.
Rocky Mountains, the, i. 353; ii. 30;
discovered by the brothers La Vérendrye, ii. 35.
Rogers, John, minister of Boxford, i. 269.
Rogers, Susanna, i. 269;
her verses on the death of Frye, i. 271.
Rolfe, minister at Haverhill, i. 97.
Rolfe, Mrs., killed by the Indians, i. 97.
Roman Catholics, the, expedition against Louisbourg directed against,
ii. 70.
Roman Church, the, i. 201.
Rome, the revolt against, i. 214.
Romish priests, the, ii. 356.
Roosevelt, Theodore, ii. 101.
Rosalie, Fort, i. 320.
Rosebud River, the, valley of, ii. 23.
Rouge, Fort, ii. 14.
Rouillé, Mgr., ii. 38.
Rous, Captain, i. 107;
in the Louisbourg expedition, ii. 83;
English recognition of, ii. 142;
ii. 281.
Rousseau, France drunk with the wild dreams of, i. 4.
Rouville, Hertel de,
commands the expedition against New England, i. 56;
attacks Deerfield, i. 59;
the number of prisoners, i. 67;
wounded, i. 68;
commands a second expedition against New England, i. 96.
Rowe, town of, ii. 231.
Roxbury, ii. 67.
Royal Battery, the, ii. 85, 93, 277, 278, 279, 280, 282, 288, 294.
Royal gate, the, at Louisbourg, ii. 294.
Roy, Jacques, marriage of, i. 89.
“Ruben,” at Louisbourg, ii. 120.
Rum, in Canada, i. 112.
Rutland, i. 244, 251.
Ryswick, the Peace of, i. 4, 7, 11, 59, 134, 213.
Sable, Cape, ii. 164, 165, 201, 320, 326, 328, 345.
Sable, Island, ii. 159, 273.
Sabrevois, Sieur de, ii. 239.
Saco,
hamlet of, i. 46;
rises from its ashes, i. 222;
ii. 75.
Saco, the Falls of the, Indian attack at, i. 44, 256.
Saco River, the, i. 36, 37, 50, 256, 259, 261, 268.
Sacs, the, i. 14;
on Fox River, i. 275;
at Detroit, i. 283, 292;
called to a council at Green Bay, i. 336;
the Outagamies incorporate themselves with, i. 344;
i. 350.
Sacs and Foxes, the, i. 344.
Saddleback Mountain, ii. 243.
Sadler, escapes from the Indians, ii. 250.
Sâgean, Mathieu, the romance of, i. 354. 405
Saginaws, the,
attack the Outagamies, i. 330;
make raids on the Miamis, i. 335.
Saguina, the Ottawa chief, i. 281, 283, 284, 289.
St. André River, the, i. 368.
Saint-Ange, Sieur de, i. 340.
Saint-Ange, the younger, i. 340;
at Fort Orléans, i. 361.
St. Antoine, Fort, i. 351.
St. Bartholomew, Island of, i. 186.
Saint-Castin, Baron Vincent de,
draws up a plan for attacking Boston, i. 6;
fort of, i. 122;
i. 237.
Saint-Castin, the younger, i. 38;
on the Kennebec, i. 234;
arrested by the English, i. 237;
liberated, i. 237;
ii. 261, 266.
St. Charles, Fort, on the Lake of the Woods, ii. 14.
St. Christopher, Island of,
contribution of New England to the sufferers of, i. 100;
i. 186.
Saint-Clair, Lieutenant-General, ii. 153, 155, 328.
St. Croix River, the, i. 213; ii. 260, 266.
Saint-Denis, Juchereau de,
sent to explore western Louisiana, i. 355;
his experiences with the Spaniards, i. 355.
Saint-Denis, Mother Juchereau de, i. 178;
on the deliverance of Quebec from the English, i. 180;
on the death of Admiral Walker, i. 182.
St. Domingo, i. 321, 323.
St. Esprit, ii. 288, 289.
St. Etienne, Lieutenant, ii. 293.
St. Francis,
Abenaki village of, i. 78, 79;
ii. 244.
St. Francis, the Abenaki mission of, i. 217, 234.
St. George, Fort, attacks of the Penobscots on, i. 254.
St. George River, the, i. 213;
fort on, i. 243;
conference between the English and the Penobscots at, i. 254;
ii. 267, 268.
St. Germain, Treaty of, ii. 259, 268, 269, 270.
St. Jean de Luz, ii. 289.
St. John, Secretary of State, i. 163.
St. John,
chief station of the English at, i. 131;
attacked by Subercase, i. 131, 132;
Subercase repulsed, i. 132;
captured by Saint-Ovide, i. 132, 133.
St. John River, the, i. 213; ii. 311.
St. Joseph River, the, i. 281, 340, 341; ii. 57.
St. Lawrence, the Gulf of, i. 104, 186, 324.
St. Lawrence River, the, i. 13, 21, 134, 135, 165, 169, 170, 175,
186, 212; ii. 153, 218, 258, 260, 327, 329.
St. Louis, city of, i. 13, 328.
St. Louis, Fort,
the Illinois Indians at, i. 275;
the Kaskaskias at, i. 327.
St. Louis, mission of, i. 80.
St. Louis, the Rock of, i. 327.
Ste. Marie, ii. 297, 308.
St. Martin, Island of, i. 186.
Saint Michael the Archangel, mission of, ii. 7.
Saint-Ours, ii. 185. See also _Des Chaillons, Saint-Ours_.
Saint-Ovide, Sieur de,
captures St. John, i. 132;
on the apathy of the Acadians, i. 197;
governor at Louisbourg, i. 204, 205;
advises the Acadians concerning the oath of alliance, i. 206.
St. Paul’s Bay, i. 25. 406
St. Peter, Island of, i. 189.
St. Peter River, the, i. 351.
Saint-Pierre, Jacques Legardeur de,
at Fort Beauharnois, ii. 8;
robs the brothers La Vérendrye, ii. 37, 38;
sets out for Manitoba, ii. 39;
his journey, ii. 39-40;
his merit as an officer, ii. 39;
attacked by the Assiniboins, ii. 41;
returns to Quebec, ii. 41;
ii. 185, 299.
St. Pierre, Fort, La Jemeraye at, ii. 12; ii. 14.
Saint-Poncy, i. 201.
St. Regis, the Bell of, story of, i. 92.
St. Regis, mission of, i. 93.
Saint Sacrement, Lake, ii. 265.
Saint-Simon, Duc de,
on Ponchartrain, i. 119;
on the peopling of Louisiana, i. 317.
St. Sulpice, priests of, i. 83.
Saint-Vallier, Monseigneur de, i. 142, 180.
Saint-Vincent, Madame de, i. 117.
Sakis, the, see _Sacs, the_.
Salem, i. 98;
joins the expedition against Port Royal, i. 126;
ii. 68, 85.
Salisbury, i. 92.
Salmon, M., i. 367, 368.
Salpêtrière, the, in Paris, i. 317.
Saltonstall, governor of Connecticut, i. 136.
Sanders, ii. 330.
Santa Fé, i. 367, 368.
“Sapphire,” the, i. 177.
“Saratoga, River of,” ii. 254.
Saratoga,
settlement of, i. 140;
ii. 154;
garrison withdrawn from, ii. 210;
attacked by Marin, ii. 210;
the burning of, ii. 211;
ii. 237, 238, 254, 336.
Saskatchewan River, the, ii. 14;
discovered by Chevalier La Vérendrye, ii. 36.
Saukies, the, see _Sacs, the_.
Sault St. Louis, ii. 217.
Samuel, Captain, i. 37.
Saunderson, on Fort Dummer, ii. 218, 219, 222, 229.
Sauvolle, Sieur de, at Biloxi, i. 302.
Sayer, Joseph, killed by the Indians, i. 43.
Scalp Point, ii. 55.
Scalps, Indian, bounty offered by the General Court of Massachusetts
for, i. 50, 100.
Scarborough, hamlet of,
Indian attack on, i. 44;
rises from its ashes, i. 222;
ii. 75.
Schaticook River, the, ii. 236.
Schenectady, fort at, i. 9; ii. 48, 236, 254, 265.
Schuyler, Abraham, seeks to win the Five Nations for the conquest of
Canada, i. 138.
Schuyler, Peter,
on the New York war, i. 8;
contributes to the support of New York, i. 9;
understands the character of the Indians, i. 10;
his visit to Onondaga, i. 12;
on the factions among the Five Nations, i. 13;
gives warning that Deerfield is to be attacked, i. 59;
warns New England of the proposed French and Indian attack,
i. 96;
gains a promise from the Caughnawagas not to attack New England,
i. 100;
favors the proposed conquest of Canada, i. 137;
sails for Europe with five Mohawk chiefs, i. 146, 147;
their flattering reception, i. 147;
on the Mohawk chiefs in England, i. 147;
on the disbanding of Nicholson’s army, i. 178;
ii. 52;
stationed at Saratoga, ii. 210; 407
on Marin’s attack on Saratoga, ii. 210;
on the burning of Saratoga, ii. 211.
Scotch Highlands, the, ii. 177.
Scott, Miriam, ii. 252.
Scott, Moses, ii. 252.
Sea-rovers, the Boston, i. 112.
Sebasticook River, the, i. 222.
Sedgwick, Major, captures Port Royal, i. 154.
Seminary, the,
at Quebec, i. 26;
burned, i. 83.
Seminary priests, the, of Quebec, i. 25.
Senecas, the,
French influence among, i. 13;
Joncaire among, i. 138;
allow the French to build a fort at Niagara, ii. 53.
Serier, Captain, ii. 60.
Seven Years’ War, the, i. 185, 210, 212; ii. 14, 42, 256.
Sewall, Samuel,
on the conference between Governor Dudley and the Abenakis,
i. 37;
on the French and Indian attack on Haverhill, i. 99;
opposes Governor Dudley, i. 106;
his benevolence towards the Indians, i. 223;
at the council at Georgetown, i. 224;
his speech before the Massachusetts council, i. 241.
Seymour’s regiment, i. 172.
Shannon, Richard, Viscount, ordered to attack Quebec, i. 149.
Shea, J. G., on the siege of Port Royal, i. 155.
Sheaf, on the loss of the British transports, i. 174.
Sheldon, on the Micmac raids, i. 244.
Sheldon (and Temple), ii. 231, 232, 234.
Sheldon, George, i. 60, 67, 84, 89.
Sheldon, Mrs. Hannah,
captured by the French and Indians, i. 64;
exchanged, i. 87.
Sheldon, Ensign John,
fortified house of; i. 58;
attacked by the French and Indians, i. 64;
visits Montreal as envoy, i. 85;
secures the exchange of five prisoners, i. 87;
his second visit to Canada, i. 88;
his third visit to Canada, i. 89.
Sheldon, Mrs. (Ensign) John, killed by the French and Indians, i. 64.
Sheldon, John (son), escapes from the French and Indians, i. 64.
Sheldon, Mary, captured by the French and Indians, i. 64.
Sheldon, Mercy, killed by the French and Indians, i. 64.
Sherburn, Henry, ii. 77.
Sherburn, Captain Joseph,
at Louisbourg, ii. 108, 109;
diary of, ii. 110, 131, 132.
Ship Island, i. 312.
“Shirley,” the, ii. 83, 97, 123, 133, 165.
Shirley, Fort, ii. 231, 232.
Shirley, Governor William, of Massachusetts, ii. 61;
advised to attack Louisbourg, ii. 64;
sketch of, ii. 66;
asks the General Court to sanction his plan of attack on
Louisbourg, ii. 66;
obtains the assistance of James Gibson, ii. 67, 68;
the General Court reconsiders favorably, ii. 69;
obtains co-operation from other colonies, ii. 69;
his choice of a commander, ii. 80;
chooses a naval commander, ii. 82;
his instructions for taking Louisbourg, ii. 86;
as a soldier, ii. 87, 88;
ii. 118, 124, 127, 128, 139, 140, 141;
English recognition of, ii. 142;
ii. 143, 144;
restores order in Louisbourg, ii. 146, 147; 408
his schemes to conquer Canada, ii. 150;
Newcastle’s promises to, ii. 153;
Newcastle fails to keep his promises, ii. 155;
abandons the Canadian conquest, ii. 155;
plans to attack Crown Point, ii. 156;
ii. 157, 158, 164, 168;
resolved to keep Acadia, ii. 170;
Newcastle leaves the defence of Acadia to, ii. 171;
his letters to Newcastle on the Acadian dilemma, ii. 171, 175,
176, 179;
letter from Mascarene to, ii. 172;
his plan to secure the allegiance of the Acadians, ii. 177;
his attitude towards the Acadian priests, ii. 178;
plans for the defence of Annapolis, ii. 182;
ii. 186, 190, 198, 200;
reoccupies Grand Pré, ii. 201;
unable to do for Acadia all that the emergency demanded, ii. 204;
blames Newcastle’s government, ii. 204;
letter from Captain Stevens to, ii. 229;
and the Acadians, ii. 312-357;
letters to Newcastle from, ii. 312, 314, 317, 320, 322, 325, 330,
331, 342, 345, 349, 350, 352, 353, 354;
letter to Mascarene from, ii. 324;
letter from Newcastle to, ii. 348.
Shirley, Mrs. William, at Louisbourg, ii. 147.
Shirreff, William,
urges that the Acadians be removed, ii. 175;
ii. 315.
Shoshone Indians, the, ii. 26.
Shrewsbury, Duke of, i. 147.
Shubenacadie, mission of, ii. 185.
Shubenacadie River, the, ii. 188.
Shute, Col. Samuel,
succeeds Dudley as governor of Massachusetts, i. 224;
calls the Indians to a council at Georgetown, i. 224;
dialogue between Chief Wiwurna and, i. 225, 226;
his second interview with the Indians, i. 227, 228, 235;
his controversy with the Assembly, i. 239;
sails for London, i. 240.
Sibley, John Langdon, ii. 99.
Silesia, seized by Frederic of Prussia, ii. 59.
Simons, Benjamin, ii. 252.
Sioux Company, the,
organization of, ii. 6;
objects of, ii. 6;
officers of, ii. 6;
early history of, ii. 7, 8.
Sioux Indians, the, i. 14;
i. 348, 350, 351;
strange customs of, i. 352;
their hostile disposition toward the French, ii. 5, 7, 8;
murder Annean’s party, ii. 13;
persecute the Mandans, ii. 17;
their enmity toward the Snake Indians, ii. 27;
sub-tribes of, ii. 34.
Sioux mission, the, ii. 6.
Six Nations, the, i. 274;
see also Five Nations, the.
Skene Mountain, ii. 238.
Slade, Dr. Daniel Denison, i. 68; ii. 244.
Small-pox, among the Mandans, ii. 17.
Smead, Captivity, ii. 252;
death of, ii. 255.
Smead, John, ii. 252;
killed by the Indians, ii. 255.
Smead, Mrs. John, ii. 252;
death of, ii. 255.
Smibert, the painter, gives a portrait of Pepperrell, ii. 73.
Smith, i. 147; ii. 54, 208;
on the disputes of Governor Clinton and the Assembly, ii. 209.
Smith, Captain, ii. 261.
Smollett, on the plan to attack Louisbourg, ii. 64;
on the capture of Louisbourg, ii. 142; 409
on the absurdities of the Duke of Newcastle, ii. 151;
on the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, ii. 256.
Snake Indians, the, ii. 20, 26;
their enmity toward the Sioux, ii. 27;
the Bow Indians make an attack on, ii. 30-33.
Snelling, i. 344.
“Snow,” a, ii. 83.
Snow, E. A., ii. 43.
Soissons, Count de, ii. 268.
Sokokis Indians, the, i. 256.
Sorel, town of, i. 78.
Southack, Captain, relieves Falmouth, i. 46.
South Carolina, the broad river of, i. 182; ii. 48.
South Fork, the, i. 367.
South Sea, the, i. 164.
Souvigny, Ensign, ii. 293, 311.
Spafford, John, Jr., at Number Four, ii. 219, 220.
Spain,
Great Britain gains a maritime preponderance over, i. 3;
Louis XIV. places his grandson on the throne of, i. 4;
bent on making good her claim to the Mississippi and the Gulf of
Mexico, i. 301;
protests against the French establishment at Mobile Bay, i. 305;
ii. 270.
Spaniards of New Mexico, the, i. 359;
advance to attack the French, i. 360.
Spaniards, the,
occupy Texas, i. 355;
in the lower Missouri, ii. 17.
Spanish River, i. 177, 181.
Spanish Succession, the War of the, i. 3;
springs from the ambition of Louis XIV., i. 4;
i. 134; ii. 9.
Sparhawk, Nathaniel, ii. 115, 116;
at Louisbourg, ii. 136.
Sparks, i. 229, 249; ii. 70.
Spurwink, Indian attack at, i. 44.
“Squirrel,” the, i. 224.
Stanwood, ii. 327.
Stebbins, Abigail, i. 89;
marriage of, i. 90.
Stebbins, Benoni, i. 58;
killed by the French and Indians, i. 63.
Stebbins, Mrs. Benoni, i. 63.
Steele, i. 147, 195.
Stevens, B. F., ii. 229.
Stevens, Captain Phineas,
at Number Four, ii. 219, 220;
sent to reoccupy the fort at Number Four, ii. 222;
characteristics of, ii. 222;
attacked by Niverville, ii. 223;
his defence of the fort, ii. 224;
his letters to Colonel Williams, ii. 224, 225, 226, 228;
his interview with Niverville, ii. 226;
refuses to surrender, ii. 226;
recognition of his successful defence, ii. 228;
letter, to Governor Shirley from, ii. 229;
diary of, ii. 229.
Stoddard, escapes from Deerfield, i. 62.
Stoddard, John, ii. 219, 232, 243.
Stone, on the disputes of Governor Clinton and the Assembly, ii. 209.
Stone, William L., ii. 248.
Storer, John, ii. 80.
Storer, Joseph,
palisaded house of, i. 39;
fugitives at, i. 43.
Storer, Mary, captured by the Indians, i. 44.
Stuarts, the, i. 105.
Stuckley, Captain, in the expedition against Port Royal, i. 130.
Subercase, governor of Acadia,
on the French and Indian attack on Haverhill, i. 102;
on the Acadian fisheries question, i. 111, 112;
his anxiety over the trade between the “Bastonnais” and the 410
Acadians, i. 116;
on Bonaventure’s relations with Madame de Freneuse, i. 116;
his quarrel with De Goutin, i. 117;
in the defence of Port Royal, i. 127;
on the failure of the English expedition against Port Royal,
i. 131;
attacks St. John, i. 131, 132;
defends Port Royal against Nicholson, i. 152;
surrenders to Nicholson, i. 153;
his report of the siege of Port Royal to, i. 155.
Subtil, Captain, ii. 290.
Sudbury, ii. 222.
Sugères, Lieutenant, i. 302.
Sulte, Benjamin, on the family history of the Varennes, ii. 9.
Sumter, Fort, ii. 70.
Sunderland, Earl of, i. 135, 140;
Vetch’s letters to, i. 144;
Dudley’s letters to, i. 145;
his letter to Dudley, i. 145;
joint letters to, i. 146.
“Superbe,” the, ii. 84, 93, 128.
Superior, Lake, i. 33, 349; ii. 3;
great portage of, ii. 12;
ii. 57.
Swanzey, attacked by the Indians, ii. 214.
Swift, i. 163; on the failure of the Canadian expedition, i. 181.
Swiss Cantons, the, ii. 341.
Sydney, harbor of, i. 177.
Symmes, Rev. Thomas, minister of Bradford, i. 269.
Taconic Falls, i. 245, 248.
Taensas, the, i. 305.
Tailor, Colonel, i. 153.
Taos, i. 367.
Tarbell, John,
captured by Indians, i. 93;
becomes a Caughnawaga chief, i. 93.
Tarbell, Zechariah,
captured by Indians, i. 93;
becomes a Caughnawaga chief, i. 93.
“Tartar,” the, ii. 72, 83.
Tartary, i. 368.
Tatmagouche, village of, ii. 187.
Taunton, joins the expedition against Port Royal, i. 126.
Temple,
on the Micmac raids, i. 244;
ii. 231, 232, 234.
Tennessee River, the, i. 296; ii. 51.
Tennessee, State of, i. 321.
Terror, the, in France, i. 4.
Texas, the Spaniards occupy, i. 355.
Thames River, the, i. 181.
Thaxter, Samuel,
sent to Montreal by Governor Dummer as envoy, i. 252;
received by Vaudreuil, i. 252;
the interview with the Indians, i. 253.
Thierry, Captain, ii. 101, 292, 293.
Thomassy, i. 355.
Thornton, ii. 327.
Three Rivers,
Varennes governor of, ii. 8;
Rigaud at, ii. 235.
Ticonderoga, Fort, ii. 237.
Titcomb’s Battery, at Louisbourg, ii. 107, 110.
Tiverton, i. 121.
Tonty, Alphonse de, joins Cadillac, i. 28.
Tonty, Henri de, i. 28;
holds a monopoly of the fur-trade, i. 275;
urges the French to seize Louisiana, i. 298;
his reasons, i. 298.
Topsfield, joins the expedition against Port Royal, i. 126.
Topsham, i. 239.
Toronto, trading-post established by the French at, ii. 55.
Toulouse, Comte de, receives Charlevoix’s report on the Pacific
Ocean, ii. 5.
Toulouse, the Parliament of, i. 19. 411
Toulouse, Port, i. 196.
Townshend, ii. 51.
Townsend, Vice-Admiral, ii. 327, 328, 329, 331.
Trading houses, at Minas, ii. 344.
“Trident,” the, ii. 160.
Trinity Bay, i. 132.
Truro, ii. 187. See also _Cobequid_.
Tucker, Sergeant, captured by Indians, i. 52.
Tufts, William, at Louisbourg, ii. 99, 121.
Turner, attacks the French and Indians, i. 98; i. 365.
Tuscaroras, the, joined to the Five Nations, i. 274.
Two Mountains, the Lake of, ii. 217.
Tyng, Captain Edward, i. 50, 56, 267, 270;
chosen naval commander of the expedition against Louisbourg,
ii. 82.
Ulster, Protestants from, ii. 177.
Upper Ashuelot, settlement of, attacked by the Indians, ii. 214.
Upper Lakes, the,
Indian tribes of, i. 331;
Charlevoix at, ii. 4;
ii. 51.
“Upper Nations,” the, i. 13.
Ursuline Convent, the, at Quebec, i. 26.
Ursulines, the, of Quebec, i. 25.
Usher, Robert, wounded by the Pequawkets, i. 264.
Utrecht, the Treaty of, i. 184, 190, 192, 193, 196, 197, 200, 206,
212, 220, 251;
followed by a threefold conflict for ascendency in America,
i. 272;
i. 274; ii. 44, 46, 48, 50;
leaves unsettled the questions of boundary, ii. 59;
cedes Acadia to England, ii. 173;
ii. 203, 205, 258, 262, 263, 264, 267, 272, 273, 338, 356.
Vaillant, the Jesuit, i. 11.
Vallé, Lieutenant, ii. 298.
Vantadour, Duc de, ii. 268.
Varennes, the family history of, ii. 9.
Varennes, Pierre,
birth of, ii. 9;
early history of, ii. 9.
See also _La Vérendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de_.
Varennes, René Gaultier de,
marriage of, ii. 8;
becomes governor of Three Rivers, ii. 8.
Vauban, ii. 78.
Vaudreuil-Cavagnal Pierre Rigaud de, governor of Canada,
on the treachery of the Abenakis, i. 37;
his responsibility for Queen Anne’s War, i. 46;
sends a large war-party against New England, i. 55;
reports the attack on Deerfield to Ponchartrain, i. 68;
buys John Williams from the Indians, i. 79;
his correspondence with Dudley concerning the exchange of
prisoners, i. 90;
on Beaucour’s unsuccessful expedition against Connecticut, i. 95;
on the attack on Haverhill, i. 97;
on the French loss of life, i. 98;
on Dudley’s refusal to permit a raid into Canada, i. 100;
attitude of Ponchartrain toward the policy of, i. 102;
Dudley proposes a treaty of neutrality to, i. 103;
his conditions, i. 103, 104;
falsely accused to Ponchartrain, i. 104;
on the destruction of the Jesuit mission-house at Onondaga,
i. 139;
on Ramesay’s expedition against Nicholson, i. 141;
on the pestilence in Nicholson’s camp, i. 143; 412
Ponchartrain recommends Costebelle’s scheme to, i. 158;
warned of the English preparations against Canada, i. 178;
unable to give aid to the Acadians, i. 192;
praises the zeal of the Acadian missionaries, i. 204;
prevents peace being made at Georgetown, i. 233;
the delicacy of his position with the Abenakis, i. 236;
turns the Indians again against New England, i. 250;
proclaims the Abenakis to be his allies, i. 250;
his commission to Rale, i. 250;
correspondence between Dummer and, i. 250-252;
receives the English envoys, i. 252;
Dubuisson’s report on the Outagamies at Detroit, to, i. 296;
his report on the attack of the Outagamies on the Illinois,
i. 330;
determines to destroy the Outagamies, i. 331;
in despair over the difficulty of keeping the western tribes
quiet, i. 335;
on the scheme to reach the Pacific Ocean, ii. 6;
his efforts to build a fort at Niagara, ii. 52;
ii. 235.
Vaudreuil, Rigaud de,
sets out against the English, ii. 235;
plans to attack Fort Massachusetts, ii. 237;
journal of, ii. 237;
the march, ii. 238, 239;
his estimate of the garrison, ii. 243;
the attack, ii. 243, 244;
wounded, ii. 245;
a parley, ii. 247;
capitulation, ii. 248, 249;
his humane treatment of prisoners, ii. 253;
his account of his expedition, ii. 253.
Vaughan, William,
of Damariscotta, ii. 64;
advises an attack on Louisbourg, ii. 64;
sketch of, ii. 65;
captures the Grand Battery, ii. 98, 99, 110;
his rash resolution, ii. 117, 118.
Vera Cruz, i. 301, 315.
Verchères, death of, i. 98.
Verelst, the Dutch artist, i. 147.
Verger, Ensign, ii. 293.
Verrazzano, voyages of, ii. 47, 49, 258, 259, 262.
Verrier, the engineer, ii. 101, 292, 293, 305, 308.
Versailles, i. 113, 119; ii. 6.
Vetch, Captain Samuel, i. 87, 103, 104, 107, 126;
his plan for the conquest of Canada, i. 133;
his history, i. 133;
his marriage, i. 134;
characteristics of, i. 134;
sails for England, i. 134;
his requests granted by the court, i. 135;
waiting for the promised fleet, i. 144;
in the attack on Port Royal, i. 147, 151;
commissioned as governor of Port Royal, i. 154;
commands the provincials in the Canadian expedition, i. 170;
on board the “Despatch,” i. 173;
disgusted by the inefficiency of Walker and Hill, i. 176;
his journal, i. 182;
i. 190;
the first governor of Nova Scotia, i. 191.
Vetch, William, death of, i. 134.
“Vigilant,” the,
captured by the English, ii. 123;
ii. 126, 127, 129, 131, 138, 280, 281, 301.
Villebon, i. 111.
Villermont, Cabart de, i. 298;
at Grand Pré, ii. 191.
Villiers, Coulon de,
strikes the Outagamies a deadly blow, i. 339;
ii. 185;
commands the expedition against Noble, ii. 185;
a winter march, ii. 187;
the plan of attack, ii. 190, 191;
the attack, ii. 129; 413
severely wounded, ii. 192;
ii. 198.
Villieu, M. de, i. 118.
Vincennes, Sieur de,
comes to the aid of Detroit, i. 282, 284, 295, 297;
ii. 57.
Virginia, the colony of, i. 8, 148;
not a serious rival in the fur-trade, i. 272;
ii. 150;
supports the plan to conquer Canada, ii. 152.
_Voyageurs_, at Detroit, i. 279, 327;
at “the Illinois,” i. 328;
growing fewer in numbers, i. 347.
Wabash River, the, ii. 57.
Wainwright, Col. Francis, commands an expedition against Port Royal,
i. 125.
Waldo, Brigadier, ii. 84, 101, 111, 119, 144.
Waldron, Mrs. Adelaide Cilley, ii. 74.
Waldron, Richard, on the capture of Elisha Plaisted, i. 54.
Walker, Admiral, Sir Hovenden,
naval command of the expedition against Canada given to, i. 164;
in Boston, i. 169;
the loss of his transports, i. 172-174;
gives up the expedition, i. 176;
disgraced, i. 182;
death of, i. 182;
his journal, i. 182.
Walker’s expedition, i. 156-182.
Wallace, town of, ii. 186.
Walpole, Horace, on the absurdities of the Duke of Newcastle, ii. 151.
Walton, Colonel, accusations against, i. 240;
dismissed by the Massachusetts Assembly, i. 242.
Wanton, Governor, ii. 71, 76, 81.
Warren, Commodore Peter, ii. 83;
joins the expedition against Louisbourg, ii. 84, 93, 108, 109,
119, 125;
disagreement with Pepperrell, ii. 127-129;
comes to an understanding with Pepperrell, ii. 130;
receives Duchambon’s offer of capitulation, ii. 132;
the surrender, ii. 133;
shares the honor of victory with Pepperrell, ii. 138, 139;
rivalry between Pepperrell and, ii. 140, 141;
made an admiral, ii. 142;
governs Louisbourg jointly with Pepperrell, ii. 146;
made governor of the fortress of Louisbourg, ii. 150;
in sympathy with Shirley’s plan to conquer Canada, ii. 152;
ii. 168, 212;
ii. 277, 285, 304, 305, 308, 317, 318, 326, 329, 333, 335, 348.
Warren, Mrs. Peter, at Louisbourg, ii. 147.
Washington, George, i. 339;
at Fort Le Bœuf, ii. 39;
defeated at Fort Necessity, ii. 185.
Webster, Mount, i. 256.
Weeping, over strangers, the custom of, i. 352.
Wells, John, visits Montreal as envoy, i. 85;
secures the exchange of five prisoners, i. 87.
Wells, Jonathan,
fortified house of, i. 58;
fugitives in, i. 62;
leads a party against the French and Indians, i. 66;
petitions the General Court for an allotment of land, i. 67.
Wells, Thomas, i. 42, 43.
Wells, Mrs. Thomas, i. 42;
murdered by the Indians, i. 43.
Wells, village of, i. 39, 40;
effects of the Indian wars on, i. 40;
new church built in, i. 41;
far from a religious community, i. 41;
life still exceeding rude at, i. 42;
troop of horse sent to, i. 49; 414
attacked by the French and Indians, i. 99;
becomes the eastern frontier, i. 220;
ii. 81.
Wendell, Jacob, ii. 162.
Wentworth, Governor Benning, of New Hampshire, i. 270; ii. 70;
joins Shirley in planning against Louisbourg, ii. 70, 71;
his ambition to be commander-in-chief, ii. 72, 73.
Westbrook, Colonel, at Norridgewock, i. 218;
sent to Norridgewock to arrest Rale, i. 238;
sent against the Penobscots, i. 244;
burns Panawamské, i. 244, 245.
Western Company, the, see _Mississippi Company, the_.
Western Indians, the,
become less important to Canada, i. 216;
ii. 217.
Western mission, the great, i. 215.
Western Sea, the, i. 354, 368; ii. 3, 4.
West Gate, the, of Louisbourg, ii. 106, 109, 110, 130.
West India Company, the, i. 360; ii. 266.
West Indies, the, i. 111, 164; ii. 158, 161, 333.
West River, i. 73; ii. 15.
West Virginia, i. 51.
Weymouth, joins the expedition against Port Royal, i. 126.
Wheeler, i. 239.
Wheelwright, Hannah, interrupted wedding of, i. 51.
Wheelwright, John, palisaded house of, i. 51.
Whipple, i. 365.
Whitefield, George, ii. 76.
Whitehall, town of, ii. 237, 238.
White Mountains, the, i. 43, 256, 259, 261.
White River, i. 75, 76; ii. 15.
Whiting, wounded in Lovewell’s expeditions against the Indians,
i. 262.
Wichita River, the, i. 357.
Wichitas, the, i. 357.
Wild cherry, the, used as food, ii. 34.
Willard, Rev. Joseph, killed by the Indians, i. 244, 251.
Willard, Secretary, ii. 143.
Willard’s regiment, at Louisbourg, ii. 90, 103.
William, Fort, at St. John,
attacked by Subercase, i. 132;
the French repulsed by, i. 132;
captured by Saint-Ovide, i. 132.
William and Mary, Fort, ii. 74.
William and Mary’s War, i. 36;
the “woful decade” of, i. 50.
William III., King of England,
the Five Nations appeal for protection against the French to,
i. 33;
receives a deed of their beaver-hunting ground from the Five
Nations, i. 33.
Williams College, ii. 239, 242.
Williams, Eleazer, impostures of, i. 91;
his personal appearance, i. 92;
his story of the “Bell of St. Regis,” i. 92.
Williams, Captain Ephraim, ii. 232;
in command at Fort Massachusetts, ii. 241;
the founder of Williams College, ii. 242;
sketch of, ii. 242;
death of, ii. 242.
Williams, Esther, released from Indian captivity, i. 87.
Williams, Eunice,
in Indian captivity, i. 75;
at Caughnawaga, i. 80;
becomes an Indian squaw, i. 90, 91.
Williams, Major Israel, ii. 232.
Williams, John,
minister at Deerfield, i. 57;
his letter to the governor, i. 59;
attacked by the French and Indians, i. 61; 415
captured, i. 62;
on the attack of Deerfield, i. 69;
his experiences during captivity, i. 71-79;
his sufferings, i. 77;
proves a stubborn heretic, i. 78, 79;
bought by Vaudreuil, i. 79;
kindly treated by Vaudreuil, i. 81;
sent to Château Richer, i. 82;
his grief at his son Samuel’s conversion to Catholicism, i. 83;
on the methods employed by the Jesuits in converting prisoners,
i. 84;
released from captivity, i. 88;
on the French and Indian expedition against Connecticut, i. 95.
Williams, Rev. John, ii. 148.
Williams, Mrs. John,
captured by the French and Indians, i. 72;
separated from her husband, i. 72;
killed by the Indians, i. 73.
Williams River, i. 74.
Williams, Roger, ii. 71.
Williams, Samuel,
in Indian captivity, i. 75;
at Montreal, i. 83;
forced to turn Catholic, i. 83;
returns to his creed, i. 84;
exchanged, i. 84;
death of, i. 84.
Williams, Stephen,
on the attack of Deerfield, i. 70, 71, 74;
carried up the Connecticut, i. 75;
released from Indian captivity, i. 88;
ii. 148;
chaplain at Louisbourg, ii. 149;
diary of, ii. 149.
Williams, Stephen W., i. 57, 91.
Williams, Thomas, ii. 242.
Williams, Colonel William,
letters from Captain Stevens to, ii. 224, 225, 226, 228, 229;
ii. 243.
Williamson, list of the New England navy, ii. 83.
Williamson,
on the Indian attack on Wells, i. 46;
i. 222;
on the council at Georgetown, i. 228;
i. 235;
on Lovewell’s expeditions against the Indians, i. 262.
Williamstown, ii. 239, 242.
Williamstown valley, the, ii. 240, 251.
Wilson, Gen. James Grant, on Samuel Vetch, i. 134.
Wind River Range, the, ii. 31.
“Windsor,” the, i. 175.
Windsor, village of, i. 209; ii. 189.
See also _Pisiquid_.
Winnebagoes, the, on Fox River, i. 275;
called to a council at Green Bay, i. 336;
i. 340, 350.
Winnepesaukee Lake, i. 96, 259.
Winnipeg, the city of, site of, ii. 14.
Winnipeg Lake, ii. 4, 12, 14.
Winnipeg River, the, ii. 14.
Winooski River, the, i. 76, 77.
Winsor, Justin, i. 147, 222.
Winter Harbor,
Indian attack on, i. 44;
surrenders, i. 47;
attacked by the French and Indians, i. 99.
Winthrop, Fitz-John, governor of Connecticut, i. 70.
Wisconsin, State of, i. 91, 278.
Wisconsin River, the, i. 342, 351; ii. 6, 57.
Wiwurna, the Norridgewock chief,
at the council at Georgetown, i. 225;
dialogue between Governor Shute and, i. 225, 226.
Woburn, i. 260.
Wolcott, General Roger,
holds second rank in the expedition against Louisbourg, ii. 72,
84, 94, 102, 121, 137;
journal of, ii. 144.
Wolfe, i. 162.
Wood Creek, i. 135, 140, 141, 142, 177; ii. 230, 237, 254.
Woods, Lake of the, ii. 4;
massacre at, ii. 12.
Woods, Sergeant, with Lovewell in his expeditions against the 416
Indians, i. 261.
Worcester, village of, ii. 157.
Wright, Daniel, ii. 232.
Wright, Ebenezer, petitions the General Court for an allotment of
land, i. 67.
Wroth, Ensign, i. 208.
Wyatt, Lieutenant, attacked by Indians, i. 48.
Wyman, Ensign Seth,
joins Lovewell’s expeditions against the Indians, i. 260, 262;
his heroic defence against the Pequawkets, i. 263, 267.
Xavier, the exalted zeal of, i. 214.
Yankton Indians, the, ii. 34.
Yellowstone Park, the, ii. 30.
Yellowstone River, the, i. 360, 367; ii. 24, 28, 29.
York,
settlement of, i. 39;
Indian attacks on, i. 48, 99;
i. 51; ii. 78, 136.
417
[Illustration: THE BEST BOOKS COMPANION
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Transcriber’s Note:
Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and moved to the end of the
chapter or appendix section to which they pertain. The anchor for
Footnote 189 was missing in the original and was added where it seemed
likely that it belonged.
In Footnote [156], a period is contained within the superscript and
was left unchanged. Other superscripts used to abbreviate words
sometimes display one or more periods below the superscripted letters.
Multiple periods were changed to a single period, and the period was
moved to follow the abbreviated word. Superscripts are preceded by a
carat. Where multiple letters are contained in the superscript, they
are enclosed in braces, like this: 16^{th}.
On page 274, the word ‘Cachet’ appears inside a circle, as though to
represent an official stamp.
Within quotations, misspelled words, missing punctuation, and
alternate use of accents were not changed. Otherwise, accents were
adjusted, unprinted periods were added to ends of sentences, missing
spaces were added between words, missing open quote marks were added
to the beginning of quotations continued from one paragraph to the
following, and punctuation in the index was adjusted for consistency.
Other changes:
In Footnote [16], ‘Vérandrie’ was changed to ‘Vérendrye,’
‘... la Vérandrye et donnée ...’
In the Index:
under ‘D’Argenson,’ the reference ‘see Argenson, D’ does not exist.
under ‘New Jersey refuses to comply,’ the book number was changed
from ii. to i.
under the entry ‘Scalps, Indian,’ ‘Massachuchusetts’ was changed
to ‘Massachusetts.’
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