The History of the United States from 1492 to 1910, Volume 1 by Julian Hawthorne

J >> Julian Hawthorne >> The History of the United States from 1492 to 1910, Volume 1

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Governor Shirley, who while in France in 1749 had married a French wife
and brought her home with him, and who for a while had the chief command
of the king's forces in America, was in disfavor with the people, who
suspected his wife of sending treasonable news to the enemy; and having
also proved inefficient as a soldier, he was recalled to England in 1756,
and vanished thenceforth as a factor in American affairs, in which his
influence had always been selfish and illiberal, if not worse. Thomas
Pownall succeeded him and held his position for three years, when he was
transferred to South Carolina. He was a man of fashion, and of little
weight. From the shuffle of men who appeared and disappeared during the
early years of the war, a few stand out in permanent distinctness.
Washington's reputation steadily increased; Amherst, Wolfe and Lyman
achieved distinction on the English side, and Montcalm and Dieskau on the
French. In 1757, General Loudoun, one of the agents of the despoiling of
Acadia, made a professed attempt to capture Louisburg, which had been
given back to the French at the last peace; but after wasting a summer in
vain drilling of his forces, retired in dismay on learning that the French
fleet outnumbered his own by one vessel. The place was bombarded and taken
the next year by Amherst and Wolfe, but Halifax was the English
headquarters in that region. Before this however, in the summer of 1755,
immediately after the defeat of Braddock, an army of New Englanders
assembled at Albany to capture Crown Point, where the French had called
together every able-bodied man available. William Johnson was commander,
and associated with him was Phinehas Lyman, a natural-born soldier. They
marched to the southern shore of what the French called the Lake of the
Holy Sacrament, but which Johnson thought would better be named Lake
George. The army, with its Indian allies, numbered about thirty-four
hundred; a camping ground was cleared, but no intrenchments were thrown
up; no enemy seemed to be within reach. Dieskau, informed of the advance,
turned from his design against Oswego in the west, and marched for Fort
Edward, in the rear of Johnson's troops. By a mistake of the guide he
found himself approaching the open camp. Johnson sent a Massachusetts man,
Ephraim Williams, with a thousand troops, to save Fort Edward. They nearly
fell into an ambush; as it was, their party was overpowered by the enemy;
Williams was killed, but Whiting of Connecticut guarded the retreat.
During the action, a redoubt of logs had been constructed in the camp, and
was strengthened with baggage and wagons. The Americans, with their
fowling-pieces, defended this place for five hours against two hundred
regular French troops, six hundred Canadians, and as many Indians. Johnson
received a scratch early in the engagement, and made it an excuse to
retire; and Lyman assumed direction. Dieskau bravely led the French
regulars, nearly all of whom were killed; he was four times wounded; the
Canadians were intimidated. At length, about half past four in the
afternoon, the French retreated, though the American losses equaled
theirs; a body of them were pursued by Macginnes of New Hampshire and left
their baggage behind them in their haste; but the body of Macginnes also
remained on the field. The credit for this battle, won by Lyman, was given
by the English government to Johnson, who received a baronetcy and a "tip"
of five thousand pounds. It would have been the first step in a series of
successes had not Johnson, instead of following up his victory, timidly
remained in camp, building Fort William Henry; and when winter approached,
he disbanded the New Englanders and retired. The French had taken
advantage of their opportunity to intrench themselves in Ticonderoga,
which was destined to become a name of awe for the colonists. At the same
time that Braddock marched on Fort Duquesne, Shirley had set out with two
thousand men to capture the fort at Niagara, garrisoned by but thirty
ill-armed men; the intention being to form a junction there with the
all-conquering Braddock. The latter's annihilation took all the heart out
of the superserviceable Shirley; he got no further than Oswego, where he
frittered the summer away, and then retreated under a cloud of pretexts.
He and the other royal officials were all this while pleading for a
general fund to be created by Parliament, or in any other manner, so that
a fund there be; and asserting that the frontiers would otherwise be, and
in fact were, defenseless. In the face of such tales the colonies were of
their own motion providing all the necessary supplies for war, and
Franklin had taken personal charge of the northwest border. But the
English ministry saw in these measures only increasing peril from popular
power, and pushed forward a scheme for a military dictatorship. In May,
1756, war was formally declared, and England arbitrarily forbade other
nations to carry French merchandise in their ships. Abercrombie was chosen
general for the prosecution of the campaign in America, and arrived at
Albany, after much dilatoriness, in June. Bradstreet reported that he had
put stores into Oswego for five thousand men; and that the place was
already threatened by the enemy. Still the English delayed. Montcalm
arrived at Quebec to lead the French army, and immediately planned the
capture of Oswego. In August he took an outlying redoubt, and the garrison
of Oswego surrendered just as he was about to open fire upon it. Sixteen
hundred prisoners, over a hundred cannon, stores, boats and money were the
prize; and Montcalm destroyed the fort and returned in triumph. Loudoun
and Abercrombie, with an army of thousands of men, which could have taken
Canada with ease, thought only of keeping out of Montcalm's way, pleading
in excuse that they feared to trust the "provincials"--who had thus far
done all the fighting that had been done, and won all the successes. In
spite of the remonstrances of the civic authorities, the British troops
and officers were billeted upon New York and Philadelphia. Two more
frightened generals were never seen; and the provinces were left open to
the enemy's attack. But the Americans took the war into their own hands.
John Armstrong of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, crossed the Alleghanies
in September and in a desperate fight destroyed an Indian tribe that had
been massacring along the border, burned their town and blew up their
powder. In January of 1757, Stark, a daring ranger, with seventy men, made
a dash on Lake George, and engaged a party of two hundred and fifty
French. About the same time, at Philadelphia and Boston it was voted to
raise men for the service; a hundred thousand pounds was also voted, but
the proprietors refused to pay their quota, and represented in England
that the Pennsylvanians were obstructing the measures for defense.
Franklin, sent to England to remonstrate, was told that the king was the
legislator of the colonies. All action was paralyzed by the corruption and
cowardice of the royal officials. The pusillanimity of Loudoun, with his
ten thousand men and powerful fleet in Nova Scotia, has been already
mentioned. In July Montcalm, with a mixed force of more than seven
thousand, advanced upon Fort William Henry. Webb, who should have opposed
him, retreated, leaving Monro with five hundred men to hold the fort. He
refused Montcalm's summons to surrender; Webb, who might still have saved
him, refused to do so; he fought until his ammunition was gone and half
his guns burst, and then surrendered upon Montcalm's promise of the honors
of war and an escort out of the country. But the Indians had got rum from
the English stores and passed the night in drunken revelry; in the morning
they set upon the unarmed English as they left the fort, and began to
plunder and tomahawk them. Montcalm and his officers did their utmost to
stop the treacherous outrage; but thirty men were murdered. Montcalm has
been treated leniently by history; he was indeed a brilliant and heroic
soldier, and he had the crowning honor of dying bravely at Quebec; but he
cannot be held blameless in this affair. He had taught the Indians that he
was as one of themselves, had omitted no means of securing their amity;
had danced and sung with them and smiled approvingly on their butcherings
and scalpings; and he had no right to imagine that they would believe him
sincere in his promise to spare the prisoners. It was too late for him to
cry "Kill me, but spare them!" after the massacre had commenced. It was
his duty to have taken measures to render such a thing impossible
beforehand. He had touched pitch, and was denied.

Disgrace and panic reigned among all the English commanders. Webb
whimpered to be allowed to fall back on the Hudson with his six thousand
men; Loudoun cowered in New York with his large army, and could think of
no better way of defending the northwest frontier than by intrenching
himself on Long Island. There was not an Englishman in the Ohio or the St.
Lawrence Basins. Everywhere beyond the narrow strip of the colonies the
French were paramount. In Europe, England's position was almost as
contemptible. Such was the result of the attempt of the aristocracy to
rule England. There was only one man who could save England, and he was an
old man, poor, a commoner, and sick almost to death. But in 1757 William
Pitt was called to the English helm, accepted the responsibility, and
steered the country from her darkest to her most brilliant hour. The
campaigns which drove the soldiers of Louis XV. out of America were the
first chapter of the movement which ended in the expulsion of the British
from the territory of the United States. Catholicism and Protestantism
were arrayed against each other for the last time. Pitt was the man of the
people; his ambition, though generous, was as great as his abilities; the
colonies knew him as their friend. "I can save this country, and nobody
else can," he said; and bent his final energies to making England the
foremost nation in the world, and the most respected. The faith of Rome
allied France with Austria; and Prussia, with Frederic the Great, standing
as the sole bulwark of Protestantism on the Continent, was inevitably
drawn toward England.

With one movement of his all-powerful hand, Pitt reversed the oppressive
and suicidal policy of the colonial administration. Loudoun was recalled;
his excuses were vain. Amherst and Wolfe were sent out. The colonies were
told that no compulsion should be put upon them; they were expected to
levy, clothe and pay their men, but the government would repay their
outlay. Instantly they responded, and their contributions exceeded all
anticipation. Massachusetts taxed herself thirteen and fourpence in the
pound. Provincial officers not above colonel ranked with the British, and
a new spirit animated all. On the other hand, Canada suffered from famine,
and Montcalm foresaw eventual defeat. Amherst and Wolfe, with ten thousand
men, captured Louisburg and destroyed the fortifications. At the same
time, a great army was collected against Ticonderoga. Nine thousand
provincials, with Stark, Israel Putnam, and six hundred New England
rangers, camped side by side with over six thousand troops of the British
regulars under Abercrombie and Lord Howe. The French under Montcalm had
erected Fort Carillon on the outlet from Lake George to Champlain,
approachable only from the northwest. It was here that he planned his
defense. The English disembarked on the west side of the lake, protected
by Point Howe. In marching round the bend they came upon a French party of
three hundred and defeated them, Howe falling in the first attack.
Montcalm was behind intrenchments with thirty-six hundred men; Abercrombie
rashly gave orders to carry the works by storm without waiting for cannon,
but was careful to remain far in the rear during the action. The attack
was most gallantly and persistently delivered; nearly two thousand men,
mostly regulars, were killed; and, at the end of the murderous day,
Montcalm remained master of the field. Abercrombie still had four times as
many men as Montcalm, and with his artillery could easily have carried the
works and captured Ticonderoga; but he was by this time "distilled almost
to a jelly by the act of fear" and fled headlong at once. Montcalm had not
yet met his match.

Bradstreet, however, with seven hundred Massachusetts men and eleven
hundred New Yorkers, crossed Lake Ontario and took Port Frontenac, the
garrison fleeing at their approach. Amherst, on hearing of Abercrombie's
cowardice, embarked for Boston with over four thousand men, marched thence
to Albany and on to the camp; Abercrombie was sent to England, and Amherst
took his place as chief. The capture of Fort Duquesne was the first thing
planned. Over forty-five hundred men were raised in South Carolina,
Pennsylvania and Virginia; Joseph Forbes commanded them as
brigadier-general; Washington led the Virginians; John Armstrong and the
boy, Anthony Wayne, were with the Pennsylvanians. Washington, who had clad
part of his men in Indian deerskins, wanted to follow Braddock's line of
march; but Forbes, who had not long to live, though his brain remained
clear, preferred to build a road by which ready communication with
Philadelphia could be kept up. Washington got news that the Fort had but
eight hundred defenders, and a strong reconnaissance was sent forward,
without his knowledge, under Major Grant, who, thinking he had the French
at advantage, exposed himself and was defeated with a loss of three
hundred. The remaining five hundred reached camp in good order, thanks to
the discipline which had been given them by Washington. Forbes had decided
to advance no further that season--it was then November; but Washington
had information which caused him to gain permission to advance with
twenty-five hundred provincials, and he occupied intrenchments near
Duquesne. Nine days later the rest of the army arrived; and the garrison
of the Fort set fire to it at night and fled. The place was entered by the
troops, Armstrong raised the British flag, and at Forbes' suggestion it
was rechristened Pittsburgh. And there, above the confluence of the two
rivers, the city named after the Great Commoner stands to-day. A vast and
fertile country was thenceforward opened to the east. After burying the
bleaching bones of the men killed under Braddock, a garrison was left on
the spot, and the rest of the army returned.

Washington, who had seen five years' arduous service, resigned his
commission, and after receiving cordial honors from his fellow officers
and the Virginia legislature, married the widow, Martha Custis, and
settled down as a planter in Mount Vernon. He was a delegate to the
Virginia House of Burgesses and to the Continental Congresses of 1774 and
1775; but it was not until the latter year that he reappeared as a
soldier, accepting the command of the Continental forces on the 15th of
June, not against the French, but against the English.

In 1759 the genius and spirit of Pitt began to be fully felt. The English
were triumphant in Europe, and a comprehensive plan for the conquest of
Canada was intrusted for the first time to men capable of carrying it out.
Thousands of men were enlisted and paid for by the colonies north of
Maryland. Stanwix, Amherst, Prideaux and Wolfe were the chiefs in command.
Fifty thousand English and provincial troops were opposed by not more than
an eighth as many half-starved Frenchmen and Canadians. Montcalm had no
illusions; he told the French Minister of War that, barring extraordinary
accidents, Canada's hour had come; but he "was resolved to find his grave
under the ruins of the colony." And young General Wolfe had said, on being
given the department of the St. Lawrence, "I feel called upon to justify
the notice taken of me by such exertions and exposure of myself as will
probably lead to my fall." The premonitions of both these valiant soldiers
were fulfilled. Wolfe was at this time thirty-two years of age, and had
spent half his life in the army. The Marquis de Montcalm was forty-seven
when he fell on the Plains of Abraham. Neither general had been defeated
up to the moment they faced each other; neither could succumb to any less
worthy adversary.

But the first objective point was not Quebec, but Fort Niagara, which,
standing between Erie and Ontario, commanded the fur trade of the country
to the west. Prideaux, with an adequate force of English, Americans and
Indians, invested the place in July, D'Aubry, the French commander,
bringing up twelve hundred men to relieve it. Just before the action,
Prideaux was killed by the bursting of a mountain howitzer, but Sir
William Johnson was at hand to take his place. On the 24th the battle took
place; the French were flanked by the English Indians, and charged by the
English; they broke and fled, and the Fort surrendered next day. Stanwix
had meanwhile taken possession of all the French posts between Pittsburgh
and Erie. The English had got their enemy on the run all along the line.
Gage was the only English officer to disgrace himself in this campaign; he
squirmed out of compliance with Amherst's order to occupy the passes of
Ogdensburgh. Amherst, with artillery and eleven thousand men, advanced on
the hitherto invincible Ticonderoga. The French knew they were beaten, and
therefore, instead of fighting, abandoned the famous stronghold and Crown
Point, and retreated down to Isle aux Nois, whither Amherst should have
followed them. Instead of doing so, he took to building and repairing
fortifications--the last infirmity of military minds of a certain order
--and finally went into winter quarters with nothing further done.
Amherst, at the end of the war, received the routine rewards of a
well-meaning and not defeated commander-in-chief; but it was Wolfe who won
immortality.

He collected his force of eight thousand men, including two battalions of
"Royal Americans," at Louisburg; among his ship captains was Cook the
explorer; Lieutenant-colonel Howe commanded a body of light infantry.
Before the end of June the army stepped ashore on the island that fills
the channel of the St. Lawrence below Quebec, called the Isle of Orleans.
Montcalm's camp was between them and the tall acclivity on which stood the
famous fortress, which had defied capture for a hundred and thirty years.
The French outnumbered the English, but neither the physical condition nor
the morale of their troops was good. That beetling cliff was the ally on
which Montcalm most depended. All the landing-places up stream for nine
miles had been fortified: the small river St. Charles covered with its
sedgy marshes the approach on the north and east, while on the west
another stream, the Montmorenci, rising nearly at the same place as the
St. Charles, falls in cataracts into the St. Lawrence nine miles above the
citadel. All these natural features had been improved by military art.
High up, north and west of the city, spread the broad Plains of Abraham.

Wolfe's fleet commanded the river and the south shore. Point Levi, on
this shore, opposite Quebec, was fortified by the English, and siege guns
were mounted there, the channel being but a mile wide; the lower town
could be reached by the red-hot balls, but not the lofty citadel. After
personally examining the region during the greater part of July, Wolfe
decided on a double attack; one party to ford the Montmorenci, which was
practicable at a certain hour of the tide, and the other to cross over in
boats from Point Levi. But the boats grounded on some rocks in the
channel; and Wolfe was repulsed at the Montmorenci. Four hundred men were
lost. An expedition was now sent up stream to open communication with
Amherst; but though it was learned that Niagara, Crown Point and
Ticonderoga had fallen, Amherst did not appear. Wolfe must do his work
alone; the entire population of the country was against him, and the
strongest natural fortification in the world. His eager anxiety threw him
into a fever. "My constitution is entirely ruined, without the consolation
of having done any considerable service to the state, and without any
prospect of it," was what he wrote to the English government. Four days
afterward he was dying victorious on the Plains of Abraham.

The early Canadian winter would soon be at hand. The impossible must be
done, and at once. Wolfe, after several desperate proposals of his had
been rejected by the council of war, made a feint in force up the river,
in the hope of getting Montcalm where he could fight him. He scrutinized
the precipitous north shore as with a magnifying glass. At last, on the
11th of September, the hope that had so long been burning within him was
gratified. But what a hope! A headlong goat-track cleft its zigzag way up
the awful steep, and emerged at last upon the dizzy and breathless height
above. Two men could scarce climb abreast in it; and even this was
defended by fortifications, and at the summit, against the sky, tents
could be seen. Yet this was the only way to victory: only by this
heartbreaking path could England drive France from the western continent,
and give a mighty nation to the world. Wolfe saw, and was content; where
one man could go, thousands might follow. And he perceived that the very
difficulty of the enterprise was the best assurance of its success. The
place was defended indeed, but not strongly. Montcalm knew what daring
could accomplish, but even he had not dreamed of daring such as this.
Wolfe, with a great soul kindled into flame by the resolve to achieve a
feat almost beyond mortal limitations, dared it, and prevailed.

Till the hour of action, he kept his troops far up the stream. By the
13th, all preparations were made. Night came on, calm, like the heart of
the hero who knows that the culminating moment of his destiny has arrived.
At such a crisis, the mortal part of the man is transfigured by the
towering spirit, and his eyes pierce through the veils of things. His life
lies beneath him, and he contemplates its vicissitudes with the high
tranquillity of an immortal freedom. What is death to him who has already
triumphed over the fetters of the flesh, and tasted the drink of
immortality? He is the trustee of the purpose of God; and the guerdon his
deed deserves can be nothing less noble than to die.

It was at one in the morning that the adventure was begun. Silently the
boats moved down the stream, the dark ships following in silence.
Thousands of brave hearts beat with heroic resolve beneath the eternal
stars. The shadowy cove was gained; Wolfe's foot has touched the shore; as
the armed figures follow and gather at the foot of the ascent, no words
are spoken, but what an eloquence in those faces! Upward they climb, afire
with zeal; Howe has won a battery; upward! the picket on the height, too
late aroused from sleep by the stern miracle, is overpowered. With panting
lungs man after man tops the ascent and sees the darkling plain and forms
in line with his comrades, while still the stream winds up endlessly from
the depths below. The earth is giving birth to an army. Coiling upward,
deploying, ranging out, rank after rank they are extended along the front
of the forest, with Quebec before them. No drum has beat; no bugle has
spoken; but Wolfe is there, his spirit is in five thousand breasts, and
there needs no trumpet for the battle.

As the last of the army formed upon the rugged field, dawn broke upon the
east, and soon the early sunshine sparkled on their weapons and glowed
along the ranks of English red. Meanwhile Montcalm had been apprised; his
first instinct of incredulity had been swept away by the inevitable truth,
and he manned himself for the struggle. Often had he conquered against
odds; but now his spirit must bow before a spirit stronger than his, as
Antony's before Augustus. And what had he to oppose against the seasoned
veterans of the English army, thrice armed in the consciousness of their
unparalleled achievement?--Five weak and astounded battalions, and a horde
of inchoate peasants. But Montcalm did not falter; by ten he had taken up
his position, and by eleven, after some ineffectual cannonading, to allow
time for the arrival of re-enforcements which came not, he led the charge.
The attack was disordered by the uneven ground, the fences and the
ravines; and it was broken by the granite front of the English
(three-fourths of them Americans) and their long-reserved and withering
fire. The undisciplined Canadians flinched from that certain death; and
Wolfe, advancing on them with his grenadiers, saw them melt away before
the cold steel could reach them. The two leaders faced each other, both
equally undaunted and alert; it was like a duel between them; no opening
was missed, no chance neglected. The smoke hung in the still air of
morning; the long lines of men swayed and undulated beneath it obscurely,
and the roar of musketry dinned terribly in the ear, here slackening for a
moment, there breaking forth in volleying thunders; and men were dropping
everywhere; there were shoutings from the captains, the fierce crash of
cheers, yells of triumph or agony, and the faint groans of the wounded
unto death. Wolfe was hit, but he did not heed it; Montcalm has received a
musket ball, but he cannot yet die. The English battle does not yield; it
advances, the light of victory is upon it. Backward stagger the French;
Montcalm strives to check the fatal movement, but the flying death has
torn its way through his body, and he can no more. Wolfe, even as the day
was won, got his death wound in the breast, but "Support me--don't let my
brave fellows see me drop," he gasped out. His thoughts were with his
army; let the retreat of the enemy be cut off; and he died with a happy
will, and with God's name on his lips. Montcalm lingered, suggesting means
by which to retrieve the day; but the power of France died with him.
Quebec was lost and won; and human history was turned into a new channel,
and no longer flowing through the caverns of mediaeval error, rolled its
current toward the sunlight of liberty and progress. "The more a man is
versed in business, the more he finds the hand of Providence everywhere,"
was the reply of William Pitt, when Parliament congratulated him on the
victory. He had wrought his plans with wisdom and zeal; but "except the
Lord build the city, they labor in vain who build it." There have been
great statesmen and brave soldiers, before Pitt and Wolfe, and since; but
there could be only one fall of Quebec, with all which that implied.

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