That bitter defeat cost us two thousand men, for the most part men of the regular regiments, though the colonial militia did their duty admirably. Indeed, as has been said, there was never any lack of bravery. The soldiers one and all were filled with the utmost courage and zeal.
Steve and his little band soon found more work to do, for Bradstreet, a popular and very dashing New England officer serving with Abercromby, jumped at the news which Mr. Mainwaring was able to give. Frontenac, a French port at the entrance to Lake Ontario, and almost opposite the forts at Oswego which Montcalm had captured and burned, had for a long time been of the utmost importance to the French. But to meet Abercromby at Ticonderoga, and Amherst at Louisbourg, the French had been compelled to denude it of its troops. Bradstreet at once took advantage of this news. With Steve and Jim leading his forces, he went by river and land, taking the Mohawk route, and after a long struggle reached the lake. From there he paddled across to Frontenac, captured the place, for there were only a hundred soldiers to defend it, and promptly burned the forts and town, together with some armed vessels lying off it, and enormous stores of food and armaments, powder and ball, which had been collected there. In fact, he delivered a blow of the utmost consequence, and one which helped not a little to counteract the defeat we had received at Ticonderoga. Let any reader who may happen to sail into Lake Ontario just glance at the fine city of Kingston, and remember that it was there, on the site which this city occupies, that Steve and his friends, with Bradstreet in command, inflicted a blow on the French which was of the utmost consequence, and which helped to make this eventful year of 1758 stand out prominently in our annals.
To their success was added that of Forbes, sent against Fort Duquesne. It will be remembered that it was here that Braddock had met with defeat, and that the fort from its position was necessarily a thorn in our sides. Forbes was faced with stupendous difficulties, not the least of which was the terrible weather he met with. It seemed, indeed, as if he would never reach his destination, for he had miles of forest to traverse, and a host of undisciplined troops to deal with. So certain did it appear that he would not persevere in his attempt, that the French reduced their garrison. However, Forbes, in spite of ill-health, was a man of bull-dog determination, and he eventually reached the fort, took it, and changed its name to that of Pitt. The thriving city of Pittsburg now occupies the site where Duquesne stood.
One other item has to be mentioned in the description of this year's doings. A gallant Moravian missionary, one Post by name, offered to undertake a journey to the Ohio Indians, who, led by the French, had for so long been harrying our Alleghany frontiers. This brave man went not once only, but twice to these people, at the risk of almost certain torture and death, and finally persuaded the fierce braves to give up their alliance with the French, to cease their slaughter, and to bury the hatchet with the six nations. For the tide of war was changing. The tale of Frontenac, and of Louisbourg, had reached to the farthest wigwams, and no Indian existed who did not desire above all things to be on the winning side, the side to which most reward and plunder would come.
Thus our generals found themselves with a huge weight off their minds. Ticonderoga still existed, and it alone barred our advance up those lakes, St. George and Champlain, to Canada itself. The winter of 1758 found Pitt with another policy, pushing on his preparations for carrying it out when the spring should have come to break up the ice in the mighty St. Lawrence. Quebec was to be the objective, and Brigadier-General Wolfe, the silent, active leader, was to command. Nor was Steve to be left out of the expedition, for hardly had the month of May, 1759, come when a message reached him.
"To Captain Steve Mainwaring," it read, "From General Wolfe. Please make it convenient to travel to New York at the earliest date, and from there join the fleet making for Quebec. I have urgent need of your services."
Steve packed his clothing, took Jim and Mac and his father with him, and set off at once, eager to see again the fair city in which he had been so long a prisoner.