How Canada Was Won: A Tale of Wolfe and Quebec

by F. S. Brereton

There was an emphatic nod in answer to his question, and then for a while the two sat staring at the fire, each busy with his thoughts.

For who could doubt that the total extermination of the British colonists was intended? The French were rapidly pushing south and east, and in front of them ran a swarm of their Indians, massacring and slaying, and steadily pushing back the British settlers. To understand the position of affairs, and the facts which had led up to the moment when Steve and his friends arrived at the camp where George Washington and his small army had settled themselves on the Alleghany Mountains, it would be well for the reader to study a map of North America, and trace for himself the possessions held by the French and the English. For it must be remembered that these two nations, each jealous of the other, and often at war with each other, had sent their settlers and pioneers to this huge continent of North America. To describe how the first of those settlers landed, how they fought their way from the coast and conquered the forests, would be to enter upon a subject which would need abundant space and more attention than can be given here. But the history of those days is filled to repletion with tales of gallant deeds, of perseverance against great suffering and difficulty, and of final and glorious success. It will be sufficient perhaps if we say, when dealing with the British colonies, that Quakers and Puritans, together with others from England and Wales, also Scotchmen and Irishmen, found their way to the eastern shores of North America, and having dealt with the Indians, finally founded states, thirteen in number, stretching from New England in the north to infant Georgia in the south.

Let the reader glance down the eastern coast of the map, and he will trace these thirteen States without difficulty, and will notice that, while each has easy access to the sea, where the coast naturally limits further extension in that direction, to the west there is a huge sweep of country running right across to the Pacific coast, but broken here and there by mountain and river and vast inland lakes. Then let him take those States in their order from the north, and ascertain what reason there was why each one should not extend to the west till her people flooded the whole continent.

It may be admitted at once that abundance of time was one of the main requirements for bringing about such a state of affairs, for colonies do not grow in a day, and putting aside all natural barriers, and those erected by the hostility of the old inhabitants, whom the colonists will in course of time drive from their own country, many, many years must pass before the tide of immigrants flows across the land. For those who come first naturally select suitable places nearest the coast, while those who come later settle within reach of their friends, exchanging commodities with them. Later arrivals are forced farther and farther away, till in time the settlements are found miles and miles from the coast. Look at North America to-day. She has added many states to those thirteen which existed in the days when Steve sat in the log hut with George Washington. Her people have overflowed the country, they have pushed the Red Indian back steadily, and to-day they swarm in almost every part. The virgin forest of that day, the haunt of the buffalo and the hunting grounds of the Indian, now resound to the clang of the hammer, to the crash of the train, and to the hum and roar of a thriving population. Thousands come to the land every year to swell the throng, and paucity of population is no longer a source of anxious thought for the governments of the various States.

But it was in the year 1756. All told, the colonists of those thirteen States did not exceed a million and a half, while each one of the States may be said to have been of the size of England. It will be realised at once that it was all that such a population could do to colonise the neighbourhood of the coast, and that if the western border was to extend, thousands must come out to the country. As a matter of fact, however, few though the colonists were, their farms extended a considerable distance from the coast, and save in the towns, where they lived close together, the settlers were separated by wide intervals. They placed their huts for the most part in the fertile valleys, clinging to the rivers, thus having at hand the means of getting their corn and produce to the coast. And slowly, as the land was taken up, settlers took their farms farther and farther away, till some barrier arrested further progress. Such a barrier existed, and a glance at the map will show the position of the Alleghany Mountains, extending from Pennsylvania down to Georgia. It was not, of course, an obstacle which could not be surmounted, but it was for all that an obstacle which turned the would-be farmer back, for the simple reason that, with such a range stretching between him and the coast, there was no possibility of his getting his produce to market. Moreover, on the far side of that range Indians inhabited the forests, and they were an enemy to be reckoned with and feared.

CANADA and OUR AMERICAN COLONY in 1755.

Thus it happened that from Pennsylvania south to Georgia there was every inducement to the young colonies to be satisfied with what land they already possessed, while to the north, where the natural barrier of the Alleghany Mountains did not exist, there were other barriers, none the less formidable, which held the State of New York and those of New England in check. Stretching between them and the unknown west lay the country inhabited by the Iroquois, consisting of six nations of Indians who had banded themselves together for purposes of offence and defence, and who were friendly to our colonists. To think of snatching their hunting lands from them, was to think of a relentless and fearful war, which might damage the prosperity of the colonies. Farther north there ran the huge river St. Lawrence, with the French and their so-called Christian Indians for ever ready to sweep over the frontier.

It will be realized then, that there was reason why the young States should not extend, but in dealing with them, one must not forget the host of trappers and hunters belonging to each State, who, like the Indians, steadily and surely pushed on away from the settlers. For where there were villages there was little game, and it was upon the latter that they depended for a livelihood. And so it happened that, while the colonies proper came to an end at the slopes of the Alleghany mountains, the trappers clambered over the range, and descended into the country beyond. And in course of time, when their numbers had increased and they had driven the Indians back after many a battle, they too formed settlements, adventurous farmers joined them, cleared the forest, and lived the dual life of farmer and trapper. Then the restless spirit of the hunters took them on again, till the forests west of the mountains harboured many and many a gallant trapper, till their solitary log huts were seen in the valley of the Ohio, on the banks of the Monongahela, the Alleghany, and the Kenawha.