[57] The official report of these affairs is in Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vi, pp. 150-161, 180, 181, 186-191.—Ed.
[58] On Croghan’s relations to Braddock’s expedition, see Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vi, pp. 372, 381, 398; New York Colonial Documents, vi, p. 973.—Ed.
[59] Colonel James Innes was an elderly Scotch officer, who had served under the king’s commission in the West Indies, and had settled in North Carolina. He commanded the contingent from that colony that came to the assistance of Virginia in 1754. On the death of Colonel Joshua Fry, Dinwiddie appointed Innes, who was his personal friend, to the position of commander-in-chief of the colonial army, of which Washington was acting commandant. Innes got no further than Fort Cumberland, where he remained as commander of the fort, alternately appealing to his former royal commission, and to his colonial authorization, for authority to maintain his rank.—Ed.
[60] The years between the last document (1757) and the commencement of this journey (October 21, 1760) had been eventful ones for the future of American history. The French and Indian War, which until the close of 1757 had resulted only in a series of disasters to the English, was pursued with greater vigor when a change of administration sent able officers and leaders to America. The evacuation of Fort Duquesne (1758), the capture of Niagara and Quebec (1759), and the final capitulation of all Canada at Montreal (1760) gave the mastery of the continent to the English, and opened the portals of the West. Croghan was occupied during these momentous years with Indian negotiations of great importance. As deputy of Sir William Johnson, he endeavored to hold the Six Nations firm in their alliance, to pacify the frontier tribes, and finally to announce to the expectant savages the English victory, and their transfer to British authority. In 1757, he was employed in making peace with the Susquehanna Indians (Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vii, pp. 517-551, 656-714; Pennsylvania Archives, iii, pp. 248, 319; New York Colonial Documents, vii, pp. 321-324); and made a journey to Fort Loudoun, in Tennessee to sound the disposition of the Cherokees—(Pennsylvania Colonial Records vii, pp. 600, 630). His influence was relied upon to pave the way for Forbes’s army (1758), and he was present at the important treaty at Easton, in October of this year—(Pennsylvania Archives, iii, p. 429; Pennsylvania Colonial Records, viii, pp. 175-223; Stone, Life of Sir William Johnson, ii, p. 389). Croghan also accompanied Forbes’s expedition, and assisted in pacifying the Allegheny Indians. The journal in Pennsylvania Archives, iii, pp. 560-563, designated as Journal of Frederick Post from Pittsburgh, 1758, is really Croghan’s journal, as a comparison with Post’s journal for these dates will reveal. Early in the next year we find Croghan at Fort Pitt, holding constant conferences with Western Indians (Pennsylvania Colonial Records, viii, pp. 387-391; Pennsylvania Archives, iii, pp. 671, 744), where he remained until ordered to join the expedition sent out under Major Rogers to secure possession of Detroit and other Western posts, included in the capitulation at Montreal. The diary of this journey, which we here publish, is reprinted from Massachusetts Historical Collections, 4th series, ix, pp. 362-379. Other letters of Croghan’s are found in the same volume, pp. 246-253, 260, 266, 283-289. These all relate to Indian affairs, and the information being brought in by his scouts and messengers of conditions in the country lying westward—of the agitation, alarm, and confusion among the Indian hostiles, who were eager to give in their allegiance to their conquering English “brothers.” This journal of the voyage to Detroit admirably supplements that of Major Robert Rogers, commandant of the party which Croghan accompanied, whose account has been the standard authority. It was published in Dublin, 1770, and several reprints have been issued, the best of which is that edited by Hough, Rogers’s Journals, 1755-1760 (Albany, 1883).—Ed.
[61] Major Robert Rogers, the noted partisan leader, was born in New Hampshire. On the outbreak of the French and Indian War he raised a company of scouts known as “Rogers’s Rangers,” who did great service on the New York frontier. After receiving the surrender of Detroit and attempting in vain to reach Mackinac, he was again sent to Detroit to relieve the garrison in Pontiac’s War, after which he proceeded against the Cherokees in the South. About this time he was retired on half pay, and visited England, where he published his journals, and a Concise Account of North America. In 1766, he was assigned to the command of the important post of Mackinac, and there schemed to betray the fort to the Spaniards. The plot having been discovered, he was tried in Montreal, but secured an acquittal, when he visited England a second time, only to be thrown into prison for debt. During the Revolution he led a body of Loyalists, and having been banished from New Hampshire retired to England (1780), where he died about 1800.—Ed.
[62] Fort Presqu’ Isle was built by the French expedition under Marin in the spring of 1753, on the site of the present city of Erie, Pennsylvania. It was a post of much importance in maintaining the communication between Niagara, Detroit, and the Forks of the Ohio. After the fall of Fort Duquesne at the latter site (1758), a large garrison was collected at Fort Presqu’ Isle, and a movement to re-possess the Ohio country was being organized, when the capture of Niagara (1759) threw the project into confusion. Johnson sent out a party to relieve the French officer at this place, and a detachment of the Royal Americans commanded by Colonel Henry Bouquet advanced from Fort Pitt and took possession of the stronghold. The fort was captured by Indians during Pontiac’s conspiracy (June 17, 1763), as graphically related by Parkman. After this uprising, a British detachment controlled the place until the final surrender of the posts to the United States in 1796. Within the same year, General Anthony Wayne, returning from his fruitful campaign against the Indians, died in the old blockhouse of the fort. Some remains of the works are still to be seen at Erie.—Ed.
[63] Captain Donald Campbell was a Scotch officer who came to America with the 62nd regiment in 1756, and was made captain of the Royal Americans in 1759. After accompanying this expedition to Detroit (1760), he was left in command of that post (see letter from Campbell, Massachusetts Historical Collections, 4th series, ix, p. 382), and when superseded by Major Gladwin remained as lieutenant-commander. Leaving the fort on an embassy, during the Pontiac uprising (1763), he was treacherously seized, made captive, and cruelly murdered by the Indian hostiles. See Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac (Boston, 1851), chaps. 11 and 14.—Ed.
[64] Marin’s expedition (1753), that erected forts Presqu’ Isle and Le Bœuf, intended to plant a fort at Venango, at the junction of French Creek with the Allegheny; the first detachment sent out for that purpose was, however, repulsed by the Indians. When Washington visited the place (December, 1753), he found the French flag flying over the house of an English trader, Frazier, who had been driven from the spot. The following year, the French built an outpost on this site, and named it Fort Machault. When Post passed by here in 1758, he found it garrisoned by but six men and a single officer; see [post]. The French abandoned Fort Machault in 1759, and early the following spring the English built Fort Venango, about forty rods nearer the mouth of the creek. At the outbreak of Pontiac’s War, the latter fort was commanded by Lieutenant Gordon, and he with all the garrison were captured, tortured, and murdered by Indian foes. No fort was rebuilt at this place until late in the Revolution, when Fort Franklin was erected for the protection of the border, being garrisoned from 1788-96. The present town of Franklin was laid out around the post in 1795.—Ed.
[65] The French Fort Le Bœuf (technically, “Fort de la Rivière aux Bœufs”) was built by Marin (1753) on a creek of the same name, at the site of the present town of Waterford, the terminus of the road which Marin caused to be constructed south from Presqu’ Isle. This was the destination of Washington’s expedition in 1753, and here he met the French commandant, Legardeur de St. Pierre. The fort at this place was farmed out to a French officer, who superintended the portage of provisions from Lake Erie to the Ohio. Post found it garrisoned by about thirty soldiers in 1758; see [post]. The following year, after the French had abandoned it, a detachment of the Royal Americans went forward from Fort Pitt to occupy this stronghold; and three years later Ensign Price was beleaguered therein by the Indians, and barely escaped with his life after a brave but futile defense. The Indians destroyed Fort Le Bœuf by fire, and it was never rebuilt. In 1794, another fort with the same name was erected near the old site, and garrisoned until after the War of 1812-15. Subsequently the structure was used as a hotel, until accidentally burned in 1868.—Ed.
[66] General Robert Monckton, a son of the Viscount of Galway, began his military career by service in Flanders (1742). He came to America about 1750, and was stationed at Halifax, being appointed governor of Nova Scotia (1754-56). After being transferred to the Royal Americans (1757), he was at the siege of Louisburg in 1758, and the following year was made second in command for the capture of Quebec. Promoted for gallant services, he was placed in control of the Western department, and had headquarters at Fort Pitt, where Rogers had been detailed to seek him for orders with reference to the latter’s Western expedition. General Monckton was military governor of New York City, 1761-63. During that time he made an expedition to the West Indies, and captured Martinique. Returning to England he was made governor of Berwick (1766), and later of Portsmouth, which he represented in Parliament. He refused to take a commission to serve against the Americans in the Revolutionary War.—Ed.