Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold urged very strenuously upon Congress the importance of an expedition for the conquest of Canada. There were about seven hundred British regulars occupying different posts in that province. The Indians generally loved the French. But they hated the English, who had always treated them with contempt, which they keenly felt. Many of these chiefs were now eager to join the Americans against the English, though the rich government of Great Britain could offer them far higher bribes. A delegation of the highest chiefs, from several of the important tribes on the St. Lawrence, visited Washington at Cambridge. They were received with those tokens of respect which their rank, character, and mission demanded.
Washington invited them all to dine with him and his leading officers. It was remarked that in dignity of demeanor and propriety of deportment they conducted themselves like men who from infancy had been accustomed to the usages of good society. A council was held. The chiefs offered, in behalf of their several tribes, to coöperate in any movement for the invasion of Canada.
It was an embarrassing offer. Congress had voted not to enter into any alliance with the Indians unless the British should call the savages to their aid. But the chief of the St. Francis Indians declared that Colonel Guy Carleton, who commanded the British forces in Canada, had offered them large rewards if they would take up arms against the Americans. An express was sent to General Schuyler at Albany, to ascertain whether the British were endeavoring to enlist the Indians on their side. It so happened that General Schuyler was then attending a conference of the chiefs of the Six Nations. He declared that there was no question whatever that General Carleton and his agents were attempting to rouse the Indian tribes.
It was decided that while General Schuyler should conduct troops, by the way of Ticonderoga upon Montreal, General Arnold should lead an expedition, of about twelve hundred men, up the valley of the Kennebec, in Maine, to make an assault upon Quebec.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Siege of Boston.
The Challenge—Bold Plan of Washington—The Expedition to Canada—The Conflagration of Falmouth—Barbarism of the Foe—The Captured Brigantine—A gleam of Joy—Cruel treatment of Ethan Allen—Correspondence with General Howe—Efficiency of “Old Put”—A Servile War proposed by Dunmore—Lady Washington arrives at the Camp—The Tumult Quelled—Peril of the diminished Army—New York menaced—Deplorable condition of the English—Washington fortifies Dorchester Heights—Boston Evacuated.
Several weeks passed away, while Washington vigorously prosecuted the siege of the British troops in Boston. Having strengthened his intrenchments, and obtained a sufficient supply of ammunition, he was quite desirous of inciting them to make an attack upon his lines. A rumor reached him, the latter part of August, that General Gage, annoyed by the scarcity of provisions, was preparing for a sortie, in great strength. Washington endeavored to provoke the movement by offering a sort of challenge.
He accordingly, one night detached fourteen hundred men, to seize upon an eminence within musket shot of an important part of the British lines upon Charleston Neck. He hoped that the enemy, upon discovering the movement, would immediately advance to drive them back; and that thus a general engagement might be brought on.
