A quota of these poor, unhappy people were sent to every British North American colony, where, broken-hearted and disconsolate, they became burdens on the public charity, and failed not to excite pity by their misery, spite of the hatred to them as Catholics and the exasperation produced by the protracted war. Some few made their way to France; others to Canada, St. Domingo, and Louisiana; and to those who reached the latter country, lands were assigned above New Orleans, still known as the Acadian coast. A number of those sent to Georgia constructed rude boats, and endeavoured to return to their beloved homes in the Bay of Fundy. Generally speaking, they died in exile, the victims of dejection and despair.
It will be remembered by our readers, doubtless, that one of the finest poems which America has produced, “Evangeline,” by Longfellow, is founded on this cruel and unjustifiable outrage on humanity.
The English, in the meantime, as if their arms were not to be blessed, had met with a severe repulse in their attempt to drive the French from the Ohio. Braddock’s troops landed at Alexandria, a small town at the mouth of the Potomac, early in June; and Colonel Washington, being permitted to retain his rank in consequence of the reputation he had already attained, joined the expedition soon after. Braddock made very light of the whole campaign; being stopped at the commencement of his march, for want of horses and wagons, he told Benjamin Franklin, that after having taken Fort Du Quesne, whither he was hastening, he should proceed to Niagara, and having taken that, to Frontenac. “Du Quesne,” said he, “will not detain me above three or four days, and then I see nothing which can obstruct my march to Niagara.” Franklin calmly replied, that the Indians were dexterous in laying and executing ambuscades. “The savages,” replied Braddock, “may he formidable to your raw American militia; upon the king’s regulars it is impossible that they should make any impression.”
Among the wagoners, whom the energy of Franklin obtained, was Daniel Morgan, famous as a village wrestler, who had emigrated as a day-labourer from New Jersey to Virginia, and who, having saved his wages, was now the owner of a team, all unconscious of his future greatness.[[3]] By the advice of Washington, owing to the difficulty of obtaining horses and wagons, the heavy baggage was left under the care of Colonel Dunbar, with an escort of 600 men; and Braddock, at the head of 1,300 picked men, proceeded forward more rapidly. Fort Du Quesne, in the meantime, was receiving reinforcements.
Braddock was by no means deficient in courage or military skill, but he was wholly ignorant of the mode of conducting warfare amid American woods and morasses; and to make this deficiency the greater, he undervalued the American troops, nor would profit by the opinions and experience of American officers. Washington urged the expediency of employing the Indians, who, under the well-known chief Half-king, had already offered their services as scouts and advance parties; but Braddock rejected both the advice and this offered aid, and that so rudely that Half-king himself and his Indians were seriously offended.
It was now the 9th of July, and the governor of Du Quesne almost gave up his fort as lost; for Braddock and his army were that morning only twelve miles distant. Washington, about noon riding a little a-head, looked back from the height above the right bank of the Monongahala, and beheld the advanced guard of regulars, headed by Lieutenant-colonel Gage, advancing, with all the glitter of their brilliant uniform, into an open wood. At that moment the Indian war-whoop sounded, and they were fired upon from all quarters by an invisible foe. The assailants, about 200 French and 600 Indians, hidden in some ravines on each side of the road and amid the long grass, poured in a deadly fire: the British troops, seized with sudden panic, were thrown into hopeless confusion, and would have fled, but that Braddock rallied them and exerted himself to the utmost to restore order. Succeeding in part, and preserving something like the order of battle, the horrors of the moment were increased; for his men, “penned like sheep in a fold,” were the better mark for the invisible enemy, who themselves, expecting merely to harass, never hoping to defeat, were astonished at their own success. The Indians, singling out the officers, shot down every one; of eighty-six officers, twenty-six were killed and thirty-seven wounded; of the men one-half were killed or wounded. Washington alone seemed to be preserved as by an especial Providence. In vain the Indian singled him out also as a mark for his rifle; no bullet took his life, though two horses were shot under him, and four bullets, after the battle, were found lodged in his coat. Well might the savage exclaim, “Some powerful Manitou guards his life!” This singular preservation of the young Washington, in the midst of death, attracted the attention of all. “I cannot but hope,” said a learned divine, a month afterwards, “that Providence has preserved that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, in so especial a manner for some important service to his country.” And in England Lord Halifax inquired, “Who is this Mr. Washington? I know nothing of him; but they say that he behaved in Braddock’s action as bravely as if he loved the whistling of bullets.”
Braddock remained undismayed amid the shower of bullets; five horses were shot under him, and at length a ball entering his right side, he fell mortally wounded. With difficulty he was borne off the field; for many hours he remained silent; towards evening he said, “Who would have thought it?” On the 12th, Braddock being conveyed to Dunbar’s camp, the remaining artillery was destroyed, the public stores and heavy baggage burnt, to the value of £100,000, Dunbar assigning as the reason, the dying general’s commands. The next day they retreated, and the same night Braddock died; his last words being, “We shall know better how to deal with them another time.” His grave may still be seen near the public road, about a mile west of Fort Necessity.[[4]]
Philadelphia was preparing for the triumph of victory, when the news of this shameful defeat reached the city, in the arrival of Dunbar, on whom the command had now devolved. The whole frontier of Virginia was thus left open to the depredations of the French and Indians. The French at Fort Du Quesne endeavoured to withdraw the Cherokees from their fidelity to the English, and news of this reaching the ears of Glen, governor of South Carolina, a council of Cherokee chiefs was called, the covenant of peace was renewed, and the cession of a large tract of land in South Carolina was obtained.
The expedition against Niagara was entrusted to Governor Shirley, who now, by the death of Braddock, was commander-in-chief of the British forces. It was intended that the troops destined for this service should assemble at Oswego, whence they were to proceed by water to the mouth of the Niagara. The march, however, was one of extreme difficulty, the troops being disabled by sickness and disheartened by the news of Braddock’s defeat; and when after six weeks it was accomplished, various adverse circumstances, violent winds and rains, and the desertion of their Indian allies, rendered it unadvisable for them to proceed. Two strong forts were, however, erected, and vessels built in preparation for their embarkation.
The troops destined for the expedition against Crown Point, consisting principally of the militia of Connecticut and Massachusetts, were entrusted to General (afterwards Sir William) Johnson. In June and July, about 6,000 New England men, having Phineas Lyman as their major-general, reached the portage between Hudson River and Lake George, where they constructed a fort called Fort Lyman, afterwards Fort Edward. Here they were joined by General Johnson, with about 3,400 irregulars and Indians, towards the end of August, when he assumed command and advanced towards Lake George. Dieskau, in the meantime, having ascended Lake Champlain with 2,000 men from Montreal, was now pushing on to Fort Lyman, when, altering his route, probably at the request of his Indian allies, who dreaded the English artillery, he suddenly attacked the camp of Johnson. Already informed of his intended attack on Fort Edward, Johnson had sent out 1,000 Massachusetts men, under Ephraim Williams, and a body of Mohawk warriors, under a famous chief called Hendricks, for the purpose of intercepting their return. Unfortunately, however, this detachment fell in with the whole force of Dieskau’s army in a narrow defile, and were driven back with great slaughter, Williams and Hendricks being soon slain. It was this Williams who, when passing through Albany, made his will, leaving his property, in case of his death, to found a Free School for Western Massachusetts, which is now the Williams College; a better monument, as Hildreth justly observes, than any victory would have been. The loss of the enemy was also considerable.