Part 1 (1/2)
Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt.
by Various.
FORT DUQUESNE
Conflicting Claims of France and England in North America.
On maps of British America in the earlier part of the eighteenth century, one sees the eastern coast, from Maine to Georgia, gashed with ten or twelve colored patches, very different in size and shape, and defined more or less distinctly by dividing lines, which in some cases are prolonged westward until they reach the Mississippi, or even across it and stretch indefinitely towards the Pacific.
These patches are the British Provinces, and the western prolongation of their boundary represents their several claims to vast interior tracts founded on ancient grants, but not made good by occupation or vindicated by an exertion of power * * *
Each Province remained in jealous isolation, busied with its own work, growing in strength, in the capacity of self-rule, in the spirit of independence, and stubbornly resisting all exercise of authority from without. If the English-speaking population flowed westward, it was in obedience to natural laws, for the King did not aid the movement, and the royal Governor had no authority to do so. The power of the colonies was that of a rising flood, slowly invading and conquering by the unconscious force of its own growing volume, unless means be found to hold it back by dams and embankments within appointed limits.
In the French colonies it was different. Here the representatives of the crown were men bred in the atmosphere of broad ambition and masterful, far-reaching enterprise. They studied the strong and weak points of their rivals, and with a cautious forecast and a daring energy set themselves to the task of defeating them. If the English colonies were comparatively strong in numbers these numbers could not be brought into action, while if French forces were small they were vigorously commanded and always ready at a word. It was union confronting division, energy confronting apathy, and military centralization opposed to industrial democracy, and for a time the advantage was all on one side.
Yet in view of what France had achieved, of the patient gallantry of her explorers, the zeal of her missionaries, the adventurous hardihood of her bush-rangers, revealing to mankind the existence of this wilderness world, while her rivals plodded at their workshops, their farms, their fisheries; in view of all this, her pretensions were moderate and reasonable compared to those of England.
Forks of the Ohio.--Was.h.i.+ngton's First Visit.
The Treaty of Utrecht had decided that the Iroquois or Five Nations were British subjects; therefore it was insisted that all countries conquered by them belonged to the British crown. The range of the Iroquois war parties was prodigious, and the English laid claim to every mountain, forest and prairie where an Iroquois had taken a scalp. This would give them not only all between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, but all between Ottawa and Huron, leaving nothing to France but the part now occupied by the Province of Quebec.
The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and that of Aix la Chapelle in 1748, were supposed to settle the disputed boundaries of the French and English possessions in America; France, however, repented of her enforced concessions, and claimed the whole American continent as hers, except a narrow strip of sea-coast. To establish this boundary, it was resolved to build a line of forts from Canada to the Mississippi, following the Ohio, for they perceived that the ”Forks of the Ohio,” so strangely neglected by the English, formed together with Niagara the key of the great West.
This chain of forts began at Niagara; then another was built of squared logs at Presque Isle (now Erie), and a third called Fort Le Boeuf, on what is now called French Creek. Here the work stopped for a time, and Lagardeur de St. Pierre went into winter quarters with a small garrison at Fort Le Boeuf.
On the 11th of December, 1753, Major George Was.h.i.+ngton, with Christopher Gist as guide, Abraham Van Braam as interpreter, and several woodsmen,[A] presented himself as a bearer of a letter from Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia to the commander of Fort Le Boeuf. He was kindly received. In fact, no form of courtesy was omitted during the three days occupied by St. Pierre in framing his reply to Governor Dinwiddie's letter. This letter expressed astonishment that his (St. Pierre's) troops should build forts upon lands so notoriously known to be the property of Great Britain, and demanded their immediate and peaceable departure. In his answer, St. Pierre said he acted in accordance with the commands of his general, that he would forward Governor Dinwiddie's letter to the Marquis Duquesne and await his orders.
It was on his return journey that Was.h.i.+ngton twice escaped death. First from the gun of a French Indian; then in attempting to cross the Allegheny, which was filled with ice, on a raft that he and his companions had hastily constructed with the help of one hatchet between them. He was thrown into the river and narrowly escaped drowning; but Gist succeeded in dragging him out of the water, and the party landed on Wainwright's Island, about opposite the foot of Thirty-third Street. On making his report Was.h.i.+ngton recommended that a fort be built at the ”Forks of the Ohio.”
Men and money were necessary to make good Governor Dinwiddie's demand that the French evacuate the territory they had appropriated; these he found it difficult to get. He dispatched letters, orders, couriers from New Jersey to South Carolina, asking aid. Ma.s.sachusetts and New York were urged to make a feint against Canada, but as the land belonged either to Pennsylvania or Virginia, the other colonies did not care to vote money to defend them.
In Pennsylvania the placid obstinacy of the Quakers was matched by the stolid obstinacy of the German farmers; notwithstanding, Pennsylvania voted sixty thousand pounds, and raised twelve hundred men at eighteen pence per day. All Dinwiddie could muster elsewhere was the promise of three or four hundred men from North Carolina, two companies from New York and one from South Carolina, with what recruits he could gather in Virginia. In accordance with Was.h.i.+ngton's recommendation, Capt. William Trent, once an Indian trader of the better cla.s.s, now a commissioned officer, had been sent with a company of backwoodsmen to build a fort at the Forks of the Ohio, and it was hoped he would fortify himself sufficiently to hold the position. Trent began the fort, but left it with forty men under Ensign Ward and went back to join Was.h.i.+ngton. The recruits gathered in Virginia were to be commanded by Joshua Fry, with Was.h.i.+ngton as second in command.
Fort Duquesne.--Was.h.i.+ngton at Fort Necessity.
On the 17th of April, 1754, Ward was surprised by the appearance of a swarm of canoes and bateaux descending the Allegheny, carrying, according to Ward, about one thousand Frenchmen, who landed, planted their cannon and summoned the Ensign to surrender. He promptly complied and was allowed to depart with all his men. The French soon demolished the unfinished fort and built in its place a much larger and better one, calling it Fort Duquesne, in honor of the Marquis Duquesne, then Governor of Canada.
Was.h.i.+ngton, with his detachment of ragged recruits, without tents and scarcely armed, was at Will's Creek, about one hundred and forty miles from the ”Forks of the Ohio,” and he was deeply chagrined when Ward joined him and reported the loss of the fort. Dinwiddie then ordered Was.h.i.+ngton to advance. In order to do so, a road must be cut for wagons and cannon, through a dense forest; two mountain ranges must be crossed, and innumerable hills and streams. Towards the end of May he reached Great Meadows with one hundred and fifty men. While encamped here, Was.h.i.+ngton learned that a detachment of French had marched from the fort in order to attack him. They met in a rocky hollow and a short fight ensued. Coulon de Jumonville, the commander, was killed; all the French were taken prisoners or killed except one Canadian. This skirmish was the beginning of the war. Was.h.i.+ngton then advanced as far as Christopher Gist's settlement, twelve or fourteen miles on the other side of the Laurel Ridge. He soon heard that strong reinforcements had been sent to Fort Duquesne, and that another detachment was even then on the march under Coulon de Villiers, so on June 28th he began to retreat. Not having enough horses, the men had to carry the baggage on their backs, and drag nine swivels over miserable roads. Two days brought them to Great Meadows, and they had but one full day to strengthen the slight fortification they had made there, and which Was.h.i.+ngton named Fort Necessity.
The fighting began at about 11, and lasted for nine hours; the English, notwithstanding their half starved condition, and their want of ammunition, keeping their ground against double their number. When darkness came a parley was sounded, to which Was.h.i.+ngton at first paid no attention, but when the French repeated the proposal, and requested that an officer might be sent, he could refuse no longer. There were but two in Was.h.i.+ngton's command who could understand French, and one of them was wounded. Capt. Van Braam, a Dutchman, acted as interpreter. The articles were signed about midnight. The English troops were to march out with drums beating, carrying with them all their property. The prisoners taken in the Jumonville affair were to be released, Capt. Van Braam and Major Stobo to be detained as hostages for their safe return to Fort Duquesne.
This defeat was disastrous to the English. There was now not an English flag waving west of the Alleghanies. Villiers went back exultant to Fort Duquesne, and Was.h.i.+ngton began his wretched march to Will's Creek. No horses, no cattle, most of the baggage must be left behind, while the sick and wounded must be carried over the Alleghanies on the backs of their weary, half starved comrades. And this was the Fourth of July, 1754.
The conditions of the surrender were never carried out. The prisoners taken in the skirmish with Jumonville were not returned. Van Braam and Stobo were detained for some time at Fort Duquesne, then sent to Quebec, where they were kept prisoners for several years. While a prisoner on parole Major Stobo made good use of his opportunities by acquainting himself with the neighborhood; afterwards he was kept in close confinement and endured great hards.h.i.+ps; but in the spring of 1759 he succeeded in making his escape in the most miraculous manner. While Wolfe was besieging Quebec he returned from Halifax, and, it is said, it was he who guided the troops up the narrow wooded path to the Heights of Abraham. Strange, that one taken prisoner in a far distant province, in a skirmish which began the war, should guide the gallant Wolfe to the victory at Quebec, which virtually closed the war in America.
Braddock.
Nothing of importance was done in Virginia and Pennsylvania until the arrival of Braddock in February, 1755, bringing with him two regiments.
Governor Dinwiddie hailed his arrival with joy, hoping that his troubles would now come to an end. Of Braddock, Governor Dinwiddie's Secretary, s.h.i.+rley wrote to Governor Morris: ”We have a general most judiciously chosen for being disqualified for the service he is in, in almost every respect.” Braddock issued a call to the provincial governors to meet him in council, which was answered by Dinwiddie of Virginia, Dobbs of North Carolina, Sharpe of Maryland, Morris of Pennsylvania, Delancy of New York, and s.h.i.+rley of Ma.s.sachusetts. The result was a plan to attack the French at four points at once. Braddock was to advance on Fort Duquesne, Fort Niagara was to be reduced, Crown Point seized, and a body of men from New England to capture Beausejour and Arcadia.