The Routed Army. - Indignation at Abercromby.-John Cleave- land and his Brother Chaplains. - Regulars and Provincials. - 114 Conflicting Views. Difficulties. - Illness of Forbes. - His Suf- ferings. His Fortitude. His Difference with Washington. Sir John Sinclair. - Troublesome Allies. - Scouting Parties. Boasts of Vaudreuil. - Forbes and the Indians.- Mission of Christian Frederic Post. Council of Peace. - Second Mission of Post. Defeat of Grant. - Distress of Forbes. - Dark Pros- Jealousy of Vaudreuil. He asks for Montcalm's Recall. Discomfiture. Scene at the Governor's House. - Disgust of Montcalm. The Canadians Despondent. - Devices to encour- age them. Gasconade of the Governor.- Deplorable State of the Colony. Mission of Bougainville. — Duplicity of Vau- dreuil. - Bougainville at Versailles. Substantial Aid refused to Canada. - A Matrimonial Treaty.- Return of Bougainville. The Exiles of Fort Cumberland. - Relief. The Voyage to Louis- bourg. The British Fleet.—Expedition against Quebec.— Early Life of Wolfe. - His Character. - His Letters to his 181 French Preparation. - Muster of Forces. Gasconade of Vau- dreuil. - Plan of Defence. - Strength of Montcalm. - Advance of Wolfe. — British Sailors. — Landing of the English. — Diffi- culties before them. - Storm. - Fireships. Confidence of French Commanders. - Wolfe occupies Point Levi.-A Futile Night Attack. - Quebec bombarded. - Wolfe at the Montmo- renci. Skirmishes. Danger of the English Position. - Effects of the Bombardment. - Desertion of Canadians. -The English above Quebec. - Severities of Wolfe. - Another Attempt to burn the Fleet.- Desperate Enterprise of Wolfe. - The Heights of Montmorenci. - Repulse of the English. - -- - - - - Amherst on Lake George.-Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown His Repulse. - Niagara besieged. - Aubry comes to its Relief. - Battle. — Rout of the French. - The Fort MONTCALM AND WOLFE. CHAPTER XVI. 1757, 1758. A WINTER OF DISCONTENT. BOASTS OF LOUDON. A MUTINOUS MILITIA. - PANIC. - ACCUSATIONS OF VAUDREUIL. HIS WEAKNESS. INDIAN BARBARITIES. - DESTRUCTION OF GERMAN FLATS. - DISCONTENT OF MONTCALM. FESTIVITIES AT MONTREAL. MONTCALM'S RELATIONS WITH THE GOVERNOR. — FAMINE. - RIOTS. MUTINY. WINTER AT TICONDEROGA.-A DESPERATE BUSH-FIGHT. DEFEAT OF THE RANGERS. ADVENTURES OF ROCHE AND PRINGLE. LOUDON, on his way back from Halifax, was at sea off the coast of Nova Scotia when a despatchboat from Governor Pownall of Massachusetts startled him with news that Fort William Henry was attacked; and a few days after he learned by another boat that the fort was taken and the capitulation "inhumanly and villanously broken." On this he sent Webb orders to hold the enemy in check without risking a battle till he should himself arrive. "I am on the way," these were his words, "with a force sufficient to turn the scale, with God's assistance; and then I hope we shall teach the French to comply with the laws of nature and humanity. For although I abhor barbarity, the knowledge I have of Mr. Vaudreuil's VOL. II. -1 behavior when in Louisiana, from his own letters in my possession, and the murders committed at Oswego and now at Fort William Henry, will oblige me to make those gentlemen sick of such inhuman villany whenever it is in my power." He reached New York on the last day of August, and heard that the French had withdrawn. He nevertheless sent his troops up the Hudson, thinking, he says, that he might still attack Ticonderoga; a wild scheme, which he soon abandoned, if he ever seriously entertained it.1 Webb had remained at Fort Edward in mortal dread of attack. Johnson had joined him with a band of Mohawks; and on the day when Fort William Henry surrendered there had been some talk of attempting to throw succors into it by night. Then came the news of its capture; and now, when it was too late, tumultuous mobs of militia came pouring in from the neighboring provinces. In a few days thousands of them were bivouacked on the fields about Fort Edward, doing nothing, disgusted and mutinous, declaring that they were ready to fight, but not to lie still without tents, blankets, or kettles. Webb writes on the fourteenth that most of those from New York had deserted, threatening to kill their officers if 1 Loudon to Webb, 20 Aug. 1757. Loudon to Holdernesse, Oct. 1757. Loudon to Pownall, 16 [18] Aug. 1757. A passage in this last letter, in which Loudon says that he shall, if prevented by head-winds from getting into New York, disembark the troops on Long Island, is perverted by that ardent partisan, William Smith, the historian of New York, into the absurd declaration "that he should encamp on Long Island for the defence of the continent." they tried to stop them. Delancey ordered them to be fired upon. A sergeant was shot, others were put in arrest, and all was disorder till the seventeenth; when Webb, learning that the French were gone, sent them back to their homes.1 2 Close on the fall of Fort William Henry came crazy rumors of disaster, running like wildfire through the colonies. The number and ferocity of the enemy were grossly exaggerated; there was a cry that they would seize Albany and New York itself; while it was reported that Webb, as much frightened as the rest, was for retreating to the Highlands of the Hudson. This was the day after the capitulation, when a part only of the militia had yet appeared. If Montcalm had seized the moment, and marched that afternoon to Fort Edward, it is not impossible that in the confusion he might have carried it by a coup-de-main. 3 Here was an opportunity for Vaudreuil, and he did not fail to use it. Jealous of his rival's exploit, he spared no pains to tarnish it; complaining that Montcalm had stopped half way on the road to success, and, instead of following his instructions, had contented himself with one victory when he should have gained two. But the Governor had enjoined upon him as a matter of the last necessity that the Canadians should be at their homes before September to gather the crops, and he would have been the first to complain had 1 Delancey to [Holdernesse ?], 24 Aug. 1757. 2 Captain Christie to Governor Wentworth, 11 Aug. 1757. Ibid., to Governor Pownall, same date. 3 Smith, Hist. N. Y., Part II. 254. |