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appointed commander-in-chief of all the British and provincial forces in America; and at his request, six colonial governors' met in convention at Alexandria, in April following, to assist in making arrangements for a vigorous campaign. Three separate expeditions were planned; one against Fort du Quesne, to be led by Braddock; a second against Niagara and Frontenac (Kingston), to be commanded by Governor Shirley; and a third against Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, under General William Johnson, then an influential resident among the Mohawk nation of the IROQUOIS Confederacy.' Already a fourth expedition had been arranged by Shirley and Governor Lawrence of Nova Scotia, designed to drive the French out of that province, and other portions of ancient Acadie.* These extensive arrangements, sanctioned by the imperial government, awakened the most zealous patriotism of all the colonists, and the legislatures of the several provinces, except Pennsylvania and Georgia, voted men and supplies for the impending war. The Quaker Assembly of Pennsylvania was opposed to military movements; the people of Georgia were too poor to contribute.

There was much enthusiasm in New England, and the eastern expedition first proceeded to action. Three thousand men, under General John Winslow," sailed from Boston on the 20th of May, 1755, and landed at the head of the Bay of Fundy. There they were joined by Colonel Monckton with three hundred British regulars from the neighboring garrison, and that officer, having official precedence of Winslow, took the command. They captured the forts in possession of the French there, in June, without difficulty, and placed the whole region under martial rule.' This was the legitimate result of war. But the cruel sequel deserves universal reprobation. The total destruction of the French settlements was decided upon. Under the plea that the Acadians would aid their French brethren in Canada, the innocent and happy people were seized in their houses, fields, and churches, and conveyed on board the English vessels. Families were broken, never to be united; and to compel the surrender of those who fled to the woods, their starvation was insured by a total destruction of their growing crops. The Acadians were stripped of every thing, and those who were carried away, were scattered among the English colonies, helpless beggars, to die heart-broken in a strange land. In one short month, their paradise had become a desolation, and a happy people were crushed into the dust.

The western expedition, under Braddock, was long delayed on account of difficulties in obtaining provisions and wagons. The patience of the commander was sorely tried, and in moments of petulance he used expressions against the colonists, which they long remembered with bitterness. He finally commenced his march from Will's Creek (Cumberland) on the 10th of June, 1755, with about two thousand men, British and provincials. Anxious to reach Fort du

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1 Shirley, of Massachusetts; Dinwiddie, of Virginia; Delancey, of New York; Sharpe, of Maryland; Morris, of Pennsylvania; and Dobbs, of North Carolina. Admiral Keppel, commander of the British fleet, was also present. ' Page 190. Page 25. • Page 58. He was a great grandson of Edward Winslow, the third governor of Plymouth. He was a major-general in the Massachusetts militia, but on this occasion held the office of lieutenant-colonel. This term is used to denote soldiers who are attached to the regular army, and as distinguished from volunteers and militia. The latter term applies to the great body of citizens who are liable to do perpetual military duty only in time of war. 7 Note 8, page 170.

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FORT DU QUESNE.

Quesne before the garrison should receive re-inforcements, he made forced marches with twelve hundred men, leaving Colonel Dunbar, his second in command, to follow with the remainder, and the wagons. Colonel Washington' had consented to act as Braddock's aid, and to him was given the command of the provincials. Knowing, far better than Braddock, the perils of their march and the kind of warfare they might expect, he ventured, modestly, to give advice, founded upon his experience. But the haughty general would listen to no suggestions, especially from a provincial subordinate. This obstinacy resulted in his ruin. When within ten miles of Fort du Quesne, and while marching at noon-day, on the 9th of July, in fancied security, on the south side of the Monongahela, a volley of bullets and a cloud of arrows assailed the advanced guard, under Lieutenant-Colonel Gage. They came from a thicket and ravine close by, where a thousand dusky warriors lay in ambush. Again Washington asked permission to fight according to the provincial custom, but was refused. Braddock must maneuver according to European tactics, or not at all. For three hours, deadly volley after volley fell upon the British columns, while Braddock attempted to maintain order, where all was confusion. The slain soon covered the ground. Every mounted officer but Washington was killed or maimed, and finally, the really brave Braddock himself, after having several horses shot under him, was mortally wounded.' Washington remained unhurt." Under his direction the provincials rallied, while the regulars, seeing their general fall, were fleeing in great confusion. The provincials covered their retreat

GEN. BRADDOCK.

so gallantly, that the enemy did not follow. A week afterward, Washington read the impressive funeral service of the Anglican Church, over the corpse of Braddock, by torchlight [July 15, 1755]; and he was buried, where his grave may now [1856] be seen, near the National road, between the fifty-third and fifty-fourth mile from Cumberland, in Maryland. Colonel Dunbar received the flying troops, and marched to Philadelphia in August, with the broken companies. Washington, with the southern provincials, went back to Virginia. Thus ended the second expedition of the campaign of 1755.

1 Page 181. 2 Afterward General Gage, commander-in-chief of the British troops at Boston, at the beginning of the Revolution. Page 226.

Braddock was shot by Thomas Faucett, one of the provincial soldiers. His plea was selfpreservation. Braddock had issued a positive order, that none of the English should protect themselves behind trees, as the French and Indians did. Faucett's brother had taken such position, and when Braddock perceived it, he struck him to the earth with his sword. Thomas, on seeing his brother fall, shot Braddock in the back, and then the provincials, fighting as they pleased, were saved from utter destruction.

Dr. Craik, who was with Washington at this time, and also attended him in his last illness, says, that while in the Ohio country with him, fifteen years afterward, an old Indian chief came, as he said, "a long way" to see the Virginia colonel at whom he fired his rifle fifteen times during the battle on the Monongahela, without hitting him. Washington was never wounded in battle. On this occasion he had two horses shot under him, and four bullets passed through his coat. Writing of this to his brother, he remarked, "By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation, * * * although death was leveling my companions on every side." Note 1, page 168. See picture on page 187.

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The third expedition, under Governor Shirley, designed to operate against the French posts at Niagara and Frontenac, experienced less disasters, but was quite as unsuccessful. It was late in August before Shirley had collected the main body of his troops at Oswego, from whence he intended to go to Niagara by water. His force was twenty-five hundred strong on the 1st of September, yet circumstances compelled him to hesitate. The prevalence of storms, and of sickness in his camp, and, finally, the desertion of the greater part of his Indian allies,' made it perilous to proceed, and he relinquished the design. Leaving sufficient men to garrison the forts which he had commenced at Oswego,' he marched the remainder to Albany [Oct. 24], and returned to Massachusetts.

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The fourth expedition, under General Johnson, prepared for attacking Crown Point, accomplished more than that of Braddock' or Shirley, but failed to achieve its main object. In July [1755], about six thousand troops, drawn from New England, New York, and New Jersey, had assembled at the head of boat navigation on the Hudson (now the village of Fort Edward), fifty miles north of Albany. They were under the command of General Lyman,5 of Connecticut; and before the arrival of General Johnson, in August, with cannons and stores, they had erected a strong fortification, which was afterward called Fort Edward. On his arrival, Johnson took command, and with the main body of the troops, marched to the head of Lake George, about fifteen miles distant, where he established a camp, protected on both sides by an impassable swamp.

While the provincial troops were making these preparations, General the Baron Dieskau (a French officer of much repute), with about two thousand men, chiefly Canadian militia and Indians, was approaching from Montreal, by way of Lake Champlain, to meet the English.' When Johnson arrived at Lake George, on the 7th of September, Indian scouts informed him that Dieskau was disembarking at the head of Lake Champlain (now the village of

'Tribes of the SIX NATIONS [page 25], and some Stockbridge Indians. The latter were called Housatonics, from the river on which they were found. They were a division of the Mohegan [page 21] tribe.

Fort Ontario on the east, and Fort Pepperell on the west of Oswego River. Fort Pepperell was afterward called Fort Oswego. See map, page 192. The house was built of stone, and the walls were three feet thick. It was within a square inclosure composed of a thick wall, and two strong square towers.

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Upon this tongue of land on Lake Champlain, the French erected a fortification, which they called Fort St. Frederick. On the Vermont side of the lake, opposite, there was a French settlement as early as 1731. In allusion to the chimnies of their houses, which remained long after the settlement was destroyed, it is still known as Chimney Point.

4 Page 185.

* Born in Durham, Connecticut, in the year 1716. He was a graduate of Yale College, and became a lawyer. He was a member of the colonial Assembly in 1750, and performed important services during the whole war that soon afterward ensued. He commanded the expedition that captured Havana in 1762; and at the peace, in 1763, he became concerned in lands in the Mississippi region. He died in Florida in 1775.

It was first called Fort Lyman. Johnson, meanly jealous of General Lyman, changed the name to Fort Edward.

Dieskau and his French troops, on their way from France, narrowly escaped capture by Admiral Boscawen, who was cruising, with an English fleet, off Newfoundland. They eluded his fleet during a fog, and went in safety up the St. Lawrence.

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