US History/US History (Bureau Development Inc.)(1991).ISO/dp/0012/00123.txt

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$Unique_ID{USH00123}
$Pretitle{10}
$Title{Our Country:  Volume 2
Chapter XLIII}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Lossing, Benson J., LL.D.}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{french
general
british
fort
lake
oswego
thousand
colonel
hundred
johnson}
$Volume{Vol. 2}
$Date{1905}
$Log{}
Book:        Our Country:  Volume 2
Author:      Lossing, Benson J., LL.D.
Volume:      Vol. 2
Date:        1905

Chapter XLIII

Military Events at the Head of Lake George - Honors Wrongly Bestowed - An
Opportunity for Success Lost - Perfidy of the British Cabinet - The Prophecy
of John Adams and Its Fulfillment - Plans for the Campaign of 1756 - Franklin
in Military Life - Washington's Embassy to Boston - His Love Affair in New
York - Lord Loudon Commander-in-Chief - Abercrombie at Albany - His Folly and
Supineness - Bradstreet's Expedition - The French Capture Oswego - Loudon's
Imbecility Illustrated - The Results of the Campaign of 1756 - Loudon's
Ignoble Victories.

     IT was a beautiful evening, the 7th of September, 1755-when an Indian
scout came to Johnson's camp, at Lake George, with the startling news that a
French army had been seen landing at the head of Lake Champlain, near the site
of the village of White Hall.  This messenger was followed by another at
midnight, with the more alarming news that French and Indians were making a
rapid march toward Fort Edward.  Early in the morning a council was held, and
it was proposed to send out a small party in three divisions to meet the foe.
The shrewd Mohawk sachem and chief King Hendrick, said If they are to fight,
they are too few if they are to be killed, they are too many."  Then taking in
his hands three strong sticks, he said Put them together and you cannot break
them take them separately and you can break them easily."  His logic was
apparent, and it was approved by the general, who ordered twelve hundred men
in one body to hasten to the relief of Fort Edward.  Colonel Ephraim Williams,
of Massachusetts, was the chosen commander of the expedition, and with him
went Hendrick and two hundred warriors of the Six Nations.  Before their
departure the white-haired chief whose snowy locks covered his shoulders,
mounted a gun-carriage and harangued his braves with his powerful voice, in
eloquent words, exhorting them to be strong and true to their allies.  A
provincial officer, Lieutenant-Colonel (afterward General) Pomeroy, who was
present, declared that while he could not understand a word of the old
warrior's language, such was the power of his voice, his gestures and his
whole manner, that his speech affected him more deeply than any other he had
ever heard.

     The detachment had marched in fancied security to a defile at Rocky
Brook, about four miles from camp, when they were assailed in front and flank
by musketry and arrows.  The French and Indians, who had been misled toward
Johnson's camp, apprised by scouts of the march of the English, had formed an
ambush in semi-circular shape, the centre cut by the path along which
Williams' detachment was moving.  The latter had fallen into the fatal trap.
The attack was sharp and destructive.  Williams and Hendrick were the only
mounted men, and both were killed at the first volley. Williams fell dead, and
Hendrick died soon afterward.  The smitten detachment fled back to camp in a
quick but orderly retreat conducted by Nathan Whitney, of New Haven,
Connecticut.  Colonel Williams was then about forty years of age.  While he
was passing through Albany on his way to join Johnson, he had made a will, by
which he bequeathed his moderate estate to found and maintain a free school in
Western Massachusetts.  Such was the foundation of Williams' College, at
Williamstown.  When Hendrick's son heard of the death of his father, he placed
his hand over his heart and said My father still lives here.  The son is now
the father, and stands here ready to fight."  The travelers on the highway
between Glenn's Falls and Lake George may see a monument near the road,
erected to the memory of Colonel Williams, not far from the spot where he
fell.

     With strange apathy Johnson had made no preparations for the defence of
his camp.  It was not until Williams had marched on the morning of the 8th,
that he began to construct some breast works of felled trees, and placed two
or three cannons upon them.  The firing at the ambush had been heard at the
camp, and three hundred men were sent to the relief of the first detachment.
These met the flying provincials, and joining in the retreat, they all rushed
pell-mell into the camp, pursued by the French and Indians, who had cast many
of their slain foes into a slimy pool which is still known as Bloody Pond."

     Dieskau intended to rush into the camp with the fugitives and capture it,
but his Indians, fearing cannon, halted on the crest of a hill from which they
could see the dreaded great guns.  So likewise did the intimidated Canadians.
Dieskau, whose armorial legend was, "Boldness wins," pressed forward with his
regulars, and at near noon a battle began.  The French had no artillery, and
their musket-balls had no effect upon the breastworks.  The Canadians and
Indians tardily took positions in sheltered places on the flanks, and did
little service.  The New Englanders had only their fowling pieces.  There was
not a bayonet among them.  They were good marksmen, and kept their enemies at
bay during a conflict of more than four hours.  Fortunately for the
provincials, Johnson was slightly wounded in the thigh at the beginning of the
action, and retired to his tent.  He was not a skillful and experienced
soldier like General Lyman who had just joined him, and into whose hands the
conduct of the battle now fell.  Lyman directed it with skill and bravery,
until a greater portion of the French regulars were killed or wounded.  A
bomb-shell thrown by a howitzer from the provincial camp among the Canadians
and savages had made them fly in terror to the woods, when the provincials,
leaping over their breastworks, and clubbing their muskets, scattered the
living remnants of the assailants.  Dieskau, who had been three times wounded,
would not retire, but sat upon a stump of a tree, with his saddle by his side,
faint from loss of blood, when, from a musket discharged by a renegade
Frenchman, he received an incurable wound.  He was carried into the camp,
where he was tenderly treated by General Johnson and his family.  This
kindness inspired the warmest gratitude in the breast of the baron, who,
before he left America for France, presented an elegant sword to Johnson in
token of that sentiment.  The baron died in France, from the effect of his
wounds in 1757.

     This repulse was lauded in England as a great victory.  Johnson had very
little to do with it, personally.  It was the work of General Lyman and his
New England troops.  Yet the services of Lyman were overlooked. Johnson did
not even mention him in connection with the battle, in his despatch.  The king
created Johnson a baronet, and parliament voted him thanks and the sum of
twenty-five thousand dollars wherewith to support the dignity of the title.
The recipient being a nephew of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, the influential
friends of that officer, at court, secured the honor for Johnson.

     For reasons inexplicable just now, the provincial commander remained at
the head of Lake George, instead of pursuing the shattered remnant of
Dieskau's army and driving the French from Ticonderoga, which they were
fortifying.  It was possible also, immediately after the panic produced by the
repulse at Lake George, to drive them from Crown Point, the ultimate object of
the expedition.  General Lyman and others urged Johnson to pursue.  The
Mohawks were burning with a desire to be revenged for the loss of their
beloved chief; and the Oneidas were willing to join them if immediate pursuit
should be made.  But Johnson refused to move.  The Oneidas, three days after
the battle, left him and returned home and the only harm which the French and
their allies experienced after leaving the lost battle-field was a severe
smiting by some New Hampshire militia under Captain McGinnes, and a small body
of New York militia under Captain Folsom, who were making their way to the
Lake from Fort Edward.  They compelled the French to leave all their baggage
and fly for their lives. In the affray McGinnes was mortally wounded, and his
name was added to the list of the provincials, more than two hundred in
number, who were killed that day.  There were almost a hundred wounded.  Among
the four hundred lost by the French was M. de St. Pierre, the Knight of St.
Louis, and the commander to whom Washington was sent on a mission at the close
of 1753.

     Johnson lingered at the head of Lake George all the autumn, and employed
his men in the construction of a fort which he named William Henry.  When the
breath of approaching winter came from the north, he dismissed the New England
militia to their homes, and leaving garrisons at Forts Edward and William
Henry, he retired to his fortified stone mansion on the banks of the lower
Mohawk, which he called "Fort Johnson."  It is yet standing not far from the
village of Amsterdam.  So ended military operations in America in the year
1755.

     France and England were still at peace with each other.  The British
cabinet was then controlled by absurd men, who were likely to embroil the
nation in useless war at any time by their folly or by acts deserving a
harsher name.  They did so by rank perfidy.  Secret orders were suddenly
issued to the commanders of all British men-of-war to seize all French
vessels, public or private.  The British king's share of the spoils gathered
under the operations of this order was three and a half million dollars and
eight thousand French prisoners were made captives.  What has taken place,"
indignantly exclaimed a French minister, is nothing but a system of piracy on
a grand scale unworthy of a civilized people." He was right.  Never," said the
French monarch, "will I forgive the piracies of this insolent nation and in an
autograph letter to the British king, he demanded full reparation for the
insults offered to the French flag, and the injury done to the French people.
But Great Britain then arrogantly claimed, and with reason, that she was
'Mistress of the Seas and Thomson had lately uttered the sentiments of the
proud British nation in his stirring song, Britannia rules the Waves," saying
boastfully; "When Britain first at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure
main, This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels sung the strain;
Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves!  Britons never shall be slaves."
The exploit of the British ships-of-war in capturing so many French vessels
was boasted of in the British parliament, and the people, rejoicing in their
strength, were almost unanimously in favor of war with the French.  That
spirit prevailed for three-quarters of a century until the mistress ship of
the seas was successfully contended for by the Americans in the War of
1712-15.

     The home governments of the two nations now took up the quarrel.  The
campaign of 1755 had assumed all the features of regular war between their
respective subjects.  When the flowers bloomed in the spring of 1756, the
British ministry and people had resolved to make war, and the French were
compelled to accept the issue.  On the 17th of May, 1756, a declaration of war
went forth from the British cabinet.  This action was reciprocated by the
French cabinet on the 9th of June following.  The die was then cast. The peace
solemnly guaranteed at Aux-la-Chapelle was ruthlessly broken to gratify a lust
for power.  While these two potential nations had been preparing, for several
years, for the impending strife for dominion, the thoughtful men among the
English-American colonists, who loved liberty more than power, had been musing
upon the glorious probabilities of their future.  John Adams, a school-teacher
in Worcester in 1755, in a letter to Nathan Webb, wrote: "Mighty states and
kingdoms are not exempted from change."  Soon after the Reformation, a few
people came over into this new world for conscience sake.  This apparently
trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire into America. . . .  If
we can remove the turbulent Gallics, our people, according to the exactest
calculations, will, in another century, become more numerous than in England
itself.  The united force of Europe will not be able to subdue us.  The only
way to keep us from setting up for ourselves, is to disunite us."  This dream
became a prophecy.  Less than thirty years afterward, the dreamer stood before
the monarch of England, as the representative of an American Republic where,
only ten years before, were flourishing English colonies.  And just a century
after that dream, the number and strength of the people here exceeded the
calculation of the dreamer.  The population was more than double that of
England; and while his country was fiercely torn by a savage civil war, its
government defied the powers of Great Britain, France, Spain, the Papal States
and other European nations whose rulers were the enemies of our free
institutions.  In the utterance of that defiance, a grandson of John Adams
bore a conspicuous part.  That government lives to enjoy the respect of the
civilized world.  In 1765, Lord Kames uttered a prophecy similar to that of
young Adams.

     Shirley, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in America, called
a convention of royal governors at New York, late in 1755, when a plan for a
splendid campaign in 1756 was arranged.  It included the capture of Quebec,
Forts Du Quesne, Frontenac, Niagara, Detroit, and other French posts in the
northwest.  They again urged the parliament to take vigorous measures for
compelling the colonists, by a tax, to furnish a general fund for military
purposes in America, and that body was disposed to do so, when the question
assumed minor importance in the presence of grave dangers. The Indians were
threatening the frontier settlements of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania
with desolation; and very soon whole families were flying back to the older
settlements, leaving their dwellings and crops to the mercy of the savages.
The authorities of those colonies took action to stay the flood of desolation
surging upon their frontiers.  Those of Virginia appointed Washington
commander-in-chief of all her forces those of Pennsylvania gave Dr. Franklin
the commission of colonel, with instructions to raise troops and construct a
line of forts or block-houses along the frontier, which he did.  Those of
Maryland joined in measures for the common defence.  But the selfish claims of
the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, and the absurd and arrogant assumption of
inferior officers commissioned by the crown, to superiority over provincial
officers of much higher rank, stood in the way of efficient action.  Delays
were dangerous to the public good, and Washington was chosen by his brother
provincial officers to go as an ambassador to General Shirley to seek a
removal of the latter-named difficulty.  Early in the month of February, 1756,
he set out on a journey to Boston, five hundred miles distant, on horseback,
accompanied by Captains Mercer and Stewart, the former being his aide-de-
camp.  His fame had preceded him, and he received much attention in the
several cities through which he passed.  His mission to Shirley was
successful, and at the end of seven weeks after his departure, he returned to
Williamsburgh with a satisfactory arrangement for the future.

     While he was on his way to Boston, Colonel Washington tarried a little in
New York, where he was the guest of Beverly Robinson, son-in-law of the Lord
of the Phillipse Manor on the Hudson.  There he met Mrs. Robinson's sister
Mary, who was young, vivacious, accomplished and beautiful.  This maiden's
charms made a deep impression on the mind and heart of the young hero.  Her
musical culture was displayed by the singing of sweet songs accompanied by a
spinet and in every aspect of her character, she was a charming young lady.
The day-dreams of the young Virginian, while on his way to Boston and back,
were of her; and at their second meeting at Mr. Robinson's (where he was a
guest on his return), he was still more deeply impressed with the charms of
the heiress of money and broad acres.  He left her with a resolution no doubt
formed, but not expressed, to offer her his hand and heart.  But a rival soon
appeared in the person of Colonel Roger Morris, Washington's companion-in-arms
in the field when Braddock fell, and he won the fair lady and her splendid
fortune.  All but the lady was lost in the fires of the Revolution that burst
out twenty years later, for Morris was a Tory and so were his wife's family,
and their property was swept away by remorseless confiscation.  The colonel
and his family were compelled to fly from the elegant mansion built on Harlem
Heights (yet standing) with the money of Mary Phillipse, and it was used as
headquarters by her Virginia lover in the autumn of 1776.

     Shirley did not long remain commander-in-chief.  The Earl of Loudon, a
cold-hearted, bilious, indolent and inefficient peer, who was a zealous
advocate of the prerogatives of the crown and despised republicanism, was
appointed the successor of Shirley, and governor of Virginia.  As an attempt
to establish centralized royal government in America had failed, it was now
determined to place the colonies under absolute military rule.  The commission
of Loudon and his instructions, carefully drawn by the Chancellor of England,
did establish such rule throughout the continent, making it independent of and
superior to the authority of the royal governors.  This commission, so
contrary to the spirit of the British constitution, remained a precedent for
others until the general revolt of the colonies.

     Procrastination marked every step of the campaign on the part of the
English.  Loudon did not send General James Abercrombie (his lieutenant) with
troops until near the close of April.  The ship with money was not dispatched
until the middle of June, at which time Abercrombie arrived and the
commander-in-chief did not reach our shores until past midsummer.  The plan of
the campaign called for ten thousand men to attack Crown Point six thousand to
proceed against Niagara three thousand against Fort Du Quesne, and two
thousand to cross the country from the Kennebec to the Chaudiere a feat
performed by Arnold and a few followers, twenty years afterward - to attack
some French settlements in Canada.  Many of those destined for Crown Point and
Niagara were already at Albany when Abercrombie arrived.  He was not
remarkable for either vigor or forethought.  He loved his ease, and was a
great stickler for the assertion of royal authority and instead of stimulating
the provincials with hope and patriotism, he depressed them with
disappointment and disgust.  Seven thousand troops were there, under General
Winslow, impatient to be led to Lake Champlain and another party were
anxiously awaiting orders to hasten to Oswego, for rumors came down through
the forests from the St. Lawrence that the French were about to move in large
force against the English frontiers.

     But the Scotch general seemed more intent upon asserting royal authority
by forcing the colonists to have the regular troops quartered upon them, than
in pressing forward against the enemy; and he cast a firebrand into the army
at Albany (composed of regular and provincial troops, about ten thousand
strong), by compelling the officers of the latter to obey the commands of
those of the former of equal rank.  He and Mayor Sybrant Van Schaick had many
stormy interviews about the billeting of regulars upon the people.  On one
occasion, there was an open quarrel between the lean Scotchman and the burly
Dutchman, when the mayor, terribly excited, shook his fist at the general and
exclaimed: "Go back again with your troops we can defend our frontiers
ourselves." The general triumphed and he sent to his superiors, at a time when
Crown Point should have been in his possession, and the garrison at Fort
Niagara his prisoners, a shout of exultation because of his victory, saying:
In spite of every subterfuge, the soldiers are at last billeted upon the
town." This victory cheered the hearts of the Lords of Trade, who now believed
that the absolute submission of the colonies was an event near at hand.

     Abercrombie loitered in Albany, waiting for the arrival of Loudon, when
he predicted mighty things would be done.  He would go neither backward nor
forward, but wasted strength there in constructing useless fortifications,
when the best defence for that city would have been the security of the
frontier posts.  Meanwhile the brave and active Colonel John Bradstreet
arrived from Oswego with the startling news that the French and Indians were
threatening the forts there, and that a strong force was actually moving at
the foot of Lake Ontario for the capture of the post. But Abercrombie was
unmoved, and the ten thousand men, chafing with impatience and suffering from
sickness, were kept at Albany.

     Bradstreet had gained laurels at Louisburg eleven years before, and had
been made lieutenant-governor of St. Johns, Newfoundland.  Knowing his worth,
Shirley had called him into active military service, and sent him from Albany,
with a competent force, to provision the garrison at Oswego. With two hundred
provincial troops and forty companies of boatmen, he crossed the country by
way of the Mohawk River, Wood Creek, Oneida Lake and the Oswego River, and
placed in the fort at Oswego provisions for five thousand troops for six
months.  He was accompanied by Captain (afterward General) Schuyler, as
commissary.

     Bradstreet had observed that his descent of the Oswego River had been
watched by French and Indian scouts.  He had gone only nine miles up that
stream on his return, when he was attacked by a strong party of French
regulars, Canadians and savages.  The provincials drove some of them from an
island in the river, and there Bradstreet made a defensive stand.  One of the
Canadians, too badly wounded to fly with his companions, remained, and a
boatman was about to dispatch him, when young Schuyler saved his life.  Soon
afterward Bradstreet abandoned the island and drove the assailants back into
the forest.  Owing to accident, there was only one bateau left at the island
when the colonel ordered his men away.  It was hardly sufficient to carry the
commander and the little party with him. The wounded Canadian begged to be
taken in, but he was refused.  Then throw me into the river," he cried, and
not leave me here to perish with hunger and thirst."  The heart of Captain
Schuyler was touched by the poor fellow's appeal, and handing his weapons and
coat to a companion-in-arms, he bore the wounded man to the water, swam with
him across the deep channel, and placed him in the hands of a surgeon.  The
soldier survived and nineteen years afterward, when Schuyler, at the head of
the northern army of the Revolution, sent a proclamation in the French
language into Canada inviting the inhabitants to join the patriots, that
soldier, living, near Chambly, enlisted under the banner of Ethan Allen, that
he might see and thank the preserver of his life.  He went to Schuyler's tent,
on the Isle aux Noix, and kissed the general's hand in token of his gratitude.

     After a sharp fight in the forest near the Oswego River, Bradstreet
dispersed his motley foe, and hastened to Albany with the startling news just
mentioned.  Meanwhile the more active French had been preparing for an attack
on Oswego.  So early as March, three hundred Frenchmen, led by Indian guides,
had made their way on snow-shoes along the bases of the Adirondack Mountains,
on the north and west, to the vicinity of Oneida Lake, destroyed a small
English stockade there, called Fort Bull, and returned with thirty prisoners.
Late in May, eight hundred men under De Villiers, pushed forward to Sandy
Creek, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, and from that party went the
detachment that assailed Bradstreet. At about the same time, Field Marshal the
Marquis de Montcalm arrived at Quebec as governor-general and
commander-in-chief.  He was small in stature, but very energetic in mind and
body.  He instantly surveyed the field of his future operations.  By
journeying night and day, he penetrated to Ticonderoga, where the French had
built Fort Carillon.  He saw the value of that position, as well as Crown
Point, and hastening back to Quebec, he prepared an expedition, secretly,
against Oswego.  At the head of three regiments, he ascended the St. Lawrence
to Fort Frontenac, and was joined at Montreal by a large body of Canadians and
savages.  With this force, about five thousand in number, he crossed the lake
in bateaux and canoes, and anchored in what is now Sackett's Harbor, early in
August.

     Fort Oswego, on the west side of the river, was a strong work.  Fort
Ontario, on the east side, was weaker, and was considered an outpost to the
other.  Against Ontario, Montcalm led his forces.  Behind Four-Mile Point, a
long wooded cape eastward of Oswego, he landed his troops, unobserved by the
English scouts, and was in full march through the woods before he was
discovered.  Colonel Mercer, the commander of the little garrison of one
thousand men, at Ontario, prepared to receive the foe, who invested the fort
in full force, with thirty pieces of cannon, some of which had been taken from
Braddock the year before.  Finding sharp resistance, Montcalm began a regular
siege, and on the 14th of August, when he was about to storm the works,
Colonel Mercer, who saw that further resistance would be useless, agreed to
surrender the post to the French.  One hundred and twenty pieces of artillery,
six vessels of war, three chests of coin and a large quantity of ammunition
and stores, were the spoils of victory.  To allay the jealousy of the Six
Nations, Montcalm destroyed both forts and the priests who accompanied him
erected a cross, on which they placed the words, "THIS IS THE BANNER OF
VICTORY."  Close by it they raised a wooden column, on which was placed the
arms of France and the inscription: "BRING LILIES WITH FULL HANDS."  Then
Montcalm descended the St. Lawrence, with his prisoners, and sent the captured
English flags to decorate the churches of Montreal and Quebec.  The
destruction of the forts at Oswego was an admirable stroke of policy on the
part of the French commander.  It pleased the savages, and, as he hoped,
caused them to assume a position of neutrality toward the belligerents.
French emissaries soon seduced the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas
from the British interest.

     Loudon arrived just in time to hear of the loss of Oswego, as the first
military news that reached him.  He congratulated the country because of its
escape from greater disasters.  If the attack had been made on the provincials
alone," he said, it would have been followed with fatal consequences."  He
would not allow any merit in the character of a provincial soldier.  For them
lie had nothing but contemptuous words. Notwithstanding the provincials had
saved the remnant of Braddock's army, in spite of the cowardice of the
regulars and the obstinacy of their general; had conquered Acadia defeated
Dieskau, and had performed nearly all of the really useful military service
against the French, he praised the British regulars and disparaged the
Americans.  Pleading the danger of another attack from the French, in greater
force, as an excuse for his imbecility, he left the enemy to build a stronger
work at Ticonderoga, dismissed the provincials to their homes, and placed the
regulars in winter-quarters.

     Under his instructions, Lord Loudon demanded of the city of New York,
free quarters for himself his officers, and a thousand men.  "Your demand is
contrary to the laws of England and the liberties of America," said the mayor
of the city.  Free quarters are everywhere usual; I assert it on my honor,
which is the highest evidence you can require," answered the haughty earl.
The mayor was firm, and Loudon determined to make New York an example for the
rest of the continent.  When the citizens, by the lips of the mayor, pleaded
their rights as Englishmen, his lordship, with a vulgar oath, said to the
magistrate: If you don't billet my officers upon free quarters, this day, I'll
order here all the troops under my command, and billet them myself upon the
city."  A subscription for the purpose was raised, the officers were billeted
on the city, and Loudon won his first victory.  A similar contest, with a
similar result, occurred in Philadelphia, and there Loudon won his second
victory.

     In the meantime the provincials had won a substantial victory on the
Alleghany River, in Pennsylvania.  We have observed that Dr. Franklin had
superintended the construction of a chain of small posts along the
Pennsylvania frontier, from the Delaware to the borders of Maryland, as a
defence against hostile Indians.  But the savages continued to harass the
remote settlements, until, on the borders of Pennsylvania and Virginia, almost
a thousand white persons had perished, and much property had been plundered or
destroyed.  Franklin was satisfied that he was not in his right place, and
abandoned military life forever.  Colonel John Armstrong, of Pennsylvania,
took his position, and with three hundred men, accompanied by Captain Mercer
of Virginia, he proceeded, in the night of the 7th of September, 1756, to
chastise the hostile Delawares at Kittaning, one of their principal villages
(now in Armstrong county), within thirty-five miles of Fort Du Quesne.
Stealthily, Armstrong and his followers passed the Alleghany Mountains and
took post not far from Kittaning, at midnight, when the savages were sleeping
without a dream of danger near.  It was a warm night, and some were reposing
in the open air on the outskirts.  Upon them the provincials came at dawn.
The savages sprang to their feet, gave the war-whoop, and flew to the village,
closely pursued by the provincials, who killed many of their chiefs and
utterly destroyed the town.  Not a vestige of a dwelling was left.  The
chastisement was effectual.  It inspired the Delawares with such fear of the
white man, that they were completely humbled, and the frontier had peace.  So
ended the campaign of 1756.  The chief results of that campaign were a gain of
strength and territory by the French two victories in battle over the common
foe by the provincials, and the bloodless conquest of the unarmed English
cities of New York and Philadelphia by Lord Loudon and his British regulars,
the spoils of his victories being free food and lodging for a few months and
the contempt of the people.  Fifteen hundred volunteers and drafted militia,
under Colonel Washington, were placed in stockades during the ensuing winter,
for the defence of the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia; and on the
western borders of the Carolinas, several military posts were established as a
protection against the Cherokees and Creeks, and their neighbors, among whom
French emissaries were at work.