question of moment what was to be done with the French colonists, amounting, at the time, to some twelve or fifteen thousand,* settled principally about Beau Bassin, the basin of Minas, and on the banks of the Annapolis. These settlers, who had doubled in number since Nova Scotia became a British province, were still French in language, religion, and attachments, and receiving their priests from Canada, were peculiarly exposed to temptations to violate the terms of the neutrality, which exempted them from bearing arms against France. Some three hundred of the young men were taken in arms at the surrender of Beau Sejour, and as it would be highly inexpedient to send the whole population out of the country, to strengthen Canada or Cape Breton, it was necessary to dispose of them in some other way. Boscawen and others consulted as to the course to be pursued, and finally resolved upon an entire expulsion of the French colonists, and a transportation of them to the various British provinces. This, too, notwithstanding the express stipulation in the surrender of Beau Sejour that the inhabitants should not be disturbed. But honor and truth were sacrificed, and cruelty and treachery prevailed. Braddock's defeat, the news of which had just reached them, hardened the authors of this scheme in their determination. Keeping their purpose secret until the Acadiens had gathered in the harvest, the English persuaded them to assemble at their * Murray ("History of British America," vol. ii. p. 139,) estimates the number at seventeen or eighteen thousand. parish churches, on one pretense and another, and, having surrounded them with troops, pronounced then and there the fearful doom in store for them. At the point of the bayonet, on the 10th of September, they were hurried on board the ships assigned for their transportation. "Wives separated from their husbands in the confusion of embarking, and children from their parents, were carried off to distant colonies, never again to see each other! Their lands, crops, cattle, every thing, except household furniture, which they could not carry away, and money, of which they had little or none, were declared forfeit to the crown; and, to insure the starvation of such as fled to the woods, and so to compel their surrender, the growing crops were destroyed, and the barns and houses burned, with all their contents!" More than a thousand of these unhappy exiles were carried to Massachusetts, where the horror of popery prevented their being allowed even the consolations of the religion in which they had been trained. Every colony had to receive a portion of the ill-used Acadiens, a burden on the community which no one was disposed quietly to bear. Some made their way to France, Canada, St. Domingo, and Louisiana; but these were few in number: the greater part died broken-hearted in a foreign land.† Shirley, meanwhile, was on his march from Albany to Oswego, where he purposed embarking for Niagara. It was Hildreth's "History of the United States," vol. ii., p. 458. † Mr. Longfellow has drawn inspiration from this theme in his "EVANGELINE, A Tale of Acadie." CH. IX.] 1755. EXPEDITION AGAINST CROWN POINT. a slow progress, owing to the various hindrances incident to a region where roads were to be cut, and rivers crossed. Considerably weakened by sickness, and a good deal cast down by the news of Braddock's defeat, whose death raised Shirley to the rank of commander-in-chief, the latter part of August was spent in building two strong forts at Oswego, fitting out vessels, and making great preparations for advancing against Niagara. But nothing was accomplished, and the en- | terprise was abandoned for the season. Shirley did not escape censure, on the charge of inefficiency. Johnson, who had command of the troops sent against Crown Point, was, in many respects, a very remarkable man. He was Irish by birth; he was flexible in disposition, tall and imposing in person, plausible in manner, and soon gained an immense influence over the Indians, whose dress he adopted, and whose savage life he seemed greatly to enjoy. His position as British agent with the Five Nations gave him an opportunity for dealing with the Indians, not only for the good of his country, but for his own personal profit. The following story will illustrate this latter point. There was a famous old Mohawk chief, commonly called King Hendrick, who was as shrewd as he was brave. He had a great love for finery, and to gratify his desires, he entered upon a contest of wits with Johnson. Having seen at Johnson's castle, one morning, a richly embroidered coat, he determined upon a cunning expedient to gain possession of it. "Brother," he said to Sir William, as 235 he entered one morning, baronet, who, looking abroad upon the wide-spread landscape, quietly observed to Hendrick: "Brother, I had a dream last night." "What did my English brother dream?" rejoined the sachem. " T dreamed that all this tract of land was mine," pointing to a district some twenty miles square in extent. Hendrick looked very grave, but, seeing the dilemma in which he was placed, replied: "Brother, the land is yoursbut you must not dream again." The troops under Johnson, amounting to some six thousand men, advanced to Lake George. Baron Dieskau, meanwhile, had ascended Lake Champlain with two thousand men from Montreal, and having landed at the southern extremity of that lake, had pushed on to Fort Lyman, better known as Fort Edward. Changing his purpose, he determined to attack Johnson, and in a narrow and rugged defile, about three miles from Johnson's camp, he met a body of a thousand Massachusetts troops, and some Mohawk Indians, Colonel Williams being in command.* Dieskau, without difficulty, put to rout this force, and Williams * Mr. Hildreth very justly records, that Williams secured to himself a better monument than any victory could have given. While passing through Albany, he made a will, leaving certain property to found a free school for Western Massachusetts, since grown into "Williams College." of energy, but, alleging the want of provisions and means of transportation, he accomplished no more than the building of Fort William Henry, near the late field of battle, and disbanded his troops for the winter. The frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, were exposed, by Dunbar's inglorious retreat, to incursions from the Indians under French influence. Governor Morris, of Penn was killed, as was also Hendrick, the old sachem.* Dieskau next advanced Dieskau next advanced to attack Johnson's camp, which, protected by its location, and fortified by some cannon, brought up from Fort Edward, withstood the attack. Dieskau was mortally wounded, and taken prisoner, and his men fled to Crown Point. The French are said to have lost a thousand men, the English three hundred. A party of New Hampshire troops encountered the baggage of Di-sylvania, urged the Assembly to make eskau's army, and captured it. These three actions, fought on the same day, are known as the battle of Lake George. Johnson received knighthood, and a parliamentary grant of £5,000; and the colonists looked upon the affair as a great victory. Johnson did not, however, as seemed to be expected of him, advance against Crown Point. The New Englanders charged him with incapacity, and lack * Hendrick was the son of a Mohegan chief, by a Mohawk woman. He married into a Mohawk family, and became distinguished among the Six Nations. His fame extended to Massachusetts; for the commissioners, in 1751, consulted him on the great question of instructing certain youths of his nation. In this battle with Dieskau, he commanded three hundred Mohawks. He was grave and sententious in council, and brave in fight. Some of his sayings are worth mention. When it was proposed to send a detachment to meet the enemy, and the number being mentioned, he replied: "If they are to fight, they are too few; if they are to be killed, they are too many." When it was proposed to send out the detachment in three parties, Hendrick took three sticks, and said, “put them together, and you cannot break them; take them one by one, and you will break them easily." They followed the advice of the old warrior in this; and had they regarded the precautions he suggested, in scouring the field by a flank guard, Williams would not have fallen into the ambuscade. Hendrick deserves to be remembered among the friends of white men, who now and then have been found among Indians. provision for the defence of the frontiers; but that body had some private disputes to settle, in regard to taxing the proprietary estates, and 1755. also professed the usual Quaker scruples against war, which hindered their proper attention to the governor's request. In November, however, they voted some £50,000 for public defence, which led to the resignation of several of the Quaker members of the Assembly. In Virginia, the Assembly voted £40,000 in taxes, and issued treasury notes to that amount. To Washington, for his gallant conduct at Braddock's defeat, £300 were voted, with gratuities to the other officers and the privates. The Virginia regiment was reörganized, and he himself was placed at its head, with Stephens as lieutenantcolonel. About the middle of September, Washington repaired to Winchester, where he fixed his head quarters; but, during the next winter, he was compelled to make a journey to Boston, to obtain a decision from Shirley as to some vexed points of precedence and military rank. The year 1755 closed with little sat CH. IX.] OSWEGO TAKEN BY THE FRENCH. isfaction; no one of the expeditions had resulted as had been previously hoped and expected. And when Shirley met a convention of colonial governors at New York, he found little disposition on their part to respond to his wishes, in regard to new enterprises against Fort Duquesne, Niagara, and Crown Point. Johnson and Delancey, of New York, assailed his course in the late campaign, and presently afterwards Shirley was recalled. 1756. Washington, on his return to his post, found the whole frontier in alarm from the Indians, who had been guilty of outrages of a very trying character. The whole soul of the youthful commander was engaged in his work; but harassed and perplexed by want of efficient support, and pained deeply by the scenes which he was compelled to witness, he exclaims, in a letter to Governor Dinwiddie: "The supplicating tears of the women, and moving petitions of the men, melt me into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would contribute to the people's ease." Washington spared no effort to meet the emergency, and it was felt by every one that he was indeed a most devoted patriot, and an honor to his native Virginia. In May, 1756, war was formally declared by England against France; the French court soon after issued a counter declaration. General Abercrombie, who had acquired some reputation on the continent, was shortly after sent out with an additional force, but the 237 Earl of Loudon, the new commanderin-chief, did not arrive till near the end of July. A garrison having been left in Oswego, to reinforce this became the immediate object of solicitude. Lieutenant-Colonel Bradstreet was detached thither with a small body of forces, and succeeded in making his way in safety. A large body of French were sent to intercept him, but Bradstreet was too prompt and active for their movements. On his return up the river, the French and Indians waylaid his party; but Bradstreet repulsed them after a sharp conflict. Shortly after the fight was over, they were joined by a fresh body of troops, who descended the river to Oswego, which, by these successive reinforcements, was placed in a temporary posture of defence. Bradstreet, on joining Abercrombie, warned him of the intentions of the French to seize Oswego, and fresh troops were accordingly dispatched thither; but their departure having been delayed by the procrastination of Lord Loudon, and the refusal of Abercrombie to take the responsibility of active measures, the movement when made, in August, was found to be too late; the fort had already been surrendered to the French under Montcalm. Thus more than a thousand men, a hundred and thirty-five pieces of artillery, a great quantity of stores and provisions, and a fleet of boats and vessels, built for the Niagara expedition, fell into the hands of the enemy; and the British troops on the march, under Webb, fell back with terror and precipitation to Albany. This result was mainly due to the increased energy infused into the movements of the French by the arrival of a new commander-in-chief. Louis Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm de St. Veran, was born at the Chateau de Candiac, near Nismes, in 1712, of a family illustrious not only for its extraction, but for its prowess. Though destined for the profession of arms, he had received so excellent an education, that he ever afterwards retained a taste for scientific and literary pursuits, and had his career not been suddenly terminated, would have been chosen a member of the French Academy. And before he was chosen as commander-in-chief of the French armies in North America, he had distinguished himself in many a gallant encounter. Such was the general who now arrived at Quebec with a large reinforcement of troops, and who, after sustaining the honor of the French arms with unexampled success, fell gloriously on the field of battle, and is associated with Wolfe in an enduring monument of fame and renown. With the exception of Armstrong's successful attack upon Kittaning, the principal town of the Indians on the Allegany River, the whole of the season passed away without any results of moment. Sickness caused many and severe losses; the regulars went into winter quarters; and Loudon's greatest exploit was frightening the citizens of New York into obedience to his demand for gratuitous quarters for his officers. At the beginning of the next year, 1757, a council was held at Boston, and it was concluded to defend the frontiers, and send an expedition against Louis 1757. burg. New England was called on for four thousand men, and New York and New Jersey for two thousand. In Pennsylvania the Quaker Assembly voted a levy of £100,000, waiving for the present the tax on the proprietary estates; they protested, however, that they did this under compulsion, and sent Franklin to England as agent to urge their complaints. Washington, in Virginia, did what he could in the way of defence, but it was plain that so long as Fort Duquesne was in the hands of the French, no effectual defence could be maintained on the frontier. Further south there were troubles likewise with the Indians but not to any great extent. Early in July, Lord Loudon sailed from New York with six thousand regulars, and was joined at Halifax by a fleet of eleven sail of the line, under Admiral Holborne, with six thousand But additional soldiers on board. again Loudon was too late; seventeen French ships of the line entered the harbor of Louisburg, and with the strong garrison there, it was useless to attack it with such a force as he had at the time: all that he could do was to return to New York. Montcalm, with characteristic energy, determined to strike a heavy blow while Loudon was engaged against Louisburg. Ascending Lake George, with a force of eight thousand men, he laid siege to Fort William Henry, where Colonel Monro was in command with two thousand troops. Webb was at Fort Edward, fourteen miles distant, with four thousand men. The attack was pressed with vigor; the ammuni |