France and England in North America, Part VI : Montcalm and Wolfe

246

Robinson to Shirley, 5 July, 1754.

247

Shirley to Robinson, 8 Dec. 1754. Ibid., 24 Jan. 1755. The Record Office contains numerous other letters of Shirley on the subject. "I am obliged to your Honor for communicating to me the French Mémoire, which, with other reasons, puts it out of doubt that the French are determined to begin an offensive war on the peninsula as soon as ever they shall think themselves strengthened enough to venture up it, and that they have thoughts of attempting it in the ensuing spring. I enclose your Honor extracts from two letters from Annapolis Royal, which show that the French inhabitants are in expectation of its being begun in the spring." Shirley to Lawrence, 6 Jan. 1755.

248

Mémoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760. This letter is also mentioned in another contemporary document, Mémoire sur les Fraudes commises dans la Colonie.

249

Pichon, called also Tyrrell from the name of his mother, was author of Genuine Letters and Memoirs relating to Cape Breton,—a book of some value. His papers are preserved at Halifax, and some of them are printed in the Public Documents of Nova Scotia.

250

Pichon to Captain Scott, 14 Oct. 1754, in Public Documents of Nova Scotia, 229.

251

Public Documents of Nova Scotia, 223, 224, 226, 227, 238.

252

Public Documents of Nova Scotia, 239.

253

Shirley to Robinson, 20 June, 1755.

254

Mémoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760. An English document, State of the English and French Forts in Nova Scotia, says 1,200 to 1,400.

255

Mémoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760.

256

Winslow, Journal and Letter Book. Mémoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760. Letters from officers on the spot in Boston Evening Post and Boston News Letter. Journal of Surgeon John Thomas.

257

"11 June. Capt. Adams went with a Company of Raingers, and Returned at 11 Clock with a Coach and Sum other Plunder." Journal of John Thomas.

258

Journal of Pichon, cited by Beamish Murdoch.

259

On the capture of Beauséjour, Mémoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760; Pichon, Cape Breton, 318; Journal of Pichon, cited by Murdoch; and the English accounts already mentioned.

260

Knox, Campaigns in North America, I. 114, note. Knox, who was stationed in Nova Scotia, says that Le Loutre left behind him "a most remarkable character for inhumanity."

261

Winslow, Journal. Villeray au Ministre, 20 Sept. 1755.

262

Drucour au Ministre, 1 Déc. 1755.

263

Mémoire sur les Fraudes commises dans la Colonie, 1759. Mémoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760.

264

L'Évêque de Québec à Le Loutre, Nov. 1754, in Public Documents of Nova Scotia, 240.

265

Ibid., 242.

266

Lords of Trade to Lawrence, 4 March, 1754.

267

Lawrence to Lords of Trade, 1 Aug. 1754.

268

Histoire philosophique et politique, VI. 242 (ed. 1772).

269

Beauharnois et Hocquart au Comte de Maurepas, 12 Sept. 1745.

270

Franquet, Journal, 1751, says of the Acadians: "Ils aiment l'argent, n'ont dans toute leur conduite que leur intérêt pour objet, sont, indifféremment des deux sexes, d'une inconsidération dans leurs discours qui dénote de la méchanceté." Another observer, Dieréville, gives a more favorable picture.

271

Public Documents of Nova Scotia, 228.

272

Minutes of Council at Halifax, 3 July, 1755, in Public Documents of Nova Scotia, 247-255.

273

Lawrence to Lords of Trade, 18 July, 1755.

274

Minutes of Council, 4 July—28 July, in Public Documents of Nova Scotia, 255-267. Copies of these and other parts of the record were sent at the time to England, and are now in the Public Record Office, along with the letters of Lawrence.

275

On the oath and its history, compare a long note by Mr. Akin in Public Documents of Nova Scotia, 263-267. Winslow in his Journal gives an abstract of a memorial sent him by the Acadians, in which they say that they had refused the oath, and so forfeited their lands, from motives of religion. I have shown in a former chapter that the priests had been the chief instruments in preventing them from accepting the English government. Add the following:—

"Les malheurs des Accadiens sont beaucoup moins leur ouvrage que le fruit des sollicitations et des démarches des missionnaires." Vaudreuil au Ministre, 6 Mai, 1760.

"Si nous avons la guerre, et si les Accadiens sont misérables, souvenez-vous que ce sont les prêtres qui en sont la cause." Boishébert à Manach, 21 Fév. 1760. Both these writers had encouraged the priests in their intrigues so long as there were likely to profit the French Government, and only blamed them after they failed to accomplished what was expected of them.

"Nous avons six missionnaires dont l'occupation perpetuelle est de porter les esprits au fanatisme et à la vengeance…. Je ne puis supporter dans nos prêtres ces odieuses déclamations qu'ils font tous les jours aux sauvages: 'Les Anglois sont les ennemis de Dieu, les compagnons du Diable.'" Pichon, Lettres et Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire du Cap-Breton, 160, 161. (La Haye, 1760.)

276

See his portrait, at the rooms of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

277

Also Boishébert à Drucourt, 10 Oct. 1755, an exaggerated account. Vaudreuil au Ministre, 18 Oct. 1755, sets Boishébert's force at one hundred and twenty-five men.

278

Haliburton, who knew Winslow's Journal only by imperfect extracts, erroneously states that the men put on board the vessels were sent away immediately. They remained at Grand Pré several weeks, and were then sent off at intervals with their families.

279

Murray to Winslow, 26 Sept. 1755.

280

In spite of Winslow's care, some cases of separation of families occurred; but they were not numerous.

281

Winslow to Monckton, 3 Nov. 1755.

282

Ibid.

283

Captain Adams to Winslow, 29 Nov. 1755; see also Knox, I. 85, who exactly confirms Adams's figures.

284

Monckton to Winslow, 7 Oct. 1755.

285

Le Guerne à Prévost, 10 Mars, 1756.

286

Lettre commune de Drucour et Prévost au Ministre, 6 Avril, 1756. Vaudreuil au Ministre, 1 Juin, 1756.

287

Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., III. 42, note.

288

Bougainville, Journal, 1756-1758. His statements are sustained by Mémoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760.

289

It may not be remembered that the predecessor of Louis XV., without the slightest provocation or the pretence of any, gave orders that the whole Protestant population of the colony of New York, amounting to about eighteen thousand, should be seized, despoiled of their property, placed on board his ships, and dispersed among the other British colonies in such a way that they could not reunite. Want of power alone prevented the execution of the order. See Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV., 189, 190.

290

Governor Shirley's Message to his Assembly, 13 Feb. 1755. Resolutions of the Assembly of Massachusetts, 18 Feb. 1755. Shirley's original idea was to build a fort on a rising ground near Crown Point, in order to command it. This was soon abandoned for the more honest and more practical plan of direct attack.

291

Correspondence of Shirley, Feb. 1755. The number was much increased later in the season.

292

Report of Conference between Major-General Johnson and the Indians, June, 1755.

293

Bigot au Ministre, 27 Août, 1755. Ibid., 5 Sept. 1755.

294

Mémoire pour servir d'Instruction à M. le Baron de Dieskau, Maréchal des Camps et Armées du Roy, 15 Août, 1755.

295

The Conduct of Major-General Shirley briefly stated (London, 1758).

296

Blanchard to Wentworth, 28 Aug. 1755, in Provincial Papers of New Hampshire, VI. 429.

297

Proclamation of Governor Shirley, 1755.

298

Second Letter to a Friend on the Battle of Lake George.

299

Papers of Colonel Israel Williams.

300

Massachusetts Archives.

301

Jonathan Caswell to John Caswell, 6 July, 1755.

302

Minutes of Council of War, 22 Aug. 1755. Ephraim Williams to Benjamin Dwight, 22 Aug. 1755.

303

Vaudreuil au Ministre, 25 Sept. 1755.

304

Livre d'Ordres, Août, Sept. 1755.

305

Dieskau à Vaudreuil, 1 Sept. 1755.

306

I passed this way three weeks ago. There are some points where the scene is not much changed since Dieskau saw it.

307

Mémoire sur l'Affaire du 8 Septembre.

308

Wraxall to Lieutenant-Governor Delancey, 10 Sept. 1755. Wraxall was Johnson's aide-de-camp and secretary. The Second Letter to a Friend says twenty-one hundred whites and two hundred or three hundred Indians. Blodget, who was also on the spot, sets the whites at two thousand.

309

Letter to the Governors of the several Colonies, 9 Sept. 1755.

310

Seth Pomeroy to his Wife, 10 Sept. 1755.

311

Dr. Perez Marsh to William Williams, 25 Sept. 1755.

312

Dialogue entre le Maréchal de Saxe et le Baron de Dieskau aux Champs Élysées. This paper is in the Archives de la Guerre, and was evidently written or inspired by Dieskau himself. In spite of its fanciful form, it is a sober statement of the events of the campaign. There is a translation of it in N. Y. Col. Docs., X. 340.

313

See the story as told by Dieskau to the celebrated Diderot, at Paris, in 1760. Mémoires de Diderot, I. 402 (1830). Compare N. Y. Col. Docs., X. 343.

314

Dr. Perez Marsh to William Williams, 25 Sept. 1755.

315

Return of Killed, Wounded, and Missing at the Battle of Lake George.

316

Doreil au Ministre, 20 Oct. 1755. Surgeon Williams gives the English loss as two hundred and sixteen killed, and ninety-six wounded. Pomeroy thinks that the French lost four or five hundred. Johnson places their loss at four hundred.

317

Shirley to Johnson, 19 Sept. 1755. Ibid., 24 Sept. 1755. Johnson to Shirley, 22 Sept. 1755. Johnson to Phipps, 10 Oct. 1755 (Massachusetts Archives).

318

Reports of Council of War, 11-21 Oct. 1755.

319

Review of Military Operations in North America, in a Letter to a Nobleman (ascribed to William Livingston).

On the Battle of Lake George a mass of papers will be found in the N. Y. Col. Docs., Vols. VI. and X. Those in Vol. VI., taken chiefly from the archives of New York, consist of official and private letters, reports, etc., on the English side. Those in Vol. X. are drawn chiefly from the archives of the French War Department, and include the correspondence of Dieskau and his adjutant Montreuil. I have examined most of them in the original. Besides these I have obtained from the Archives de la Marine and other sources a number of important additional papers, which have never been printed, including Vaudreuil's reports to the Minister of War, and his strictures on Dieskau, whom he accuses of disobeying orders by dividing his force; also the translation of an English journal of the campaign found in the pocket of a captured officer, and a long account of the battle sent by Bigot to the Minister of Marine, 4 Oct. 1755.

I owe to the kindness of Theodore Pomeroy, Esq., a copy of the Journal of Lieutenant-Colonel Seth Pomeroy, whose letters are full of interest; as are those of Surgeon Williams, from the collection of William L. Stone, Esq. The papers of Colonel Israel Williams, in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society, contain many other curious letters relating to the campaign, extracts from some of which are given in the text. One of the most curious records of the battle is A Prospective-Plan of the Battle near Lake George, with an Explanation thereof, containing a full, though short, History of that important Affair, by Samuel Blodget, occasionally at the Camp when the Battle was fought. It is an engraving, printed at Boston soon after the fight, of which it gives a clear idea. Four years after, Blodget opened a shop in Boston, where, as appears by his advertisements in the newspapers, he sold "English Goods, also English Hatts, etc." The engraving is reproduced in the Documentary History of New York, IV., and elsewhere. The Explanation thereof is only to be found complete in the original. This, as well as the anonymous Second Letter to a Friend, also printed at Boston in 1755, is excellent for the information it gives as to the condition of the ground where the conflict took place, and the position of the combatants. The unpublished Archives of Massachusetts; the correspondence of Sir William Johnson; the Review of Military Operations in North America; Dwight, Travels in New England and New York, III.; and Hoyt, Antiquarian Researches on Indian Wars,—should also be mentioned. Dwight and Hoyt drew their information from aged survivors of the battle. I have repeatedly examined the localities.

In the odd effusion of the colonial muse called Tilden's Poems, chiefly to Animate and Rouse the Soldiers, printed 1756, is a piece styled The Christian Hero, or New England's Triumphs, beginning with the invocation,—

"O Heaven, indulge my feeble Muse,Teach her what numbers for to choose!"

and containing the following stanza:—

"Their Dieskau we from them detain,While Canada aloud complainsAnd counts the numbers of their slainAnd makes a dire complaint;The Indians to their demon gods;And with the French there's little odds,While images receive their nods,Invoking rotten saints."

320

Memoirs of an American Lady (Mrs. Schuyler), Chap. VI. A genuine picture of colonial life, and a charming book, though far from being historically trustworthy. Compare the account of Albany in Kalm, II. 102.

321

James Gray to John Gray, 11 July, 1755.

322

The young author of this letter was, like his brother, a victim of the war.

"Permit me, good sir, to offer you my hearty condolence upon the death of my friend Jack, whose worth I admired, and feel for him more than I can express…. Few men of his age had so many friends." Governor Morris to Shirley, 27 Nov. 1755.

"My heart bleeds for Mr. Shirley. He must be overwhelmed with Grief when he hears of Capt. John Shirley's Death, of which I have an Account by the last Post from New York, where he died of a Flux and Fever that he had contracted at Oswego. The loss of Two Sons in one Campaign scarcely admits of Consolation. I feel the Anguish of the unhappy Father, and mix my Tears very heartily with his. I have had an intimate Acquaintance with Both of Them for many Years, and know well their inestimable Value." Morris to Dinwiddie, 29 Nov. 1755.

323

Bigot au Ministre, 27 Août, 1755.

324

Bigot au Ministre, 5 Sept. 1755.

325

Minutes of a Council of War at Oswego, 18 Sept. 1755.

326

Minutes of a Council of War at Oswego, 27 Sept. 1755.

327

On the Niagara expedition, Braddock's Instructions to Major-General Shirley. Correspondence of Shirley, 1755. Conduct of Major-General Shirley (London, 1758). Letters of John Shirley in Pennsylvania Archives, II. Bradstreet to Shirley, 17 Aug. 1755. MSS. in Massachusetts Archives. Review of Military Operations in North America. Gentleman's Magazine, 1757, p. 73. London Magazine, 1759, p. 594. Trumbull, Hist. Connecticut, II. 370.

328

Johnson to the Lords of Trade, 3 Sept. 1755.

329

Johnson to the Lords of Trade, 17 Jan. 1756.

330

John Shirley to Governor Morris, 12 Aug. 1755.

331

On this affair, see various papers in N. Y. Col. Docs., VI., VII. Smith, Hist. New York, Part II., Chaps. IV. V. Review of Military Operations in North America. Both Smith and Livingston, the author of the Review, were personally cognizant of the course of the dispute.

332

Dumas au Ministre, 24 Juillet, 1756.

333

Mémoires de Famille de l'Abbé Casgrain, cited in Le Foyer Canadien, III. 26, where an extract is given from an order of Dumas to Baby, a Canadian officer. Orders of Contrecœur and Ligneris to the same effect are also given. A similar order, signed by Dumas, was found in the pocket of Douville, an officer killed by the English on the Frontier. Writings of Washington, II. 137, note.

334

Rec. Claude Godefroy Cocquard, S. J., à son Frère, Mars (?), 1757.

335

Extract in Writings of Washington, II. 145, note.

336

Letters of Dinwiddie, 1755.

337

Writings of Washington, II. 143.

338

See a crowd of party pamphlets, Quaker against Presbyterian, which appeared at Philadelphia in 1764, abusively acrimonious on both sides.

339

The productive estates of the proprietaries were taxed through the tenants.

340

The proprietaries offered to contribute to the cost of building and maintaining a fort on the spot where the French soon after built Fort Duquesne. This plan, vigorously executed, would have saved the province from a deluge of miseries. One of the reasons assigned by the Assembly for rejecting it was that it would irritate the enemy. See supra,p. 60.

341

A Brief View of the Conduct of Pennsylvania for the year 1755.

342

Morris to Shirley, 16 Aug. 1755.

343

Morris to Sir Thomas Robinson, 28 Aug. 1755.

344

Colonial Records of Pa., VI. 584.

345

Message of the Assembly to the Governor, 29 Sept. 1755 (written by Franklin), in Colonial Records of Pa., VI. 631, 632.

346

Writings of Franklin, III. 447. The Assembly at first suppressed this paper, but afterwards printed it.

347

Trent to James Burd, 4 Oct. 1755.

348

Adam Hoops to Governor Morris, 3 Nov. 1755.

349

Colonial Records of Pa., VI. 682.

350

Message of the Governor to the Assembly, 8 Nov. 1755, in Colonial Records of Pa., VI. 684.

351

Message of the Assembly to the Governor, 11 Nov. Ibid., VI. 692. The words are Franklin's.

352

Message of the Governor to the Assembly, 22 Nov. 1755, in Colonial Records of Pa., VI. 714.

353

Pennsylvania Archives, II. 485.

354

Ibid., II. 487.

355

See Conspiracy of Pontiac, II. 143, 152.

356

A Remonstrance, etc., in Colonial Records of Pa., VI. 734.

357

Mante, 47; Entick, I. 377.

358

This remarkable bill, drawn by Franklin, was meant for political rather than military effect. It was thought that Morris would refuse to pass it, and could therefore be accused of preventing the province from defending itself; but he avoided the snare by signing it.

359

Minutes of Council, 27 Nov. 1755.

360

On Pennsylvanian disputes,—A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania (London, 1755). A Brief View of the Conduct of Pennsylvania (London, 1756). These are pamphlets on the Governor's side, by William Smith, D.D., Provost of the College of Pennsylvania. An Answer to an invidious Pamphlet, intituled a Brief State, etc. (London, 1755). Anonymous. A True and Impartial State of the Province of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1759). Anonymous. The last two works attack the first two with great vehemence. The True and Impartial State is an able presentation of the case of the Assembly, omitting, however, essential facts. But the most elaborate work on the subject is the Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania, inspired and partly written by Franklin. It is hotly partisan, and sometimes sophistical and unfair. Articles on the quarrel will also be found in the provincial newspapers, especially the New York Mercury, and in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1755 and 1756. But it is impossible to get any clear and just view of it without wading through the interminable documents concerning it in the Colonial Records of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Archives.

361

This passage is given by Somervogel from the original letter.

362

The account of Montcalm up to this time is chiefly from his unpublished autobiography, preserved by his descendants, and entitled Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire de ma Vie. Somervogel, Comme on servait autrefois; Bonnechose, Montcalm et le Canada; Martin, Le Marquis de Montcalm; Éloge de Montcalm; Autre Éloge de Montcalm; Mémoires sur le Canada, 1749-1760, and other writings in print and manuscript have also been consulted.