the English by the progress of Colonel Lawrence in Acadia, but sad it is to say that the stain of cruelty tainted our success, as it had the victory of Montcalm. When the French settlers refused to acknowledge allegiance to the British crown and laws, they were pursued with fire and sword, their villages and farms destroyed, and at last many thousands were suddenly shipped off, and dispersed among the Atlantic colonies, where friends and kinsfolk might never meet again; thus, to use the language of the time, "establishing peace and tranquillity throughout the whole province." In the ensuing February, some of these ill-fated Acadians with a few allied Indians, about 300 in all, unexpectedly sallied out upon the new English settlements, driven by desperation from the snowy forests; but Lieutenant-colonel Scott promptly called together an equal force of Provincials, and drove them back, with heavy loss, upon the inhospitable wilder ness. In the month of August of the year 1756, a small post on the borders of Pennsylvania, called Fort Granville, was surprised by a party of French and Indians, and the garrison carried into captivity. At the same time, the Moravian savages from the banks of the Ohio, rejoicing in the opportunity afforded by the contentions of the white men, suddenly burst upon the English western frontier, and massacred no less than 1000 of the scattered settlers. Then the thirst of vengeance burned among the hardy colonists. Infuriated rather than appalled by this horrid butchery, 280 men hastily assembled, and with untiring energy pushed on toward the rugged Alleganies to an Indian town called Kittaning, the rendezvous of the fierce marauders. The road was rude and difficult, the distance 150 miles, but the furious hatred of the pursuers spurred them forward, and on the morning of the fifth day the foremost scouts brought word that the Indian murderers were close at hand, celebrating their bloody triumph in songs and dances. When morning light first chased away the darkness of the forest, the English Provincials burst upon the Indian camp. Armstrong, their leader, offered quarter, but the savages, conscious of their unpardonable cruelties, dared not submit. Then ensued a terrible slaughter; the Indians were beaten down in furious rage, or shot in attempting to fly, or shut up in their wooden huts and burned to death; some were seized and scalped, in horrible imitation of their own ferocity, and not a few were blown up and destroyed by the stores of ammunition they had collected during their late incursion. Terrible as was this vengeance, it availed but little. On almost every other part of the British frontiers, parties of the Indians, and their almost equally savage French allies, swarmed among the woods, concealed in ambush during the day, and by night busied in their bloody work. In the mean time, the season had become too far advanced for the commencement of any important enterprise; the English colonies were divided in spirit, and all efforts for the general good were perpetually thwarted by jealousy and parsimony. Lord Loudon, with his armament, had not reached New York till the end of July; by that time little remained practicable but to strengthen some frontier forts, and push forward parties of observation into the French territories. Thus closed the campaign of 1756. England had a sorry account of her wasted blood and treasure in these Western wars; opportunities had been neglected, resources wasted, laurels lost.* The Indian trade and the commerce of the * Every where. "I see it with concern, considering who was Newcastle's associate" (he alludes to his friend Fox); "but this was the year of the worst administration that I have seen in England, for now Newcastle's incapacity1 was left to its full play."-Walpole's Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 54. "In the course of this unfortunate year, 1756, we were stripped of Minorca and Oswego (the East India Company, by the loss of Calcutta, received a blow which would have shaken an establishment of less strength to its foundation), we apprehended an invasion of Great Britain itself, our councils were torn to pieces by factions, and our military fame was every where in contempt."-Annual Register. Burke was the writer of the "History of Europe" in the early volumes of the Annual Register. 1 "A minister the most incapable though the most ambitious, the weakest though the most insolent, the most pusillanimous though the most presumptuous."-Mr. Potter's Speech in the House of Commons. "It would, however, be injustice not to allow the Duke of Newcastle the merit of disinterestedness as to the emoluments of office, and of zeal for the general interests of his country."-Belsham, vol. ii., p. 381. C* great lakes had been forfeited by the surrender of Oswego. To us only remained the barren boast of Bradstreet's gallant victory. The Indians were not slow to perceive the weakness of British councils, and Sir William Johnson's powerful influence was barely sufficient to restrain the politic Iroquois from openly declaring for the enemy. > CHAPTER III. STIMULATED by the general success of their arms during the campaign of 1756, the French suffered not their energies to slumber even through the chilly Canadian winter. With detachments of Indians and hardy "habitans," they scoured the northern frontiers of the British colonies, and gained intelligence of every movement. From information thus acquired, Montcalm determined to move a force suddenly on Fort William Henry, at the southern extremity of Lake George,† where the English had formed a dépôt for a vast quantity of provisions and warlike stores, which was as yet unprotected by any sufficient garrison. Fifteen hundred men, of whom four hundred were Indians, led by Rigaud de Vaudreuil and the Chevalier de Longueuil, were dispatched to surprise and escalade the fort, and, in case of failure, to destroy the stores and buildings beyond the pro * "In the French accounts of this transaction, Fort George is the name given to the fort. This was a strong position at a short distance from Fort William Henry. In the vicinity of the village of Caldwell is situated the site of the old Fort William Henry, and a short distance beyond the ruins of Fort George, which was built during the campaign of Amherst."—Picturesque Tourist, p. 104. Lake George, called by the Indians Horican, is justly celebrated for its romantic and beautiful scenery, and for the transparency and purity of its waters. They were exclusively selected by the Jesuit missionaries to perform the typical purification of baptism, which obtained for it the appropriate title of Lac Sacrament. The less zealous English thought they conferred sufficient honor on its unsullied fountains when they bestowed the name of their reigning prince, the second of the house of Hanover."-Last of the Mohicans, p. 2. tection of its walls, and also the shipping and bateaux on the neighboring lake. On the 19th of March, at the dead of night, the French noiselessly approached the little fortress, but the vigilant sentries discovered them in time, and alarmed the defenders, who drove them back with a brisk fire of cannon and musketry. Having failed to surprise, they invested the place the following day, and twice again vainly attacked the fort. On the 21st they summoned the commandant, Major Eyres, to surrender, which demand he instantly refused. The French assailed the stronghold a fourth and even a fifth time; but, having been repulsed in every attack, contented themselves by destroying the undefended property without. Furthermore, they strengthened Ticonderoga and Crown Point with two battalions, and sent Captain Pouchot as commandant to Niagara, with orders to fortify that important post as he best might. They then returned to Montreal. Shortly afterward they gained an advantage of some value over a detachment of 400 men, led by Colonel Parker, which had been sent by water to attack their advanced guard near Ticonderoga. By a cleverly devised ambuscade, and the opportune arrival of a re-enforcement, they completely overpowered the British troops, and slew or captured more than half the number. In the mean while the Earl of Loudon exerted himself to the utmost in collecting a sufficient force to strike a decisive blow. The favorite object of carrying Crown Point was laid aside, and the grander scheme of reducing the formidable stronghold of Louisburg, in Acadia, adopted instead.* There the naval power of England could be brought to bear, and the distracting jealousies of the several colonies might not interfere to paralyze vigorous action. Preparations for *"The abandonment of the enterprise against Crown Point, on which they had securely relied, was a severe disappointment to the New England States."-Graham's Hist. of the United States, vol. iv., p. 5. "The attack on Louisburg was a scheme very favorable to the views and interests of France at this period, as it left M. de Montcalm entirely at liberty to prosecute his plans of conquest, and Louisburg was so strongly defended that little apprehension was entertained for its safety."-Belsham, vol. ii., p. 371. * this enterprise were rapidly pushed on in England, and by the end of January, 1757, seven regiments of infantry and a detachment of artillery, all commanded by Major-general Hopson, were ordered to assemble at Cork, and await the arrival of a powerful fleet of fourteen line-of-battle ships, destined to bear them to America. June had nearly closed, however, before this powerful armament, under Admiral Holborne, arrived at the place of rendezvous. Lord Loudon had arranged to meet the expedition at Halifax with all the force he could collect to accomplish this transport, he was injudiciously led to lay an embargo on all the ships in the British North American ports. This arbitrary measure at once aroused a storm of indignation among the merchants and planters, whose trade it ruinously affected. The home government, ever jealous of commercial liberty, immediately disapproved the high-handed proceeding, and issued peremptory orders against its repetition. On the 20th of June, 1757, Lord Loudon had embarked at New York with a considerable force drawn from the protection of the vast colonial borders. Sir Charles Hardy commanded a fleet of four ships of war and seventy transports * "Upon our anchoring in Chebucto harbor, our commanding officer went ashore, and waited on his excellency the Earl of Loudon, who, with Major-general Abercromby, expressed great pleasure at our arrival, with the information they received of the fleet, and re-enforcments we had parted with at sea; and his lordship said, 'We had staid so long, he had almost despaired of us;' but being assured our delay proceeded principally from an obstinate set of contrary winds, that had retarded us in Ireland above two months after our arrival at the port of embarkation, his lordship seemed pleased. (As the fate of the expedition to Louisburg in this campaign depended, in a great measure, on the speedy sailing and junction of the fleet and forces from Europe with those of the Earl of Loudon, it was for this reason I judged it necessary to commence this work with the first orders to the troops in Ireland to march and embark for foreign service; and it will thereby appear that the earliest measures were taken at home to forward this enterprise, which, without doubt, would have succeeded, if the armament could have sailed when first intended).' Knox's Historical Journals of the Campaigns of North America, vol. i., p. 14. The same cause-impossibility of exactly combining fleets and armies-had proved the ruin of every expedition, on a grand scale, undertaken by either French or English, in America, for years before, |