FORTS ONTARIO AND WILLIAM HENRY CAPTURED. 253 mother country, and in the end leading them to independ- CHAP ence. XXII. Aug. 14. While the English were thus trifling, Montcalm, the 1756. successor of Dieskau, was acting. With five thousand Frenchmen, Canadians, and Indians, he darted across the lake, and suddenly presented himself at the gates of Fort Ontario, at the mouth of the Oswego. He met with a vigorous resistance; not until they had lost all hope of receiving aid, and their brave commander, Colonel Mercer, was killed, did the garrison surrender. An immense amount of military stores fell into the hands of Montcalm; he sent the captured flags to adorn the churches of Canada, and to please the Iroquois, who promised neutrality, he demolished the fort. Though it was known that this important post was threatened, yet no means were taken to relieve it. Thus Loudon planned and counterplanned, accomplished nothing, and then withdrew from his arduous labors into winter-quarters. He demanded free quarters for his officers of the citizens of Albany, New York, and Philadelphia. As the demand was "contrary to the laws of England and the liberties of America," they refused to accede to it. He threatened to bring his soldiers and compel them to submit to the outrage. The citizens, in their weakness, raised subscriptions to support for the winter those who had wasted the resources of the country. Thus a military chief invaded, not merely the political rights of the people, but the sanctities of their domestic life. Montcalm was undisturbed in making preparations to capture Fort William Henry, before which he appeared, 1757. the next year, with a large French and Indian force. The garrison numbered about three thousand men, under Colonel Monroe, a brave officer, who, when summoned to surrender, indignantly refused, and immediately sent to General Webbe, at Fort Edward, fifteen miles distant, for aid. He could have relieved Monroe, for he had four XXII. CHAP. thousand men at his disposal, but when Putnam obtained permission to go to the aid of the fort, and had proceeded 1757. some miles with his rangers, Webbe recalled him. Then he sent a letter to Monroe advising him to surrender. This letter fell into the hands of Montcalm, who was on the point of raising the siege, but he now sent the letter to Monroe, with another demand to surrender. The brave veteran would not capitulate, but held out till half his guns were rendered useless. Montcalm was too brave and generous not to appreciate nobleness in others, and he granted him the privilege of marching out with the honors Aug. of war. The only pledge he asked, was that the soldiers should not engage in war against the French for eighteen months. They were to retain their private property, and Canadian and Indian prisoners were to be restored. 9. Montcalm held a council of the Indians, who consented to the terms of the treaty, though they were sadly disappointed in their hopes of plunder. He refused them rum, and thus he could restrain them; but, unfortunately, the night after the surrender they obtained it from the English. In the morning they were frantic from the effects of intoxication, and when the garrison were leaving their camp, they fell upon the stragglers. The French officers did all they could to restrain them, and some were even wounded in their exertions to save the English soldiers from savage violence. Montcalm, in his agony, cried, "Kill me, but spare the English; they are under my protection." Instead of an orderly retreat to Fort Edward, it was a flight. Thus the French, with a population in Canada, not one-twentieth part as great as that of the English colonies, seemed triumphant everywhere. Was it strange that the colonists began to lose their respect for those sent to protect them from their enemies-especially for the officers? They believed the interference of the home government hindered the advancement of their cause, while XXII. the majority of the royalist governors seemed to be actu- CHAP. ated by no worthier motive than that of promoting their own interests. Though the French were thus victorious, and possessed the valleys of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and apparently all the continent, except a little strip along the Atlantic coast, yet Canada was exhausted. The struggle was virtually over. Her men had been drawn to the battle-field, while their farms were left untilled, and now famine was beginning to press upon the people. Their cattle and sheep were destroyed, and horse-flesh was made to supply the place of beef; no aid could come from France, as nearly all intercourse was cut off by the everpresent British cruisers. The French owed their success, not to their own strength, but to the imbecility of the English commanders, 1757. XXIII. CHAPTER XXIII. FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR, CONTINUED. William Pitt, Prime Minister.-Lord Amherst, Commander-in-chief.—Plan of Operations.-Louisburg captured.-Abercrombie on Lake George; Repulse and Retreat.-Bradstreet captures Fort Frontenac.-Expedi tion against Fort Du Quesne.-Colonel Grant.-Washington takes possession of the Fort; resigns his Commission.-Ticonderoga abandoned; the French retire to Canada.-Wolfe appears before Quebec.-Exertions of Montcalm.-The British on the Heights of Abraham.—The Battle.-Deaths of Wolfe and Montcalm; their Memories.-Quebec capitulates. The Cherokee War.-Destruction of their Crops and Villages; their Revenge.-Pontiac; his Character and Plans.-Desolations along the Frontiers.-General Bouquet.-Pontiac's Death. CHAP. THE people of England were not indifferent spectators of these failures; they noticed the feeble manner in which 1757. the war was conducted, and attributed the want of success to the inefficiency of those in command. Through their influence William Pitt, one of themselves, not of the aristocracy, was called to the head of affairs. He appreciated the character and patriotism of the colonists. Instead of devising measures that would impoverish them, he, at once, assumed the expenses of the war; announced that the money they had already spent for that purpose, should be refunded, and that for the future such expenses would be borne by the home government; also arms and clothing should be furnished the soldiers who would enlist. This act of justice brought into the field fifty thousand men-a number greater than that of the entire male population of Canada at that time. XXIII. Lord Jeffrey Amherst was appointed commander-in- CHAP. chief of the British army. He had for his lieutenant the young and talented James Wolfe, who, although but 1757. thirty-one years of age, had spent eighteen of those years in the army, where, by his noble bearing, he had won for himself the admiration of both friends and foes. With 1758. According to the general plan, Amherst himself was to head the expedition against Louisburg and Quebec; while General Forbes was to capture Fort Du Quesne and take possession of the valley of the Ohio, and Abercrombie to take Ticonderoga, the French stronghold on Lake Champlain. With Abercrombie was associated Lord Howe, who was characterized as the soul of the enterprise. June, On the 8th of June, Amherst landed with his forces near the city of Louisburg. Under the cover of a fire from the ships Wolfe led the first division. He forbade a gun to be fired, urged on the rowers, and in the face of the enemy leaped into the water, and followed by his men. waded to the shore. The French deserted their outposts, and retired to the fortress in the town. After a bombardment of fifty days, when the French shipping in the harbor was destroyed, and all hopes of receiving assistance at an end, the fortress surrendered. At the same time were given July up the islands of Cape Breton and Prince Edward, five thousand prisoners, and an immense amount of military stores. Abercrombie and Lord Howe advanced against Ticonderoga. Their army, which amounted to seven thousand English and nine thousand Americans, assembled at the head of Lake George. They passed in flat-boats down to the foot of the lake, where they disembarked and hurried on toward Ticonderoga; but through the ignorance of their guide, missed their way, and the advance fell into an ambuscade of a French scouting party. The eneiny was soon put to flight, but Lord Howe fell at the head 27. July 6. |