96 FORT DUQUESNE ABANDONED-WASHINGTON'S MARRIAGE. [1759. wilderness were yet to be traversed, by a road | veterans assisted, with heavy hearts and frenot yet formed, before they could reach Fort quent ejaculations of poignant feeling, who had Duquesne. Again, Washington's predictions been present in the scenes of defeat and carseemed likely to be verified, and the expedition nage. to be defeated by delay; for in a council of war, it was determined to be impracticable to advance further with the army that season. Three prisoners, however, who were brought in, gave such an account of the weak state of the garrison at Fort Duquesne, its want of provisions, and the defection of the Indians, that it was determined to push forward. The march was accordingly resumed, but without tents or baggage, and with only a light train of artillery. Washington still kept the advance. After leaving Loyal Hannan, the road presented traces of the late defeat of Grant; being strewed with human bones, the sad relics of fugitives cut down by the Indians, or of wounded soldiers who had died on the retreat; they lay mouldering in various stages of decay, mingled with the bones of horses and of oxen. As they approached Fort Duquesne, these mementoes of former disasters became more frequent; and the bones of those massacred in the defeat of Braddock, still lay scattered about the battle field, whitening in the sun. At length the army arrived in sight of Fort Duquesne, advancing with great precaution, and expecting a vigorous defence; but that formidable fortress, the terror and scourge of the frontier, and the object of such warlike enterprise, fell without a blow. The recent successes of the English forces in Canada, particularly the capture and destruction of Fort Frontenac, had left the garrison without hope of reinforcements and supplies. The whole force, at the time, did not exceed five hundred men, and the provisions were nearly exhausted. The commander, therefore, waited only until the English army was within one day's march, when he embarked his troops at night in bateaux, blew up his magazines, set fire to the fort, and retreated down the Ohio, by the light of the flames. On the 25th of November, Washington, with the advanced guard, marched in, and planted the British flag on the yet smoking ruins. One of the first offices of the army was to collect and bury, in one common tomb, the bones of their fellow-soldiers who had fallen in the battles of Braddock and Grant. In this pious duty it is said every one joined, from the general down to the private soldier; and some The ruins of the fortress were now put in a defensible state, and garrisoned by two hundred men from Washington's regiment; the name was changed to that of Fort Pitt, in honor of the illustrious British minister, whose measures had given vigor and effect to this year's campaign; it has since been modified into Pittsburg, and designates one of the most busy and populous cities of the interior. The reduction of Fort Duquesne terminated, as Washington had foreseen, the troubles and dangers of the southern frontier. The French domination of the Ohio was at an end; the Indians, as usual, paid homage to the conquering power, and a treaty of peace was concluded with all the tribes between the Ohio and the lakes. With this campaign ended, for the present, the military career of Washington. His great object was attained, the restoration of quiet and security to his native province; and, having abandoned all hope of attaining rank in the regular army, and his health being much impaired, he gave up his commission at the close of the year, and retired from the service, followed by the applause of his fellow-soldiers, and the gratitude and admiration of all his countrymen. His marriage with Mrs. Custis took place shortly after his return. It was celebrated on the 6th of January, 1759, at the White House, the residence of the bride, in the good old hospitable style of Virginia, amid a joyous assemblage of relatives and friends. CHAPTER XXV. BEFORE following Washington into the retirement of domestic life, we think it proper to notice the events which closed the great struggle between England and France for empire in America. In that struggle he had first become practised in arms, and schooled in the ways of the world; and its results will be found connected with the history of his later years. General Abercrombie had been superseded as commander-in-chief of the forces in America by Major-General Amherst, who had gained great favor by the reduction of Louisburg. Er. 27.] FORT NIAGARA TAKEN-AMHERST AT TICONDEROGA. 97 According to the plan of operations for 1759, | within the thundering sound of the one, and General Wolfe, who had risen to fame by his the distant view of the other. Johnson's gallant conduct in the same affair, was to ascend "braves" advanced to have a parley with the the St. Lawrence in a fleet of ships of war, with hostile redskins. The latter received them with eight thousand men, as soon as the river should a war-whoop, and Frenchman and savage made be free of ice, and lay siege to Quebec, the an impetuous onset. Johnson's regulars and capital of Canada. General Amherst, in the provincials stood their ground firmly, while his mean time, was to advance, as Abercrombie red warriors fell on the flanks of the enemy. had done, by Lake George, against Ticonderoga After a sharp conflict, the French were broken, and Crown Point; reduce those forts, cross routed, and pursued through the woods, with Lake Champlain, push on to the St. Lawrence, great carnage. Among the prisoners taken and co-operate with Wolfe. were seventeen officers. The next day Sir William Johnson sent a trumpet, summoning the garrison to surrender, to spare the effusion of blood, and prevent outrages by the Indians. They had no alternative; were permitted to march out with the honors of war, and were protected by Sir William from his Indian allies. Thus was secured the key to the communication between Lakes Ontario and Erie, and to the vast interior region connected with them. The blow alarmed the French for the safety of Montreal, and De Levi, the second in command of their Canadian forces, hastened up from before Quebec, and took post at the fort of Oswegatchie (now Ogdensburg), to defend the passes of the St. Lawrence. A third expedition, under Brigadier-General Prideaux, aided by Sir William Johnson and his Indian warriors, was to attack Fort Niagara, which controlled the whole country of the Six Nations, and commanded the navigation of the great lakes, and the intercourse between Canada and Louisiana. Having reduced this fort, he was to traverse Lake Ontario, descend the St. Lawrence, capture Montreal, and join his forces with those of Amherst. The last-mentioned expedition was the first executed. General Prideaux embarked at Oswego on the first of July, with a large body of troops, regulars and provincials, the latter partly from New York. He was accompanied by Sir William Johnson, and his Indian braves of the Mohawk. Landing at an inlet of Lake Ontario, within a few miles of Fort Niagara, he advanced, without being opposed, and proceeded to invest it. The garrison, six hundred strong, made a resolute defence. The siege was carried on by regular approaches, but pressed with vigor. On the 20th of July, Prideaux, in visiting his trenches, was killed by the bursting of a cohorn. Informed by express of this misfortune, General Amherst detached from the main army Brigadier-General Gage, the officer who had led Braddock's advance, to take the command. In the mean time, the siege had been conducted by Sir William Johnson with courage and sagacity. He was destitute of military science, but had a natural aptness for warfare, especially for the rough kind carried on in the wilderness. Being informed by his scouts that twelve hundred regular troops, drawn from Detroit, Venango, and Presque Isle, and led by D'Aubry, with a number of Indian auxiliaries, were hastening to the rescue, he detached a force of grenadiers and light infantry, with some of his Mohawk warriors, to intercept them. They came in sight of each other on the road between Niagara Falls and the fort, We now proceed to notice the expedition against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. In the month of July, General Amherst embarked with nearly twelve thousand men, at the upper part of Lake George, and proceeded down it, as Abercrombie had done in the preceding year, in a vast fleet of whale-boats, bateaux, and rafts, and all the glitter and parade of war. On the 224, the army debarked at the lower part of the lake, and advanced toward Ticonderoga. After a slight skirmish with the advanced guard, they secured the old post at the saw-mill. Montcalm was no longer in the fort; he was absent for the protection of Quebec. The garrison did not exceed four hundred men. Bourlamarque, a brave officer, who commanded, at first seemed disposed to make defence; but, against such overwhelming force, it would have been madness. Dismantling the fortifications, therefore, he abandoned them, as he did likewise those at Crown Point, and retreated down the lake, to assemble forces, and make a stand at the Isle Aux Noix, for the protection of Montreal and the province. Instead of following him up, and hastening to co-operate with Wolfe, General Amherst proceeded to repair the works at Ticonderoga, 98 GENERAL WOLFE AT QUEBEC. and erect a new fort at Crown Point, though reither was in present danger of being attacked, nor would be of use if Canada were conquered. Amherst, however, was one of those cautious men, who, in seeking to be sure, are apt to be fatally slow. His delay enabled the enemy to rally their forces at Isle Aux Noix, and call in Canadian reinforcements, while it deprived Wolfe of that co-operation which, it will be shown, was most essential to the general success of the campaign. Wolfe, with his eight thousand men, ascended the St. Lawrence in the fleet, in the month of June. With him came Brigadiers Monckton, Townshend, and Murray, youthful and brave like himself, and like himself, already schooled in arms. Monckton, it will be recollected, had signalized himself, when a colonel, in the expedition in 1755, in which the French were driven from Nova Scotia. The grenadiers of the army were commanded by Colonel Guy Carleton, and part of the light infantry by Lieutenant-Colonel William Howe, both destined to celebrity in after years in the annals of the American Revolution. Colonel Howe was brother of the gallant Lord Howe, whose fall in the preceding year was so generally lamented. Among the officers of the fleet was Jervis, the future admiral, and ultimately Earl St. Vincent; and the master of one of the ships was James Cook, afterwards renowned as a discov erer. About the end of June, the troops debarked on the large, populous, and well-cultivated Isle of Orleans, a little below Quebec, and encamped in its fertile fields. Quebec, the citadel of Canada, was strong by nature. It was built round the point of a rocky promontory, and flanked by precipices. The crystal current of the St. Lawrence swept by it on the right, and the river St. Charles flowed along on the left, before mingling with that mighty stream. The place was tolerably fortified, but art had not yet rendered it, as at the present day, impregnable. [1759. troops, a furious storm caused great damage to the transports, and sank some of the small craft. While it was still raging, a number of fire-ships, sent to destroy the fleet, came driving down. They were boarded intrepidly by the British seamen, and towed out of the way of doing harm. After much resistance, Wolfe established batteries at the west point of the Isle of Orleans, and at Point Levi, on the right (or south) bank of the St. Lawrence, within cannon range of the city. Colonel Guy Carleton commanded at the former battery; Brigadier Monckton at the latter. From Point Levi bombshells and red-hot shot were discharged; many houses were set on fire in the upper town, the lower town was reduced to rubbish; the main fort, however, remained unharmed. Anxious for a decisive action, Wolfe, on the 9th of July, crossed over in boats from the Isle of Orleans, to the north bank of the St. Lawrence, and encamped below the Montmorency. It was an ill-judged position, for there was still that tumultuous stream, with its rocky banks, between him and the camp of Montcalm; but the ground he had chosen was higher than that occupied by the latter, and the Montmorency had a ford below the falls, passable at low tide. Another ford was discovered, three miles within land, but the banks were steep, and shagged with forest. At both fords the vigilant Montcalm had thrown up breastworks, and posted troops. On the 18th of July, Wolfe made a reconnoitring expedition up the river, with two armed sloops, and two transports with troops. He passed Quebec unharmed, and carefully noted the shores above it. Rugged cliffs rose almost from the water's edge. Above them, he was told, was an extent of level ground, called the Plains of Abraham, by which the upper town might be approached on its weakest side; but how was that plain to be attained, when the cliffs, for the most part, were inaccessible, and every practicable place fortified? He returned to Montmorency disappointed, Montcalm commanded the post. His troops and resolved to attack Montcalm in his camp, were more numerous than the assailants; but however difficult to be approached, and howthe greater part were Canadians, many of them ever strongly posted. Townshend and Murray inhabitants of Quebec; and he had a host of with their brigades, were to cross the Montmosavages. His forces were drawn out along the rency at low tide, below the falls, and storm northern shore below the city, from the river the redoubt thrown up in front of the ford. St. Charles to the Falls of Montmorency, and Monckton, at the same time, was to cross, with their position was secured by deep intrench-part of his brigade, in boats from Point Levi. ments. The ship Centurion, stationed in the channel, The night after the debarkation of Wolfe's was to check the fire of a battery which com Er. 27.] WOLFE BEFORE THE BATTLE. 99 manded the ford; a train of artillery, planted | news of the capture of Fort Niagara, Ticondeon an eminence, was to enfilade the enemy's in- roga, and Crown Point, and that Amherst was trenchments; and two armed, flat-bottomed preparing to attack the Isle Aux Noix. boats, were to be run on shore near the redoubt, and favor the crossing of the troops. In the midst of his illness he called a council of war, in which the whole plan of operations was altered. It was determined to convey troops above the town, and endeavor to make Wolfe, of a delicate constitution and sensitive nature, had been deeply mortified by the severe As usual, in complicated orders, part were check sustained at the Falls of Montmorency, misunderstood, or neglected, and confusion was fancying himself disgraced; and these successes the consequence. Many of the boats from of his fellow-commanders in other parts inPoint Levi ran aground on a shallow in the riv-creased his self-upbraiding. The difficulties er, where they were exposed to a severe fire of multiplying around him, and the delay of Genshot and shells. Wolfe, who was on the shore, eral Amherst in hastening to his aid, preyed indirecting every thing, endeavored to stop his cessantly on his spirits; he was dejected even impatient troops until the boats could be got to despondency, and declared he would never afloat, and the men landed. Thirteen compa- return without success, to be exposed, like other nies of grenadiers, and two hundred provin- unfortunate commanders, to the sneers and recials, were the first to land. Without waiting proaches of the populace. The agitation of his for Brigadier Monckton and his regiments; mind, and his acute sensibility, brought on a fewithout waiting for the co-operation of the ver, which for some time incapacitated him from. troops under Townshend; without waiting even taking the field. to be drawn up in form, the grenadiers rushed impetuously towards the enemy's intrenchments. A sheeted fire mowed them down, and drove them to take shelter behind the redoubt, near the ford, which the enemy had abandoned. | a diversion in that direction, or draw Montcalm Here they remained, unable to form under the galling fire to which they were exposed, whenever they ventured from their covert. Monckton's brigade at length was landed, drawn up in order, and advanced to their relief, driving back the enemy. Thus protected, the grenadiers retreated as precipitately as they had advanced, leaving many of their comrades wounded on the field, who were massacred and scalped in their sight, by the savages. The delay thus caused was fatal to the enterprise. The day was advanced; the weather became stormy; the tide began to make; at a later hour, retreat, in case of a second repulse, would be impossible. Wolfe, therefore, gave up the attack, and withdrew across the river, having lost upwards of four hundred men, through this headlong impetuosity of the grenadiers. The two vessels which had been run aground, were set on fire, lest they should fall into the hands of the enemy.* into the open field. Before carrying this plan into effect, Wolfe again reconnoitred the town in company with Admiral Saunders, but nothing better suggested itself. The brief Canadian summer was over; they were in the month of September. The camp at Montmorency was broken up. The troops were transported to Point Levi, leaving a sufficient number to man the batteries on the Isle of Orleans. On the fifth and sixth of September the embarkation took place above Point Levi, in transports which had been sent up for the purpose. Montcalm detached De Bougainville, with fifteen hundred men, to keep along the north shore above the town, watch the movements of the squadron, and prevent a landing. To deceive him, Admiral Holmes moved with the ships of war three leagues beyond the place where the landing was to be attempted. He was to drop down, however, in the night, and protect the landing. Cook, the future discoverer, also, was employed with others to sound the river, and place buoys opposite the camp of Montcalm, as if an attack were Brigadier Murray was now detached, with twelve hundred men, in transports, to ascend above the town, and co-operate with Rear-Admiral Holmes, in destroying the enemy's ship-meditated in that quarter. ping, and making descents upon the north shore. Wolfe was still suffering under the effects of The shipping were safe from attack; some his late fever. "My constitution," writes he stores and ammunition were destroyed; some to a friend, "is entirely ruined, without the prisoners taken, and Murray returned with the consolation of having done any considerable service to the state, and without any prospect of it." Still he was unremitting in his exer Wolfe's etter to Pitt, September 20, 1759. 100 THE BATTLE ON THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM. [1759 tions, seeking to wipe out the fancied disgrace | the roots and branches, and putting to flight a incurred at the Falls of Montmorency. It was sergeant's guard posted at the summit. Wolfe in this mood he is said to have composed and drew up the men in order as they mounted; sung at his evening mess that little campaigning and by the break of day found himself in possong still linked with his name: session of the fateful Plains of Abraham. Why, soldiers, why, Should we be melancholy, boys Why, soldiers, why? Whose business 'tis to die! Montcalm was thunderstruck when word was brought to him in his camp that the English were on the heights, threatening the weakest part of the town. Abandoning his intrench Even when embarked in his midnight enter-ments, he hastened across the river St. Charles prise, the presentiment of death seems to have and ascended the heights, which slope up cast its shadow over him. A midshipman who gradually from its banks. His force was equal was present,* used to relate, that as Wolfe sat in number to that of the English, but a great among his officers, and the boats floated down part was made up of colony troops and savages. silently with the current, he recited, in low and When he saw the formidable host of regulars touching tones, Gray's Elegy in a country he had to contend with, he sent off swift meschurchyard, then just published. One stanza sengers to summon De Bougainville with his may especially have accorded with his melan- detachment to his aid; and De Vaudreuil to reinforce him with fifteen hundred men from choly mood. the camp. In the mean time he prepared to flank the left of the English line and force them to the opposite precipices. Wolfe saw his aim, and sent Brigadier Townshend to counteract him with a regiment, which was formed en potence, and supported by two battalions, presenting on the left a double front. "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave." "Now, gentlemen," said he, when he had finished, “I would rather be the author of that poem than take Quebec." 66 The descent was made in flat-bottomed boats, The French, in their haste, thinking they were past midnight, on the 13th of September. They to repel a mere scouting party, had brought but three light field-pieces with them; the English dropped down silently with the swift current. had but a single gun, which the sailors had Qui va là?" (who goes there?) cried a sentinel from the shore. "La France," replied a dragged up the heights. With these they cancaptain in the first boat, who understood the nonaded each other for a time, Montcalm still waiting for the aid he had summoned. At French language. "A quel regiment?" was the demand. "De la Reine" (the queen's), relength, about nine o'clock, losing all patience, he led on his disciplined troops to a close conplied the captain, knowing that regiment was flict with small arms, the Indians to support in De Bougainville's detachment. Fortunately, a convoy of provisions was expected down from them by a galling fire from thickets and cornfields. The French advanced gallantly, but De Bougainville's, which the sentinel supposed this to be. "Passe,” cried he, and the boats irregularly, firing rapidly, but with little effect. The English reserved their fire until their asglided on without further challenge. The landing took place in a cove near Cape Diamond, sailants were within forty yards, and then dewhich still bears Wolfe's name. He had mark-livered it in deadly volleys. They suffered, ed it in reconnoitring, and saw that a cragged path straggled up from it to the Heights of Abraham, which might be climbed, though with difficulty, and that it appeared to be slightly guarded at top. Wolfe was among the first that landed and ascended up the steep and nar row path, where not more than two could go abreast, and which had been broken up by cross ditches. Colonel Howe, at the same time, with the light infantry and Highlanders, scrambled up the woody precipices, helping themselves by * Afterwards Professor John Robison, of Edinburgh. however, from the lurking savages, who singled out the officers. Wolfe, who was in front of the line, a conspicuous mark, was wounded by chief round the wound, and led on the grena a ball in the wrist. He bound his handker diers, with fixed bayonets, to charge the foe, in the breast. He felt the wound to be mortal, who began to waver. Another ball struck him and feared his fall might dishearten the troops. Leaning on a lieutenant for support: "Let not my brave fellows see me drop," said he faintly. He was borne off to the rear; water was brought to quench his thirst, and he was asked |
