THE

CHAPTER XXXIII.

CAMPAIGNS OF SHIRLEY AND JOHNSON.

HE third campaign planned by Braddock was to be conducted by Governor Shirley against Fort Niagara. Early in August, he set out from Albany with two thousand men. Four weeks were spent at Oswego in preparing boats. and sickness broke out in the camp. standard of the English, and on the 24th of October the provincial forces, led by Shirley, marched homeward.

Then tempests prevailed,
The Indians deserted the

2. The fourth expedition was entrusted to General William Johnson. The object was to capture Crown Point, and to drive the French from Lake Champlain. Early in August the army

CrownPoint

For William

Heury

Sonderoga

Whitehall

Fort George FortAnn

Battle Field

Glens FallsonSandy Hill

FortEdward

proceeded to the Hudson above Albany, and built Fort Edward. Thence Johnson proceeded to Lake George and laid out a camp. A week was spent in bringing forward the 4 artillery and stores.

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3. In the meantime, Dieskau, the French commandant at Crown Point, advanced with fourteen hundred French, Canadians, and Indians to capture Fort Edward. General Johnson sent Colonel Williams, and Hendrick, the chief of the Mohawks, with twelve hundred men, to relieve the fort. On the morning of the 8th of September, Colonel Williams's regiment and the Mohawks were ambushed by Dieskau's forces and driven back to Johnson's camp. 4. The Canadians and French regulars, unsupported by the Indians, then attacked the English position. For five hours the battle was incessant. Nearly all of Dieskau's men were killed. At last the English troops charged across the field, and completed the

MILES

15

30

VICINITY OF LAKE

GEORGE, 1755.

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rout. Dieskau was mortally wounded. Two hundred and sixteen of the English were killed. General Johnson now constructed on the site of his camp Fort William Henry. Meanwhile, the French had fortified Ticonderoga. Such was the condition of affairs at the close of 1755.

5. In the beginning of the next year, the command of the English forces was given to Governor Shirley. Washington at the head of the Virginia provincials repelled the French and Indians in the valley of the Shenandoah. The Pennsylvania volunteers, choosing Franklin for their colonel, built a fort on the Lehigh, and made a successful campaign. The expeditions, which were planned for the year, embraced the conquest of Quebec and the capture of Forts Frontenac, Toronto, Niagara, and Du Quesne.

6. The earl of Loudoun now received the appointment of commander-in-chief of the British forces. General Abercrombie was second in rank. In the last of April, the latter, with two battalions of regulars, sailed for New York. On the 17th of May, Great Britain, after nearly two years of actual hostilities, made a declaration of war against France.

7. In July Lord Loudoun assumed the command of the colonial army. The French, meanwhile, led by the marquis of Montcalm, who had succeeded Dieskau, besieged and captured Oswego. Six vessels of war, three hundred boats, a hundred and twenty cannon, and three chests of money were the fruits of the victory.

8. During this summer the Delawares in Western Pennsylvania rose in war, and killed or captured more than a thousand people. In August Colonel Armstrong, with three hundred volunteers, marched against the Indian town of Kittanning, and on the 8th of September, defeated the savages with great losses. The village was burned and the spirit of the Indians completely broken.

9. On the 20th of June, 1757, Lord Loudoun sailed from New York with an army of six thousand regulars to capture Louisburg. At Halifax he was joined by Admiral Holbourn with a fleet of sixteen men-of-war. There were on board five thousand troops fresh from the armies of England. But Loudoun, instead of proceeding to Cape Breton, tarried a while at Halifax, and then sailed back to New York without striking a blow.

10. Meanwhile, the daring Montcalm, with more than seven thousand French, Canadians, and Indians advanced against Fort William Henry. The place was defended by five hundred men under Colonel Monro. For six days the French pressed the siege with vigor. The ammunition of the garrison was exhausted, and nothing remained but to surrender. Honorable terms were granted by the French. On the 9th of August the French took possession of the fortress. Unfortunately, the Indians procured a quantity of spirits from the English camp. In spite of the utmost exertions of Montcalm, the savages fell upon the prisoners and massacred thirty of them in cold blood.

11. Such had been the successes of France, during the year that the English had not a single hamlet left in the whole basin of the St. Lawrence. Every cabin where English was spoken had been swept out of the Ohio valley. At the close of the year 1757, France possessed twenty times as much American territory as England; and five times as much as England and Spain together.

RECAPITULATION.

A campaign is planned against Niagara.-Shirley commands.-Proceeds to Oswego.-Marches home.-Oswego is rebuilt.-Johnson goes against the French on Lake Champlain.-Builds Fort Edward.-Forms a camp on Lake George.Dieskau approaches.-Meets the English.-And drives them to the camp.-The battle.-Dieskau is killed.-The English lose heavily.-Johnson builds Fort William Henry.-The French reïnforce their forts.-Shirley becomes commander-in chief.-Washington repels the Indians.-Franklin defends Pennsylvania.-Loudoun is commander-in-chief of the forces in America.-He and Abercrombie arrive with soldiers and supplies.--England declares war.-Abercrombie goes to Albany.-Montcalm captures Oswego.-The Delawares revolt.-And are punished.-Loudoun attempts the conquest of Louisburg.-Proceeds to Halifax.Holbourn joins him.-They do nothing.-Loudoun returns to New York.-Montcalm and the Iroquois capture Fort William Henry.-The Indians massacre the prisoners.-Review of the situation.

WIL

CHAPTER XXXIV.

TWO YEARS OF SUCCESSES.

VILLIAM PITT was now placed at the head of the English ministry. Loudoun was deposed from the American army. General Abercrombie was appointed to succeed him; but the main reliance was placed on an efficient corps of subordinate officers. Admiral Boscawen was put in command of the fleet. General Amherst was to lead a division. Young Lord Howe was next in rank to Abercrombie. James Wolfe led a brigade; and Colonel Richard Montgomery was at the head of a regiment.

2. Three expeditions were planned for 1758; one to capture Louisburg; a second, to reduce Crown Point and Ticonderoga; and the third to retake Fort du Quesne from the French. On the 28th of May, Amherst, with ten thousand men, reached Halifax. In six days more the fleet was anchored before Louisburg. On the 21st of July, three French vessels were burned in the harbor. The town was reduced to a heap of ruins. On the 28th of the month Louisburg capitulated. Cape Breton and Prince Edward's Island were surrendered to Great Britain. The garrison, numbering nearly six thousand men, became prisoners of war.

3. On the 5th of July, General Abercrombie, with an army of fifteen thousand men, moved against Ticonderoga. The country about the French fortress was unfavorable for military operations. On the morning of the 6th, the English fell in with the picket line of the French. A severe skirmish ensued; the French were overwhelmed, but Lord Howe was killed in the onset.

4. On the morning of the 8th, the English divisions were arranged to carry Ticonderoga by assault. A desperate battle of more than four hours followed, until, at six o'clock in the evening, the English were finally repulsed. The loss on the side of

the assailants amounted in killed and wounded to nineteen hundred and sixteen. In no battle of the Revolution did the British have so large a force engaged or meet so terrible a loss.

5. The English now retreated to Fort George. Soon afterward three thousand men, under Colonel Bradstreet, were sent against Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario. The place was feebly defended, and after a siege of two days compelled to capitulate. The fortress was demolished. Bradstreet's success more than counterbalanced the failure of the English at Ticonderoga.

6. Late in the summer, General Forbes, with nine thousand men, advanced

against Fort du Quesne. Washington led the Virginia provincials. The main body moved slowly, but Major Grant, with the advance, pressed on to within a few miles of Du Quesne. Advancing carelessly, he was ambuscaded, and lost a third of his forces. On the 24th of November, Washington was within ten miles of Du Quesne. During that night the garrison took the alarm, burned the fortress and floated down the Ohio. On the 25th the victorious army marched in, raised the English flag, and named the place PITTSBURGH.

7. General Amherst was now promoted to the chief command of the American forces. By the beginning of summer, 1759, the British and colonial armies numbered nearly fifty thousand men. The entire French army scarcely exceeded seven thousand. Three campaigns were planned for the year. General Prideaux was to conduct an expedition against Niagara. Amherst was to lead the main division against Ticonderoga and Crown Point. General Wolfe was to proceed up the St. Lawrence and capture Quebec.

8. On the 10th of July, Niagara was invested by Prideaux.