Fort Duquesne Part 1

Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt.

by Various.

FORT DUQUESNE

Conflicting Claims of France and England in North America.

On maps of British America in the earlier part of the eighteenth century, one sees the eastern coast, from Maine to Georgia, gashed with ten or twelve colored patches, very different in size and shape, and defined more or less distinctly by dividing lines, which in some cases are prolonged westward until they reach the Mississippi, or even across it and stretch indefinitely towards the Pacific.

These patches are the British Provinces, and the western prolongation of their boundary represents their several claims to vast interior tracts founded on ancient grants, but not made good by occupation or vindicated by an exertion of power * * *

Each Province remained in jealous isolation, busied with its own work, growing in strength, in the capacity of self-rule, in the spirit of independence, and stubbornly resisting all exercise of authority from without. If the English-speaking population flowed westward, it was in obedience to natural laws, for the King did not aid the movement, and the royal Governor had no authority to do so. The power of the colonies was that of a rising flood, slowly invading and conquering by the unconscious force of its own growing volume, unless means be found to hold it back by dams and embankments within appointed limits.

In the French colonies it was different. Here the representatives of the crown were men bred in the atmosphere of broad ambition and masterful, far-reaching enterprise. They studied the strong and weak points of their rivals, and with a cautious forecast and a daring energy set themselves to the task of defeating them. If the English colonies were comparatively strong in numbers these numbers could not be brought into action, while if French forces were small they were vigorously commanded and always ready at a word. It was union confronting division, energy confronting apathy, and military centralization opposed to industrial democracy, and for a time the advantage was all on one side.

Yet in view of what France had achieved, of the patient gallantry of her explorers, the zeal of her missionaries, the adventurous hardihood of her bush-rangers, revealing to mankind the existence of this wilderness world, while her rivals plodded at their workshops, their farms, their fisheries; in view of all this, her pretensions were moderate and reasonable compared to those of England.

Forks of the Ohio.--Washington's First Visit.

The Treaty of Utrecht had decided that the Iroquois or Five Nations were British subjects; therefore it was insisted that all countries conquered by them belonged to the British crown. The range of the Iroquois war parties was prodigious, and the English laid claim to every mountain, forest and prairie where an Iroquois had taken a scalp. This would give them not only all between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, but all between Ottawa and Huron, leaving nothing to France but the part now occupied by the Province of Quebec.

The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and that of Aix la Chapelle in 1748, were supposed to settle the disputed boundaries of the French and English possessions in America; France, however, repented of her enforced concessions, and claimed the whole American continent as hers, except a narrow strip of sea-coast. To establish this boundary, it was resolved to build a line of forts from Canada to the Mississippi, following the Ohio, for they perceived that the "Forks of the Ohio," so strangely neglected by the English, formed together with Niagara the key of the great West.

This chain of forts began at Niagara; then another was built of squared logs at Presque Isle (now Erie), and a third called Fort Le Boeuf, on what is now called French Creek. Here the work stopped for a time, and Lagardeur de St. Pierre went into winter quarters with a small garrison at Fort Le Boeuf.

On the 11th of December, 1753, Major George Washington, with Christopher Gist as guide, Abraham Van Braam as interpreter, and several woodsmen,[A] presented himself as a bearer of a letter from Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia to the commander of Fort Le Boeuf. He was kindly received. In fact, no form of courtesy was omitted during the three days occupied by St. Pierre in framing his reply to Governor Dinwiddie's letter. This letter expressed astonishment that his (St. Pierre's) troops should build forts upon lands so notoriously known to be the property of Great Britain, and demanded their immediate and peaceable departure. In his answer, St. Pierre said he acted in accordance with the commands of his general, that he would forward Governor Dinwiddie's letter to the Marquis Duquesne and await his orders.

It was on his return journey that Washington twice escaped death. First from the gun of a French Indian; then in attempting to cross the Allegheny, which was filled with ice, on a raft that he and his companions had hastily constructed with the help of one hatchet between them. He was thrown into the river and narrowly escaped drowning; but Gist succeeded in dragging him out of the water, and the party landed on Wainwright's Island, about opposite the foot of Thirty-third Street. On making his report Washington recommended that a fort be built at the "Forks of the Ohio."

Men and money were necessary to make good Governor Dinwiddie's demand that the French evacuate the territory they had appropriated; these he found it difficult to get. He dispatched letters, orders, couriers from New Jersey to South Carolina, asking aid. Ma.s.sachusetts and New York were urged to make a feint against Canada, but as the land belonged either to Pennsylvania or Virginia, the other colonies did not care to vote money to defend them.

In Pennsylvania the placid obstinacy of the Quakers was matched by the stolid obstinacy of the German farmers; notwithstanding, Pennsylvania voted sixty thousand pounds, and raised twelve hundred men at eighteen pence per day. All Dinwiddie could muster elsewhere was the promise of three or four hundred men from North Carolina, two companies from New York and one from South Carolina, with what recruits he could gather in Virginia. In accordance with Washington's recommendation, Capt. William Trent, once an Indian trader of the better cla.s.s, now a commissioned officer, had been sent with a company of backwoodsmen to build a fort at the Forks of the Ohio, and it was hoped he would fortify himself sufficiently to hold the position. Trent began the fort, but left it with forty men under Ensign Ward and went back to join Washington. The recruits gathered in Virginia were to be commanded by Joshua Fry, with Washington as second in command.

Fort Duquesne.--Washington at Fort Necessity.

On the 17th of April, 1754, Ward was surprised by the appearance of a swarm of canoes and bateaux descending the Allegheny, carrying, according to Ward, about one thousand Frenchmen, who landed, planted their cannon and summoned the Ensign to surrender. He promptly complied and was allowed to depart with all his men. The French soon demolished the unfinished fort and built in its place a much larger and better one, calling it Fort Duquesne, in honor of the Marquis Duquesne, then Governor of Canada.

Washington, with his detachment of ragged recruits, without tents and scarcely armed, was at Will's Creek, about one hundred and forty miles from the "Forks of the Ohio," and he was deeply chagrined when Ward joined him and reported the loss of the fort. Dinwiddie then ordered Washington to advance. In order to do so, a road must be cut for wagons and cannon, through a dense forest; two mountain ranges must be crossed, and innumerable hills and streams. Towards the end of May he reached Great Meadows with one hundred and fifty men. While encamped here, Washington learned that a detachment of French had marched from the fort in order to attack him. They met in a rocky hollow and a short fight ensued. Coulon de Jumonville, the commander, was killed; all the French were taken prisoners or killed except one Canadian. This skirmish was the beginning of the war. Washington then advanced as far as Christopher Gist's settlement, twelve or fourteen miles on the other side of the Laurel Ridge. He soon heard that strong reinforcements had been sent to Fort Duquesne, and that another detachment was even then on the march under Coulon de Villiers, so on June 28th he began to retreat. Not having enough horses, the men had to carry the baggage on their backs, and drag nine swivels over miserable roads. Two days brought them to Great Meadows, and they had but one full day to strengthen the slight fortification they had made there, and which Washington named Fort Necessity.

The fighting began at about 11, and lasted for nine hours; the English, notwithstanding their half starved condition, and their want of ammunition, keeping their ground against double their number. When darkness came a parley was sounded, to which Washington at first paid no attention, but when the French repeated the proposal, and requested that an officer might be sent, he could refuse no longer. There were but two in Washington's command who could understand French, and one of them was wounded. Capt. Van Braam, a Dutchman, acted as interpreter. The articles were signed about midnight. The English troops were to march out with drums beating, carrying with them all their property. The prisoners taken in the Jumonville affair were to be released, Capt. Van Braam and Major Stobo to be detained as hostages for their safe return to Fort Duquesne.

This defeat was disastrous to the English. There was now not an English flag waving west of the Alleghanies. Villiers went back exultant to Fort Duquesne, and Washington began his wretched march to Will's Creek. No horses, no cattle, most of the baggage must be left behind, while the sick and wounded must be carried over the Alleghanies on the backs of their weary, half starved comrades. And this was the Fourth of July, 1754.

The conditions of the surrender were never carried out. The prisoners taken in the skirmish with Jumonville were not returned. Van Braam and Stobo were detained for some time at Fort Duquesne, then sent to Quebec, where they were kept prisoners for several years. While a prisoner on parole Major Stobo made good use of his opportunities by acquainting himself with the neighborhood; afterwards he was kept in close confinement and endured great hardships; but in the spring of 1759 he succeeded in making his escape in the most miraculous manner. While Wolfe was besieging Quebec he returned from Halifax, and, it is said, it was he who guided the troops up the narrow wooded path to the Heights of Abraham. Strange, that one taken prisoner in a far distant province, in a skirmish which began the war, should guide the gallant Wolfe to the victory at Quebec, which virtually closed the war in America.

Braddock.

Nothing of importance was done in Virginia and Pennsylvania until the arrival of Braddock in February, 1755, bringing with him two regiments.

Governor Dinwiddie hailed his arrival with joy, hoping that his troubles would now come to an end. Of Braddock, Governor Dinwiddie's Secretary, Shirley wrote to Governor Morris: "We have a general most judiciously chosen for being disqualified for the service he is in, in almost every respect." Braddock issued a call to the provincial governors to meet him in council, which was answered by Dinwiddie of Virginia, Dobbs of North Carolina, Sharpe of Maryland, Morris of Pennsylvania, Delancy of New York, and Shirley of Ma.s.sachusetts. The result was a plan to attack the French at four points at once. Braddock was to advance on Fort Duquesne, Fort Niagara was to be reduced, Crown Point seized, and a body of men from New England to capture Beausejour and Arcadia.

We will follow Braddock. In his case prompt action was of the utmost importance, but this was impossible, as the people refused to furnish the necessary supplies. Franklin, who was Postmaster General in Pennsylvania, was visiting Braddock's camp with his son when the report of the agents sent to collect wagons was brought in. The number was so wholly inadequate that Braddock stormed, saying the expedition was at an end. Franklin said it was a pity he had not landed in Pennsylvania, where he might have found horses and wagons more plentiful. Braddock begged him to use his influence to obtain the necessary supply, and Franklin on his return to Pennsylvania issued an address to the farmers.

In about two weeks a sufficient number was furnished, and at last the march began. He reached Will's Creek on May 10, 1755, where fortifications had been erected by the colonial troops, and called Fort c.u.mberland. Here Braddock a.s.sembled a force numbering about twenty-two hundred. Although Braddock despised the provincial troops and the Indians, he honored Col. George Washington, who commanded the troops from Virginia, by placing him on his staff.

A month elapsed before this army was ready to leave Fort c.u.mberland.

Three hundred axemen led the way, the long, long, train of pack-horses, wagons, and cannon following, as best they could, along the narrow track, over stumps and rocks and roots. The road cut was but twelve feet wide, so that the line of march was sometimes four miles long, and the difficulties in the way were so great that it was impossible to move more than three miles a day.

On the 18th of June they reached Little Meadows, not thirty miles from Fort c.u.mberland, where a report reached them that five hundred regulars were on their way to reinforce Fort Duquesne. Washington advised Braddock to leave the heavy baggage and press forward, and following this advice, the next day, June 19th, the advance corps of about twelve hundred soldiers with what artillery was thought indispensable, thirty wagons, and a number of pack-horses, began its march; but the delays were such that it did not reach the mouth of Turtle Creek until July 7th. The distance to Fort Duquesne by a direct route was about eight miles, but the way was difficult and perilous, so Braddock crossed the Monongahela and re-crossed farther down, at one o'clock.

Washington describes the scene at the ford with admiration. The music, the banners, the mounted officers, the troops of light cavalry, the naval detachment, the red-coated regulars, the blue-coated Virginians, the wagons and tumbrils, the cannon, howitzers and coehorns, the train of pack-horses and the droves of cattle pa.s.sed in long procession through the rippling shallows and slowly entered the forest.

Fort Duquesne was a strong little fort, compactly built of logs, close to point of where the waters of the Allegheny and Monongahela unite. Two sides were protected by these waters, and the other two by ravelins, a ditch and glacis and a covered way, enclosed by a ma.s.sive stockade. The garrison consisted of a few companies of regulars and Canadians and eight hundred Indian warriors, under the command of Contrecoeur. The captains under him were Beaujeu, Dumas, and Ligneris.

When the scouts brought the intelligence that the English were within six leagues of the fort, the French, in great excitement and alarm, decided to march at once and ambuscade them at the ford. The Indians at first refused to move, but Beaujeu, dressed as one of them, finally persuaded them to march, and they filed off along the forest trail that led to the ford of the Monongahela--six hundred Indians and about three hundred regulars and Canadians. They did not reach the ford in time to make the attack there.

Braddock's Defeat.

Braddock advanced carefully through the dense and silent forest, when suddenly this silence was broken by the war-whoop of the savages, of whom not one was visible. Gage's column wheeled deliberately into line and fired; and at first the English seemed to carry everything before them, for the Canadians were seized by a panic and fled; but the scarlet coats of the English furnished good targets for their invisible enemies.

The Indians, yelling their war-cries, swarmed in the forest, but were so completely hidden in gullies and ravines, behind trees and bushes and fallen trunks, that only the trees were struck by the volley after volley fired by the English, who at last broke ranks and huddled together in a bewildered ma.s.s. Both men and officers were ignorant of this mode of warfare. The Virginians alone were equal to the emergency and might have held the enemy in check, but when Braddock found them hiding behind trees and bushes, as the Indians, he became so furious at this seeming want of courage and discipline, that he ordered them with oaths, to join the line, even beating them with his sword, they replying to his threats and commands that they would fight if they could see any one to fight with. The ground was strewn with the dead and dying, maddened horses were plunging about, the roar of musketry and cannon, and above all the yells that came from the throats of six hundred invisible savages, formed a chaos of anguish and terror indescribable.

Braddock saw that all was lost and ordered a retreat, but had scarcely done so when a bullet pierced his lungs. It is alleged that the shot was fired by one of his own men, but this statement is without proof.

The retreat soon turned into a rout, and all who remained dashed pell-mell through the river to the opposite sh.o.r.e, abandoning the wounded, the cannon, and all the baggage and papers to the mercy of the Indians. Beaujeu had fallen early in the conflict. Dumas and Ligneris did not pursue the flying enemy, but retired to the Fort, abandoning the field to the savages, which soon became a pandemonium of pillage and murder. Of the eighty-six English officers all but twenty-three were killed or disabled, and but a remnant of the soldiers escaped.

When the Indians returned to the Fort, they brought with them twelve or fourteen prisoners, their bodies blackened and their hands tied behind their backs. These were all burned to death on the bank of the Allegheny, opposite the Fort. The loss of the French was slight; of the regulars there were but four killed or wounded, and all the Canadians returned to the Fort unhurt except five.

The miserable remnant of Braddock's army continued their wild flight all that night and all the next day, when before nightfall those who had not fainted by the way reached Christopher Gist's farm, but six miles from Dunbar's camp. The wounded general had shown an incredible amount of courage and endurance. After trying in vain to stop the flight, he was lifted on a horse, when, fainting from the effects of his mortal wound, some of the men were induced by large bribes to carry him in a litter.

Braddock ordered a detachment from the camp to go to the relief of the stragglers, but as the fugitives kept coming in with their tales of horror, the panic seized the camp, and soldiers and teamsters fled.

The next day, whether from orders given by Braddock or Dunbar is not known, more than one hundred wagons were burned, cannon, coehorns, and sh.e.l.ls were destroyed, barrels of gunpowder were saved and the contents thrown into a brook, and provisions scattered about through the woods and swamps, while the enemy, with no thought of pursuit, had returned to Fort Duquesne. Braddock died on the 13th of July, 1755, and was buried on the road; men, horses and wagons pa.s.sing over the grave of their dead commander as they retreated to Fort c.u.mberland, thus effacing every trace of it, lest it should be discovered by the Indians and the body mutilated. Thus ended the attempt to capture Fort Duquesne, and for about three years, while the storm of blood and havoc raged elsewhere, that point was undisturbed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HENRY BOUQUET.]

Brigadier General Forbes.

In the meantime Dinwiddie had gone, a new governor was in his place, while in the plans of Pitt the capture of Fort Duquesne held an important place. Brigadier General John Forbes was charged with it. He was Scotch by birth, a well bred man of the world, and unlike Braddock, by his conduct toward the provincial troops, commanded both the respect and affection of the colonists. He only resembled Braddock in his determined resolution, but he did not hesitate to embrace modes of warfare that Braddock would have scorned. He wrote to Bouquet: "I have been long of your opinion of equipping numbers of our men like the savages, and I fancy Col. Burd of Virginia has most of his men equipped in that manner. In this country we must learn our art of war from the Indians, or any one else who has carried it on here." He arrived in Philadelphia in April 1758, but it was the end of June before his troops were ready to march. His force consisted of Montgomery's Highlanders, twelve hundred strong; Provincials from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and a detachment of Royal Americans: amounting to about six or seven thousand men. The Royal Americans were Germans from Pennsylvania, the Colonel-in-Chief being Lord Amhurst, Colonel Commandant Frederick Haldimand, and conspicuous among them was Lieutenant Colonel Henry Bouquet, a brave and accomplished Swiss, who commanded one of the four battalions of which the regiment was composed.

General Forbes was detained in Philadelphia by a painful and dangerous malady. Bouquet advanced and encamped at Raystown, now Bedford. Then arose the question of opening a new road through Pennsylvania to Fort Duquesne, or following the old road made by Braddock. Washington, who commanded the Virginians, foretold the ruin of the expedition unless Braddock's road was chosen, but Forbes and Bouquet were firm and it was decided to adopt the new route through Pennsylvania. Forbes was able to reach Carlisle early in July, but his disorder was so increased by the journey that he was not able to leave that place until the 11th of August, and then in a kind of litter swung between two horses. In this way he reached Shippensburg, where he lay helpless until far in September. His plan was to advance slowly, establishing fortified magazines as he went, and at last when within easy distance of the Fort, to advance upon it with all force, as little impeded as possible with wagons and pack-horses. Having secured his magazines at Raystown, and built a fort which he called Fort Bedford in honor of his friend and patron, the Duke of Bedford,[B] Bouquet was sent with his command to forward the heavy work of road making over the main range of the Alleghanies and the Laurel Hills; "hewing, digging, blasting, laying facines and gabions, to support the track along the sides of the steep declivities, or worming their way like moles through the jungle of swamp and forest." As far as the eye or mind could reach a prodigious forest vegetation spread its impervious canopy over hill, valley and plain. His next post was on the Loyalhanna Creek, scarcely fifty miles distant from Fort Duquesne, and here he built a fortification, naming it Fort Ligonier, in honor of Lord Ligonier, commander-in-chief of His Majesty's armies. Forbes had served under Ligonier, and his influence, together with that of the Duke of Bedford, secured to Forbes his appointment.

Now came the difficult and important task of securing Indian allies. Sir William Johnston for the English, and Joncaire for the French, were trying in every way to frighten or cajole them into choosing sides; but that which neither of them could accomplish was done by a devoted Moravian missionary, Christian Frederick Post. Post spoke the Delaware language, had married a converted squaw, and by his simplicity, directness and perfect honesty, had gained their full confidence. He was a plain German, upheld by a sense of duty and single-hearted trust in G.o.d. The Moravians were apostles of peace, and they succeeded in a surprising way in weaning their converts from their ferocious instincts and savage practices, while the mission Indians of Canada retained all their native ferocity, and their wigwams were strung with scalps, male and female, adult and infant. These so-called missions were but nests of baptized savages, who wore the crucifix instead of the medicine-bag.

Post accepted the dangerous mission as envoy to the camp of the hostile Indians, and making his way to a Delaware town on Beaver Creek, he was kindly received by the three kings; but when they conducted him to another town he was surrounded by a crowd of warriors, who threatened to kill him. He managed to pacify them, but they insisted that he should go with them to Fort Duquesne. In his Journal he gives thrilling accounts of his escape from dangers threatened by both French and Indians. But he at last succeeded in securing a promise from both Delaware and Shawnees, and other hostile tribes, to meet with the Five Nations, the Governor of Pennsylvania and commissioners from other provinces, in the town of Easton, before the middle of September. The result of this council was that the Indians accepted the White wampum belt of peace, and agreed on a joint message of peace to the tribes of Ohio.

A few weeks before this Col. Bouquet, from his post at Fort Ligonier, forgot his usual prudence, and at his urgent request, allowed Major Grant, commander of the Highlanders, to advance. On the 14th of September, at about 2 A. M., he reached an eminence about half a mile from the Fort. He divided his forces, placing detachments in different positions, being convinced that the enemy was too weak to attack him.

Infatuated with this idea, when the fog had cleared away, he ordered the reveille to be sounded. It was as if he put his foot into a hornet's nest. The roll of drums was answered by a burst of war-whoops, while the French came swarming out, many of them in their night shirts, just as they had jumped from their beds. There was a hot fight for about three-quarters of an hour, when the Highlanders broke away in a wild flight. Captain Bullit and his Virginians tried to cover the retreat, and fought until two-thirds of them were killed and Grant taken prisoner. The name of "Grant's Hill" still clings to the much-ambushed "hump" where the Court House now stands.