I.

manded them to fire upon his red allies. Six of the savages CHAP. fell dead on the spot, and the remainder, muttering threats of vengeance, sulkily put up their knives, and skulked 1756. back to their quarters. The garrison, composed of Shirley's and Pepperell's regiments, and numbering sixteen hundred men-were, according to the terms of the surrender, conveyed safely to Montreal, together with the large stores of provisions and ammuntion that had fallen into the hands of the victors.

With consummate policy, the French general, to conciliate the Six Nations, by whom the erection of these forts had been always regarded with jealousy, leveled both fortresses to the ground, and "left Oswego a solitude,' unbroken, save by the hooting of the owl or the scream of the panther.

Sir William Johnson was in Albany when the news arrived on the twentieth of August of the investment of Oswego. On the receipt of this intelligence, he was immediately sent by Loudoun with two battalions of militia and three hundred Indians, to the German Flats, to support General Webb, who had started from Albany for the relief of the garrison two days before its surrender. It was too late, however, to render any assistance. The rumor of the capture reached Webb at the Oneida carrying place; and such was the terror which it excited in that poltroon, that fancying he already beheld his own scalp dangling from the waist of some brawny savage, he caused some trees to be hastily felled and thrown into Wood creek, and, with his regiment, fled in the wildest consternation to the German Flats at the same time that the enemy, antici

3

1 Manuscript deposition of John Viele, of Schenectady, who was present at the capture-taken before Sir William Johnson at Mt. Johnson 18th October, 1756. This seems to sustain the view taken by Lord Loudoun in his letter to J. Osborne, 13th September, 1756, in which the writer considers the rumor of the massacre at Oswego without foundation.

2 Manuscript letter: Loudoun to Johnson, 26th August, 1756.

3 Manuscript letter: Loudoun to Johnson, 2d September, 1756.

L

CHAP. pating a similar visitation from him, were taking the same precautions to prevent his advance.

1756.

The fall of Oswego, instead of rousing Loudoun to a vigorous prosecution of the campaign-especially, as with the force at his command, he could easily have penetrated into the very heart of Canada-caused him to abandon any offensive operations which he might have contemplat ed. He therefore contented himself with visiting Forts Edward and William Henry; and after giving General Winslow strict orders to act only on the defensive, he left Webb with fourteen hundred men at the carryingplace, and returned to Albany, to dismiss the Provincials to their firesides and the regulars into winter quarters.

But if Lord Loudoun was not to win laurels upon the battle-field, he was destined to an unenviable distinction in New York. On his arrival in that city in December, he insisted that his officers should have free quarters upon the city. The citizens, who saw in this an attempt to burden them with a standing army, became excited, and warmly pleaded their rights as Englishmen. The viceroy was not to be moved. Six men were billeted upon Oliver De Lancey. The latter threatened, if they were not removed, to leave the country. "I shall be glad of it,' replied his lordship, at the same time quartering half a dozen more upon him, "for then the troops will have the whole house." The corporation insisted that free quarters

1" Sir William Johnson.

Sir Am just now informed that 2400 men are arrived at New York. My lord set a billeting them and sent only six to his old acquaintance Mr. O1. De Lancey; he zounzed and blood and ounz'd at the soldiers, this was told my lord, he sent Mr. Ol. half a dozen more; he sent my lord word if matters were to go so he would leave the country: My lord sent him word he would be glad of it, then the troops would have the whole house. I really thought this so extraordinary, I must communicate it to you:

I.

were against the common law, and the petition of rights. CHAP. "God damn my blood," exclaimed Loudoun to Mayor Cruger, who presented the opinion of the corporation, "if 1756. you do not billet my officers upon free quarters this day, I'll order all the troops in North America under my command, and billet them myself upon this city." All argument being thus at an end, a subscription was raised for the quartering of the officers; and Loudoun having rendered himself an object of detestation, went to Boston to breathe the same threats, and to talk of the vigor which was to characterize the next year's campaign.

CHAP.

СНАРТER IL.
1757.

Clouds of black portent hung over the opening of the II. new year. The storm, which Sir William Johnson had 1757. predicted as the result of the loss of Oswego, had burst with all its fury upon the frontier settlements.

The Six Nations, who had so long wavered in their attachment to the English, now threw off all equivocation, and in April boldly sent a large delegation from each castle, to make their peace with the governor of Canada. Our promise, said they, to remain firm to the English was given with the understanding that the war should be prosecuted vigorously; and now that they saw the French victorious on every side, and the English army retreating, as it were, into winter quarters, they considered themselves released from all previous obligation, and determined to take the matter into their own hands. At the same time, swarms of hostile Indians, emboldened by this action of the Confederacy and instigated by the wily priest at La Presentation, roamed through the forests between Oswego and Schenectady in quest of scalps and plunder. Numerous were the murders committed on the border. The manuscripts of Sir William abound with letters written to him, at this time, from officers of militia. and private individuals, either relating some heart rending occurrence, or imploring his aid. A messenger, sent by the Baronet with a letter to General Webb at Albany, was waylaid, scalped, and his body thrown into the Mohawk. Some men in a field, within a stone's throw of Schenectady, were shot down in their tracts. Small war1 Manuscript letter: Henry J. Wendell to Johnson.

II.

1757

parties continually hovered in the vicinity of Mount John- CHAP. son, watching an opportunity to take its occupant or his scalp into Canada. To add to all these horrors, rumors came by Indian runners, that a large party of French and Indians, was on its way to the German Flats, with the intention of laying it in ashes, preparatory to marching on the lower settlements. To these scenes of bloodshed, the Six Nations, who had hitherto been a barrier against the predatory excursions of the enemy, now remained, with the exception of the Mohawks, idle and indifferent spectators, refusing to take up the hatchet either for or against the English, until the result of the congress then holding between their sachems and De Vaudreuil, should be known. While, however, they witnessed the sufferings of the border with such apathy, they remained firm in their attachment to Sir William, who was at this period, the recipient of numerous messages from the several cas'tles of the Confederacy, putting him on his guard against those prowling bands that had sworn to entrap him.'

The Baronet did not despair. Summoning the Six Nations to meet him once more at Fort Johnson on the tenth of June, he devoted himself with more than his usual assiduity, to win their confidence and respect. Captains Thomas Butler, John Butler and Funda were sent by him through the different cantons with friendly messages, having orders to tarry at Onondaga castle, and keep a watchful eye upon its movements; while he himself, as a preparatory step to the important council in June, repeatedly held informal meetings with the Indians at his own house, feasting them, distributing presents, and in short, neglecting no opportunity of winning his way to their hearts by those pleasant little arts which he alone knew so well how to employ. Nor was he confined to a merely

1 Manuscript letters to Sir William Johnson, warning him of his danger. The Baronet's friends were also solicitous for his safety even among the Six Nations. "For God's sake, don't expose yourself among the Indians; rather send for them and let them wait upon you." Manuscript letter: William Corry to Johnson, June, 11th 1757.