tinies, At the close of the campaign of the year, Abercrombie had been recalled, and General Amherst, who had returned to England after the capture of Louisburg, had arrived in America invested with the office of commander in chief.

CHAPTER II.

SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF FORT NIAGARA.

CONQUEST OF WESTERN

NEW YORK.

TOWARD the close of 1758, the policy of the British Minister, Mr. Pitt, began to be clearly developed. It looked to no farther inefficient measures but to a vigorous and decisive campaign, which should terminate in the anihilation of French power and dominion upon this continent. The British people, stimulated by a spirit of conquest, and a hatred of the French, both of which had been assiduously promoted by the public press, and public men of England, seconded the ambitious views of the Minister. Parliament, in addressing the Throne, applauded him, and upon the recommendation of the King, were prompt and liberal in the voting of supplies.

And care had been taken upon this side of the Atlantic, to secure cordial and vigorous co-operation; the colonists, wearied with war and its harrassing effects, were cheered by the expressions of the commiseration of the King, and his assurances of protection and final indemnification; and more than all, perhaps, by an overt act of Parliament, in voting them the sum of £200,000, as a compensation for losses and expenses consequent upon the war. The strong, impelling motive of interest had been preparing the way for a cordial co-operation of the colonists in the magnificent scheme of conquest that Mr. Pitt had projected. In its success was involved the high prizes, a monopoly of the Indian trade, the commerce of the Lakes, and the consequent vastly extended field of enterprise which would be opened. The board of trade had brought every appliance within their

control to bear upon the King and Parliament, and of course, had not failed to magnify the hindrances to British interest which continued French dominion imposed; nor to present in glowing language, the fruits of conquest and the extension of British power in America. Sir William Johnson, always faithful to his liberal patron the King, was more than usually active in wielding the immense influence he had acquired with the Indians to secure their aid; he drew them together in different localities, urged upon them his professions of regard for their interests, inflamed their resentments by recounting the wrongs they had endured at the hands of the French; listened to their complaints of English encroachments upon their lands, and was lavish in promises of ample reparation; not omitting the more than usually liberal distribution of presents, of which he was the accustomed almoner. By much the larger portion of the Five Nations of the Iroquois were won over to the British interests, a portion of the Senecas being almost alone in standing aloof from the contest, or continuing in French alliance.

General Amherst having succeeded to the office of Commander in Chief of the British forces in North America, had his head quarters in New York, in the winter of 1758, '9, actively calling to his aid the provincial troops, appointing Albany as the place of rendezvous, at which place he established his head quarters as early as the month of April.

The force at the disposal of General Amherst, was larger by far than any that had been before mustered upon this continent. In addition to a large force of British regulars, the colony of Massachusetts had furnished seven thousand men, Connecticut five thousand, and New Hampshire one thousand. The provincial regiments, as fast as they arrived at Albany went into camp, and were subjected to rigid discipline; the regulars, who were destined for operations at the north, were pushed on and encamped at a point some fifty miles on the road to Fort Edward.

The general plan of the campaign contemplated the conquest of the three important strong holds, and seats of power, of the French; Quebec, Montreal, and Niagara. The main army, under General Amherst, were to move from the shores of Lake George, reduce the French posts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, descend by the river Richlieu and occupy Montreal; then, on down the St. Lawrence to join the besiegers of Quebec.

Leaving the northern expeditition to the province of general history, with the exception perhaps of a brief allusion to it in another place, we will take up that portion of the general campaign, which is more immediately blended with the history of our local region:

The force destined for Niagara rendezvoused at Schenectady early in May. It consisted of two British regiments; a detachment of Royal Artillery; a battalion of Royal Americans; two battalions of New York Provincials; and a large force of Indian Allies under the command of Sir William Johnson; the most of whom were Mohawks, Oneidas and Onondagas, the remainder, Cayugas and Senecas, with a few from such western nations as had been partly won over to the British interests. Brigadier General Prideaux was the Commander in Chief; next in rank, was Sir William Johnson, who previous to this had been regularly commissioned in the British army. The force moved from Schenectady on the 20th of May, came up the Mohawk, and via the usual water route to Oswego, where it remained, completing the preparation of batteaux for ascending Lake Ontario, for over five weeks. On the first of July, the whole force were embarked, and coasting along the shore of the Lake toward their destination; a strong fortress, the seat of French domin ion, over a widely extended region; the key or gate-way to the primitive commerce of the western lakes; its battlements in solitary grandeur frowning defiance to any force that would be likely to reach it through difficult avenues, in its far off location in the wilderness. Never in all more modern periods, have the waters of Ontario borne upon their bosom a more formidable armament. In addition to a large force, to their stores and camp equipage, was the heavy artillery, and all the requisites that British military skill and foresight had deemed necessary for the reduction of a strong fortress by regular approaches; such as the plan of attack contemplated. And how mixed and made up of different races, and men of different habits and characters, was this expedition! There was the proud commissioned and titled Briton, who had seen more of the refinements and luxuries of courts, than of the hardships of camps in the wilderness; veteran officers and soldiers, who had fought in European wars, inured to the camp and the field; the sons of the wealthy and influential colonists in New York, along the Hudson river counties, who had sought commissions in the army, and were going out in their first campaign. Provincials, men and boys, transferred from

the stores counting-houses, and mechanic shops of New York, and the rural districts of Westchester, Richmond, Kings, Queens, Suffolk, Dutchess, Ulster, Orange, Albany, and the lower valley of the Mohawk, to the camp, the drill, and the march that seemed then as far extended, and beset with more difficulies than would one over the mountains to Oregon now; and lastly there was the warriors of the Iroquois, fully imbued with their ancient war spirit, decked out with feathers, claws, and hoops, the spoils of the forest chase-and with new paint, broad-cloths, blankets and silver ornaments, the gifts of the King.

The armament coasted along up the south shore of the Lake, encamping on shore; the first night at Sodus, invited there by the beautiful bay, in which their water craft could be made secure from winds and waves, as their frail structure demanded. Their other halting places for the night, were at Irondequoit, Braddock's Bay, and Johnson's Creek; (which latter place was named in honor of Sir William Johnson ;) arrived at the mouth of the Eighteen Mile Creek, (what is now the viilage of Olcott,) within eighteen miles of Fort Niagara, a halt was made to enable reconnoitering parties to go out and determine whether the French had made a sortie from the Fort in anticipation of their arrival.

As they coasted along up the lake, they had occasionally discharged their heavy artillery, well knowing that a noiseless approach would give them no advantage, as the Indian scouts from the garrison, glimpses of whom had been caught upon several occasions, had kept the French well informed of their movements; and there were Iroquois enough in the French interest, belonging to the lower nations, to give the French missionaries and traders, in all their localities in Western New York, timely notice of all that was going on. But they wished to inspire the Senecas in their interests with courage and the neutrals with terror; and well, perhaps, did their device subserve those purposes.

Leaving the British army almost within sight of the field of conflict, let us pass over the lake, and down the river St. Lawrence, to see what preparation had been made for their reception:

Well informed at home of the policy of Mr. Pitt; of the preparatory acts of Parliament; of the shipping of reinforcements to the British army in America; of all the minutia, in fact, of the campaign; the French had not been idle. Despatches were sent to M.

De Vaudrieuil, the Governor of Canada, and his hands were strengthened by reinforcements from France. He lost no time in putting Quebec, Montreal, Crown Point, and Ticonderoga, in the best possible state of defence. Proclamations were made to the Canadian militia, commending them in the highest terms for their former services; reminding them of their former triumphs; and appealing to them to join in the final struggle for the dominion of their King and country, over the fairest and best portions of the New World. The gallant Montcalm had succeeded Dieskau, as commander in chief of the French forces in Canada, and was active in the work of preparation. Captain Pouchot, a skillful and experienced engineer, was sent to put Fort Niagara in a condition for defence, and to assume the command of it.

On the 7th of July, the British force under Prideux, broke up their brief encampment at the Eighteen Mile Creek, and by land and water, moved up to the Four Mile Creek, making a stand upon the western shore of the Bay, where they then began an entrenchment, and commenced the work of opening an avenue through the forest. A small scouting party of French and Indians, came upon the advance workmen, as they were about to emerge from the forest into the open ground, a few shots were exchanged, and the party retired into the fort. A fire was opened upon the besiegers from the fort, which was kept up during the greater portion of the night. On the 8th, the English prosecuted the work upon their entrenchments, the French continuing their fire upon them at intervals from the fort, and Monsieur La Force coasting up and down the Lake in the armed schooner Iroquois, occasionally reaching them with a shot. General Prideux sent an officer with a flag into the fort, demanding a surrender, which was very courteously refused by the French commander. On the 9th, but little transpired beyond the exchange of a few shots, and a slight advance of the besiegers. On the 10th, the English advanced into the open ground, protecting themselves by entrenchments, under an occasional fire from the fort,

*

*He may, with propriety, be called the Admiral of the Lake; for he commanded the only sail vessel upon it. He was a kind of fresh water Van Tromp, or Paul Jones; at one period, we hear of him as an active negotiator between the French and English, at Fort du Quesne; at another, in the command of a scouting party, harrassing the border settlers of Virginia; at another, loaded with chains, in jail at Williamsburgh, from which he was liberated by the humanity of Washington, who had known him upon the Ohio; and lastly, in the command of an armed schooner, active and brave, in the French service on Lake Ontario.