Fruitless expedition Port Royal. 1707. May 13. May 26. They May 29. solicited help from the other Colonies for that purpose.1 New Hampshire 2 and Rhode Island engaged in the enterprise, in the measure of their small ability. Connecticut, little annoyed by the continuance of the existing state of things, did not see reason to against take a part. Under the convoy of a frigate of the royal navy, and an armed vessel belonging to the Province, a thousand men commanded by Colonel March sailed from Boston and landed before Port Royal. After a skirmish, the French shut themselves up in their fort, which was well provided. kept up a constant fire upon the besiegers, who were at the same time attacked on the other side by a force of Indians from the interior. The English made regular investments and approaches, and feebly attempted an assault. But, except personal courage and some experience in a small way, March appears to have had no qualification for command. He became bewildered, and his troops fell into discouragement and disorder. A council of war resolved" that the enemy's well-disciplined garrison in a strong fort was more than a match for our raw, undisciplined army," and, in less than two weeks from the time of landing, the troops were reembarked on board the transports. The fleet came to Casco Bay, whence a message was sent to Boston for further orders. Boston was thrown into a rage, in which the characters of the commanders received ungentle treatment. Dudley, reluctant to acquiesce in so discreditable a 4 June 6, 7. 'General Court Records, for mander of the British frigate. March 10-22, 1706. Hutchinson (II. 169 et seq.), from Conn. Col. Rec., V. 17. 2 N. H. Provincial Papers, II. authentic sources, supplies many in497, 498. teresting facts. "Three transport ships, five brigantines, and fifteen sloops, with whale-boats answerable," were employed. (Penhallow, 42; comp. N. H. Provincial Papers, II. 501-513.) • Penhallow (42, 43) and Niles (Hist. Soc. Col., XXXV. 313, 314) tell this mortifying story very briefly. They lay the blame on the com termination of his undertaking, sent a message to March to await further orders where he was. To supersede him by a superior officer would have been imprudent, for he was a favorite with the soldiers, and, if he had not acquitted himself well in this instance, there was no reason to suppose that he had failed to do his best. Three members of the Council were despatched, July. with a reinforcement of a hundred men, and with authority to represent the Governor. After acquainting themselves with the state of things in the camp, they wrote back that they only persisted because such were the Governor's positive commands. They reported that the force in officers and soldiers did not amount to so many as seven hundred and fifty, "sick and well," and that these were "so extremely dispirited" as not to be "equal to three hundred effective men." Before the expedition returned to Port Royal, there was a mutiny which had to be quelled. March was no longer himself, and at his instance the command was transferred to Wainwright, who was next to him in rank. Aug. 14. Wainwright, though "much disordered in health by a great cold," tried "to keep up a good heart," but there was nothing to inspirit him. His troops were ailing and demoralized. What with dysentery and "mighty swellings in their throats," they were, he wrote from before Port Royal, " filled with terror at the consideration of a fatal event of the expedition, concluding that, in a short time, there would not be enough to carry off the sick." The enemy were receiving" additional strength every day." They had with diligence and skill been strengthening their fortifications, and were becoming more aggressive, so that it was now "unsafe to proceed on any service without a company of at least one hundred men." Wainwright was uneasy about his Indian auxiliaries, who were intractable and insolent. The captain of the English man-of-war attached to the expedition had been relied upon for the help of a hundred men, but he had made up his mind that it would be exposing them for no use, and had withdrawn them. "In fine," Wainwright writes, "most of the forces are in a distressed state, some in body and some in mind; and the longer they are kept here on the cold ground, the longer it will grow upon them, and, I fear, the further we proceed the worse the event. God help us." Within a week the camp was broken up. The troops were attacked while getting on board the transports, and were only too happy to effect the embarkation without much loss. The miscarriage, and all its circumstances, were deeply mortifying. A court-martial was ordered, but was never held, perhaps because too great numbers would have come under its scrutiny, and forgetfulness, as speedy as could be had, was better than punishment or amnesty, and better than any attempt at discrimination.1 66 Aug. 20. Dudley's chagrin must have been bitter. But he was not a man to increase his humiliation by avowing it. He met his enraged General Court with no expression of a discomposed mind.2 Though," he said, "we have not obtained all that we desired against the enemy, yet we are to acknowledge the favor of God in preserving our forces in the expedition, and prospering them so far as the destruction of the French settlements and estates in and about Port Royal, to a great value, which must needs distress the enemy to a very great degree." While the expedition which thus disastrously failed was in progress, the savages were more than ever at liberty to 1 General Court Journal for Oct. 29. When the Governor had ordered a court-martial, officers enough to compose it were not to be found.. The Representatives had desired Dudley to demolish the fort at Port Royal if it should be taken. (Comp. Char VOL. IV. 18 levoix, II. 314-321; Haliburton, Account of Nova Scotia, I. 81.) 2 Hutchinson, II. 169. — Dudley told the Representatives (General Court Record for August 13) "the forces left Port Royal without any direction from me." May prosecute their devastations along the northern frontier; and the exposed settlements at Dover, Groton, October. Kittery, Exeter, Kingston, Casco, York, Wells, Marlborough, Winter Harbor (Biddeford), and Berwick again suffered from their ravages. Renewal of Indian 1 It was the usage of these barbarians to disperse with their booty after a hasty invasion, and they left New England to a degree of repose through the next inroads. winter. As summer came on, they, with their friends the French, were again on the alert. Two parties, attached to one of which was Hertel de Rouville, who had led the expedition to Deerfield four years before, started from Quebec for the settlements, one by the way of the river St. Francis, the other by Lake Champlain, — intending to meet near the English border. From cowardice or from whim, most of the Indian auxiliaries fell off, but a party not less than a hundred and fifty in number surprised the score or two of dwellings which made the town of Haverhill, on the Merrimac. Coming upon it just before daylight, they fired several houses, plundered Aug. 29. others, and killed some thirty or forty of the inhabitants, among whom were the minister, Mr. Rolf, and Captain Wainwright, lately the commander at Port Royal. The towns-people rallied, and after an hour's fighting drove them away. Amesbury, Brookfield, and Kittery were again beset, but without much damage. Exeter, near one end of the border line, and Deerfield, near the other, were invaded anew. One of four men whom the Indians carried off from Exeter, they roasted to death. From Deerfield, though they attempted it with a force of nearly two hundred men, they were this time repulsed with little loss to the conquerors.3 Dudley in 1708. 1709. May 6. June 23. ' Penhallow, 44-46; Niles, in Mass. Hist. Col., XXXV. 314. 2 Penhallow, 47; Niles, in Mass. Hist. Col., XXXV. 317; comp. Char levoix, II. 325, 326; Chase, History of Haverhill, 218-225. 8 Niles, in Mass. Hist. Col., XXXV. 317, 318; Penhallow, 48, 49. Feb. 16. formed the General Court of the arrival of Lord Lovelace as Governor of New York, and advised that he should be desired "to let loose the Maquas and dependencies;" and messengers (Wait Winthrop and John Leverett) were accordingly sent by the Court to New York to confer with him.1 ·Plan for the con quest of France. March 31. The plan of attacking the French at the central point of their power, and so cutting off the source of the continually recurring miseries, was so obviously the correct one that it could not fail to be New revived as often as from adverse accidents it miscarried; though, more or less, it was embarrassed all along by the sense which prevailed in Massachusetts, and was expressed by her at this time to Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of State, of "the criminal neutrality maintained by New York with the French Indians." 2 The General Court sent an address to the Queen, praying for aid to an expedition, towards which they professed a desire themselves to do their utmost, for the conquest of Nova Scotia and Canada. The proposal was favorably received at Court, and operations on a larger scale were concerted. Colonel Vetch, who, two years before, had been in disgrace in Boston, as will hereafter be related, brought information from England that it was determined to despatch what was thought a sufficient naval force, and five regiments of the regular army; and by him Lord Sunderland sent instructions to Dudley respecting the action of the Colonies. Twelve hundred men were to be enlisted and equipped by Massachusetts and Rhode Island. These united forces were to attempt Quebec, while fifteen hundred men from the Colonies further west were to make a movement by land against Montreal.^ 1 General Court Record, sub die. 2 Memorial of Massachusetts to Lord Dartmouth, of March 11, 1711. (British Colonial Papers.) April 28. |