ET. 22.] MILITARY BOUNTY LANDS. 95 this: that an English legislature should presume to doubt the right of his majesty to the interior parts of this continent, the back of his dominions." At length, after a protracted debate, while professing an unwillingness to commit any acts of hostility against France, they agreed to borrow ten thousand pounds, to be appropriated "for the encouragement and protection of the settlers on the waters of the Mississippi ;" and they took care, greatly to his excellency's irritation, since he held that by virtue of his office he should have the exclusive disposal of all money raised for public uses, to place the disbursement of this sum under the superintendence of their own committee. He complained that the burgesses were "in a republican way of thinking," but was obliged to confess that he was unable to bring them "to order." The governor dissembled his ill feeling, and entered earnestly with the committee upon such measures as were warranted by these limited means. The two companies already enlisted were ordered to be increased to six, each of fifty men; and to induce a more respectable class of persons to enter the service, he issued a proclamation offering two hundred thousand acres of land on the Ohio for division among the troops, and releasing it from quitrents for fifteen years. One thousand acres, to be called the garrison lands, were to be set apart adjoining the proposed fort, for the soldiers doing duty there. The principal reasons assigned to the home administration for this grant were, that the soldiers would probably become permanent settlers, and that it was better to secure the lands by giving titles to a hundred thousand acres than to suffer the French to take undisputed possession of a hundred million acres. The king approved the proclamation, but the governor and assembly of Pennsylvania were very reasonably displeased at this generous disposition of territory which they asserted was within the limits of that province. Governor Dinwiddie adroitly replied to an expostulatory letter of Governor Hamilton on the subject by sug gesting that the claims of Pennsylvania were at least doubtful, since a boundary line had not been agreed upon, that his grant did not necessarily imply future jurisdiction, and that if the pretensions now set up should be maintained the quitrents might be paid to the proprietary instead of the crown. About the same time he received an encouraging letter from the earl of Holdernesse, authorizing him to call to his aid two companies of colonial troops, supported at the king's charge and under officers with royal commissions, one of which was stationed in New York and the other in South Carolina. The entire force thus brought together was placed under the orders of Colonel Joshua Fry, a highly respectable English gentleman, supposed to be well acquainted with the western country, and Washington was made second in command, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In a letter to a relation, who was a member of the governor's council, he had written, that he neither desired nor expected the first place in the expedition, "for," he added, "I must be impartial enough to confess, it is a charge too great for my youth and inexperience." The position he received would undoubtedly have been offered to him without any solicitation, as Governor Dinwiddie had conceived a very high opinion of his abilities and heroism. Since the proclamation of bounties in lands the enlistment of privates had been less difficult, but there was still a want of officers, several gentlemen who had been appointed having declined their commissions. Washington found himself almost alone, at the head of one hundred and fifty "self-willed, ungovernable" recruits. His old instructor, Adjutant Muse, had been made a captain, and soon after a major, and the captaincy vacated by his promotion was, on Washington's recommendation, given to M. Van Braam. Anxious to be usefully employed, in active service, as soon as possible, the young commander obtained permission to march with the two companies assembled at Alexandria, in advance of the other troops, to the frontier; and, starting on the second of April, he arrived on the twentieth at Will's creek, having been joined on the way by a detachment under Captain Adam Stephen. The roads were extremely bad, and the absence of any interest in the expedition on the part of the people was illustrated by the difficulties he encountered in securing wagons for the use of the quartermaster. ET. 22.] THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR COMMENCED. 16 97 At Winchester it became necessary to enforce the militia law, which authorized impressments, though that law was not strictly applicable in this case, as it was doubtful whether the territory to be defended was within the limits of Virginia. Out of seventy-four wagons impressed there," Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie, "we got but ten, after waiting a week, and some of these so badly provided with teams that the soldiers were obliged to assist them up the hills, although it was known they had better teams at home. I doubt not that in some points I may have strained the law, but I hope, as my sole object was to expedite the march, I shall be supported in it, should my authority be questioned, which at present I do not apprehend." Colonel Fry, with the remainder of the regiment, and the artillery, was to follow by a less direct but more convenient route. Before their arrival at Will's creek a vague rumor reached the little army of the capture of Captain Trent and his company on the Ohio. Captain Trent himself however was found quite safe at the creek, and all uncertainty as to the fate of the men was ended two days afterwards by their appearance, conducted by Ensign Ward, who in the absence of the captain and his lieutenant had become their first officer. Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie that the conduct of Trent had confirmed a common suspicion of "his great timidity." The lieutenant was Frazier, the Indian trader, and of him he said, that, "though not altogether blameless, he is much more excusable, for he would not accept of his commission until he had a promise from the captain that he should not be required to reside at the fort, or to visit it above once a week, or as he saw necessity." M. Contrecœur, an experienced and vigilant soldier, had succeeded M. de St. Pierre in command of the French forces at Fort Le Boeuf, and as soon as the spring opened had commenced preparations for carrying out the plans inferred by Washington from the conversation of his predecessor. Descending the Alleghany river, from Venango, at the head of from five hundred to a thousand men, with eighteen pieces of artillery, he halted within a short dis tance of the unfinished fort at the junction of the Alleghany with the Monongahela, and summoned Ensign Ward to surrender, allowing him an hour to consider the subject, and directing him to deliver an answer in writing at his camp. As the party commanded by the ensign amounted to but forty-one men, it was of course impossible to make any resistance; but before coming to a decision he consulted Tanacharisson, who advised him to inform M. Contrecœur that he was only a subaltern, without authority to act in so important a matter, and to request him to await the arrival of his superior officer. He accordingly, accompanied by the half king, proceeded with this answer to the enemy's lines, but M. Contrecœur declined to make any change in his demands, and it was therefore agreed that a capitulation should take place the next day, and that Ensign Ward should be permitted to retire with his men, carrying their working tools. These preliminaries being settled, M. Contrecœur invited the ensign to sup with him, and treated him with much civility. The seizure of this post was regarded as the first overt act in the memorable war which for seven years raged in both Europe and America-memorable, in Europe, for the achievements of Frederick the Great, by which Prussia was raised to the first rank of nations, and for the splendid displays of political genius which enabled Pitt to infuse unprecedented vigor into the British councils; and in America, for the entire overthrow of the French dominion on this continent. The French immediately began to complete and enlarge the works which they had taken, and in a month they were made, under the direction of M. de Mercier,* an accomplished engineer, of sufficient capacity to receive a garrison of a thousand men, and of sufficient * The chevalier de Mercier, the architect of Fort Duquesne, was a captain in the artillery. Soon after the events here mentioned he was sent to France by the governor general with an account of the campaign on the Ohio. His opinion had great weight at Versailles, and in 1755 he returned with Vaudreuil and Dieskau to America. Too much confidence in his judgment led Dieskau to the measures which ended in his utter defeat by Lake George, on the eighth of September, 1755. In August, the following year, M. de Mercier directed with eminent ability the works with which M. de Montcalm besieged Oswego, and he is charged by M. Pouchot, a contemporary historian, with secreting for his own use a large share of the public property on the surrender of that place. The next season he was the messenger sent by M. de Vaudreuil to demand the keys of Fort William Henry. ET. 22.] LETTER TO GOVERNOR HAMILTON. 99 strength to resist any force that was likely to be brought against them. In honor of the governor general of New France they received the name of Fort Duquesne. Ensign Ward was accompanied to Will's creek by two Indian warriors, sent by Tanacharisson, to ascertain the intentions of Washington and the number of his men. They conveyed to him a message from the chief. "Come to our assistance as soon as you can," were his words; "come soon, or we are lost, and shall never meet again. I speak it in the grief of my heart." rence. The position of Washington was eminently critical and embarrassing. With but three small and undisciplined companies he occupied an advanced post on the frontier, beyond which there was no obstacle to prevent the approach of the powerful French force by which the country was invaded, and which was reported to be continually receiving accessions from the Mississippi and the St. LawColonel Fry had not yet joined him, nor had he any means of ascertaining, with certainty, when that officer would assume the command. The entire responsibility of deciding and acting, at a moment when the utmost promptness and energy were necessary, to insure the subordination of his troops and the confidence and faithfulness of his Indian allies, therefore rested on himself. Under these circumstances, he sent express messengers to the governors of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, with letters explaining his weak and exposed situation and soliciting reinforcements. To Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania he wrote: "I have arrived thus far with a detachment of one hundred and fifty-nine men. Colonel Fry, with the remainder of the regiment and the artillery, is daily expected. In the meantime we shall advance slowly across the mountains, making the roads, as we march, fit for the carriage of the great guns; and design to proceed as far as the mouth of Redstone creek, which enters the Monongahela about thirty-seven miles above the fort the French have taken, whence we have a water carriage down the river. There is a storehouse, built by the Ohio Company, at that place, which for the present may serve as a receptable for our ammunition and provisions. Besides the French |