Will's Creek, 25 April,
1754.
Sir,
Captain Trent's ensign, Mr. Ward, has this day arrived from
the Fork of the Monongahela, and brings the disagreeable account, that the
fort, on the 17th instant, was surrendered at the summons of Monsieur Contrecœur
to a body of French, consisting of upwards of one thousand men, who came from
Venango with eighteen pieces of cannon, sixty batteaux, and three hundred
canoes. They gave him liberty to bring off all his men and working-tools, which
he accordingly did the same day.†
Immediately upon this information I called a council of war,
to advise on proper measures to be taken in this exigency. A copy of their
resolves, with the proceedings, I herewith enclose by the bearer, whom I have
continued express to your Honor for more minute intelligence.
Mr. Ward has the summons with him, and a speech from the
Half-King,* which I also enclose, with the wampum. He is accompanied by one of
the Indians mentioned therein, who were sent to see where we were, what was our
strength, and to know the time to expect us out. The other young man I have
prevailed upon to return to the Half-King with the following speech.
“Sachems, Warriors of the Six United
Nations, Shannoahs, and Delawares, our friends and brethren. I received your
speech by the Buck's brother [Mr. Ward], who came to us with the two young men
five sleeps after leaving you. We return you thanks from hearts glowing with
affection for your steadfast adherence to us, for your kind speech, and for
your wise counsels and directions to the Buck's brother.
“The young man will inform you where he
met a small part of our army advancing towards you, clearing the road for a
great number of our warriors, who are immediately to follow with our great
guns, our ammunition, and our provisions.
“I could not delay to let you know our
hearts, and have sent back one of the young men with this speech to acquaint
you with them. I have sent the other, according to your desire, to the governor
of Virginia, with the Buck's brother, to deliver your speech and wampum, and to
be an eyewitness of the preparations we are making to come in haste to support
you, whose interest is as dear to us as our lives. We resent the usage of the
treacherous French, and our conduct will henceforth plainly show you how much
we have it at heart.
“I cannot be easy without seeing you
before our forces meet at the fork of the roads, and therefore I have the
greatest desire that you and Escuniate, or one of you, should meet me on the
road as soon as possible to assist us in council.
“To assure you of the good will we bear
you, and to confirm the truth of what has been said, I herewith present to you
a string of wampum, that you may thereby remember how much I am your brother
and friend.”
I hope my proceedings in these affairs will be satisfactory
to your Honor, as I have, to the utmost of my knowledge, consulted the interest
of the expedition and good of my country; whose rights, while they are asserted
in so just a cause, I will defend to the last remains of life.
Hitherto the difficulties I have met with in marching have
been greater, than I expect to encounter on the Ohio, when possibly I may be
surrounded by the enemy, and these difficulties have been occasioned by those,
who, had they acted as becomes every good subject, would have exerted their
utmost abilities to forward our just designs. Out of seventy-four wagons
impressed at Winchester, we got but ten after waiting a week, and some of those
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 motive
was to expedite the march, I shall be supported in it, should my authority be
questioned, which at present I do not apprehend, unless some busybody
intermeddles.1
Your Honor will see by the resolves in council, that I am
destined to the Monongahela with all the diligent despatch in my power. We will
endeavour to make the road sufficiently good for the heaviest artillery to
pass, and, when we arrive at Red-stone Creek, fortify our selves as strongly as
the short time will allow. I doubt not that we can maintain a possession there,
till we are reinforced, unless the rising of the waters shall admit the enemy's
cannon to be conveyed up in canoes, and then I flatter myself we shall not be
so destitute of intelligence, as not to get timely notice of it, and make a
good retreat.
I hope you will see the absolute necessity for our having,
as soon as our forces are collected, a number of cannon, some of heavy metal,
with mortars and grenadoes to attack the French, and put us on an equal footing
with them.
Perhaps it may also be thought advisable to invite the
Cherokees, Catawbas, and Chickasaws to march to our assistance, as we are
informed that six hundred Chippewas and Ottawas are marching down Scioto Creek
to join the French, who are coming up the Ohio. In that case I would beg leave
to recommend their being ordered to this place first, that a peace may be
concluded between them and the Six Nations; for I am informed by several
persons, that, as no good harmony subsists between them, their coming first to
the Ohio may create great disorders, and turn out much to our disadvantage.
As I had opportunities I wrote to the governors of Maryland
and Pennsylvania, acquainting them with these advices, and enclosed the summons
and Indian speech, which I hope you will not think me too forward in doing. I
considered that the Assembly of Maryland was to sit in five days, that the
Pennsylvania Assembly is now sitting, and that, by giving timely notice,
something might be done in favor of this expedition, which now requires all the
force we can muster.2
By the best information I can get, I much doubt whether any
of the Indians will be in to treat in May. Are the Indian women and children,
if they settle amongst us, to be maintained at our expense? They will expect
it. I have the honor to be, &,c.
_______________
†
The position occupied by Captain Trent's men was at the junction of the
Monongahela and Allegany Rivers (now Pittsburg), which had been visited by
Major Washington on his mission from the governor of Virginia to the French,
and which he described in his Journal as well situated for a fort. The Ohio
Company had already a small establishment there. When Contrecœur appeared before the
fort, very little progress had been in the work. Captain Trent was absent at
Will's Creek, and Lieutenant Frazier was at his residence ten miles distant .
Ensign Ward, therefore, was left in the command. His whole number of men
amounted only to forty-one.
Contrecœur approached within a short distance of the fort,
halted his troops, and sent in an officer with a summons, allowing Ensign Ward
an hour to consider the subject, and directing him then to repair to the French
camp with his determination in writing. He immediately counselled with the
Indians, and the Half-King advised him to inform the French, that he was not an
officer of rank, nor invested with powers to answer their demands, and to
request them to wait the arrival of the chief commander. He went accordingly
with this reply to the French camp, accompanied by the Half-King; but Contrecœur
refused to wait, and demanded an immediate decision, saying that he should
otherwise take possession of the fort by force. Hereupon a capitulation was
agreed to, and Ensign Ward marched off his men the next day, and ascended the
Monongahela to the mouth of Red-stone Creek. Contrecœur invited him to supper
the evening of the capitulation, and treated him with much civility.
A full narrative of the particulars was given under oath by
Ensign Ward to Governor Dinwiddie, who communicated it to the English
government The original is now in the Plantation Office, where it was examined
by the editor. This seizure of a post by a military force was considered, at
the time, as the first overt act of hostility in the memorable war which
followed, and which raged for seven years both in Europe and America.
* A Chief of the Six Nations, devoted to the interests of
the English.
1 By the militia law of Virginia the commander
could impress provisions, boats, wagons, draft-horses, utensils, tools, and the
like, necessary to facilitate military movements and operations. But no article
could be impressed, till its value had been appraised, and an estimate of the
proper allowance for its daily use had been made, by two reputable persons
under oath. A receipt for the same was then to be given in writing to the
owner, by the commanding officer.— Hening's Statutes at Large, Vol. VI.
p. 114. Under the difficulties of the service mentioned in the text, it was
doubtless not possible to comply literally in every instance with these
formalities of the law.
Although the troops now raised were volunteers, and enlisted
for a special purpose, yet they were regulated in every respect by the militia
laws of the colony. This was the cause of great inconvenience and embarrassment
to Washington afterwards, particularly in regard to discipline, as the militia
laws were extremely ill suited to an army in active service.
2 Governor Dinwiddie had likewise written to the
governors of all the provinces, from New York to South Carolina, setting forth
the alarming state of affairs in Virginia, and pressing for assistance. But
nothing was done. Several of the governors brought the matter before their
Assemblies, with moving appeals to their patriotism and sympathy. The evil .was
too distant to be felt, and was little heeded. The Assemblies of New York and
Pennsylvania, and some persons in that of Virginia, professed to doubt, whether
his Majesty's dominions actually extended to the French encroachments. Governor
Glen of South Carolina was perplexed with similar misgivings. This idea was
shocking to the zeal and loyalty of Dinwiddie and others, who supposed the
question of right to have been put at rest by the treaties of Utrecht and
Aix-la-Chapelle, and by certain diplomatic arrangements with the Indians of
recent date. — Review of Military Operations in North America, p. 10. — Votes
of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, Vol. IV. pp. 387-513. — Dinwiddie's Letter-Books.
Pennsylvania and Maryland were more immediately concerned,
as their frontiers were threatened. In both these colonies the Assemblies
passed money bills for general protection, but so clogged with what the
governors called attacks upon the prerogative, that they would not sign them.
Long feuds had existed between the governors and the Assemblies on this subject
of granting money, and the Assemblies were generally adroit enough to connect a
full assertion of their claims with those cases, in which the public exigencies
were the most urgent, hoping thereby to bring the governors to proper terms,
and in this they sometimes succeeded. As the people gave the money, it was
said, they ought to be allowed to raise and appropriate it in their own way. To
this broad principle the governors objected instructions, prerogative, and
precedent .
Governor Dinwiddie's official dignity was severely tried in
the affair of the ten thousand pounds, granted by the Virginia legislature. By
the bill, making the grant, a committee was appointed to act in concert with
the governor in appropriating the money. In writing to the Board of Trade, he
says, “I would by no means have given my assent to the bill, if his Majesty's
service had not immediately called for a supply.” He averred, that the business
of appropriating the money, granted for the defence of the colony, was vested
wholly in the hands of the governor.
He wrote at the same time to the Earl of Halifax: — “I am
sorry to find the House of Burgesses in a republican way of thinking; and,
indeed, they do not act in a proper constitutional way, but make encroachments
upon the prerogative of the crown, in which some former governors have
submitted too much to them; and, I fear, without a very particular instruction,
it will be difficult to bring them to order.” — Dinwiddie's Letter-Books, 12
March, 1754.
SOURCE: Jared Sparks, The Writings of George Washington:
Volume 1, p. 6-11
