"Captain Contrecoeur planted his cannon to sweep the fort, drew up his men in readiness for an attack, and then sent a demand to the English to surrender in one hour, or he would open fire."
"Under the circ.u.mstances you could not object with much resolution,"
remarked Washington.
"I didn"t, but surrendered without parleying," replied Ward; "and we were allowed to march out bearing our arms and all our tools."
"This is a declaration of war," remarked Washington, "and we must govern ourselves accordingly."
He called his officers together for consultation, and said to them:
"The French have now invaded the frontier of the Colony, and as I construe my instructions from the government, it is my duty to march forward to meet the invaders."
"Without reinforcements from Colonel Fry?" anxiously inquired one of his officers.
"No. We can march to the mouth of Red Stone Creek, which is thirty-seven miles above the fort captured by the French, there throw up defences, and await the arrival of reinforcements."
A messenger was posted away to Colonel Fry, while the army took up the line of march to Red Stone Creek, where it hastily intrenched and awaited reinforcements.
About the 1st of May, Captain Stevens arrived with his company of fifty men. Colonel Fry remained at his post to complete arrangements and bring up supplies; but he suddenly died, so that Washington was forced to act as commander-in-chief.
With his little army increased to one hundred and fifty men, Washington proceeded to Great Meadows, making a road suitable for transporting supplies as he advanced, and reaching his destination on the 27th of May. They had but just encamped when Mr. Gist arrived.
"I have seen the trail of a party within five miles of you, which I am sure were French," he said to Washington, under evident excitement.
"I am not surprised at that announcement," replied Washington. "War is inevitable, and we must accept the issue. We must look after these French."
"Or they will look after _us_," retorted Gist. "The French mean business; there can be no doubt of that. Unless we mean business it is all up with us."
"I will pursue them at once," continued Washington; and he took forty men, leaving the remainder of his force to work on the intrenchments.
Half-king, with a few Indians, joined him, and when it was supposed they were in the vicinity of the French party, two Indian scouts were sent forward, who discovered their camp two miles distant. It was in the dawn of the morning, and they had traveled all night through the driving storm and darkness, and, of course, were poorly prepared for battle. But Washington determined upon an attack immediately. Arranging his own men on the right and the Indians on the left, he advanced rapidly upon the enemy. The latter were taken unawares, but they sprang to their arms and opened fire on catching sight of the English. A brief, sharp, b.l.o.o.d.y encounter ensued, when the French surrendered, having lost ten men killed and one wounded. Twenty-one were taken prisoners. Washington"s loss was one man killed and two or three wounded.
Among the slain Frenchmen was their popular commander, Captain Jumonville. The twenty-one prisoners were sent, under a strong guard, to Governor Dinwiddie, with a plea from Washington that they should be treated with humanity. He withstood Tanacharisson and his redskins, who wanted to slay every one of the prisoners, and rebuked their revengeful spirit.
"The French army at the forks will avenge the death of Jumonville," said Washington to Gist, "and the whole force will march against us."
"They will if they are like the rest of mankind," responded Gist, "and that, too, without waiting for ceremony."
"We will be prepared for them," added Washington. "It will never do for an army to be caught napping, especially a little one like mine."
"But you will fight against great odds," suggested Gist; "the French have every advantage in men and means."
"True, very true, but we must make our fortifications strong at the Meadows, and do the best we can."
This little conquering squad of English rejoined the army at the Meadows, and proceeded at once to make their fort impregnable. Here Washington soon received additional reinforcements, swelling his army to four hundred soldiers. Among them was a company of one hundred men from North Carolina, under Captain Mackey. The latter officer made some trouble for Washington by claiming superiority of rank, because his commission was from the King of England, while Washington"s was from a provincial governor only. However, this difficulty was soon adjusted through Washington"s tact and magnanimity.
The army was short of provisions at this time, supplies not having been sent forward as Washington expected. His men were very much tried, and many of them were exasperated. Adding hunger and needless suffering to their pittance of pay was quite enough to demoralize the rank and file.
Washington could not blame them much, in the circ.u.mstances, although the discontent added to his trials. He wrote to Governor Dinwiddie in his troubles, as follows:
"Giving up my commission is quite contrary to my intentions. Nay, I ask it as a greater favor than any amongst the many I have received from your honor, to confirm it to me. But let me serve voluntarily; then I will, with the greatest pleasure in life, devote my services to the expedition, without any other reward than the satisfaction of serving my country; but to be slaving dangerously for the shadow of pay, through woods, rocks, and mountains, I would rather prefer the great toil of a day laborer, and dig for a maintenance, provided I were reduced to the necessity, than serve upon such ign.o.ble terms.... I hope what I have said will not be taken amiss, for I really believe, were it as much in your power as it is in your inclination, we should be treated as gentlemen and officers, and not have annexed to the most trifling pay that ever was given to English officers the glorious allowance of soldier"s diet, a pound of pork, with bread in proportion, per day. Be the consequence what it will, I am determined not to leave the regiment, but to be among the last men to quit the Ohio."
Washington preferred to serve his country without pay rather than have the reputation of being paid when receiving but a pittance, and half starved into the bargain. His appeal was a sincere and earnest one for his soldiers.
As on former occasions, Washington was his own chaplain. Twice a day his little army were called to prayers in the fort, which he himself conducted. On the Sabbath only works of necessity were performed, and he conducted religious services. Sometimes his brief remarks, called forth by the condition of his army, deeply impressed his listeners, who knew that they were honest words from a true heart.
He was exceedingly annoyed by the profanity and wickedness of his men, and at one time he issued the following order:
"Colonel Washington has observed that the men of his regiment are very profane and reprobate. He takes this opportunity to inform them of his great displeasure at such practices, and a.s.sures them that, if they do not leave them off, they shall be severely punished. The officers are desired, if they hear any men swear or make use of an oath or execration, to order the offender twenty-five lashes immediately, without a court-martial. For a second offence he shall be more severely punished."
As the French army did not make its appearance after waiting many days for it, Washington resolved to march upon Fort Duquesne, as the French had named their stronghold at the forks in honor of the governor of Canada.
Leaving Captain Mackey with his company to garrison the fort, Washington advanced towards the forks. But he had marched only thirteen miles when he met several friendly Indians, one of whom said:
"The French are on the march against you."
"How far away?" inquired Washington.
"A few miles only."
"In large force?"
"Eight hundred Frenchmen and four hundred Indians."
"I can hardly credit that they are coming with so large a force,"
replied Washington. "That is a formidable army for my small army to fight."
The Indians convinced him that it was even so, whereupon he called a council of war, when it was unanimously decided to retreat to their base of supplies. After two days of wearisome marching, on the retreat, they reached the fort at the Great Meadows. Here many of the men and horses were so exhausted and weak for the want of food that Washington decided to make a stand there. He was forced to stop there, and so he named the stockade "Fort Necessity."
The able-bodied soldiers were set to work digging a trench around the fortifications, and felling large trees to obstruct the march of the enemy upon their works. But their labors were far from being completed when, on the morning of July 3, a wounded sentinel came rushing into camp and shouting, "The enemy is upon us! The French army is here!"
The drum beat the soldiers into line quickly, outside of their fortifications, though subsequently they were withdrawn into the fort.
About eleven o"clock the enemy opened a heavy fire upon the fort, which was returned with spirit.
"Waste no powder; fire at discretion; and where-ever you discover a head, pick it off," were Washington"s instructions to his men.
The battle raged all day until eight o"clock in the evening, when the French commander, Monsieur De Villiers, sent a flag of truce. Supposing it was a scheme to get a spy within the fort to discover its strength, Washington declined to receive it. But De Villiers, evidently thinking the English force was much larger than it actually was, persisted in his application for a parley. He asked that an English officer be sent to him, promising him absolute safety.
Washington sent Van Braam, who returned in a short time with articles of capitulation for him to sign, and he was accompanied by De Villiers himself.
Washington declined to sign them until they were amended to suit his wishes. About midnight the articles were signed, and the fort surrendered.
On the morning of July 4, 1754, the little army marched out of the fort, with banners flying and the band playing, carrying their arms with them, so that there was no degradation in the surrender. As the French had killed all of Washington"s horses and cattle, he could not take away his cannon and heavy baggage; so it was stipulated that these should be protected until he could send for them.
In this his first battle, Washington lost fifty-eight men, while the French lost two hundred in killed and wounded.
Washington marched his little army back to Williamsburg, where he was received with distinguished honors. The governor tendered him hearty thanks in behalf of the government; and the House of Burgesses, which soon a.s.sembled, unanimously adopted a vote of thanks "for their bravery, and the gallant manner in which they had conducted themselves in the defence of the country." A resolution was pa.s.sed, also, granting an appropriation of four hundred pistoles to be distributed among the soldiers who had aided in the expedition. In addition, the a.s.sembly made an appropriation of ten thousand dollars, in October following, for the public service; and soon afterwards the English government forwarded fifty thousand dollars for the same purpose.
The defeat of Washington did not appear to modify the public confidence in him. The people knew full well the great odds against which he contended, and judged him accordingly. That he should defend Fort Necessity so long and so successfully, when fatigue and hunger were creating discontent, was proof to them of skill and courage; and that he should secure terms of capitulation so honorable, appeared to them a reason of praise rather than censure.