Chapter XV (2)

The French guard stationed there could not or would not keep out the rabble. By the advice of Montcalm the English stove their rum-barrels; but the Indians were drunk already with homicidal rage, and the glitter of their vicious eyes told of the devil within. They roamed among the tents, intrusive, insolent, their visages besmirched with war-paint; grinning like fiends as they handled, in anticipation of the knife, the long hair of cowering women, of whom, as well as of children, there were many in the camp, all crazed with fright. Since the last war the New England border population had regarded Indians with a mixture of detestation and horror. Their mysterious warfare of ambush and surprise, their midnight onslaughts, their butcheries, their burnings, and all their nameless atrocities, had been for years the theme of fireside story; and the dread they excited was deepened by the distrust and dejection of the time. The confusion in the camp lasted through the afternoon. "The Indians," says Bougainville, "wanted to plunder the chests of the English; the latter resisted; and there was fear that serious disorder would ensue. The Marquis de Montcalm ran thither immediately, and used every means to restore tranquillity: prayers, threats, caresses, interposition of the officers and interpreters who have some influence over these savages." [520] "We shall be but too happy if we can prevent a massacre. Detestable position! of which nobody who has not been in it can have any idea, and which makes victory itself a sorrow to the victors. The Marquis spared no efforts to prevent the rapacity of the savages and, I must say it, of certain persons associated with them, from resulting in something worse than plunder. At last, at nine o'clock in the evening, order seemed restored. The Marquis even induced the Indians to promise that, besides the escort agreed upon in the capitulation, two chiefs for each tribe should accompany the English on their way to Fort Edward." [521] He also ordered La Corne and the other Canadian officers attached to the Indians to see that no violence took place. He might well have done more. In view of the disorders of the afternoon, it would not have been too much if he had ordered the whole body of regular troops, whom alone he could trust for the purpose, to hold themselves ready to move to the spot in case of outbreak, and shelter their defeated foes behind a hedge of bayonets.

[520] Bougainville au Ministre, 19 Août, 1757.

[521] Bougainville, Journal.

Bougainville was not to see what ensued; for Montcalm now sent him to Montreal, as a special messenger to carry news of the victory. He embarked at ten o'clock. Returning daylight found him far down the lake; and as he looked on its still bosom flecked with mists, and its quiet mountains sleeping under the flush of dawn, there was nothing in the wild tranquillity of the scene to suggest the tragedy which even then was beginning on the shore he had left behind.

The English in their camp had passed a troubled night, agitated by strange rumors. In the morning something like a panic seized them; for they distrusted not the Indians only, but the Canadians. In their haste to be gone they got together at daybreak, before the escort of three hundred regulars had arrived. They had their muskets, but no ammunition; and few or none of the provincials had bayonets. Early as it was, the Indians were on the alert; and, indeed, since midnight great numbers of them had been prowling about the skirts of the camp, showing, says Colonel Frye, "more than usual malice in their looks." Seventeen wounded men of his regiment lay in huts, unable to join the march. In the preceding afternoon Miles Whitworth, the regimental surgeon, had passed them over to the care of a French surgeon, according to an agreement made at the time of the surrender; but, the Frenchman being absent, the other remained with them attending to their wants. The French surgeon had caused special sentinels to be posted for their protection. These were now removed, at the moment when they were needed most; upon which, about five o'clock in the morning, the Indians entered the huts, dragged out the inmates, and tomahawked and scalped them all, before the eyes of Whitworth, and in presence of La Corne and other Canadian officers, as well as of a French guard stationed within forty feet of the spot; and, declares the surgeon under oath, "none, either officer or soldier, protected the said wounded men." [522] The opportune butchery relieved them of a troublesome burden.

[522] Affidavit of Miles Whitworth. See Appendix F.

A scene of plundering now began. The escort had by this time arrived, and Monro complained to the officers that the capitulation was broken; but got no other answer than advice to give up the baggage to the Indians in order to appease them. To this the English at length agreed; but it only increased the excitement of the mob. They demanded rum; and some of the soldiers, afraid to refuse, gave it to them from their canteens, thus adding fuel to the flame. When, after much difficulty, the column at last got out of the camp and began to move along the road that crossed the rough plain between the entrenchment and the forest, the Indians crowded upon them, impeded their march, snatched caps, coats, and weapons from men and officers, tomahawked those that resisted, and, seizing upon shrieking women and children, dragged them off or murdered them on the spot. It is said that some of the interpreters secretly fomented the disorder. [523] Suddenly there rose the screech of the war-whoop. At this signal of butchery, which was given by Abenaki Christians from the mission of the Penobscot, [524] a mob of savages rushed upon the New Hampshire men at the rear of the column, and killed or dragged away eighty of them. [525] A frightful tumult ensued, when Montcalm, Lévis, Bourlamaque, and many other French officers, who had hastened from their camp on the first news of disturbance, threw themselves among the Indians, and by promises and threats tried to allay their frenzy. "Kill me, but spare the English who are under my protection," exclaimed Montcalm. He took from one of them a young officer whom the savage had seized; upon which several other Indians immediately tomahawked their prisoners, lest they too should be taken from them. One writer says that a French grenadier was killed and two wounded in attempting to restore order; but the statement is doubtful. The English seemed paralyzed, and fortunately did not attempt a resistance, which, without ammunition as they were, would have ended in a general massacre. Their broken column straggled forward in wild disorder, amid the din of whoops and shrieks, till they reached the French advance-guard, which consisted of Canadians; and here they demanded protection from the officers, who refused to give it, telling them that they must take to the woods and shift for themselves. Frye was seized by a number of Indians, who, brandishing spears and tomahawks, threatened him with death and tore off his clothing, leaving nothing but breeches, shoes, and shirt. Repelled by the officers of the guard, he made for the woods. A Connecticut soldier who was present says of him that he leaped upon an Indian who stood in his way, disarmed and killed him, and then escaped; but Frye himself does not mention the incident. Captain Burke, also of the Massachusetts regiment, was stripped, after a violent struggle, of all his clothes; then broke loose, gained the woods, spent the night shivering in the thick grass of a marsh, and on the next day reached Fort Edward. Jonathan Carver, a provincial volunteer, declares that, when the tumult was at its height, he saw officers of the French army walking about at a little distance and talking with seeming unconcern. Three or four Indians seized him, brandished their tomahawks over his head, and tore off most of his clothes, while he vainly claimed protection from a sentinel, who called him an English dog, and violently pushed him back among his tormentors. Two of them were dragging him towards the neighboring swamp, when an English officer, stripped of everything but his scarlet breeches, ran by. One of Carver's captors sprang upon him, but was thrown to the ground; whereupon the other went to the aid of his comrade and drove his tomahawk into the back of the Englishman. As Carver turned to run, an English boy, about twelve years old, clung to him and begged for help. They ran on together for a moment, when the boy was seized, dragged from his protector, and, as Carver judged by his shrieks, was murdered. He himself escaped to the forest, and after three days of famine reached Fort Edward.

[523] This is stated by Pouchot and Bougainville; the latter of whom confirms the testimony of the English witnesses, that Canadian officers present did nothing to check the Indians.

[524] See note, end of chapter.

[525] Belknap, History of New Hampshire, says that eighty were killed. Governor Wentworth, writing immediately after the event, says "killed or captivated."

The bonds of discipline seem for the time to have been completely broken; for while Montcalm and his chief officers used every effort to restore order, even at the risk of their lives, many other officers, chiefly of the militia, failed atrociously to do their duty. How many English were killed it is impossible to tell with exactness. Roubaud says that he saw forty or fifty corpses scattered about the field. Lévis says fifty; which does not include the sick and wounded before murdered in the camp and fort. It is certain that six or seven hundred persons were carried off, stripped, and otherwise maltreated. Montcalm succeeded in recovering more than four hundred of them in the course of the day; and many of the French officers did what they could to relieve their wants by buying back from their captors the clothing that had been torn from them. Many of the fugitives had taken refuge in the fort, whither Monro himself had gone to demand protection for his followers; and here Roubaud presently found a crowd of half-frenzied women, crying in anguish for husbands and children. All the refugees and redeemed prisoners were afterwards conducted to the entrenched camp, where food and shelter were provided for them and a strong guard set for their protection until the fifteenth, when they were sent under an escort to Fort Edward. Here cannon had been fired at intervals to guide those who had fled to the woods, whence they came dropping in from day to day, half dead with famine.

On the morning after the massacre the Indians decamped in a body and set out for Montreal, carrying with them their plunder and some two hundred prisoners, who, it is said, could not be got out of their hands. The soldiers were set to the work of demolishing the English fort; and the task occupied several days. The barracks were torn down, and the huge pine-logs of the rampart thrown into a heap. The dead bodies that filled the casemates were added to the mass, and fire was set to the whole. The mighty funeral pyre blazed all night. Then, on the sixteenth, the army reimbarked. The din of ten thousand combatants, the rage, the terror, the agony, were gone; and no living thing was left but the wolves that gathered from the mountains to feast upon the dead. [526]

[526] The foregoing chapter rests largely on evidence never before brought to light, including the minute Journal of Bougainville,--a document which can hardly be commended too much,--the correspondence of Webb, a letter of Colonel Frye, written just after the massacre, and a journal of the siege, sent by him to Governor Pownall as his official report. Extracts from these, as well as from the affidavit of Dr. Whitworth, which is also new evidence, are given in Appendix F.

The Diary of Malartic and the correspondence of Montcalm, Lévis, Vaudreuil, and Bigot, also throw light on the campaign, as well as numerous reports of the siege, official and semi-official. The long letter of the Jesuit Roubaud, printed anonymously in the Lettres Édifiantes et Curieuses, gives a remarkably vivid account of what he saw. He was an intelligent person, who may be trusted where he has no motive for lying. Curious particulars about him will be found in a paper called, The deplorable Case of Mr. Roubaud, printed in the Historical Magazine, Second Series, VIII. 282. Compare Verreau, Report on Canadian Archives, 1874.

Impressions of the massacre at Fort William Henry have hitherto been derived chiefly from the narrative of Captain Jonathan Carver, in his Travels. He has discredited himself by his exaggeration of the number killed; but his account of what he himself saw tallies with that of the other witnesses. He is outdone in exaggeration by an anonymous French writer of the time, who seems rather pleased at the occurrence, and affirms that all the English were killed except seven hundred, these last being captured, so that none escaped (Nouvelles du Canada envoyées de Montréal, Août, 1757). Carver puts killed and captured together at fifteen hundred. Vaudreuil, who always makes light of Indian barbarities, goes to the other extreme, and avers that no more than five or six were killed. Lévis and Roubaud, who saw everything, and were certain not to exaggerate the number, give the most trustworthy evidence on this point. The capitulation, having been broken by the allies of France, was declared void by the British Government.

The Signal of Butchery. Montcalm, Bougainville, and several others say that the massacre was begun by the Abenakis of Panaouski. Father Martin, in quoting the letter in which Montcalm makes this statement, inserts the word idolâtres, which is not in the original. Dussieux and O'Callaghan give the passage correctly. This Abenaki band, ancestors of the present Penobscots, were no idolaters, but had been converted more than half a century. In the official list of the Indian allies they are set down among the Christians. Roubaud, who had charge of them during the expedition, speaks of these and other converts with singular candor: "Vous avez dû vous apercevoir ... que nos sauvages, pour être Chrétiens, n'en sont pas plus irrépréhensibles dans leur conduite."

END OF VOL. I.

Montcalm and Wolfe

by Francis Parkman

France and England in North America

A Series of Historical Narratives

Part Seventh.

BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1885.

Copyright, 1884, by Francis Parkman.

University Press: John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.

Montcalm and Wolfe Vol. II.

by Francis Parkman

sixth edition.

BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1885.

Copyright, 1884, by Francis Parkman.

Contents - Vol 2.

Montcalm and Wolfe: Volume 2

Contents of Volume I.

CHAPTER XVI. 1757, 1758.

A WINTER OF DISCONTENT.

Boasts of Loudon • A Mutinous Militia • Panic • Accusations of Vaudreuil • His Weakness • Indian Barbarities • Destruction of German Flats • Discontent of Montcalm • Festivities at Montreal • Montcalm's Relations with the Governor • Famine • Riots • Mutiny • Winter at Ticonderoga • A desperate Bush-fight • Defeat of the Rangers • Adventures of Roche and Pringle.

CHAPTER XVII. 1753-1760.

BIGOT.

His Life and Character • Canadian Society • Official Festivities • A Party of Pleasure • Hospitalities of Bigot • Desperate Gambling • Château Bigot • Canadian Ladies • Cadet • La Friponne • Official Rascality • Methods of Peculation • Cruel Frauds on the Acadians • Military Corruption • Péan • Love and Knavery • Varin and his Partners • Vaudreuil and the Peculators • He defends Bigot; praises Cadet and Péan • Canadian Finances • Peril of Bigot • Threats of the Minister • Evidence of Montcalm • Impending Ruin of the Confederates.

CHAPTER XVIII. 1757, 1758.

PITT.

Frederic of Prussia • The Coalition against him • His desperate Position • Rossbach • Leuthen • Reverses of England • Weakness of the Ministry • A Change • Pitt and Newcastle • Character of Pitt • Sources of his Power • His Aims • Louis XV • Pompadour • She controls the Court, and directs the War • Gloomy Prospects of England • Disasters • The New Ministry • Inspiring Influence of Pitt • The Tide turns • British Victories • Pitt's Plans for America • Louisbourg, Ticonderoga, Duquesne • New Commanders • Naval Battles.

CHAPTER XIX. 1758.

LOUISBOURG.

Condition of the Fortress • Arrival of the English • Gallantry of Wolfe • The English Camp • The Siege begun • Progress of the Besiegers • Sallies of the French • Madame Drucour • Courtesies of War • French Ships destroyed • Conflagration • Fury of the Bombardment • Exploit of English Sailors • The End near • The White Flag • Surrender • Reception of the News in England and America • Wolfe not satisfied • His Letters to Amherst • He destroys Gaspé • Returns to England.

CHAPTER XX. 1758.

TICONDEROGA.

Activity of the Provinces • Sacrifices of Massachusetts • The Army at Lake George • Proposed Incursion of Lévis • Perplexities of Montcalm • His Plan of Defence • Camp of Abercromby • His Character • Lord Howe • His Popularity • Embarkation of Abercromby • Advance down Lake George • Landing • Forest Skirmish • Death of Howe • Its Effects • Position of the French • The Lines of Ticonderoga • Blunders of Abercromby • The Assault • A Frightful Scene • Incidents of the Battle • British Repulse • Panic • Retreat • Triumph of Montcalm.

CHAPTER XXI. 1758.

FORT FRONTENAC.

The Routed Army • Indignation at Abercromby • John Cleaveland and his Brother Chaplains • Regulars and Provincials • Provincial Surgeons • French Raids • Rogers defeats Marin • Adventures of Putnam • Expedition of Bradstreet • Capture of Fort Frontenac.

CHAPTER XXII. 1758.

FORT DUQUESNE.

Dinwiddie and Washington • Brigadier Forbes • His Army • Conflicting Views • Difficulties • Illness of Forbes • His Sufferings • His Fortitude • His Difference with Washington • Sir John Sinclair • Troublesome Allies • Scouting Parties • Boasts of Vaudreuil • Forbes and the Indians • Mission of Christian Frederic Post • Council of Peace • Second Mission of Post • Defeat of Grant • Distress of Forbes • Dark Prospects • Advance of the Army • Capture of the French Fort • The Slain of Braddock's Field • Death of Forbes.

CHAPTER XXIII. 1758, 1759.

THE BRINK OF RUIN.

Jealousy of Vaudreuil • He asks for Montcalm's Recall • His Discomfiture • Scene at the Governor's House • Disgust of Montcalm • The Canadians Despondent • Devices to encourage them • Gasconade of the Governor • Deplorable State of the Colony • Mission of Bougainville • Duplicity of Vaudreuil • Bougainville at Versailles • Substantial Aid refused to Canada • A Matrimonial Treaty • Return of Bougainville • Montcalm abandoned by the Court • His Plans of Defence • Sad News from Candiac • Promises of Vaudreuil.

CHAPTER XXIV. 1758, 1759.

WOLFE.

The Exiles of Fort Cumberland • Relief • The Voyage to Louisbourg • The British Fleet • Expedition against Quebec • Early Life of Wolfe • His Character • His Letters to his Parents • His Domestic Qualities • Appointed to command the Expedition • Sails for America.

CHAPTER XXV. 1759.

WOLFE AT QUEBEC.

French Preparation • Muster of Forces • Gasconade of Vaudreuil • Plan of Defence • Strength of Montcalm • Advance of Wolfe • British Sailors • Landing of the English • Difficulties before them • Storm • Fireships • Confidence of French Commanders • Wolfe occupies Point Levi • A Futile Night Attack • Quebec bombarded • Wolfe at the Montmorenci • Skirmishes • Danger of the English Position • Effects of the Bombardment • Desertion of Canadians • The English above Quebec • Severities of Wolfe • Another Attempt to burn the Fleet • Desperate Enterprise of Wolfe • The Heights of Montmorenci • Repulse of the English.

CHAPTER XXVI. 1759.

AMHERST. NIAGARA.

Amherst on Lake George • Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point • Delays of Amherst • Niagara Expedition • La Corne attacks Oswego • His Repulse • Niagara besieged • Aubry comes to its Relief • Battle • Rout of the French • The Fort taken • Isle-aux-Noix • Amherst advances to attack it • Storm • The Enterprise abandoned • Rogers attacks St. Francis • Destroys the Town • Sufferings of the Rangers.

CHAPTER XXVII. 1759.

THE HEIGHTS OF ABRAHAM.

Elation of the French • Despondency of Wolfe • The Parishes laid waste • Operations above Quebec • Illness of Wolfe • A New Plan of Attack • Faint Hope of Success • Wolfe's Last Despatch • Confidence of Vaudreuil • Last Letters of Montcalm • French Vigilance • British Squadron at Cap-Rouge • Last Orders of Wolfe • Embarkation • Descent of the St. Lawrence • The Heights scaled • The British Line • Last Night of Montcalm • The Alarm • March of French Troops • The Battle • The Rout • The Pursuit • Fall of Wolfe and of Montcalm.

CHAPTER XXVIII. 1759.

FALL OF QUEBEC.

After the Battle • Canadians resist the Pursuit • Arrival of Vaudreuil • Scene in the Redoubt • Panic • Movements of the Victors • Vaudreuil's Council of War • Precipitate Retreat of the French Army • Last Hours of Montcalm • His Death and Burial • Quebec abandoned to its Fate • Despair of the Garrison • Lévis joins the Army • Attempts to relieve the Town • Surrender • The British occupy Quebec • Slanders of Vaudreuil • Reception in England of the News of Wolfe's Victory and Death • Prediction of Jonathan Mayhew.

CHAPTER XXIX. 1759, 1760.

SAINTE-FOY.

Quebec after the Siege • Captain Knox and the Nuns • Escape of French Ships • Winter at Quebec • Threats of Lévis • Attacks • Skirmishes • Feat of the Rangers • State of the Garrison • The French prepare to retake Quebec • Advance of Lévis • The Alarm • Sortie of the English • Rash Determination of Murray • Battle of Ste.-Foy • Retreat of the English • Lévis besieges Quebec • Spirit of the Garrison • Peril of their Situation • Relief • Quebec saved • Retreat of Lévis • The News in England.

CHAPTER XXX. 1760.

FALL OF CANADA.

Desperate Situation • Efforts of Vaudreuil and Lévis • Plans of Amherst • A Triple Attack • Advance of Murray • Advance of Haviland • Advance of Amherst • Capitulation of Montreal • Protest of Lévis • Injustice of Louis XV. • Joy in the British Colonies • Character of the War.

CHAPTER XXXI. 1758-1763.

THE PEACE OF PARIS.

Exodus of Canadian Leaders • Wreck of the "Auguste" • Trial of Bigot and his Confederates • Frederic of Prussia • His Triumphs • His Reverses • His Peril • His Fortitude • Death of George II. • Change of Policy • Choiseul • His Overtures of Peace • The Family Compact • Fall of Pitt • Death of the Czarina • Frederic saved • War with Spain • Capture of Havana • Negotiations • Terms of Peace • Shall Canada be restored? • Speech of Pitt • The Treaty signed • End of the Seven Years War.

CHAPTER XXXII. 1763-1884.

CONCLUSION.

Results of the War • Germany • France • England • Canada • The British Provinces.

APPENDIX.

INDEX.