Читать книгу The Life & Legacy of George Washington - John Marshall - Страница 16

Table of Contents

War declared against Spain. … Expedition against St. Augustine. … Georgia invaded. … Spaniards land on an island in the Alatamaha. … Appearance of a fleet from Charleston. … Spanish army re-embarks. … Hostilities with France. … Expedition against Louisbourg. … Louisbourg surrenders. … Great plans of the belligerent powers. … Misfortunes of the armament under the duke D'Anville. … The French fleet dispersed by a storm. … Expedition against Nova Scotia. … Treaty of Aix la Chapelle. … Paper money of Massachusetts redeemed. … Contests between the French and English respecting boundaries. … Statement respecting the discovery of the Mississippi. … Scheme for connecting Louisiana with Canada. … Relative strength of the French and English colonies. … Defeat at the Little Meadows. … Convention at Albany. … Plan of union. … Objected to both in America and Great Britain.

1739

War with Spain.

The increasing complaints of the merchants, and the loud clamours of the nation, at length forced the minister to abandon his pacific system; and war was declared against Spain. A squadron commanded by admiral Vernon was detached to the West Indies, with instructions to act offensively; and general Oglethorpe was ordered to annoy the settlements in Florida. He planned an expedition against St. Augustine, and requested the assistance of South Carolina. That colony, ardently desiring the expulsion of neighbours alike feared and hated, entered zealously into the views of the general, and agreed to furnish the men and money he requested. A regiment, commanded by colonel Vanderdussen, was immediately raised in Virginia and the two Carolinas. A body of Indians was also engaged, and captain Price, who commanded the small fleet on that station, promised his co-operation. These arrangements being made, and the mouth of St. John's river, on the coast of Florida, being appointed as the place, of rendezvous general Oglethorpe hastened to Georgia, to prepare his regiment for the expedition.

1740

Those unexpected impediments, which always embarrass military movements conducted by men without experience, having delayed the arrival of his northern troops, Oglethorpe entered Florida at the head of his own regiment, aided by a party of Indians; and invested Diego, a small fort about twenty-five miles from St. Augustine, which capitulated after a short resistance. He then returned to the place of rendezvous, where he was joined by colonel Vanderdussen, and by a company of Highlanders under the command of captain M'Intosh; a few days after which, he marched with his whole force, consisting of about two thousand men, to fort Moosa, in the neighbourhood of St. Augustine, which was evacuated on his approach. The general now perceived that the enterprise would be attended with more difficulty than had been anticipated. In the time which intervened between his entering Florida and appearing before the town, supplies of provisions had been received from the country, and six Spanish half gallies carrying long brass nine pounders, and two sloops laden with provisions, had entered the harbour. Finding the place better fortified than had been expected, he determined to invest it completely, and to advance by regular approaches. In execution of this plan, colonel Palmer, with ninety-five Highlanders, and forty-two Indians, remained at fort Moosa, while the army took different positions near the town, and began an ineffectual bombardment from the island of Anastasia. The general was deliberating on a plan for forcing the harbour and taking a nearer position, when colonel Palmer was surprised, and his detachment cut to pieces. At the same time some small vessels from the Havanna, with a reinforcement of men and supply of provisions, entered the harbour through the narrow channel of the Matanzas.

The army began to despair of success; and the provincials, enfeebled by the heat, dispirited by sickness, and fatigued by fruitless efforts, marched away in large bodies. The navy being ill supplied with provisions, and the season for hurricanes approaching, captain Price was unwilling to hazard his majesty's ships on that coast. The general, labouring under a fever, finding his regiment, as well as himself, worn out with fatigue, and rendered unfit for action by disease; reluctantly abandoned the enterprise, and returned to Frederica.

The colonists, disappointed and chagrined by the failure of the expedition, attributed this misfortune entirely to the incapacity of the general, who was not less dissatisfied with them. Whatever may have been the true causes of the failure, it produced a mutual and injurious distrust between the general and the colonists.[134]

1742

The events of the war soon disclosed the dangers resulting from this want of confidence in general Oglethorpe, and, still more, from the want of power to produce a co-operation of the common force for the common defence.

Spain had ever considered the settlement of Georgia as an encroachment on her territory, and had cherished the intention to seize every proper occasion to dislodge the English by force. With this view, an armament consisting of two thousand men, commanded by Don Antonio di Ridondo, embarked at the Havanna, under convoy of a strong squadron, and arrived at St. Augustine in May. The fleet having been seen on its passage, notice of its approach was given to general Oglethorpe, who communicated the intelligence to governor Glenn of South Carolina, and urged the necessity of sending the troops of that province to his assistance.

Georgia being a barrier for South Carolina, the policy of meeting an invading army on the frontiers of the former, especially one containing several companies composed of negroes who had fled from the latter, was too obvious not to be perceived: yet either from prejudice against Oglethorpe, or the disposition inherent in separate governments to preserve their own force for their own defence, Carolina refused to give that general any assistance. Its attention was directed entirely to the defence of Charleston; and the inhabitants of its southern frontier, instead of marching to the camp of Oglethorpe, fled to that city for safety. In the mean time, the general collected a few Highlanders, and rangers of Georgia, together with as many Indian warriors as would join him, and determined to defend Frederica.

Georgia invaded.

Late in June, the Spanish fleet, consisting of thirty-two sail, carrying above three thousand men, crossed Simon's bar into Jekyl sound, and passing Simon's fort, then occupied by general Oglethorpe, proceeded up the Alatamaha, out of the reach of his guns; after which, the troops landed on the island, and erected a battery of twenty eighteen pounders.

Fort Simon's being indefensible, Oglethorpe retreated to Frederica. His whole force, exclusive of Indians, amounted to little more than seven hundred men, a force which could only enable him to act on the defensive until the arrival of reinforcements which he still expected from South Carolina. The face of the country was peculiarly favorable to this system of operations. Its thick woods and deep morasses opposed great obstacles to the advance of an invading enemy, not well acquainted with the paths which passed through them. Oglethorpe turned these advantages to the best account. In an attempt made by the Spanish general to pierce these woods in order to reach Frederica, several sharp rencounters took place; in one of which he lost a captain and two lieutenants killed, and above one hundred privates taken prisoners. He then changed his plan of operations; and, abandoning his intention of forcing his way to Frederica by land, called in his parties, kept his men under cover of his cannon, and detached some vessels up the river, with a body of troops on board, to reconnoitre the fort, and draw the attention of the English to that quarter.

About this time, an English prisoner escaped from the Spaniards, and informed general Oglethorpe that a difference existed between the troops from Cuba, and those from St. Augustine, which had been carried so far that they encamped in separate places. This intelligence suggested the idea of attacking them while divided; and his perfect knowledge of the woods favoured the hope of surprising one of their encampments. In execution of this design, he drew out the flower of his army, and marched in the night, unobserved, within two miles of the Spanish camp. There, his troops halted, and he advanced, himself, at the head of a select corps, to reconnoitre the situation of the enemy. While he was using the utmost circumspection to obtain the necessary information without being discovered, a French soldier of his party discharged his musket, and ran into the Spanish lines. Discovery defeating every hope of success, the general retreated to Frederica.

Oglethorpe, confident that the deserter would disclose his weakness, devised an expedient which turned the event to advantage. He wrote to the deserter as if in concert with him, directing him to give the Spanish general such information as might induce him to attack Frederica; hinting also at an attempt meditated by admiral Vernon on St. Augustine, and at late advices from Carolina, giving assurances of a reinforcement of two thousand men. He then tampered with one of the Spanish prisoners, who, for a small bribe, promised to deliver this letter to the deserter, after which, he was permitted to escape. The prisoner, as was foreseen delivered the letter to his general, who ordered the deserter to be put in irons; and, was, in no small degree, embarrassed to determine whether the letter ought to be considered as a stratagem to save Frederica, and induce the abandonment of the enterprise; or as real instructions to direct the conduct of a spy. While hesitating on the course to be pursued, his doubts were removed by one of those incidents, which have so much influence on human affairs.

The assembly of South Carolina had voted a supply of money to general Oglethorpe; and the governor had ordered some ships of force to his aid. These appeared off the coast while the principal officers of the Spanish army were yet deliberating on the letter. They deliberated no longer. Spanish army re-embarks in confusion.The whole army was seized with a panic; and, after setting fire to the fort, embarked in great hurry and confusion, leaving behind several pieces of heavy artillery, and a large quantity of provisions and military stores.

Thus was Georgia delivered from an invasion which threatened the total subjugation of the province.

The ill success of these reciprocal attempts at conquest, seems to have discouraged both parties; and the Spanish and English colonies, in the neighbourhood of each other, contented themselves, for the residue of the war, with guarding their own frontiers.

The connexion between the branches of the house of Bourbon was too intimate for the preservation of peace with France, during the prosecution of war against Spain. Both nations expected and prepared for hostilities. War had commenced in fact, though not in form, on the continent of Europe; but as they carried on their military operations as auxiliaries, in support of the contending claims of the elector of Bavaria, and the queen of Hungary, to the imperial throne, they preserved in America a suspicious and jealous suspension of hostility, rather than a real peace.

1744

This state of things was interrupted by a sudden incursion of the French into Nova Scotia.

Hostilities with France.

The governor of Cape Breton having received information that France and Great Britain had become principals in the war, took possession of de Canseau with a small military and naval force, and made the garrison, and inhabitants prisoners of war. This enterprise was followed by an attempt on Annapolis, which was defeated by the timely arrival of a reinforcement from Massachusetts. These offensive operations stimulated the English colonists to additional efforts to expel such dangerous neighbors, and to unite the whole northern continent bordering on the Atlantic, under one common sovereign.

The island of Cape Breton, so denominated from one of its capes, lies between the 45th and 47th degree of north latitude, at the distance of fifteen leagues from Cape Ray, the south western extremity of Newfoundland. Its position rendered the possession of it very material to the commerce of France; and the facility with which the fisheries might be annoyed from its ports, gave it an importance to which it could not otherwise have been entitled. Thirty millions of livres,[135] and the labour of twenty-five years, had been employed on its fortifications. From its strength, and still more from the numerous privateers that issued from its ports, it had been termed the Dunkirk[136] of America. On this place, governor Shirley meditated an attack.

The prisoners taken at Canseau, and others who had been captured at sea and carried to Louisbourg, were sent to Boston. The information they gave, if it did not originally suggest this enterprise, contributed greatly to its adoption. They said that Duvivier had gone to France to solicit assistance for the conquest of Nova Scotia, in the course of the ensuing campaign; and that the store ships from France for Cape Breton, not having arrived on the coast until it was blocked up with ice, had retired to the West Indies.

In several letters addressed to administration, governor Shirley represented the danger to which Nova Scotia was exposed, and pressed for naval assistance. These letters were sent by captain Ryal, an officer of the garrison which had been taken at Canseau, whose knowledge of Louisbourg, of Cape Breton, and of Nova Scotia, enabled him to make such representations to the lords of the admiralty, as were calculated to promote the views of the northern colonies.

The governor was not disappointed. Orders were dispatched to commodore Warren, then in the West Indies, to proceed towards the north, early in the spring; and to employ such a force as might be necessary to protect the northern colonies in their trade and fisheries, as well as to distress the enemy. On these subjects, he was instructed to consult with Shirley, to whom orders of the same date were written, directing him to assist the King's ships with transports, men, and provisions.

Such deep impression had the design of taking Louisbourg made on the mind of Shirley, that he did not wait for intelligence of the reception given to his application for naval assistance. He was induced to decide on engaging in the enterprise, even without such assistance, by the representations of Mr. Vaughan, son of the lieutenant governor of New Hampshire, a man of a sanguine and ardent temper, who could think nothing impracticable which he wished to achieve. Mr. Vaughan had never been at Louisbourg, but had learned something of the strength of the place, from fishermen and others; and the bold turn of his mind suggested the idea of surprising it. There is something infectious in enthusiasm, whatever be its object; and Vaughan soon communicated his own convictions to Shirley.[137]

1745

The governor informed the general court that he had a proposition of great importance to communicate, and requested that the members would take an oath of secrecy, previous to his laying it before them. This novel request being complied with, he submitted his plan for attacking Louisbourg. It was referred to a committee of both houses; the arguments for and against the enterprise were temperately considered; and the part suggested by prudence prevailed. The expedition was thought too great, too hazardous, and too expensive.

The report of the committee was approved by the house of representatives, and the expedition was supposed to be abandoned; but, notwithstanding the precaution taken to secure secrecy, the subject which had occupied the legislature was divulged,[138] and the people took a deep interest in it. Numerous petitions were presented, praying the general court to re-consider its vote, and to adopt the proposition of the governor. Among the several arguments urged in its favour, that which the petitioners pressed most earnestly, was the necessity of acquiring Louisbourg, to save the fisheries from ruin.

The subject being re-considered, a resolution in favour of the enterprise was carried by a single voice, in the absence of several members known to be against it. Yet all parties manifested equal zeal for its success. A general embargo was laid, and messengers were despatched to the several governments as far south as Pennsylvania, soliciting their aid. These solicitations succeeded only in the northern provinces. There being at that time no person in New England who had acquired any military reputation, the chief command was conferred on colonel Pepperel, a merchant, who was also a large land holder, and was highly respected throughout Massachusetts.[139]

All ranks of men combined to facilitate the enterprise, and those circumstances which are beyond human control, also concurred to favour the general wish.

The governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, whose orders forbade their assent to a farther emission of bills of credit, departed from their instructions to promote this favourite project; the people submitted to impressments of their property; and a mild winter gave no interruption to their warlike preparations.

The troops of Massachusetts,[140] New Hampshire, and Connecticut, amounting to rather more than four thousand men, assembled at Canseau about the middle of April; soon after which, to the great joy of the colonial troops, admiral Warren arrived, with a considerable part of his fleet. The army then embarked for Chapeau-rouge bay, and the fleet cruised off Louisbourg.

After repulsing a small detachment of French troops, the landing was effected; and, in the course of the night, a body of about four hundred men led by Vaughan, marched round to the north east part of the harbour, and set fire to a number of warehouses containing spirituous liquors and naval stores. The smoke being driven by the wind into the grand battery, caused such darkness that the men placed in it were unable to distinguish objects; and, being apprehensive of an attack from the whole English army, abandoned the fort and fled into the town.

The next morning, as Vaughan was returning to camp with only thirteen men, he ascended the hill which overlooked the battery, and observing that the chimneys in the barracks were without smoke, and the staff without its flag, he hired an Indian, with a bottle of rum, to crawl through an embrasure, and open the gate. Vaughan entered with his men and defended the battery against a party then landing to regain possession until the arrival of a reinforcement.

For fourteen nights successively, the troops were employed in dragging cannon from the landing place to the encampment, a distance of near two miles, through a deep morass. The army, being totally unacquainted with the art of conducting sieges, made its approaches irregularly, and sustained some loss on this account.

While these approaches were making by land, the ships of war which continued to cruise off the harbour, fell in with and captured the Vigilant, a French man of war of sixty-four guns, having on board a reinforcement of five hundred and sixty men, and a large quantity of stores for the garrison. Soon after this, an unsuccessful, and, perhaps, a rash attempt was made on the island battery by four hundred men; of whom sixty were killed, and one hundred and sixteen taken prisoners. All these prisoners, as if by previous concert, exaggerated the numbers of the besieging army, a deception which was favoured by the unevenness of the ground, and the dispersed state of the troops; and which probably contributed to the surrender of the place. The provincial army did indeed present a formidable front, but, in the rear, all was frolic and confusion.

The Vigilant had been anxiously expected by the garrison, and the information of her capture excited a considerable degree of perturbation. This event, with the erection of some works on the high cliff at the light house, by which the island battery was much annoyed, and the preparations evidently making for a general assault, determined Duchambon, the governor of Louisbourg, to surrender; and, in a few days, he capitulated.