On the arrival of the earl of Loudoun, this subject was revived. The question was seriously propounded, "whether the troops in the several colonies of New England, armed with his majesty's arms, would, in obedience to his commands signified to them, act in conjunction with his European troops; and under the command of his commander in chief?" The colonial officers answered this question in the affirmative; but entreated it as a favour of his lordship, as the New England troops had been raised on particular terms, that he would permit them, so far as might consist with his majesty's service, to act separately. This request was acceded to; but before the army could be put in motion, the attention both of the Europeans and provincials, was directed to their own defence.
Montcalm takes Oswego.
Monsieur de Montcalm, an able officer, who succeeded Dieskau in the command of the French troops in Canada, sought to compensate by superior activity, for the inferiority of his force. While the British and Americans were adjusting their difficulties respecting rank, and deliberating whether to attack Niagara or fort Du Quêsne, Montcalm advanced at the head of about five thousand Europeans, Canadians, and Indians, against Oswego. In three days he brought up his artillery, and opened a battery which played on the fort with considerable effect. Colonel Mercer, the commanding officer, was killed; and, in a few hours, the place was declared by the engineers to be no longer tenable. The garrison, consisting of the regiments of Shirley and Pepperel, amounting to sixteen hundred men, supplied with provisions for five months, capitulated, and became prisoners of war. A respectable naval armament, then on the lake, was also captured.
The fort at Oswego had been erected in the country of the Five Nations, and had been viewed by them with some degree of jealousy. Montcalm, actuated by a wise policy, destroyed it in their presence; declaring at the same time, that the French wished only to enable them to preserve their neutrality, and would, therefore, make no other use of the rights of conquest, than to demolish the fortresses which the English had erected in their country to overawe them.
The British general, disconcerted at this untoward event, abandoned all his plans of offensive operations. General Winslow was ordered to relinquish his intended expedition, and to fortify his camp, and endeavour to prevent the enemy from penetrating into the country by the way of South bay, or Wood creek. Major general Webb, with fourteen hundred men, was posted at the great carrying place; and, to secure his rear, sir William Johnson, with one thousand militia, was stationed at the German flats.
These dispositions being made, the colonies were strenuously urged to reinforce the army. It was represented to them that, should any disaster befall Winslow, the enemy might be enabled to overrun the country, unless opposed by a force much superior to that in the field.[154]
Small-pox in Albany.
During this state of apprehensive inactivity, the small-pox broke out in Albany. This enemy was more dreaded by the provincials than Montcalm himself. So great was the alarm, that it was found necessary to garrison the posts in that quarter, entirely with British troops, and to discharge all the provincials except a regiment raised in New York.
Thus terminated for a second time, in defeat and utter disappointment, the sanguine hopes which the colonists had formed of a brilliant and successful campaign. After all their expensive and laborious preparations, not an effort had been made to drive the invaders of the country even from their out-post at Ticonderoga.
The expedition to lake Ontario had not been commenced; and no preparations had been made for that against fort Du Quêsne. The colonies of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, far from contemplating offensive operations, had been unable to defend themselves; and their frontiers were exposed to all the horrors of Indian warfare.
The expedition up the Kennebec was also abandoned. Thus, no one enterprise contemplated at the opening of the campaign, was carried into execution.[155]
1757
About the middle of January, the governors of the northern provinces were convened in a military council at Boston. The earl of Loudoun opened his propositions to them with a speech in which he attributed all the disasters that had been sustained, to the colonies; and in which he proposed that New England should raise four thousand men for the ensuing campaign. Requisitions proportionably large were also made on New York and New Jersey.
Campaign of 1757.
The ill success which had, thus far, attended the combined arms of Great Britain and her colonies, did not discourage them. Their exertions to bring a powerful force into the field were repeated; and the winter was employed in preparations for the ensuing campaign. The requisitions of lord Loudoun were complied with; and he found himself, in the spring, at the head of a respectable army. Some important enterprise against Canada, when the armament expected from Europe should arrive, was eagerly anticipated; and the most sanguine hopes of success were again entertained.
Admiral Holbourne arrives. Is joined by Lord Loudoun.
In the beginning of July, Admiral Holbourne reached Halifax with a powerful squadron, and reinforcement of five thousand British troops commanded by George Viscount Howe, and, on the 6th of the same month, the earl of Loudoun sailed from New York with six thousand regulars. A junction of these formidable armaments was effected without opposition, and the Loudoun colonists looked forward with confidence for a decisive blow which would shake the power of France in America.
The expedition against Louisbourg relinquished.
The plan of this campaign varied from that which had been adopted in the preceding years. The vast and complex movements heretofore proposed, were no longer contemplated, and offensive operations were to be confined to a single object. Leaving the posts on the lakes strongly garrisoned, the British general determined to direct his whole disposable force against Louisbourg; and fixed on Halifax as the place of rendezvous for the fleet and army.
After assembling the land and naval forces at this place, information was received that a fleet had lately arrived from France, and that Louisbourg was so powerfully defended as to render any attempt upon it hopeless. In consequence of this intelligence the enterprise was deferred until the next year; the general and admiral returned to New York in August; and the provincials were dismissed.
The French general, feeling no apprehension for Louisbourg, determined to avail himself of the absence of a large part of the British force, and to obtain complete possession of lake George. With an army collected chiefly from the garrisons of Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and the adjacent forts; amounting, with the addition of Indians, and Canadians, to nine thousand men, the marquis de Montcalm laid siege to fort William Henry. That place was well fortified, and garrisoned by three thousand men; and derived additional security from an army of four thousand men at fort Edwards, under the command of major general Webb. Fort William Henry taken.Notwithstanding the strength of the place and its means of defence, Montcalm urged his approaches with so much vigour, that articles of capitulation, surrendering the fort, artillery, and stores, and stipulating that the garrison should not serve against his Most Christian Majesty or his allies for the space of eighteen months, were signed within six days after its investment.
When this important place was surrendered, the commander in chief had not returned from Halifax. General Webb, alarmed for fort Edward, applied for reinforcements; and the utmost exertions were made to furnish the aids he required. The return of the army to New York on the last of August, dispelled all fear of an invasion, and enabled the general, who contemplated no farther active operations, to dismiss the provincials.
Unsuccessful in all his attempts to gather laurels from the common enemy, the earl of Loudoun engaged in a controversy with Massachusetts; in the commencement