The French & Indian War
A History of the French and Indian War
Part4: The War Spreads To Europe
Despite efforts to keep the war from spreading to Europe, Great Britain signed a defense treaty with Prussia against France (and Russia) on 16 January 1756. In response, France signed a pact with Austria (who was already in league with Russia) and later Sweden and Saxony. The French invaded Minorca, a Mediterranean island off the coast of Spain, at the time held by England. Then, on 15 May 1756, Great Britain formally declared war on France. The conflict, in its European stage, would be called the Seven Years War.
After his campaign against Fort Niagara failed, General Shirley returned to New York to formulate plans for the next year’s course of action. The plan he devised was to launch another campaign to capture the French forts at Niagara, Frontenac and Toronto on Lake Ontario; to capture the forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point on Lake Champlain; to make a second attempt to take Fort Duquesne on the Ohio River; and to invade the region around Quebec.
There was only one small problem with Shirley’s plan: in order to accomplish it all, the English colonies would have to raise a militia of over sixteen thousand men. The colonies balked at the idea. Pennsylvania and Virginia outright refused to participate in it because the Indian depradations on their frontiers were taxing their abilities to raise the militia even for their own immediate defense. Initially, the New England colonies were not too keen to finance another expedition against Crown Point so soon after the first one ended in failure. But after they learned that Parliament was willing to provide some compensation for the debts incurred during the campaign of 1755, they decided to take another chance on General Shirley’s plan. The only condition they placed on Shirley was that the militia that would be raised in New England were to be utilized solely on the planned attacks on Ticonderoga and Crown Point.
The English constructed new fortifications in the Mohawk Valley during the late winter months of 1756; they were intended to guard and facilitate the transport of supplies to the forts at Oswego. One, named Fort Williams, was located on the Mohawk River at the Great Carrying Place between the Mohawk and Wood Creek. Another, Fort Bull, which was more of a palisaded storehouse than a fort, was constructed four miles from Fort Williams along Wood Creek. To the southeast of these two forts, in the valley known as German Flats, the farmstead of Nicholas Herkimer was fortified.
During the spring of 1756, both the English and French forces in North America received new commanders-in-general. On 11 May, Louis Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm-Gozon de Saint-Veran arrived in Canada to take command of the French armies. At about the same time, word was received by General Shirley that he was to be superceded by Colonel Daniel Webb. Webb would later be superceded by General James Abercrombie, who subsequently would be replaced by the Earl of Loudoun. On 23 July, John Campbell, Earl of Loudoun arrived to take command of the English armies.
Iroquois spies delivered messages to the governor of Canada at the time, Pierre Francois Riguad, Marquis de Vaudreuil, to the effect that the English were planning to renew the attempts made during the previous year against Crown Point and Niagara. In order to be better prepared if the Indians were right, Vaudreuil directed the fortification of Ticonderoga and the strengthening of the forts at Niagara and Frontenac. He likewise made plans to launch an attack on Fort Ontario, New Oswego and the Old Oswego (or Fort Pepperrell), known collectively as Oswego, located where the Oswego River emptied into Lake Ontario in order to obtain complete control over Lake Ontario. To that end, he would send the Marquis de Montcalm.
In February, prior to Montcalm's arrival, Vaudreuil dispatched Lieutenant Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lery with a force of three hundred and sixty-two hand-picked soldiers to reduce the forts blocking the pathway to Oswego. The force consisted of a mix of troupes de terre, or regular line soldiers from France, native Canadian militia and Indians. Early on a morning in late-March the French army approached Fort Bull. The French came suddenly upon a party of twelve English soldiers conveying three wagons of supplies for the thirty provincial troops who were garrisoning Fort Bull. Levy saw the opportunity and immediately rushed upon the fortified storehouse. The wave of French troops pushing toward the small fort almost made their way into the palisaded compound before the English could shut the gate. The French did not let that stop them; they poked their muskets through the loopholes in the walls and fired upon the English troops. Despite their desparate situation, the English would not yield to the French demands for surrender. For over an hour, the English pelted the French with bullets and grenades, and the French returned the fire hotly. Eventually the French were successful in breaking down the main gate of the fort, and they poured in. In the massacre that followed, only two or three English soldiers and one woman, who had hid when the fighting started, escaped death. Lery withdrew his men after setting fire to the fort, destroying a large part of the supplies intended for Oswego.
After his arrival, Montcalm lost little time in asserting his intentions to end the war quickly by attacking the English held forts at Oswego and Fort George on Lake Ontario, and eventually claiming victory over them on 14 August. Montcalm's campaign against Oswego was put into action in as soon as the waters of the Saint Lawrence River became navigable for the summer. Coulon de Villiers was sent, in May, with a force of eleven hundred French troupes de terre, Canadians and Indians, to harass the forts at Oswego.
Lieutenant Colonel John Bradstreet was placed in charge of two thousand boatmen, divided into three divisions, to convey supplies from Albany to the English forces at Oswego. To that end, Bradstreet's convoy had made a trip with supplies for the forts in late-June. On three hundred and fifty bateaux, and with one thousand men, Bradstreet was able to complete the delivery of supplies to Oswego and thereby prevent the fort from collapsing due to starvation. The convoy was making the return trip up the Mohawk River, on 03 July, and had reached a point about nine miles from Oswego when, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, they received heavy fire from the depths of the forest on the east side of the river. It was Villiers' force of seven hundred Canadians and Indians.
From that first volley, a considerable number of men under Bradstreet were mowed down and some were taken prisoner. The French could have withdrawn with a victory to their credit, but they decided to pursue the English and claim more victims. To that end, they crossed the river to an island. Colonel Bradstreet was aware of their movement ahead of him. With only eight men, Bradstreet followed the French to the island where they maintained an harassing fire until more of the English troops could join them. When the number reached about twenty, they moved on the French, pushing them back a little. The English made another thrust at the French, who were beginning to sense the mistake they had made. The French made their way along the edge of the island looking for another place to cross the river. Bradstreet’s small party of twenty, by that time, had grown to two hundred and fifty. Leaving some of those troops to guard against the French doubling back and crossing downstream, Bradstreet took the rest and headed forward. The French were found among a stand of pine in a swampy area near the shoreline and the English opened fire on them. For nearly an hour the two forces fired at each other to little effect. Finally, Bradstreet urged his men to make an advance on the French. Villiers' Canadian and Indian troops were taken aback by the unexpected ferocity of Bradstreet's troops, and they fell back toward the Oswego River. Trapped, with nowhere to run, Villiers' troops jumped into the river in an attempt to swim out of Bradstreet's grasp. The English easily picked off large numbers, but because the river's swift current carried many of the bodies downstream, an accurate count of the dead could not be made.
A group of French soldiers made their way to the site of the battle with the intention of reinforcing their comrades. They, in turn, were set upon by Bradstreet's men and forced back across the river. English reinforcements arrived through the evening, and Bradstreet was emboldened to follow the French. But as day broke on the 4th, it began to rain; it poured so heavily that the Lieutenant Colonel changed his mind and ordered his men to continue their journey back to Albany.
John Bradstreet tried to encourage his superiors to concentrate their attentions on the reinforcement of the garrisons at Oswego. But the English high command was not listening to a provincial militia commander. James Abercromby, who had replaced Governor Shirley as commander of the English armies in North America prior to Loudoun's arrival from England, would not allow Bradstreet to attend the army's council of war held on 16 July. Abercromby's plan of action was to have Major General Daniel Webb march his regiment to Oswego, but he did not insist that Webb hurry to that end. As a result, Webb's regiment was still at Albany on 23 July when Loudoun arrived. Webb moved his army as far as Schenectady, only fifteen miles from Albany, and then spent two weeks arguing over provisions contracts. The English army under Daniel Webb finally resumed their march and by 14 August had reached German Flats and the fortified farmstead of Nicholas Herkimer. They would be too late to reinforce the garrisons at Oswego, because by that date the French had already procured the surrender of the forts.
Having been warned that the English were intending to increase the garrison at Fort Ticonderoga, Governor Vaudreuil devised a plan which called for feigning an attack on Oswego in order to draw off some of the enemy from Ticonderoga. If the feint worked, so much the better; it might develop into a real attack and the possibility of taking Oswego. Montcalm was recalled from Ticonderoga and arrived at Momtreal on 19 July. There he established a base at which a new army comprised of recruits from Quebec and other French provinces and Indians was organized. Indians from the Menominee tribe of the region to the west of Lake Michigan joined the French and became part of Montcalm's army.
On 29 July 1756, thirteen hundred French regulars, seventeen hundred Canadian militia, and a large number of Indians assembled at Fort Frontenac under the command of Montcalm. They headed southward and approached Oswego on the 3rd of August. Spies reported that the fort was neither well constructed nor garrisoned by more than six or seven hundred men.
Montcalm moved his first division to Wolf Island on the night of 04 August and hid there until that evening. When darkness again approached, Montcalm moved on to Niaoure Bay where he joined forces with Rigaud de Vaudreuil, brother of the governor on the morning of 06 August. Following behind Montcalm's division, a second division bringing supplies and eighty artillery boats, arrived at Niaoure Bay on the 8th. The army landed within half a league of forts at Oswego around midnight of the 10th of August. Under the cover of the darkness, the French set up four cannon on batteries and then waited patiently in their bateaux until morning.
An English soldier, reconnoitering the strand surrounding the fort, was surprised to find the French army so completely entrenched, and reported its presence to the rest of the garrison.
As daylight broke on the 11th of August 1756, the French began a general siege of the fortifications. The French and their Indian allies bombarded Fort Oswego and Fort Ontario throughout the day with musket balls and cannon balls. Twenty-two additional cannon were brought to the front of the French line, which was established at about one hundred and eighty yards from the forts, and contributed to the general bombardment of the fort.
Two English vessels on Lake Ontario attempted to silence the French cannonade, but their smaller caliber balls were no match to the heavier French artillery.
Throughout the 11th of August, while the siege was taking place, the French continued to strengthen their line. A trench was dug and a breastwork was erected out of tree trunks and brush.
Fort Ontario, constructed of tree trunks cut flat on two sides, and set upright into the ground closely together, stood on a high plateau on the east side of the river at the point where the Oswego River emptied into Lake Ontario. The garrison of three hundred and seventy holding Fort Ontario had eight small caliber cannon and one mortar for the fort's defense. They maintained a brisk fire at the French throughout the 12th and 13th, but once their ammunition was spent, their guns fell ominously silent. Headquartered at the stone structure of Old Oswego, which stood on the west side of the river, opposite to Fort Ontario, was Colonel Hugh Mercer the garrison's commandant. Mercer noticed the silence of cannon fire from Fort Ontario and correctly perceived that it was due to an end of ammunition. Although the French had not yet made any dent in Fort Ontario's wooden palisade, Mercer feared that if they correctly guessed the reason for the cessation of the fort's cannon fire, they might increase a bombardment of that structure. Mercer, therefore, signalled for Fort Ontario's garrison to abandon that structure and make their way to Old Oswego. The guns were spiked, and the troops left the fort, reaching Old Oswego relatively unmolested by the French and Indians.
To the west of Old Oswego, about a quarter of a mile distant, stood the unfinished structure officially dubbed New Oswego, but known by the names of Fort George and Fort Rascal. Prior to the arrival of the French, the stockade had been used as a cattle pen. Throughout the battle, one hundred and fifty New Jersey militiamen held the fort. Their contribution to the fight was minimal, though, due to the distance from Old Oswego and Ontario.
As darkness settled in on the evening of 13 August, Montcalm employed his troops at taking over the abandoned Fort Ontario. They constructed gabions to strengthen the walls and dragged twenty cannon (some of which had been captured in Braddock's defeat at Fort Duquesne) up the hillside to the stockade. Nine pieces of the artillery were in place by daybreak.
At daybreak, the Montcalm opened fire on Old Oswego from Fort Ontario. The heavy caliber cannon balls used by the French crashed through the stone and masonry walls of Old Oswego. And the English were caught offguard. Why Mercer would have thought that the French would not invest the abandoned Fort Ontario is anyone's guess, but not only did he fail to take that possibility into consideration, he had positioned his own cannon facing to the south and west, anticipating an attack by the French from the land in those directions. The bombardment that the French now gave to Old Oswego was intense.
In the course of the barrage, Colonel Mercer's body was ripped in two by a cannon ball. His men were giving a very spirited fight until that happened. But then the realization that their situation was all but hopeless set in and a council of the officers voted for capitulation to Montcalm. Lieutenant Colonel John Littlehales surrendered the fort to the French at 10:00am on 14 August. The English were assured safe conduct from the fort, but Montcalm could not control his Indian allies. Nearly one hundred of the fort's soldiers (including thirty who were in the fort's hospital at the time) and a number of civilians were massacred. In addition to the loss of the forts, the English lake fleet, including the ship, Oswego, surrendered to the French. The French, after plundering the stockades for supplies, set fire to all of the structures. The French now could claim control of all of Lake Ontario.
Through the autumn and winter of 1756, the English forces in the region were forced to retreat eastward. With the shift in power, many of the families who had settled in the Mohawk Valley fled to Albany and Schenectady. Montcalm moved the main body of his French army from Fort Carillon and Fort Frederick to Montreal and Quebec, leaving only small garrisons at each of the prior forts. The English army withdrew to New York, Boston and Philadelphia. In their retreat from the Mohawk Valley, the fortifications at the Great Carrying Place were destroyed so that the French would not be able to take advantage of them.
Despite the removal of the main English army from the region, raids against French posts were continued by Rogers' Rangers. Robert Rogers had raised a company of rangers in New Hampshire during 1755, and the successes of that company led him to raise another in the spring of 1756. So many New Englanders wanted to join Rogers' company of rangers, that he formed a second company by July, placing his brother, Richard, in charge of it. By the winter of 1756-57 nearly seven companies of rangers had been formed; they were in turn formed into a battalion under Rogers, who was appointed to the rank of major. Rogers and his Rangers harassed the French in the region of Lake George and Lake Champlain.
While the main English army was engaging the French in the frontier of the province of New York, colonial militias were defending the middle colonies from French incited Indian attacks. Commencing in the autumn of 1755, following the defeat of Braddock's army in the Battle of the Wilderness, and continuing on through the spring and summer of 1756, the Indians from the Ohio Valley, in particular the Delaware, launched raid after raid against the Euro-American settlers of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The largely Quaker General Assembly of Pennsylvania, previously uncommitted to participating in the defense of the frontiers, even of its own, now began to approve the raising of militia to combat the Indian incursions.
On 14 April 1756, Pennsylvania governor, Robert Morris issued a declaration of war against the Delaware. He stated that "Whereas, the Delaware tribe of Indians, and others in Confederacy with them, have for some Time past, without the least Provocation, and contrary to their most Solemn Treaties, fallen upon this Province and in a most cruel, savage, and perfidious Manner, killed and butchered great Numbers of the Inhabitants, and carried others into barbarous Captivity; burning and destroying their Habitations, and laying waste the Country...I have, therefore, by and with the Advice and consent of the Council, thought fit to issue this Proclamation; and do hereby declare the said Delware Indians, and all others who, in Conjunction with them, have committed Hostilities against His Majesty's Subjects within this Province, to be Enemies, Rebels, and Traitors to His Most Sacred Majesty; And I do hereby require all his Majesty's Subjects of this Province, and earnestly invite those of the neighboring Provinces to embrace all Opportunities of pursuing, taking, killing, and destroying the said Delaware Indians and all others confederated with them in committing Hostilities, Incursions, Murders, or Ravages upon this Province..."
Following an attack by French and Indians on Fort Granville (present-day Lewistown, Pennsylvania), plans were formulated by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania to send a militia force to destroy Kittanning, a major Indian town. It was believed that if the Indians were shown that the war could be brought directly into their homes, it might serve to inhibit some of their depradations against the Euro-American settlers.
Kittanning was chosen as the militia's target because it was from that place that the Indian incursions generally originated. The Delaware chief, Captain Jacobs resided there, and occasionally the chief, King Shingas made his home there.
On 30 August 1756, Colonel John Armstrong, with a detachment of three hundred and seven men set out from Fort Shirley on the Juniata River and headed for the Indian town. Colonel Armstrong's report on the expedition was submitted to the Pennsylvania General Assembly as stated:
"Agreeable to mine of the 29th Ultm, We marched from Fort Shirly the day following, and on Wednesday, the Third Instant, joined our advanced party at the Beaver Dams, a few Miles from Franks Town, on the North branch of Juniata. We were there informed that some of our Men having been out a Scout, had discovered the Tracts of two Indians about three Miles on this side of the Alleghenny Mountains, and but a few Miles from the Camp. From the freshness of their Tracts, their killing of a Cub Bear, and the marks of their Fires it seemed evident they were not twenty-four Hours before us, which might be looked upon as a particular Providence in our Favour that we were not discovered. Next Morning we decamped, and in two Days came within fifty Miles of the Kittanning. It was then adjudged necessary to send some Persons to reconnoitre the Town and to get the best Intelligence they cou’d concerning the Situation and Position of the Enemy; Whereupon an Officer with one of the Pilots and two Soldiers were sent off for that purpose. The day following We met them on their Return, and they informed us that the Roads were entirely clear of the Enemy, and that they had the Greatest Reason to believe they were not discovered; but from the rest of the Intelligence they gave, it appear’d they had not been nigh enough the Town either to perceive the true Situation of it, the Number of the Enemy, or what way it might most advantageously be attacked. We continued our March, intending to get as near the Town as possible that Night so as to be able to Attack it next Morning about Day Light; but to our great dissatisfaction about nine or ten O’Clock at Night one of our Guides came and told us that he perceived a Fire by the Road side at which he saw two or three Indians a few perches distant from our Front; Whereupon, with all possible Silence, I ordered the rear to retreat about One Hundred perches in order to make way for the Front, that we might consult how we cou’d best proceed without being discovered by the Enemy. Soon after the Pilot returned a Second Time and assured us from the best observations he cou’d make there were not above Three or Four Indians at the Fire. On which it was proposed that we shou’d immediately surround and cut them off; but this was thought too hazerdous; for if but one of the Enemy had escaped It would have been the Means of discovering the whole design; and the light of the Moon, on which depended our advantageously posting our Men and Attacking the Town, wou’d not admit of our staying until the Indians fell a Sleep. On which it was agreed to leave Lieutenant Hogg with twelve Men and the Person who first discovered the Fire, with orders to watch the Enemy but not to attack them till break of Day, and then if possible to cutt them off. It was also agreed (we believing ourselves to be but about Six Miles from the Town) to leave the Horses, many of them being tired, with what Blankets and other Baggage we then had, and take a Circuit off of the Road, which was very rough and incommodious on Account of the Stones and fallen Timber, in order to prevent our being heard by the Enemy at the Fire place. This interruption much retarded our March; but a still greater Loss arose from the Ignorance of our Pilots, who neither knew the true Situation of the Town nor the best Paths that lead thereto, By which means, after crossing a Number of Hills and Vallys, our Front reached the River Ohio about one hundred Perches below the main Body of the Town, a little before the Setting of the Moon; To which place, rather than by the Pilots, we were guided by the Beating of a Drum and the Whooping of the Warriors at their Dance. It then became us to make the best use of the remaining Moon light, but are we were aware, an Indian whistled in a very singlar manner, about thirty perches from our Front in the foot of a Corn field; upon which we immediately sat down, and after passing Silence to the rear, I asked one Baker, a Soldier, who was our best Assistant, whether that was not a Signal to the Warriors of our Approach? He answered no, and said it was the manner of a Young Fellow’s calling a Squa after he had done his Dance, who accordingly kindled a Fire, clean’d his Gun and shot it off before he went to Sleep. All this time we were Obliged to lay quiet and hush, till the Moon was fairly set. Immediately after, a Number of Fires appeared in different places in the Corn Field, by which Baker said the Indians lay, the Night being warm and that these Fires wou’d immediately be out, as they were only designed to disperse the Gnats. By this time it was break of day, and the Men having Marched Thirty Miles were most a sleep; the line being long, the three Companies of the Rear were not yet brought over the last precipice. For these some proper Hands were immediately dispatched, and the weary Soldiers being roused to their Feet , a proper Number under sundry Officers were ordered to take the End of the Hill, at which we then lay, and March along the Top of the said Hill, at least one hundred perches, and so much further, it then being day Light, as wou’d carry them Opposite the upper part or at least the Body of the Town. For the lower part thereof and the Corn Field, presuming the Warriors were there, I kept rather the larger Number of the Men, promising to postpone the Attack in that part for Eighteen or Twenty Minutes, until the Detachment along the Hill should have time to Advance to the place Assigned them, in doing of which, they were a little unfortunate. The time being elapsed, the Attack was begun in the Corn Field, and the Men with all Expedition possible, dispatched thro’ the several parts thereof; a party being also dispatched to the Houses, which were then discovered by the light of the Day. Captain Jacobs immediately gave the War-Whoop, and with Sundry other Indians, as the English Prisoners afterwards told, cried the White Men were at last come, they wou’d then have Scalps enough, but at the same time ordered their Squas and Children to fflee to the Woods. Our Men with great Eagerness passed thro’ and Fired in the Corn Field, where they had several Returns from the Enemy, as they also had from the Opposite side of the River. Presently after, a brisk fire begun among the Houses, which from the House of Captain Jacobs was return’d with a great deal of Resolution; to which place I immediately repaired and found that from the Advantage of the House and the Port Holes, sundry of our People were wounded, and some killed, and finding that returning the Fire upon the House was ineffectual Ordered the contiguous Houses to be set on Fire; which was performed by Sundry of the Officers and Soldiers, with a great deal of Activity, the Indians always firing, whenever an Object presented it self, and seldom mist of Wounding or killing some of our People; From which House, in moving about to give the necessary Orders and directions, I received a wound from a large Musket, Ball in the Shoulder. Sundry Persons during the Action were ordered to tell the Indians to Surrender themselves prisoners; but one of the Indians, in particular, answered and said, he was a Man and wou’d not be a Prisoner, Upon which he was told in Indian he wou’d be burnt. To this He answered, he did not care for, he wou’d kill four or five before he died, and had we not desisted from exposing ourselves, they wou’d have killed a great many more, they having a Number of loaded Guns by them. As the fire began to Approach and the Smoak grow thick, one of the Indian Fellows, to show his Manhood, began to Sing. A Squa, in the same House, and at the same time, was heard to cry and make Noise, but for so doing was severly rebuked by the Men; but by and by the fire being too hot for them, two Indian Fellows and a Squa sprung out and made for the Corn Field, who were immediately shot down by Our People, then surrounding the Houses it was thought Captain Jacobs tumbled himself out at a Garret or Cock loft Window, at which he was Shot; Our Prisoners offering to be Qualified to the Powder horn and Pauch, there taken off him, which they say he had lately got from a French Officer in Exchange for lieutenant Armstrong's Boots, which he carried from Fort Granvelle, where the Lieutenant was killed. The same Prisoners say they are perfectly Assured of his Scalp, as no other Indians there wore their Hair in the same manner. They also say they knew his Squa’s Scalp by a particular bob; and also know the Scalp of a Young Indian called the King’s Son. Before this time Captain Hugh Mercer, who early in the Action was wounded in the Arm, had been taken to the Top of a Hill, above the Town, To whom a number of Men and some of the Officers were gathered, From whence they had discovered some Indians cross the River and take the Hill with an Intent as they thought, to surround us and cut off our Retreat, from whom I had sundry pressing Messages to leave the Houses and retreat to the Hill, or we shou’d all be cut off; but to this cou’d by no means consent until all the Houses were set on fire. Tho’ our spreading upon the Hills appeared very necessary, yet did it prevent our Researches of the Corn Field and River side, by which Means sundry Scalps were left behind, and doubtless some Squas, Children, and English Prisoners, that otherwise might have been got. During the burning of the Houses, which were near thirty in Number, we were agreably entertained with a Quick Succession of charged Guns, gradually Firing off as reached by the Fire, but much more so, with the vast Explosion Of Sundry Bags & large Cags of Gunpowder, wherewith almost every House abounded; the Prisoners afterwd informing that the Indians had frequently said they had a sufficient stock of ammunition for ten Years War with The English. With the Prooff of Captain Jacob’s House, when the Powder blew up was thrown the Leg and Thigh of an Indian with a Child of three or four Years Old, such a height that they appeared as nothing and fell in the adjacent Corn Field. There was also a great Quantity of Goods burnt which the Indians had received in a present but ten days before from the French. By this time I had proceeded to the Hill to have my wound tyed up and the Blood stopped, where the Prisoners, which in the Morning had come to our People, informed me that that very day two Battoas of French Men, with a large party of Delaware and French Indians, were to Join Captain Jacobs at the Kittaning, and to set out early the next Morning to take Fort Shirley, or as they called it, George Croghan’s Fort, and that Twenty-four Warriors who had lately come to the Town, were set out before them the Evening before, for what purpose they did not know, whether to prepare Meat, to Spy the Fort, or to make an attack on some of our back Inhabitants. Soon after, upon a little Reflection, we were convinced these Warriors were all at the Fire we had discovered the Night before, and began to doubt the Fate of Lieutent Hogg and his Party, from this Intelligence of the Prisoners. Our Provisions being Scaffolded some thirty Miles back, except what were in the Men’s Haversacks, which were left with the Horses and Blankets with Lieutenant Hogg and His party, and a Number of wounded People then on hand; by the Advice of the Officers it was thought imprudent then to wait for the cutting down the Corn Field (which was before designed), but immediately to collect our Wounded and force our March back in the best manner we cou’d, which we did by collecting a few Indian Horses to carry off our wounded. From the Apprehensions of being way laid and surrounded (especially by some of the Woodsmen), it was difficult to keep the Men together, our March for Sundry Miles not exceeding two Miles an hour, which apprehensions were heightened by the Attempts of a few Indians who for some time after the March fir’d upon each wing and immediately Run off, from whom we received no other Damage but one of our Men’s being wounded thro’ both Legs. Captain Mercer being wounded, was induced, as we have reason to believe, by some of his Men, to leave the main Body with his Ensign, John Scott, and ten or twelve Men, they being heard to tell him that we were in great Danger, and that they cou’d take him into the Road a nigh Way, is probable lost, there being yet no Account of him; the most of the Men come in Detachment was sent back to bring him in, but cou’d not find him and upon the Return of the Detachment it was generally reported he was seen with the above Number of Men, take a different Road. Upon our Return to the place, where the Indian Fire had been discovered the Night before, We met with a Sergeant of Captain Mercer’s Company and two or three other of his Men who had deserted us that Morning, immediately after the action at the Kittaning; These Men on running away had met with Lieut. Hogg, who lay wounded in two different parts of his Body by the Road side; He there told them of the fatal Mistake of the Pilot, who had assured us there were but three Indians at the most at the Fire place, but when he came to attack them that Morning according to Orders, he found a Number considerably Superior to his, and believes they killed and Mortally wounded three of them the first Fire, after which a warm Engagement began, and continued for above an Hour, when three of his best men were killed and himself twice wounded; the residue fleeing off he was obliged to Squat in a thicket, where he might have laid securely until the main Body had come up, if this Cowardly Sergeant and others that fleed with him had not taken him away; they had marched but a short Space when four Indians appeared, upon which these deserters began to flee. The Lieutenant then, notwithstanding his wounds, as a Brave Soldier, urging and Commanding them to stand and fight, which they all refused. The Indians pursued, killing one Man and wounding the Lieutenant a third time through the Belly, of which he dyed in a few Hours; but he, having some time before been put on Horse back, rode some Miles from the place of Action. But this last Attack of the Indians upon Lieutenant Hogg and the deserters was by the beforementioned Sergeant, represented to us in a quite different light, he telling us that there were a far larger Number of the Indians there than appeared to them, and that he and the Men with him had fought five Rounds; that he had there soon the Lieutenant and sundry others Killed and Scalped, and had also discovered a Number of Indians throwing themselves before us, and insinuated a great deal of such stuff, as threw us into much Confusion, so that the Officers had a great deal to do to keep the Men together, but cou’d not prevail with them to collect what Horses and other Baggage that the Indians had left after their Conquest of Lieutenant Hogg and the Party under his Command in the Morning, except a few of the Horses, which some of the bravest of the Men were prevailed on to collect; so that from the mistake of the Pilot, who spied the Indians at the Fire, and the Cowerdice of the said Sergeant and other Deserters, we have sustained a considerable loss of our Horses and Baggage. It is impossible to ascertain the exact Number of the Enemy killed in the Action, as some were destroy’d by Fire and others in different parts of the Corn Field, but upon a Moderate Computation its generally believed there cannot be less than thirty or Forty killed and Mortally wounded, as much Blood was found in Sundry parts of the Cornfield, and Indians seen in several places crawl into the Weeds on their Hands and Feet, whom the Soldiers, in pursuit of others, then overlooked, expecting to find and Scalp them afterwards; and also several kill'd and wounded in crossing the River. On beginning Our March back we had about a dozen of Scalps and Eleven English Prissoners, but now find that four or five of the Scalps are missing, part of which were lost on the Road and part in possession of those Men who with Captain Mercer seperated from the main Body, with whom also went four of the Prisoners, the other seven being now at this place, where we arrived on Sunday Night, not being ever seperated or attacked thro’ our whole March by the Enemy, tho' we expected it every Day. Upon the whole, had our Pilots understood the true situation of the Town and the Paths leading to it, so as to have posted us at a convenient place, where the Disposition of the Men and the Duty assign’d to them cou’d have been performed with greater Advantage, we had, by divine Assistance, destroy’d a much greater Number of the Enemy, recovered more Prisoners and sustained less damage than what we at present have; but tho’ the advantage gained over these our Common Enemy is far from being satisfactory to us, must we not dispise the smallest degrees of Success that God has pleased to give, especially at a time of such general Calamity, when the attempts of our Enemys have been so prevalent and successfull. I am sure there was the greatest inclination to do more, had it been in our power, as the Officers and most of the Soldiers thro’ out the whole Action exerted themselves with as much Activity and Resolution as cou’d possibly be expected. Our Prisoners inform us the Indians have for sometime past talked of fortifying at the Kittanning and other Towns; That the Number of French at Fort Duquesne was about four hundred; that the principle part of their Provisions came up the River from the Mississippi, and that in the Three other Forts which the French have on the Ohio there are not more Men, take them together, than what there are at Fort Duquesne. I hope, as soon as possible, to receive your Honour’s Instructions with regard to the Destribution or Stationing of the sundry Companies in this Battalion, and as a Number of Men are now wanting in each of the Companys, whether or no they shall be immediately recruited, and if the sundry Officers are to recruit, that Money be speedily sent for that purpose. I beg the favour of your Honour, as soon as possible to furnish Governor Morris with a Copy of this Letter, and the Gentlemen Commissioners for the Province with another, as my present indisposition neither admits me to write or dictate any more at this time. In case a Quantity of Amunition is not already sent to Carlisle, it shou’d be sent as soon as possible, and also if the Companies are to be recruited and compleated, there must be an immediate Supply of about Three hundred Blankets, as there has been a great many lost in the present Expedition. Inclosed is a list of the killed and wounded and missing of the Several Companies. I expect to get to Carlisle in about four Days. I am Your Honour’s Most Obedient and most Humble Servant, JNO ARMSTRONG."
The attack on and burning of Kittanning had the desired effect. Although it did not completely stop the Indian incursions into the settlements of the Euro-Americans, it did contribute to a curtailment of the raids for some time.
