one grand expedition against Montreal; the only remaining strong hold of the French in all New-France. This position had now become the rallying point of the enemy, where Monsieur de Levi had arrived, and reinforced Monsieur Vaudreuil, governor-general of Canada; and which had become the last hope of France in America. - General Amherst directed one expedition by the way of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence; and another against the Isle Aux-Noix, by the way of Lake Champlain; with orders to general Murray to embark his troops at Quebec, and meet him on a given day before Montreal. These movements were made with great precision and dispatch; Generals Amherst and Murray arrived on the same day, and the detachment from the Isle Aux-Noix, joined the next day, and Montreal was completely invested.

The arduous labours that presented themselves to General Amherst, in opening a way for such an army, with military preparations, of artillery, military stores, baggage, &c. through such a vast forest as lay between Albany and Lake Ontario; to embark such an army on the lake, and convey them down the rapids of the St. Lawrence to Montreal, even in time of peace, would exceed the powers of my pen to describe; but when we remember that the enemy were in force at Isle Royal, upon Lake Ontario, and that this fortress was to be overcome, with numerous other perils common to an enemy's country, full of hostile Indians, as well as French; the least that can be said is, that General Amherst conducted the enterprise like an able and valiant general, and deserved, as he received, the applause of the nation.

On the 8th of September Monsieur Vaudreuil demanded a capitulation, which was immediately granted, and the garrison marched out with the honours of war. The French troops were conveyed to France; and Montreal,

with every French post, or depot in Canada, were delivered up to the English.

Thus fell New-France, the scourge of the church in the wilderness; and thus fell that great military school, that taught our fathers the art of war; and laid the foundation of that military strength, that enabled their sons to rise to national independence and glory.

Thus we have seen how the God of our fathers raised up instruments exactly fitted to accomplish his purposes, through this arduous struggle; and rendered all events subservient to his great designs; protected his church in the wilderness, and finally raised her triumphant over all her enemies.

When peace was established in the north, and Canada cleared, France saw herself stripped of all her vast possessions in America, excepting New-Orleans, on the Mississippi this she retained as a solitary monument of all her greatness from this her influence continued to extend into the wilds of the south, and by this influence she stimulated the Cherokees, to commence their ravages upon the defenceless frontiers of Virginia and Carolina. The governor of South-Carolina assembled a body of militia, which with the assistance of a body of regulars sent on by Gen. Amherst, and a force from Virginia, penetrated the enemy's country; and after spinning out the war into midsummer, with various success, finally humbled the enemy, and brought them to terms; and peace was restored in Ameri1761.

ca,

CHAPTER XXXVI

INDIAN WAR CONTINUED.

We have witnessed the influence of those intrigues of French agents, in exciting the Cherokee war, that the colonies, (particularly New-England,) had experienced for the space of forty years; and we have witnessed the renewed success of the colonial arms, in suppressing the depredations of the savages, by humbling the Cherokees, and reducing them to proper terms of peace, and thus again defeating the machinations of France. The value of this peace was rightly estimated by both parties, and it was considered as the basis of a lasting peace, not only with the Cherokees, but with all the Indian tribes, throughout the whole western wilderness, from Canada to the Mississippi. To render this peace thus extensive and permanent, three of the Cherokee chiefs went over to England, and there confirmed the peace with the British Court; and Sir William Johnson made an excursion through the interior of the northern tribes, who dwelt about the great lakes, and endeavoured to avert that jealousy which the conquest of Canada had excited, and which the emissaries of France had kindled into a flame. At the same time the governors of several of the northern colonies held a conference with the Six Nations, (called Iroquois,) to strengthen the force of all former treaties, and of engaging their confidence, and fixing a permanent and lasting peace between them and the colonies. At this conference, a controversy sprang up concerning certain fraudulent claims to, and purchases of certain lands the English settlers had taken possession of, belonging to the Delawares; hut this was more easily explained to their satisfaction, than the fortresses the English then held in the heart of their country, and which they considered as the instruments of their destruction. Im

pressed with this belief, they covered their resentment under the mask of friendship; but secretly plotted war, and by their emissaries, united all the tribes of the interior, north of the Ohio, into one grand confederacy. The object of this war, was to surprise and destroy all the military fall posts, and butcher the garrisons, and at the same time, upon the defenceless frontier, lay waste their villages, and exterminate the settlers.

This vast plan was conducted with all the secresy and art of an Indian confederacy, and to render the destruction the most effectual, they opened the war at all points, at the same time, and that in the month of harvest, 1763: a general attack commenced upon the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, and they fell a defenceless prey to the ravages of an Indian war; their fields were laid waste, their inhabitants butchered, carried into captivity, or driven from their habitations, and their villages burnt. All the traders in the Indian country were murdered at the same time, and plundered, to the amount of several hundred thousand pounds. The plunder thus obtained from the settlements and the traders, furnished supplies that enabled the Indians to collect, and support large bodies together, and thus prosecute the war with more force and energy, and with more alarming effects.

The forts of le Boeuf, Venango, and Presque-Isle, became the first objects of the war, as the more immediate keys of interior communication, upon the great waters; these with Michilimakinack, soon fell into their hands, by the most perfidious stratagem, and their garrisons were either butchered or carried into captivity; and Fort Pitt, Detroit, and Niagara, became the next objects of the war. The two first were immediately invested by numerous and powerful parties of Indians, and the garrisons shut up. within the forts. General Amherst, alarmed for the safety of these posts, after the fall of the others, dispatched CapVOL. I.

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tain Dalyell, with a reinforcement to strengthen the garrison at Detroit. The captain executed his commission promptly, and with success, and after his arrival, made an attempt to surprise the Indian camp, and put an end to the siege; but these savages were too vigilant, and in their turn surprised Captain Dalyell, by an ambuscade, on his way to their camp the captain fell, and the command devolved upon Captain Grant; who finding his party overwhelmed by an explosion of musquetry, on all sides, and the enemy concealed, charged home upon the enemy on his rear, and thus opened a way for his retreat back to the fort, through the darkness of the night, with the loss of about one hundred men, killed and wounded, which amounted to more than one third of the whole detachment, with their brave captain at their head. The Indians, even under this success, abandoned the siege, when they found the garrison had been strengthened by this reinforcement, and prosecuted other ravages, or retired to their homes.

During these operations at Detroit, Fort Pitt was closely invested, and all possible communication, with the settlements cut off; here the enemy intrenched themselves under the banks of the river, and assailed the fort with incessant showers of musquetry, and fire-arrows, with the most undated resolution, and perseverance, determined to waste the garrison by their shot, and destroy their dwellings by their arrows, or compel them to surrender at discretion.

General Amherst, detached also another strong party, with provisions and military stores, to reinforce the garrison at Fort Pitt, under the command of Col. Bouquet. This detachment marched into the enemy's country with firmness and intrepidity, until they approached a dangerous defile, called Turtle Creek: here the cautious colonel made a halt, to refresh his tooops, and prepare to pass the defile, under cover of the darkness of the approaching night; but the foe was too vigilant and alert, for even all this caution;