Charles William Dahlinger

“ With a recklessness beyond belief, Grant had the reveille sounded, and to the music of the bagpipes and the drums, he sent Captain MacDonald with one hundred Highlanders straight to the fort. MacDonald had hardly gone half the distance, when out of the fort burst nearly three hundred wildly yelling French and Indians under command of Captain Aubray, whose Louisiana troops composed most of the force.
They fired as they advanced. MacDonald was killed almost at the first fire and his force thrown into confusion. ”

“ The Pennsylvania and Virginia traders who had established posts in this country saw the valuable fur trade slipping away from them. The suave French priests and traders had far better success in winning the allegiance of the Indians than the brusk English and Scotch and Irish who attempted to open friendly relations with them. The lands about the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, for purposes of settlement, were the best in the world, and land speculators had been casting longing eyes over their picturesque areas for years. ”

“ This zealous sect of Germans were the only Protestants who were attempting to bring the Indians over to the Christian faith, or had any missions among them. Post was their most successful missionary; no man stood higher in the estimation of the savages among whom he labored. His uprightness of character, his true Christian spirit, his sagacity, his courage, all marked him as the man to undertake Forbes' dangerous enterprise. ”

“ He directed Boquet to advise with Washington and obtain his opinion, which was unhesitatingly given in favor of Braddock's road.
General Forbes was a man of great comprehensiveness of mind. With Boquet and Armstrong, he realized that at Fort Duquesne was the gateway leading to the western country. Beyond the French fortress lay a vast empire, ripe for English civilization. He determined to win it for all time. ”

“ Boquet became the companion of the savants of the University of Leyden; and becoming intimate with several distinguished Englishmen, when the regiment of Royal Americans was organized, he, with a number of other Swiss and German officers, was induced to come to America to undertake the command. He was of imposing appearance, of great polish of manners, and moved in the best circles of society in Philadelphia. Colonel John Armstrong, who, two years before, had led the successful expedition against the Indians at Kittanning, was in direct command of the provincials from Pennsylvania. ”

“ Before them, on the level plain below, were the smoking ruins of the fort. Thirty chimneys rose naked above the ashes of as many houses. Not a Frenchman was to be seen. After the commands had been reformed, with flags flying, drums beating and bagpipes playing, the army marched down the elevation to the plain and onward to the fort. The southern Indians were in advance; after them Colonel Washington and Colonel Armstrong, at the head of the provincials, led the way. Of the provincials, Washington's Virginians in their hunting shirts and Indian blankets, came first ”

“ A well-bred man of the world, his manners were free from affectation and he soon won the confidence of the people of Philadelphia, where he had his headquarters. His conduct of the campaign shows that he was far-sighted, cautious and of indomitable will. Every assistance was rendered him by the provincial authorities. He realized, even before he reached Philadelphia, the advantage of detaching from the French interest the Indians on the Ohio, or at least keeping them neutral, and made his wishes known to the provincial authorities. ”

“ The Shawanese and Delawares had become attached to the French side immediately after Braddock's defeat. From that time on, their forays against the English settlers had become so intolerable that an expedition had been sent against them by the Pennsylvania authorities in September, 1756, under command of Colonel John Armstrong, and the Indians had been terribly punished at their village of Kittanning, and that place destroyed. ”

“ The detachment of three hundred and sixty-five Royal Americans, although a regular force, was part of a regiment recruited a short time before among the German settlers of Pennsylvania, in pursuance of an Act of Parliament enacted in 1755, because the Germans "were all zealous Protestants, and in general, strong, hardy men, and faithful soldiers might be raised out of them, particularly proper to oppose the French." Colonel Henry Boquet, the lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Americans, was appointed by General Forbes as his second in command. ”

“ But to do so, a road must be built through a country into which immigration would be tempted, and where provisions and forage and cattle could be readily obtained. The south was not such a country and did not furnish such a route. So he commenced work on a new road through Pennsylvania, and on the first of August, seventeen hundred of Boquet's men were employed in constructing it through the forests and underbrush, across the mountains.
Early in July, Forbes marched out of Philadelphia with the remainder of the army, but was detained for three weeks at Carlisle by illness. ”

“ This punishment still rankled in the bosoms of the savages when Forbes was planning his campaign. Who to get to brave the dangers of venturing among Indians, still smarting under this defeat, was the question with Governor Denny. It required a man of unbounded courage, of cool brain, well known and popular with the Indians. Pennsylvania's former ambassador among them, Conrad Weiser, was old and in failing health. No one else could be found until the Society of Friends, who, always desirous of maintaining peace, suggested a German named Christian Frederick Post. ”

“ His force, with the Cherokee, Catawba and Tuscarora Indians, who came with the southern force, now consisted of about six thousand men, not including the wagoners and laborers. Two days before, the road had been completed through the wilderness, a distance of forty-five miles to a point just beyond Laurel Hill on Loyalhanna Creek, where Boquet had proceeded to construct a fort which he called Fort Ligonier, in honor of the general of that name whom Pitt had recently appointed captain-general to succeed the Duke of Cumberland. ”

“ Here they built a fort of their own which they called Fort Duquesne as a mark of respect for their governor-general, the Marquis Duquesne de Menneville.
Both Pennsylvania and Virginia claimed this land as being within their borders; but Pennsylvania took no active steps for its recovery. In Virginia, the home of the Ohio Company, however, the feeling at what was termed "French aggression" was intense. But the armed force which was raised there and sent against the French, and of which George Washington was the colonel in command, was compelled to surrender at Fort Necessity ”

“ He says in his report of the engagement, "I am willing to flatter myself that my being a prisoner will be no detriment to my promotion, in case vacancies should happen in the army." French authorities place the loss on their side at the incredibly low number of nine killed and wounded.
Emboldened by Grant's defeat, the French determined to take the offensive, and attack Colonel Boquet in his camp on Loyalhanna Creek before the arrival from Raystown of the forces under General Forbes. ”

“ More of the enemy pushed forward, keeping the trees in front of them, from behind which they fired, and fell on the forces on the elevation on both flanks, driving them into the woods. By this time, seven or eight hundred Frenchmen and an unknown number of Indians were engaged with the British, who were hard pressed and dissolving fast. Grant says he endeavored to rally his men, and sent an officer back to Major Lewis, directing him to make the best disposition possible of the Royal Americans and Virginians, until he could come up, as he intended to make a stand there. ”

“ Disregarding the advice of the despised provincials, he fought this fight as he had fought at Dettingen and Fontenoy, and led his men into an ambuscade and kept them there until his entire force was dissipated.
But the English have dogged tenacity of purpose; they have ability; they have wealth ”

“ This brilliant officer was born in Switzerland in 1719, and was consequently thirty-nine years old. While still a very young man, he had distinguished himself in the service of the King of Sardinia; then he had entered the service of the Prince of Orange in Holland. ”

“ The companies of Monro and MacKenzie descended from the elevation to the assistance of MacDonald's command, but were also soon in disorder; both captains were killed and the men rushed back pell-mell up the elevation again. ”