Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/56

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��HISTORY OF OHIO.

��reached Raystown, wliither Washington had been ordered with his troops. Sickness had prevented him from being here already. Two officers were sent out to reconnoiter the fort, who returned and gave a very good account of its condition. Gen. Forbes desired to know more of it, and sent out Maj. Grant, with 800 men, to gain more complete knowledge. Maj. Gi'ant, supposing not more than 200 soldiers to be in the fort, marched near it and made a feint to draw them out, and engage them in battle. He was greatly misinformed as to the strength of the French, and in the engagement that followed he was badly beaten — 270 of his men killed, 42 wounded, and several, including himself, taken prisoners. The French, elated with their victory, attacked the main army, but were repulsed and obliged to retreat to the fort. The army con-' tinned on its march. On the 24th of November they reached Turtle Creek, where a council of war was held, and where Gen. Forbes, who had been so ill as to be carried on a litter from the start, de- clared, with a mighty oath, he would sleep that night in the fort, or in a worse place. The Indi- ans had, however, carried the news to the French that the English were as plenty as the trees of the woods, and in their fright they set fire to the fort in the ni^ht and left up and down the Ohio River. The next morning the English, who had heard the explosion of the magazine, and seen the light of the burning walls, marched in and took peaceable possession. A small fortification was thrown up on the bank, and, in honor of the great English statesman, it was called Fort Pitt. Col. Hugh Mer- cer was left in command, and the main body of the army marched back to the settlements. It reached Philadelphia January 17, 1759. On the 11th of March, Gen. Forbes died, and was buried in the chancel of Christ's Church, in that city.

Post was now sent on a mission to the Six Na- tions, with a report of the treaty of Easton. He was again instrumental in preventing a coalition of the Indians and the French. Indeed, to this ob- scure Moravian missionary belongs, in a large measure, the honor of the capture of Fort Du Quesne, for by his influence had the Indians been restrained from attacking the army on its march.

The garrison, on leaving the fort, went up and down the Ohio, part to Presque Isle by land, part to Fort Venango, while some of them went on down the Ohio nearly to the Mississippi, and there, in what is now Massac County, 111., erected a fort, called l)y them Fort Massac. It was afterward named by many Fort Massacre, from the erroneous

��supposition that a garrison had been massacred there.

The French, though deprived of the key to the West, went on preparing stores and ammunition, expecting to retake the fort in the spring. Before they could do this, however, other places demanded their attention.

The success of the campaign of 1758 opened the way for the consummation of the great scheme of Pitt — the complete reduction of Canada. Three expeditions were planned, by which Canada, already well nigh annihilated and suffering for food, was to be subjugated. On the west, Prideaux was to attack Niagara ; in the center, Amherst was to advance on Tieonderoga and Crown Point ; on the east, Wolfe was to besiege Quebec. All these points gained, the three armies were to be united in the center of the province.

Amherst appeared before Tieonderoga July 22. The French blew up their works, and retired to Crown Point. Driven from there, they re- treated to Isle Aux Nois and entrenched them- selves. The lateness of the season prevented fur- ther action, and Amherst went into winter quar- ters at Crown Point. Early in June, Wolfe appeared before Quebec with an army of 8,000 men. On the night of September 12, he silently ascended the river, climbed the heights of Abra- ham, a spot considered impregnable by the French, and on the summit formed his army of 5,000 men. Montcalm, the French commander, was compelled to give battle. The British col- umns, flushed with success, charged his half-formed lines, and dispersed them.

" They fly ! they fly I*' heard Wolfe, just as he expired from the eff"ect of a mortal wound, though not till he had ordered their retreat cut ofl", and exclaimed, "Now, God be praised, I die happy." Montcalm, on hearing from the surgeon that death would come in a few hours, said, " I am glad of it. I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec." At five the next morning he died happy.

Prideaux moved up Lake Ontario, and on the 6th of July invested Niagara. Its capture would cut off" the French from the west, and every en- deavor was made to hold it. Troops, destined to take the small garrison at Fort Pitt, were held to assist in raising the siege of Niagara. M. de Aubry, commandant in Illinois, came up with 400 men and 200,000 pounds of flour. Cut off" by the abandonment of Fort Du Quesne from the Ohio route, he ascended that river as far as the Wabash, thence to portage of Fort Miami, or Fort Wayne,

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