Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/259

 a slow progress, owing to the various hindrances incident to a region where roads were to be cut, and rivers crossed. Considerably weakened by sickness, and a good deal cast down by the news of Braddock's defeat, whose death raised Shirley to the rank of commander-in-chief, the latter part of August was spent in building two strong forts at Oswego, fitting out vessels, and making great preparations for advancing against Niagara. But nothing was accomplished, and the enterprise was abandoned for the season. Shirley did not escape censure, on the charge of inefficiency.

Johnson, who had command of the troops sent against Crown Point, was, in many respects, a very remarkable man. He was Irish by birth; he was flexible in disposition, tall and imposing in person, plausible in manner, and soon gained an immense influence over the Indians, whose dress he adopted, and whose savage life he seemed greatly to enjoy. His position as British agent with the Five Nations gave him an opportunity for dealing with the Indians, not only for the good of his country, but for his own personal profit. The following story will illustrate this latter point. There was a famous old Mohawk chief, commonly called King Hendrick, who was as shrewd as he was brave. He had a great love for finery, and to gratify his desires, he entered upon a contest of wits with Johnson. Having seen at Johnson's castle, one morning, a richly embroidered coat, he determined upon a cunning expedient to gain possession of it. "Brother," he said to Sir William, as he entered one morning, "me dream last night." "Indeed," answered Sir William; "what did my red brother dream?" "Me dream that coat be mine." "It is yours," promptly replied Johnson. Not long after, he was visited by the baronet, who, looking abroad upon the wide-spread landscape, quietly observed to Hendrick: "Brother, I had a dream last night." "What did my English brother dream?" rejoined the sachem. "I dreamed that all this tract of land was mine," pointing to a district some twenty miles square in extent. Hendrick looked very grave, but, seeing the dilemma in which he was placed, replied: "Brother, the land is yours—but you must not dream again."

The troops under Johnson, amounting to some six thousand men, advanced to Lake George. Baron Dieskau, meanwhile, had ascended Lake Champlain with two thousand men from Montreal, and having landed at the southern extremity of that lake, had pushed on to Fort Lyman, better known as Fort Edward. Changing his purpose, he determined to attack Johnson, and in a narrow and rugged defile, about three miles from Johnson's camp, he met a body of a thousand Massachusetts troops, and some Mohawk Indians, Colonel Williams being in command, Dieskau, without difficulty, put to rout this force, and Williams