Meet the Man who won this War
In this year of 2022, we are covering the year 1758, we need to look again at the last day of 1757 because it isn't until April 1758 that plans mailed out on ship that day will take effect.
These plans created 1758.
On New Year's Eve, the last day of 1757, a year of many failures, William Pitt sends out letters to all the leaders in the colonies.
Those orders must travel the Ocean Blue.
Three Months later the colonies know what they are to do.
Lord Loudoun, head of all North American forces, is removed. He was still in New York waiting at end of March 1758 when the order of 31 Dec 1757 reaches him.
In his place comes new leaders
assigned a comprehensive plan
to go after all targets
in North America.
Read two excellent appraisals of those plans and leaders assigned to execute them.
One is from The life of William Pitt, earl of Chatham by Williams, Basil, 1867-1950, published 1913.
The other is from an analysis by Douglas Southall Freeman in his book, Young George Washington, Volume 2.
The Orders were created and sent last day of Dec 1757, received end of March, executed and put into effect mid to late April of 1758.
Let us linger a moment on this last day of 1757.
Let us sit back in our comfortable chair, as William Pitt may have done.
Maybe a toast to the future?
Maybe a moment to reflect how you may have just cast the die for 1758?
Now let us meet The Man.
We don't intend to preach to the choir here.
Most readers of this period of history know all about this man, William Pitt.
We just want to hit a few interesting points about him.
He is absolutely the Captain of winning this war. He has to assemble his team.
Like Lincoln he has to keep changing Generals.
But unlike Lincoln he got a second chance at a second term during this war.
His terms as Secretary of State for the Southern Department are
4 December 1756 – 6 April 1757 and then 27 June 1757 – 6 October 1761.
That official title was sort of the precursor to an evolving definition of a Prime Minister
He assumes his 3rd term as "Prime Minister ", after the war, July 1766 – 14 October 1768
Nicknames
We wonder there were not more Pittsburghs and Pittstowns and Pittsvilles. We don't think Chatham counts. But he was known as the Earl of Chatham after 1766. It's a British thing.
He was also known as the Great Commoner having refused pay and a title until 1766 when he relented to receive that Chatham thing.
(15 November 1708 – 11 May 1778)
to distinguish him
from his famous son,
(28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806)
who served as a "Prime Minister" too.
And then there's the grandfather,
Diamond Pitt,
(7 July 1698 – 18 September 1709)
"known during life commonly as Governor Pitt or as Captain Pitt, or posthumously, as "Diamond" Pitt."
He purchased the diamond and smuggled it from India to England in his son's shoe in 1702. A decade and a half passed in getting the diamond cut and then sold. That diamond has a name - The Regent Diamond.
You can see that Diamond in the Louvre.
That money from the sale got consolidated and built on.
It was a gift that kept giving.
For that reason the Great Commoner
could somewhat afford
not accepting emoluments or titles
and stay above the taint of influence.
This cartoon in 1757 shows a virtuous William Pitt,
who looks upon some other leaders using their public position to gain wealth,
"Take care thou. Even thou cunning as Satan's self shall be deceived. Remember who tells thee Vox Populi Vox Dei."
"Vox Populi, Vox Dei (Latin, 'the voice of the people is the voice of God') was used as the title of a Whig tract of 1709, which was expanded in 1710 . . . " - Wikipedia.
Turns out that phrase is quite popular for half a century of British history at least.
What other highlights?
The 3 hour speech for War not Peace
Suffering from gout and other health issues, he was carried in to House of Commons to rail against the negotiations pursuing Peace in December of 1762, before it was finally signed February 1763, known as the Peace Treaty of Paris 1763.
William Pitt wanted to finish the goals of this war.
He wanted NOT to give away any chance for more or to give way anything won.
Lord Bute advisor to King George III sure does give away some of both.
There was a lot of mockery of Pitt's long speech.
In opposition to Pitt’s speech, a contemporary poem, The Rodondo, Dalrymple described the occasion:
The groundlings cry alas! poor man! How ill he is! how pale! how wan! At length he tries to rise, a hum Of approbation fills the room. He bows and tries again; but no, He finds that standing will not do, And therefore to complete the farce, The House cries, ‘Hear him on his arse!’ He may break off by grief o’ercome, And grow pathetically dumb! He next may SWOON and shut his eyes; A cordial, else the patriot dies! The cordial comes, he takes it off; He lives, he lives, I hear him cough … .
.
And yet there was a lot of anger against those architects of the Peace too.
Lord Bute was portrayed as a Jack Boot. That term originated way before the Nazis owned it.
The Statues at Guildhall.
There are 2 awesome statues
at this medieval hall,
which sits on top
of a once hugely popular
Those 2 statues
facing each other
are
(15 November 1708 – 11 May 1778)
and famous son,
(28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806)
who served as a "Prime Minister" too.
The Elder and the Younger
bring to mind
and "Cato The Younger" -
the subject of a play
(Cato the Tragedy) so popular,
it remained popular for almost a 140 years.
George Washington quoted from this play all his life.
Many famous American Founding Father quotes come from this play. Like Give Me Liberty or Give me Death.
And by the way - we always must stick in a by the way.
By the way there is Gog and Magog.
Two Statues representing Gog and Magog exist at this place.
These 2 names,
are in the Bible.
More on that here too.
A later Roman historian likened their references to Alexander the Great building a big iron wall keeping the unclean northern nations at bay.
This became the legendary Gates of Alexander story.
Maybe England
felt like
it was that wall
keeping anarchy
and enemies at bay.
That's it.
That's our Lead Story.
Compiled and Authored by Jim Moyer 4/1/2022, update 4/15/2022, 4/18/2022
Two sources examine those plans
that created 1758, see below.
One is from an analysis by Douglas Southall Freeman in his book, Young George Washington, Volume 2.
From Pages 303 and 315
we will provide a thumbnail portrait of the new players involved.
From Douglas Southall Freeman's Young George Washington, Volume 2, published 1948, Charles Scribner's Sons
This excerpt is also found here:
https://jimmoyer1.wixsite.com/fortloudounva/single-post/good-bye-lord-loudoun
The other is quoted below from The life of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham by Williams, Basil, 1867-1950, published 1913.
Summary of The Plan for 1758:
Source:
Life of William Pitt Earl of Chatham by Williams, Basil, 1867-1950, published 1913.
By December 30, 1757, Pitt had matured the plans, which he expounded in eight masterly dispatches to the governors and the general in America. 3
By the exordium to most of these he signified the spirit in which he expected them to act :
"His Majesty having nothing more at heart than to repair the losses and disappointments of the last inactive and unhappy campaign and by the most vigorous and extensive efforts to avert, by the blessing of God on his arms, the dangers impending on N. America."
In the previous year he had allowed Loudoun and Holburne to decide whether they should attempt Louisburg or Quebec first.
This year Pitt left no doubt.
He was convinced that Quebec was the key of Canada and the chief goal of the campaign, but Louisburg, standing as a sentinel at the entrance of the St. Lawrence, was no less the key of Quebec.
Reduce Louisbourg:
Its magnificent harbour also made it a danger as a refuge for French fleets and the privateers that preyed on the New England trade and fisheries. Louisburg, therefore, was to be the first object of the next campaign. But, in expectation of its early fall, Pitt also made every provision for the capture of Quebec itself in the same year. The naval and military force destined against the Cape Breton fortress was after its capture to proceed up the St. Lawrence to the ancient capital of Canada ; in cooperation with the fleet a land force was to be advancing down Lake George, where Montcalm had beaten Monro the year before, capture the French forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point at the head of Lake Champlain, and approach Quebec
1 Chatham MSS. 95.
2 Waldo's letters, dated November, 1757, are in Record Office, C.O. 5.52.
His scheme was substantially that adopted by Amherst and Boscawen.
* These are all given in Kimball, i.
366 THE TIDE OF VICTORY SETS IN
by the Richelieu river and the St. Lawrence. He also provided for a separate force to protect the southern colonies, and, later in the season, for an attack by the fleet on the French settlements in Mississippi.
To carry out this bold and all-embracing scheme, Pitt's first need was for better men to take command.
Boscawen:
Holburne was put aside and Admiral Boscawen ' wry-necked Dick ' the sailors called him taken from the Admiralty to command the fleet.
Abercromby:
Loudoun was recalled from his cabbages and his dispatches, and in his place Abercromby, one of his brigadiers, promoted to the chief command. It was not a good appointment, for he was old and had shown no sign of great capacity : but Pitt had little choice, for the King would not appoint young officers to high command, and the best seniors preferred fighting in Europe.
Howe and Wolfe:
At any rate, though Pitt thought well of Abercromby at first, 1 he took care to have a young man whom he could trust at his elbow, and dispatched Lord Howe, elder brother of the commodore, as a brigadier on his staff. ' The best officer in the British army,' Wolfe called Howe ; and indeed he ran Wolfe close. With less genius than Wolfe, he had all his love for the profession of arms and more personal charm. A favourite in London society, he was beloved by his men and by all the provincials who met him. 2 On campaign he lived as sparingly and simply as the humblest soldier, taught his men to use their wits, and cared for their comfort ; in the rough warfare of America he made them cast to the winds the regulation stocks, gaiters and periwigs which hampered their movements. The colonists he won by treating them as equals and humbly seeking to learn in their school of border fighting. 3 With such a man beside him Pitt hoped that Abercromby would be able to raise the colonial levies without friction, and to direct the secondary Crown Point expedition entrusted to him. The main operations against Louisburg
1 According to Newcastle (Torrens, ii, 473).
2 Wolfe, on the other hand, shared the usual contempt in the army for
the provincial militia.
3 There is an account of him on the day before his death lying on a
bearskin by the sunlit shores of Lake George plying Stark, the great colonial ranger, with questions as to the best way of approaching Ticonderoga.
HOWE AND AMHERST 367
Amherst:
The main operations against Louisburg Pitt took entirely out of his hands. For this task he chose Colonel Jeffrey Amherst, then commissary of the Hessian troops, a contemporary of his own, they both having taken their first commissions in 1731. The King made great difficulties about promoting so junior an officer, and yielded only to the entreaties of Lady Yarmouth, backed by Pitt's threat that he would abandon the Louisburg expedition if he did not have his way. 1 Amherst was a cautious man of no brilliance and of few words, whose merit, says Walpole, it required penetration to admire. But his caution was not that of the Loudouns and Mordaunts who feared danger ; it was more akin to that of a Fabius Cunctator. His very slowness inspired confidence in his men, helped by the belief he showed in them. ' My service to the gentlemen under you,' he wrote to one of his brigadiers. ' Our trade is a fickle one, but proper measures and perseverance in executing them will in the end prevail with the bravery of the British troops, though every day of battle cannot be a day of victory.' 2
Wolfe:
By the happiest of combinations Pitt added the fire of a Wolfe to Amherst's caution. He had marked the young colonel as the only military officer who showed any dash at Eochefort, and accordingly named him quartermaster to the Louisburg contingent.
Forbes:
For the southern command he chose Forbes, just such another as Amherst, dogged and tenacious to the death.
Stanwix:
Then, remembering Webb's incapacity at Fort Edward, he even selected the man to take charge of the lines of communication from Albany to Lake George a Colonel Stanwix, who had already distinguished himself in the South.
Thus Abercromby, the
old-fashioned general, became the sedentary commander, as Chesterfield called him ; Amherst, Howe and Wolfe, young, vigorous and burning with zeal, were to be the acting officers. With such men and with his friend Boscawen to command the fleet, Pitt could feel some confidence that his plans would be understood and followed; especially if both services combined in the spirit of the recommendation, which he invariably
inserted in his instructions :
1 Add. MSS. 32876, f. 461, and 32997, f. 310.
* Chatham MSS. 96.
368 THE TIDE OF VICTORY SETS IN
"Whereas the success of this expedition will very much depend upon an entire good understanding between our sea and land officers, we do hereby strictly enjoin and require you on your part to maintain and cultivate such a good understanding and agreement, and to order the sailors and marines under your command to assist our land forces, and to man the batteries when there shall be occasion for them and when they can be spared from the sea service ; as we have instructed our General ... to order that the soldiers under his command shall man the ships when there shall be occasion for them, and when they can be spared from the land service. "
The fleet put under Boscawen consisted of twenty-three ships of the line, besides frigates and smaller craft.
Amherst's army, some 13,000 strong, was also entirely provided by the mother-country, with the exception of 500 colonial rangers. Pitt possibly felt that since the colonials had captured Louisburg in the last war the regulars should have a chance of showing what they could do there.
Abercromby's army
was to be composed partly of regulars but chiefly of local levies,
and Forbes,
to whom only a battalion and a half of English troops were allotted, had to make up his complement with colonials. Pitt was prepared to give of the best that England could afford for his great enterprise, but he expected the Americans to help themselves and the mother-country more generously than in the past. To attain this object he did not gird at them. He assumed that the King's ' faithful and brave subjects in America will cheerfully co-operate with, and second to the utmost, the large expense and extraordinary succours supplied by this kingdom for their preservation and defence,' and, in calling for 20,000 men from the northern provinces,
averted disputes about each quota by urging all to raise the utmost possible number, ' his Majesty not judging it expedient to limit the zeal and ardour of any of his provinces by making a repartition of the force to be raised by each respectively.' It was not asking over much, since arms, equipment and rations were found by the King, and a grant in aid of pay and clothing was promised to the provinces that showed zeal. 1
The Hierarchy of Rank:
He also removed a grievance which was a serious obstacle to willing service by the Americans. Since 1754 a royal warrant
1 Nevertheless it was a great saving in expense to employ colonial levies
in place of regulars, whose transport to America was very costly.
ARMY RANK FOR COLONIALS 369
had been in force, subordinating all colonial rank to the lowest
rank in the regular army ; according to this even a colonial
staff-officer might be called upon to take his orders from some
callow English ensign or cornet, a cause of intense and just
irritation to provincials, who had some reason for thinking they
understood the local conditions of warfare better than the
martinets bred in Braddock's school. Pitt cut away this
injustice. With his dispatches of December 80 he sent a
warrant ordering that for the future American officers were to
take rank with the regulars, according to the date of their
commissions. He showed his confidence in the colonial troops
further by especially ordering one of their officers, Colonel
Bradstreet of Maine, to be given an important command.
These concessions, putting the colonials on a par with their
English brethren, had more effect in raising men in America
than all Loudoun's bullying or even the New Englanders'
hatred of the French.
In some cases the effect was instan-
taneous. When the dispatch announcing the new royal
warrant arrived, Pownall was in difficulties with his assembly,
who were haggling over a levy of 2,000 men that he had asked
of them : next morning, when the dispatch had been read
out, the assembly voted that Massachusetts should provide
the whole 7, 000 originally asked from all the northern provinces.
For 1758 the northern provinces voted 17,500 men and the
southern 5,300 as much as could be expected of their sparse
populations, and more than double what they had ever voted
before ; * and for the rest of the war they continued voting
about the same numbers.
To the Indian Allies:
Every encouragement, too, was offered to regain the Indians, Abercromby being told to be especially careful that all presents voted for the tribes should reach their destination and be equitably distributed.
When the broad principles of the campaign were laid
down, Pitt turned to the details. Transports fully victualled
to carry troops from New York to Halifax were sent to America ;
orders were given for a preliminary reconnaissance of Louisburg,
1 In 1756, for example, Park man says that the New England colonies and
New York together raised only 5,000 men (Montcalm and Wolfe, i, 397). For
the numbers of men raised by the various colonies in each year of the war,
see Beer, loc. cit. pp. 55-71.
VOL. I. 2 B
370 THE TIDE OF VICTORY SETS IN
for laying down careening wharves at Halifax, and for the
building of special flat-bottomed boats suitable for the naviga-
tion of Lake George, Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence,
under the eye of Captain Loring, an experienced officer sug-
gested by Waldo ; and steps were taken to collect a gang of
eighty artificers for the siege, Pitt also took care to clear
the way for his expedition, by preventing the French from
concentrating a superior fleet at Louisburg, as they had done
in 1757. Sir Charles Hardy with a small squadron was sent
ahead of Boscawen to watch the St. Lawrence, and English
fleets were posted in European waters to intercept any attempt
of the enemy to steal another march across the Atlantic.
Duquesne and de la Clue were known to be making prepara-
tions in the Mediterranean ports : all through the winter
Osborn and Saunders, with ten sail, were on the look-out
for them at Gibraltar. Osborn had constant information
from the English consuls in Italy and Spam and was ready for
de la Clue when he sailed from Hyeres in November with six
ships. The French admiral, not daring to pass him, put into
Cartagena to wait for Duquesne. But at Toulon the prepara-
tions for Duquesne's fleet had been much hampered by diffi
culties about money, artificers and even sailors. At length,
by dint of engaging men from foreign ports, Duquesne was able
to send two ships to join de la Clue early in February, and at
the end of that month put to sea himself with three more.
Before he could join de la Clue he fell in with Osborn and
Saunders, who immediately gave chase. The two largest of
Duquesne's three ships, the Foudroyant and the Orphfa, were
captured after gallant fights ; the third was driven ashore.
After this disaster de la Clue gave up the attempt to sail out
and returned to Toulon, leaving Osborn master of the Mediter-
ranean. Hawke had been sent out to watch the Biscay ports.
Here the French had been working under cruel difficulties, for
half Brest was down with the putrid fever brought back by de la
Motte in his foul ships from America. They managed, however,
to equip a military convoy for Louisburg in March, but Hawke,
sent out in the nick of time, turned them back and drove them
aground in Eochefort roads early in April.
BOSCAWEN SAILS, 1758 371
Long ere this Boscawen had started, for Pitt had none of
his old difficulty with dilatory departments, now they had all
tasted his temper. In 1757 Anson had professed to be unable
to find ships for some of Pitt's expeditions : in January 1758
he produced Boscawen's twenty-three ships the day after he
received Pitt's order, and, when one of them was lost, on the
very same day found for him the Dublin, another ship of the
same rating. On February 19 Boscawen announced to Pitt
that he had weighed anchor in this laconic note :
Namure at St. Hcllens,
at 2 o'clock in the morning, February 19, 1758.
SIR, I am now under sail with his Majesty's ships named in
the Margen little wind at last and by South, I am,
S r , your most obedient
and most humble servant,
E. BOSCAWEN.
But in spite of this early start he did not reach Halifax till
May 12, ' From Christopher Columbus' time to our day there
perhaps has never been a more extraordinary voyage,' said
Wolfe, who suffered torture from sea-sickness in the almost
unceasing storms. Amherst himself in the Dublin (Captain
Eodney) did not arrive until the 28th. Without setting foot
on land he joined Boscawen and with him left Halifax at
the head of 28 ships of the line, 18 frigates, and 116 transports
carrying the 13,000 troops assembled for the siege. 1
Louisburg lies on a spit of land between the Bay of Gabarus
on the west, exposed to the long Atlantic rollers, and a land-
locked harbour on the east. Its fortifications, so far from
being impregnable, as Loudoun had been ready to believe,
were somewhat neglected, and Drucour, the Governor, had only
3,500 men in garrison ; a fleet of thirteen sail lay in the harbour
under des Gouttes, an incompetent officer. The strength of the
fortress lay in its inaccessibility except by the harbour, which
could be blocked by sinking a couple of ships in the entrance,
and by the storm-beaten coast of Gabarus Bay. On June 2,
1 Record Office, America and West Indies, i, 79 gives a list of ' Troops
destined for the siege of Louisburg, May 24, 1758,' amounting to 12,659
regulars and 538 rangers.
2B2
372 THE TIDE OF VICTORY SETS IN
when the English armament hove in sight of Louisburg,
Boscawen looked into the harbour and Amherst took his two
brigadiers, Lawrence and Wolfe, to pitch upon landing-places
in Gabarus Bay. Many of the sailors thought a landing too
risky and urged Boscawen to call a council of war to consider
it ; but he preferred the advice of an old sea captain, who told
him to have nothing to do with councils and shoulder the re-
sponsibility himself, and he declared he would not leave Gabarus
Bay without landing the troops. On June 8, the first possible
day, Wolfe was told off to make a landing at Freshwater Cove
while the fleet and other boat parties distracted the enemy
elsewhere. The breakers were formidable and even Wolfe was
within an ace of turning back, but one of his boat-loads took
the matter into their own hands and made a landing. Then
the rest of his party, following Wolfe, drove their boats ashore,
overcame the French outpost at the cove, and secured a landing
for the whole army. After this the fall of Louisburg was
merely a question of time ; but Amherst took no risks and
approached methodically with parallels and entrenchments.
Boscawen meanwhile was dealing with des Gouttes. He
captured two out of three frigates that tried to escape, set
fire with his shells to three ships as they lay in the harbour,
and on July 25 sent in some boat-loads of sailors, who burned
one of the remaining ships to the water's edge and towed away
another as a capture. Next day Drucour, who had made
a brave fight, surrendered his garrison as prisoners of war
and ceded the fortress of Louisburg, with the islands of Cape
Breton and St. Jean, to England. Amherst had been slow,
but he and Boscawen had destroyed a French squadron, that
could ill be spared, had 4,000 prisoners and 220 pieces of cannon
as trophies, and had taken the main outwork of Canada.
One of the most encouraging circumstances of the joint
operation was the hearty co-operation and good fellowship
between the two services. Instead of the bickering and
jealousies which had been the rule since Vernon's expedition
to Cartagena, 1 ' the admiral and the general,' writes Wolfe,
' have carried on the public service with great harmony,
1 See above, p. 81.
LOUISBURG, 1758 373
industry and union. Mr. Boscawen has given all and even
more than we could ask of him. He has furnished arms and
ammunition, pioneers, sappers, miners, gunners, carpenters,
boats, and is, I must confess, no bad/antassw himself, and an
excellent back hand at a siege.' 1
Unfortunately this success was counterbalanced by a
disaster to the army, which was to co-operate in the attack on
Quebec. The ' sedentary ' general did not belie his reputation.
At the beginning of July, thanks chiefly to Pitt's elaborate
provisions, Abercromby was ready to embark his 9,000
provincials and 6,000 regulars on the 1,000 boats prepared for
the crossing of Lake George. The flotilla drifted past the
enchanting scenery of the lake in all the pride of war, with
bands playing and flags flying. ' I never saw a sight more fair,'
said one who sailed in this procession ; and all were full of
hope, for was not Howe with them ? But on the morning
of the 6th Howe was struck down by a stray bullet in the
maze of trees between Lake George and Ticonderoga at the
head of Lake Champlain. ' In Lord Howe,' says Mante,
the historian of the campaign, ' the soul of General Aber-
cromby's army seemed to expire. From the unhappy moment
... a strange kind of infatuation usurped the place of resolu-
tion.' Montcalm had arrived at Ticonderoga on June 30,
when he had a garrison of only 4,000 men to set against
Abercromby 's 15,000. But he had a well-founded contempt
for the British general, ' Mrs. Nabbycromby,' as the colonials
called him, and within a week had formed outside his ramparts
a huge breastwork of forest trees, rough-hewn and spiked.
His only weak spot was Eattlesnake Mountain, which domin-
ated the fort : for want of men to hold it he had to trust to
Abercromby's overlooking it. On July 8, two days after Howe's
death, Abercromby sent his army towards Ticonderoga by an
easier and shorter track than that previously chosen. He him-
self remained in his camp at the foot of Lake George and kept
with him his guns which would have been decisive on Eattle-
snake Mountain. The assault on the fort, which lasted the long
summer day, was nothing but a senseless carnage. Time after
1 Historical MSS. Commission, Stopford Sackville, ii, 264.
374 THE TIDE OF VICTORY SETS IN
time Pitt's Highlanders and the other brave battalions dashed
themselves against the impenetrable obstacle, only to be
spitted on the protruding spikes or shot down at point-blank
range. 1 In the evening Abercromby drew off his exhausted
troops, and though he still had more than three times as many
men as Montcalm, hastily re-embarked them and paddled
back to the head of Lake George, where he remained idly in
camp for the rest of the season.
After the capture of Louisburg Amherst had been anxious
to continue the voyage to Quebec, but Boscawen thought the
season too far advanced, and when Abercromby's panic-
stricken dispatches arrived at Louisburg, Amherst agreed
that it was no longer to be thought of. He took prompt
measures to relieve Abercromby's anxieties : he sent pilots
to take soundings of the St. Lawrence and detachments to
reconnoitre Gaspe and destroy French fisheries, to encourage
the French in the belief that he was still coming to
Quebec and induce them to withdraw troops from Lake
Champlain to Quebec. Then with the six battalions he
had taken across to Boston by sea, he made a forced march
to Abercromby's camp. Abercromby, on the ground that
it was too late for further operations, sent him back
next day.
Abercromby was the only man found wanting of all those
chosen by Pitt for his campaigns in America. Bradstreet,
against the commander-in-chief's wish, persisted in an expedi-
tion to Forts Oswego and Frontenac on Lake Ontario, and,
even when his men were falling off from desertion and sickness,
wrote, ' Should the numbers be reduced so low, as that we cannot
make out above one thousand men fit to proceed to Lake Ontario,
with them I will do my best.' His pluck and determination
were rewarded by the capture of the forts, important links in
the chain of communication between Canada and the Ohio,
and a vantage-ground from which to overawe the Six Nations,
the Indian allies of England.
Forbes, too, nobly justified Pitt's choice of him for the
1 Sir A. Quiller Couch's Fort Amity gives a vivid picture of this day's
fighting, and indeed of Abercromby's whole campaign.
FORBES AT PITTSBURG, 1758 375
hard task of defending the frontiers of the Southern States and
surmounted all his difficulties by indomitable courage. His
idea of defence was to attack the enemy's post at Fort Duquesne,
which had already been the cause of two battles. The pre-
liminary mustering of troops was heart-breaking work, for
excepting a battalion of Highlanders and a detachment of the
Eoyal Americans he had entirely to depend on provincial levies.
Virginia raised her 2,000 without difficulty, but Maryland and
Pennsylvania proved more obdurate. Negotiations with the
Indians also took time, and disputes as to the route between
colonies anxious to profit by the supplying of provisions to
the column. Finally, at the beginning of July, he started from
Philadelphia with 1,500 regulars and 4,500 Americans, choosing
the Pennsylvania route as shorter and less open to attack.
He was ill when he started, and during most of the march had
to be borne in a litter. Through an almost unknown country his
men had to climb ranges of mountains and hew a path through
dense forests, carrying along with them large supplies for the
posts established at intervals to guard the communications. 1
Almost at the goal a party that he had sent forward to reconnoitre
was cut up by the French, but when he and the main body
arrived at Fort Duquesne on November 26 the garrison had
fled. Forbes left behind a small detachment to hold the fort
till the summer and was carried back in agony to die in Phila-
delphia. His report to Pitt is dated from Pittsburg, a name
for which he thus accounts :
I have used the freedom of giving your name to Fort Duquesne,
as I hope it was in some measure the being actuated by your spirits
that now makes us masters of the place. ... I hope the Name
Fathers will take them [Pittsburg and Forts Ligonier and Bedford]
under their protection, in which case these dreary deserts will soon
1 Forbes, writing to Pitt on October 20, 1758, told him that he derived the
idea of these posts ' from Turpin's Essay sur la Guerre. Last Chaptre 4th
Book. Intitled Principe sur lequel ou peut etabler un projet de Campagne, if
you take the trouble of looking into his book, you will see the generall principles
upon which I have proceeded ' a detail of information which Pitt would
appreciate. It is worth noting that the Pennsylvania Railway follows the
general alignment of Forbes's route to Pittsburg (see Hurlbut, Historic High-
ways, v, 204).
376 THE TIDE OF VICTORY SETS IN
be the richest and most fertile of any possesst by the British in
North America. 1
The recovery of this fort, the establishment of which by
the French was the reason for Washington's mission and
the ostensible cause of the war, finally disposed of the French
claim to exclude the English from the Ohio ; and Forbes's
great march wiped out Braddock's disgrace. Pitt was quick
to recognise the achievement of this fine old soldier, whom
the Indians dubbed ' Head of Iron.' He offers his own ' par-
ticular congratulations and sincere wishes for the recovery
of your health ' in the dispatch announcing the King's appro-
bation of ' the indefatigable zeal you have shewed . . .
your constant and unwearied application and perseverance . . .
at a time while you laboured under such an unhappy state
of health as your distinguished duty alone to the King and
uncommon ardor for the honor of His Majesty's arms could
have enabled you to struggle with.' These words were written
in January 1759 : Forbes died in March. If fate was kind
and the winds propitious, the brave man's dying moments
may have been gladdened by this tribute from the man whose
approval he had been seeking to deserve in the uphill fight
against all his difficulties.
Ill
The loss of Minorca, Byng's hesitations, Braddock and
Monro's defeats, the Black Hole of Calcutta, Closterseven, and
the failures at Eochefort and Louisburg in 1757 had almost
brought Englishmen to feel that the glories of Elizabeth's, of
Cromwell's, and of the Great Deliverer's days had gone never
to return. The revulsion of feeling was all the greater in
England and America as news of victory came pouring in :
first Senegal, then Crevelt, the destruction of the nest of
1 Miss Pitt-Taylor, a descendant of Chatham, attended the commemoration
of Pittsburg by invitation of the town, and presented it with part of a dessert
service that had belonged to her ancestor and was stamped with his arms.
REJOICINGS FOR LOUISBURG, 1758 377
privateers at St. Malo, the sack of Cherbourg, Osborn and
Hawke's victories at sea, Frederic the Great's victory at
Zorndorf, and, last, the crowning glory of Louisburg. In
America Governor Lawrence celebrated the capture of the
' Gibraltar of the West ' by fetes attended by the heroes of
the siege, and it is said that 60,000 gallons of rum were drunk
in honour of the occasion : Boston had a stately bonfire,
and her preachers held services of thanksgiving ; New York
and Philadelphia were not behindhand, and the New England
chaplains in Abercromby's defeated army gave praise for
the blow to the servants of the Scarlet Woman. 1 In England
the populace celebrated the victories with candles, fireworks
and bonfires, with beer-drinking and noisy rejoicings. Pitt
and the King of Prussia were the heroes of the hour. Even
Horace Walpole was fain to tear himself from his medals
and pictures, hobnob with bargemen on the all-absorbing
topic, and give them wherewithal to drink the King of Prussia's
health. At Plymouth a great ball was given, attended by
Prince Edward, who kissed all the ladies to enhance their
joy. At Bath Miss Ann Pitt lit a great bonfire in front of her
brother's house in the Circus ' to be sure, no such bonfire ever
was for beauty,' she said with becoming pride procured all
the music she could to help the company sing ' God bless
great George our King,' and distributed ten hogsheads of
strong beer.
Pitt himself, on news of Louisburg, which came on August 18,
sent off a mounted messenger to his wife at Hayes and had
by return her note of triumph on the event so ' happy and
glorious for my loved England, happy and glorious for my
most loved and admired Husband. I feel all your joy, my
Life, the joy of the dear brothers, the joy of my friend Mrs.
Boscawen, and the joy of the people of England ' ; and Temple
wrote an effusive letter to his ' dear brother Louisburg.' Pitt
also took order for the stately celebration of the victories. To
commemorate Louisburg he had a medal struck, especially
emphasizing the hearty co-operation of fleet and army ; he
ordered the guns of the Tower and the Park to tell the victory to
1 See Wood, Logs of the Conquest of Canada, p. 79.
378 THE TIDE OF VICTORY SETS IN
the clouds, the Lord Steward to light the usual bonfires near
the royal palace, the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's to hold a
solemn service of praise, and the Archbishop of Canterbury
to issue a special form of prayer and thanksgiving to be used
in all churches and chapels within the bills of mortality on
August 20, and in all others on the following Sunday. 1 Later
the twenty-four guns and the captured bells of Cherbourg 2 were
dragged from Portsmouth to the Park to be inspected by the
King, and the colours taken at Louisburg were paraded before
him at St. James's Palace and then deposited in St. Paul's
December Cathedral. In the following session, on Pitt's motion, the
6, 1758. thanks of the House were awarded to Boscawen, Amherst
and Osborn. Boscawen as a member received his on the spot
and answered in a few modest words. Amherst's were sent
to him in America. Osborn, the old sea dog who, during
his faithful watch through the winter months to prevent
reinforcements for America passing Gibraltar, had become
paralysed and lost an eye, answered in a letter worthy of
the great service to which he belonged : ' As the House of
Commons is so gloriously watchful to encourage the greatest
merit, by rewarding the least, England can never want good
officers.' 3
Pitt was justified in making the most of victories, for he
never concealed or under-rated defeats. Two days after the
news of Louisburg came the dispatch announcing Abercromby's
defeat and the death of Lord Howe, and he sent it at once to
the Gazette. The loss of his friend affected him, he wrote to
Grenville, ' more than a public sorrow. He was by the universal
voice of army and people a character of ancient times : a
complete model of military virtue in all its branches. I have
1 On this occasion Pitt seems to have contented himself with the Arch-
bishop's form of prayer. In the following year, on the occasion of another
victory, he made a correction in the draft submitted to him by his Grace.
8 These bells gave occasion for a good deal of official red tape. They were
brought over by Lieut. -Colonel Desaguiliers and ordered to be lodged in the
Tower. Before this could be done the Secretary of the Customs exacted duty
on them. Six months later Colonel Desaguiliers, who regarded them as his
private property, claimed then: value ; in November 1759 Pitt ordered them to
be restored to him.
3 Chatham MSS. 79.
PITT'S NEW PLANS, 1758 379
the sad task of imparting this cruel event to a brother 1 who
loves him most tenderly,' a task, Grenville replies, which
* no man living could do with so much gentleness and affection,
with so much honour and credit both to the dead and to the
living.' The reverse to our arms also affected him Bute
thought too strongly, and sought to console him by a declaration
from the young Prince of Wales that when he ascended the
throne he would ' by restoring virtue and religion make this
country great and happy.'
Pitt did not wait for that event ; success and disappoint-
ment alike spurred him to redoubled energy. On the very
next day, though engaged on refitting Howe's squadron for
his third venture on the coast of France, he ordered drafts of
2,150 men to assemble at Plymouth and Portsmouth to replace
Abercromby's losses. Newcastle, indeed, alarmed at the cost
of the war, was already beginning to think that we ought to
be satisfied with the capture of Louisburg and make peace
at once by exchanging it for Minorca. But Pitt had no
intention of repeating the fiasco of Aix-la-Chapelle ; he aimed
at expelling the French once for all from North America, and
was already on the look-out for other conquests as a set-off to
Minorca. ' The only way to have peace,' he reminded New-
castle, ' is to prepare for war.' 2 For this policy he could
count on the support of his City friends. Beckford wrote to
him a week after the news of Louisburg, imploring him to
retain it as a valuable fishing centre, and both Beckford and
Sir Theodore Jansen urged that compensation for Minorca
should be sought among the French West Indian Islands,
recommending Martinique as the island most worth conquering
and presenting no great difficulties, if the commanders of
the expedition were young and bold.3 Pitt also found an
unexpected ally against Newcastle in the King, who
had suddenly become as eager for conquests in America
as he had previously been indifferent : ' We must keep
Cape Breton, take Canada, drive the French out of
1 Commodore Howe, who by his brother's death became Viscount Howe.
2 Add. MSS. 32884, f. 436.
Chatham MSS. 19 and 98 ; and Chatham Corr. i, 352.
380 THE TIDE OF VICTORY SETS IN
America, and have two armies in Germany consisting together
of 80,000 men,' he said to Newcastle ; and to Pitt he added,
' we must conquer Martinique as a set-off to Minorca.' 1 On
September 4 Newcastle had an inkling of a scheme being con-
certed by Pitt with Cleveland, the Secretary of the Admiralty,
for an attempt on Martinique, 2 and was much disturbed when
he discovered the lengths to which his restless colleague had
already gone. On August 28 Pitt had given instructions to
the Admiralty to take up transports for foreign service, and
a fortnight later he ordered a squadron to be made ready at
Spithead. When Howe returned from his last unfortunate
raid to St. Cast, some of his ships were at once transferred to
the new armament, and on October 16 the secret instructions
for an attack on Martinique were sent to Captain Hughes,
the naval commander, and General Hopson, in command of
the land forces of the expedition.? By November 20 Hughes
was writing to Pitt that he was beating down Channel on
his way to join Commodore Moore on the West Indian
station.
In the Speech from the throne, which two days before
the meeting of Parliament he had read over to the Speaker
and an appreciative audience of supporters, 4 Pitt could point
to achievements justifying the confidence he had always
expressed in himself and the nation. After an enumeration
of the year's successes' Louisburg, Cape Breton, the Island
of St. John, Frontenac, Senegal, and the destruction of the
Cherbourg forts he justified in one terse phrase the continental
war, which ' found full employment for the armies of France
and her confederates ; from which our operations both by
sea and in America have derived the most evident advantage,'
1 Add. MSS. 32883, f. 114 ; 32884, f. 436.
8 Ibid. 32883, f. 273 ; see also 32884, ff. 27 and 79.
3 Halifax, the First Commissioner of Trade, in a letter of November 5,
suggested to Pitt that, after Martinique, St. Lucia and other islands should
be attacked, since we might have to give up Martinique at the peace ' if the
balance of war should unfortunately be against us in other parts of the
world ' (Egerton MSS. 929, f. 176). Pitt had already empowered Hughes
and Hopson to do so, if they thought fit.
4 Add. MSS. 32998, f. 185.
PITT ON NATIONAL DUTY, 1758 381
gloried in the struggle as one for ' liberty and independency,'
and rejoiced in the unparalleled security of commerce owing
to the fleet's vigilant protection. In place of appeals for
union as in 1756 and 1757, ' His Majesty,' the Speech said,
' takes so much satisfaction in that good harmony which subsists
amongst his faithful subjects that it is more proper for him now
to thank you for it, than to repeat his exhortations to it.' The
Address was moved and seconded in a strain of almost hyper-
bolical eulogy of Pitt. He was compared to a blazing star ;
one speaker said he would lend all he was worth to support
the war ; another, not to be outdone, said he would give
all he was worth ; and, adds Lord Bath, Pitt said he would
take all they were both worth. Beckford declared that the
late events had put him in such good humour that though
he preferred fighting in America he would give 2,000,000 even
to the German war. Pitt fairly warned the House that the November
war would yet cost many millions, which his friend Legge '
would have to find. It was not a time to look too closely
it expense : the ship was at sea ; she had winds and waves
co meet ; and all obstructions must be removed before another
campaign, which might prove the last.
So much for England's duty to herself. But in the hour of
triumph Pitt thought even more of England's debts of honour.
Now that she was again mistress of the ocean it behoved her,
he said, to show self-restraint and not set all the neutral Powers
against her by the excesses of her privateers. England's
obligations to her great ally also preoccupied him. Bernis,
the French minister, had already made overtures of peace
through Denmark. They were rejected on the ground that
Frederic had not been included in the offer, but Pitt had a
foreboding that he might not always be able to hold his
countrymen to their duty to Frederic. Already Dodington
had published an anonymous pamphlet against the
German war, and it was known that many sympathized
with him. Pitt therefore once more defended our support
of Frederic, and, looking full at Dodington, he drew
himself up, and called out in his loudest tone, ' Is there
an Austrian among you ? Let him stand forth and
382 THE TIDE OF VICTORY SETS IN
December reveal himself.' 1 Again, on December 6, he dwelt upon
fi 1 7^ft
our duty to our ally..
.
.
