War Machine's 2nd VA Regiment emerges
April 12, 1758 is the date a second Virginia Regiment is authorized. But that all started with one man.
William Pitt is that man. William Pitt -- ultimately --- is the Captain of eventually winning this war. Like Lincoln he's got to keep changing Generals. His goal? North America, and worldwide possessions around the Globe. But continental Europe? Let's just leave that a draw.
And so at the end of the horrible year 1757 of many defeats, William Pitt sends out new orders, new plans.
William Pitt is the precursor of the modern Prime Minister. His official title was Secretary of State for the Southern Department.
On New Years Eve 31 Dec 1757, he mails out the new orders, the new plans to all the leaders in the American colonies.
President John Blair, acting Governor of Virginia, is one of those leaders on the receiving end.
He receives William Pitt's letter 3 months later on 31 March 1758 and immediately calls into session the House of Burgesses.
That's how long communications "from Home" took.
"Home" ---- Like it was the "Mother Ship."
That's how Virginia's leaders referred to England even if they no longer lived there - "Home."
Three Months to receive the order; another 12 days was needed by the House of Burgesses to enact that order from William Pitt requiring Virginia to raise troops for the Forbes Expedition.
April 12, 1758 that order was enacted into law.
That's the birth date of the 2nd Virginia Regiment.
is to be its Colonel.
While the recruiting begins after 12 April 1758, William Byrd III is assigned an interim duty to go South and bring back more Cherokee.
is promoted to be second ranking officer under Colonel William Byrd III. George Mercer becomes a Lt Colonel in this new 2nd Virginia Regiment. He was Captain of a Company and Aid de Camp to Colonel George Washington of the original only Virginia Regiment.
George Mercer along with Lt Col Adam Stephen had just finished their tour of duty leading two Virginia Regiments companies in Charleston SC. They are both back. They were on loan to Charleston from May 1757 to April 1758.
This new 2nd Virginia Regiment had only to serve until December 1st, 1758.
At one point their goal doesn't look to be in reach before then, so there is much alarm to urge the House of Burgesses to extend that term of service.
But Fort Duquesne, their object to "reduce," is achieved before that deadline.
And before that happens there are several noteworthy events along the way.
That Dec 31, 1757 letter from William Pitt to President Blair of Virginia coincided with Lord Loudoun receiving his "walking papers."
Both President Blair and Lord Loudoun as well as other leaders received their orders March 31, 1758 that were originally issued Dec 31, 1757 crossing the ocean blue.
That's it.
That's our lead story.
Compiled and authored by Jim Moyer 4/7/2022, updated 4/9/2022, 6/7/2022
More details?
More proof and source documents?
Plenty of it down below.
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The Research involves 6 sections:
House of Burgesses
Details on building the law in 12 days to raise a 2nd Virginia Regiment
Problems Implementing that law:
Better provisions for the new 2nd Regiment than the 1st
causing complaint
Founders Online Footnotes
Dates and times on raising that 2nd Virginia Regiment
How Long to Send Mail Across the Atlantic
How long it took a ship to cross in 1620, 1750s, 1776 etc.
Passage to America - a 1750 diary
A description of what happened on such a journey
List of Forbes Expedition stories
A listing of the stories involving the 2 Virginia Regiments and the British Regiments
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The New Plan for 1758
Read a great write-up by Douglas Southall Freeman of this plan for 1758.
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TIMELINE
House of Burgesses
notes on raising the 2nd VA Regiment
You will note the "f". That is the old letter for the s. Sometimes if there are 2, then the first s appears as a "f' and the 2nd s appears as the modern s.
When John Blair informed the council on 21 Mar. [1758] of a letter from William Pitt, 30 Dec. 1757, calling for the colony to raise “as large a Body of Men” as possible to march with the British forces under Brig. Gen. John Forbes in a campaign against the French and Indians, the council decided that the Virginia Assembly should be convened on 30 March [1758] (Exec. Journals of Virginia Council, 6:81–82).
Source:
March 31, 1758
page 497
"The President has commanded me to lay before this Houfe two Letters
"from the Right Honorable William Pitt, Efq; his Majefty's principal "Secretary of State, to his Honor, both of the thirtieth of December laft, and a I^etter "from his Excellency General Abercromby, of the fifteenth Inftant."
And the faid Letters were read, and ordered to lie on the Table.
The Order of the Day being read,
for the Houfe to refolve itfelf into a Committee to take into their Confideration the Prefident 's Speech.
Ordered,
That the Letters from M'' Secretary Pitt and General Abercromby, this Day laid before the Houfe, by Command of his Honor the Prefident, and ordered to lie on the Table, be referred to the Confideration of the faid Committee.
Monday April 3, 1758
page 499
Refolved,
That the Number of Forces now in the Pay of this Colony be augmented to 2,000, exclufive of the Rangers.
Refolved,
That for the levying, cloathing, and paying the faid additional Number of Forces a Sum, not exceeding ;^. 16,000, be raifed.
Refolved,
That the Sum of £.6,000 be raifed for defraying the Charges of fuch Indians as fhall come to our Affiftance.
Refolved,
That the Sum of ;^.4,5oo be raifed for the Support and paying of the Rangers.
Upon a Motion made,
Refolved,
That this Houfe will refolve itfelf into a Committee to confider of Ways and Means to raife the Sum of ;i^.26,5oo, purfuant to the Refolutions of the Committee this Day agreed to by the Houfe, To-morrow.
And then the Houfe adjourned till To-morrow Morning Eleven o'Clock.
April 4, 1758
page 500
The Houfe refolved itfelf into a Committee
to confider of Ways and Means to raife the Sum of ;i£26,5oo agreeable to the Refolutions of the Committee Yefterday, agreed to by the Houfe, and after fome Time fpent therein, M'' Speaker refumed the Chair, and M"' Charles Carter reported, That the Committee had come to a Refolution thereon, which they had directed him to report to the Houfe, and he read the fame in his Place, and afterwards delivered it in at the Table, where it was again twice read, and agreed to by the Houfe, as follows :
Refolved,
That the Sum of 26,5oo lbs to be levied, be raifed by a Tax of one Shilling » on every Hundred Acres of Land, to commence in the Year 1761, and to continue four Years : Alfo a Tax of one Shilling per Poll on every Tithable Perfon within this Colony, to commence in the Year 1761, and to continue four Years.
Ordered,
That a Bill or Bills be brought in purfuant to the faid Refolution, and alfo to the Refolutions of the Committee Yefterday, agreed to by the Houfe, and it is referred to M"' Charles Carter, M' Attorney, M"' Pendleton, and M"' Nicholas to prepare and bring in the fame.
Ordered,
That it be an Inftru(5lion to the faid Committee to receive a Claufe or Claufes to impower the Treafurer to pay the Allowances by Law for fuch Scalps as have been produced before this Seffion of Affembly.
Alfo that the faid Committee receive a Claufe or Claufes to impower the Treafurer to emit Treafury Notes, not exceeding £. 26,500, for the Purpofes mentioned in Yefter- day's Refolutions.
April 6, 1758
Page 502
A Bill For raifing the Sum of £. 26,500, for the better Protedion of this Colony, and for other Piirpofes therein mentioned, was read a fecond Time, and ordered to be committed to a Committee of the whole Houfe immediately.
April 12, 1758
Page 506
M' Speaker, with the Houfe, went up accordingly; and the Prefident was pleafed to give his Affent to the following Bills, viz.
1 . An Ad for augmenting the Forces in the Pay of this Colony to Two Thoufand Men, and for other Purpofes therein mentioned,
2. An Ad for continuing and amending an Ad, intituled, An Ad for preventing Mu- tiny and Defertion.
More about that law passed on April 12, 1758
Founders Online Footnote:
In March 1758 the Virginia assembly passed an act designed to prepare the colony for its participation in the planned operation against the French at Fort Duquesne.
After providing for the raising of money
(1) to pay £10 to enlistees,
(2) to defray the cost of maintaining a force of 1,000 men in addition to the 1,000 authorized for GW’s regiment,
(3) to buy presents for those Indians who joined the expedition,
(4) to reward men for scalping or capturing hostile French and Indians, and
(5) to pay the cost of supporting 300 rangers for the protection of the colony’s frontiers,
the act then stipulated “that the men to be raised by virtue of this act shall be formed into a regiment, to consist of ten companies, to be commanded by a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, major, seven captains, twenty lieutenants, and ten ensigns”
(7 Hening 163–69).
Source:
Footnote is to a letter From George Washington at Fort Loudoun Winchester VA to Andrew Lewis in Augusta, 21 April 1758:
This section updated by Jim Moyer 6/7/20222
Problems Implementing that law:
The wording of this provision of the act seemed to indicate that the other provisions of the act applied only to the 2d Virginia Regiment now being raised to serve until 1 Dec. 1758.
GW protested on 10 May, with the support of his officers, the inequity of not making available to the 1st Virginia Regiment the funds to pay the same bounty of £10 to new enlistees that recruiters in the 2d Virginia Regiment were paying, and the president and council reluctantly agreed that GW should have the money he needed (see GW to John Blair, 4–10 May, Council of War, 9 May, and Blair to GW, 15 May, n.2).
Source:
Footnote above is to a letter
from George Washington at Fort Loudoun Winchester VA
to Andrew Lewis in Augusta, 21 April 1758:
I have no money to send you for this purpose (which is a misfortune) but you may give the Recruits the strongest assurances, in my name, that they shall, upon their arrival at this place, receive each man £10. and a suit of clothes, advantage of the Recruits for the new Regiment.
Council of War,
24 April 1758
Council of War [Fort Loudoun, 24 April 1758]
The Proceedings of a Council of Officers held at Fort Loudoun April 24th 1758 to consider whether it was most for the Interest of the Service or whether it was practicable to comply with the Instructions contain’d in a Letter from the President of Virginia to Colo. Washington.1
Officers Present
Colo. George Washington President
Members
Capt. Lieut. BullettL
ieut. Campbell
Lieut. King
Lieut. Buckner
Lieut. Thompson
Lieut. Smith
Lieut. Roy
Ensign Russell
SWITCHING AROUND OFFICERS
1st
That Part of the President’s Letter in which he advises Colo. Washington
to incorporate Part of the Officers and Non Commission’d Officers
of his Regiment with the second Regiment,
and to take Part of them into his
was considered
and it was unanimously agreed
that the first Regiment would receive a greater Detriment
thereby than the Second would gain an Advantage
as the Officers (were they exchang’d)
would not have sufficient Time to discipline
the new raised Regiment
and our Non Commissioned Officers & Soldiers
would with Reluctancy
change their officers
to be Commanded
by those they must be convinced
were intirely ignorant of the Duty
either of Officer or Centinel
and it is also imagined that such a change
would be look’d on as an Imposition
by the Officers
who might be order’d into the Second Regiment.
TO LATE TO ASSEMBLE 2dly—
We considered the Abstract from Brigadier General Forbes his Letter and find that the Performance of but a small part there of can be in the power of the Commanding or other Officers of this Regiment for as our Troops cannot March (by express orders from the President) from the Places at which they are Station’d till they are relieved by Militia it is impossible to assemble them so soon as the General desired;
for the time is past and no orders issued even for the assembling of the Militia nor for the same Reason till we are relieved can we quit our Post to attempt clearing the Road nor do we know wch way the General intends to march as there are different Roads.
ABOUT THE MILITIA
3dly—
We considered that part of the Letter in which he leaves a discretonary power in the Hands of Colo. Washington in draughting the Militia
and we verily believe that were he to order out the Militia of the frontier Counties (who always have been taken out on every Immergency) it would be productive of an almost General Mutiny—
besides the disadvantage in Case of an Invasion on the south-western Parts of the Colony as the Militia in those Counties would be present to assist the Militia that were ordered from the Interior Counties and in case he orders the Militia from the lower parts of the Country
we think that they would be so long assembling and Marching that Colo. Washington might be blamed (if not by the Colony) by the General who desired the Companys of this Regiment to be at this place by the 20th of this Inst.—tho’ the Colo. has received no orders about it till this day.3
Besides Colo. Washington ought to have the County-Muster Rolls before it will be possible for him to make an equitable Draught of the Militia to relieve the Garrisons nor can he (as he has not the Acts of Assembly, nor himself or any of us know the Act past in June last) either call out or appoint such Officers as is there directed & as the President orders.
Upon the whole it appears to be an affair so interesting to the Colony; so nice & of such importance for the Service of His Majesty—that (as it will take only three or four days more to assemble the Militia)
it is our unanimous opinion that it is more adviseable for the President or his Council to give orders to the Militia and proper directions concerning those things that we have had in consideration than us to determine on them.4
DS, DLC:GW.
FOUNDERS ONLINE FOOTNOTES:
1. Neither John Blair’s letter of 19 April [1758] nor the “Abstract” from General Forbes referred to in the third paragraph of this document has been found, but Blair wrote Forbes on 26 April:[1758] “I have ordered Colo. Washington to Clear the Road as you direct, and to make all the preparation he can to comply with your several demands” (ViU: Forbes Papers). See also GW to Blair, 24 April 1758.
3. Forbes wrote John Blair on 20 March [1758]: “I therefore hope and expect that the Virginia Officers and men will all be in redyness at Winchester by the middle of Aprile or at least by the 20th” (Scottish Record Office: Dalhousie Muniments).
Forbes knew by this time, however, that this had not occurred, for a letter to Blair in the writing of Forbes’s brigade major Francis Halkett and dated 24 April [1758] at Philadelphia contains these instructions: “The General desires that you will order the Virginia Regiment to join at Winchester, all excepting those who are upon the South Branch & Patersons Creek, who are in our way” (ViU: Forbes Papers).
4. The document was signed by the nine officers named above as members of the council of war. GW’s signature is followed by that of the others in order of rank and date of rank:
Thomas Bullitt (lt., 20 Aug. 1755),
John Campbell (lt., 30 Aug. 1755),
John King (lt., 3 Sept. 1755),
Mordecai Buckner (ens., 18 Aug. 1755; lt., 29 June 1756),
Nathaniel Thompson (ens., 27 Aug. 1755; lt., 24 July 1757),
Charles Smith (ens., 1 Sept. 1755; lt., 25 July 1757),
James Roy (ens., 31 Jan. 1756),
and Henry Russell (ens., 30 June 1756).
These officers were all either in GW’s and Robert Stewart’s companies at Fort Loudoun or in Joshua Lewis’s company stationed in the nearby country forts above Winchester.
Source:
This section updated by Jim Moyer 6/7/20222
Founders Online Footnotes
TIMELINE
The act for creating a second Virginia Regiment passed by the assembly on 12 April 1758 (see GW to John Blair, 9 April 1758, n.3) provided for “men to be draughted out of the militia . . . to garison the forts . . . during the absence of the soldiers . . . until the twentieth day of December next” at the latest (7 Hening 163–69).
“An Act for augmenting the forces in the pay of this Colony to two thousand men” (7 Hening 163–69), passed in April 1758, provided that men recruited for the 2d Virginia Regiment would receive a payment of £10 and would not be required to serve after 1 December. At GW’s insistence, the president and council ruled that men recruited to fill out the 1st Virginia Regiment would also receive £10, and presumably, as Stewart’s comments here indicate, they came into the 1st Virginia Regiment with the same time limitation on their service. For a discussion of the provisions for recruiting under the act and GW’s reaction to them, see GW to Andrew Lewis, 21 April 1758, n.1.
When John Blair informed the council on 21 Mar. [1758] of a letter from William Pitt, 30 Dec. 1757, calling for the colony to raise “as large a Body of Men” as possible to march with the British forces under Brig. Gen. John Forbes in a campaign against the French and Indians, the council decided that the Virginia Assembly should be convened on 30 March (Exec. Journals of Virginia Council, 6:81–82).
The assembly met from 30 Mar. to 12 April [1758] and passed “An Act for augmenting the forces in the pay of this Colony to two thousand men . . .” (7 Hening 163–69).
The act provided, among other things, for the forming of a second Virginia Regiment of ten companies to serve until 1 Dec. 1758 and for drafting men from the county militias to man the frontier garrisons in the absence of the two colonial regiments during the proposed campaign.
GW received on 24 April the (now missing) letter of 19 April 1758 from John Blair instructing him to complete his regiment by recruiting.
It may also have been in this missing letter that Blair spelled out the plan to have the companies of the Virginia Regiment in Augusta County to march to Winchester as soon as they were relieved by militiamen (see GW to Andrew Lewis, 21 May 1758).
How Long to send Mail
across the Atlantic
from England to America?
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How long did it take to sail from England to America?
The voyage itself across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days, from their departure on September 6, until Cape Cod was sighted on 9 November 1620. The first half of the voyage went fairly smoothly, the only major problem was sea-sickness.
How Long Did It Take To Cross The Atlantic In 1776?
Franklin discovered early on that he didn’t suffer from seasickness, which was a good thing, as the perilous transatlantic crossing usually took at least six weeks and could take as long as two or three months. He used much of his time at sea for writing and conducting experiments.
How long did it take to cross the Atlantic in the 1700s?
Tell students that Henry Hudson was a European explorer traveling across the Atlantic during the colonial period. It took Hudson more than two months to sail from Amsterdam to New York City on his sailing ship, the Half Moon. A modern ocean liner, such as the Queen Mary 2, makes the trip from Europe in seven days.
How long does it take to sail across the Atlantic in 1492?
How long did the Atlantic crossing use to take? In 1492 it took Columbus two months to cross the Atlantic. In the 18th and 19th century, it still took on average six weeks. If weather conditions were bad, it could take up to three months.
How long did it take a ship to cross the Atlantic in 1800?
In the early 19th century sailing ships took about six weeks to cross the Atlantic. With adverse winds or bad weather the journey could take as long as fourteen weeks.
How long did it take pirates to cross the Atlantic?
In the absence of major obstacles, such as foul weather or pirates, this leg of the voyage usually took ten to fourteen days.
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Passage To America, 1750
At the end of the seventeenth century approximately 200,000 people inhabited the British colonies in North America. The following century saw an explosion in numbers with the population doubling about every 25 years. The majority of these new immigrants were Scotch-Irish, Germans or African slaves. Between 1700 and the beginning of the American Revolution, approximately 250,000 Africans, 210,000 Europeans and 50,000 convicts had reached the colonial shores.
The passage to America was treacherous by any standard. Many of the immigrants were too poor to pay for the journey and therefore indentured themselves to wealthier colonialists - selling their services for a period of years in return for the price of the passage. Crammed into a small wooden ship, rolling and rocking at the mercy of the sea, the voyagers - men, women and children - endured hardships unimaginable to us today. Misery was the most common description of a journey that typically lasted seven weeks.
Not An Easy Journey
Gottleb Mittelberger was an organ master and schoolmaster who left one of the small German states in May 1750 to make his way to America. He arrived at the port of Philadelphia on October 10. He represents the thousands of Germans who settled in middle Pennsylvania during this period. He returned to his homeland in 1754. His diary was published in this country in 1898:
".during the voyage there is on board these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, many kinds of seasickness, fever, dysentery, headache, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth rot, and the like, all of which come from old and sharply-salted food and meat, also from very bad and foul water, so that many die miserably.
Add to this want of provisions, hunger, thirst, frost, heat, dampness, anxiety, want, afflictions and lamentations, together with other trouble, as e.g., the lice abound so frightfully, especially on sick people, that they can be scraped off the body. The misery reaches a climax when a gale rages for two or three nights and days, so that every one believes that the ship will go to the bottom with all human beings on board. In such a visitation the people cry and pray most piteously.
No one can have an idea of the sufferings which women in confinement have to bear with their innocent children on board these ships. Few of this class escape with their lives; many a mother is cast into the water with her child as soon as she is dead. One day, just as we had a heavy gale, a woman in our ship, who was to give birth and could not give birth under the circumstances, was pushed through a loophole (porthole) in the ship and dropped into the sea, because she was far in the rear of the ship and could not be brought forward.
Children from one to seven years rarely survive the voyage; and many a time parents are compelled to see their children miserably suffer and die from hunger, thirst, and sickness, and then to see them cast into the water. I witnessed such misery in no less than thirty-two children in our ship, all of whom were thrown into the sea. The parents grieve all the more since their children find no resting place in the earth, but are devoured by the monsters of the sea. It is a notable fact that children who have not yet had the measles or smallpox generally get them on board the ship, and mostly die of them.
When the ships have landed at Philadelphia after their long voyage, no one is permitted to leave them except those who pay for their passage or can give good security; the others, who cannot pay, must remain on board the ships till they are purchased and are released from the ships by their purchasers. The sick always fare the worst, for the healthy are naturally preferred and purchased first; and so the sick and wretched must often remain on board in front of the city for two or three weeks, and frequently die, whereas many a one, if he could pay his debt and were permitted to leave the ship immediately, might recover and remain alive.
The sale of human beings in the market on board the ship is carried on thus: Every day Englishmen, Dutchmen, and High German people come from the city of Philadelphia and other places, in part from a great distance, say twenty, thirty, or forty hours away, and go on board the newly-arrived ship that has brought and offers for sale passengers from Europe, and select among the healthy persons such as they deem suitable for their business, and bargain with them how long they will serve for their passage money, which most of them are still in debt for, When they have come to an agreement, it happens that adult persons bind themselves in writing to serve three, four, five, or six years for the amount due by them, according to their age and strength. But very young people, from ten to fifteen years, must serve till they are twenty-one years old.
Many parents must sell and trade away their children like so many head of cattle, for if their children take the debt upon them- selves, the parents can leave the ship free and unrestrained; but as the parents often do not know where and to what people their children are going, it often happens that such parents and children, after leaving the ship, do not see each other again for many years, perhaps no more in all their lives.
It often happens that whole families, husband, wife, and children, are separated by being sold to different purchasers, especially when they have not paid any part of their passage money.
When a husband or wife has died at sea, when the ship has made more than half of her trip, the survivor must pay or serve not only for himself or herself, but also for the deceased. When both parents have died over halfway at sea, their children, especially when they are young and have nothing to pawn or to pay, must stand for their own and their parents' passage, and serve till they are twenty-one years old. When one has served his or her term, he or she is entitled to a new suit of clothes at parting; and if it has been so stipulated, a man gets in addition a horse, a woman, a cow."
References: Mittelberger, Gottleb, Gottleb Mittelberger's Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750 and Return to Germany in the year 1754 (published by the German Society of Pennsylvania 1898)
How To Cite This Article: "Passage To America, 1750," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2000).
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List of Forbes Expedition stories:
This new 2nd Virginia Regiment had only to serve until December 1st, 1758.
At one point their goal doesn't look to be in reach before then, so there is much alarm to urge the House of Burgesses to extend that term of service.
But Fort Duquesne, their object to "reduce," is achieved before that deadline.
And before that happens there are several noteworthy events along the way.
Just some of those events to be told in the coming months are:
Grant and Major Andrew Lewis fight a valiant fight on the hill just above Fort Duquesne but get captured.
The French and Indians attack the Forbes camp at Loyalhannon. After the war that place is name Fort Ligonier after the man who took over Butcher Cumberland's Captain General of all forces worldwide.
A friendly fire incident occurs between George Mercer's men and George Washington's men at night.
The somber march to the see the remains of Braddock's Defeat sitting in the woods for 3 years, most of the bones carried away leaving only skulls.
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THE NEW PLAN FOR 1758
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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.
Much had changed during the five months of Washington’s absence from Winchester
First and most conspicuous
was the presence of the largest body of Southern Indians that ever had come to support the English in their war against the French.
These savages had arrived so early in the year that Washington had feared they would prove an embarrassment. If they were sent against the French Indians soon after they reached the Valley, they would expect to go home when they returned from their raid, and if they could be prevailed upon to stay, the cumulative expense to the Colony would be great. 1
At the time of the Colonel’s reopening of his headquarters in Winchester, some 400 savages still were m the town or were roving the country. West of the English settlements, an additional 140 were on the way northward from their villages In spite of the cost, these contingents were to be encouraged to remain, of course, but, once again, Washington was almost as uneasy when he had Indian warriors as he was when he lacked them. He had lost some of his earlier confidence that he knew how to deal with the natives. Actually, he was more adept than ever he had been in keeping them in tractable temper, but in his heart he was disgusted with them and always was uncertain what their next act would be.
Aside from their own unpredictable inclination to leave in a huff when no white man could understand why, there now was a situation which, if known, would provoke them.
The powerful Tedyuskung 2 and other Delaware chiefs had proposed a treaty of peace to Governor Denny of Pennsylvania and had so informed the
commanding officer at Fort Loudoun, with the request that he notify the Cherokees there.*2 GW , 1642 The name is spelled m many ways This is the form used in the Handbook of American
Indians
3033°4GEORGE WASHINGTONA council of war, held a few days before Washington’s arrival, had concluded that this information would stir the jealousy of the Southern
natives and would prompt them to assert suspiciously that England was
coming to terms, with an enemy who would turn on them and destroy them. 8 This official silence might be wise, there was no assurance it would be effective. The Cherokees might get the news and decamp in anger. Nothing would be sure to hold them, Washington thought, except an early offensive, of which there seemed to be slight prospect. 4The second great change
Washington found on his return to active duty was in the British command.
About the time he had been taken sick in the summer of 1757, Lord Loudoun’s proposed expedition against Louisburg had failed so completely that no attempt could be made even to land troops. 5
While Loudoun was at sea, returning to New York, the French under the Marquis de Montcalm had attacked and destroyed Fort William Henry at the lower end of Lake George. Almost the entire garrison had been captured. Several score had been murdered by the Indians after they had surrendered It was a disaster as humiliating as any that British arms had sustained on the continent in a war that had included already the defeat of Braddock and the loss of Oswego. 6
Loudoun’s plan of campaign manifestly had failed in 1757.What was to be done in 1758 ?
While Washington had been at Mount Vernon, struggling with his malady, the question had been debated on both sides of the Atlantic.William Pitt had been recalled to office June 29, 1757, as a Secretary of State and had been given supreme control of the war and of foreign affairs.Waiting on Loudoun's New Plan
When he received the news of failure at Louisburg and of the loss of Fort William Henry, he began to formulate his own plan and awaited critically the proposals of Lord Loudoun, for whom he had no kindly feeling because the General was a supporter of the Duke of Cumberland. Loudoun, for his part, felt that he had not received proper aid from home in the execution of his military designs in 1757, and he resolved to submit no general scheme of operations for the next year. 7 When, therefore, Pitt found no plan set forth in any of Loudoun’s dispatches of the early autumn, 8 the Secretary concluded there was truth to rumors he previously had re-8 Minutes of council of war, Mch 30, 1758, 3 Penn 4 rch , 367-69, 19 V 65-684 2 G W, 171-725 Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe , v I, p 485-86*Ibid , 5 11 ff The surrender was on Aug 9, 17571 Pargelhs, Loudoun , 2528 For a summary of what Loudoun actually had in contemplation see Pargelhs, Loudoun, 356STILL ANOTHER NEW COMMANDER 3°5
ceived that the General had resolved not to communicate with the ministry. As Pitt subsequently told Loudoun, the situation was one in which he either had to surrender his own duties or relieve the commander in America. 9About the middle of December, Pitt decided to make the change. John Ligonier:
He approved at first the suggestion of Newcastle that the operations in
America be under the direction of Sir John Ligonier, who had succeeded the Duke of Cumberland as Commander-in-Chief, 10 but objection was made to this on several grounds. 11[The blog editor note: This means John Ligonier did stay as overall Commander of Chief of all forces worldwide. But Ambercromy became overall commander of North America but with most duties executed by more competent commanders under him.]James Abercromby:
In the end, Pitt left Maj Gen James Abercromby as titular head of the forces in America.
Nominally in the care of Abercromby but actually under Pitt himself, were to be three expeditions, one against Louisburg as a preliminary to an advance on Quebec, the second against Fort Ticonderoga, and the third against Fort DuQuesne.
To command the new attack on Louisburg,
named Jeffrey Amherst, whom he promoted forthwith from Colonel to Major General With Amherst were to serve three Brigadiers of promise.
The thrust for Ticonderoga
was to be Abercromby’s own particular charge, though Pitt probably hoped it actually would be directed by Lord Howe, 12 a soldier he held in high esteem. 13
For the operation against Fort DuQuesne,
Pitt’s choice fell on Col John Forbes, of the 17th Foot, who was made Brigadier General.
Incomplete news of these appointments reached New York on the 4th of March 14 and quickly spread up and down the coast. Colonel Stanwix heard some of the details before the 10th, but he, along with many others, understood the new Commander-in-Chief was to be Lord George Sackville.15 To Stanwix himself came a step upward to the rank of Brigadier, with orders to share in the campaign on the Lakes. 16
This transfer of Stanwix and the recall of Loudoun meant to Washington that he had to repeat the process of winning the good opinion of new officers who replaced those whose esteem he had acquired.
There seemed to be no end to the succession— Fry, Innes, Braddock, -Shirley, Sharpe, Loudoun, and now Forbes.
In all these changes, Washington himself had received no recognition. 9 In Loudoun’s own words, “cither he must not be minister or I could not be General”(Pargelhs, Loudoun , 347)19 Ligonier, a most picturesque French Huguenot, had not then been raised to the peerage
11 Pargelhs, Loudoun , 340-4112 This was George Augustus, third Viscount Howe, one of three brothers who often are
confused
13 This i^ merely a paraphrase of Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe , v 2, p 5114 See A P James, ed , Writings of Genet al John Forbes (cited hereafter as Forbes ), 5415 2 Hamilton , 273 13 Cf 2 G W , 172 n
GEORGE WASHINGTON306from the home government So far as Whitehall was concerned, he might as well not exist. There had been no word of official praise, no fulfilment of the hope, long cherished and long frustrated, of a royal commission Discouraged by this experience, Washington expected no advancement in the new organization, but as always, if he was to serve, he wished distinction, “honor” as he so often had termed it.
He proceeded once again to have himself recommended to the new General — and to have it done promptly.
Forbes had assumed command about March 21. 17
In a letter of congratulation that Washington wrote Stanwix on the 10th of April, less than a week after his return to Winchester, he said with complete candor “ I should have thought myself happy in serving this campaign under your immediate command. But everything, I hope, is ordered for the best, and it is our duty to submit to the will of our superior. I must, nevertheless, beg that you will add one more kindness to the many I have experienced, and that is, to mention me in favorable terms to General Forbes (if 'you are acquainted with that gentleman) and not as a person who would depend upon him for further recommendation to military preferment, for I have long conquered all such expectancies (and serve this campaign merely for the purpose of affording my best endeavors to bring matters to a conclusion) but as a person who would gladly be distinguished in some measure from the common run of provincial officers, as I understand there will be a motley herd of us. ” 18John Forbes:
Had Washington known more at the time of John Forbes, he would not have been content merely to hope that his new commander would “distinguish him” from “the common run of provincial officers .” The Virginian would have realized that whether or not he continued in the profession of arms, he could learn much from Forbes.
That officer was 50 years of age, a Scot, born of good blood and first schooled for medicine but drawn to a military career by love of it. He had served with energy in the War of the Austrian Succession and in the Scottish campaign of 1745-46. His special distinction had been as a Quartermaster, a service m which, as Washington well knew, there had been much backwardness and lack of skill throughout the operations m Virginia Forbes had sought the post of Quartermaster General m Braddock’s army and had felt some disappointment when Sir John St Clair re-17 Forbes, 59, 6118 Letter of Apr 10, 1758, 2 G W , 172-73 Washington himself underlined “common
run,”
STILL ANOTHER NEW COMMANDER3°7
ceived it. 19Then, in March, 1757, Forbes had been given the 17th Foot, which was one of the Regiments sent to reenforce Loudoun for the Louisburg expedition. That officer quickly came to an appreciation of the ability of Forbes and made him Adjutant General In that position, though not conspicuous, Forbes probably had a ’hand in the numerous and admirable reforms that Loudoun instituted. 20
Washington could not have found in America a better instructor in the art of army administration. Nor could he have been associated with a man of greater patience, cheer and cordiality in relations with officers and with men Forbes was cautious in not wishing to advance a yard until his troops were equipped and supplied, but he was tireless in effort to prepare them While he never had been proclaimed brilliant, he was able, courageous and thorough. 21 Benjamin Franklin credited a messenger with saying of Lord Loudoun, “He is like St. George on the signs, always on horseback, but never rides on. ” 22 It could have been said of Forbes that he was not apt to mount till he was ready to move.
Transfer of command to this interesting man was, to repeat, the secondnew condition Washington found on his return to Winchester in April, 1758, and manifestly it had importance at least equal that of the first new condition, the presence of a large force of friendly Indian warriors. A third change was in Washington’s military status When he had served in Braddock’s campaign, he had acted as a staff officer, not as a commander of infantry, though he had to rush in and try to direct troops on the dreadful field of the Monongahela. As chief of the Virginia Regiment m i 755 ~ 57 > l 16 had been subject in theory to British officers and in reality to Dinwiddle’s direction, but most of the time, and both to his gratification and distress of mind, he had been Commander-in-Chief. Now he was to have a Regiment of infantry as previously, but he was to serve “in the line” under any Colonel or Brigadier of the regular establishment who might be designated.
Nor was Washington to be Virginia’s sole Colonel, at the head of her
only Regiment The General Assembly had met almost on the eve of19 See John Forbes to Hugh Forbes, Oct 19, I 754 > Forbes, x Those who are interested in the might-have-beens of history may find this a theme for mental speculation Would the outcome of the campaign of 1755 have been different if Forbes, rather than the bungling, ill tempered St Clair, had been Quartermaster* 5~^A considerable part of Pargellis’s valuable Lord Loudoun in America is devoted to an
analysis of these reforms
f 1 The fullest sketch of a life concerning which there is singularly little information is that
of A P James in Forbes
22 1 Franklin's Writings (Bigelow), 299GEORGE WASHINGTON308
his departure for Winchester, and, in a session that ended April 12, 28
had passed a bill to raise the armed forces of the Colony to 2000 men,exclusive of the previously created ranger Companies. The additional 1000 volunteers were to be allowed a bounty of ^10 each, 24 and were to be enlisted for service to Dec 1, 1758, and no longer. 25
This new Regiment was to have its own field and company officers, precisely as Washington’s Regiment had. 26
In the new law, there was some unintended vagueness concerning the authority of Washington over these troops as Commander-m-Chief, 27 though, of course, when the two units were operating together and were not under a regular, Washington, as senior officer, would be authorized to issue orders to the other Colonel.William Byrd III:
Choice of that officer was the prerogative of John Blair, the President
of the Council and acting Governor, who accepted an offer William Byrd III of Westover made to recruit and to lead the new troops. Byrd at the time had been distinguished as one of the negotiators of the treaty with the Catawbas and Cherokees. 28 Previously, he had lived in England as a member of the household of his uncle-in-law, Col Francis Otway, and there perhaps had developed taste for a military life. When Loudoun came to America, Byrd joined him as a volunteer 29 and won much praise. “[He] accompanied the army to Halifax last year,” Forbes was soon to write of Byrd, “and set a noble example to all the gentlemen of the continent who have either inclination or abilities to serve the King and their country.” 30 Byrd, who was in his twenty-ninth year, 81 possessed marked skill in dealing with the Indians and had won a measure of their confidence He was, too, of a family much more distinguished in Virginia than that of Washington, but in public reputation at this time he did not rival his senior Colonel. Socially he might outshine the tall young officer from the Potomac, he had yet to win “honor” comparable to that which Washington had gained. 32
z&Journ H B, 1752-58, p 506 24 7 H 164, sec 125 Ibid , 168, sec xvi ™lbtd , 1 68, sec xiv
27 Sections 1 and 11 of the act provided for the enlistment and the employment of the troops
‘‘by the president or commander m chief,” but section xvi spoke of action by “the president and
commander in chief for the time being” (7 H 164, 169) While it seems reasonable to assume
that Washington is the Commander-in-Chief to whom reference is made m the one instance
and that the president is titular Commander-in-Chief in the later section, the language is not as
explicit as it should have been
28 See John Blair to William Byrd III, Mch 8, 1758, Emmett Coll , NYPL, No 1347129 Pargellis, Loudoun, 310, 31 x n 30 Forbes to Pitt, July 10, 1758, 1 Pitt, 29431 Born at Westover, Sept 9, 1729, son of William Byrd II and Maria Taylor Byrd (See
37 £302 )32 For rejection by Washington and his council of a proposal to incorporate some of his
officers m the Second Regiment, see 2 Hamilton, 281-82STILL ANOTHER NEW COMMANDER 309
The law that created Byrd’s Regiment had gone further than any of the earlier statutes in providing for the use of the Virginia troops. All
except the rangers could be united, “by direction of the Governor or
Commander-in-Chief to the forces that shall be sent to our assistance by his Majesty or any of the neighboring Colonies, and may be marched to annoy or attack the enemy m such manner as shall be thought proper by the commanding officer of his Majesty’s forces in North America” 33 Emergency and unhappy experience thus had combined at last to sweep away all restrictions, save those of time, on the employment of the two Regiments. They were to be Virginia’s contribution to the common cause Furthermore, the General Assembly authorized a draft of such militia as might be needed to garrison the frontier forts until December 20, if it should be necessary to send the two Regiments outside Virginia. 34These three developments —
the presence of Indians,
the change of command,
and the recruiting and equipment of the larger force —
set Washington’s task for the two months that followed his return to the
Valley Recruiting proved less difficult than in the past. 33
Although Forbes did not believe he would receive more than half the 2000 troops Virginia had authorized, 36 Washington’s Regiment numbered 950 or
more by May 28, and Byrd, with 900, was so close to authorized strength that the official formation of the Regiment was set for May 29 37 Even St Clair, who had found no words too furiously contemptuous for descnbmg the Virginia troops of 1755, had to admit now that their successors were “a fine body of men ” 38 The high bounty and short term of enlistment had accomphshed what never had been achieved previously. 39The drafting of militiamen in anticipation of the departure of the garrisons of the frontier forts might be another and a sadder tale.
When President Blair undertook to pass the issue to Washington, with33 7 H 1 64, sec 11 34 7 H 169, sec xvi
35 Except as respects the payment of recruiting expenses, for which see minutes of a council
of officers at Fort Loudoun, May 9, 1758, and Washington to Robinson, May 10, 1758, 305
Papers of G W , 14, 15, LC36 Forbes, 77, 87, 9137 See 2 G W , 202, St Clair to Col Henry Bouquet, May 27, 28, June 9, 1758, Brit Mus
Add MS 21639, p 1, 3, 5 Virginia’s new Governor, Francis Fauquier, writing Washington,
June 25, 1758, remarked that French regimentals from a prize-ship had been purchased for the
Regiment (8 Papers of G W , LC)38 St Clair to Bouquet, May 27, loc cit For Sharpe’s similar commendation, see infra, p 3173 $ For the echo of some of the difficulties of even this successful recruiting effort, see John
Blair to unnamed correspondent (either George Mercer or Thomas Walker), June 3, 1758, and
Francis Fauquier to William Byrd, June 19, 1758, Journ H B , 1758-61, p 261-63GEORGE WASHINGTON3 io
authority to call some of the militia of nearby Counties to the forts, the
Colonel carefully avoided the responsibility “I could by no means think of executing (willingly) that discretionary power with which you were pleased to invest me, of ordering out the militia. It is an affair, Sir, of too important and delicate a nature for me to have the management of, for much discontent will be the inevitable consequence of this draft ” 40 Washington spoke from experience, Blair was guided by hope that the logic of replacing the Regiments with militia would prevail over the reluctance of individuals. There, for the time, the matter rested. 41
Savage allies
raised new problems, daily Raids of hostile scalping parties took heavy toll in West Augusta. 42 From Bedford and from Halifax came reports of much misbehavior by Cherokees returning South from Winchester. 43 The need of Indians with whom to fight Indians was as manifest as ever; diplomacy, firmness and understanding of them were the imperatives. In full knowledge of this, Forbes, St Clair and Washington all were doubtful whether the redmen would remain away from home and with the Virginia forces 44 or, contrarily, would wander into Pennsylvania and make trouble while Forbes was negotiating with the Delawares and Shawnees. 45On May 27,
Colonel Byrd arrived at Winchester with fifty-seven Indian warriors, but he had to report that he had met on the trail many who were going back
to the Carolinas and that he had not been able to prevail on any of
them to return with him. 46By the third week in June,
all the Indians had departed except for those with Byrd. 47 Lamenting this, Washington once again had to insist that Indians were the “only troops fit to cope with Indians” in forest warfare. 48 In the Cherokee country itself, some of the headmen had promised to be ready to start for Virginia on the 21st of June, but on the day they were to depart, they said their conjurers had warned them that much sickness and death would attend them, for which reason they had decided not to go northward until autumn. 49 In the
40 Washington to John Blair, Apr 24, 1758, 2 GW, 183-84 See also minutes o£ council,2 Hamilton, 28241 1 Pitt, 229, 2 Hamilton, 289 42 2 GW, 192-934 $ Williamsburg report of May 2 6, 1758, Md Gazette, June 29, 175844 2 <3 W , 179, 182-83, Forbes, 65, 77, 8845 2 Hamilton, 285, 2 G W , 198-2014 6 St. Clair to Bouquet, May 27, 1758, Br Mus Add MS 21639, P 147 Ibid , p 3, 5, Forbes, 108, 109, 11348 Letter to Forbes, June 19, 1758, 2 GW, 21 6^Certificate of Paul Demere et al , June 22, 1758, Journ H B , 1758-61, p 263-64STILL ANOTHER NEW COMMANDER3 11
face of this discouragement, it might have appeared that such hope as the English had of overcoming die adverse odds in the struggle for the frontier might depend on winning over some of the Indians who were said to be dissatisfied with their French allies. To this. end, Forbes and the Pennsylvania authorities already were maneuvering with some skill. 50
Throughout this recruiting, this adjustment to new commanders, and this humiliating effort to satisfy the insatiable Indians, preparations were being made hourly to move the Virginia Regiments — the “Virginia Brigade” as St Clair once styled the force — across the Potomac and then, in due time, to Pennsylvania for the advance on Fort DuQuesne.
At the outset the questions that most concerned Washington, Sir John St Clair and others had to do with wagons, tents, cartridge boxes, powder horns, blankets, hatchets and varied items of equipment relatively unimportant in themselves but essential to such an orderly advance as Forbes proposed to make. 51 The General had given Governor Sharpe 52 and Col Henry Bouquet 53 authority to move the Virginians. Sir John St Clair himself came to Winchester and undertook to equip the troops. 54 Before St Clair could put Washington’s troops under marching orders , 55 he determined to procure such equipment as he could from the Colony and accordingly directed Washington to go to Williamsburg to ask for arms and tentage and to “settle the affairs of the two Virginia Regiments. ” 56
For a manifest personal reason, Washington was glad to go to the vicinity of the White House, but he was hurried and was anxious to
50 The background is conveniently sketched in Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, v 2, p 149
Fredrich Post’s journal of his remarkable missions, mentioned infra, p 355, will be found among
the most interesting documents of the French and Indian War
51 See St Clair to Bouquet, May 31, 1758, Br Mus Add MS 21639, p 5 Bouquet, m his
letter of June 3, 1758 to St Clair, announced that he would forward hatchets, because the men
“cannot encamp or get fuel without* — a reminder of the density of the woodland through which
the army had to advance {ibid , p 9)52 Forbes, 90 53 Ibid , 95, 9654 Cf 2 G W, 203 55 ibid
S^Ibid It doubtless is possible to interpret the language of Washington’s orders to Adam Stephen as an intimation that St Clair desired to take into his own hands the direction of everything and, to that end, wished to send Washington off. The instructions to Stephen began “Sir John St Clair having, by virtue of a power from the Commander-in-Chief for the Southern
District, put the troops of this Colony under marching orders, and at the same time thought it necessary that I wait upon the President to settle” etc. St Clair’s own explanation was “Mr President Blair has laid me under many inconveniences by his not coming here, so that I was obliged to send Colonel Washington to him” (St Clair to Bouquet, May 27, 1758, Br Mus
Add MS 21639, P 1). Taken with St Clair’s subsequent expression of satisfaction on the result of Washington’s visit, these quotations made it appear improbable that St Clair sent Washington off because he wished to be rid of the Virginia Colonel. St Clair did not have to resort to this
expedient to exercise command, it was his by seniority. Service as quartermaster did not disqualify him for line duty
312GEORGE WASHINGTONget back to the frontier in time to share in an offensive he so long had
been urging. Leaving Winchester on the 24th of May, 57 he was inWilliamsburg on the 28th with a long succession of written questions,
to which he asked the President to make early and explicit reply. These
inquiries concerned not only equipment but also pay, promotion, recruiting and the future of Fort Loudoun, 58 and, in some instances, they called for more study than Washington’s impatience allowed. As soon as the acting Governor had reached a decision, George rode over to the Pamunkey and paid homage to Martha Custis, and then, June 5, he started for Winchester 50 To the satisfaction of St Clair, he was back at his post on the 9th. The Britisher wrote “Mr President Blair has been graciously pleased to grant everything I asked except a careful officer at [Fort] Loudoun to take care of the valuable stores, lest they be embezzled ” 60 It would be necessary, St Clair thought, to move these supplies to Fort Cumberland or to some other post where he could keep an eye on them. To settle this and other questions, St Clair rode over to Conococheague and took Washington with him for a conference on the 13th of June with Governor Sharpe and Col Henry Bouquet. 61Henry Bouquet:
Although Washington had exchanged letters frequently with Bouquet, this apparently was the first time he ever had met the man who was to be Forbes’s most trusted lieutenant and Washington’s immediate superior Henry Bouquet, Swiss-born and thirty-nine years of age, was portly and undistinguished in appearance, but of attractive and friendly manners. He had received careful schooling before he entered the Dutch army as a cadet in 1736, and subsequently he extended his framing by service with the Sardinian forces in the War of the Austrian Succession So admirable was his performance in every test that the Prince of Orange in 1748 made him Captain-Commandant of the newly organized Swiss Guards, with rank of Lieutenant Colonel. As
57 That is to say, his orders of that date suggest that he was on the point of leaving See 2G W , 203-056 $ 2 G W , 205-09
His entries in Ledger A, folio 39, suggest that he may have spent some of his time in Williamsburg at the residence of Colonel Bassett, to whose servants he gave 12 shillings. His gratuity to Mrs Custis ’s servants was 14* 6 d, compared with 303- on each of his two previous visits. This indicates either that his visit was brief or, less probably, that he thought he need not be overgenerous with Negroes who soon were to be, in effect, his own. Later expenditures on the road show that Washington proceeded directly from the White House toward Winchester and that he did not return via Williamsburg
60 St Clair to Bouquet, June 9, 1758, Br Mus Add MS 21639, p 1761 Sec Bouquet to Forbes, June 14, 1758, Br Mus Add MS 21640, p 61 Conococheague,
it will be remembered, was the site of Maidstone Fort
STILL ANOTHER NEW COMMANDER3 I 3
circumstance led Bouquet afterward to close and pleasant contact with
the British army, he accepted in the autumn of 1755 an invitation to become Lieutenant Colonel of the proposed new Royal American Regimment. In recruiting his Battalion, he showed a most notable combination of energy, patience, and firmness Pennsylvania farmers denounced him for enlisting their indentured servants, the Assembly protested sternly when he marched 547 men to Philadelphia in December, 1756, and asked that quarters be provided for them In these and in virtually all his other controversies, he ultimately won his point with a minimum of ill-will 62
Next to his definite ability and rounded training as a soldier. Bouquet’s greatest quality was his freedom from the binding tradition of the British and German armies. In Charleston, South Carolina, where he had commanded during the months a French attack was anticipated, he had amazed the holders of colonial commission by his considerate treatment of them and their troops “We are looked upon in quite another light by all the officers,” George Mercer had written Washington, “than we were by General Braddock or Mr Orme, and do our duty equally without any partiality or particular notice taken of one more than the other .” Incredibly, the regular officers had made no demand “for necessaries for their own troops in which ours are not joined. ” 63 This was due to Bouquet With like understanding, after he returned to Pennsylvania, he had begun to study new, more flexible tactics for forest fighting by British regulars. 64 He was as careful as he was skillful and on matters he did not understand, such as dealings with the Indians, he sought the best counsel he could get. 65
By temperament as by training, Bouquet probably was second only to Forbes among all the soldiers m America from whom Washington could learn.
For the consideration of Colonel Bouquet, the Virginian had prepared in advance seven groups of questions concernmg equipment, the garrisoning of Fort Loudoun and the March to Wills Creek. To all of these he received clear and immediate answers in an English at least as good as that of the average British or colonial officer of his rank. 6662 Cf Fisher in 3 Penn Mag , 125 “Few English commanders lived so long in America so
free from censure of the people ”
63 Letter of Aug 17, 1757, 2 Hamilton, 176, 1776* Branch m 52 Penn Mag , 45, Joseph Shippen to his father, Aug 15, 1758, Shippen
Papers See also Edward Hutton, Henry Bouquet , 2 Fortesque, Bntish Army , 334 An ex-
cellent bibliography is attached to S M Pargellis’s article on Bouquet in DAB65 Cf Bouquet to Forbes, May 22, 1758 “As I do not understand Indian affairs I have
taken George McGee m my service to take over this** (Br Mus Add MS 21640, p 36)66 Washington’s questions are in Br Mus Add MS 21658, Bouquet’s reply is m 8 Papers
of G W, LCGEORGE WASHINGTON3M
At the conference where Washington became acquainted with this remarkable man, Bouquet did not give the Virginia troops their marching orders, but, instead left the duty to St. Clair. That officer prepared instructions in detail and handed them to Washington, 67 who returned that evening to Winchester. 68 The usual eleventh-hour difficulties were encountered but by hard, vexatious work on Washington’s part, they finally were overcome. 60On the 24th of June, Washington left Winchester for Fort Cumberland with five Companies of the First Virginia and a Company of artificers of the Second — close to 600 men, and probably more than George ever had commanded on the road in a single body. 70
It was not a fast or a flawlessly managed march. The road had been almost impassable until repaired three days before the start, 71 three bullocks were lost as they were being driven with the column, at Pearsall’s, for reasons with which Washington was unacquainted, he had to take over a convoy of wagons loaded with fodder. 72Not until the afternoon of July 2 did the disgusted Virginian, his tired men and his twenty-eight wagons 73 reach Fort Cumberland “My march,” the Colonel had to report, “by bad teams and bad roads was much delayed” 74 — not an auspicious introduction to the command of Colonel Bouquet.By that time, the last of Forbes’s artillery and supply ships had reached Philadelphia, 75 his cannon had been put in the road to catch up with his infantry, 76 he himself was on his way to Carlisle, where he was to arrive on the 4th. 77 The heads of his three columns then were at that post, at Raystown, 78 and at Fort Cumberland His force was to number close to 7000, of whom about 1400 were Scotch Highlanders. 79
Operations were to be different from Braddock’s in this fundamental.
Braddock had established an advance base at Cumberland and had undertaken to proceed straight from that point, with his wagon tram, to Fort DuQuesne Forbes intended to establish successive depots as he
67 2 Hamilton , 320-21 88 2 G W, 210^2 G W , 221, 223, 227 For complaints over the small worth of the men left to guard
Fort Loudoun and the country South of Winchester, see 2 Hamilton , 335, 337, 340, 373 The
appearance of Indians between Cresap’s and Fort Cumberland was reported by Cresap to
Bouquet, June 19, 1758TO a G W„ 227 71 2 G W , 22172 Ibid t 224-27 73 Ibid , 2287 *Ibid , 227 75 Forbes , 109, 1137 ®Ibid , 126 77 Ibid , 126, 12878 The present Bedford, in the County of that name, thirty miles North and slightly East of
Fort Cumberland
Forbes, xi
STILL ANOTHER NEW COMMANDER 315advanced Braddock had attempted a long jump, Forbes was to make a number of hops Washington had seen the one method result in failure, he now was to share m a test of the other An interesting opportunity was about to open for him — if he was of the temper to make the most of it.Publication date 1913
Page 365
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 con-
vinced 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. .
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