Cadwallader Colden (11 page)

Sir Charles Hardy, the recently appointed governor of New York arrived in New York City on September 2, 1755. As a part of Hardy's commission, Delancey was added to the Council. Although Hardy had been named governor of Newfoundland in
1744, he never visited the island in that capacity. He was a naval officer with no tested administrative experience. He, therefore, relied heavily on Delancey. Correspondence between Colden and Hardy focused on the protection of the frontiers and the building of blockhouses to abort attacks.
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In 1756, the incursions by hostile Indians in Ulster and Orange Counties evoked an article in the
Gazette
censuring the Assembly. Initially, Colden was suspected of being the author, but the article was traced to a local Episcopal clergyman. A bill for raising and funding a militia was proposed. It was opposed by Colden, who deemed it insufficient. The Council sided with Colden, and the bill was consequently modified and passed.
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James Alexander, Colden's closest friend, exposed himself to inclement weather to attend the vote. He became ill and died shortly thereafter. On July 2, 1757, Hardy ended his governorship and hoisted his flag as rear admiral of the Blue in support of an expedition against Louisbourg. The administration of the province of New York reverted to Delancey.

The decade that extended from 1749 to 1758, for New Yorkers, was dominated by concern related to aggression and aggrandizement by the French Canadians and their Indian allies. The earlier years of that period were characterized by a sense of anticipation and a realization of the need to take protective measures. During the latter years, the soil of the province of New York was bloodied as the major site of what came to be known as the French and Indian War.

From the early part of the seventeenth century both England and France had staked claims on the North American continent. In 1713, as part of the Treaty of Utrecht, France ceded to Great Britain claims to the Hudson's Bay Company in Rupert's Land, Newfoundland, and Acadia. France was also to recognize British control over the Iroquois while trade with the more western Indians was open to traders of both nations. France retained control of
Ile Saint Jean (Prince Edward Island) and Ile Royale (Cape Breton Island). In 1748, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was confirmed by the Treaty of Utrecht.

The French had a long history of establishing forts to protect their commercial interests. In 1672, they built a fort on the north shore of the east entrance of Lake Ontario. A year later, they built a fort at Michilimackinac, where Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior come together. In 1684, a fort was erected at Niagara on the strait between Lakes Erie and Ontario. In 1732, they built a modern fort at Louisbourg on Cape Breton, subsequently built forts in Acadia and at Crown Point on Lake Champlain.

The British countered with construction of Fort Oswego on the southeastern shore of Lake Ontario in 1727 and the establishment of Halifax to rival Louisbourg in 1749. British claims and large land grants were extended into the Ohio Valley. As a consequence, in 1749 troops were sent forth from Montreal to the shores of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers demanding that the British retreat to the eastern slopes of the Appalachian Mountains.

In a long letter written in August 1751, Colden summarized the state of Indian affairs for Governor Clinton.
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Colden detailed the events that had taken place since Clinton's initial engagement with the leadership of the Six Nations. The commissioners for Indian affairs had become totally ineffective and the conduct of Indian affairs was delegated to the leadership of Colonel William Johnson, who had been adopted as a member of the Iroquois and was highly regarded by them. Johnson resigned his governmental position because he had received insufficient funds to gain influence and was required to expend his own monies. When skirmishes with Indians allied with the French broke out, Johnson advanced his own funds to supply the garrison at Fort Oswego. The Assembly refused to advance funds or reimburse Johnson. The Indians allied with the British felt cheated by the British traders.

In the same letter, Colden suggested that the provincials build
a fort on the northeastern shore of Lake Ontario near the origin of the St. Lawrence River to counterbalance Fort Frontenac, which the French had recently built. He indicated that measures should be taken against the French fort at Crown Point in order to stop trade between Albany and Canada. He also championed the construction of a fort between Albany and Wood Creek on the route from Albany to Canada.

The onset of the French and Indian War was specifically related to the interests of the Virginia colony in the Ohio Valley. When Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia learned that the French had recently built two forts near the south shore of Lake Erie and had stationed 1,500 regular troops in the area, on October 31, 1753, he dispatched George Washington, a twenty-one-year-old colonel in the Virginia militia, on a mission to insist that the French depart. During his journey of more than 500 miles, Washington surveyed the fork of the Ohio River, where the Allegheny River and Monongahela River joined, and suggested that it provided the optimal site for a fort in the region.

On February 17, 1754, work was begun on a redoubt, which was to become Fort Prince George, in honor of the heir to the British throne. On April 18, Captain Pierre de Contrecoeur, in command of 500 troops, took possession of the barely begun building. The French completed the structure and named it Fort Duquesne. At the same time Washington led troops from Virginia to the area where he learned of the surrender. Washington encamped at Great Meadows, about sixty-five miles southwest of the forks of the Ohio. On May 28, he attacked a small group of French troops, that was also camped in the area. The French later maintained that Washington's action initiated the war.
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Anticipating reprisals, Washington erected a stockade at Great Meadows and named it Fort Necessity. On July 3, seven hundred French troops and over 350 Indians attacked the fort, and four hours later, Washington surrendered. He and his small contingent were allowed to return home.

At the same time that Washington was active in the Ohio Valley, diplomatic activity occurred in the northeastern colonies. Prior to opening of a proposed convention, Colden wrote Franklin his “Remarks on short hints to a Scheme for uniting the Northern Colonies.”
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He questioned whether, when the colonies were united for defense, it should be accomplished by an act of Parliament or by the assemblies. He also queried whether the designated governor general would have legislative authority and suggested that the grand council should be elected for a long tenure.

A convention for the adoption of a Plan of Union of the Colonies met at the courthouse in Albany on July 10, 1754. Representatives of all of the colonies, with the exception of Georgia and Delaware, attended. James Delancey, as the only governor in attendance, presided. Franklin reported a draft of a proposal that would establish a president general and a grand council of forty-eight members from the eleven colonies represented.
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Every representative at the convention consented to the plan with the exception of Delancey, who did not express opposition.
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In spite of Franklin‘s historic cartoon “Join or Die,” the first political cartoon published in America (
fig. 8
), the convention failed to accomplish any of its goals.

In February 1755, British Major General Edward Braddock arrived in Virginia with two regiments and presented plans for a three-pronged attack to contain the French. The Massachusetts force was to refurbish Fort Oswego and then capture Fort Niagara. Colonel William Johnson, with New York troops and Iroquois allies, were to capture Fort Frederick at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. Braddock would achieve the surrender of Fort Duquesne and gain control of the Ohio Valley. Unrelated to Braddock's plan, in June, the Massachusetts militia, with naval support, took possession of Fort Beausejour in French Acadia and renamed the area Nova Scotia.

Shortly thereafter, Braddock embarked on his assault on Fort Duquesne. On July 8 the British were routed. Braddock was mortally wounded, and 907 of 1,459 British troops were killed or wounded.
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Washington, who participated as a volunteer without rank or pay, had two horses shot from under him. Although several bullets pierced his clothing, he was not wounded.
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Despite knowledge of that defeat, the Massachusetts troops proceeded to Fort Oswego and secured the post but General Shirley elected to defer an attack on Fort Niagara.

Figure 8. “Join or Die” cartoon by Benjamin Franklin. First published in the Philadelphia
Gazette
May 9, 1754. The first political cartoon published in America.

New York occupied center stage in the conflict for two years. History had sensitized the citizens. On November 28, 1745, a party of French and Indians destroyed the community of over one hundred individuals at Saratoga; the fort was later abandoned in 1747. In 1748, skirmishes occurred in the vicinity of Schenectady where several cabins were destroyed. In 1755, William Johnson, an Irish immigrant who became the most influential individual in maintaining the alliance between the New York colonials and the Iroquois, was assigned the leadership of a proposed attack on Fort Frederick at Crown Point.

In July, as the troops proceeded toward the southern shore of Lac Saint Sacrament, they constructed a fort, which would ultimately be named Fort Edward. When Johnson's contingent reached the lake, he renamed it Lake George to honor the king, and built Fort William Henry to protect the area. On September 8, the battle that pitted Johnson's troops against a French force led by Commander-in-Chief Marshall Dieskau resulted in a stirring victory for the British and included the capture of the French commander.

On March 18, 1756, Great Britain formally declared war on France, and France reciprocated the next day. A string of forts were built between Albany and Lake Ontario. Fort Williams was constructed on the shore of the Mohawk River near Wood Creek; Fort Bull was built four miles to the west; a blockhouse erected at the east end of Lake Oneida; Fort Herkimer was built at German Flats. The fort at Oswego was reinforced by the Massachusetts militia. The French destroyed Fort Bull, and led by the new Commander-in-Chief Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, captured Fort Oswego on August 14, taking 1,600 prisoners.
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Toward the end of that year, Colden reported that about sixteen miles from Coldengham Indians burned several homes and murdered the inhabitants.
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In March 1757, the British repulsed four French attacks on Fort William Henry. Five months later, the French, led by Montcalm, forced the fort to capitulate. In spite of Montcalm's attempt to control his Indian allies, they went on a rampage wildly assaulting and killing the occupants of the fort who had surrendered. At the time the battle was about to take place, Cadwallader Colden received a detailed letter from his son Alexander in Albany. Alexander informed his father of the investment of Fort Edward by the French and the large number of French troops that had taken up their battle positions at Fort William Henry.
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Subsequent
letters written from son to father over the ensuing weeks detailed the travesty that occurred at Fort William Henry.
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In September of that year, Colden informed Delancey that, since the frontiers of Ulster and Orange Counties were enforced with the militia after the last incursion by Indians allied with the French, the local farmers had returned to their homes.
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Two months later, he indicated to the lieutenant governor that he was proceeding to erect a series of blockhouses, each to be manned by twenty men, to provide defense in the vicinity of Coldengham. In that letter Colden reported that he was moving with his wife and daughters to Flushing on Long Island.
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Shortly after he moved, “a large party of French & Indians Surprised Burnetsfield, a fine Village of Germans on the Mohawk river…. The Village is burnt & destroyed, about 12 persons killed, and above 200 carried away prisoners.”
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The year 1758 marked the beginning of the turn in the tide of battle to the advantage of the British. William Pitt the Elder, who had initially been appointed secretary of state on December 4, 1756, and dismissed four months later, was reappointed on June 29, 1757. He intensified British activity in North America, increasing the supplies and allocation of troops. On July 26, after forty-nine days of bombardment, the French fort at Louisbourg on Cape Breton capitulated. The two other British goals for that year were the capture of Ticonderoga and Fort Duquesne.

On July 8, the British attacked Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga, but suffered a major defeat. Colden provided his constant correspondent, Collinson, with a detailed account of the event. In his letter, he indicated that his close friend Major John Rutherfurd of the Royal Americans lost his life during battle.
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To compensate for that defeat, Fort Stanwix was built on the shore of the Mohawk River near Schenectady, and Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario was captured on August 27. Fort Frontenac had provided the main source of supplies for both Forts Niagara and Duquesne.
In the course of the defeat of the French at Fort Frontenac, the entire French fleet on Lake Ontario was captured. In September the battle for Fort Duquesne was begun under the leadership of Brigadier General Forbes. On November 24, the French dismantled, burned, and abandoned the fort. Two days later, the fortress was renamed Fort Pitt.