FORT DUQUESNE.
Dinwiddie and Washington ? Brigadier Forbes ? His Army ? Conflicting Views ? Difficulties ? Illness of Forbes ? His Sufferings ? His Fortitude1 ? His Difference with Washington ? Sir John Sinclair ? Troublesome Allies ? Scouting2 Parties ? Boasts of Vaudreuil ? Forbes and the Indians ? Mission of Christian3 Frederic Post ? Council of Peace ? Second Mission of Post ? Defeat of Grant ? Distress4 of Forbes ? Dark Prospects5 ? Advance of the Army ? Capture of the French Fort ? The Slain6 of Braddock's Field ? Death of Forbes.
During the last year Loudon, filled with vain schemes against Louisbourg, had left the French scalping-parties to their work of havoc7 on the western borders. In Virginia Washington still toiled8 at his hopeless task of defending with a single regiment9 a forest frontier of more than three hundred miles; and in Pennsylvania the Assembly thought more of quarrelling with their governor than of protecting the tormented10 settlers. Fort Duquesne, the source of all the evil, was left undisturbed. In vain Washington urged the futility11 of defensive12 war, and the necessity of attacking the enemy in his stronghold. His position, trying at the best, was made more so by the behavior of Dinwiddie. That crusty Scotchman had conceived a dislike to 132
V2 him, and sometimes treated him in a manner that must have been unspeakably galling14 to the proud and passionate15 young man, who nevertheless, unconquerable in his sense of public duty, curbed16 himself to patience, or the semblance17 of it.
Dinwiddie was now gone, and a new governor had taken his place. The conduct of the war, too, had changed, and in the plans of Pitt the capture of Fort Duquesne held an important place. Brigadier John Forbes was charged with it. He was a Scotch13 veteran, forty-eight years of age, who had begun life as a student of medicine, and who ended it as an able and faithful soldier. Though a well-bred man of the world, his tastes were simple; he detested18 ceremony, and dealt frankly19 and plainly with the colonists20, who both respected and liked him. In April he was in Philadelphia waiting for his army, which as yet had no existence; for the provincials21 were not enlisted23, and an expected battalion24 of Highlanders had not arrived. It was the end of June before they were all on the march; and meanwhile the General was attacked with a painful and dangerous malady26, which would have totally disabled a less resolute27 man.
His force consisted of provincials from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina, with twelve hundred Highlanders of Montgomery's regiment and a detachment of Royal Americans, amounting in all, with wagoners and camp followers28, to between six and seven thousand men. The Royal American regiment was a new corps29 raised, in the colonies, largely from among the Germans of 133
V2 Pennsylvania. Its officers were from Europe; and conspicuous30 among them was Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Bouquet31, a brave and accomplished32 Swiss, who commanded one of the four battalions33 of which the regiment was composed. Early in July he was encamped with the advance-guard at the hamlet of Raystown, now the town of Bedford, among the eastern heights of the Alleghanies. Here his tents were pitched in an opening of the forest by the banks of a small stream; and Virginians in hunting-shirts, Highlanders in kilt and plaid, and Royal Americans in regulation scarlet34, labored35 at throwing up intrenchments and palisades, while around stood the silent mountains in their mantles38 of green.
Now rose the question whether the army should proceed in a direct course to Fort Duquesne, hewing39 a new road through the forest, or march thirty-four miles to Fort Cumberland, and thence follow the road made by Braddock. It was the interest of Pennsylvania that Forbes should choose the former route, and of Virginia that he should choose the latter. The Old Dominion41 did not wish to see a highway cut for her rival to those rich lands of the Ohio which she called her own. Washington, who was then at Fort Cumberland with a part of his regiment, was earnest for the old road; and in an interview with Bouquet midway between that place and Raystown, he spared no effort to bring him to the same opinion. But the quartermaster-general, Sir John Sinclair, who was supposed to know the country, had advised the Pennsylvania route; and both Bouquet and Forbes were resolved to take it. 134
V2 It was shorter, and when once made would furnish readier and more abundant supplies of food and forage42; but to make it would consume a vast amount of time and labor36. Washington foretold43 the ruin of the expedition unless it took Braddock's road. Ardent44 Virginian as he was, there is no cause to believe that his decision was based on any but military reasons; but Forbes thought otherwise, and found great fault with him. Bouquet did him more justice. "Colonel Washington," he writes to the General, "is filled with a sincere zeal46 to aid the expedition, and is ready to march with equal activity by whatever way you choose."
The fate of Braddock had impressed itself on all the army, and inspired a caution that was but too much needed; since, except Washington's men and a few others among the provincials, the whole, from general to drummer-boy, were total strangers to that insidious47 warfare48 of the forest in which their enemies, red and white, had no rival. Instead of marching, like Braddock, at one stretch for Fort Duquesne, burdened with a long and cumbrous baggage-train, it was the plan of Forbes to push on by slow stages, establishing fortified50 magazines as he went, and at last, when within easy distance of the fort, to advance upon it with all his force, as little impeded51 as possible with wagons52 and pack-horses. He bore no likeness53 to his predecessor54, except in determined55 resolution, and he did not hesitate to embrace military heresies56 which would have driven Braddock to fury. To Bouquet, in whom he placed a well-merited trust, he wrote, 135
V2 "I have been long in your opinion of equipping numbers of our men like the savages58, and I fancy Colonel Burd, of Virginia, has most of his best people equipped in that manner. In this country we must learn the art of war from enemy Indians, or anybody else who has seen it carried on here."
His provincials displeased59 him, not without reason; for the greater part were but the crudest material for an army, unruly, and recalcitrant60 to discipline. Some of them came to the rendezvous61 at Carlisle with old province muskets62, the locks tied on with a string; others brought fowling-pieces of their own, and others carried nothing but walking-sticks; while many had never fired a gun in their lives. [648] Forbes reported to Pitt that their officers, except a few in the higher ranks, were "an extremely bad collection of broken inn-keepers, horse-jockeys, and Indian traders;" nor is he more flattering towards the men, though as to some of them he afterwards changed his mind. [649]
[648] Correspondence of Forbes and Bouquet, July, August, 1758.
[649] Forbes to Pitt, 6 Sept. 1758.
While Bouquet was with the advance at Raystown, Forbes was still in Philadelphia, trying to bring the army into shape, and collecting provisions, horses, and wagons; much vexed64 meantime by the Assembly, whose tedious disputes about taxing the proprietaries65 greatly obstructed66 the service. "No sergeant67 or quartermaster of a regiment," he says, "is obliged to look into more details than I am; and if I did not see to everything myself, we should never get out of this town." July had 136
V2 begun before he could reach the frontier village of Carlisle, where he found everything in confusion. After restoring some order, he wrote to Bouquet: "I have been and still am but poorly, with a cursed flux68, but shall move day after to-morrow." He was doomed69 to disappointment; and it was not till the ninth of August that he sent another letter from the same place to the same military friend. "I am now able to write after three weeks of a most violent and tormenting70 distemper, which, thank God, seems now much abated71 as to pain, but has left me as weak as a new-born infant. However, I hope to have strength enough to set out from this place on Friday next." The disease was an inflammation of the stomach and other vital organs; and when he should have been in bed, with complete repose72 of body and mind, he was racked continually with the toils73 and worries of a most arduous74 campaign.
He left Carlisle on the eleventh, carried on a kind of litter made of a hurdle75 slung76 between two horses; and two days later he wrote from Shippensburg: "My journey here from Carlisle raised my disorder77 and pains to so intolerable a degree that I was obliged to stop, and may not get away for a day or two." Again, on the eighteenth: "I am better, and partly free from the excruciating pain I suffered; but still so weak that I can scarce bear motion." He lay helpless at Shippensburg till September was well advanced. On the second he says: "I really cannot describe how I have suffered both in body and mind of late, and the relapses 137
V2 have been worse as the disappointment was greater;" and on the fourth, still writing to Bouquet, who in the camp at Raystown was struggling with many tribulations78: "I am sorry you have met with so many cross accidents to vex63 you, and have such a parcel of scoundrels as the provincials to work with; mais le vin est tiré, and you must drop a little of the gentleman and treat them as they deserve. Seal and send off the enclosed despatch79 to Sir John by some sure hand. He is a very odd man, and I am sorry it has been my fate to have any concern with him. I am afraid our army will not admit of division, lest one half meet with a check; therefore I would consult Colonel Washington, though perhaps not follow his advice, as his behavior about the roads was noways like a soldier. I thank my good cousin for his letter, and have only to say that I have all my life been subject to err80; but I now reform, as I go to bed at eight at night, if able to sit up so late."
Nobody can read the letters of Washington at this time without feeling that the imputations of Forbes were unjust, and that here, as elsewhere, his ruling motive81 was the public good. [650] Forbes himself, seeing the rugged82 and difficult nature of the country, began to doubt whether after all he had not better have chosen the old road of Braddock. He soon had an interview with its chief advocates, 138
V2 the two Virginia colonels, Washington and Burd, and reported the result to Bouquet, adding: "I told them that, whatever they thought, I had acted on the best information to be had, and could safely say for myself, and believed I might answer for you, that the good of the service was all we had at heart, not valuing provincial22 interests, jealousies83, or suspicions one single twopence." It must be owned that, considering the slow and sure mode of advance which he had wisely adopted, the old soldier was probably right in his choice; since before the army could reach Fort Duquesne, the autumnal floods would have made the Youghiogany and the Monongahela impassable.
[650] Besides the printed letters, there is an autograph collection of his correspondence with Bouquet in 1758 (forming vol. 21,641, Additional Manuscripts, British Museum). Copies of the whole are before me.
The Sir John mentioned by Forbes was the quartermaster-general, Sir John Sinclair, who had gone forward with Virginians and other troops from the camp of Bouquet to make the road over the main range of the Alleghanies, whence he sent back the following memorandum84 of his requirements: "Pickaxes, crows, and shovels85; likewise more whiskey. Send me the newspapers, and tell my black to send me a candlestick and half a loaf of sugar." He was extremely inefficient86; and Forbes, out of all patience with him, wrote confidentially87 to Bouquet that his only talent was for throwing everything into confusion. Yet he found fault with everybody else, and would discharge volleys of oaths at all who met his disapproval88. From this cause or some other, Lieutenant-Colonel Stephen, of the Virginians, told him that he would break his sword rather than be longer under his 139
V2 orders. "As I had not sufficient strength," says Sinclair, "to take him by the neck from among his own men, I was obliged to let him have his own way, that I might not be the occasion of bloodshed." He succeeded at last in arresting him, and Major Lewis, of the same regiment, took his place.
The aid of Indians as scouts89 and skirmishers was of the last importance to an army so weak in the arts of woodcraft, and efforts were made to engage the services of the friendly Cherokees and Catawbas, many of whom came to the camp, where their caprice, insolence90, and rapacity91 tried to the utmost the patience of the commanders. That of Sir John Sinclair had already been overcome by his dealings with the provincial authorities; and he wrote in good French, at the tail of a letter to the Swiss colonel: "Adieu, my dear Bouquet. The greatest curse that our Lord can pronounce against the worst of sinners is to give them business to do with provincial commissioners92 and friendly Indians." A band of sixty warriors93 told Colonel Burd that they would join the army on condition that it went by Braddock's road. "This," wrote Forbes, on hearing of the proposal, "is a new system of military discipline truly, and shows that my good friend Burd is either made a cat's-foot of himself, or little knows me if he imagines that sixty scoundrels are to direct me in my measures." [651] Bouquet, with a pliant95 tact96 rarely seen in the born Briton, took great pains to please these troublesome allies, 140
V2 and went so far as to adopt one of them as his son. [652] A considerable number joined the army; but they nearly all went off when the stock of presents provided for them was exhausted97.
[651] The above extracts are from the Bouquet and Haldimand Papers, British Museum.
[652] Bouquet to Forbes, 3 June, 1758.
Forbes was in total ignorance of the strength and movements of the enemy. The Indians reported their numbers to be at least equal to his own; but nothing could be learned from them with certainty, by reason of their inveterate98 habit of lying. Several scouting-parties of whites were therefore sent forward, of which the most successful was that of a young Virginian officer, accompanied by a sergeant and five Indians. At a little distance from the French fort, the Indians stopped to paint themselves and practise incantations. The chief warrior94 of the party then took certain charms from an otter-skin bag and tied them about the necks of the other Indians. On that of the officer he hung the otter-skin itself; while to the sergeant he gave a small packet of paint from the same mystic receptacle. "He told us," reports the officer, "that none of us could be shot, for those things would turn the balls from us; and then shook hands with us, and told us to go and fight like men." Thus armed against fate, they mounted the high ground afterwards called Grant's Hill, where, covered by trees and bushes, they had a good view of the fort, and saw plainly that the reports of the French force were greatly exaggerated. [653]
[653] Journal of a Reconnoitring Party, Aug. 1758. The writer seems to have been Ensign Chew, of Washington's regiment.
141
V2 Meanwhile Bouquet's men pushed on the heavy work of road-making up the main range of the Alleghanies, and, what proved far worse, the parallel mountain ridge99 of Laurel Hill, hewing, digging, blasting, laying fascines and gabions to support the track along the sides of steep declivities, or worming their way like moles101 through the jungle of swamp and forest. Forbes described the country to Pitt as an "immense uninhabited wilderness102, overgrown everywhere with trees and brushwood, so that nowhere can one see twenty yards." In truth, as far as eye or mind could reach, a prodigious103 forest vegetation spread its impervious104 canopy105 over hill, valley, and plain, and wrapped the stern and awful waste in the shadows of the tomb.
Having secured his magazines at Raystown, and built a fort there named Fort Bedford, Bouquet made a forward movement of some forty miles, crossed the main Alleghany and Laurel Hill, and, taking post on a stream called Loyalhannon Creek106, began another depot107 of supplies as a base for the final advance on Fort Duquesne, which was scarcely fifty miles distant.
Vaudreuil had learned from prisoners the march of Forbes, and, with his usual egotism, announced to the Colonial Minister what he had done in consequence. "I have provided for the safety for Fort Duquesne." "I have sent reinforcements to M. de Ligneris, who commands there." "I have done the impossible to supply him with provisions, and I am now sending them in abundance, in order that 142
V2 the troops I may perhaps have occasion to send to drive off the English may not be delayed." "A stronger fort is needed on the Ohio; but I cannot build one till after the peace; then I will take care to build such a one as will thenceforth keep the English out of that country." Some weeks later he was less confident, and very anxious for news from Ligneris. He says that he has sent him all the succors108 he could, and ordered troops to go to his aid from Niagara, Detroit, and Illinois, as well as the militia109 of Detroit, with the Indians there and elsewhere in the West,—Hurons, Ottawas, Pottawattamies, Miamis, and other tribes. What he fears is that the English will not attack the fort till all these Indians have grown tired of waiting, and have gone home again. [654] This was precisely110 the intention of Forbes, and the chief object of his long delays.
[654] Vaudreuil au Ministre, Juillet, Ao?t, Octobre 1758.
He had another good reason for making no haste. There was hope that the Delawares and Shawanoes, who lived within easy reach of Fort Duquesne, and who for the past three years had spread havoc throughout the English border, might now be won over from the French alliance. Forbes wrote to Bouquet from Shippensburg: "After many intrigues111 with Quakers, the Provincial Commissioners, the Governor, etc., and by the downright bullying112 of Sir William Johnson, I hope I have now brought about a general convention of the Indians." [655] The convention was to include the Five 143
V2 Nations, the Delawares, the Shawanoes, and other tribes, who had accepted wampum belts of invitation, and promised to meet the Governor and Commissioners of the various provinces at the town of Easton, before the middle of September. This seeming miracle was wrought113 by several causes. The Indians in the French interest, always greedy for presents, had not of late got enough to satisfy them. Many of those destined114 for them had been taken on the way from France by British cruisers, and the rest had passed through the hands of official knaves115, who sold the greater part for their own profit. Again, the goods supplied by French fur-traders were few and dear; and the Indians remembered with regret the abundance and comparative cheapness of those they had from the English before the war. At the same time it was reported among them that a British army was marching to the Ohio strong enough to drive out the French from all that country; and the Delawares and Shawanoes of the West began to waver in their attachment116 to the falling cause. The eastern Delawares, living at Wyoming and elsewhere on the upper Susquehanna, had made their peace with the English in the summer before; and their great chief, Teedyuscung, thinking it for his interest that the tribes of the Ohio should follow his example, sent them wampum belts, inviting117 them to lay down the hatchet118. The Five Nations, with Johnson at one end of the Confederacy and Joncaire at the other,—the one cajoling them in behalf of England, and the other in behalf of 144
V2 France,—were still divided in counsel; but even among the Senecas, the tribe most under Joncaire's influence, there was a party so far inclined to England that, like the Delaware chief, they sent wampum to the Ohio, inviting peace. But the influence most potent119 in reclaiming120 the warriors of the West was of a different kind. Christian Frederic Post, a member of the Moravian brotherhood121, had been sent at the instance of Forbes as an envoy122 to the hostile tribes from the Governor and Council of Pennsylvania. He spoke123 the Delaware language, knew the Indians well, had lived among them, had married a converted squaw, and, by his simplicity124 of character, directness, and perfect honesty, gained their full confidence. He now accepted his terrible mission, and calmly prepared to place himself in the clutches of the tiger. He was a plain German, upheld by a sense of duty and a single-hearted trust in God; alone, with no great disciplined organization to impel125 and support him, and no visions and illusions such as kindled126 and sustained the splendid heroism127 of the early Jesuit martyrs128. Yet his errand was no whit49 less perilous129. And here we may notice the contrast between the mission settlements of the Moravians in Pennsylvania and those which the later Jesuits and the Sulpitians had established at Caughnawaga, St. Francis, La Présentation, and other places. The Moravians were apostles of peace, and they succeeded to a surprising degree in weaning their converts from their ferocious130 instincts and warlike habits; while the Mission Indians of Canada 145
V2 retained all their native fierceness, and were systematically131 impelled132 to use their tomahawks against the enemies of the Church. Their wigwams were hung with scalps, male and female, adult and infant; and these so-called missions were but nests of baptized savages, who wore the crucifix instead of the medicine-bag, and were encouraged by the Government for purposes of war. [656]
[655] Forbes to Bouquet, 18 Aug. 1758.
[656] Of the Hurons of the mission of Lorette, Bougainville says: "Ils sont toujours sauvages autant que ceux qui sont les moins apprivoisés." And yet they had been converts under Jesuit control for more than four generations. The case was no better at the other missions; and at St. Francis it seems to have been worse.
The Moravian envoy made his way to the Delaware town of Kushkushkee, on Beaver134 Creek, northwest of Fort Duquesne, where the three chiefs known as King Beaver, Shingas, and Delaware George received him kindly135, and conducted him to another town on the same stream. Here his reception was different. A crowd of warriors, their faces distorted with rage, surrounded him, brandishing136 knives and threatening to kill him; but others took his part, and, order being at last restored, he read them his message from the Governor, which seemed to please them. They insisted, however, that he should go with them to Fort Duquesne, in order that the Indians assembled there might hear it also. Against this dangerous proposal he protested in vain. On arriving near the fort, the French demanded that he should be given up to them, and, being refused, offered a great reward for his scalp; on which his friends advised him to keep close by the camp-fire, as 146
V2 parties were out with intent to kill him. "Accordingly," says Post, "I stuck to the fire as if I had been chained there. On the next day the Indians, with a great many French officers, came out to hear what I had to say. The officers brought with them a table, pens, ink, and paper. I spoke in the midst of them with a free conscience, and perceived by their looks that they were not pleased with what I said." The substance of his message was an invitation to the Indians to renew the old chain of friendship, joined with a warning that an English army was on its way to drive off the French, and that they would do well to stand neutral.
He addressed an audience filled with an inordinate137 sense of their own power and importance, believing themselves greater and braver than either of the European nations, and yet deeply jealous of both. "We have heard," they said, "that the French and English mean to kill all the Indians and divide the land among themselves." And on this string they harped138 continually. If they had known their true interest, they would have made no peace with the English, but would have united as one man to form a barrier of fire against their farther progress; for the West in English hands meant farms, villages, cities, the ruin of the forest, the extermination139 of the game, and the expulsion of those who lived on it; while the West in French hands meant but scattered140 posts of war and trade, with the native tribes cherished as indispensable allies.
147
V2 After waiting some days, the three tribes of the Delawares met in council, and made their answer to the message brought by Post. It was worthy141 of a proud and warlike race, and was to the effect that since their brothers of Pennsylvania wished to renew the old peace-chain, they on their part were willing to do so, provided that the wampum belt should be sent them in the name, not of Pennsylvania alone, but of the rest of the provinces also.
Having now accomplished his errand, Post wished to return home; but the Indians were seized with an access of distrust, and would not let him go. This jealousy142 redoubled when they saw him writing in his notebook. "It is a troublesome cross and heavy yoke143 to draw this people," he says; "they can punish and squeeze a body's heart to the utmost. There came some together and examined me about what I had wrote yesterday. I told them I writ45 what was my duty. 'Brothers, I tell you I am not afraid of you. I have a good conscience before God and man. I tell you, brothers, there is a bad spirit in your hearts, which breeds jealousy, and will keep you ever in fear.'" At last they let him go; and, eluding144 a party that lay in wait for his scalp, he journeyed twelve days through the forest, and reached Fort Augusta with the report of his mission. [657]
[657] Journal of Christian Frederic Post, July, August, September, 1758.
As the result of it, a great convention of white men and red was held at Easton in October. 148
V2 The neighboring provinces had been asked to send their delegates, and some of them did so; while belts of invitation were sent to the Indians far and near. Sir William Johnson, for reasons best known to himself, at first opposed the plan; but was afterwards led to favor it and to induce tribes under his influence to join in the grand pacification145. The Five Nations, with the smaller tribes lately admitted into their confederacy, the Delawares of the Susquehanna, the Mohegans, and several kindred bands, all had their representatives at the meeting. The conferences lasted nineteen days, with the inevitable146 formalities of such occasions, and the weary repetition of conventional metaphors147 and long-winded speeches. At length, every difficulty being settled, the Governor of Pennsylvania, in behalf of all the English, rose with a wampum belt in his hand, and addressed the tawny148 congregation thus: "By this belt we heal your wounds; we remove your grief; we take the hatchet out of your heads; we make a hole in the earth, and bury it so deep that nobody can dig it up again." Then, laying the first belt before them, he took another, very large, made of white wampum beads149, in token of peace: "By this belt we renew all our treaties; we brighten the chain of friendship; we put fresh earth to the roots of the tree of peace, that it may bear up against every storm, and live and flourish while the sun shines and the rivers run." And he gave them the belt with the request that they would send it to their friends and allies, and invite 149
V2 them to take hold also of the chain of friendship. Accordingly all present agreed on a joint150 message of peace to the tribes of the Ohio. [658]
[658] Minutes of Conferences at Easton, October, 1758.
Frederic Post, with several white and Indian companions, was chosen to bear it. A small escort of soldiers that attended him as far as the Alleghany was cut to pieces on its return by a band of the very warriors to whom he was carrying his offers of friendship; and other tenants151 of the grim and frowning wilderness met the invaders152 of their domain153 with inhospitable greetings. "The wolves made a terrible music this night," he writes at his first bivouac after leaving Loyalhannon. When he reached the Delaware towns his reception was ominous154. The young warriors said: "Anybody can see with half an eye that the English only mean to cheat us. Let us knock the messengers in the head." Some of them had attacked an English outpost, and had been repulsed155; hence, in the words of Post, "They were possessed156 with a murdering spirit, and with bloody157 vengeance158 were thirsty and drunk. I said: 'As God has stopped the mouths of the lions that they could not devour159 Daniel, so he will preserve us from their fury.'" The chiefs and elders were of a different mind from their fierce and capricious young men. They met during the evening in the log-house where Post and his party lodged160; and here a French officer presently arrived with a string of wampum from the commandant, inviting them to help him drive back the army of Forbes. 150
V2 The string was scornfully rejected. "They kicked it from one to another as if it were a snake. Captain Peter took a stick, and with it flung the string from one end of the room to the other, and said: 'Give it to the French captain; he boasted of his fighting, now let us see him fight. We have often ventured our lives for him, and got hardly a loaf of bread in return; and now he thinks we shall jump to serve him.' Then we saw the French captain mortified161 to the uttermost. He looked as pale as death. The Indians discoursed162 and joked till midnight, and the French captain sent messengers at midnight to Fort Duquesne."
There was a grand council, at which the French officer was present; and Post delivered the peace message from the council at Easton, along with another with which Forbes had charged him. "The messages pleased all the hearers except the French captain. He shook his head in bitter grief, and often changed countenance163. Isaac Still [an Indian] ran him down with great boldness, and pointed164 at him, saying, 'There he sits!' They all said: 'The French always deceived us!' pointing at the French captain; who, bowing down his head, turned quite pale, and could look no one in the face. All the Indians began to mock and laugh at him. He could hold it no longer, and went out." [659]
[659] Journal of Christian Frederic Post, October, November, 1758.
The overtures165 of peace were accepted, and the Delawares, Shawanoes, and Mingoes were no longer enemies of the English. The loss was the more 151
V2 disheartening to the French, since, some weeks before, they had gained a success which they hoped would confirm the adhesion of all their wavering allies. Major Grant, of the Highlanders, had urged Bouquet to send him to reconnoitre Fort Duquesne, capture prisoners, and strike a blow that would animate166 the assailants and discourage the assailed167. Bouquet, forgetting his usual prudence168, consented; and Grant set out from the camp at Loyalhannon with about eight hundred men, Highlanders, Royal Americans, and provincials. On the fourteenth of September, at two in the morning, he reached the top of the rising ground thenceforth called Grant's Hill, half a mile or more from the French fort. The forest and the darkness of the night hid him completely from the enemy. He ordered Major Lewis, of the Virginians, to take with him half the detachment, descend169 to the open plain before the fort, and attack the Indians known to be encamped there; after which he was to make a feigned170 retreat to the hill, where the rest of the troops were to lie in ambush171 and receive the pursuers. Lewis set out on his errand, while Grant waited anxiously for the result. Dawn was near, and all was silent; till at length Lewis returned, and incensed172 his commander by declaring that his men had lost their way in the dark woods, and fallen into such confusion that the attempt was impracticable. The morning twilight173 now began, but the country was wrapped in thick fog. Grant abandoned his first plan, and sent a few Highlanders into the 152
V2 cleared ground to burn a warehouse174 that had been seen there. He was convinced that the French and their Indians were too few to attack him, though their numbers in fact were far greater than his own. [660] Infatuated with this idea, and bent175 on taking prisoners, he had the incredible rashness to divide his force in such a way that the several parts could not support each other. Lewis, with two hundred men, was sent to guard the baggage two miles in the rear, where a company of Virginians, under Captain Bullitt, was already stationed. A hundred Pennsylvanians were posted far off on the right, towards the Alleghany, while Captain Mackenzie, with a detachment of Highlanders, was sent to the left, towards the Monongahela. Then, the fog having cleared a little, Captain Macdonald, with another company of Highlanders, was ordered into the open plain to reconnoitre the fort and make a plan of it, Grant himself remaining on the hill with a hundred of his own regiment and a company of Maryland men. "In order to put on a good countenance," he says, "and convince our men they had no reason to be afraid, I gave directions to our drums to beat the reveille. The troops were in an advantageous176 post, and I must own I thought we had nothing to fear." Macdonald 153
V2 was at this time on the plain, midway between the woods and the fort, and in full sight of it. The roll of the drums from the hill was answered by a burst of war-whoops, and the French came swarming177 out like hornets, many of them in their shirts, having just leaped from their beds. They all rushed upon Macdonald and his men, who met them with a volley that checked their advance; on which they surrounded him at a distance, and tried to cut off his retreat. The Highlanders broke through, and gained the woods, with the loss of their commander, who was shot dead. A crowd of French followed close, and soon put them to rout40, driving them and Mackenzie's party back to the hill where Grant was posted. Here there was a hot fight in the forest, lasting100 about three quarters of an hour. At length the force of numbers, the novelty of the situation, and the appalling178 yells of the Canadians and Indians, completely overcame the Highlanders, so intrepid179 in the ordinary situations of war. They broke away in a wild and disorderly retreat. "Fear," says Grant, "got the better of every other passion; and I trust I shall never again see such a panic among troops."
[660] Grant to Forbes, no date. "Les rapports180 sur le nombre des Fran?ais varient de 3,000 à 1,200." Bouquet à Forbes, 17 Sept. 1758. Bigot says that 3,500 daily rations133 were delivered at Fort Duquesne throughout the summer. Bigot au Ministre, 22 Nov. 1758. In October the number had fallen to 1,180, which included Indians. Ligneris à Vaudreuil, 18 Oct. 1758.
His only hope was in the detachment he had sent to the rear under Lewis to guard the baggage. But Lewis and his men, when they heard the firing in front, had left their post and pushed forward to help their comrades, taking a straight course through the forest; while Grant was retreating along the path by which he had advanced the night before. 154
V2 Thus they missed each other; and when Grant reached the spot where he expected to find Lewis, he saw to his dismay that nobody was there but Captain Bullitt and his company. He cried in despair that he was a ruined man; not without reason, for the whole body of French and Indians was upon him. Such of his men as held together were forced towards the Alleghany, and, writes Bouquet, "would probably have been cut to pieces but for Captain Bullitt and his Virginians, who kept up the fight against the whole French force till two thirds of them were killed." They were offered quarter, but refused it; and the survivors181 were driven at last into the Alleghany, where some were drowned, and others swam over and escaped. Grant was surrounded and captured, and Lewis, who presently came up, was also made prisoner, along with some of his men, after a stiff resistance. Thus ended this mismanaged affair, which cost the English two hundred and seventy three killed, wounded, and taken. The rest got back safe to Loyalhannon. [661]
[661] On Grant's defeat, Grant to Forbes, no date, a long and minute report, written while a prisoner. Bouquet à Forbes, 17 Sept. 1758. Forbes to Pitt, 20 Oct. 1758. Vaudreuil au Ministre, 1 Nov. 1758. Letters from camp in Boston Evening Post, Boston Weekly Advertiser, Boston News Letter, and other provincial newspapers of the time. List of Killed, Wounded, and Missing in the Action of Sept. 14. Gentleman's Magazine, XXIX. 173. Hazard's Pennsylvania Register, VIII. 141. Olden Time, I. 179. Vaudreuil, with characteristic exaggeration, represents all Grant's party as killed or taken, except a few who died of starvation. The returns show that 540 came back safe, out of 813.
The invalid182 General was deeply touched by this reverse, yet expressed himself with a moderation that does him honor. He wrote to Bouquet from Raystown: "Your letter of the seventeenth I read 155
V2 with no less surprise than concern, as I could not believe that such an attempt would have been made without my knowledge and concurrence183. The breaking in upon our fair and flattering hopes of success touches me most sensibly. There are two wounded Highland25 officers just now arrived, who give so lame184 an account of the matter that one can draw nothing from them, only that my friend Grant most certainly lost his wits, and by his thirst of fame brought on his own perdition, and ran great risk of ours." [662]
[662] Forbes to Bouquet, 23 Sept. 1758.
The French pushed their advantage with spirit. Early in October a large body of them hovered185 in the woods about the camp at Loyalhannon, drove back a detachment sent against them, approached under cover of the trees, and, though beaten off, withdrew deliberately186, after burying their dead and killing187 great numbers of horses and cattle. [663] But, with all their courageous188 energy, their position was desperate. The militia of Louisiana and the Illinois left the fort in November and went home; the Indians of Detroit and the Wabash would stay no longer; and, worse yet, the supplies destined for Fort Duquesne had been destroyed by Bradstreet at Fort Frontenac. Hence Ligneris was compelled by prospective189 starvation to dismiss the greater part of his force, and await the approach of his enemy with those that remained.
[663] Burd to Bouquet, 12 Oct. 1758. Bouquet à Forbes, 13 Oct. 1758. Forbes to Pitt, 20 Oct. 1758. Letter from Loyalhannon, 14 Oct., in Olden Time, I. 180. Letters from camp, in Boston News Letter. Ligneris à Vaudreuil, 18 Oct. 1758. Vaudreuil au Ministre, 20 Nov. 1758.
156
V2 His enemy was in a plight190 hardly better than his own. Autumnal rains, uncommonly191 heavy and persistent192, had ruined the newly-cut road. On the mountains the torrents193 tore it up, and in the valleys the wheels of the wagons and cannon194 churned it into soft mud. The horses, overworked and underfed, were fast breaking down. The forest had little food for them, and they were forced to drag their own oats and corn, as well as supplies for the army, through two hundred miles of wilderness. In the wretched condition of the road this was no longer possible. The magazines of provisions formed at Raystown and Loyalhannon to support the army on its forward march were emptied faster than they could be filled. Early in October the elements relented; the clouds broke, the sky was bright again, and the sun shone out in splendor195 on mountains radiant in the livery of autumn. A gleam of hope revisited the heart of Forbes. It was but a flattering illusion. The sullen196 clouds returned, and a chill, impenetrable veil of mist and rain hid the mountains and the trees. Dejected Nature wept and would not be comforted. Above, below, around, all was trickling197, oozing198, pattering, gushing199. In the miserable200 encampments the starved horses stood steaming in the rain, and the men crouched201, disgusted, under their dripping tents, while the drenched202 picket-guard in the neighboring forest paced dolefully through black mire203 and spongy mosses204. The rain turned to snow; the descending205 flakes206 clung to the many-colored foliage207, or melted from sight in the trench37 of half-liquid clay that 157
V2 was called a road. The wheels of the wagons sank in it to the hub, and to advance or retreat was alike impossible.
Forbes from his sick bed at Raystown wrote to Bouquet: "Your description of the road pierces me to the very soul." And a few days later to Pitt: "I am in the greatest distress, occasioned by rains unusual at this season, which have rendered the clay roads absolutely impracticable. If the weather does not favor, I shall be absolutely locked up in the mountains. I cannot form any judgment208 how I am to extricate209 myself, as everything depends on the weather, which snows and rains frightfully." There was no improvement. In the next week he writes to Bouquet: "These four days of constant rain have completely ruined the road. The wagons would cut it up more in an hour than we could repair in a week. I have written to General Abercromby, but have not had one scrape of a pen from him since the beginning of September; so it looks as if we were either forgot or left to our fate." [664] Wasted and tortured by disease, the perplexed210 commander was forced to burden himself with a multitude of details which would else have been neglected, and to do the work of commissary and quartermaster as well as general. "My time," he writes, "is disagreeably spent between business and medicine."
[664] Forbes to Bouquet, 15 Oct. 1758. Ibid., 25 Oct. 1758. Forbes to Pitt, 20 Oct. 1758.
In the beginning of November he was carried to Loyalhannon, where the whole army was then 158
V2 gathered. There was a council of officers, and they resolved to attempt nothing more that season; but, a few days later, three prisoners were brought in who reported the defenceless condition of the French, on which Forbes gave orders to advance again. The wagons and all the artillery211, except a few light pieces, were left behind; and on the eighteenth of November twenty-five hundred picked men marched for Fort Duquesne, without tents or baggage, and burdened only with knapsacks and blankets. Washington and Colonel Armstrong, of the Pennsylvanians, had opened a way for them by cutting a road to within a day's march of the French fort. On the evening of the twenty-fourth, the detachment encamped among the hills of Turkey Creek; and the men on guard heard at midnight a dull and heavy sound booming over the western woods. Was it a magazine exploded by accident, or were the French blowing up their works? In the morning the march was resumed, a strong advance-guard leading the way. Forbes came next, carried in his litter; and the troops followed in three parallel columns, the Highlanders in the centre under Montgomery, their colonel, and the Royal Americans and provincials on the right and left, under Bouquet and Washington. [665] Thus, guided by the tap of the drum at the head of each column, they moved slowly through the forest, over damp, fallen leaves, crisp with frost, beneath an endless entanglement212 of bare gray twigs213 that sighed and 159
V2 moaned in the bleak214 November wind. It was dusk when they emerged upon the open plain and saw Fort Duquesne before them, with its background of wintry hills beyond the Monongahela and the Alleghany. During the last three miles they had passed the scattered bodies of those slain two months before at the defeat of Grant; and it is said that, as they neared the fort, the Highlanders were goaded215 to fury at seeing the heads of their slaughtered216 comrades stuck on poles, round which the kilts were hung derisively217, in imitation of petticoats. Their rage was vain; the enemy was gone. Only a few Indians lingered about the place, who reported that the garrison218, to the number of four or five hundred, had retreated, some down the Ohio, some overland towards Presquisle, and the rest, with their commander, up the Alleghany to Venango, called by the French, Fort Machault. They had burned the barracks and storehouses, and blown up the fortifications.
[665] Letter from a British Officer in the Expedition, 25 Feb. 1759, Gentleman's Magazine, XXIX. 171.
The first care of the victors was to provide defence and shelter for those of their number on whom the dangerous task was to fall of keeping what they had won. A stockade219 was planted around a cluster of traders' cabins and soldiers' huts, which Forbes named Pittsburg, in honor of the great minister. It was not till the next autumn that General Stanwix built, hard by, the regular fortified work called Fort Pitt. [666] Captain West, brother of Benjamin West, the painter, led a detachment of Pennsylvanians, with Indian 160
V2 guides, through the forests of the Monongahela, to search for the bones of those who had fallen under Braddock. In the heart of the savage57 wood they found them in abundance, gnawed220 by wolves and foxes, and covered with the dead leaves of four successive autumns. Major Halket, of Forbes' staff, had joined the party; and, with the help of an Indian who was in the fight, he presently found two skeletons lying under a tree. In one of them he recognized, by a peculiarity221 of the teeth, the remains222 of his father, Sir Peter Halket, and in the other he believed that he saw the bones of a brother who had fallen at his father's side. The young officer fainted at the sight. The two skeletons were buried together, covered with a Highland plaid, and the Pennsylvanian woodsmen fired a volley over the grave. The rest of the bones were undistinguishable; and, being carefully gathered up, they were all interred223 in a deep trench dug in the freezing ground. [667]
[666] Stanwix to Pitt, 20 Nov. 1759.
[667] Galt, Life of Benjamin West, I. 64 (ed. 1820).
The work of the new fort was pushed on apace, and the task of holding it for the winter was assigned to Lieutenant-Colonel Mercer, of the Virginians, with two hundred provincials. The number was far too small. It was certain that, unless vigorously prevented by a counter attack, the French would gather in early spring from all their nearer western posts, Niagara, Detroit, Presquisle, Le B?uf, and Venango, to retake the place; but there was no food for a larger garrison, and the risk must be run.
161
V2 The rest of the troops, with steps quickened by hunger, began their homeward march early in December. "We would soon make M. de Ligneris shift his quarters at Venango," writes Bouquet just after the fort was taken, "if we only had provisions; but we are scarcely able to maintain ourselves a few days here. After God, the success of this expedition is entirely224 due to the General, who, by bringing about the treaty with the Indians at Easton, struck the French a stunning225 blow, wisely delayed our advance to wait the effects of that treaty, secured all our posts and left nothing to chance, and resisted the urgent solicitation226 to take Braddock's road, which would have been our destruction. In all his measures he has shown the greatest prudence, firmness, and ability." [668] No sooner was his work done, than Forbes fell into a state of entire prostration227, so that for a time he could neither write a letter nor dictate228 one. He managed, however, two days after reaching Fort Duquesne, to send Amherst a brief notice of his success, adding: "I shall leave this place as soon as I am able to stand; but God knows when I shall reach Philadelphia, if I ever do." [669] On the way back, a hut with a chimney was built for him at each stopping-place, and on the twenty-eighth of December Major Halket writes from "Tomahawk Camp:" "How great was our disappointment, on coming to this ground last night, to find that the chimney was unlaid, no fire made, 162
V2 nor any wood cut that would burn. This distressed229 the General to the greatest degree, by obliging him after his long journey to sit above two hours without any fire, exposed to a snowstorm, which had very near destroyed him entirely; but with great difficulty, by the assistance of some cordials, he was brought to." [670] At length, carried all the way in his litter, he reached Philadelphia, where, after lingering through the winter, he died in March, and was buried with military honors in the chancel of Christ Church.
[668] Bouquet to Chief Justice Allen, 25 Nov. 1758.
[669] Forbes to Amherst, 26 Nov. 1758.
[670] Halket to Bouquet, 28 Dec. 1758.
If his achievement was not brilliant, its solid value was above price. It opened the Great West to English enterprise, took from France half her savage allies, and relieved the western borders from the scourge230 of Indian war. From southern New York to North Carolina, the frontier populations had cause to bless the memory of the steadfast231 and all-enduring soldier.
So ended the campaign of 1758. The centre of the French had held its own triumphantly232 at Ticonderoga; but their left had been forced back by the capture of Louisbourg, and their right by that of Fort Duquesne, while their entire right wing had been well nigh cut off by the destruction of Fort Frontenac. The outlook was dark. Their own Indians were turning against them. "They have struck us," wrote Doreil to the Minister of War; "they have seized three canoes loaded with furs on Lake Ontario, and murdered the men in them: sad forerunner233 of what 163
V2 we have to fear! Peace, Monseigneur, give us peace! Pardon me, but I cannot repeat that word too often."
Note.—The Bouquet and Haldimand Papers in the British Museum contain a mass of curious correspondence of the principal persons engaged in the expedition under Forbes; copies of it all are before me. The Public Record Office, America and West Indies, has also furnished much material, including the official letters of Forbes. The Writings of Washington, the Archives and Colonial Records of Pennsylvania, and the magazines and newspapers of the time may be mentioned among the sources of information, along with a variety of miscellaneous contemporary letters. The Journals of Christian Frederic Post are printed in full in the Olden Time and elsewhere.
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1
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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futility
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| n.无用 | |
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defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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galling
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| adj.难堪的,使烦恼的,使焦躁的 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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curbed
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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provincials
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| n.首都以外的人，地区居民( provincial的名词复数 ) | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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highland
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| n.(pl.)高地，山地 | |
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malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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bouquet
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| n.花束，酒香 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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scarlet
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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mantles
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| vt.&vi.覆盖（mantle的第三人称单数形式） | |
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hewing
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| v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的现在分词 )；砍成；劈出；开辟 | |
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rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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forage
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| n.(牛马的)饲料，粮草；v.搜寻，翻寻 | |
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foretold
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| v.预言，预示( foretell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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insidious
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| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
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warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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heresies
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| n.异端邪说，异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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recalcitrant
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| adj.倔强的 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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vex
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| vt.使烦恼，使苦恼 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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65
proprietaries
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| n.所有人( proprietary的名词复数 )；专卖药品；独家制造（及销售）的产品 | |
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66
obstructed
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| 阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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67
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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68
flux
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| n.流动；不断的改变 | |
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69
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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70
tormenting
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| 使痛苦的，使苦恼的 | |
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71
abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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72
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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73
toils
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| 网 | |
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74
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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75
hurdle
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| n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛 | |
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76
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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77
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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78
tribulations
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| n.苦难( tribulation的名词复数 )；艰难；苦难的缘由；痛苦 | |
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79
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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80
err
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| vi.犯错误，出差错 | |
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81
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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82
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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83
jealousies
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| n.妒忌( jealousy的名词复数 )；妒羡 | |
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84
memorandum
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| n.备忘录，便笺 | |
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85
shovels
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| n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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86
inefficient
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| adj.效率低的，无效的 | |
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87
confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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88
disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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89
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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90
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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91
rapacity
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| n.贪婪，贪心，劫掠的欲望 | |
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92
commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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93
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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94
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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95
pliant
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| adj.顺从的；可弯曲的 | |
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96
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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97
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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98
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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99
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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100
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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101
moles
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| 防波堤( mole的名词复数 )； 鼹鼠； 痣； 间谍 | |
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102
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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103
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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104
impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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105
canopy
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| n.天篷，遮篷 | |
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106
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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107
depot
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| n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站 | |
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108
succors
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| n.救助，帮助（尤指需要时）( succor的名词复数 )v.给予帮助( succor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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109
militia
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| n.民兵，民兵组织 | |
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110
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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111
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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112
bullying
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| v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈 | |
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113
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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114
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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115
knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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116
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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117
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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118
hatchet
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| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
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119
potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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120
reclaiming
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| v.开拓( reclaim的现在分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救 | |
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121
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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122
envoy
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| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
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123
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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124
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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125
impel
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| v.推动；激励，迫使 | |
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126
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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127
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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128
martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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129
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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130
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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131
systematically
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| adv.有系统地 | |
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132
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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133
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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134
beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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135
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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136
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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137
inordinate
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| adj.无节制的；过度的 | |
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138
harped
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| vi.弹竖琴（harp的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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139
extermination
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| n.消灭，根绝 | |
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140
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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141
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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142
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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143
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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144
eluding
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的现在分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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145
pacification
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| n. 讲和，绥靖，平定 | |
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146
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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147
metaphors
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| 隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 ) | |
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148
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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149
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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150
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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151
tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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152
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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153
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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154
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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155
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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156
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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157
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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158
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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159
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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160
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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161
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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162
discoursed
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| 演说（discourse的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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163
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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164
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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165
overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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166
animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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167
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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168
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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169
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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170
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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171
ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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172
incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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173
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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174
warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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175
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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176
advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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177
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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178
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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179
intrepid
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| adj.无畏的，刚毅的 | |
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180
rapports
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| n.友好关系（rapport的复数形式） | |
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181
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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182
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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183
concurrence
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| n.同意；并发 | |
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184
lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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185
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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186
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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187
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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188
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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189
prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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190
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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191
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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193
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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194
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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195
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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196
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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197
trickling
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| n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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198
oozing
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的现在分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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199
gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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200
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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203
mire
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| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
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204
mosses
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| n. 藓类, 苔藓植物 名词moss的复数形式 | |
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205
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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206
flakes
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| 小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人 | |
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207
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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208
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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209
extricate
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| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
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210
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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211
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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212
entanglement
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| n.纠缠，牵累 | |
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213
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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214
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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215
goaded
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| v.刺激( goad的过去式和过去分词 )；激励；（用尖棒）驱赶；驱使（或怂恿、刺激）某人 | |
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216
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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derisively
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| adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地 | |
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218
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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219
stockade
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| n.栅栏，围栏；v.用栅栏防护 | |
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220
gnawed
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| 咬( gnaw的过去式和过去分词 )； （长时间） 折磨某人； （使）苦恼； （长时间）危害某事物 | |
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221
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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222
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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223
interred
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| v.埋，葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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224
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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225
stunning
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| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
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226
solicitation
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| n.诱惑；揽货；恳切地要求；游说 | |
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227
prostration
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| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
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228
dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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229
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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230
scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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231
steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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232
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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233
forerunner
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| n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先 | |
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