he had abandoned the siege, and retired to meet the detachment, in this very defile, and at this critical moment opened the fire of an Indian ambush, upon the advance guard. Colonel Bouquet supported the advance guard with so much firmness, that the enemy were routed, and put to flight; but they fled only to return to the combat with renewed vigour and fury. At the same time a most formidable ambuscade, opened a tremendous fire upon the main body, and threatened by their daring intrepidity, to overwhelm the whole party. Colonel Bouquet ordered the charge from the whole line, and the enemy were instantly driven from their concealment, and put to flight but they, in their turn, fled only to return with redoubled rage, and at once the whole detachment was surrounded; and in the midst of this desperate conflict, they attacked the convoy, and by their unparalleled intrepidity, put the whole object of the expedition into a state of the most imminent peril and hazard. Colonel Bouquet, with his gallant little band, protected their convoy at the point of the bayonet, and supported the desperate charges of the enemy for seven hours, until night closed the scene, and the enemy withdrew, to give them the comforts of repose. Colonel Buoquet collected the wounded and the convoy, in the centre, and posted his army in a circle, to protect the whole, and thus they sought such repose as the mind of man could enjoy, under the impression of the horrors of the day that had passed, and the conflicts which the defile before them opened to their view on the morrow, August 6th.

With the first opening dawn, the little encampment appeared to be surrounded by the foe, and the forest to be filled with his numbers, and the whole scene rendered horrid with the sound of the war-whoop, and the yells of the savages. In the midst of this terrific scene, the Indians commenced the attack; the English, unapalled, stood to their

arms, received the desperate assaults of the enemy at the point of the bayonet, foiled his attempts upon the convoy, and drove him into the forest. These attacks were renewed again and again, amidst the yells of the savage, and the incessant fire of his musquetry, and as often defeated; but no decisive advantage could be gained. Col. Bouquet saw his troops wasting under the galling fire of the enemy, and his horses killed, and the drivers dispersed through fear, and the remnant of his little band in danger of a total overthrow, with the destruction of his convoy; resolved to bring the enemy to a close engagement, and under the mask of a retreat, to draw them within their lines, and thus close the action. The stratagem succeeded; the colonel, by a masterly movement, opened his lines; the enemy rushed into the centre with desperate fury, in pursuit of a detachment who fled before them, and here the English opened upon them a dreadful fire, which checked their mad career; and this, when repeated, put them to flight; a detachment of four companies followed up the victory, and pursued the enemy so closely, that the field was cleared, the woods were cleared, and Col. Bouquet left undisturbed to pursue his march to Fort Pitt.

This severe and bloody action, cost the Indians more than sixty men, with many of their chief warriors, who were left dead on the field, besides those that were wounded. The English lost fifty killed, and sixty wounded, together with so many of their horses, that they were obliged to destroy the greatest part of the convoy of provisions, and pursue their march with the remainder. Col. Bouquet retired about two miles, and encamped at Bushy Run; here he was again surrounded, and received another galling fire from the enemy; but they did not wait to meet the English in another engagement; they fled with precipitation, and left Col. Bouquet to pursue his march unmolested; and in four days he reached Fort Pitt.

This action, when considered in point of duration, the numbers of the savages, the fierceness of their attacks, and their advantages of concealment, as well as of flying, and rallying again to the charge, at pleasure, compared with the intrepid valour of the English in supporting their position, in protecting their convoy, and finally by their masterly military movement, and defeating the enemy in close action, and thus clearing the field, and securing their advance, is rarely to be equalled in the history of battles, either in Europe or America, and crowned Col. Bouquet, his officers, and troops, with immortal honor.

Thus Fort Pitt was relieved, the enemy dispersed, and the fortress reinforced with a permanent support. The same year the Indians appeared in great force, and invested the fortress of Niagara, with a determination to avail themselves of its remote situation, and starve out the garrison, before they could obtain supplies. A detachment was sent forward, with supplies for the garrison, as before, for Detroit and Fort Pitt; but this detachment fell into an ambush near to Niagara; seventy were slain, and the whole detachment destroyed, Sept. 1763. The garrison surmounted this misfortune by other supplies of men, stores, and provisions, which enabled, them to hold the enemy at bay, and bid defiance to their numbers. ⚫

The savages next made an attack upon a schooner or Lake Erie, bound with supplies to the fortress of Detroit; their canoes were numerous, well manned with about 400 Indians, and the assault was fierce and desperate; but they were defeated with loss, abandoned the attack, and fled to the shore. Thus these important fortresses were preserved, and the enemy, despairing of all further success against them, turned their whole attention to the destruction of the defenceless settlements on the frontiers.

These depredations spread a general alarm through the colonies, and called for fresh supplies of troops to repel

the enemy, and cover the settlements. Gen. Gage, who had now succeeded Gen. Amherst, wrote to the governors of the colonies, requesting the necessary supply of men, &c. the colonies met this requisition promptly: Connecticut detached immediately, 260 men, with their officers, subject to the orders of the commander in chief; and this battalion was put under the command of Maj. Israel Putnam, (afterwards Gen. Putnam.) The other colonies, with Connecticut, forwarded their quotas of men, early in the season, and Colonels Bouquet and Bradstreet, at the head of these new levies, carried the war into the enemy's country, with such success as compelled them to sue for peace; and in September they guaranteed to the English, by their treaty, all the forts then built in their country, with permission to build such others as they might hereafter judge necessary, and ceded to them, forever, all lands lying within cannon shot of such forts; which placed the forts in the centre of such tracts as have since been covered with flourishing settlements and villages. The English dictated the articles of this treaty with such severity, as they hoped would secure the peace of their frontiers, and guard against all future wars. Ten chiefs were detained from the council, as hostages, to guarantee the safe return of all prisoners taken in the war; all which was duly fulfilled, and the hostages released.

*

Thus we have seen the torch of war, which was kindled by the last expiring struggle of France in America, extinguished at a blow, and the arm of Almighty Power signally displayed in rescuing the defenceless frontiers of the colonies forever from the depredations of a cruel savage foe, acting under French influence and French intrigue.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

GENERAL ARRANGEMENTS IN EUROPE TO PROSECUTE THE WAR, WITH A VIEW TO OBTAIN AN EQUITABLE PEACE.

THE war still raged with violence in Europe, and in India. The stupendous conquests which the united forces. of Britain and her colonies, had made in America, alarmed the court of Spain, and unfolded to her the perilous situation of her American colonies in the south, when GreatBritain should become master of the extensive continent on the north; and more particularly did she dread such a hardy enterprising population, who dared to attempt enterprises the most difficult, and whose valour and intrepidity accomplished whatever they attempted. To guard against the evils she so strongly apprehended, Spain commenced negociations with France, to become a party in the war, under an alliance called the Family Compact. This roused the jealousy of England, and Mr. Pitt demanded an immediate declaration of war against Spain, but this was rejected, on the ground that France was actually negociating for conditions of peace, and the Duke De Choiseul, Minister of France, had actually made overtures upon the basis of uti possidetis, or what places taken in the war at different periods, and different parts of the world, should be restored, and what places should be retained; but Mr. Pitt clearly saw that either Quebec, or Louisburg, or both, would be insisted on by France, and he therefore gave a diversion to the negociation, and determined to prosecute the war with vigour, and obtain some valuable possessions in the French West-Indies, which might serve as an exchange at the peace, and thus preserve America free. To meet the minister upon his own ground, the allies pushed the war in Europe, against the king of Prussia, with a view to divide up his dominions, and France particularly.