Wacousta (Volume I)
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John Richardson >> Wacousta (Volume I)
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These stockade forts were never, at any one period, nearer
to each other than from one hundred and fifty to two
hundred miles, so that, in the event of surprise or alarm,
there was little prospect of obtaining assistance from
without. Each garrison, therefore, was almost wholly
dependent on its own resources; and, when surrounded
unexpectedly by numerous bands of hostile Indians, had
no other alternative than to hold out to the death.
Capitulation was out of the question; for, although the
wile and artifice of the natives might induce them to
promise mercy, the moment their enemies were in their
power promises and treaties were alike broken, and
indiscriminate massacre ensued. Communication by water
was, except during a period of profound peace, almost
impracticable; for, although of late years the lakes of
Canada have been covered with vessels of war, many of
them, as we have already remarked, of vast magnitude,
and been the theatres of conflicts that would not have
disgraced the salt waters of ocean itself, at the period
to which our story refers the flag of England was seen
to wave only on the solitary mast of some ill-armed and
ill-manned gunboat, employed rather for the purpose of
conveying despatches from fort to fort, than with any
serious view to acts either of aggression or defence.
In proportion as the colonies of America, now the United
States, pushed their course of civilisation westward, in
the same degree did the numerous tribes of Indians, who
had hitherto dwelt more seaward, retire upon those of
their own countrymen, who, buried in vast and impenetrable
forests, had seldom yet seen the face of the European
stranger; so that, in the end, all the more central parts
of those stupendous wilds became doubly peopled. Hitherto,
however, that civilisation had not been carried beyond
the state of New York; and all those countries which
have, since the American revolution, been added to the
Union under the names of Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri,
Michigan, &c., were, at the period embraced by our story,
inhospitable and unproductive woods, subject only to the
dominion of the native, and as yet unshorn by the axe of
the cultivator. A few portions only of the opposite shores
of Michigan were occupied by emigrants from the Canadas,
who, finding no one to oppose or molest them, selected
the most fertile spots along the banks of the river; and
of the existence of these infant settlements, the English
colonists, who had never ventured so far, were not even
aware until after the conquest of Canada by the mother-
country. This particular district was the centre around
which the numerous warriors, who had been driven westward
by the colonists, had finally assembled; and rude villages
and encampments rose far and near for a circuit of many
miles around this infant settlement and fort of the
Canadians, to both of which they had given the name of
Detroit, after the river on whose elevated banks they
stood. Proceeding westward from this point, and along
the tract of country that diverged from the banks of the
Lakes Huron, Sinclair, and Michigan, all traces of that
partial civilisation were again lost in impervious wilds,
tenanted only by the fiercest of the Indian tribes, whose
homes were principally along the banks of that greatest
of American waters, the Lake Superior, and in the country
surrounding the isolated fort of Michilimackinac, the
last and most remote of the European fortresses in Canada.
When at a later period the Canadas were ceded to us by
France, those parts of the opposite frontier which we
have just described became also tributary to the English
crown, and were, by the peculiar difficulties that existed
to communication with the more central and populous
districts, rendered especially favourable to the exercise
of hostile intrigue by the numerous active French emissaries
every where dispersed among the Indian tribes. During
the first few years of the conquest, the inhabitants of
Canada, who were all either European French, or immediate
descendants of that nation, were, as might naturally be
expected, more than restive under their new governors,
and many of the most impatient spirits of the country
sought every opportunity of sowing the seeds of distrust
and jealousy in the hearts of the natives. By these people
it was artfully suggested to the Indians, that their new
oppressors were of the race of those who had driven them
from the sea, and were progressively advancing on their
territories until scarce a hunting ground or a village
would be left to them. They described them, moreover, as
being the hereditary enemies of their great father, the
King of France, with whose governors they had buried the
hatchet for ever, and smoked the calumet of perpetual
peace. Fired by these wily suggestions, the high and
jealous spirit of the Indian chiefs took the alarm, and
they beheld with impatience the "Red Coat," or "Saganaw,"
[Footnote: This word thus pronounced by themselves, in
reference to the English soldiery, is, in all probability,
derived from the original English settlers in Saganaw
Bay.] usurping, as they deemed it, those possessions
which had so recently acknowledged the supremacy of the
pale flag of their ancient ally. The cause of the Indians,
and that of the Canadians, became, in some degree,
identified as one, and each felt it was the interest,
and it may be said the natural instinct, of both, to hold
communionship of purpose, and to indulge the same jealousies
and fears. Such was the state of things in 1763, the
period at which our story commences,--an epoch fruitful
in designs of hostility and treachery on the part of the
Indians, who, too crafty and too politic to manifest
their feelings by overt acts declaratory of the hatred
carefully instilled into their breasts, sought every
opportunity to compass the destruction of the English,
wherever they were most vulnerable to the effects of
stratagem. Several inferior forts situated on the Ohio
had already fallen into their hands, when they summoned
all their address and cunning to accomplish the fall of
the two important though remote posts of Detroit and
Michilimackinac. For a length of time they were baffled
by the activity and vigilance of the respective governors
of these forts, who had had too much fatal experience in
the fate of their companions not to be perpetually on
the alert against their guile; but when they had at
length, in some degree, succeeded in lulling the suspicions
of the English, they determined on a scheme, suggested
by a leading chief, a man of more than ordinary character,
which promised fair to rid them altogether of a race they
so cordially detested. We will not, however, mar the
interest of our tale, by anticipating, at this early
stage, either the nature or the success of a stratagem
which forms the essential groundwork of our story.
While giving, for the information of the many, what, we
trust, will not be considered a too compendious outline
of the Canadas, and the events connected with them, we
are led to remark, that, powerful as was the feeling of
hostility cherished by the French Canadians towards the
English when the yoke of early conquest yet hung heavily
on them, this feeling eventually died away under the mild
influence of a government that preserved to them the
exercise of all their customary privileges, and abolished
all invidious distinctions between the descendants of
France and those of the mother-country. So universally,
too, has this system of conciliation been pursued, we
believe we may with safety aver, of all the numerous
colonies that have succumbed to the genius and power of
England, there are none whose inhabitants entertain
stronger feelings of attachment and loyalty to her than
those of Canada; and whatever may be the transient
differences,--differences growing entirely out of
circumstances and interests of a local character, and in
no way tending to impeach the acknowledged fidelity of
the mass of French Canadians,--whatever, we repeat, may
be the ephemeral differences that occasionally spring up
between the governors of those provinces and individual
members of the Houses of Assembly, they must, in no way,
be construed into a general feeling of disaffection
towards the English crown.
In proportion also as the Canadians have felt and
acknowledged the beneficent effects arising from a change
of rulers, so have the Indian tribes been gradually weaned
from their first fierce principle of hostility, until
they have subsequently become as much distinguished by
their attachment to, as they were three quarters of a
century ago remarkable for their untameable aversion for,
every thing that bore the English name, or assumed the
English character. Indeed, the hatred which they bore
to the original colonists has been continued to their
descendants, the subjects of the United States; and the
same spirit of union subsisted between the natives and
British troops, and people of Canada, during the late
American war, that at an earlier period of the history
of that country prevailed so powerfully to the disadvantage
of England.
And now we have explained a course of events which were
in some measure necessary to the full understanding of
the country by the majority of our readers, we shall, in
furtherance of the same object, proceed to sketch a few
of the most prominent scenes more immediately before us.
The fort of Detroit, as it was originally constructed by
the French, stands in the middle of a common, or description
of small prairie, bounded by woods, which, though now
partially thinned in their outskirts, were at that period
untouched by the hand of civilisation. Erected at a
distance of about half a mile from the banks of the river,
which at that particular point are high and precipitous,
it stood then just far enough from the woods that swept
round it in a semicircular form to be secure from the
rifle of the Indian; while from its batteries it commanded
a range of country on every hand, which no enemy unsupported
by cannon could traverse with impunity. Immediately in
the rear, and on the skirt of the wood, the French had
constructed a sort of bomb-proof, possibly intended to
serve as a cover to the workmen originally employed in
clearing the woods, but long since suffered to fall into
decay. Without the fortification rose a strong and triple
line of pickets, each of about two feet and a half in
circumference, and so fitted into each other as to leave
no other interstices than those which were perforated
for the discharge of musketry. They were formed of the
hardest and most knotted pines that could be procured;
the sharp points of which were seasoned by fire until
they acquired nearly the durability and consistency of
iron. Beyond these firmly imbedded pickets was a ditch,
encircling the fort, of about twenty feet in width, and
of proportionate depth, the only communication over which
to and from the garrison was by means of a drawbridge,
protected by a strong chevaux-de-frise. The only gate
with which the fortress was provided faced the river; on
the more immediate banks of which, and to the left of
the fort, rose the yet infant and straggling village that
bore the name of both. Numerous farm-houses, however,
almost joining each other, contributed to form a continuity
of many miles along the borders of the river, both on
the right and on the left; while the opposite shores of
Canada, distinctly seen in the distance, presented, as
far as the eye could reach, the same enlivening character
of fertility. The banks, covered with verdure on either
shore, were more or less undulating at intervals; but in
general they were high without being abrupt, and picturesque
without being bold, presenting, in their partial
cultivation, a striking contrast to the dark, tall, and
frowning forests bounding every point of the perspective.
At a distance of about five miles on the left of the town
the course of the river was interrupted by a small and
thickly wooded island, along whose sandy beach occasionally
rose the low cabin or wigwam which the birch canoe,
carefully upturned and left to dry upon the sands, attested
to be the temporary habitation of the wandering Indian.
That branch of the river which swept by the shores of
Canada was (as at this day) the only navigable one for
vessels of burden, while that on the opposite coast
abounded in shallows and bars, affording passage merely
to the light barks of the natives, which seemed literally
to skim the very surface of its waves. Midway, between
that point of the continent which immediately faced the
eastern extremity of the island we have just named and
the town of Detroit, flowed a small tributary river, the
approaches to which, on either hand, were over a slightly
sloping ground, the view of which could be entirely
commanded from the fort. The depth of this river, now
nearly dried up, at that period varied from three to ten
or twelve feet; and over this, at a distance of about
twenty yards from the Detroit, into which it emptied
itself, rose, communicating with the high road, a bridge,
which will more than once be noticed in the course of
our tale. Even to the present hour it retains the name
given to it during these disastrous times; and there are
few modern Canadians, or even Americans, who traverse
the "Bloody Bridge," especially at the still hours of
advanced night, without recalling to memory the tragic
events of those days, (handed down as they have been by
their fathers, who were eye-witnesses of the transaction,)
and peopling the surrounding gloom with the shades of
those whose life-blood erst crimsoned the once pure waters
of that now nearly exhausted stream; and whose mangled
and headless corpses were slowly borne by its tranquil
current into the bosom of the parent river, where all
traces of them finally disappeared.
These are the minuter features of the scene we have
brought more immediately under the province of our pen.
What Detroit was in 1763 it nearly is at the present day,
with this difference, however, that many of those points
which were then in a great degree isolated and rude are
now redolent with the beneficent effects of improved
cultivation; and in the immediate vicinity of that
memorable bridge, where formerly stood merely the occasional
encampment of the Indian warrior, are now to be seen
flourishing farms and crops, and other marks of agricultural
industry. Of the fort of Detroit itself we will give the
following brief history:--It was, as we have already
stated, erected by the French while in the occupancy of
the country by which it is more immediately environed;
subsequently, and at the final cession of the Canadas,
it was delivered over to England, with whom it remained
until the acknowledgement of the independence of the
colonists by the mother-country, when it hoisted the
colours of the republic; the British garrison marching
out, and crossing over into Canada, followed by such of
the loyalists as still retained their attachment to the
English crown. At the commencement of the late war with
America it was the first and more immediate theatre of
conflict, and was remarkable, as well as Michilimackinac,
for being one of the first posts of the Americans that
fell into our hands. The gallant daring, and promptness
of decision, for which the lamented general, Sir Isaac
Brock, was so eminently distinguished, achieved the
conquest almost as soon as the American declaration of
war had been made known in Canada; and on this occasion
we ourselves had the good fortune to be selected as part
of the guard of honour, whose duty it was to lower the
flag of America, and substitute that of England in its
place. On the approach, however, of an overwhelming army
of the enemy in the autumn of the ensuing year it was
abandoned by our troops, after having been dismantled
and reduced, in its more combustible parts, to ashes.
The Americans, who have erected new fortifications on
the site of the old, still retain possession of a post
to which they attach considerable importance, from the
circumstance of its being a key to the more western
portions of the Union.
CHAPTER II.
It was during the midnight watch, late in September,
1763, that the English garrison of Detroit, in North
America, was thrown into the utmost consternation by the
sudden and mysterious introduction of a stranger within
its walls. The circumstance at this moment was particularly
remarkable; for the period was so fearful and pregnant
with events of danger, the fort being assailed on every
side by a powerful and vindictive foe, that a caution
and vigilance of no common kind were unceasingly exercised
by the prudent governor for the safety of those committed
to his charge. A long series of hostilities had been
pursued by the North-American Indians against the subjects
of England, within the few years that had succeeded to
the final subjection of the Canadas to her victorious
arms; and many and sanguinary were the conflicts in which
the devoted soldiery were made to succumb to the cunning
and numbers of their savage enemies. In those lone regions,
both officers and men, in their respective ranks, were,
by a communionship of suffering, isolation, and peculiarity
of duty, drawn towards each other with feelings of almost
fraternal affection; and the fates of those who fell were
lamented with sincerity of soul, and avenged, when
opportunity offered, with a determination prompted equally
by indignation and despair. This sentiment of union,
existing even between men and officers of different corps,
was, with occasional exceptions, of course doubly
strengthened among those who fought under the same colours,
and acknowledged the same head; and, as it often happened
in Canada, during this interesting period, that a single
regiment was distributed into two or three fortresses,
each so far removed from the other that communication
could with the utmost facility be cut off, the anxiety
and uncertainty of these detachments became proportioned
to the danger with which they knew themselves to be more
immediately beset. The garrison of Detroit, at the date
above named, consisted of a third of the ---- regiment,
the remainder of which occupied the forts of
Michilimackinac and Niagara, and to each division of
this regiment was attached an officer's command of
artillery. It is true that no immediate overt act of
hostility had for some time been perpetrated by the
Indians, who were assembled in force around the former
garrison; but the experienced officer to whom the command
had been intrusted was too sensible of the craftiness of
the surrounding hordes to be deceived, by any outward
semblance of amity, into neglect of those measures of
precaution which were so indispensable to the surety of
his trust.
In this he pursued a line of policy happily adapted to
the delicate nature of his position. Unwilling to excite
the anger or wound the pride of the chiefs, by any outward
manifestation of distrust, he affected to confide in the
sincerity of their professions, and, by inducing his
officers to mix occasionally in their councils, and his
men in the amusements of the inferior warriors, contrived
to impress the conviction that he reposed altogether on
their faith. But, although these acts were in some degree
coerced by the necessity of the times, and a perfect
knowledge of all the misery that must accrue to them in
the event of their provoking the Indians into acts of
open hostility, the prudent governor took such precautions
as were deemed efficient to defeat any treacherous attempt
at violation of the tacit treaty on the part of the
natives. The officers never ventured out, unless escorted
by a portion of their men, who, although appearing to be
dispersed among the warriors, still kept sufficiently
together to be enabled, in a moment of emergency, to
afford succour not only to each other but to their
superiors. On these occasions, as a further security
against surprise, the troops left within were instructed
to be in readiness, at a moment's warning, to render
assistance, if necessary, to their companions, who seldom,
on any occasion, ventured out of reach of the cannon of
the fort, the gate of which was hermetically closed,
while numerous supernumerary sentinels were posted along
the ramparts, with a view to give the alarm if any thing
extraordinary was observed to occur without.
Painful and harassing as were the precautions it was
found necessary to adopt on these occasions, and little
desirous as were the garrison to mingle with the natives
on such terms, still the plan was pursued by the Governor
from the policy already named: nay, it was absolutely
essential to the future interests of England that the
Indians should be won over by acts of confidence and
kindness; and so little disposition had hitherto been
manifested by the English to conciliate, that every thing
was to be apprehended from the untameable rancour with
which these people were but too well disposed to repay
a neglect at once galling to their pride and injurious
to their interests.
Such, for a term of many months, had been the trying and
painful duty that had devolved on the governor of Detroit;
when, in the summer of 1763, the whole of the western
tribes of Indians, as if actuated by one common impulse,
suddenly threw off the mask, and commenced a series of
the most savage trespasses upon the English settlers in
the vicinity of the several garrisons, who were cut off
in detail, without mercy, and without reference to either
age or sex. On the first alarm the weak bodies of troops,
as a last measure of security, shut themselves up in
their respective forts, where they were as incapable of
rendering assistance to others as of receiving it
themselves. In this emergency the prudence and forethought
of the governor of Detroit were eminently conspicuous;
for, having long foreseen the possibility of such a
crisis, he had caused a plentiful supply of all that was
necessary to the subsistence and defence of the garrison
to be provided at an earlier period, so that, if foiled
in their attempts at stratagem, there was little chance
that the Indians would speedily reduce them by famine.
To guard against the former, a vigilant watch was constantly
kept by the garrison both day and night, while the
sentinels, doubled in number, were constantly on the
alert. Strict attention, moreover, was paid to such parts
of the ramparts as were considered most assailable by a
cunning and midnight enemy; and, in order to prevent any
imprudence on the part of the garrison, all egress or
ingress was prohibited that had not the immediate sanction
of the chief. With this view the keys of the gate were
given in trust to the officer of the guard; to whom,
however, it was interdicted to use them unless by direct
and positive order of the Governor. In addition to this
precaution, the sentinels on duty at the gate had strict
private instructions not to suffer any one to pass either
in or out unless conducted by the governor in person;
and this restriction extended even to the officer of the
guard.
Such being the cautious discipline established in the
fort, the appearance of a stranger within its walls at
the still hour of midnight could not fail to be regarded
as an extraordinary event, and to excite an apprehension
which could scarcely have been surpassed had a numerous
and armed band of savages suddenly appeared among them.
The first intimation of this fact was given by the violent
ringing of an alarm bell; a rope communicating with which
was suspended in the Governor's apartments, for the
purpose of arousing the slumbering soldiers in any case
of pressing emergency. Soon afterwards the Governor
himself was seen to issue from his rooms into the open
area of the parade, clad in his dressing-gown, and bearing
a lamp in one hand and a naked sword in the other. His
countenance was pale; and his features, violently agitated,
betrayed a source of alarm which those who were familiar
with his usual haughtiness of manner were ill able to
comprehend.
"Which way did he go?--why stand ye here?--follow--pursue
him quickly--let him not escape, on your lives!"
These sentences, hurriedly and impatiently uttered, were
addressed to the two sentinels who, stationed in front
of his apartments, had, on the first sound of alarm from
the portentous bell, lowered their muskets to the charge,
and now stood immovable in that position.
"Who does your honour mane?" replied one of the men,
startled, yet bringing his arms to the recover, in
salutation of his chief.
"Why, the man--the stranger--the fellow who has just
passed you."
"Not a living soul has passed us since our watch commenced,
your honour," observed the second sentinel; "and we have
now been here upwards of an hour."
"Impossible, sirs: ye have been asleep on your posts, or
ye must have seen him. He passed this way, and could not
have escaped your observation had ye been attentive to
your duty."
"Well, sure, and your honour knows bist," rejoined the
first sentinel; "but so hilp me St. Patrick, as I have
sirved man and boy in your honour's rigimint this twilve
years, not even the fitch of a man has passed me this
blissed night. And here's my comrade, Jack Halford, who
will take his Bible oath to the same, with all due
difirince to your honour."
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