The New Hampshire Gazette Newspaper, December 29, 1758, Page 1

\ T3 E New-Hampthire - Coaztéim%g the Frefbeft Aa’vfce: R Further Accounts of the Deftruction of Fort Du Quefne, and fome Particu- lars concerning that fine and fertile Country, Se. PHILADELPHIA, December 14 ©n Sunday laft an Exprefs arrived here from Ge- peral Forbes, at Fort Duque{ne, with the agreeable ¥ews of the Enemy’s having blown up and aban- o~ doned that important Fortrefs on the Approach of the Army uoder hisCommapd. Extra&t of a Letter from Pittflurgh (lately Fort Duguefne ) Nowember 26, 1758, a Have now the Pleafure to write you from the Ruins of theFort. On the z4th at Night,we were informed by one of ourIndianScouts, That he had difcovered a Clond of Smoke above the Place : And " foon after another came in with certain Intelligence, " ghat it was burnt and abandoned by the Enemy. ‘We were about 15 Miles from it. A Troop of Horfe was fent forward immediately to extinguifh the Barping : and the whole Army followed. = We arrived at fix 0’Clock laft Night, and found it in a great Meafare defiroyed. There are two Forts, about zo Yards diftant ; one built with immenfe Lebour ; fmall,but a great deal of very ftrong V¥ orks colle€ied into little Room, and ftands on the Point of a narrow Neck of Land, at the Conflaence of the two Rivers : It is fquare, and has two Ravelins,Ga- bicns at each Corner, &c.—The other Fort ftands on the Bank of the Allegany, in the Form of a la- yalleogram ; but nothing {o fireng as the other : fe- veral of the Outworks are lately begun, and il un- finihed.—They. went off in {5 much Hafte,that they e~ald not meke quite the Havock. of their Works sey intended. . We found Numbers of dead Bodies within a Quarter of a Mile of the Fort, unbury’d, {o many Monuments of French Hunfavity.——Mr. Batie is appointed to preach a Thankfgiving Sermon™ for the remarkable fuperiority of his Majelty’s Arms. —We left all ourTents at Loyalhanning, and every Conveniency, except a Blanket and Knapfack. T ko there are many other Letters in Town relating to the Redultion of Fort Dugucine, yet, as they are pretty wuck the Jame, we think a Recapitulation needlels ; therefore bave only extradied the following Particu- lars from them, wiz. ¢ That the General marched zg00 picked Men y from Loyathanning, without Tents or Baggege, and a light Train of Argillery, in Expe&tation of meeting the Encmy, and determining, by a Battle,who fhould poflefs the Country : That the Route they took to Foit Duqucfne was about 5o Miles, which they per- formed in five Days, and reckoned to be an extra- ordinary March, corfidering the Seafon of theYear, the Uncertainty of the Roads, intirely unknown, and the Difficulty of making them pradlicable for the Artillery ¢ That the Enemy, among other Things, deflroyed a very confiderable Quantity of Indian Goods : That the Garrifon confifted of about 400 Men, Part of which went down the Chio, 100 by Land, fuppofed-to Prifque Ifle, and 200 toYenango, with the Governor, M. De Lignery : That this foc- cefsful ‘Expedition will be of great Service to the “olonies, provided they improve it ; and that now the Time to take vigcrous Meafures to fupport tne Conqueft : That the French by being obliged to abandon Fort Duquefne, have loft a valt Tract of Country, and the varioas Tribes of Indiaas inhabit- ,og it, feem, in acertain Manner, reconcil’d to his Majelly’s Prote&lion and Government @ That the Indians, who attacked with the French, our People at Loya'hanning, on the 12:h of Ollober laft, were to join us ; and that only four of the whole ftuck to, and went off with the Enemy : That a Baftion of one of the Forts, which mounts 3 Guns, was fourd £ entire, with aboat 5o Rounds of 12 Pound Shot, | fome Grape Shot,and Plenty of Mufket Ball : That fram the Situation of the Place, if our Troops had befieged it in Form, they muft have lcft a great many Men, as their Small Arms would have been of very litde Service to them : That the General was to make a fecure Peace with all the Indians upon thg Ohio,who feemed very defirous of renewing their ancient Friendfhip with us ; to leave a ftrong Gar- , vifon there ; and to fet immediately abont Works, flicient for bota Conveniency and Safety : That ur Men were prodigioufly fhock’d at the fight of FI'{IDAY, DrceMBER 29, 1758, the Bodies of their flaughtered Friends, who fell in - Major Grant’s Attack, lying unbaryed at the very Gates of Doquelre, many of whom, they were weil informed, were crueily mardered in cold Biood by the French : And that it Js.certainly a moit delight- ful Country, where the Beauties of Nature are con- tinually to befeen, and is capable of great Improve- ment.”’ The following Letter from General ForBES's Army, being awrote by one, awho feerns to be ng Stranger to the true Inteycft of thefe Colonies, nor to Indian 4f- fairs, we bap:} avill n# be unacceprable to our Readers. Pittfburg (formerly Fort Duguefne) Nov. 28, 1758. S4By H AVE the Pleafure to write this Letter vpon the Spot where Fart Dugue/ne once fiood, while the Britifb Flag flies over the Debris of its Baftions in Triumph. Blefied be Ged, the long look'd for Day is arriv- ed, that has fixed us on the Banks of the ©bis ! with great Propriety called La Belle Riviere, in the quict and peaceable Poffefiion of the fineft and moft fertile Country of dmerica, lying in the happicft' Climate in the Univerfe. This valuable Acquifition lays open to all his Majefty’s Sutjeéts aVein of Treafure,which if rightly managed, may prove richer than the Mines of Mexico, the [rade avith the numerous Nations of Weflern Indians . It deprives our Enemies of the Be- nefits they expefled from their deep laid Schemes, and breaks atunder the Chain of Communication be- twixt Canada and Louifiana, a Chain that threatened this Continent with Slavery, and therefore the chief Favourite and Miftrefs of the French Comt. Thele Advantages have been procared for us by the Pru- dence and Abilities of General Foraes, without firoke of Sword, tho® had they been purchafed with at the Price of much Blood and Treafure, every Lover of his Country muft have allowed that they would have been cheaply bought. " TheDiflicalties he had to ftruggle with were great, To maintaia Armies in a Wildernefs, Handreds of Miles from the fettlements ; to izaich them by ua- trodden Paths, over 2lmoft impafiable Mountains, thro’ thick Weods and dangerous Defiles, required both Forefight and Experience, efpecially if youcon- e fider the Efforts of an aflive Enemy frequently “at- tempting to cut off our Convoys ; confider alfo his long and dangercus ficknefs, under which a Man of lefs fpirits mult have fonk ; and the advanced feafon, which wouvld have deterred a lefs determined Lead- er, and think that he has furmounted all thefe Difi culties, th:*he has conquered ail this Country, has driven the French fiom the Obis, and obliged them to biow up their Fort (when we were within a few Miles of it we heard the Expleficn) he hasnow re- conciled the feveral Nations of nasans at War with us, and with one another, regained our loft Intereft among them, and fixed it on {o firm a Foundation, as not again to be fhaken ; fo that cur Back fettle- ments, inftead of being frightful Fields of Bloed,will once more {mile with Peace, and Plenty. Thefe Things have rendered him the Delight of the Army, and mofl endear him to the Provinces, All his Motions were narrowly watched by the Enemy, who, finding that he not only proceeded with Care and Circumipedion, but with inflexible fteadinefs, and that they could neither face him in the Field,retard his March,vor refift him in the Fort, retired to their Batteaus, and fell down the River, we hear, to a Fort, beilt two or three Years ago, near the Jundion of the Obio with the Cherokee Ri- ver,where their united ftream falls into the M:fifipys, 8oo Miles from hence. The Twenty fixth of this Month was oblerved,by the General’s Orders, as a Day of publick Thank{- giving to Almighty GOD for our fuccefs ; the Day afier we had 2 grand fru de 7oy, and To day a great Detachment goes to Praddsck’s Field of Battle, to bary the Bones of cur {lauphtered Countrymen,many of whem were butchered in coid Blood by (thofe crueller than Savages) the Frexch, who, to the eter- nal fhame and Infamy of their Country, have left them all lying abeve Ground ever fince. The un. buried Bedies of thofe killed fince,and {trewed round this Fort, equaily reproach them,and proclaim loudly to all civilized Nations, their Barbarity. Thanks to Heaven, their Reign on this Continent promifes no long Daration ! efpecially if Mr, Pirr be preferved, whofe great Soul animates all our Nume, 114 GAZETTE Foreign and Damefiir.é.i Meafures, infufes new Couragesinto our foldiers and failors, and infpires our Generals and Admirals with the moft commendabie Condu&t.” HUS is Fort Du Quefne, or rather the Ground i on which it ftood, (which has coft us much Blood and Treafare) at Length, by extremely flow, bat fure Steps, in the Hands of our wifericus Troops. It ftands on a Point of Land formed by the Jun&tion of the River Monaungatela, with thag of the Obio ; diftant from Pbiladelphia 269 Miles: ¢ Were there nothing at Stake between the Crowns of Great- Britain and.-£rance, butthe Lands or that Part of Obis, (which are included in Evans'’s gencral Map of the Middle Britifp Colanies, in America ) we may reckon it as great a Prize, ashas ever yet been contended for, between two Nations ; butif we further obferve, that this is fcarce a Quarter of the valuzble Land that is contained in one continued Extent, and the Influence that a State, veited with all the Wealth and Power that will natarally arife from the Culture of fo great an Extent of good Land, in a happy Climate, it will make fo great an ‘Addi- tion to that Nation which wins it, where there i: no third State to hold the Baliance of Power, that the Lofer muaft encvitably fink under his Rival. Itis not as two Nations at War, contending the one for the other’s [Habitations ; where the Conquered, on ‘Submiffion, would be admitted to partake of the Privileges of thie Conquerors ; but for a vaft Coun- try, éxceeding in Extent and good Land, all the Eurcpean Dominions of Great Britain, Framce and Spainy almolt deftitute of Inhabitants ; and will, 23 faft as the Luropeans fetrle,become more fo of its for- mer Inhabitants. ‘Had His Majelty been dequaint- ed with its Value, the large Strides the Frizchhave been mazking for feveral Years paRt, in their In- croachments on his Dominions ; and the Meafures ftill taken to keep the Colonies difanited, and of impeding the generous Attempts of His moft zealous Subjeéts, it is impofible to conceive that His Ma- jefty would have facrificed, to the Spiecen of a few bitter Spirits, the beft Gem in his Crown. It is not yet too late to retrieve the Whole, ProvIDED the Britifh Plantations are not thought to be grown too large if fuch an Opinion prevails, an Opportu- nity now offers of foon making them lels. We may reckon the Reprefentation of the Extent and Power that foon may be dangerous to their Mother Coan- try, amonglt the preatelt of vaigar Errors. Any Perfon, who knows the Nature of the Soil, and the Extent of our Settlements, wiil confels, that all the Land, worth the Culture, from Neaw-Hamp/bire 10 Carolina, and extended as far back as there are Plan- ters fettled within three or four Miles of ane another, though including nine Colonies, is not equal inQuan- tity, to Half the arable Land in England. All the Whites in the Remainder of the Briti/s Colonies oa the Continent, fcarce amount to 120,000 Souls. How different this from the Conceits of fome who would reprefent fome fingle Colonies as equal to all England. 'The Majachufetts, though made fuch a Bugbear, as if its Inhabitants were fo rich and nu- merous, as that they might one Day be able to dif- pute Dominion with England; is not fo large as Yor- Jbire, nor has Half fo much arable Land. Suppofing the Colonies were grown rich end powerful, what Inducement have they to throw off their Indepen- dency ? National Ties of Blood and Friendfhip, mutual Dependencies for Support and Afliftance in their Civil and Miiitary Interefls, with England ; each Colony having a particular Form of Gover- ment of its own,and the Jealoufy of any one’s having the Superiority over the reft, are unfurmountable Obftacles to their ever aniting, to the Prejudice of England, upon any ambitious Views of their own. But that repeated and continued iil Ufage, Infring- ments of their dear bought Privileges, facrificicg them to the Ambition and Intrigues of domeftick and fereign Enemies, may not proveke them to do their utmoft for own Prefervation, I would not pre- tend to fay ; as weak as they are. But while they are treated as Members of one Body, and allowed their natural Rights, it weuld be the Height of Madnefs for them to propofe an Independency,wete they ever fo ftrong. It they had any ambitious Viéws,a ftrong Colony, of a natoral Enemy tofrg -’ land; on their Borders, would be the only Article that would render any Attempt of Indepeedency \ truly -