The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Illustrated by Tales, Sketches, and Anecdotes

5. What impeded the progress of the expedition? How did General Braddock obviate this difficulty?

6. What step did Franklin take to procure the wagons?

12. How much was furnished by the British general to be paid in advance to the owners of the wagons and horses? How much did Franklin furnish?

13. What was the character of General Braddock? How did he treat the Indians who joined him on his march?

14. What were the general's plans?

15. What did Franklin tell him?

16. What was Braddock's reply?

17. Where were the British troops first attacked?

18. What was the progress of the battle?

19. What became of the wagons and artillery?

20. Where did the fugitives resort? What was Colonel Dunbar's conduct?

CHAPTER XIV

Settlement for the Loss of Wagons. Anecdote. Preparations for Defence. Franklin appointed to a military Command. Assembles the Troops at Bethlehem. Farmers killed by Indians. Building Forts. Extracts from Franklin's Journal. Indian Cunning. Anecdotes of the Moravians.

1. As soon as the loss of the wagons and horses was generally known, all the owners came upon Franklin for the valuation which he had given bond to pay. Their demands troubled him exceedingly. He informed them that the money was ready in the paymaster's hands, but the order for paying it must first be obtained from General Shirley; that he had applied for it; and they must have patience till he could receive it. All this, however, was not sufficient, and some began to sue him. General Shirley at length released him from this disagreeable situation, by appointing commissioners to examine the claims, and order payment. They amounted to nearly twenty thousand pounds.

2. Before receiving news of the defeat, two gentlemen came to Franklin with a subscription paper for raising money to pay the expense of a grand firework, which it was intended to exhibit on receiving the news of taking Fort Duquesne. Franklin told them gravely, that he thought it would be time enough to prepare for rejoicing when they knew they should have occasion to rejoice. They seemed surprised that he did not immediately comply with their proposal. "Why," said one of them, "you surely do not suppose that the fort will not be taken?" "I don't know," replied Franklin, "that it will not be taken; but I know that the events of war are subject to great uncertainty." The plan was fortunately abandoned.

3. The assembly now laid a tax, to raise money for the defence of the province, and Franklin was appointed one of the commissioners to dispose of it. He had also carried a bill through the house for establishing and disciplining a voluntary militia. To promote the association necessary to form the militia, he wrote a dialogue upon the subject, which was extensively circulated, and thought to have great effect.

4. While the several companies in the city and country were forming, and learning their exercise, the governor prevailed upon Franklin to take charge of the north-western frontier, which was infested by the enemy, and provide for the defence of the inhabitants, by raising troops, and building a line of forts. Franklin did not think himself very well qualified for the military, but was willing to be of all the service in his power. He received a commission from the governor, with full authority, and a parcel of blank commissions for officers, to be given to whom he thought fit. Five hundred and sixty men were soon raised and placed under his command.

5. The place first selected for a fort was Gnadenhutten, a village settled by the Moravians, and which had recently been the scene of terrible destruction and death. In order to march thither, Franklin assembled the companies at Bethlehem, the chief establishment of those people. He was surprised to find this place in a good state of defence. The destruction of Gnadenhutten had made them apprehensive of danger.

6. They had purchased a quantity of arms and ammunition from New York, and had even placed quantities of small paving stones between the windows of their high houses, to be thrown down upon the heads of any Indians that should attempt to force into them. The armed brethren kept watch, and relieved each other as regularly as in any garrison town.

7. In conversation with their bishop, Spangenberg, Franklin mentioned his surprise; for, knowing they had obtained an act of parliament excusing them from military duties in the colonies, he supposed they had motives of conscience which forbade their bearing arms. The bishop answered – "That it was not one of their established principles; but that at the time of their obtaining that act it was thought to be a principle with many of their people. On this occasion, however, to their surprise they found it adopted but by a few." A strong sense of danger very soon overcomes such notions.

8. It was the beginning of January when they set out upon the business of building forts. One detachment was sent towards the Minisink, with directions to erect one for the upper part of the country, and another to the lower part, with similar directions. Franklin went in person, with the remaining troops, to Gnadenhutten, where a force was thought more immediately necessary. The Moravians procured him five wagons for their tools, stores, and baggage.

9. Just before they left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, who had been driven from their homes by the Indians, came to Franklin, requesting a supply of fire-arms, that they might go back and bring off their cattle. He gave them each a gun with suitable ammunition.

10. They had not marched many miles when it began to rain, and it continued raining all day. There were no habitations on the road to shelter them, till they reached, about night, the house of a German. Here, in the barn and shed, they were all huddled together as wet as water could make them. It was well for them that they were not attacked upon the march, for their arms were of the poorest sort, and it was impossible to keep the locks of their guns dry. The poor farmers, before mentioned, suffered on this account. They met with the Indians, and, the primings being wet with rain, their guns would not go off, so that only one of them escaped with his life.

11. The next day was fair. The companies continued their march, and arrived at the desolate Gnadenhutten. There was a mill in the neighborhood, round which several pine boards had been left. With these they soon built themselves huts. Their next work was to bury the dead they found there. On the following morning their fort was planned and marked out, with a circumference measuring four hundred and fifty-five feet. Their axes, of which they had seventy, were immediately set to work to cut down trees for palisades; and, as the men were very skilful in the use of them, they made great despatch.

12. Seeing the trees fall so fast, Franklin had the curiosity to look at his watch when two men began to cut at a pine. In six minutes they had it upon the ground, and it was fourteen inches in diameter. Each pine made three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. While these were preparing, other men dug a trench all round, of three feet deep, in which the palisades were to be planted. When these were set up, the carpenters built within them a platform of boards all round, about six feet high, for the men to stand on and fire through the loopholes. They had one swivel gun, which they mounted, and fired as soon as it was fixed, that the Indians might know they had such pieces. Thus their fort, such as it was, was finished in a week, though it rained so hard every other day that the men were almost unable to work.

13. "This gave me occasion to observe," says Franklin, "that when men are employed they are best contented. For on the days they worked they were good-natured and cheerful, and, with the consciousness of having done a good day's work, they spent the evening jollily. But, on our idle days, they were mutinous and quarrelsome, finding fault with the pork and the bread, and were continually in bad humor; which put me in mind of a sea captain, whose rule it was to keep his men constantly at work; and when his mate once told him that they had done every thing, and there was nothing further to employ them about, 'O,' said he, 'make them scour the anchor.'"

14. "This kind of fort," he continues, "however contemptible, is a sufficient defence against Indians who have no cannon. Finding ourselves now posted securely, and having a place to retreat to on occasion, we ventured out in parties to scour the adjacent country. We met with no Indians, but we found the places, on the neighboring hills, where they had lain to watch our proceedings. There was an art in their contrivance of those places that seems worth mentioning.

15. "It being winter, a fire was necessary for them; but a common fire, on the surface of the ground, would, by its light, have discovered their position at a distance; they had, therefore, dug holes in the ground about three feet in diameter, and somewhat deeper; we found where they had, with their hatchets, cut off the charcoal from the side of burnt logs lying in the woods. With these coals they had made small fires in the bottom of the holes, and we observed, among the weeds and grass, the prints of their bodies, made by their lying all round, with their legs hanging down in the holes, to keep their feet warm; which, with them, is an essential point. This kind of fire, so managed, could not discover them either by its light, flame, sparks, or even smoke; it appeared that the number was not great, and it seems they saw we were too many to be attacked by them with prospect of advantage.

16. "We had for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, Mr. Beatty, who complained to me that the men did not generally attend his prayers and exhortations. When they enlisted they were promised, besides pay and provisions, a gill of rum a day, which was punctually served out to them, half in the morning and half in the evening, and I observed they were punctual in attending to receive it.

17. "Upon which I said to Mr. Beatty, 'It is perhaps below the dignity of your profession to act as steward of the rum; but if you were to distribute it out only just after prayers, you would have them all about you.' He liked the thought, undertook the task, and, with the help of a few hands to measure out the liquor, executed it to satisfaction; and never were prayers more generally and more punctually attended. So that I think this method preferable to the punishment inflicted by some military laws for non-attendance on divine service.

18. "I had hardly finished this business, and got my fort well stored with provisions, when I received a letter from the governor, acquainting me that he had called the assembly, and wished my attendance there, if the posture of affairs on the frontiers was such that my remaining there was no longer necessary. My friends, too, of the assembly pressing me by their letters to be, if possible, at the meeting, and my three intended forts being now completed, and the inhabitants contented to remain on their farms under that protection, I resolved to return; the more willingly, as a New-England officer, Colonel Clapham, experienced in Indian war, being on a visit to our establishment, consented to accept the command.

19. "I gave him a commission, and, parading the garrison, had it read before them, and introduced him to them as an officer, who, from his skill in military affairs, was much more fit to command them than myself; and giving them a little exhortation, took my leave. I was escorted as far as Bethlehem, where I rested a few days to recover from the fatigue I had undergone. The first night, lying on a good bed, I could hardly sleep, it was so different from my hard lodging on the floor of a hut at Gnadenhutten, with only a blanket or two.

20. "While at Bethlehem, I inquired a little into the practices of the Moravians; some of them had accompanied me, and all were very kind to me. I found they worked for a common stock, ate at common tables, and slept in common dormitories, great numbers together. In the dormitories I observed loop-holes at certain distances, all along just under the ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed for change of air. I went to their church, where I was entertained with good music, the organ being accompanied with violins, hautboys, flutes, and clarionets.

21. "I understood their sermons were not usually preached to mixed congregations of men, women and children, as is our common practice; but that they assembled sometimes the married men, at other times their wives, then the young men, the young women, and the little children; each division by itself. The sermon I heard was to the latter, who came in and were placed in rows on benches, the boys under the conduct of a young man, their tutor; and the girls conducted by a young woman. The discourse seemed well adapted to their capacities, and was delivered in a pleasing, familiar manner, coaxing them, as it were, to be good. They behaved very orderly, but looked pale and unhealthy, which made me suspect they were kept too much within doors, or not allowed sufficient exercise.

22. "I inquired concerning the Moravian marriages, whether the report was true that they were by lot. I was told that lots were used only in particular cases, that generally, when a young man found himself disposed to marry, he informed the elders of his class, who consulted the elder ladies that governed the young women. As these elders of the different sexes were well acquainted with the tempers and dispositions of their respective pupils, they could best judge what matches were suitable, and their judgments were generally acquiesced in.

23. "But if, for example, it should happen that two or three young women were found to be equally proper for the young man, the lot was then recurred to. I objected, if the matches are not made by the mutual choice of the parties, some of them may chance to be very unhappy. 'And so they may,' answered my informer, 'if you let the parties choose for themselves.' Which, indeed, I could not deny."

1. To what embarrassment was Franklin now exposed? How was he relieved?

2. Relate the anecdote in respect to the subscription for fire-works.

3. What tax was now laid by the assembly? What bill did Franklin carry through the house?

4. What charge was now committed to Franklin? How many men were placed under his command?

5. What place was selected for a fort? By whom was Gnadenhutten settled?

6. What measures had the inhabitants of Bethlehem taken for defence?

7. What was the conversation of Franklin with the bishop Spangenberg?

8. Where were the forts built?

9. Relate the substance of the ninth and tenth paragraphs.

11. What was done on arriving at Gnadenhutten?

12. How was the fort constructed? How long did it take to build it?

13. What remarks does Franklin make about keeping employed?

14. What does Franklin say of the fort?

15. How did they manage to conceal their fires?