EXPEDITION AGAINST NIAGARA.

From the above description of the passage from Albany to Oswego, it is plain how necessary it was that the troops intended for this expedition should have set out early in the spring. But instead of that, the very first of them, colonel Schuyler’s New Jersey regiment, did not begin their march till after the beginning of July, and just as Shirley’s and Pepperell’s regiments were preparing to follow, the melancholy account of Braddock’s disaster arrived at Albany, where it so damped the spirits of the people, and spread such a terror, that many of the troops deserted, and most of the batteau-men dispersed and ran home, by which means even all the necessary stores could not be carried along with the troops. Notwithstanding this disappointment, Mr. Shirley set out from Albany before the end of July, with as many of the troops and stores as he could procure a conveyance for, hoping to be joined in his route by great numbers of the Indians of the Six Nations, to whom he sent invitations to that effect as he passed by their settlements; but they, instead of complying with his desire, absolutely declared against all hostilities on that side of the country; and insisted that Oswego, being a place of traffic and peace, ought not to be disturbed either by the English or the French, as if they could have persuaded both parties to agree to such a local truce. Upon this refusal, Mr. Shirley proceeded forward, being joined by a very few Indians, and arrived at Oswego on the seventeenth or eighteenth of August; but the rest of the troops and artillery did not arrive till the last day of that month; and even then, their store of provisions was not sufficient to enable them to go against Niagara, though some tolerably good vessels had by this time been built and got ready for that purpose. The general now resolved to take but six hundred men with him for the attack of Niagara, and to leave the rest of his army, consisting of about fourteen hundred more, at Oswego, to defend that place, in case the French should attack it in his absence, which there was reason to apprehend they might, as they then had a considerable force at fort Frontenac, from whence they could easily cross over the lake Ontario to Oswego. However, he was still obliged to wait at Oswego for provisions, of which at length a small supply arrived on the twenty-sixth of September, barely sufficient to support his men during their intended expedition, and to allow twelve days’ short subsistence for those he left behind. But by this time the rainy boisterous season had begun, on which account most of his Indians had already left him and were returned home; and the few that remained with him declared that there was no crossing the lake Ontario in batteaux at that season, or any time before the next summer. In this perplexity he called a council of war, which, after weighing all circumstances, unanimously resolved to defer the attempt upon Niagara till the next year, and to employ the troops, whilst they remained at Oswego, in building barracks, and erecting, or at least beginning to erect, two new forts, one on the east side of the river Onondaga, four hundred and fifty yards distant from the old fort, which it was to command, as well as the entrance of the harbour, and to be called Ontario-fort; and the other four hundred and fifty yards west of the old fort, to be called Oswego new fort.