CHAPTER XV
CAMP DISCIPLINE--AMHERST'S ANGELS--A BRUSH WITH THE FRENCH, AND THE LOSSOF CAPTAIN JACOB
In the spring the provincial troops began to meet at Albany. Some of ourofficers had been recruiting during the winter, and they returned withtheir men.
John Stark had gone home in the fall to get married, and he brought backone hundred men whom he had enlisted at Amoskeag Falls. Two companies ofStockbridge Indians also joined us. There were fifty men in each ofthese companies.
By the first of June Amherst arrived at Fort Edward with part of thearmy, and Gage came up the river with the rest in boats. He brought theartillery and provisions with him.
The river was so high that the men could not use setting poles, and ittook them two weeks to row up against the swift current.
Most of the provincial troops were without uniforms, and, as I havesaid, were ignorant of military life and discipline. Their officers worea uniform of blue faced with scarlet, with metal buttons, and had lacedwaistcoats and hats. They were sober, sensible men.
When the provincials reached Fort Edward, they were drilled daily andtaught to fire by platoon and to shoot at a mark. They were sent intothe woods to learn how to fight.
One company from each regiment of the regulars was fitted out as lightinfantry and clothed lightly. Plenty of powder and ball was given tothese men, and we used to go into the woods with them and give them anidea of wood-fighting. We had a good deal of fun out of all this. It wassolid comfort to go out with a batch of conceited fellows and show themhow very green they were.
The soldiers were sent in bathing daily. The sick, if they hadsufficient strength, had to go to the doctor for their medicines and tothe river to wash and bathe. Amherst thought that spruce beer was aremedy against scurvy and made great quantities of it. We could have allwe wanted at the rate of half a penny for a quart.
[Sidenote: MILITARY PUNISHMENTS]
Discipline was very rigid. Men were constantly being flogged. And onesometimes saw the drummers give a man two or three hundred stripes withthe cat-o'-nine-tails, at the head of his regiment. Every now and thenthe drummers would rest, and a surgeon would examine the man to see ifhe could endure the remainder of the punishment. Some were punished byriding the wooden horse, and a couple were hanged for stealing cattle.
The woods along the path from Fort Edward were cut down for quite adistance on either side of the path, that the enemy might not ambuscadeour parties. And little forts were built every three or four miles alongthe road. No one died of idleness that spring.
Our old uniforms were pretty well used up. When a jacket or a pair ofbreeches gave out, we replaced them with a deerskin shirt or breeches,which we made ourselves.
In the spring General Amherst gave the Rangers a new uniform. It was ablue cap or bonnet, such as the Highlanders wore, and a waistcoat andshort jacket of black frieze lapelled with blue. There were no arms tothe waistcoat or jacket, only armholes, and on the shoulders were littlewings, such as the drummers and grenadiers wore. Hector called usAmherst's angels. The buttons were of white metal. We had drawers oflinen or light canvas, and over them leggings of black frieze reachingto the thighs. From the calf down, they were buttoned with white metalbuttons, and came over the feet like splatterdashes. At our waist wasfastened a short kilt of blue stuff, which reached nearly to the knees.Our dress was much like that of the Highlanders.
Most of the regulars who had joined us since the last campaign came fromLouisburg, and had been sufficiently long in the land to lose a portionof that feeling of immense superiority which Englishmen have when freshfrom the old country. Still they laughed heartily at the awkwardappearance of the green provincial troops. And no one could help it whohad experience in military life.
[Sidenote: "YANKEE DOODLE"]
"Ben," said Donald, "just listen to the green gawks singing andwhistling that 'Yankee Doodle.' They think it is the finest tune onearth, and the latest martial music from England. I remember the bit ofa surgeon who wrote that in fun two years ago, just to make sport ofthem."
"Well, Donald, I like it myself; and as our boys have taken it up,they're apt to fight well under it."
"'Deed, man, they'll no do anything with it. It's just a poor foolishtune."
How little we foresaw the popularity of that air. For years the bands ofthe British regiments played it in derision of the provincials. Percy'stroops marched to Lexington to this music. They did not play it on theirreturn. During the Revolution our men played it whenever the Britishwere defeated, and the tune gradually became unpopular in the Britisharmy.
"Donald, our men may be green and awkward, but they are God-fearing men,most of them, members of the church; and they don't drink like fish, norswear like pirates, as these newcomers do, whose conceit andoverbearing ways are hard to endure."
"You're right there, Ben. It's no bad thing to have a gude opinion ofoneself, provided it's not altogether too gude. And I maun say thatthese men put themselves too high. And a man should have a bridle on histongue, and not be drinking too much of this nasty rum."
"They laugh at our ways of speaking, and say we speak through our noses.You of the Black Watch talk differently from them. I heard a captain,the other day, telling of pumpkins, which he called pompions. 'Yes,' hesaid, 'the pompion is a good vegetable, and an excellent succedaneum tothe cabbage, in the latter part of the winter.' What do you think ofsuccedaneum, Donald?"
"'Deed, I think it's a fine word. I don't know what it means, but it hasa grand sound. I'll manage to bring it in, in the future, when I hearpeople using big words. Benjamin, I'm obliged to you."
"A few days later, I heard this captain talking about the fogs in NovaScotia, which he said, 'are owing to the steamy breath of fish and seaanimals.' I put that down at once. If I could only hear him talk rightalong, I think I'd learn a good deal about nature. How do you like it?"
[Sidenote: THE ARMY MARCHES TO LAKE GEORGE]
"He's a grand talker, Ben, and has an uncommon gude grip on thelanguage. But I think his philosophy's gone to his head. He never livedamong our Scotch mists, or he wouldn't be so befogged in his ideas."
When General Gage reached Fort Edward, he was sent over to Lake Georgewith part of the army. Three companies of Rangers, under Captain Stark,went with him. The other three companies, under Rogers, remained behind.
On the 20th of June the rest of the army, under Amherst, marched to thelake.
Our three companies of Rangers, under Rogers, formed the advanced guard,and threw out flanking parties to scour the woods near by. The artilleryand baggage brought up the rear.
Then nearly a month was consumed in building boats and rafts to carrythe artillery, in raising boats which had been sunk the previous fall,and in digging up cannon and stores that had been buried.
Amherst wished for information about the French, and Captain Jacob wassent on a scout to Lake Champlain. At the same time Rogers, McKinstry,Martin, and I set out to see what force the enemy had at Crown Point.
We put our birches into the water after dark. As I stepped into ourbirch, Jacob said: "Good-by, Ben Comee! Never see you again. HeapCanawaugha Indians at Crown Point. Gray Wolf's friends. All want BenComee's scalp. Me heap sorry."
"Good-by, Jacob. Take care you don't lose your own hair."
The Indians went along the south shore, and we struck across for theother side. The enemy had several batteaux on the lake, and we paddledquietly in the dark till we reached the other shore. As it became light,we lifted our canoe from the water, and hid it in the bushes.
Rogers started off through the woods, and we followed him in a file. Weclimbed a mountain near Ticonderoga and had a good view of the fort. Westayed there for a couple of hours, counting the different bodies ofsoldiers. There seemed to be about three thousand men in thegarrison,--regulars, Canadians, and Indians. Then we came down and wentnorth to Crown Point. We ascended a hill, and looked down on the fort.It was deserted. The French had concentrated all their men atTiconderoga.
&n
bsp; [Sidenote: CAPTAIN JACOB IN HOT WATER]
McKinstry called out: "Look up the lake. Captain Jacob is in hot water.Those two birches that are being chased are his, certain."
"Yes; he and his men are in those two, and there are seven birches afterthem. About thirty men. It's a pretty slim chance he's got. Now they'refiring."
Both parties were shooting at each other. As they neared the shore, welost sight of them behind a point, but could still hear them poppingaway.
Rogers said: "Captain Jacob is in a fix. Presence of mind is a goodthing, but absence of body is a great deal better in a case like this,and we'd better light out of here at once, and get out of the way beforethey run across our trail. There's too few of us to help him. We mustlook out for our own scalps. Hurry up."
We went back into the woods a long distance before we turned south to goto Lake George. We reached camp the next evening, and on the followingday a wounded Indian came in and said that Captain Jacob and the otherfour Indians were captured.
There was a report that he was sent to Montreal, but it is more likelythat he was tortured and sang his death-song at the stake.
At last the rafts were ready for the artillery, and on the 21st day ofJuly the army embarked and moved down the lake in four columns. TheRangers headed the column on the right. To the left of us was a columnof two brigades of regulars. The third column was mainly made up ofboats and rafts carrying the artillery and provisions, and theprovincials formed the fourth column.
[Sidenote: THE ARMY EMBARKS]
A raft called the _Invincible Radeau_, which carried ninetwelve-pounders, led the army, and the _Halifax_ sloop brought up therear.
From these, signals were displayed which informed us what to do. Theweather was hazy. There was a strong wind which made quite a sea, andput the artillery in considerable danger. Whenever the wind wasfavourable, we spread our blankets for sails, which helped us very much.There were in all about eleven thousand men,--regulars and provincials.