The French and Indians knew not that Grant and his men were there until they beat the drum and played upon the bag-pipes, just at daylight. They then flew to arms, and the Indians ran up under covert of the banks of the Alleghany and Monongahela for some distance, and then sallied out from the banks of the rivers and took possession of the hill above Grant. As he was on the point of it in sight of the fort, they immediately surrounded him, and as he had his Highlanders in ranks and very close order, and the Indians scattered and concealed behind trees, they defeated him with the loss only of a few warriors; most of the Highlanders were killed or taken prisoners."

"After this defeat," continues Smith, "the Indians held a council, but were divided in their opinions. Some said that General Forbes would now turn back and go home the way he came, as Dunbar had done when General Braddock was defeated; others supposed he would come on. The French urged the Indians to stay and see the event; but, as it was hard for the Indians to be absent from their squaws and children at this season of the year, a great many of them returned home to their hunting. After this the remainder of the Indians, some French regulars and a number of Canadians marched off in quest of General Forbes. They met his army near [what was named] Fort Ligonier and attacked them, but were frustrated in their design. They said that Forbes' men were beginning to learn the art of war, and that there were a great number of American riflemen

along with the red-coats, who scattered out, took trees, and were good marksmen; therefore, they found they could not accomplish their design, and were obliged to retreat. When they returned from the battle to Fort Duquesne, the Indians concluded they would go to their hunting."*

There were other causes operating to drive the Indians home. "[There is] mutiny," wrote a French officer high in command in Canada, " among the Canadians, who want to come home; the officers [are] busy with making money and stealing like mandarins. Their commander sets the example, and will come back with three or four hundred thousand francs; the pettiest ensign, who does not gamble, will have ten, twelve or fifteen thousand. The Indians do not like Ligneris, who is drunk every day."†

The marching of Forbes westward with a large army was soon known to the Indians beyond the Alleghanies, and they began to waver; especially was this the case with the Delawares and Shawanese. The French could not make them as many presents as formerly. The Susquehanna Delawares had, the summer previous, made peace with the English. It was determined to get as many of the two nations as possible to withdraw from the French interests; but how were the Ohio Indians to be approached? who so bold as to go among them, taking with him a mes

sage from the Pennsylvania governor? Fortunately, a person was found equal to the occasion. It was Christian Frederick Post, a member of the Moravian brotherhood. He made his way to Kuskuskee, a Delaware town (not far away from the site of one of the same name which had been deserted) on Beaver river, Pennsylvania, and which now consisted of ninety houses and had two hundred able warriors. Here he was kindly received and conducted to Sakunk, a Delaware Indian town a mile below the mouth of Beaver river.* Here, he nearly lost his life; but he finally induced his fierce auditors to listen to his message. They were mollified, but they took him to Fort Duquesne-that, is to say, just across the Alleghany, from that fort that the savages there assembled might also hear his message. The French demanded him; they set a great price upon his head; but the Delawares protected him. As a final result, three tribes of those Indians agreed to renew the old peace chain, provided all the British provinces would join in sending them. a belt of peace. Post returned in safety with their reply. A treaty in October, was held at Easton, Pennsylvania, with the Six Nations and Delawares of the Susquehanna, and with the Mohicans and several kindred bands. The chain of friendship was brightened. All pres

ent agreed in sending a message of peace to the Ohio Indians, although the one from the Six Nations to the Shawanese and Miamis was mandatory. It was taken by the courageous Post. He crossed the river from the smouldering ruins of Fort Duquesne the day after General Forbes' arrival, having Montour with him, on his way to the mouth of Beaver creek, where all the Delawares in the vicinity were to meet him. Upon arriving at Logstown, he found the place deserted by its late inhabitants. It was situated on a hill. On the east end was a great piece of low land where the old Logstown used to stand. In the new Logstown, the French had built about thirty houses for the Indians. They had a large corn-field on the south side of the Ohio river, where the corn stood ungathered. On inquiring the reason, of some Delawares, of the speedy flight of the Shawanese, Post was informed that the inhabitants of the Lower Shawanese town at the mouth of the Scioto, had deserted that place and gone up the river to the Pickaway plains; that they had sent for the Shawanese at Logstown to go there and live with them and quit the French; and that deputies of the Six Nations sent from Easton ahead of Post, had hastened their departure. There were at Logstown, before the removal, about one hundred and twenty warriors. †

+ See letter of Post to General Forbes, as to his visit to the Delawares, beginning November 27, 1758, in 'Pennsylvania Archives' (O. S.), Vol. III, p. 560. It is improperly there given as a "Journal of Frederick Post." This letter should be consulted in connection with his " Second Journal." The

Post and Montour arrived at the Delaware town at the mouth of Beaver, on the twenty-ninth, where there were thirty-eight houses, "all built by the French for the Indians, some with stone chimneys." When all their men were at home they could send out one hundred warriors. Post had not only a message from the governor of Pennsylvania, but one from General Forbes to deliver to the Delawares, which was done on the thirtieth. After their delivery, Post was informed by an Indian just arrived from Fort Presquisle, that that fortification was much out of repair; that it had a garrison of only two officers and thirty-five men, and that not above ten Indians were with them, and these kept "constantly hunting for the support of the garrison." Fort Le Bœuf, the Indian declared, was much in the same condition, with only one officer and thirty men. A few hunting Indians were with them, "who said they would leave them in a few days." Fort Michault, at Venango, had but one officer and twenty-five men, and was much distressed for want of provisions. When the Indian left, the late commanding officer of Fort Duquesne had not arrived. This second visit of Post to the Delawares supplemented the arrival of General Forbes at the Ohio, and English interest again became paramount along that river among the various Indian tribes. The destruction

Indian name for the Pickaway plains was Moguck." The lower Shanoes had removed off the river up Sihotta, to a great Plain Call'd Moguck :" Post's let

ter to Forbes before cited. It will be remembered the Delaware town, on the north side of the plains, visited by Gist in 1750, was known by the same name.

of Fort Duquesne and the occupation of the head of the Ohio by the English opened the Great West to the provinces, took from France a large portion of her Indian allies, and ended the Indian war upon the western frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.

Pittsburgh, in 1759, was in great danger. All that had been gained by General Forbes was on the point of being lost. "The French population of the Illinois, Detroit and other distant posts, joined with troops of western Indians, had come down the lakes to recover Pittsburgh, undo the work of Forbes and restore French 'ascendancy on the Ohio." The enemy was assembled at Presquisle, Le Boeuf and Venango. However, to save Niagara all were ordered to that post. There they were defeated. On their retreat westward they burned Presquisle, Le Boeuf and Venango, and, joined by the garrisons of these posts, made their way to Detroit. The upper half of the great valley of the Ohio was now in the possession of the English, and a regular fortified work at Pittsburgh, named Fort Pitt, was commenced to perpetuate it. Meanwhile Ticonderoga, Crown Point and Quebec yielded to the British ; and conferences with the Ohio Indians cemented the friendship of these savages to the colonies.

The appointment of George Croghan as deputy Indian agent at Pittsburgh, by Sir William Johnson, was followed by excellent results. On the sixth of April, 1760, he held a conference with the western Indians at Fort Pitt. There seemed to be no doubt that most,

if not all these savages would join the armies of the English. Following this, a noted Delaware chief sent by the governor of Pennsylvania to the Ohio Indians, met the latter upon the waters of Beaver river, in a grand council. "It took me three weeks to collect them together," said the chief, upon his return. "I concealed nothing from them," adds the Delaware, "and when they heard all, they were right glad; it gave joy to their very hearts." He gave upon that, and other occasions before his return, advice and counsel to the Hurons, Wyandots, Miamis, Shawanese, Chippewas and all the tribes of the Delawares and others, "to the number of ten nations;" all signifying their determination not to "quarrel any more with the English."

On the seventh of September, 1760, the English before Montreal, were in a position to say authoritatively: "The whole garrison and all other French troops in Canada must lay down their arms." It was the fiat of fate. The next day, Vaudreuil, the governor, signed a capitulation, when Canada and all its dependencies passed to the British Crown. "Half the continent had changed hands at the scratch of a pen." The whole territory now constituting the state of Ohio was given into the hands of the English, and much more; and that possession was made perpetual by the definitive treaty of Paris, of the tenth of February, 1763— so far as such an agreement could make it perpetual.

CONSUL WILLSHIRE BUTTerfield.