Marching on Niagara; Or, The Soldier Boys of the Old Frontier
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CHAPTER XXIX
THE BATTLE NEAR THE FALLS
"We are certainly in for a fight now, Henry!"
It was Dave who spoke, as he examined the priming of his new gun, tomake sure that the weapon was ready for use. "That little brush daybefore yesterday woke the French up, and they will sail into usheavily--if they can," he added.
"Well, we came to fight," returned Henry, as he, too, looked his weaponover. "And I guess we can be thankful, all things considered, that weare here to do them battle and not killed, or laid up as Sam Barringfordis."
"I hope Sam pulls through and that quickly."
"The surgeon said he would--if he'll keep quiet for a while. But it'slike putting a torch to gun-powder to keep him quiet when there's ascrimmage in sight,--he's such a born fighter."
The two young soldiers were standing behind a breastworks which had beenthrown up early that morning. The first works thrown up by the Englishengineering corps had proved untenable and the French had fired on themwith disastrous effect. But now they were comparatively safe; and theEnglish gunners were serving their various cannon steadily andeffectively, knocking the logs of the fort into bits with almost everydischarge.
The fort had been under bombardment for several days, and the youngsoldiers had been out on the firing line three times. But only one ofthese times had been of any consequence and that was when a Frenchcannon ball, hitting some loose stones, had sent the latter in theirfaces, scratching them both on each cheek and blinding a soldierstanding between them.
The bombardment had been opened at rather long range, for GeneralPrideaux had not known the exact strength of the French garrison. Nowthe worthy English general was dead, having been killed on the secondday by the unexpected explosion of a shell as it was being fired by someEnglish gunners from a small bronze mortar, generally called a coe-horn.
The killing of General Prideaux placed the command of the expedition inthe hands of Sir William Johnson, who up to this time had been givingall of his attention to the Indians who had volunteered to aid theirEnglish brothers. Johnson was as quick to act as he was brave, andhaving stationed his Indians where he could call upon them at a moment'snotice, had the English make another advance on the next day, whichbrought the cannon to bear directly on the most vital parts of the fort.
Captain Pouchot was now thoroughly alarmed, and under cover of darkness,sent out messengers in various directions, to bring up the soldiers,traders, and friendly Indians from Venango, Presqu'ile, Detroit, andother points. These different forces were to join together at some pointnear Lake Erie and then sail down the Niagara River to the vicinity ofthe Falls, where they were to disembark and then march forward with theidea of attacking the English from the rear.
Having sent forth his messengers the French commander now undertook todo his best until the reinforcements should arrive. The English attackwas answered with spirit, so that day after day the air was filled withshot and shell, hurled either into the fort or from it.
The attack Dave had mentioned came late that afternoon and was followedby another on the next day and still another two days later.
It was hot work, for the July sun blazed down with unmitigating vigor,and had the young soldiers not been toughened to a life in the open theywould have done as many of the English grenadiers did, fallen down inthe entrenchments exhausted. There was a continual demand for water andit was fortunate for all that a good supply was close at hand. This samesupply more than once saved the fort from burning down.
Both Dave and Henry had hoped to gain permission from General Johnson togo off in search of little Nell, taking several friends with them. Butwhen they broached the subject the brave-hearted Irish commander shookhis head.
"It will do you no good, young men," he said, kindly. "Stay with me, andif we win out--as we must--I will do all possible to rescue thechildren."
The general was sure of a victory and his spirit proved contagious toall under him. As the days went by the bombardment of the fortcontinued, until Captain Pouchot had lost fully half a hundred of hisgarrison. Impatiently he awaited the reinforcements from up the river.
But if he had expected to catch Sir William Johnson napping he was sadlymistaken. The commander of the English forces was thoroughly wide-awake,and had his scouts out in all directions, and these included a dozen oldbackwoodsmen and fully a score of Indians who could be depended upon todo their best, no matter what the risk. It may be as well to mentionthat among these scouts was White Buffalo, who had followed from Oswegoto Fort Niagara, not alone to aid Sir William Johnson but also to assistthe Morrises to find little Nell.
The attack on the fort had begun on the seventh of July. On thetwenty-fourth word came in through the spies that a force of French andIndians were coming down the river from Lake Erie. This body ofsoldiers, traders and Indians was twelve hundred strong, and wascommanded by several French officers of note. The traders were of themost savage and lawless kind and many of them were in the habit ofdressing like the Indians and smearing their faces with the samewar-paint.
The word concerning this body came in late in the day and that nightGeneral Johnson ordered forward a large part of his force, includingsome grenadiers, some rangers and his Indians. The troops were cautionedto move forward without making unnecessary noise, and to be certain ofwhat was taking place before opening fire.
"Now for some real fighting!" cried Dave. "This won't be any such playas besieging the fort."
"Well, that hasn't been play to my notion," answered Henry. "At least itwasn't play when that cannon ball came and blinded poor Campbell."
"Well, I'm with ye, lads!" came a voice from behind them, and turningswiftly they beheld Sam Barringford standing there, rifle in hand, andwith his throat done up in a bandage.
"Where in the world did you come from?" ejaculated Henry. "Why, youought to be in the hospital!"
"Not by a jugful, Henry! I'm well enough ag'in, I can tell ye--though Iallow as how my neck's a bit stiff."
"How did you get here?"
"Came up on a boat that brought some ammunition. Reckon I'm jest intime, too, eh?"
"You ought to take it easy, Sam," said Dave. "You've done enough--"
"Cut it short, lad; I can't sit still when thar's a scrimmage on--no twoways about it. Besides, I promised your folks to stay with ye, rememberthet,--an' I'm bound to keep my promise. Come along, an' tell me whatye've been up to sence we parted company."
As they trudged forward, along the Indian trail which led along thebluff on the east side of the Niagara River, the youths related theirvarious adventures. Barringford was astonished to learn how Dave hadbeen nearly drowned and starved and how Henry and others had come upjust in the nick of time.
"It's the work of an all-wise an' all-powerful Providence, thet's whatit is, lads," he said, reverently. "When we can't help ourselves it doesseem jest like an arm reached down out o' the clouds to give us a lift."
On and still on went the soldiers, some keeping to the trail and othersskirting the river and the thick forest beyond. To those who had been onguard duty during the day it was a tiresome tramp, but the life of thesoldier, as I have had occasion to say before, is not all glory, but isusually a mixture of one-tenth glory and nine-tenths work andduty-doing.
At last came the welcome command to halt. The soldiers were now lessthan a mile away from the falls and in the stillness of the earlymorning the great body of falling waters could be distinctly heard--amuffled roar which keeps on day and night now just as it did in thosedays and just as it has done probably for centuries upon centuries.
The rangers to which our friends belonged came to a halt in a littlegrove of trees and both Dave and Henry were glad that they were notcalled upon to do picket duty. They sank down to rest, and despite theundertone of excitement observable on every hand, fell into a lightslumber, from which Barringford did not arouse them until it wasabsolutely necessary.
When they awoke there was a fierce yelling in the distance, followed bya number of scat
tering shots. The fight had opened between the Mohawkson one side and the Iroquois on the other. Soon the French tradersleaped into the fray, and then the soldiers on both sides followed.
The French and their allies had come around the falls by the portagetrail and the battle began at some little distance below the falls. TheIndians fought like so many demons, both sides taking as many scalps aspossible. Soon the forest and the open space were filled with gun-smoke.
"Forward!" came the cry. "Forward! We must drive them back! They mustnever reach the fort!" And forward went our friends, and in a momentmore Dave, Henry, and Barringford found themselves in the very thickestof the fray.
Dirty looking traders confronted them, several Dave had seen before, onthe Kinotah, and some of these tried their best to bring down the son ofthe English trader they so hated. But Dave was un-touched, although onebullet did pierce his jacket. The rush of the English rangers wassuccessful and soon the Frenchmen scattered to the right and the left.
But now a body of French soldiery was coming forward on thedouble-quick. The rangers had no time to reload their weapons, and soleaped forward for a hand-to-hand contest, such as soldiers of to-dayknow little or nothing about, where bayonet met clubbed musket and swordthe long and equally dangerous hunting knife of the pioneer, and wheremany a contest was settled in short order with the naked fist, if nobetter weapon was handy. It was a time to bring out "real grit" in thebest meaning of that term.
Henry had discharged his gun and was now trying to club off two Frenchsoldiers who had attacked him with their bayonets. He struck one of theenemy on the head, sending him reeling, but the force of the blow madehim lose his balance and he too fell, but only upon his knees.
"Ha! now we have you!" cried another French soldier, close by, as he sawHenry slip, and lowering his bayonet he charged on the youth, intendingto run him through on the spot!