the hands of a French surgeon, beaten to a jelly, and unable to move a limb. Here he was quickly visited by one of his captors-the same who had given him such good advice when about to commence his race. He now inquired, with some interest, if he felt 'very sore.' Young Smith replied that he had been bruised almost to death, and asked what he had done to merit such barbarity. The Indian replied that he had done nothing, but that it was the customary greeting of the Indians to their prisoners-that it was something like the English how d'ye do,' and that now all ceremony would be laid aside, and he would be treated with kindness. Smith enquired if they had any news of General Braddock. The Indian replied that their scouts saw him every day from the mountains-that he was advancing in close columns through the woods-(this he indicated by placing a number of red sticks parallel to each other, and pressed closely together)-and that the Indians would be able to shoot them down 'like pigeons.' "Smith rapidly recovered, and was soon able to walk upon the battlements of the fort, with the aid of a stick. While engaged in this exercise, on the morning of the 9th he observed an unusual bustle in the Fort. The Indians stood in crowds at the great gate, armed and painted. Many barrels of powder, balls, flints, &c., were brought out to them, from which each warrior helped himself to such articles as he required. They were soon joined by a small detachment of French regulars, when the whole party marched off together. He had a full view of them as they passed, and was confident that they could not exceed four hundred men. He soon learned that it was detached against Braddock, who was now within a few miles of the Fort; but from their great inferiority in numbers, he regarded their destruction as certain, and looked joyfully to the arrival of Braddock in the evening, as the hour which was to deliver him from the power of the Indians. In the afternoon, however, an Indian runner arrived with far different intelligence. The battle had not yet ended when he left the field; but he announced that the English had been surrounded, and were shot down in heaps by an invisible enemy; that instead of flying at once, or rushing upon their concealed foe, they appeared completely bewildered, huddled together in the centre of the ring, and before sun down there would not be a man of them alive. This intelligence fell like a thunderbolt upon Smith, who now saw himself irretrievably in the power of the savages, and could look forward to nothing but torture or endless captivity. He waited anxiously for further intelligence, still hoping that the fortune of the day might change. But about sun-set, he heard at a distance the well known scalp halloo, followed by wild, quick, joyful shrieks, and accompanied by long continued firing. This too surely announced the fate of the day. About dusk, the party returned to the fort, driving before them twelve British regulars, stripped naked, and with their faces painted black! an evidence that the unhappy wretches were devoted to death. Next came the Indians, displaying their bloody scalps, of which they had immense numbers, and dressed in the scarlet coats, sashes, and military hats of the officers and soldiers. Behind all came a train of baggage horses, laden with piles of scalps, canteens, and all the accoutrements of British soldiers. The savages appeared frantic with joy, and when Smith beheld them entering the fort, dancing, yelling, brandishing their red tomahawks, and waving their scalps in the air, while the great guns of the fort replied to the incessant discharge of the rifles without, he says that it looked as if h-l had given a holiday, and turned loose its inhabitants upon the upper world. The most melancholy spectacle was the band of prisoners. They appeared dejected and anxious. Poor fellows! They had but a few months before left London, at the command of their superiors, and we may easily imagine their feelings at the strange and dreadful spectacle around them. The yells of delight and congratulation were scarcely over, when those of vengeance began. The devoted prisoners (British regulars), were led out from the Fort to the banks of the Allegheny, and to the eternal disgrace of the French commandant, were there burnt to death, with the most awful tortures. Smith stood upon the battlements, and witnessed the shocking spectacle. The prisoner was tied to a stake, with the hands raised above his head, stripped naked, and surrounded by Indians. They would touch him with red hot irons, and stick his body full of pine splinters, and set them on fire-drowning the shrieks of the victim in the yells of delight with which they danced around him. His companions in the meantime stood in a group near the stake, and had a foretaste of what was in reserve for each of them. As fast as one prisoner died under his tortures, another filled his place, until the whole perished. All this took place so near the fort, that every scream of the victims must have rung in the ears of the French commandant! "Two or three days after this shocking spectacle, most of the Indian tribes dispersed, and returned to their homes, as is usual with them after a great and decisive battle. Young Smith was demanded of the French by the tribe to whom he belonged, and was immediately surrendered into their hands." THE ACCESSION OF WILLIAM AND MARY. PETERSBURG, DECEMBER 29TH, 1851. Dear Sir,-I send you the following letter from Colonel Nicholas Spencer, Secretary of the Colony of Virginia, to the Lords of the Privy Council, in London, upon the occasion of the accession of William and Mary to the crown of England; which I have copied for you from Anderson's History of the Colonial Church (vol. 2d.)—a rare work in this country. I am, &c., To WM. MAXWELL, ESQ. CHARLES CAMPBELL. The duty incumbent on ye office of Secretary of this Dominion, in which I have had the hon'r for some yeares to serve, obliges me to give y'r Lordships an account of the present state of affaires, and let y'r Lordships know such occurrencies as have happened here of late, viz. that the mutations in England have extended their influences as far as these remoter Dominions; for noe sooner did ye news of the late admired transactions arrive here, tho' but imperfectly noised, and that with little probabilitie of truth, but it begun to be in the mouths of the mobile that there was noe King in England, and consequently noe Government here; upon this surmise followed rumors and reports that ye Papists in Maryland, together with those amongst us, have machinated to bring great numbers of fforraigne Indians to the destruction of the Protestants of both Dominions, and had prefixed a certaine time when the blow was to be given:-these, tho' false and groundless reports, raised great fears and jealousies in the minds of ye multi rude, and soon made them gather together in armes to repell ye supposed designs of ye Papists; and soe great a flame was kindled by the blasts of popular breath, that if it had not been timely prevented by ye vigilance, care and prudence of some of the Councell, and others, in the very beginning of it must have unavoidably proved fatall to both Dominions; and tho' it soon appeared those rumors were vaine and idle, and the people in some sort quieted, yet others like Hydra's head sprung up in their places, to ye great disquiet of this Government, and it was rationally believed that the difficulties of keeping this Dominion free from tumults, divisions and depredations would have been insuperable had not the news of the happy accession of the Prince and Princess of Orange to the Crown of England arrived here, with orders from their Maj'ties most Hon'ble privy Councell for proclaiming of the same, given check to unruly spiritts; w'ch Proclamation was effected at James Citty with all possible speed and with as great solemnity as the shortness of time and the necessity of the present circumstances would admitt of; and the Proclamations are now goeing forth into all the Counties of this Dominion that none may be ignorant of it, and the great cause o their tumults (viz. the beliefe that there was noe King in England, and consequently noe Government here) may be removed and peace and tranquillity restored and established among them, w'ch that it may succeed, is ye dayly prayer of all loyall subjects here, and particularly of Right Hon'ble, Yo'r Lordship's most dutifull JAMES CITY, April 29th, 1689. NICHO. SPENCER. |