the aforesaid Expedition, which with Fifteen hundred Men since agreed to be rais'd for the aforesaid Service by the Province of the Massachusets Bay, will make up Four Thousand four hundred Men, and acquiesc'd in my Nomination. of you to be Commander in Chief of the said Forces;1 And Whereas his Excellency Major General Braddock Commander in Chief of all his Majesty's Forces in North America, hath since approv'd of my Appointmt. of you to the said Command. Now reposing especial Trust and Confidence in your Fidelity, Courage and good Conduct I do by Virtue of the Authority to me granted in and by his Majesty's Royal Commission under the Great Seal of Great Britain, and in consequence of the several proceedings of the Governments of the aforesaid Colonies of New England and New York, and of the Approbation of Major General Braddock, Appoint you to be Major General and Commander in Chief of the Forces rais'd and to be rais'd by the aforesaid Five Governments or any of them, for the Service of the aforesaid Expedition; as also of such Indians as shall assist his Majesty in the same: You are therefore to take upon you the Command of the said Forces, and diligently to execute the Duty and Office of Commander in Chief of the said Expedition, according to such Instructions as you shall receive from me bearing even date with these Presents: and to follow such further Orders as you shall from time to time receive from me or any your Superior Officer herein: Hereby also requiring all Officers and Soldiers employ'd or to be employ'd by the aforesaid five Governments in the said Expedition to obey you as their Commander in Chief. Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms the 1 Lieutenant Governor De Lancey's Commission to Johnson is in Sir William Johnson's Manuscripts, 1, 154, and is printed in Doct. Hist. of New York, 2, 281. For approval of Governor Wentworth, see Johnson Manuscripts, 1, 182. God of Great Britain France and Ireland By his Excellency's Command WILLIAM ALEXANDER, Sec'ry. Endorsed by Johnson: April the 16, 1755. Coppy of my Commissn. WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO WILLIAM JOHNSON [Instructions]1 By his Excellency William Shirley Esqr. Captain General and Commander in Chief in and over the Province of the Massachusets Bay in New England and of the Lands and Territories thereon depending Vice Admiral of the same and Colonel in His Majesty's Army. TO WILLIAM JOHNSON, Esqr. Greeting: Whereas by my Commission dated this day under my Seal at Arms, I have appointed you to be Major General and Commander in Chief of the Forces now raising by the said Governments of the Massachusets Bay, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island for an Expedition against the French Incroachments at Crown Point, and upon the Lake Champlain, as also of such Indians as shall assist in the Service of the said Expedition, I do hereby give you the following Instructions and Orders for the Regulation of your Conduct. Ist You are to engage as soon as possible as many Indians of the Six Nations as you can in the aforesaid Service upon 1 1 Johnson Manuscripts, New York State Library, 1, 152. the Encouragements proposed to be given them by the aforesaid Colonies, as also those Ordered by his Excellency Major General Braddock to be given them in His Majesty's Name, and you are to appoint such officers to lead and Conduct the said Indians as you shall Judge for His Majesty's Service. 2dly When you shall have finished your aforesaid Business with the Indians, you are to repair to the City of Albany, and there wait the Arrival of the forces to be Employed in the aforesaid Expedition; and as soon as such a Number of them shall arrive there as you shall judge sufficient for that Service, you are to proceed with the Train of Artillery and Ordnance Stores Provided for the Expedition, under their Convoy to Crown Point, clearing as you pass along a practical Road for the transportation of them and the other stores, and to cause such strong Houses and places of Security to be ordered as shall be requisite to serve Magazines of Stores, Places of Shelter for the Men in their March, and return to and from the said City of Albany; and you are to leave the necessary Orders for such of the said Forces, as shall not be arrived at the time of your Departure from Albany, to follow you to Crown point as soon as may be. 3dly Upon your arrival at Crown point you are to cause one or more Batteries to be ordered upon the rocky Eminence nigh Fort St Frederick or as near as may be to the said Fort upon the Most advantageous Ground for Commanding the same, and to point the said Battery or Batteries against the said Fort; and in case you shall meet with any resistance in the Erecting of the said Battery or Batteries from the Garrison of Fort Frederick you are to attack the same; and use your utmost Efforts to dislodge the French Garrison and to take possession thereof. 4thly In case you shall not be interrupt'd or annoy'd by the French in erecting the said Batteries, then as soon as you shall have finished the same; you are to send a Summons to the Commandant of Fort St Frederick requiring him forthwith to retire with the Garrison under his Command, from the same, as being an Encroachment upon His Majesty's Territories within the Country belonging to the Indians of the Six Nations, and erected contrary to the Treaty of Utrecht, made between the Crowns of Great Britain and France whereby the Indians of the then Six [Five] Nations are expressly declared to be subject to the Crown of Great Britain; and in case the said Commandant shall upon such Summons refuse or neglect to evacuate the same, you are to Compel him to do it by force of Arms, and to break up all the French settlements which you shall find near the said Fort or upon the Lake Champlain. 5thly If you should succeed in your Attempt against Fort St Frederick, you are immediately upon your becoming Master of it to strengthen yourself therein, and erect such Works as with the advice of a Council of War, which you shall Summon for that purpose, you shall think necessary to preserve that important post; and you are to put into it such a Garrison as you shall judge sufficient to maintain the same. But as the said Fort may not be situated in the most convenient or advantageous place for securing the possession of that Country to the English, you are by yourself and your Officers to Survey and Examine the several places upon the Lake Champlain and to find out such other place as you and a Council of War shall judge best to Answer that purpose, of which you are to give me immediate Notice with your and the Council's Reasons for making Choice of the place you shall agree upon, that I may be enabled to give the necessary Orders for fortifying the same. 6thly You are to give me a regular and constant Account from time to time of what you do in discharge of the Trust reposed in you, which you are to transmit by express to me wherever I shall happen to be. 7thly You are by means of the Indians, or by any other means, to procure the best intelligence you can of the designs and motions of the French, the number of any Body of Troops they may Employ to oppose you or any other of the King's Forces; all which you are to Communicate to me from time to time. 8thly You are to acquaint the Indians of the Six Nations, if you shall judge it from the Temper you find them in, proper so to do, with his Majesty's design to recover their Lands at Niagara and upon the River Ohio out of the Hands of the French, and to protect them against future Encroachments for the benefit of their Tribes; and to engage some of them to meet me at Oswego in order to assist me therein, upon such Services as I shall Order them to Go upon, assuring them of my good disposition toward their several Castles, and that they shall be generously entertained by me. LASTLY you are to use your discretion in acting for the Good of his Majesty's Service, consistent with the Instructions before given you, in the Business Committed to your Charge, in any matters concerning which you have no particular Instructions Given you; acquainting me constantly with your doing therein as soon as possible. GIVEN under my Hand the sixteenth day of April, One thousand seven hundred and fifty five. W. SHIRLEY. SIR, WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO HORATIO SHARPE 1 April 24, 1755. In consequence of His Majesty's Royal Orders to his Several Govrs. upon this Continent to Maintain a Strict Correspondence upon Matters relative to his Service at this Critical Conjuncture I think it my Duty to Observe to you, that some weeks agoe undoubted accounts arrived that the French were fitting out at Brest a Strong Squadron, and Transports for a very considerable number of Troops, the destination of which was Suspected by the Government at home to be for North America: that since then we have received accounts from England of Six large Ships of war being Sailed from Brest with some Transports, and very lately we have had advices of that Number of Large Ships 1 Original, L. S., Hist. Soc. of Penna. See Shirley to Robert H. Morris, Penna. Arch. 2, 292. |