the Reduction of Crown point you would withdraw your Troops and return home or to that Effect;" and your Excellencys great surprize at so Mutinous a declaration and concern that it had gained Credit with his Lordship. These facts were they true would have been Exceeding bad, but as all the Affairs that I have been concern'd in since I have seen your Excellency have been reduced to writing and nothing done on my part or I hope by the Gentlemen Concerned but what has been look'd on by Genera! Abercromby, Sir Charles Hardy, Sir Willm Johnson, Colonel Webb, Governor Delancy and the Principal Officers of the Army so far from being Mutinous that it has met with their Approbation and with them I parted and from them receiv'd all tokens of Friendship when I left Albany on the 17th. July and have since pursued those plans that was then Agreed on without the least deviation and I am not sensible of any thing Criminal either in Debate or Otherwise but what Interpretation may be Maliciously made by far fetch'd Inferences of any thing urg'd in Argument before those Gentlemen by designing Persons I dont know but rest assured it is Impossible that thinking People can believe that they would Countenance any thing like Mutiny. Your Excellency may remember that the day you left Albany when there was a Convention of Officers and I had the Honour to be present, the Plan was settled that the whole of the Provincials were to proceed forward and Endeavour the Removal of the Incroachments made by the French on his Majesty's Territories and that the Regulars should possess the Posts which we then Occup'd and have a Force at Fort William Henry to assist or sustain us as occasion should require which was then agreable to all concern'd and in the Situation we remain'd 'till the 14th. when we made our Grand March from Half Moon and being on my March I receiv'd by Mr. Adjutant General Glazier a verbal order from General Abercromby desiring my return to Albany which I immediately Obey'd and left Army on the March with our Train etca. under the Command of Genl. Lyman and when I arriv'd at that place was Informed by the Gen eral that it was agreed that one of the Regiments of the Regulars was to go on to Oswego and that Colonel Webb's was to take Possession of the Post at Half Moon, Still Water and Saratoga and also of Fort Edward when we should be able to Remove our Stores from thence and that the Provincials must Garrison Fort William Henry and that while we remain'd at the two last mentioned Forts we were to Supply what Workmen the Engineers had Occasion for which I made no Objection too although I much better lik'd the first Plan, after which the Inclosed Question was put me which after debating made the Answer to it Annex'd and found no one dissatisfied with it took my leave and the 17th. set out for the Army on the 19th. Overtook them at Saratoga and on the next day pursued our March for Fort Edward and on that day arriv'd with the Front at the Fort last Mention'd and the Rear under General Lyman the next day as several of the Carriages of the Cannon were disabled which we were Oblig'd to repair but finally arrived all safe. On the 21st. Encamped, On the 22nd. Call'd all the Field Officers of that place together and according to my Promise made to Genl. Abercromby laid before them the Question mention'd which they had under debate and Consideration 'till the 24th. and on the 25th: reported to a part of which a Number Protested of all these matters I send your Excellency Copies. The whole Transactions as soon as ended with a Copy of my Commissions I forwarded by Colo. Fitch to the General and also to Sir Charles Hardy and other Governors concern'd in the Expedition. The Generals answer thereto I have not yet receiv'd nor Colonel Fitch return'd. The grand Debate with the Officers in regard to the Junction arises from the General and Field Officers losing their Rank and Command which they were Universally of Opinion they could not give up as the Army was a proper Organiz'd Body and that they by the Several Governments from whom these Troops were rais'd were Executors in Trust which was not in their power to resign, and, even should they do it, it would End in a DISSOLUTION OF THE ARMY as the Privates Universally hold it as one part of the Terms on which they Enlisted that they were to be Commanded by their own Officers and this is a Principle so strongly Imbib'd that it is not in the Power of Man to remove it.1 Your Excellency is full acquainted with the difficulty of Governing new rais'd Troops which on my hands is doubled by their Consisting of several different Governments and put under different Regulations by the Governments that rais'd them and must necessarily conclude my task is no easy one and you may be Assured that I have nothing at heart but the King's Service and the good of my Country which I certainly prefer to any private Advantage to myself or Applause and could the Business be carried on I should not look upon myself Disparag'd to serve under Men of more knowledge but on the other hand should I not freely open the difficulties which are so Obvious and plain to his Majesty's General I should look upon myself as deserving the Gallows as the fate of this Expensive Expedition depends on these matters and must be carried on by Numbers. Thus have I endeavour'd to set the Fact in the true light and as no Aspersion that I know of lays on me by thos Gentlemen before resited before whom I have been heard and Concern'd with I hope your Excellency will be so far from blaming my Conduct in these Intricate Affairs that they will meet with your Approbation and I obtain the same favourable Opinion from your Excellency this Year as I have hitherto had. Endorsed: Extract from Majr. Genl. Winslow's Letter to Major General Shirley. dated 2d: August 1756. in the E. of Loudoun's Letter of 1 In the copy forwarded by Shirley to Fox, Aug. 13, no words are underlined. This copy is used that the words considered offensive by Loudoun and quoted by Shirley, post, p. 503, may be the more marked. - EDITOR. WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO THE EARL OF LOUDOUN1 MY LORD, Boston, Tuesday forenoon Augt. 10th, 1756. On Sunday Evening I had the Honour of your Lordships Letter of the 2nd Instant as I was upon my Journey to this place and last Night your Lordships of the 5th Instant. I am extreamly sorry to find that my Allowance of a Purchase in Major General Abercromby's Regiment is Irregular. It was represented otherwise to me by Officers upon whose Judgment in this point I thought I could depend and as I looked upon Capt. Hobson's retiring out of the Army on Accot. of his [age ?] and infirm state of Health, to be for hist Majesty's Service and the filling up his Captaincy upon his Resignation came within the Letter of the King's Commission which allow'd me to fill up Vacancies made by Resignations, I did it without hesitation upon Lieutenant Colo. Gage's Memorial to [me?] in favour of the Purchaser. I have wrote to Mr. Alexander to send your Lordship Duplicates or Copies of such Contracts as remain in his hands with an Account of what advance and payments have been made upon each of them which I was in hopes had been given your Lordship at New York, and I have desired him to wait upon your Lordship directly at Albany in order to Clear up to your Lordship the Memorandums he left with Major Genl. Abercromby contained in a Quarto Book. But I must intreat your Lordship to dispatch him as soon as Possible as it is absolutely necessary for him to go to England with me on Accot. of my own Affairs and I am in daily Expectation of one of his Majestys Frigates arriving at Boston in order to carry me as soon as may be to England pursuant to his Majestys Commands. In April last upon my leaving this place to go to Albany I ordered four Companies of Rangers consisting of 60 Privates each to be raised, and left it under the Care of Major Genl. Winslow. The service I designed them for was to be kept 1 P. R. O., C. O. 5, 47. A transcript is in the Library of Congress. Constantly Employed in Scouting Parties at the Oneida Carrying Place and other passes between the German Flatts and Oswego, in order to keep them clear of the Enemys Scalping parties which I find by the last Years Experience is not to be depended upon being done by the Indians of the Six Nations, though in their own Country. At my Arrival here I found two Companies compleated and shall order them to March to Albany as soon as possible there to receive your Lordships orders. Inclosed is a set of the Resolves of the Assembly of this Province concerning the Forces raised by them for the Expedition against Crown Point. I thank your Lordship for returning the Copies of the Instructions and the notice you will take of my Recommendations. I have the Honour to be with the greatest Respect. Your Lordships most humble: and most Obedient Servant WILLIAM SHIRLEY. P. S. I hear that his Majesty's Frigate which is appointed to carry me to England is just coming up the Bay. Endorsed: Copy Major General Shirley's Letter to the Earl of Loudoun. Boston, in the forenoon, August 10th 1756. in the E. of Loudoun's Letter of Augt. 19th. 1756. |