and twelve naval officers. There were also one hundred and twenty women in the fort. Six vessels were captured, one of eighteen guns, one of sixteen, two of ten, one of eight, and two hundred barges or batteaux. The number of guns taken was large; seven pieces of bronze, fortyeight of iron, fourteen mortars, forty-four swivels. The loss of ammunition was very great. A large amount of provisions was found in the fort, including nearly fourteen hundred barrels of flour, and biscuit, nearly the same number of barrels of pork, with peas, etc., etc. There were thirtytwo oxen and eleven hogs in the fort, such was the condition of things at this frontier fort. Three military chests of specie were also captured. The prisoners were to be sent to Montreal, and there exchanged.

In connection with the surrender of Oswego, rumors of a massacre of some of the prisoners, by the Indian allies of M. de Montcalm, soon spread through the colonies. These reports were generally believed by the English at the time. They have been recently contradicted. And yet there is good authority for believing that some painful vio-. lation of the articles of capitulation actually occurred. One of the reports sent to the French government has the following passage; "The Indians have massacred more than a hundred persons included in the capitulation, without our being able to prevent them." Another report says: "The enemy have had one hundred and fifty killed, including those who, wishing to escape during the capitulation, were massacred by the Indians." M. de Montcalm himself observes: "The Indians wished to violate it," i. e., the capitulation. I put an end to that affair." Such passages as these would not have been sent to France in official papers, if the rumors had been entirely without foundation. On the other hand there has been found among the papers of Sir William Johnson the deposition of John Vale, an eye-witness, taken in October, 1756, which declares that the threatened massacre was prevented by M. de Montcalm, who ordered his men to fire upon the Indians about to attack the prisoners. Proba

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bly some of the English were killed by the Indians, before M. de Montcalm resorted to severe measures of restraint, but the number could not have been as large as the colonists of that day believed.

The French, to gratify the Iroquois tribes, destroyed all the works at Oswego. The fort on the western bank was filled with condemned pork and set on fire. By the 21st of August the work of destruction was completed, and the army reembarked for Montreal. A large cross had been raised, however, by the Abbé Picquet, on the site of the fort, with the inscription "In hoc signo vincunt," and near it a pole with the arms of the king of France, and the words "Bring lilies with full hands." As the French fleet sailed away towards Frontenac, they looked back upon these proofs of their prowess. The lilies of France, however, did not take root in that soil, they were a mere passing trophy of war. The standards taken at Oswego were carried in triumph through the streets of Montreal by the Indians and then taken to the doors of the cathedral; the Indians declaring that these flags were not worthy to enter the church as they were not "Christians." They were, however, hung up at a later day in the churches of Montreal and Quebec.

Oswego was soon rebuilt by the English. In 1759, General Prideaux and Sir William Johnson marched against the French fort at Niagara, which surrendered July 25. On the 7th of August, Sir William Johnson, left in command by the death of General Prideaux, returned to Oswego. The place had been more or less frequented by the traders and Indians during the last three years, and the new fort was now planned and the work commenced under the order of General Gage, who arrived about the middle of the month.

It was at this period, between the rebuilding of the fort and the final cession of Canada to England in 1763, that Natty is supposed to have been employed as a scout on the frontier. During those years Major Lundie was in com

mand of the fort. Then it was that Pathfinder, and Jasper Fresh-water, and Mabel, and the old Sergeant, and Cap, and Arrowhead, made the eventful cruise in the Scud, recorded by the author of the " Pilot."

The country between the banks of the Mohawk and the shore of Lake Ontario was still a wilderness, as described in the "Pathfinder." It was at this very period that a little girl and her mother, the daughter and wife of an officer in the garrison, made the journey between Albany and Oswego; and half a century later the little girl, then Mrs. Grant of Laggan, wrote and printed her recollections of the expedition. It is difficult for us of the present day to think of that fertile blooming region of Western New York as one vast forest. A few extracts from Mrs. Grant's volume may amuse the reader, as they will lead him over the same track passed by Mabel and her sailor uncle.

"The first day we came to Schenectady, a little town situated in a rich and beautiful spot, and partly supported by the Indian trade. The next day we embarked, and proceeded up the river with six batteaux, and came early in the evening to one of the most charming scenes imaginable, where Fort Hendrick was built, so called in compliment to the principal sachem, or king of the Mohawks. The castle of this primitive monarch stood at a little distance on a rising ground surrounded by palisades. He resided at the time in a house which the public workmen, who had lately built this fort, had been ordered to erect for him. We did not fail to wait upon his majesty, who, not choosing to depart too much from the customs of his ancestors, had not permitted divisions of apartments, or modern furniture, to profane his new dwelling. It had the appearance of a good barn, and was divided across by a mat hung in the middle. King Hendrick, who had indeed a very princely figure, and a countenance that would not have dishonored royalty, was sitting on the floor beside a large heap of wheat, surrounded with baskets of dried berries of different kinds; beside him, his son, a very pretty boy, somewhat older than myself,

was caressing a foal, which was unceremoniously introduced into the royal residence. A laced hat, a fine saddle and pistols, gifts of his good brother, the great king, were hung round on the cross-beams. He was splendidly arrayed in a coat of pale blue, trimmed with silver; all the rest of his dress was of the fashion of his own nation, and highly embellished with beads and other ornaments. All this suited my taste exceedingly, and was level to my comprehension. I was prepared to admire King Hendrick, by having heard him described as a generous warrior, terrible to his enemies and kind to his friends: the character of all others calculated to make the deepest impressions on ignorant innocence, in a country where even infants learned the horrors of war, from its proximity. Add to all this that the monarch smiled, clapped my head, and ordered me a little basket, very pretty, and filled by the officious kindness of his son, with dried berries. Never did princely gifts, or the smile of royalty, produce more ardent admiration and profound gratitude. I went out of the royal presence overawed and delighted, and am not sure but I have liked kings all my life the better for this happy specimen to whom I was so early introduced.

"

"This journey, charming my romantic imagination by its very delays and difficulties, was such a source of interest and novelty to me that above all things I dreaded its conclusion, which I well knew would be succeeded by long tasks and close confinement. Happily for me we soon entered Wood Creek, the most desirable of all places for a traveller who loves to linger, if such another traveller there be. This is a small river which winds irregularly through a deep and narrow valley of the most lavish fertility. The depth and richness of the soil here were evinced by the loftiness and the nature of the trees, which were hickory, butternut, chestnut, and sycamores of vast circumference, as well as height. These became so top-heavy, and their roots were so often undermined by this insidious stream, that in every tempestuous night some giants of the grove fell prostrate,

and very frequently across the stream, where they lay in all their pomp of foliage, like a leafy bridge, unwithered, and forming an obstacle almost invincible to all navigation. The Indian lifted his light canoe, and carried it past the tree, but our deep-loaded batteaux could not be so managed. Here my orthodoxy was shocked, and my anti-military prejudices revived, by the swearing of the soldiers; but then again, my veneration for my father was if possible increased, by his lectures against swearing, provoked by their transgression. Nothing remained for our heroes but to attack these sylvan giants axe in hand, and make way through their divided bodies. The assault upon fallen greatness was unanimous and unmerciful, but the resistance was tough, and the process tedious; so much so that we were three days proceeding fourteen miles, having at every two hours' end, at least, a new tree to cut through. These delays were a new source of pleasure to me. It was October; the trees we had to cut through were often loaded with nuts; and while I ran lightly along the branches to fill my royal basket with their spoils, which I had great pleasure in distributing, I met with multitudes of fellow plunderers in the squirrels of various colors and sizes, who were here numberless. This made my excursions amusing. We travelled from one fort to another; but in three or four instances, to my great joy, they were so remote from each other that we found it necessary to encamp at night on the bank of the river. This, in a land of profound solitude where wolves, foxes, and bears abounded, and were very much inclined to consider and treat us as intruders, might seem dismal to wiser folks. But I was so gratified by the bustle and agitation produced by our measures of defense, and actuated by the love which all children have for mischief that is not fatal, that I enjoyed our night's encampment exceedingly. We stopped early, wherever we saw the largest and most combustible kinds of trees. Cedars were great favorites, and the first work was to fell and pile upon each other an incredible number, stretched lengthways; while every one