Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-01-01

business is only with Holder Sargent. He
had his share of the downs and the ups
On the first encounter between the Eng
fish and the French it was his good luck
that he was with the Rangers under Put
nam. who were Il little in advance. BY Il
strange chance the English army had cut
cut off some 300 or 400 of the French with
out knowing it, and the Frenchmen knew
as little that their enemy were between
them and their fort. OF a sudden white
coated Ranger caught sight of the blue
uniform of the Provincials. "Quj DjrCP'
he cried. "FrdncdiS," said bright Yam
kee. But nobody was deceived, and the
French fired. 1t was in that skirmish that
Lord Howe, whose monument, built by
Massachusetts, stands to this day in West
minister Abbey, fell dead Holder Sar.
gent and his commanders were in front
of all this. They heard the firing and re-
turned, and so caught this French force
between two fires; Only fifty of the
French escaped. Half the rest were killed
or drowned and half were captured. But,
in the death of Howe, everything was
really lost to the English. Abercrombie
lost his counsel Everybody lost courage.
Instead of pressing on to make the best
of his victory, Abercrombie withdrew his
forces to the landing. He thus gave Mont
calm time to throw up as u new defence
an abatis of logs and wood, which was
eight or nine feet high. In the same de-
lay 400 Frenchmen REINFORCED MOntcalm.
Then, on II July day, with just that stolid
bravery which seventeen years after
showed itself in the same way at Bunker
Hill, the English army was ordered, in
columns of attack, against this tangle of
piled up timber. All the soldiers could
see was the top of what is calleda breast
work, ." but it was so high they could not
see the men behind it. They rushed for
ward and in an instant II gust of smoke,
"A II inf
and Il crowd of broken ranks and flying
men! Seven different attacks did Aber-
crombie deliver in this blind courage. At
the end of the day he drew up his army,
having lost nearly 2OO0 out of $4,000 men,
and the next day he led his army back to
the other end of the lake. Such was
Holder Sargeants first lesson of war.
Would you like to see it Here is bull
let picked up on that plain when cen
tury had gone by.
But Holders second trial was more sat
isfactory. The provincial officers had
been Disguised, first with Abercrombie's
failure, and then with his inaction Brad
street insisted on drawing off 1000 men to
20 up the Mohawk and down the Ononda-
ga. Now was it that Holder Sargent put
to account his practice with the SpoflOrd
boys and young Allestre in building flat
boats on the Nashua river. SO soon as
Bradstreet had reached the Onondaga, he
offered Il handsome prize to the squad
which should first have Il boat ready to
sail down that stream. AlleStre won the
first prize and Holder Sargent the second.
They had been permitted to help them
selves to planks and lumber I'D libitnm
from the barns of old Van Antwerp, who
had deserted his place when the war be
gan. The general came down himself to
inspect the little flotilla. "Mr. Sargent"
said he, II will make you Il lieutenant
for know Il man who works so well will
fight well. Are you from Horstead, Mr..
Sargent | think | served with your
father against Castin."
In very few days they pushed out from
their covert upon The lake, and Holder
found himself, to his joy, commanding
party. In three days more the little fort
where OswegO now stands was entirely
beset, and after two days more the French
man who commanded surrendered with
his garrison. In this victory the little
party by one bold push took all the French
naval force on Lake Ontario, and from
this time the fate of Fort Duquesne,
which we call Pittsburg, was sealed.
So Lieutenant Sargent was able TO write
home in good spirits. True, he could not
bring his mother her velvet dress, but he
would bring her IL belt of Wampum, which
an Oneida chief had given him, and he
would bring to Phebe Il necklace-he was
afraid the beads were brass-whicha little
Frenchwoman had given him to show her
gratitude because he had saved her COW
steal it. These We're not very great trO-
phes, but trophies they We're Nobody
had any better, he said. And the truth
was, that all the laurels of that Inflated
campaign were won by l}radstreet and his
PrOylnclalS,