Note 345 — Chapter XXII · 1763. DESOLATION OF THE FRONTIERS.
Reading edition
MS. Gage Papers.
Extract from a MS. Letter—William Smith, Jr., to ——:
“New York, 22d Nov. 1763.
“Is not Mr. Amherst the happiest of men to get out of this Trouble so seasonably? At last he was obliged to submit, to give the despised Indians so great a mark of his Consideration, as to confess he could not defend us, and to make a requisition of 1400 Provincials by the Spring—600 more he demands from New Jersey. Our People refused all but a few for immediate Defence, conceiving that all the Northern Colonies ought to contribute equally, and upon an apprehension that he has called for too insufficient an aid....
“Is not Gage to be pitied? The war will be a tedious one, nor can it be glorious, even tho’ attended with Success. Instead of decisive Battles, woodland skirmishes—instead of Colours and Cannon, our Trophies will be stinking scalps.—Heaven preserve you, my Friend, from a War conducted by a spirit of Murder rather than of brave and generous offence.”