Y. Col. Docs._, VII. 152-160.]
[Footnote 403: _Conferences between M. de Vaudreuil and the Five
Nations, 28 July to 20 Aug._, in _N.Y. Col. Docs._, X. 445-453.]
It was not the French only who thwarted the efforts of Johnson; for
while he strove to make friends of the Delawares and Shawanoes, Governor
Morris of Pennsylvania declared war against them, and Governor Belcher
of New Jersey followed his example; though persuaded at last to hold his
hand till the baronet had tried the virtue of pacific measures.[404]
[Footnote 404: _Johnson to Lords of Trade, 28 May, 1756. Ibid., 17 July,
1756. Johnson to Shirley, 24 April, 1756. Colonial Records of Pa._, VII.
75, 88, 194.]
What Shirley longed for was the collecting of a body of Five Nation
warriors at Oswego to aid him in his cherished enterprise against
Niagara and Frontenac. The warriors had promised him to come; but there
was small hope that they would do so. Meanwhile he was at Albany
pursuing his preparations, posting his scanty force in the forts newly
built on the Mohawk and the Great Carrying Place, and sending forward
stores and provisions. Having no troops to spare for escorts, he
invented a plan which, like everything he did, was bitterly criticised.
He took into pay two thousand boatmen, gathered from all parts of the
country, including many whale-men from the eastern coasts of New
England, divided them into companies of fifty, armed each with a gun and
a hatchet, and placed them under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John
Bradstreet.
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