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Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 357
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shall not trouble you with a Repetition but only add that
I am &c
[Sharpe to Baltimore.]
Annapolis the 4th of Septr 1759.
My Ld
It is with pleasure I now write to inform Your Ldp that
very soon after the Reduction of Niagara the Enemy per-
ceiving it would be impossible for them after that Event &
after we should have Vessels on Lake Erie to hold any Post
on the Head of the Ohio River thought fit to abandon &
destroy the several Forts which they had built at Venango,
Riviere au Beuf, & Presquisle, & to retire to their Settlement
at Detroit, which lies as your Ldp knows between the Lakes
Erie & Huron & is said to be a very considerable One,
But notwithstanding the Affairs of the French on the Ohio
seem to be desperate yet the Indians do still presume at times
to annoy our People on their Way to Pittsburg & it is not
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Letter Bk. IV
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long since they attacked a Captain's Command that was con-
voying a quantity of Provisions to Loyal hanning, the Captain
& one of his Men were killed but the Indians were at length
obliged to retire with the Loss of two or three of their Party.
In a Letter which I lately received from General Amherst
dated the 8th of last month he says " This signal Success (the
Reduction of Niagara meaning) added to the other Advan-
tages seems a happy presage of the entire Reduction of
Canada this Campaign, or at least of circumscribing the
Enemy within such narrow Bounds as will ever after deprive
them of the Power of exercising any more Encroachments."
It is supposed that as soon as a Vessel can be built at Crown
Point large enough to resist those which the French have on
Lake Champlain, General Amherst will proceed down the
Lake to St Iohns, & thence by Land to Montreal; in the
mean time he is building at Crown Point a strong Fort
capable of containing more than 1000 Men on an Eminence
near the Spot where the old Fort stood, which it seems was a
very trifling one & therefore the Enemy very prudently aban-
doned it. An Officer who was with Genl Amherst the 13th of
last month tells me that the Genl had not then received any
Intelligence from General Wolfe but daily expected the
Return of some Messengers he had sent to him by Land ;
there seems to be no Doubt but the French have drawn
together for the Defence of their Capital almost the whole
Force of Canada which must in Numbers vastly exceed the
Troops under the Command of Genl Wolfe & therefore many
People look upon the entire Reduction of that City this Cam-
paign as an Event by no means certain it being not judged
practicable for Genl Amherst to join Mr Wolfe before Winter
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p. 52
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