THE BAPTISM OF POCAHONTAS. From the Capitol Painting by Chapman "Matoaka," which signifies a streamlet dashing through a gorge, was the daughter of Powhatan, chief of several small confederated tribes in Virginia. She was usually called Snow Feather by her Indian friends because of the clearness of her complexion. She fell in love with Captain John Smith and saved his life, but when Smith departed she centred her affections upon a fine young Englishman, John Rolfe, who reciprocated her passion. Denied the right to espouse a pagan, Rolfe persuaded Matoaka, more commonly known as Pocahontas, to be baptized, which Christian ceremony she accepted at the hands of the Rev. Mr. Whittaker in the little chapel at Jamestown about April, 1513, and was received into the church under the baptismal name of Rebecca, thus becoming the first Indian in America to embrace Christianity. Mr. Chapman, the painter, has given us a charming creation of an ideal scene. In the picture is represented Nantaquaas, the brother of Pocahontas, Opechankanough the uncle, and a sister who sits upon the floor with her child clinging to her. Pocahontas was betrayed by Japazaws and brought on shipboard, and being taken to England she remained there with her husband for four years, until her death. The painting adorns one of the panels of the Capitol rotunda, Washington a gun, and the command devolved on Sir William Johnson. On the 24th, the French army came in sight, and a bloody battle was fought in which the French were completely routed. On the following day Niagara capitulated, and the garrison to the number of six hundred became prisoners of war. The central division, numbering eleven thousand men, marched against Ticonderoga. The army was debarked before the fortress on the 22d of July; but the French did not dare to stand against such overwhelming numbers. After four days the garrison, having partly destroyed the fortifications, abandoned Ticonderoga, and retreated to Crown Point. On the 31st of July they deserted this place also, and fell back to Isle-aux-Noix, in the River Sorel. The third division of the British forces was led forward by General Wolfe to the St. Lawrence. In the early spring he began the ascent of that river. His division consisted of nearly eight thousand men, assisted by a fleet of fortyfour vessels. On the 27th of June, Wolfe reached the Isle of Orleans, four miles below Quebec, where the English camp was pitched at the upper end of the island. The fleet gave the English command of the river and the southern bank was undefended. On the second night after Wolfe's arrival, he sent General Monckton to seize Point Levi. From this position the lower town was soon reduced to ruins and the upper town much injured; but the fortress held out and some other plan of attack had to be invented. General Wolfe in the early part of July crossed the St. Lawrence and encamped near the mouth of the Montmorenci. This stream was fordable at low water, and the English undertook to force a crossing in the face of the French, but were repulsed with serious losses. Wolfe was obliged to withdraw his camp, and again change his plans. He now fell into a fever, and for some time was confined to his tent. A council was held, and the young general proposed a second assault, but was overruled. It was then determined to ascend the St. Lawrence by night, and if possible gain the Plains of Abraham in the rear of the city. The lower camp of the English was accordingly broken up, and on the 6th of September the troops were conveyed from that position to Point Levi. In the next place Wolfe succeeded in transferring his army without the knowledge of the French to a point several miles up the river. He then examined the northern bank of the St. Lawrence, and discovered a pathway up the steep cliffs leading to the plains in the rear of Quebec.* On the night of the 12th of September the English forces again embarked and dropped down the river to the place now called Wolfe's Cove. It was with the greatest difficulty that the soldiers, supporting themselves by the bushes and rocks, clambered up the precipice. The Canadian guard on the summit was easily dispersed, and in the dawn of morning Wolfe marshaled his army for battle. Montcalm was in amazement when he heard the news. The French forces were hastily brought from the trenches on the Montmorenci and thrown between Quebec and the English. The battle was begun without delay. At the first there was a cannonade of an hour's duration, and then Montcalm, with his inadequate forces attempting to turn the English * It is narrated that while the English fleet on this memorable night were silently gliding down the St. Lawrence under the dark shadow of the overhanging banks the brave and imaginative Wolfe, standing in the bow of his boat and discovering with the keen instincts of a prophet the probabilities of his fate, repeated over and over to his companions the stanza from Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard, which had been published only a short time before in England: "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hour; The paths of glory lead but to the grave." |