not to be disturbed either by the
English or the French, as if they could have persuaded both parties to
agree to such a local truce. Upon this refusal, Mr. Shirley proceeded
forward, being joined by a very few Indians, and arrived at Oswego on
the seventeenth or eighteenth of August; but the rest of the troops and
artillery did not arrive till the last day of that month; and even
then, their store of provisions was not sufficient to enable them to
go against Niagara, though some tolerably good vessels had by this time
been built and got ready for that purpose. The general now resolved to
take but six hundred men with him for the attack of Niagara, and to
leave the rest of his army, consisting of about fourteen hundred more,
at Oswego, to defend that place, in case the French should attack it
in his absence, which there was reason to apprehend they might, as they
then had a considerable force at fort Frontenac, from whence they could
easily cross over the lake Ontario to Oswego. However, he was still
obliged to wait at Oswego for provisions, of which at length a small
supply arrived on the twenty-sixth of September, barely sufficient to
support his men during their intended expedition, and to allow twelve
days' short subsistence for those he left behind. But by this time the
rainy boisterous season had begun, on which account most of his Indians
had already left him and were returned home; and the few that remained
with him declared that there was no crossing the lake Ontario in
batteaux at that season, or any time before the next summer. In this
perplexity he called a council of war, which, after weighing all
circumstances, unanimously resolved to defer the attempt upon Niagara
till the next year, and to employ the troops, whilst they remained at
Oswego, in building barracks, and erecting, or at least beginning to
erect, two new forts, one on the east side of the river Onondaga, four
hundred and fifty yards distant from the old fort, which it was to
command, as well as the entrance of the harbour, and to be called
Ontario-fort; and the other four hundred and fifty yards west of the old
fort, to be called Oswego new fort.

GENERAL SHIRLEY RETURNS TO ALBANY.

These things being agreed on, general Shirley, with the greatest part
of the troops under his command, set out on his return to Albany on the
twenty-fourth of October, leaving colonel Mercer, with a garrison of
about seven hundred men, at Oswego; though repea