[240] “Those who were not employed in firing at the enemy were employed in digging trenches under the bottom of the fort. We dug no less than eleven of them, so deep that a man could go and stand upright on the outside and not endanger himself; so that when these trenches were finished, we could wet all the outside of the fort, which we did, and kept it wet all night. We drew some hundreds of barrels of water; and to undergo all this hard service there were but thirty men.”--_Stevens to Colonel W. Williams, April, 1747._ [241] _Stevens to Colonel William Williams, April, 1747._ [242] _Stevens to Colonel W. Williams, April, 1747._ [243] _N. Y. Col. Docs._, x. 97. [244] Just after the withdrawal of the French and Indians, Stevens wrote two letters giving an account of the affair, one to Governor Shirley, and the other to Colonel William 229 Williams, who seems to have been his immediate military superior. At most points they are substantially the same; but that to Williams contains some passages not found in the other. The letter to Shirley is printed in Saunderson, _History of Charlestown, N. H._, 34-37, and that to Williams in _Collections of the New Hampshire Historical Society_, iv. 109-113. Stevens also kept a diary, which was long in possession of his descendants. One of these, Mr. B. F. Stevens, kindly made a search for it, at my request, and learned that it had been unfortunately destroyed by fire, in 1856. Doolittle, in his _Narrative of Mischief_, and Hoyt, in his _Antiquarian Researches_, give other accounts. The French notices of the affair are few and short, as usual in cases of failure. For the principal one, see _N. Y. Col. Docs._, x. 97. It is here said that Stevens asked for a parley, in order to capitulate; but all the English accounts say that the French made the first advances. CHAPTER XXIV. 230 1745-1748. FORT MASSACHUSETTS. FRONTIER DEFENCE.--NORTHFIELD AND ITS MINISTER.--MILITARY CRITICISMS OF REV. BENJAMIN DOOLITTLE.--RIGAUD DE VAUDREUIL: HIS GREAT WAR-PARTY; HE ATTACKS FORT MASSACHUSETTS.--SERGEANT HAWKS AND HIS GARRISON.--A GALLANT DEFENCE.--CAPITULATION.--HUMANITY OF THE FRENCH.--RAVAGES.--RETURN TO CROWN POINT.--PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.