I shall think we have done great things.  Nobody holds it out better than my father and myself.  We shall all of us relish a good house over our heads, being all encamped, except the General and some few field-officers, who have what are called at Oswego houses; but they would in other countries be called only sheds, except the fort, where my father is.  Adieu, dear sir; I hope my next will be directed from Frontenac.  Yours most affectionately, John Shirley."[322]

[Footnote 322:  The young author of this letter was, like his brother, a victim of the war.

“Permit me, good sir, to offer you my hearty condolence upon the death of my friend Jack, whose worth I admired, and feel for him more than I can express....  Few men of his age had so many friends.” Governor Morris to Shirley, 27 Nov. 1755.

“My heart bleeds for Mr. Shirley.  He must be overwhelmed with Grief when he hears of Capt.  John Shirley’s Death, of which I have an Account by the last Post from New York, where he died of a Flux and Fever that he had contracted at Oswego.  The loss of Two Sons in one Campaign scarcely admits of Consolation.  I feel the Anguish of the unhappy Father, and mix my Tears very heartily with his.  I have had an intimate Acquaintance with Both of Them for many Years, and know well their inestimable Value.” Morris to Dinwiddie, 29 Nov. 1755.]

Fort Frontenac lay to the northward, fifty miles or more across the lake.  Niagara lay to the westward, at the distance of four or five days by boat or canoe along the south shore.  At Frontenac there was a French force of fourteen hundred regulars and Canadians.[323] They had vessels and canoes to cross the lake and fall upon Oswego as soon as Shirley should leave it to attack Niagara; for Braddock’s captured papers had revealed to them the English plan.  If they should take it, Shirley would be cut off from his supplies and placed in desperate jeopardy, with the enemy in his rear.  Hence it is that John Shirley insists on taking Frontenac before attempting Niagara.  But the task was not easy; for the French force at the former place was about equal in effective strength to that of the English at Oswego.  At Niagara, too, the French had, at the end of August, nearly twelve hundred Canadians and Indians from Fort Duquesne and the upper lakes.[324] Shirley was but imperfectly informed by his scouts of the unexpected strength of the opposition that awaited him; but he knew enough to see that his position was a difficult one.  His movement on Niagara was stopped, first by want of provisions, and secondly because he was checkmated by the troops at Frontenac.  He did not despair.  Want of courage was not among his failings, and he was but too ready to take risks.  He called a council of officers, told them that the total number of men fit for duty was thirteen hundred and seventy-six, and that as soon as provisions enough should arrive he would embark for Niagara with six hundred soldiers and as many Indians as possible, leaving the rest to defend Oswego against the expected attack from Fort Frontenac.[325]