18 - Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin

Penned as a heartfelt letter to his son, Benjamin Franklins autobiography is not just a chronicle of his life, but also a pioneer in the self-help genre in America. The book is an intriguing blend of personal history and timeless advice on success, beautifully edited by Frank Woodworth Pine (1869-1919). Join us as we delve into Franklins wisdom-filled world. (Summary by Gary)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Chapter seventeen. This is a
LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Frank Woodworth Pine,

(00:20):
Chapter seventeen Franklin's Defense of the Frontier. While the several
companies in the city and country were forming and learning
their exercise, the Governor prevailed with me to take charge
of our northwestern frontier, which was infested by the enemy,
and provide for the defense of the inhabitants by raising

(00:41):
troops and building a line of forts. I undertook this
military business, though I did not conceive myself well qualified
for it. He gave me a commission with full powers,
and a parcel of blank commissions for officers, to be
given to whom I thought fit. I had but little
difficulty in raising men, having soon five hundred and sixty

(01:02):
under my command. My son, who had in the preceding
war been an officer in the army raised against Canada,
was my aid de camp and of great use to me.
The Indians had burned Gnadenhut a village settled by the Morovians,
and massacred the inhabitants, but the place was thought a
good situation for one of the forts. In order to

(01:25):
march thither, I assembled the companies at Bethlehem, the chief
establishment of those people. I was surprised to find it
in so good a posture of defense. The destruction of
Gnadenhut had made them apprehend danger. The principal buildings were
defended by a stockade. They had purchased a quantity of

(01:45):
arms and ammunition from New York, and had even placed
quantities of small paving stones between the windows of their
high stone houses for their women to throw down upon
the heads of any Indians that should attempt to force
into them. The armed brethren, too, kept watch and relieved
as methodically as in any garrison town. In conversation with

(02:08):
the Bishop Sprangenburg, I mentioned this my surprise, for knowing
they had obtained an Act of Parliament exempting them from
military duties in the colonies. I had supposed they were
conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms. He answered me that it
was not one of their established principles, but that at

(02:28):
the time of their obtaining that act, it was thought
to be a principle with many of their people. On
this occasion. However, they, to their surprise, found it adopted
by but a few. It seems they were either deceived
in themselves or deceived the parliament. But common sense, aided
by present danger, will sometimes be too strong for whimsical opinions.

(02:51):
It was the beginning of January when we set out
upon the business of building forts. I sent one detachment
toward the Menacnc with instructions to a wrecked one for
the security of that upper part of the country, and
another to the lower part with similar instructions. And I
concluded to go myself with the rest of my force
to Gnadenhut, where a fort was thought more immediately necessary.

(03:16):
The Moravians procured me five wagons for our tools, stores, baggage,
et cetera. Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers, who
had been driven from their plantations by the Indians came
to me, requesting a supply of firearms that they might
go back and fetch off their cattle. I gave them
each a gun with suitable ammunition. We had not marched

(03:39):
many miles before it began to rain, and it continued
raining all day. There were no habitations on the road
to shelter Us till we arrived near night at the
house of a German, where and in his barn we
were all huddled together as wet as water could make us.
It was well we were not attacked in our march,

(04:01):
for our arms were of the most ordinary sort, and
our men could not keep their gunlocks right. The Indians
are dexterous in contrivances for that purpose which we had not.
They met that day the eleven poor farmers above mentioned,
and killed ten of them. The one who escaped informed
that his and his companion's guns would not go off

(04:25):
the priming, being wet with the rain. Begin footnote flintlocked
guns discharged by means of a spark struck from flint
and steel into powder, priming in an open pan. End footnote.
The next day, being fair, we continued our march and
arrived at the desolate Gunnadenhut. There was a saw mill

(04:45):
naire round which were left several piles of boards, with
which we soon hutted ourselves in operation, the more necessary
at the inclement season, as we had no tents. Our
first work was to bury more effectually the dead we
found there, who were half interred by the country people.
The next morning our fort was planned and marked out

(05:07):
the circumference measuring four hundred and fifty four feet, which
would require as many palisades to be made of trees,
one with another of a foot diameter each. Our axes,
of which we had seventy, were immediately set to work
to cut down trees, and our men, being dexterous in
the use of them, great dispatch was made. Seeing the

(05:28):
trees fall so fast, I had the curiosity to look
at my watch when two men began to cut at
a pine. In six minutes they had it upon the ground,
and I found it of fourteen inches diameter. Each pine
made three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end.
While these were prepared, our other men dug a trench

(05:48):
all round of three feet deep, in which the palisades
were to be planted, and our wagons the bodies taken off,
and the fore and hind wheels separated by taking out
the pin which united the two parts of the perch.
We had ten carriages with two horses each to bring
the palisades from the woods to the spot. When they

(06:11):
were set up, our carpenters built a stage of boards
all round within about six feet high, for the men
to stand on to fire through the loopholes. We had
one swivel gun, which we mounted on one of the angles,
and fired it as soon as fixed, to let the
Indians know, if any were within hearing, that we had
such pieces and thus our fort. If such a magnificent

(06:36):
name may be given to so miserable. A stockade was
finished in a week, though it rained so hard every
other day that the men could not work. This gave
me occasion to observe that when men are employed, they
are best contented. For on the days they worked, they
were good natured and cheerful, and with the conscientiousness of
having done a good day's work, they spent the evening jollily.

(06:59):
But on our idle days they were mutinous and quarrelsome
finding fault with their pork, the bread, et cetera, and
in continual ill humor, which put me in mind of
a sea captain whose rule it was to keep his
men constantly at work. And when his mate once told
him they had done everything and there was nothing further

(07:20):
to employ them about, oh says he make them scour
the anchor. This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a
sufficient defense against Indians who have no cannon. Finding ourselves
now posted securely, and having a place to retreat to,
on occasion, we ventured out in parties to scour the
adjacent country. We met with no Indians, but we found

(07:43):
places on the neighboring hills where they had lain to
watch our proceedings. There was an art in their contrivance
of those places that seemed worth mentioning. It being winter,
a fire was necessary for them, but a common fire
on the surface of the ground would by its light
have discovered their positions at a distance. They had therefore

(08:04):
dug holes in the ground around three feet diameter and
somewhat deeper. We saw where they had, with their hatches,
cut off the charcoal from the sides of burnt logs
lying in the woods. With these coals, they made small
fires in the bottoms of the holes, and we observed
among the weeds and grass the prints of their bodies

(08:24):
made by their laying all round with their legs hanging
down in the holes to keep their feet warm, which
with them is an essential point this kind of fire
so managed could not discover them either, by its light, flame, sparks,
or even smoke. It appeared that their number was not great,
and it seems they saw we were too many to

(08:46):
be attacked by them. With prospect of advantage. We had
for our chaplain a zealous Presbyterian minister, mister Beatty, who
complained to me that the men did not generally attend
his prayers and exhortations. When they enlisted. They were promised,
besides pay and provisions, a gill of rama day, which

(09:06):
was punctually served out to them, half in the morning
and the other half in the evening, and I observed
they were punctual in attending to receive it, upon which
I said to mister Beatty, it is perhaps below the
dignity of your profession to act as steward of the rum,
but if you were to deal it out and only
just after prayers, you would have them all about you.

(09:28):
He liked the thought, undertook the office, and with the
help of a few hands to measure out the liquor,
executed it to satisfaction. And never were prayers more generally
and more punctually attended, so that I thought this method
preferable to the punishment inflicted by some military laws for
non attendance on divine service. I had hardly finished this

(09:50):
business and got my fort well stored with provisions when
I received the letter from the Governor acquainting me that
he had called the Assembly and wished my tenants there
if the posture of affairs on the frontier was such
that my remaining there was no longer necessary. My friends
too of the Assembly, pressing me by their letters to

(10:10):
be if possible, at the meeting, and my three intended forts,
now being completed with the inhabitants, contented to remain on
their farms under that protection, I resolved to return the
more willingly. As a new England officer, Colonel Chapham, experienced
in Indian War, being on visit to our establishment, consented

(10:34):
to accept the command. I gave him a commission, and,
parading the garrison, had it read before them, and introduced
him to them as an officer who, by his skill
in military affairs, was much more fit to command them
than myself, and giving them a little exhortation, drew my leave.
I was escorted as far as Bethlehem, where I rested

(10:57):
a few days to recover from the fatigue I had
undergo the first night, being in a good bed, I
could hardly sleep. It was so different from my hard
lodgings on the floor of our hut at Gannagenhut, wrapped
only in a blanket or two. While at Bethlehem, I
inquired a little into the practice of the Moravians. Some

(11:17):
of them had accompanied me, and all were very kind
to me. I found they worked for a common stock,
ate a common tables, and slapping common dormitories. Great numbers together.
In the dormitories, I observed loopholes at certain distances, all
along just under the ceiling, which I thought judiciously placed
for change of air. I was at their church, where

(11:39):
I was entertained with good music, the organs being accompanied
with violins, hot boys, flutes, clarinets, et cetera. I understood
that their sermons were not usually preached to mixed congregations
of men, women, and children, as is our common practice,
but that they assembled sometimes the married men, at other
times their wives, then the young men, the young women,

(12:02):
and the little children, each division by itself. The sermon
I heard was to the latter, who came in and
were placed in rows on benches. The boys under the
conduct of a young man their tutor, and the girls
conducted by a young woman. The discourse seemed well adapted
to their capacities, and was delivered in a pleasing familiar manner,

(12:22):
coaxing them, as it were, to be good. They behaved
very orderly, but looked pale and unhealthy, which made me
suspect they were kept too much within doors and not
alowed sufficient exercise. I inquired concerning the Morovian marriages, whether
the report was true that they were by lot. I
was told that lots were used only in particular cases,

(12:45):
that generally, when a young man found himself disposed to marry,
he informed the elders of his class, who consulted the
elder ladies that governed the young women. As these elders
of the different sexes were well acquainted with the tempers
and disposes of their respective pupils, they could best judge
what matches were suitable, and their judgments were generally acquiesced in.

(13:08):
But if, for example, it should happen that two or
three young women were found to be equally proper for
the young man, the lot was then recurred to. I objected,
if the matches are not made by the mutual choice
of the parties. Some of them may chance to be
very unhappy, and so they may, answered my informer, if
you let the partners choose for themselves, which indeed I

(13:31):
could not deny. Being returned to Philadelphia, I found the
association went on swimmingly. The inhabitants that were not Quakers,
having pretty generally come into it, formed themselves into companies
and chose their captains, lieutenants, and ensigns according to the
new law. Doctor b visited me and gave me an
account of the pains he had taken to spread a

(13:51):
general good liking to the law, and described much of
those endeavors I had had the vanity to ascribe all
to my dear dialog. However, not knowing but what he
might be in the right, I let him enjoy his opinion,
which I take to be generally the best way in
such cases. The officers meeting chose me to be colonel

(14:14):
of the regiment, which I this time accepted. I forgot
how many companies we had, but we paraded around above
hundred well looking men with a company of artillery who
had been furnished with six brass field pieces, which they
had become so expert in the use of as to
fire twelve times in a minute. The first time I
reviewed my regiment, they accompanied me to my house and

(14:37):
would salute me with some rounds fired before my door,
which shook down and broke several glasses of my electrical apparatus.
And my new honor proved not much less brittle, for
all our commissions were soon after broken by a repeal
of the law in England. During the short time of
my colonelship being about to set on a journey to Virginia,

(14:58):
the officers of my regiment to to their heads that
it would be proper for them to escort me out
of town as far as the Lower Ferry. Just as
I was getting on horseback, they came to my door
between thirty and forty, mounted and all in their uniforms.
I had not been previously acquainted with the project or
I should have prevented it, being naturally averse to the

(15:20):
assuming of state on any occasion, and I was a
good deal chagrined at their appearance, as I could not
avoid their accompanying me. What made it worse was that
as soon as we began to move, they drew their
swords and wrote with them naked all the way. Somebody
wrote an account of this to the Proprietor, and it
gave him great offense. No such honor had been paid

(15:43):
him when in the province, nor to any of his governors,
and he said it was only proper to princes of
the blood royal, which may it be true, for aught
I know who was, and still am ignorant of the
etiquette of such cases. This silly fair, however, increased the
rancor against me, which was before not little, on account

(16:05):
of my conduct in the Assembly respecting the exemption of
his estates from taxation, which I had always opposed very warmly,
and not without severe reflection on his meanness and injustice
of contending for it. He accused me to the Ministry
as being the great obstacles to the King's service, preventing,
by my influence in the House, the proper form of

(16:28):
the bills for raising money, and he insisted this parade
with my officers as a proof of my having an
intention to take the government of the province out of
his hands by force. He also applied to Sir Edward Faulkner,
the Postmaster General, to deprive me of my office, but
it had no other effect than to procure from Sir

(16:50):
Everett's a general admonition. Notwithstanding the continual wrangle between the
Governor and the House in which I, as a member
had so large a share, there still subsisted a servile
intercourse between the gentlemen and myself, and we never had
any personal difference. I have sometimes since thought that his
little or no resentment against me for the answers it

(17:13):
was known I drew up to his messages might be
the effect of professional habit, and that, being bred a lawyer,
he might consider us both as merely advocates for contending
clients in a suit, he for the proprietaries and I
for the Assembly. He would therefore sometimes call in a
friendly way to advise with me on difficult points, and sometimes,

(17:36):
though not often, take my advice. We acted in concert
to supply Braddock's army with provisions, and when the shocking
news arrived of his defeat, the Governor sent in haste
for me to consult with him on measures for preventing
the destruction of the back counties. I forget now the
advice I gave, but I think it was that Dunbar

(17:57):
should be written to and prevailed with if possible to
post his troops on the frontier for their protection, till
by reinforcements from the colonies he might be able to
proceed on the expedition. And after my return from the frontier,
he would have had me undertake the conduct of such
an expedition with provincial troops for the reduction of Fort Duquaine, Dunbar,

(18:20):
and his men being otherwise employed, and he proposed to
commission me as general. I had not so good an
opinion of my military abilities as he professed to have,
and I believe his professions must have exceeded his real sentiments.
But probably he might think that my popularity would facilitate
the raising of the men, and my influence in the

(18:42):
Assembly the grant of money to pay for them, and
that perhaps without taxing the proprietary estates. Finding me not
as forward to engage as he expected, the project was dropped,
and he soon after left the government, being superseded by
Captain Denny, Chapter seventeen,