river La Beuf, on which they must necessarily be brought to Venango, did not afford water enough to admit of their portage down it. By a rapid movement, therefore, it was extremely probable that the fort might be reached with a sufficient force to carry it before the arrival of the looked-for aid: but if this measure was not adopted, such were the delays attendant on the march of the whole army, that rains sufficient to raise the waters might reasonably be counted on, and the whole force of the French would probably be collected for their reception; a circumstance which might render the success of the expedition extremely doubtful.

This advice accorded well with the temper of the commander in chief; and it was determined in a council held at the Little Meadows, that twelve hundred men, selected from the different corps, to be commanded by General Braddock in person, accompanied by Sir Peter Halket, now acting as brigadier, the Lieutenant-colonels Gage and Burton, and by Major Sparke, should advance with the utmost expedition against Fort du Quesne. They were to take with them only such waggons as the train would absolutely require, and to carry their provisions and necessary baggage on horses. Colonel Dunbar and Major Chapman were to remain with the residue of the two regiments and all the heavy baggage.

This select corps commenced its march with only thirty carriages, including ammunition waggons, and

these

these strongly horsed. The hopes, however, which had been entertained of the celerity of its movements were not fulfilled. "I found," said Colonel Washington, in a letter written during the march, to his brother," that instead of pushing on with vigour, without regarding a little rough road, they were halting to level every mole hill, and to erect bridges over every brook." By these means they employed four days in reaching the great crossings of the Yohogany, only nineteen miles from the Little Meadows.

Here the situation of Colonel Washington, and the medicine which had been administered to him, rendered it indispensable for him to stop. The physician declared that his life would be endangered by continuing with the army; and General Braddock ordered him absolutely to remain at this camp, with a small guard left for his protection, till the arrival of Colonel Dunbar. These orders he very reluctantly obeyed, having first obtained from the general a solemn promise that means should be used to bring him up with the detachment in front, before it reached Fort du Quesne.

The day before the action of the Monongahela* he rejoined the general in a covered waggon. Though very weak, he immediately entered on the duties of his station.

• An account of which has been given in vol. 1. p. 314.

In a very short time after the action had commenced he was the only aid remaining alive and unwounded On him alone devolved, in an engagement with marksmen who selected officers, and especially those on horseback, for their objects, the whole duty of carrying the orders of the commander in chief. Under these difficult circumstances he manifested that coolness, that self-possession and fearlessness of danger which ever distinguished him, and which are so necessary to the character of a consummate soldier. He had two horses killed under him, and four balls through his coat; but, to the astonishment of all, escaped unhurt, while every other officer on horseback was either killed or wounded." I expected every moment," says an eye-witness*, "to see him fall." His duty and situation exposed him to every danger. Nothing but the superintending care of Providence could have saved him from the fate of all around him.

At length, after an action of near three hours, General Braddock, under whom three horses had been killed, received a mortal wound, and his troops gave way in all directions. The efforts made to rally them were ineffectual till they had crossed the Monongahela; when, being no longer pursued by the enemy, for the Indians were stopped by the

* Doctor Craik..

plunder,

plunder, they halted, and were again formed. The general was brought off in a small tumbril by Colonel Washington, Captain Stewart of his guards, and his servant. Colonel Washington was immedi ately dispatched to Dunbar's camp, to have some comfortable provisions prepared for the defeated army; which place he reached the next evening, and was soon followed by the remnant of the troops. On their arrival, all the stores, except those necessary for immediate use, were destroyed. General Braddock died at this place; and Colonel Dunbar, a short time afterwards, marched the remaining regular troops to Philadelphia, to go into what he called winter-quarters.

Colonel Washington was greatly disappointed and disgusted with the conduct of the regular troops on this occasion. In his letter to Lieutenant-governor Dinwiddie, giving an account of the action, he says, "They were struck with such inconceivable panic, that nothing but confusion and disobedience of or ders prevailed among them. The officers in general behaved with incomparable bravery; for which they greatly suffered, there being upwards of sixty killed and wounded-a large proportion out of what we had.

"The Virginia companies behaved like men, and died like soldiers: for I believe, out of three companies on the ground that day, scarcely thirty men were left alive. Captain Peronny and all his officers,

down

down to a corporal, were killed. Captain Poulson had almost as hard a fate, for only one of his escaped.

"In short, the dastardly behaviour of the regular troops, so called, exposed those who were inclined to do their duty to almost certain death; and at length, in spite of every effort to the contrary, they broke, and ran as sheep before hounds, leaving the artillery, ammunition, provisions, baggage, and, in short, every thing, a prey to the enemy; and when we endeavoured to rally them, in hopes of regaining the ground, and what we had left upon it, it was with as little success as if we had attempted to have stopped the wild bears of the mountains, or the rivulets with our feet; for they would break by in spite of every effort to prevent it*."

Colonel Washington had for some time been considered as the pride and ornament of Virginia in the military line, and his reputation grew with every occasion for exertion which presented itself. His conduct in this battle was universally extolled; and the

In another letter he says, "We have been beaten-shamefully beaten-shamefully beaten by a handful of men, who only intended to molest and disturb our march! Victory was their smallest expectation. But see the wondrous works of Providence! -the uncertainty of human things! We, but a few moments before, believed our numbers almost equal to the force of Canada; -they only expected to annoy us. Yet, contrary to all expectation and human probability, and even to the common course of things, we were totally defeated, and have sustained the loss of every thing!

common