waiting for wagons, horses and provisions. Soon after resuming their march, Washington was seized with a violent fever, but refusing to remain behind the army, was conveyed with them in a covered wagon.

The object of the campaign was the capture of Fort Du Quesne. Washington advised the general to leave his heavy artillery and baggage behind, and to press forward with a chosen body of troops as expeditiously as possible. This advice was adopted, and twelve hundred men were selected, to be commanded by General Braddock in person, and to advance with the utmost despatch. This corps immediately commenced its march, but did not move with the celerity that had been expected. "I found," said Washington, in a letter to his brother," that instead of pushing on with vigor, without regarding a little rough road, they were halting to level every mole hill, and to erect bridges over every brook." They were four days in passing over the first nineteen miles from the Little Meadows. Here the sickness of Washington made it impossible for him to proceed on the march. General Braddock ordered him to stay behind with a small guard, till the arrival of Colonel Dunbar, with the rear division of the army. As soon as his strength would permit, he rejoined the general, and immediately entered on the duty of his office.

The next day was an eventful one in our early history. It was the ninth of July. General Braddock had crossed the Monongahela, and was pressing forward, with no apprehension of danger, to Fort Du Quesne. He was already within a few miles of his destination, marching on an open road thick set with grass, when on a sudden a heavy and well directed fire was opened upon his troops by an invisible enemy, consisting of the French and Indians. From their sheltered retreats they were able to take a safe and steady aim, and the officers of the British troops were slain in great numbers. In a short time Washington was the only aid-de-camp left alive and unwounded. He was obliged consequently to carry all of the general's orders, to every part of the battle-field in person. In performing

this duty, he had two horses killed under him, and four balls passed through his coat. "I expected every moment," says an eyewitness, "to see him fall. Nothing but the superintending care of Providence could

have saved him from the fate of all around him.”

During the whole course of the battle Braddock displayed the utmost intrepidity and firmness. He encouraged his men to keep their ground; but valor was useless, and he saw his army falling around him like grass under the scythe, without being able to render them any assistance. Unacquainted with the Indian mode of fighting, his efforts to form his broken troops only exposed them more surely to the galling fire of the enemy. The action continued for three hours, in the course of which the general had three horses killed under him, and received himself a mortal wound. His troops immediately fled in great confusion. It was impossible to rally them, until they had crossed the Monongahela, and placed a river between themselves and their enemy. The Indians were too much occupied with the plunder, to think of continuing the pursuit. Braddock was carried to the camp of Dunbar, where in a few days he died.

On this occasion the British officers behaved with admirable bravery, but the common soldiers broke into confusion in spite of every effort to rally them, and fled like sheep before hounds. The three Virginia companies, on the contrary, conducted with great spirit, and fought with such disregard of danger, that there were scarcely thirty men left alive from their whole number. This defeat did not injure the reputation of Washington. His countrymen praised his conduct, and it was well understood that the disasters of the day originated in a neglect of his advice.

Intelligence of the defeat of Braddock, and of the withdrawal of the regular forces from Virginia, arrived while the Assembly of that colony were still in session. It was at once resolved to raise a regiment of sixteen companies to protect the frontier settlements. The command of this was given to Washington, with authority to name the field officers.

In executing the duties of his office, Washington visited the frontiers, and made the best disposition of the few soldiers he found in the various posts. On his way to Williamsburg, he was overtaken by an express, with information that the back settlements had been broken up by the French and Indians, who were burning their houses, devastating their crops, murdering and leading into captivity the men, women and children. The few troops stationed on the frontiers were unable to render them any assistance, but retired for their own safety to the stockade forts. Alarm and confusion prevailed on all sides. Before any sufficient force could be collected to repel the assailants, they had retreated beyond the Alleghany mountains, and were out of the reach of punishment. Irruptions of this kind were repeatedly made into the frontier settlements during the years 1756, 1757, and 1758. The distresses of the inhabitants were extreme. In the forts they suffered from hunger, and were often besieged and murdered. In their farms and villages they lay down every night with the fear of a cruel death, or a more cruel bondage, continually before them. The people looked to Washington for the protection he was unable to give. The difficulty of raising a large number of men, and the inability of a small number to protect the extensive frontiers of Virginia, were

continual sources of anxiety and distress. The savages made no distinc tions in their warfare. They slew the women and children, the aged and the helpless, as well as the men whom they found in arms. Washington, in a letter written during this period to the governor, observed"The supplicating tears of the women and moving petitions of the men, melt me with such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would contribute to the people's ease." He was indefatigable in representing to the governor the wretched condition of the inhabitants, and the great defects of the existing mode of defence. He advised the reduction of Fort Du Quesne, the lurking-place and strong hold of these predatory bands, as the only means of effectually restoring secu rity to the frontier settlements. In case this measure was not adopted, he advised that twenty-two forts, extending in a line of three hundred and sixty miles, should be erected and garrisoned by two thousand men, in constant pay and service. In the autumn of 1758, to the great joy of Washington, an expedition was fitted out against Fort Du Quesne; but on reaching the post, they found that the garrison had deserted it and retreated down the Ohio. A treaty of peace was soon after concluded with the Indian tribes. Fort Du Quesne received the name of Fort Pitt, was repaired and garrisoned with two hundred men from Washington's regiment. Henceforward it was a source of as much advantage to the English settlements, as it had before been of detriment. The remains of this fort presented the following appearance in the year 1831.

The great object of his wishes having been thus happily accomplished, Washington resigned his commission, and thus ended his career as a provincial officer. Soon after this resignation, he married Mrs. Martha

Custis, a young and beautiful lady, of great accomplishments, and an amiable character. Retiring to the estate at Mount Vernon, which he had acquired a few years before by the death of his elder brother, he devoted himself assiduously to the business of agriculture He became one of the greatest landholders in North America. His Mount Vernon estate alone consisted of nine thousand acres, and his domestic and farming establishments were composed of nearly a thousand persons.

From the close of the frontier war to the commencement of the revolution, Washington acted as judge of a county court, and as a member of the House of Burgesses of his native province. In this body he was never distinguished as a speaker, yet he secured the esteem and confidence of all who knew him, by the firmness and propriety of his conduct, and the uniform good sense of his counsels. While in this situation, he took an active part in opposition to the principle of the British parliament, to tax the American colonies. He was elected a representative to the first Congress, which met at Philadelphia, in 1774, and was the active member of all the committees on military affairs. When the commencement of hostilities made it necessary to appoint a commander-in-chief of the American forces, George Washington was unanimously elected to the office. On receiving from the President of Congress official notice of this appointment, he thus addressed him: "Mr. President, although I am truly sensible of the high honor done me in this appointment, yet I feel great distress from a consciousness that my abilities and military experience may not be equal to the extensive and important trust. However, as the Congress desire it, I will enter upon the momentous duty, and exert every power I possess in their service, and for support of the glorious cause. I beg they will accept my most cordial thanks, for this distinguished testimony of their approbation.

"But, lest some unlucky event should happen, unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room, that I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.

"As to pay, Sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employment, at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses; those I doubt not they will discharge, and that is all I desire."

A special commission was made out for him, and at the same time an unanimous resolution was adopted by Congress, "that they would maintain and assist him, and adhere to him with their lives and fortunes, for the maintenance and preservation of American liberty"

He prepared to enter immediately on the duties of his high station. Having passed a few days in New-York, and making some arrangement with General Schuyler who commanded there, he proceeded to Cambridge, which was the headquarters of the American army. On his way thither, he received from individuals and public bodies, the most flattering attention and the strongest promises of support and assistance. A committee of the Massachusetts Congress met him at Springfield, about one hun⚫dred miles from Boston, and conducted him to the army

Immediately after his arrival, the Congress presented him an address, in which they expressed their approbation of his appointment, and the great respect and affection they entertained for him. His reply was well

calculated to increase these sentiments. He returned the warmest acknowledgments of their kindness, and promised ever to retain it in grateful remembrance. In the course of this reply, he observed, "In exchanging the enjoyments of domestic life for the duties of my present honorable, but arduous situation, I only emulate the virtue and public spirit of the whole province of Massachusetts, which, with a firmness and patriotism without example, has sacrificed all the comforts of social and political life, in support of the rights of mankind, and the welfare of our common country. My highest ambition is to be the happy instrument of vindicating these rights, and to see this devoted province again restored to peace, liberty and safety."

On reaching the camp, the first movements of the commander-in-chief were directed to an examination of the strength and situation of his forces. They amounted to about fourteen thousand and five hundred men; occupying several posts in an extent of about twelve miles. Some were stationed at Roxbury, some at Cambridge, and some on Winter and Prospect Hills in front of Bunker's Hill. A few companies were posted in the towns about Boston Bay, which were most exposed to attacks from British armed vessels. The troops were not sufficiently numerous to defend so large an extent of country, but it was difficult to make a more compact arrangement. The British army were posted in three divisions. The main body, under General Howe, was intrenching itself on Bunker's Hill, in Charlestown. Another division was stationed on Copp's Hill and the third was strongly entrenched and fortified on Roxbury Neck There were three floating batteries in Mystic river, and a small body of infantry and light horse stationed in Boston.

The American army was very badly provided with the necessaries of war. Of military stores, they were almost entirely destitute. All the powder in New-England would not have furnished nine rounds to each soldier. In this condition, the army remained for a fortnight. There was no discipline among the troops, owing to their being enlisted only for short periods. The appointment of general officers by Congress gave great dissatisfaction, and induced several of those who thought themselves injured, to quit the service. To remedy all these evils, to form an uniform mass of discordant materials, and subject men striving for independence to the rigid discipline of a camp, required patience, firmness, and a spirit of conciliation.

General Gage had received a small reinforcement from New-York, so that the whole number of the British army now amounted to about eight thousand men. Their plans were principally directed to self-defence. With little interruption, both armies were employed in strengthening their respective fortifications. But few skirmishes took place, and those without much bloodshed. This state of things did not satisfy the mind of Washington. He was eager for some active measures to destroy the British army in Boston, before it should receive additional reinforcements; and before the resources of the colonies should be entirely exhausted.