Spirit shielded him, and ceased to fire. But the Great Spirit must have been reckless, for Washington had four bullets through his clothes, and two horses killed under him. His hat with the two holes in it was long a relic at Mount Vernon. Providence was doubtless aided in his rescue by the fact that he had changed his brilliant coat for a neutral-toned hunting shirt.

There is one popular belief about this battle that is true. George Washington performed prodigies of valor. He did not, however, say or pretend that he took command in the retreat, nor did anybody else say so at the time. He did not deny that the regulars, who behaved so badly, contained many Virginians. He referred to them as "the regulars (socalled)" and spoke of "the incomparable bravery" of the officers, who were largely British.22 His devoted friend Orme praised his bravery but did not mention him in his battle account.

But at the time he felt only dismay at the appalling failure that had rendered his previous defeat petty by comparison. His men, at least, had been outnumbered at Fort Necessity, had fought long and hard in rain and fog, and had accepted only a deliberate capitulation allowing them to march out with the honors of war. But now he must write: "We have been beaten, shamefully beaten by a handful of men, who only intended to molest and disturb our march. .. But see the wondrous works of Providence! We, but a few moments before, believed our numbers almost equal to the Canadian force; they only expected to annoy us. Yet... we were totally defeated, and sustained the loss of everything . . . had I not been witness to the fact on that fatal day, I should scarcely have given credit to it even now!" 23

The most important and best-earned tribute paid to the

Washington of this period is that of General B. T. Johnson, who says, with some preliminary exaggeration:

"Beyond a peradventure, his coolness, his self-control, his will, saved all that was saved. If it had not been for him, every British soldier would have been scalped. Twelve of them, taken prisoners, were burned alive at Fort Du Quesne the next evening.

"And the endurance of the Virginian captain is wonderful. After the entire day, from four o'clock in the morning of the 9th until dark of the 10th, in the saddle, four hours of it under the fiercest fire, which is the most exhausting excitement known to man, he rode and walked all night back to Dunbar's camp and returned at once to his wounded chief, and from the 9th until the 16th never took his clothes off. . . . The iron will was equaled by the iron frame and the iron constitution, and this prodigious effort was made by a man who had been left behind at Dunbar's camp, too ill to accompany the command, and had only reached the army the evening before the battle, hauled in a wagon because he was too weak to ride. The exhibition of endurance by Captain Washington for seven days after the battle exceeded that of courage, coolness, and self-control by him on the disastrous field." 24

Washington was moved to one flash of bitter wit, in which he partly anticipated Mark Twain's "exaggerated death-reports" by writing to his brother Jack:

"As I have heard . . . a circumstantial account of my death and dying speech, I take this early opportunity of contradicting the first, and of assuring you that I have not as yet composed the latter. . . . You may expect to see me there on Saturday or Sunday se'night. . . . I shall take my Bullskin Plantations in my way. Pray give my compliments to all of my friends." 25

For a brief, vivid and accurate account of the battle with none of the embroideries of after-history, one might search far for a better than the one Washington wrote to his mother on July 18, 1755, from Fort Cumberland:

"HONORED MADAM,

"As I doubt not but you have heard of our defeat, and, perhaps, had it represented in a worse light, if possible, than it deserves, I have taken this earliest opportunity to give you some account of the engagement as it happened, within ten miles of the French fort, on Wednesday the 9th instant.

"We marched to that place, without any considerable loss, having only now and then a straggler picked up by the French and scouting Indians. When we came there, we were attacked by a party of French and Indians, whose number, I am persuaded, did not exceed three hundred men; while ours consisted of about one thousand three hundred well-armed troops, chiefly regular soldiers, who were struck with such a panic, that they behaved with more cowardice than it is possible to conceive. The officers behaved gallantly, in order to encourage their men, for which they suffered greatly, there being near sixty killed and wounded; a large proportion of the number we had.

"The Virginia troops showed a good deal of bravery, and were nearly all killed; for I believe, out of three companies that were there, scarcely thirty men are left alive. Captain Peyrouny, and all his officers down to a corporal, were killed. Captain Polson had nearly as hard a fate, for only one of his was left. In short, the dastardly behaviour of those they call regulars exposed all others, that were inclined to do their duty, to almost certain death; and, at last, in despite of all the efforts of the officers to the contrary, they ran, as sheep pursued by dogs, and it was impossible to rally them.

"The General was wounded, of which he died three days after. Sir Peter Halket was killed in the field, where died many other brave officers. I luckily escaped without a wound, though I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me. Captain Orme and Morris, two of the aids-de-camp, were wounded early in the engagement, which rendered the duty harder upon me, as I was the only person then left to distribute the General's orders,

which I was scarcely able to do, as I was not half recovered from a violent illness, that had confined me to my bed and a wagon for above ten days. I am still in a weak and feeble condition, which induces me to halt here two or three days in the hope of recovering a little strength, to enable me to proceed homewards; from whence, I fear, I shall not be able to stir till towards September; so that I shall not have the pleasure of seeing you till then, unless it be in Fairfax. Please to give my love to Mr. Lewis and my sister; and compliments to Mr. Jackson, and all other friends that inquire after me. I am, honored Madam, your most dutiful son.'

"26

He claims nothing and reveals no errors except the astounding and exceedingly rare mistake of estimating the enemy at less than half their number.

B

XVI

CHAOS AND TERROR

ONFIRES were waiting to be lighted as soon as the

good word came from Braddock that the fort at the Forks of the Ohio was taken back from the French papists, whose designs on America all truly good religious people had dreaded since Roger Williams in 1670 had cried:

"The French and Roman Jesuits, the firebrands of the world, for their godbelly sake, are kindling at our back in this country their hellish fires with all the natives of this country." 1

The fear of Catholicism was what most of the people of that time, Puritan, Anglican and other Protestants, meant by maintaining their "civil and religious liberties." It was the only thing that could force the colonies to the semblance of concerted action. But since bringing them together always brought their prejudices into the contiguity that always favors a fight, they were as apt as the pithballs in the electric experiment to fly apart as soon as they were brought together.

But now England had sent an army and the colonies were on the march in all directions. Braddock was to explode the first bomb under the French foundations.

Fussy old Dinwiddie could hardly wait. Ben Franklin had to quench the enthusiasm in Philadelphia by refusing to subscribe for fireworks before the victory was won. But Dinwiddie was genuinely happy for the first time-aside,