CHAPTER V.

WASHINGTON had felt for some time that the army in America was not on a right footing. The troops that were raised in the colonies were not treated with that respect which the British troops demanded and enforced. It seemed hard that the men who understood the ground upon which they fought, and to whom the English officers were indebted for whatever knowledge they acquired, should not be given the rank and dignity which they deserved; and as the state of things grew worse instead of better, and the position of the colonial army became still further lowered, Washington gave up his commission and retired to Mount Vernon, which, by the death of his brother's child and wife, had become his own property.

It was not for long, however, that he was able to stay in quiet. The French continued to carry out their designs upon Ohio; and news came from Paris that ships of war were being fitted out, and preparations made for an expedition to America.

This put England on the defensive, and a scheme of warfare was also drawn up in that country, having four objects—

"First-To eject the French from the lands they held unjustly in the Province of Nova Scotia.

"Second-To dislodge them from a fortress which they had erected at Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, in British territory.

GENERAL BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION.

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"Third-To dispossess them of the fort which they had constructed at Niagara, between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

"Fourth-To drive them from the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and recover the valley of the Ohio."

The command of the expedition was given to an officer well known in England, Major-General Braddock, who had been for forty years in the Guards-a well-trained soldier, a strict disciplinarian, and a man most punctilious about all matters of etiquette and equipment.

Washington, from his quiet home at Mount Vernon, began to hear the stir of war. He saw the great ships coming up the Potomac with the soldiers on board of them. When he rode to Alexandria, the town only eight miles distant from him, he saw troops mustering and drilling, and heard brilliant accounts of all that was about to be undertaken. The soldier's heart woke up in him; he could not be left behind when there was such good work to be done, and apparently such good means of doing it, and he expressed a wish to join the expedition as a volunteer.

His wish was told to General Braddock, and he offered that Washington should become one of his aides-decamp. Washington accepted the post, as he was by this means considered one of the general's own family, and all questions of rank in the army were thus obviated. Braddock, full of confidence, was anxious to push forward as soon as possible. Benjamin Franklin, who met him at Fredericktown, warned him of the ambuscades of Indians which might lie in wait for him at various parts of his march. Braddock smiled contemptuously, and replied to Franklin, "These savages may indeed be a formidable enemy to raw American militia; but upon the king's regular

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and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make any impression." He took good care that "the raw American militia," as he chose to call the Virginian troops, should be put through strict drill. Captain Orme, one of the aides-de-camp, writing of them, says, "Their languid, spiritless, and unsoldier-like appearance, considered with the lowness and ignorance of most of their officers, gave little hopes of their future good behaviour."

This superciliousness of the British officers was one of the little rifts which widened by degrees into American independence. England hardly knew what it was doing in this persistent scorn of its colonial offspring. That same "raw militia," those same "languid, spiritless men," did good service to their country, some of them, before the end.

In General Braddock's camp at Fort Cumberland, Washington first saw military order in perfection; the fitness of all equipments, the precision and decorum of every movement, pleased his natural sense of order, and gave him an education which he never forgot. If the warfare could have been carried on at this spot, it is probable that General Braddock might have been more successful than he proved ; but he was not accustomed to the rough life on the mountains-he expected to move his camp with all its heavy encumbrances, so as to have everything necessary for comfort and etiquette wherever he went. Washington, who knew what war beyond the mountains meant, had recollections of cutting roads, of frozen rivers, of torn and bleeding feet, of night and day marches through forests, where death from wild beasts or hidden foes might overtake the soldier at any moment, and he looked with wonder, and possibly with a little scorn, at the cumbrous camp equipments.

When the heavy wagons had struggled over two moun tains and made their way through one forest, General Braddock began to find out that he was not in marching order ; and he asked advice of Washington, who knew the country so much better than he did.

Washington said that the great thing was to press forward for Fort Duquesne (the fort which the French had built at the fork of the Ohio); the garrison there was not strong, and this was the favourable time for an attack. He advised that the heavy part of the baggage, camp-furniture, and munitions should follow slowly, under the care of Col. Dunbar, while General Braddock pressed on with the choicest part of his army, in light marching order. Washington himself gave up the best horse he had for a packhorse, and took with him as little in the way of personal effects as possible, thus setting a good example to some of the luxurious English officers. But, in spite of all his efforts, they continued to make very slow progress. "We were four days in getting twelve miles," he says, with some impatience; and then, to put the finishing stroke to his vexations, he fell ill with fever.

He wrote thus to his brother, Augustine :

"Youbioquez, June 28, 1755. "DEAR BROTHER,-Immediately upon our leaving the camp at George's Creek, on the 14th inst., from whence I wrote to you, I was seized with a violent fever and pain of the head, which continued without intermission until the 23rd, when I was relieved by the General absolutely ordering the physician to give me Dr. James's powders, one of the most excellent medicines in the world. It gave me immediate ease, and removed my fever and other complaints in four days' time. My illness was too violent to suffer me to ride, therefore I was indebted to a covered wagon for some part of my transportation; but even in this I could not continue far. The jolting was so great that I was left upon the road, with a guard and some necessaries, to wait the arrival

of Colonel Dunbar's detachment, which was two days' march behind us; the General giving me his word of honour that I should be brought up before he reached the French fort."

It was not until the 8th of July that Washington was able to join the general, and even then he was so weak that he was hardly able to ride. But the 9th of July rose bright and glorious, and the army set out for Fort Duquesne, full of the surprise they would give to the French, and of faith in their own powers. Washington afterwards described it as "a most brilliant scene, the sun kindling the soldiers' armour, till it seemed to glow in a living blaze, as the troops wound along by the banks of the river, the flags flying, the bands playing."

Suddenly the picture changed—a sharp, quick firing was heard in front. No one could be seen, but from amongst the trees came a deadly volley of musketry. The enemy was hidden in the wood; the troops which were in advance, terror-stricken, rushed back upon the main body for protection. A dreadful scene of confusion followed. General Braddock did all he could to rally his men, but the attack had been too unexpected-it was warfare to which they were not accustomed, and it did "make an impression upon the king's regular and disciplined troops." The Indians were deadly shots; and they heightened the effect of their muskets by uttering the most horrible whoops and yells, which seemed to terrify the soldiers even more than the firing did.

Before the end of the day came, fatal work had been done. General Braddock had received a shot from which he died three days afterwards. Twenty-six officers had been killed, thirty-seven wounded; of the privates, 714 were killed and wounded. Washington's escapes were perfectly marvellous.