Major Washington accomplished the objects of his western tour, he was appointed, soon after his return, to the command of two companies, of one hundred men each, ordered to be raised by the governour and council, with a view to the construction of a fort, at the fork of the Ohio, as a means of resisting the hostilities of the French. The Virginia assembly, however, at a recent sitting, having voted ten thousand pounds for this service, the governour was induced to increase the force to three hundred men, divided into six companies, the command of the whole being given to Colonel Joshua Fry. Major Washington was then raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and made second in command, an honour beyond which he did not aspire, and with which he expressed himself perfectly satisfied.

Having been stationed at Alexandria, for the purpose of filling up his company, Colonel Washington left that place on the 2d of April, and arrived at Will's Creek on the 20th, having been joined on the route by a detachment under Captain Stephen. Colonel Fry, the chief in command, being detained by bad health, Colonel Washington went on from his quarters at Will's Creek toward the Great Meadows. This he was induced to do, by learning that the French, in great numbers, had appeared before the fort, then in an unfinished state, at the fork of the Ohio, and demanded its surrender, which was accordingly complied with by Ensign Ward, who had been left there by Captain Trent, with a handful of men. Considering the frontiers as thus actually invaded, Colonel Washington regarded it as his duty, in compliance with the orders given him, to move onward, prepared to meet the invading army wherever it should appear. On the 1st of May, his feeble force, consisting of one hundred and fifty men, moved from Will's Creek, and entered the wilderness by slow and tedious marches. friendly Indians brought in frequent reports of French scouts

The

seen in the woods, and on the 24th of May, the half-king sent message to Washington, apprising him that a French force, a in what numbers he could not tell, was on its march to attack the English, and warning him to be on his guard. The army was now a few miles beyond the Great Meadows, and on receiving this intelligence, Washington hastened back to that place, and at once engaged his men in throwing up an entrenchment, determined to wait the approach of the enemy.

Early on the morning of the 27th, Mr. Gist arrived in camp, and informed Colonel Washington that M. La Force, a French officer, had been at his plantation, about thirteen miles off, the day before; and that on his way he had seen the tracks of the same party five miles from the encamp

ment.

Washington, suspecting a design to surprise him, immediately made provision for finding out, and attacking this roving detachment of the enemy. In this he succeeded on the morning of the 28th. In connexion with a few friendly Indians, he surprised the French in their hiding place, and after an action of about fifteen minutes, subdued them, killing some, and capturing the rest. Among the killed was the commander, M. Jumonville. This was the first battle

in which Washington had ever been engaged.

A few days after this action, viz: on the 31st of May, Colonel Fry died at Will's Creek. Governour Dinwiddie was now in Winchester. Colonel Innis, from North Carolina, had recently arrived in that town with 350 troops. Soon after the death of Colonel Fry, the governour appointed Innis to the chief command of all the forces destined for the Ohio. Colonel Washington was promoted to the command of the Virginia regiment. Neither Colonel Innis nor his troops ever joined Colonel Washington, or rendered him any aid. He was joined by a Captain

Mackay, with an independent company from South Carolina, who were of little service, as they stood very much upon their rights as the king's soldiers, claiming an exemption from many duties on that account. Leaving this officer and his company at the Great Meadows, Colonel Washington marched forward with the Virginia regiment He soon learned, however, the extent of the French force, and though Captain Mackay overtook him, a retreat was thought expedient. They reached the Great Meadows on the 1st of July, when Colonel Washington, finding his men too much fatigued to go any further, determined to increase the strength of the fortifications, and await the movements of the enemy.

On the 3d of July, early in the morning, an alarm was received from a sentinel, who had been wounded by the enemy; and at nine o'clock, intelligence came that their whole body, amounting, as was reported, to 900 men, were only four miles off. The action soon commenced. It continued from eleven A. M., to eight o'clock at night, when the French commander requested a parley. The proposal issued in the capitulation of Washington, and his return with the troops to Will's Creek. Thence, with Captain Mackay he proceeded to Williamsburgh, and communicated, in person, the results of the expedition.

There was a good deal of dissatisfaction expressed in regard to some of the articles of capitulation, when they became public. The house of burgesses, however, met in August, and requested the governour to lay before them a copy of the capitulation. This being done, upon a due consideration of the subject, they passed a vote of thanks to Colonel Washington, and his officers, for their bravery and gallant defence of the country. Indeed, all the proceedings of the campaign were not only approved, but applauded by the government and the public generally.

Soon after Colonel Washington's return from this expedition, the governour and council resolved on renewing the contest, in which they had been so lately foiled. There was, however, a difference between the governour and house of burgesses, which prevented an appropriation of money at this juncture. When Washington was informed of the plans of the governour and council, to engage in another enterprize against the French, without delay, he expostulated so warmly against the folly of such an attempt being made without money, men, or provisions, that the scheme was readily abandoned.

When the assembly met in October, they granted twenty thousand pounds for the public exigencies, and the governour received from England, ten thousand pounds in specie, with the promise of as much more, and two thousand fire-arms. Thereupon he resolved to enlarge the army to ten companies, of one hundred men each, and to reduce them all to independent companies, by which means there would be no officer in the Virginia regiment above the rank of a captain. In consequence of this singular arrangement, Colonel Washington retired from the army, as he would not accept a lower commission than the one he had held, and in which he had exhibited a rare example of bravery and good conduct.

From this time, October 1754, he remained on his farm engaged in the pursuits of agriculture; for which he ever had a strong predilection. It was not long, however, that a man of such decided military talents could be suffered to remain inactive, when the cloud of war was impending. On the 20th of February, 1755, General Braddock arrived in Virginia, as commander-in-chief of all the military forces of North America. He had heard of Colonel Washington as a man of worth, and finding that he had resigned his commission, when his command was reduced, commended

the military spirit of the youthful soldier, and, to remove all difficulty on that score, he offered him a place in his family, as volunteer aid-de-camp. By this arrangement, excluding all question of rank, every objection on the part of Washington being effectually obviated, he freely accepted the offer.

On the 20th of April General Braddock marched from Alexandria, where his troops had first landed. Colonel Washington, detained by his private concerns, did not leave Mount Vernon till the 23d. He joined the army in a few days at Fredericktown, Maryland. From hence they pursued their way into the wilderness. On the 14th of June he was taken sick with a violent fever in the Alleghany mountain. The army proceeded without him, the violence of his disease rendering it impossible for him to travel. He was, however, convalescent in a few weeks, and so far recovered as to bear his part in the memorable battle of the Monongahela. This fatal event occurred on Wednesday, the 9th of July. Colonel Washington had only joined the army the day before: he was weak and feeble from the effects of his late sickness; yet did he nobly fulfil his duty that day. While death was strewing the plain with its agonized victims, he conducted himself with the greatest cour age and resolution. General Braddock, with almost every officer of distinction, and a large proportion of the troops, were either killed or wounded. Washington alone abided unhurt the horrors of that dreadful conflict. When Braddock himself fell, the wretched remnant of his blasted army was conducted by Washington to a place of safe retreat. The general was also carried off by his assistance, but died of his wounds a few days after the battle. He was buried at night, in the road, near Fort Necessity, at the Great Meadows.

This disaster, of which a sanguine public had not enter