they advanced only nineteen miles. The indisposition of Colonel WASHINGTON now became so severe, that his physicians declared that his life would be the sacrifice of the continued fatigues of the march. The General therefore absolutely directed him to remain at Yohogany with a small guard, until Colonel Dunbar came up with him. Colonel WASHINGTON at lengthi consented, on the promise that he should be brought up with the advanced corps, before its arrival at Fort du Quesne. The day preceding the fatal action, he, in a covered wagon, rejoined the troops, and, in his debilitated state, entered on his duty.

General Braddock was warned of the danger, to which the character of his enemy exposed him, and advised to employ the ranging companies of Virginia to scour the woods, and prevent ambuscades; but not looking for an enemy capable of serious opposition, he without caution moved his army in small columns. Within seven miles of du Quesne, he was suddenly attacked by an invisible foe; the assaulting party of French and Indians fighting under cover of the thick wood and high grass, with which the country abounded.

JULY-8, 1755.

Early in the action, the Aids de camp, except Colonel WASHINGTON, were killed or disabled, and he performed the whole of the dangerous service of carrying the orders of the commander to his respective officers, Of all those, who on this fatal day did duty on horseback, he alone escaped without a wound; although he had two horses shot under him, and four balls through his coat. Doctor Craik, the physician who attended him in his last sickness, was a witness of this scene: "I expected," says he, "every moment 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."

After an action of three hours, the troops broke, and

the efforts of their officers to rally them were fruitless Colonel WASHINGTON assisted to bring General Braddock off the field, who was mortally wounded. He reached fort Cumberland, and there died, and was buried. During the arduous and dangerous conflicts of this hour, Colonel WASHINGTON exhibited that self possession and determined courage, which are essential to the officer. To his quick discernment and sound judgment, the preservation of the defeated troops was in a great measure attributed; and had his advice been previously adopted, probably the disaster would not have happened. As soon as relieved from his attention to his unfortunate General, he was despatched to Cumberland, to provide for the retreating army. Colonel Dunbar being joined by them, deAUGUST, 1755. stroyed the stores he could not remove, and marched his army to Philadelphia into win

ter quarters.

The British troops had not been accustomed to Indian warfare; and, on this occasion, Col. WashingTON indignantly witnessed their pusillanimity. In an official relation of the engagement, to the Executive of Virginia, he observes, "They were struck with such an inconceivable panick, that nothing but confusion and disobedience of orders 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 of what we had.

"The Virginia companies behaved like men, and died like soldiers; for I believe of three companies on the ground that day, scarcely thirty men were left alive. Capt. Peronny and all his officers, down to a corporal, were killed. Capt. 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, 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 stop 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."

The assembly of Virginia was in session, when the gloomy intelligence was received, that General Braddock was defeated and slain, and that Colonel Dunbar had left their frontiers open to the invasion of the enemy. They immediately voted to raise a regiment to consist of sixteen companies.

The important transactions in which Colonel WASHINGTON had been engaged, developed his character, and his reputation rose by every publick trust with which he was invested. He now received a commission appointing him Colonel of this regiment, and Commander in Chief of all the forces raised, and to be raised, in Virginia; with the privilege to name his field officers. He could, in the existing state of the colony, engage in the military service of his country without an impeachment of his honour, and with alacrity he accepted the appointment.

1755. A scene now opened to Colonel WASHINGTON, trying indeed to a Commander of his youth and degree of experience, but proving an excellent school, in which to form the General of the 'revolutionary war. With an incompetent force he was to defend a frontier of three hundred and sixty miles. The French on the Ohio, aided by the numerous Indians, attached to their interests, embraced every favourable opportunity to invade the northern and western borders of Virginia, spreading terrour and desolation in their course; and having completed their work of slaughter and ruin, they retreated with their plunder over the Alleghany

mountain, before a force could be collected to attack them.-Governor Dinwiddie was not himself a soldier, nor did he possess a mind to comprehend the nature of this mode of warfare. Jealous of his prerogative, and obstinate in his temper, his orders were often inadequate to their object, or impracticable in their nature. The military code of the colony was insufficient, which rendered it impossible to bring the militia into the field with the despatch necessary to repel an Indian invasion; and her martial laws did not possess vigour to prevent insubordination in officers, or secure discipline in the permanent troops. The colony was at that time too poor, or too improvident, seasonably to lay up magazines for the use of her little army, or to keep money in the military chest for its regular payment.

Under all these embarrassments, Colonel WASHINGTON entered on the duties of his commission. Having put the recruiting service in operation, he visited the line of posts on the frontiers, and established the best regulations their state admitted, to keep the petty gar risons vigilant and alert.

He had accomplished this necessary business, and nearly completed a journey to Williamsburg, to settle with the Governor the plan of operations; and to press upon him, and other officers of government, the importance of Legislative interference to conciliate those Indians who were not already attached to the French; and to adopt effectual means and regulations to support and discipline the troops; when information reached him of an eruption of the French and Indians on the northern border. In haste he returned to Winchester, and found the country in the utmost alarm and confusion. The small garrisons conceived themselves to be in danger in their fortresses, and were unable to protect the open country. The inhabitants on the extreme frontier, instead of uniting their force for mutual safety, fell back and communicated their fears to more

interiour places. Orders to call the militia into the field were unavailing; the solicitude and exertion of each individual were directed to the immediate preservation of his family and property. The sufferings of his countrymen deeply wounded the heart of Colonel WASHINGTON. Every measure was adopted, that an enterprising spirit could suggest; and all the means he possessed were judiciously and strenuously exerted for their protection; but all were ineffectual. He was compelled to be the witness of the calamity of friends, whom he could not relieve; and of the carnage and ravages of a ferocious enemy, whom he could not chastise. Before a force from below could be collected, the invading foe, having glutted their appetite for blood, and loaded themselves with spoil, recrossed the mountain.

Three years service affords little else, than a repetition of scenes of a similar nature; scenes, which occasioned these settlements the utmost horrour and distress, and brought the fortitude and military resources of the Commander to a severe test; but which, in recal, would swell this work beyond the designed bounds. The regiment never consisted of more than one thousand effective men. Colonel WASHINGTON, in addition to the appropriate duty of his commission, was obliged to superintend the operations of each subordinate department, and to attend to the wants of the impoverished inhabitants.

During this period, he unremittingly urged upon the Executive and Legislature of his Province, the insufficiency of the mode adopted to prosecute the war. He earnestly recommended offensive operations, as the only measure which would effectually relieve, the Colony from the heavy loss of inhabitants, and from the expense of money yearly sustained; and prevent the total depopulation of the fertile plains beyond the Blue Ridge. If the necessary co-operation of Great Britain, to enable the colony to drive the enemy from