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Notwithstanding all our efforts, we could not get on either shore, but were obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft and make to it.

"The cold was so extremely severe, that Mr. Gist had all his fingers, and some of his toes frozen; and the water was shut up so hard, that we found no difficulty in getting off the island on the ice, in the morning, and went to Mr. Frazier's. We met here with twenty warriors, who were going to the southward to war; but coming to a place on the head of the Great Kanawa, where they found seven people killed and scalped, (all but one woman with very light hair,) they turned about and ran back, for fear the inhabitants should rise and take them as the authors of the murder. They report that the bodies were lying about the house, and some of them much torn and eaten by the hogs. By the marks which were left, they say they were French Indians of the Ottoway nation, &c., who did it.

"From the first day of December to the fifteenth, there was but one day on which it did not rain or snow incessantly; and throughout the whole journey, we met with nothing but one continued series of cold, wet weather, which occasioned very uncomfortable lodgings, especially after we had quitted our tent, which was some screen from the inclemency of it." Washington commenced this journey from Williamsburg, on the 31st of October, 1753, and returned on the 16th of January, 1754, when he received the thanks of his government, and the applause of the people.

CHAPTER II.

The British Ministry instructs the Virginians to expel the French from the Ohio Territory-Young Washington's first Campaign-Marches to the Great Meadows -Surprises and takes a Detachment of French and Indians-Erects a StockadeAttacked by Count de Villier-Brave Defence against Superior Numbers--Accepts honourable Terms of Capitulation-Receives the Thanks of the Legislature.

THE French having shown no disposition to relinquish the territory which they claimed by right of discovery, the British

ministry instructed the inhabitants of Virginia to expel their unwelcome neighbours from the Ohio Territory by the force of arms.

A regiment of three hundred men was raised, which was joined by an independent company from South Carolina, and Washington, who had been appointed one of the AdjutantsGeneral of Virginia, with the rank of Major, at the age of nineteen years, to train the militia for actual service, was now, in the twenty-third year of his age, raised to the rank of Colonel, and intrusted with the command of this little army.

In April, 1754, Washington marched for the Great Meadows, in the disputed territories, to which he hastened to protect the people, and to preserve the good will of the friendly Indians, who might otherwise be influenced by the enemy.

On his arrival he was informed by some friendly. Indians that the French were engaged in completing a fortification at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, and that a detachment of French and Indians from that station had encamped within a few miles of the Great Meadows. The friendly Indians serving as guides, Washington marched during a dark and rainy night, surrounded, surprised, fired, and rushed upon the enemy about day-break, who immediately surrendered. One of the enemy was killed, and one ran away. The former was their commander, Jumoville, and the other will excuse us for not recording his name, which, by some singular negligence, was not made immortal in a bulletin; which, however, was better than to have a bullet-in his body; at least this appears to have been his philosophy.

If some mischievous individual should feel inclined to pronounce this daring enterprise of young Washington, where only one man was killed, a mere Quixotic adventure, or a Hudibrastic exploit, or compare it with a battle in the latter work, where only one man (the fiddler) is wounded in his wooden leg and his fiddle, let it be remembered, that it is easier to kill a bear than to catch one alive. Or, if you prefer the figure, take a herd of buffaloes for the bear. Before we conclude our work we may be able to show that Washington was famous for catching armies alive!

After erecting a small stockade or military fence, made with stakes or posts fastened in the earth, which was subsequently called fort Necessity, the troops proceeded towards fort Du Quesne, with something less than four hundred men, to take that place: but after marching about thirteen miles, they were told by their Indian friends, in their peculiar and figurative language, that the enemy was coming as thick as the wild pigeons of the woods, which in those days were exceedingly numerous in "pigeon time." Washington immediately retreated to his little fort, on which Count de Villier, with about 1100 men, French and Indians, soon made a most furious attack from behind the trees and high grass, which was resisted with a bravery and skill that elicited the astonishment and military admiration of the French.

A handful of young men, who had never found much use for razor-strops, who had just relinquished their hold on their mothers' apron strings, surrounded by three times their number of experienced French warriors, and desperate savages, whose brutal delight is war, plunder, and torture of their captives; far away from their homes, their relations, and the aid of their countrymen; in a vast wilderness, which to them must have appeared at once a desert and a grave, not only sustain the shock from morning at ten o'clock until dark, by fighting in the fort, but also on the outside, in a ditch nearly filled with mud and water, where Washington himself continued all day. Their little volcano was in a continuous state of eruption. The wild animals fled in the utmost consternation, then stopped, looked dismayed, and ran again. The wild bird, with a scream, forsook its nest and rushed through the thicket; then returning towards its young, is seized with alarm and flies again; and all are marvelling at the dreadful tumult that shakes their native woods.

After this long and desperate conflict, in which about fiftyeight of the Virginia regiment were killed and wounded, with a number of the Independents, and about two hundred of the enemy, a fearful proportion of their whole number, on both sides, the French commander offered the most honourable terms of capitulation, for the second time. Washington, aware that

he must ultimately be overpowered by numbers, signed the articles, surrendered the fort, marched out with all the honours of war, kept his arms and baggage, marched to Virginia, received the thanks of the legislature for himself and the officers under his command, three hundred pistoles for his soldiers, and shouts of applause from his countrymen.

CHAPTER III.

British Ministry recommend a Union of the Colonies, and to make a Treaty with the "Five Nations"-Convention at Albany-Treaty with the Indians-Plan of Uniting the Colonies-Rejected-British Ministry propose another Plan-Also rejected-Parliament resolves to carry on the War with British Troops, aided by the Colonists-General Braddock despatched-Plan of Campaign-Expedition against French Forts in Nova Scotia-Expedition against Fort Du Quesne--Braddock's Defeat and Death-Washington's Bravery and extraordinary EscapeDunbar's Flight Dreadful Murders and Outrages of the Indians-Washington endeavours to arrest them-Governor Shirley's Expedition-General William Johnson's Expedition.

THE British ministry perceiving that more energetic measures would be necessary, recommended to the colonies to unite their strength for the common defence, and to make a treaty with the "Five Nations."

In accordance with this recommendation, through the Earl of Holderness, Secretary of State to the colonial governors, a convention of delegates from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, with the lieutenant-governor and council of New York, assembled at Albany, where they effected a treaty with the Five Nations, and adopted a plan for uniting the colonies on the 4th of July, 1754, the day on which Washington surrendered fort Necessity.

The plan of union of the colonies was to form a general assembly of delegates from all the colonies, with a governorgeneral appointed by the crown, who would not only have a negative voice on the acts of the council, but power to raise money and troops in the colonies, lay duties, regulate trade, &c.

This proposed union was objected to by the provincial assemblies and the British government. By the former, because it conferred too much power on the king, and by the latter, on the ground that such a union of the people might endanger the supremacy of the mother country. Indeed the fears of both parties were well founded; for the British government soon after claimed and urged the power of taxing the colonies, and the provincial assemblies declared that if a union of the colonies would be effected they could defend themselves against the enemy without any assistance of England. Such an assertion might indeed startle the king on his throne; for if the united colonists had no fear of so powerful an enemy as the French, at their doors, they had no reason to dread the roar of the British lion at a distance.

The British ministry now proposed another plan, by which they would enjoy all the benefits resulting from victory without bearing any of the expenses. They wished to unite the governors with one or two of their council into a convention, who should meet and adopt measures to carry on the war, with the privilege of drawing upon the British treasury for the necessary sums. This scheme met with universal disapprobation among the colonists, as it contained a provision that Parliament would undertake to repay the expenses of the war by imposing a general tax upon the colonies. As the colonies were not represented in the British Parliament, this proceeding would at once lead to dependence and slavery, and expose them to the stupid insolence, the cruel oppression, and wide-spread impositions of king's collectors.

The British Parliament, afraid at this critical period to throw any more such fire-brands among the colonists, which might arouse their just indignation, determined to relinquish the subject of taxation for the present, and to carry on the war with British troops, aided by occasional reinforcements from the colonies.

Early in the spring of 1755, one of the most important campaigns was commenced that had ever occurred in America. Both nations sent reinforcements from Europe. General Braddock was despatched from Ireland to America at

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