and taking also ten guns, the seamen and some indispensable supplies of provisions and ammunition, he pushed boldly on into the pathless and almost unknown solitudes of the Alleghanies. Colonel Dunbar, with the rest of the army and the heavy luggage, followed as they best might.

To trace the unfortunate Braddock through his tedious march of 130 miles would be wearisome and unnecessary. His progress was retarded by useless labours in making roads, or rather tracks, and yet no prudent caution was observed; he persisted in refusing or neglecting the offers of the Provincials and Indians to scour the woods and explore the passes in his front. Sir Peter Halket and other British officers ventured to remonstrate in strong terms against the dangerous carelessness of the march, but their instances seemed only to confirm the obstinate determination of the general. Washington, who acted as his aide-de-camp, also urged an alteration of arrangement, and with such vehement pertinacity that the irritated chief ordered his Virginian companies to undertake the inglorious duties of the rear-guard.

not march as if he was at all impatient to be scalped. It is said for him that he has had bad guides, that the roads are exceedingly difficult, and that it was necessary to drag as much artillery as he does. This is not the first time, as witness in Hawley, that the duke has found that brutality did not necessarily constitute a general. Braddock is a very Iroquois in disposition."-Walpole's Letters to Sir H. Mann, Aug. 21, 1755.

"Want of intelligence and reconnoitring parties was the sole cause of defeat."-General Kane's Mil. Hist. of Great Britain to 1757.

M. de Contrecœur, commandant of Fort du Quesne, had received information of all Braddock's movements from the Indians; with the view of embarrassing the English advance rather than of offering any serious resistance, he dispatched M. de Beaujeu, with 250 of the marine, or colony troops, towards the line of march which Braddock was expected to take; this detachment was afterwards strengthened by about 600 Indians, principally Outamacs, and the united force took up a favourable position where the underwood and long grass concealed them from the approaching enemy.

Intelligence of a contradictory nature as to the strength and movements of the French had been every day carried to the unfortunate Braddock by Indians professing to be his friends, and by doubly traitorous deserters. Still, under a fatal conviction of security, he had pursued his march, meeting with no interruption, except in taking "eight or nine scalps, a number much inferior to expectation." On the 8th of July, following the winding course which the difficulty of the country rendered necessary, he crossed the Monongahela River, encamped upon the bank at the opposite side from Fort du Quesne, and sent Sir John St. Clair forward to reconnoitre the enemy's fort. The quartermaster-general was successful in attaining the desired information: he reported that the defences were of timber, and that a small eminence lay close by, from whence red-hot shot could easily be thrown upon the wooden parapets.

At seven in the morning of the 9th of July, an advance guard of 400 men under Colonel Gage, pushed on and took possession of the fords of the river, where it was necessary to recross, unopposed, but somewhat alarmed by the ominous appearance of a few Indians among the neighbouring thickets. A little before mid-day the main body began to cross the broad stream with "colours flying, drums beating, and fifes playing the Grenadiers' March;" they formed rapidly on the opposite side, and not having been interrupted in the difficult passage, recommenced their march in presumptuous security.

Three guides and six light horsemen led the way towards Fort du Quesne, through an open space in the forest, followed by the grenadiers of the 44th and 48th flanking parties skirted the edge of the woods on both sides. The 44th regiment succeeded with two guns, behind them were the 48th with the rest of the artillery and the general: the Virginian companies in unwilling obedience, sullenly brought up the rear. In this order they advanced with as much regularity as the rough road permitted; when within seven miles of the fort they left a steep conical hill to the right, and directed their march upon the extremity of the open space, where the path disappeared between the thickly wooded banks of a small brook: so far all went well.

At length the guides and the light horse entered the "bush" in front and descended the slope towards the stream, while a number of axemen set vigorously to work felling the trees and clearing the

underwood for the advance of the army, the grenadiers acting as a covering party. Suddenly from the dark ravine in front flashed out a deadly volley, and before the rattle of the musketry had ceased to echo, three-fourths of the British advance lay dead and dying on the ground. The French had coolly taken aim from their unseen position, and singled out the officers with fatal effect, for every one was killed or wounded in that first discharge; only two and twenty of the grenadiers remained untouched, they hastily fired upon the copse containing their still invisible foes, then turned, and fled. One of these random shots struck down the French chief de Beaujeu, and for a short time checked the enemy's triumph; he was dressed like an Indian, but wore a large gorgiton to denote his rank; at the moment of his death he was waving his hat and cheering his men on at a running pace.

Braddock instantly advanced the 44th regiment to succour the front, and endeavoured to deploy upon the open space, but simultaneously on all sides from the thick covert, burst the war-whoop of the Indians, and a deadly fire swept away the head of every formation. The 44th staggered and hesitated; Sir Peter Halket and his son, a

"After the successful expedition against Fort du Quesne in 1758, General Forbes resolved to search for the relics of Braddock's army. As the European soldiers were not so well qualified to explore the forests, Captain West, the elder brother of Benjamin West the painter, was appointed, with his company of American Sharpshooters, to assist in the execution of this duty; and a party of Indians were

lieutenant in the regiment, while cheering them on, were shot dead side by side; Braddock's horse was killed and two of his aides-de-camp wounded; the

requested to conduct him to the places where the bones of the slain were likely to be found. In this solemn and affecting duty, several officers belonging to the 42nd regiment accompanied the detachment, and with them Major Sir Peter Halket, who had lost his father and brother in the fatal destruction of the army. It might have been thought a hopeless task that he should be able to discriminate their remains from the common relics of the other soldiers; but he was induced to think otherwise, as one of the Indian warriors assured him that he had seen an officer fall near a remarkable tree, which he thought he could still discover; informing him, at the same time, that the incident was impressed on his memory by observing a young subaltern, who, in running to the officer's assistance, was also shot dead on his reaching the spot, and fell across the other's body. The Major had a mournful conviction in his own mind that these two officers were his father and brother; and, indeed, it was chiefly owning to his anxiety on the subject that this pious expedition, the second of the kind that is on record, was undertaken. Captain West and his companions proceeded through the woods and along the banks of the river, towards the scene of the battle. The Indians regarded the expedition as a religious service, and guided the troops with awe. and in profound silence. The soldiers were affected with sentiments not less serious; and as they explored the bewildering labyrinths of those vast forests, their hearts were often melted with inexpressible sorrow; for they frequently found skeletons lying across the trunks of fallen trees-a mournful proof to their imaginations that the men who sat there had perished of hunger in vainly attempting to find their way to the plantations. Sometimes their feelings were raised to the utmost pitch of horror, by the sight of skulls and bones scattered on the ground, a certain indication that the bodies had been devoured by wild beasts; and in other places they saw the blackness of ashes amid the relics, the tremendous evidence of atrocious rites. At length they reached a turn of the river, not far from the principal scene of destruction; and the Indian who remembered the death of the two officers stopped the detachment immediately halted. He