forward to reconnoiter the enemy's fort. The quarter-master general was successful in attaining the desired information: he reported that the defenses 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 neighboring thickets. A little before midday the main body began to cross the broad stream with "colors 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 toward 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 thicklywooded banks of a small brook so far all went well.

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At length the guides and the light horse entered the “bush” in front and descended the slope toward the stream, while a number of axmen 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 Brstish 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 succor the front, and endeavored 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 lieutenant in the

* "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 Sharp-shooters, to assist in the execution of this duty; and a party of Indians were 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 42d 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 owing 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 toward 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

regiment, while cheering them on, were shot dead side by side; Braddock's horse was killed, and two of his aids-decamp wounded; the artillery, although without orders,* pressed to the front, and their leading guns plied the thickets with grape and canister, but in a few minutes all the officers and most of the gunners were stretched bleeding on the field. The broken remnant of the grenadiers who had formed the advance now fell back upon the disordered line, and threw it into utter confusion.

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 then looked round in quest of some object which might recall distinctly his recollection of the ground, and suddenly darted into the wood. The soldiers rested their arms without speaking; a shrill cry was soon after heard; and the other guides made signs for the troops to follow them toward the spot from which it came. In a short time they reached the Indian warrior, who, by his cry, announced to his companions that he had found the place where he was posted on the day of battle. As the troops approached, he pointed to the tree under which the officers had fallen. Captain West halted his men round the spot, and, with Sir Peter Halket and the other officers, formed a circle, while the Indians removed the leaves which thickly covered the ground (the leaves of three seasons). The skeletons were found, as the Indian expected, lying across each other. The officers having looked at them for some time, the major said that as his father had an artificial tooth, he thought he might be able to ascertain if they were indeed his bones and those of his brother. The Indians were therefore ordered to remove the skeleton of the youth, and to bring to view that of the old officer. This was done, and after a short examination, Major Halket exclaimed, "It is my father!" and fell back into the arms of his companions. The pioneers then dug a grave, and the bones being laid in it together, a Highland plaid was spread over them, and they were interred with the customary honors." -Galt's Life of West.

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*"The whole was in disorder, and, it is said, the general himself, though exceedingly brave, did not retain all the sang froid that was necessary."—Walpole's Letters to Sir Horace Mann, August 28,

1755.

With stubborn purpose and useless courage the general strove to reform his ruined ranks; most of the officers nobly stood by him, but the soldiers were seized with uncontrollable terror. Assailed on every side by foes, unseen save when a savage rushed out from his woody stronghold to tear the scalp from some fallen Englishman, they lost all order, and fell back upon the 48th, which was now rapidly advancing to their aid under Colonel Burton. Braddock, with these fresh troops, made several desperate efforts to gain possession of the conical hill, from whence a strong body of the French galled him intolerably, but his well-drilled ranks were broken by the close trees and rocks, and shattered by the flanking fire of the Indians. Again and again he endeavored to rally the now panic-stricken soldiers, without, however, any effectual movement of advance or retreat. His ill-judged valor was vain; the carnage increased, and with it his confusion. At length, after having had four horses shot under him, while still encouraging his men, a bullet shattered his arm and passed through his lungs. The luckless but gallant chief was placed in a wagon by Colonel Gage and hurried to the rear, although he was “ very solicitous to be left on the field."*

The remains of the two British regiments now broke into utter disorder and fled, leaving all the artillery and baggage † in the hands of the enemy, and, worst of all, many of their wounded comrades, who were scalped by the Indians without mercy. This horrible occupation, and the plunder of the wagons, for a time interrupted the pursuers, and enabled Colonel Washington, the only mounted officer still unwounded, to rally the Virginian companies, who had as yet borne little share in the action. He succeeded in holding the

* MS. Journal of Major-general Braddock's Expedition against Forte du Quesne, 1755. Royal Artillery Library, Woolwich.

"He was borne off the field by some soldiers whom his aid-decamp had bribed to that service by a guinea and a bottle of rum to each."-Lord Mahon's Hist. of England, vol. iv., p. 70.

† "Among the rest, the general's cabinet, with all his letters and instructions, which the French court afterward made great use of in their printed manifestoes."-Smollett's Hist. of England, vol. iii., p.. 448; Belsham, vol. ii., p. 369.

banks of the Monongahela River till the fugitives had passed, and then himself retired in tolerable order. One of his captains was Horatio Gates, afterward Burgoyne's conqueror in the Revolutionary war. This young officer distinguished himself by courage and conduct in the retreat, and was carried from the field severely wounded.

The routed army fled all through the night, and joined Colonel Dunbar the following evening at a distance of nearly fifty miles from the scene of their defeat.† Braddock ordered that the retreat should be immediately continued, which his lieutenant readily obeyed, as his troops were infected with the terror of the fugitives. A great quantity of stores were hurriedly destroyed, that the wounded officers and soldiers might have transport, and the remaining artillery was spiked and abandoned. The unfortunate general's sufferings increased hourly, aggravated by the most intense mental anguish. On the 12th of July, conscious of the approach of death, he dictated a dispatch acquitting his officers of all blame, and recommending them to the favor of his country: that night his proud and gallant heart ceased to beat. His dying words expressed that astonishment at his defeat which had continued to the last: "Who would have thought it! we shall know better how to deal with them another time."

Major Washington acquired on this occasion, in the midst of defeat, the honors and laurels of victory."-Belsham, vol. ii., p. 369. They had seen a chosen army from that country, which, reverencing as a mother, they had fondly believed invincible; an army led by a chief who had been selected from a crowd of trained warriors for his rare military endowments, disgracefully routed by a handful of French and Indians, and only saved from annihilation by the spirit and coolness of a Virginian boy, whose riper fame has since diffused itself with the steady influence of moral truth to the uttermost confines of Christendom."-Last of the Mohicans.

"Though the enemy did not so much as attempt to pursue, nor even appeared in sight, either in the battle or after defeat. On the whole, this was, perhaps, the most extraordinary victory that ever was obtained, and the farthest flight that ever was made."-Smollett's Hist. of England, vol. iii., p. 440.

‡ "I have already given you some account of Braddock; I may complete the poor man's history in a few more words. He once had a duel with Colonel Gumly, Lady Bath's brother, who had been his great friend. As they were going to engage, Gumly, who had goodVOL. IL-B