tion in the councils of the colony to co-operate CHAP. for their own safety and honour. WITH this view the assembly was summoned by proclamation to meet on the first day of May. About the same time the governor signified his majesty's directions, authorizing and requiring him to make and pass grants of land to the westward of the ridge of mountains, which separate the rivers Roanoak, James and Patowmac from the Mississippi, free from the payment of quit rents, for ten years from the date of their patents. This measure originated in a wish to possess and strengthen that fine country by a hardy papulation, interested in its defence. III. of war at ON the 22d the governor and general Braddock proceeded to Annapolis in Maryland', for Attends the purpose of meeting the governors of the convention other states, and on the 14th of April a grand Annapolis. concert of military operations was decided upon in a council composed of the governors of New England, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, assisted by the information and experience of general Braddock and commodore Keppell. May 1. THE assembly at length convened agreeably to proclamation, and the governor addressed them in a speech calculated to exalt their courage and Assembly. rouse their indignation. The project of France for extending her dominions; and her late violent encroachments on the territory of Virginia; the paternal care of their own sovereign exemplified in dispatching to their aid a powerful fleet and army under the guidance of an able commander; the liberal contributions of the other colonial assemblies, estimates of which he submitted to them; their own personal honour and security, and the glory of their ancestors: These topics were successively presented to them, and urged with a force proportioned to their importance. Amidst III. CHAP. affairs of such magnitude, minor considerations were not forgotten. The distressed condition of the troops, who fought at the Great Meadows was recommended to the bounty of the assembly, and they were urged by every motive that could interest rational beings to raise a body of troops to co operate with the British army in expelling the invaders. Liberality of assembly THE Conduct of the assembly corresponded with the urgency of the crisis, and the governor prorogued them by a speech expressive of his satisfaction. SOON after his arrival, general Braddock had become acquainted with the merits of Mr. Washington, and with his motives for leaving the service; and judging that his knowledge of the country, which was to be the theatre of war, would be highly beneficial, he gave him the place of volunteer aid, and admitted him into his family. This invitation colonel Washington readily accepted," stipulating only for permission to employ himself in the arrangement of his private affairs until the general should be on his march, and that he might return to them when the active part of the campaign should be over." Army ar- Having reached Will's Creek, afterwards called Life of Washington. For the principal part of the waggons, the general was indebted to the active and generous patriotism of Dr. Franklin and his son. and provisions. The short experiment of the difficulty of the roads induced the general to adopt to a considerable extent the advice of colonel Washington, to use pack horses instead of waggons.* FORT Cumberland was the extreme frontier settlement in Virginia; every inch beyond this was rugged and unreclaimed, unless where the silent step of the savage or the adventurous foot of the Indian trader had opened a path. CHAP III. 1755. THE army had been already three days in ad- 15th June, vance of this place, and had made only six miles; and the difficulties of the way were increasing at every step. Trees were to be felled; the matted underwood to be cut away; rude bridges to be thrown over creeks and torrents, to admit the passage of waggons and artillery. It became obvious that by an adherence to this plan the season would be lost for any effectual service, and the enemy would have time to receive reinforcements, which would render the success of the expedition very doubtful, if not entirely desperate. These observations were constantly enforced by the anxious solicitations of colonel Washington, from his bed where he was confined by a burning fever, brought on by fatigue of body and mind. THIS gentleman, in whose knowledge the general is said to have reposed considerable confi dence, urged the propriety of leaving the wag Washing ton's opi nion sub * Whilst the army was encamped at Fort Cumberland, a large body of Indians of different nations arrived, and were kindly received by genetal Braddock. They were drawn up before the army in single files, and addressed after the Indian fashion, in a speech full of metaphor and allegory. The Indians replied, and mutual friendship was sworn and confirmed by several belts of wampum. CHAP. gons, heavy artillery and baggage behind with the rear guard, to follow by easy marches, and mitted to a to press forward in person with the flower of the troops, some light artillery and stores.* council of war and adopted. THE reasons urged by him in support of this advice were, that according to all their in telligence the French were at present weak the Ohio, but hourly expected reinforcements; that during the present excessive drought these re-inforcements could not arrive with the necessary quantity of provisions and other supplies, because the river La Boeuf, on which they must necessarily be brought to Venango, did not then afford water enough to admit of their portage down it. By a rapid movement, therefore, it was extremely probable that the fort might be reached with a sufficient force to carry it before the arrival of the expected aid; but that if this measure was not adopted, such were the delays attendant on the march of the whole army, that "rains sufficient to raise the waters might reasonably be counted on, and the whole force of the French would probably be collected for their reception; a circumstance which might render the success of the expedition extremely doubtful."+ THIS opinion was submitted to a council of The gene- war held at the Little Meadows; and it was deral pushes termined that the general should advance at the on with the head of a select corps to consist of fourteen hunmain body, dred men, unincumbered with waggons save what was necessary for the transportation of the artillery. The 'baggage and provisions for this force were to be transported on pack horses. The * Life of Washington. † Ibid. III. remaining part of the army was to remain behind CHAP. with all the heavy baggage, under the command of colonel Dunbar. COLONEL INNES had been previously left for the defence of Fort Cumberland, and it was determined to construct works at the Little and Great Meadows to afford a refuge in the event of any adverse fortune to the retreating army. YET, notwithstanding the unincumbered state of the army, they took up four days in marching only nineteen miles from their late position at the Little Meadows to the great crossings of the Yohogany.* This delay arose from the absurd application of European tactics. The march of columns, the passage of defiles, and the complex machinery of cavalry, of cannon and baggage, may do for the extensive and open plain in Europe; but in the dark and continued forests of America, this system is in the last degree mischievous and pedantic. Here every thing is to be done by surprize. You must adopt the Indian method of fight. The single file; the eye and the ear continually on the watch; the body like the leaves; the cover of the oak; the silent step; the swiftness of the deer. These are the properties that laugh to scorn the cumbrous tactics of Europe. Mr. Washington beheld with regret this pernicious system adhered to, and laments it in a letter to his brother. "I found," said he, "that instead of pushing on with vigour, without regarding a little rough road, they were halting to level every mole-hill, and to erect bridges over every brook."+ Life of Washington |