rising ground covered with long grass and bushes, the road being only about twelve feet wide, and flanked by two ravines, concealed by trees and thickets, when suddenly a quick and heavy tiring was heard in front. Washington's fears of an ambush of French and Indians had proved only too true. Stricken with terror, the vanguard, after losing half their number, and firing at random into the forest, fell back, as Braddock, alarmed at the noise, hastened forward with the rest of the troops. The terrific yells of the Indians, the volleys incessantly poured in by the ambushed foe, the impossibility of making head against an enemy whom they could not see, soon threw the royal troops into hopeless confusion, which Braddock vainly sought, for three terrible hours, to retrieve, by displaying the most desperate bravery. Five horses had been killed under him, and he was still urging on his men, when he received a shot in the lungs, and, though anxious to be left to die upon the scene of his discomfiture, was carried off into the rear. His aid-de-camps, Orme and Morris, were already disabled, Sir Peter Halket and his son fell together mortally wounded, and Washington, who displayed the utmost courage and presence of mind, as he hurried to and fro with Braddock's orders, was a repeated mark for the enemy's bullets, four of which passed through his coat, while two horses were shot under him. His escape without even a wound was almost miraculous, and we may well believe that one so signally preserved, was preserved for very especial service yet to be rendered to the cause of truth and liberty.[1] Horatio Gates, afterwards a general of note in the Revolution, was also severely wounded. The Virginia troops fought most bravely, and in a way adapted to the wiles of hidden foes. But it was all in vain. The rout became complete, and panic-stricken, the troops fled in headlong confusion, abandoning every thing, baggage, stores, artillery, to the enemy, and that enemy, too, only a small detachment of French and Canadian soldiers, and some six hundred or more Indians! In this murderous defeat, twenty-six officers were killed and thirty-six wounded, and more than seven hundred soldiers were among the dead and wounded; the French and Indian loss did not exceed sixty or seventy. The survivors, fleeing when no man pursued stopped not till they reached Colonel Dunbar and the rear guard. The unhappy Braddock died on the 13th of July;[2] and Washington, in the absence of the chaplain, read the Funeral Service over his remains. "Who would have thought it?" were among his dying words, and sensible of
- ↑ There is a well-attested tradition, that many years afterwards, Washington was visited by an agent and venerable Indian chief, who declared that during the battle, he had repeatedly taken aim at him, and directed several of his warriors to do the same, but finding that none of these balls took effect, he concluded that the young hero was under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, and could never perish in battle. From that moment he ceased from all further attempts to take the life of Washington.
- ↑ We beg leave to refer the curious reader to "The History of the Expedition against Fort Duquesne, in 1755, under Major-general Edward Braddock. Edited from the original manuscript, by Winthrop Sargent. It is a volume that will well repay examination.
