men. Of the remaining levies about one hundred were formed into two companies of carpenters or apprentices, who were to open the road and make the necessary repairs to wagons. There was also a troop of provincial light-horse, which had hitherto served as the body-guard, and a detachment of thirty sailors with a half-dozen officers, furnished by Commodore Rapel, who were to assist in building bridges. The entire force consisted of two thousand and thirty-seven. To these must be added the company of light-horse and the seamen, not exceeding two hundred, and the Indians who remained with the general to the end, making a total of about twenty-two hundred and fifty. The usual train of non-combatants were not wanting, women and Indians and wagoners.

SECTION IV.

Morris' Administration. Braddock's March and Defeat. May 30-July 9, 1754.

Before the army left Will's Creek, it was ill-supplied with provisions. Even the tables of the officers were scantily and meagrely furnished. On Franklin's return to Philadelphia, he asked the Assembly's committee to apply a small portion of the £5000 in its hands to procuring camp supplies for the subalterns whose purses, never very deep, had been utterly drained by the exorbitant prices exacted for everything needed for a long march through the wilderness. Accordingly, some supplies were sent by a train of pack-horses from Lancaster to twenty subalterns. This attention of the postmaster was very kindly acknowledged by the recip

ients, and led the way for more substantial things. The Lower Counties presented fifty fat oxen and one hundred sheep for the use of the army, and other provisions for the general's own use. Indeed, one of the causes ascribed for the failure of the expedition, was the delay at Will's Creek for the want of stores. An eloquent historian of this expedition says, "There is no doubt that a fortnight's earlier arrival on the Ohio would have given victory to Braddock's army, and peace to the borders of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland. In lieu of this, and in consequence of their own blind perversity, a desolating and ruinous war steeped, for years, their land in blood, and cost them, eventually, ten times as much as would ordinarily have insured their perfect security."

Notwithstanding the small assistance given by the Province to the expedition, Governor Morris enjoined the people by a proclamation to unite with him in invoking the blessing of heaven on the success of the royal arms. On the appointed day all labor throughout the Province ceased; the fields were left untilled; the unpent waters glided idly beneath the motionless wheels; no smoking columns arose from the forge; everywhere except in the house of prayer, in field and cottage, in mill and on the highway, there was a strange, unwonted silence. It was like the brief sleep of nature before the dreaded storm.

At last, though not well prepared, Braddock undertook the long and tedious journey across the mountains. Sir John St. Clair and Major Chapman with six hundred men set out to clear the road to the Little Meadows and the Youghiogheny, thirty miles distant, where they were to erect a fortified camp. The army

followed in three divisions, Braddock delaying his own departure until the last man had marched. The expedition was now fairly on its way to the Ohio. Owing to the great difficulties of the situation, the progress of the army was exceedingly slow, and ten miles was regarded as a good day's march. Not even this distance, on some days, was traveled. Roads had to be cut through the forest, mountain streams bridged, morasses made passable. The number of wagons and pack-horses struggling through this untraveled land stretched the line to a dangerous length, and all the difficulties predicted by Franklin were soon realized. At the end of the first day's journey it was resolved to lighten the burdens, and part of the artillery and fifty men were sent back to Cumberland. The soldiers' wives also were sent away. The officers, who even in the infantry always rode on the march, sent back to Will's Creek all luggage except absolute essentials, and over a hundred of their superfluous horses were freely contributed to the general service, the general himself and his aides setting the example by giving twenty.

The route pursued by Braddock was neither the shortest nor best one. It was the path followed by the Ohio company some years before and which, a very little. widened, had served the needs of Washington's party in 1754. It did lead to the Ohio, yet if the country had been more intelligently surveyed, a shorter and better course could have been easily discovered.

Not long after the toilsome journey began, sickness prevailed among the troops, caused by their long confinement and short diet. Even Washington for many days was severely ill. The army was ten days in reaching Little Meadows, twenty-four miles from Cumber

land. Slowly it moved onward, with a line sometimes four miles long, through numerous places well adapted for an ambush or a surprise. The pine forests of an enormous height flung their dark shadows over everything. The loneliness of the scene was only surpassed by its utter stillness. Imagination could easily paint myriad forms in these gloomy, woody depths, that were aptly named, "the shades of death."

Not until the 18th of June were the troops beyond these despondingly impressive scenes. Then Braddock began slowly to descend the shaggy steep of Meadow Mountain. Having reached Little Meadows a council of war was held, and there was a further reduction of baggage. A dozen more horses were given to the service, among them Washington's best charger, while his luggage was reduced to a single portmanteau, half-filled. Before the council met, Braddock privately consulted him concerning the expediency of pushing more rapidly forward with a light division, a course that was warmly approved. It was believed that the garrison at Fort DuQuesne was very weak, and could not be easily strengthened. St. Clair with Gage and four hundred men started ahead the next day to open a road. The following day Braddock followed with eight hundred men, the elite of the army; but this step, though warmly recommended by the leading officers, greatly offended those who were left behind. The advance party made such slow progress in cutting the road that the remainder easily kept near them. The road, too, was beset with the watchful enemy, who sought to embarrass their march. On one occasion three Mohawk Indians came into camp with intelligence from Fort Du-Quesne, but they deserted during the night and probably returned to

the French. With them went one of the general's Indians who had long shown a disposition to desert. During the march he would conceal himself on the flanks, lying down flat behind a stump or stone, or creeping into the tall grass. He was constantly rooted out by the sergeants of the flanking parties, who were trained to such service. On the night after his flight three Englishmen who straggled beyond the lines were shot and scalped.

On the 21st of June, Braddock entered Pennsylvania. Around him were the high peaks of Somerset and Fayette Counties, twenty-five hundred feet above the sea. Descending into the valleys, nine days afterward he reached Stewart's Crossing on the Youghiogheny, thirty-five miles from his destination. At that time spies were on every side of the army, watching its progress; nevertheless, the English loss was very slight, consisting only of a horse, a wagoner, and three bat-men. The savages wandered in every direction in the woods in quest of scalps and plunder, and the workmen on the road were so much alarmed by their presence that on one day thirty deserted in a body.

Twelve days afterward, the army was at Salt Lick Creek. The remissness in furnishing supplies was so great that there were no fresh provisions, and the soldiers were afflicted with the disorders incident to such privations. Many had died, and a still larger number of officers as well as men were on the sick list; a portion of the army under Dunbar was behind, and it was proposed to halt until his force should join the main body. Braddock wisely resolved to push forward. He had halted too long already, and he was determined, if possible, to reach Du-Quesne without further delay. From