CHAPTER III

FIGHTING IN THE WILDERNESS

"It was strange that in a savage forest of Pennsylvania, a young Virginian officer should fire a shot, and waken up a war that was to last for sixty years, which was to cover his own country and pass into Europe, to cost France her American colonies, to sever ours from us, and create the great Western Republic; to rage over the Old World when extinguished in the New; and, of all the myriads engaged in the vast contest, to leave the prize of the greatest fame with him who struck the first blow."-THACKERAY.

THE Commandant's reply showed that the French were firm in their pretensions, and the governor of Virginia was pugnacious. After endeavoring to induce coöperation by the other colonies, and being met by indifference, scepticism, and technical difficulties, he and his council nevertheless decided to raise, by draft if necessary, two companies, of one hundred men each, who were to cross the mountains and assemble at the mouth of Redstone Creek, a branch of the Monongahela, where the Ohio Company had put up a structure, and complete or build a fort there. A road for cannon and wagons must be cut through a dense forest, over two ranges of high mountains and countless hills and streams.

Captain William Trent, a business associate of Benjamin Franklin, was to command one company. He was sent forward to enlist his men among the traders and frontier settlers, and begin work at once, and Major Washington was to procure enlistments, superintend the transportation of supplies and cannon from Alexandria, and then proceed to the fort. His instructions contained

these brisk words:

"You are to act on the defensive, but in case any attempts are made to obstruct the works or interrupt our settlements by any persons whatsoever, you are to restrain all such offenders, and in case of resistance to make prisoners of, or kill and destroy them."

Washington found enlistment difficult. The men clamored for their pay, and there was neither paymaster nor set time for payment. His recruits were mainly from the homeless and idle poor; he had no clothes to cover them; shoes, stockings, shirts, coats, and waistcoats were lacking, and the men wished him to advance his own money and reimburse himself from their pay, a risk which he was both unwilling and unable to incur. Merchants would not furnish clothing with no certainty of payment. While engaged in this work, Washington sought and obtained promotion. He denied any wish for the chief command, on account of his youth and inexperience, but flattered himself that as lieutenant colonel under "a

skilful commander or man of sense" his application and diligent study would render him worthy of his position. This reply was received from a member of the governor's council:

"DEAR GEORGE: I enclose you your commission. God prosper you with it. Your friend,

RICHARD CORBIN."

He sought a command for his old fencing-master and interpreter, Jacob Vanbraam, recommending him highly, and on April 2d, 1754, with two companies, aggregating about one hundred and fifty men, soon increased by a detachment under Captain Stephen, he began his march toward the Ohio. An express from Trent, received on the 19th, demanding reënforcements, came too late, as Washington soon learned that in Trent's absence his men, confronted by a superior force, had surrendered the fort. Two young Indians brought a message from the Half-King that he was ready for immediate war. Washington, sending messages to the chief, as well as to the governors of three colonies, began a slow advance across the mountains, preparing a road for the passage of cannon. His letters breathed the spirit of combat. To the governor of Maryland he wrote that the cause ought to arouse the heroic spirit of every free-born Englishman. To the Half-King he alleged that the colonists resented the usage

of the treacherous French, and held the interest of the Indians as dear as their lives. He stated that their hearts were glowing with affection for the savages, and signed himself "your friend and brother, Washington, or Conotocarius," the Town Destroyer, a name apparently inherited by him through the excellent memory of the Indian. The editor of the principal French source of information on this campaign thinks, however, that Washington took on the name to please the savages, "whom he wished to seduce." He was certainly not the prig of Weems and of tradition. He wrote to Dinwiddie, about his impressment of wagons, that, while he had strained the law, he had done it for the good of the service, and expected support from the authorities, in case any busybody intermeddled.

So difficult was the work of widening the road through the forests that they made only from two to four miles a day, and, while they plodded on, retreating traders told them of great reënforcements for the French, who were also actively bribing the Indians. Washington's effective force was about one hundred and fifty, as he had sent away Trent's men, who had joined him after surrendering the fort, because their privileges and freedom from martial law demoralized the Virginians. He sent off a detachment under Stephen to discover the French, capture any stragglers,

D

find a good place for a fort, and send in the HalfKing. Early in May French scouts were seen within six or seven miles of Washington's camp. He looked for safety to the Indians, and begged for materials to bribe them in competition with the French. The behavior of the Virginia government enraged his officers, and he himself was so disgusted with his pay that he asked to serve as a volunteer, preferring, as he put it, to dig as a day laborer rather than to serve upon such ignoble terms. He complained also of the small allowance of minor officers, with so few of whom it was as impossible to do the necessary duty as to conquer kingdoms with his handful of men. Dinwiddie treated these complaints as unreasonable and pernicious, and the Virginians, unwilling to resign in the face of danger, had to swallow their pride.

Washington sent another message to the HalfKing, urging him to march vigorously to the aid of his brethren the English, who would protect him against the French, -a "treacherous enemy," who, according to the colonel's allegations, refused even provisions to the Indian who visited their fort, whereas he called attention to the fact that the young Indian who served as messenger had been fed by the English as much as "his heart could wish."

On the 23d of May he heard that the French