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Having seen the general as comfortable as circumstances would permit, Washington rode all that night and the next day to Dunbar's camp to procure wagons for the wounded and soldiers to guard them. With these he hastened back to the fugitives.

Braddock, unable to ride or to endure the jolting of a wagon, was carried in a litter as far as the Great Meadows. He seemed to be heartbroken and rarely spoke. Occasionally he would say, as if speaking to himself, with a deep sigh, "Who would have thought it?" It is said that he warmly thanked Captain Stewart for his care and kindness, and apologized to Washington for the manner in which he had received his advice. He had no wish to live, and he died at Fort Necessity on the night of the 13th of July. He was buried the next morning before daybreak as secretly as possible for fear that the savages might find and violate his grave. Close by the national road, about a mile west of Fort Necessity, a pile of stones still marks his resting-place.

The losses of the English in the battle were terrible. Out of eightysix officers, twenty-six were killed and thirty-six wounded. Upward of seven hundred of the regulars were killed or wounded. The Virginia. Rangers had suffered terrible losses, for they had not only borne the brunt of the battle, but had lost many of their number by the random fire of the frightened regulars. Dunbar, who succeeded Braddock in the command, still had fifteen hundred effective men left to him; but he was too badly frightened to attempt to retrieve the disaster, which a competent officer might have done with such a force. He broke up his camp, destroyed his stores, and retreated beyond the mountains. Disregarding the entreaties of the colonists not to leave the frontiers exposed to the savages, he continued his retreat to Philadelphia, and went into winter quarters there.

The effect of these reverses upon the colonists was most marked. When they understood that Braddock's splendid force of disciplined regulars had been routed by a mere handful of French and Indians, their respect for the invincibility of British troops was destroyed; and their confidence in their own prowess was greatly increased by the proud reflection that the only thing that had been done to save the army of Braddock from total destruction had been accomplished by the provinriver, Washington was visited by an old chief. The chief told him "he was present at the battle, and among the Indian allies of the French; that he singled him out, and repeatedly fired his rifle at him; that he also ordered his young warriors to make him their only mark; but that on finding all their bullets turned aside by some invisible and inscrutable interposition, he was convinced that the hero at whom he had so often and so truly aimed must be, for some wise purpose, specially protected by the Great Spirit. He now came, therefore, to testify his veneration."

cials. Washington's conduct was a subject of praise in all the colonies, and brought his name conspicuously before the whole people of America. In a sermon preached a few months after Braddock's defeat, the Rev. Samuel Davies, a learned clergyman, spoke of him as "that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some important service to his country."

The retreat of Dunbar left the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania at the mercy of the savages, who maintained a desultory but destructive warfare along the entire border. The defence of this exposed region was

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intrusted to Colonel Washington; but he had so few men as to make his undertaking a hopeless one. The frontier settlements of Virginia were destroyed; the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah was ravaged with merciless fury, and the more protected regions were kept in a state of constant uneasiness and alarm. Governor Dinwiddie was repeatedly appealed to to furnish more men, but refused, and endeavored to excuse his delinquency by saying: "We dare not part with any of our white men to any distance, as we must have a watchful eye over our negro slaves."

Pennsylvania met the troubles with greater vigor and resolution.

About thirty miles above Fort Duquesne, on the Alleghany river, was the Indian village of Kittanning, the home of a noted chief named Captain Jacobs. Together with the Delaware chief Shingis, he had, at the instigation of the French, kept up a continual warfare upon the frontier settlements. A military force for the defence of the frontier was raised by the colony and placed under the command of Benjamin Franklin as colonel. He soon resigned, and was succeeded by Colonel John Armstrong, a man better suited to the position, and who subsequently became a major-general in the war of the Revolution. Armstrong resolved to destroy Kittanning and the tribe inhabiting it as the best means of putting a stop to their outrages, and called for volunteers for the enterprise. Three hundred men responded. Towards the last of September, 1756, they crossed the mountains on horseback, and in a few days reached the vicinity of Kittanning. Dismounting and leaving their horses in charge of a guard, they silently surrounded the village. The Indians spent the night in carousing within hearing of the whites, and retired to rest at a very late hour. Just before daybreak the whites attacked the village and set it on fire. It was completely destroyed, and Jacobs and all but a handful of his men were slain. The few survivors fled farther west, and the Pennsylvania frontier was relieved of the sufferings it had so long endured.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR-CONTINUED.

Expedition against Acadia-Brutal Treatment of the Acadiar.3-They are Expelled from their Country-A Sad Story-Fate of the Acadians-Johnson at Lake George-March of Dieskau-Battle of Lake George-Failure of Shirley's Expedition-Arrival of the Earl of Loudon-Montcalm in Canada-Capture of Oswego by the French--Outrages of the Earl of Loudon upon New York and Philadelphia-Expedition against Louisburg-How the Earl of Loudon Beat the French-Capture of Fort William Henry by Montcalm-Massacre of the Prisoners by the Indians—Efforts of Montcalm to save them -The Royal Officers attempt to cover their Failures by outraging the Colonies.

HILE the events we have related were transpiring in the Ohio
valley other expeditions were despatched against the French.
One of these was directed against that part of Acadia, or Nova
Scotia, which still remained in the hands of the French. It lay

at the head of the Bay of Fundy, and was defended by two French forts. This region was the oldest French colony in North America, having been settled sixteen years before the landing of the Pilgrims, but was regarded by the English as within their jurisdiction. In May, 1755, an expedition of three thousand New England troops was despatched from Boston, under Colonel John Winslow, to attack these forts and establish the English authority over the French settlements. Upon reaching the Bay of Fundy Winslow was joined by three hundred English regulars under Colonel Monckton, who assumed the command. The forts were taken with comparatively little effort, and the authority of England was extended over the whole of Nova Scotia. The Acadians agreed to acknowledge the authority of their new masters, and to observe a strict neutrality between France and England in the war; and the English on their part promised not to require of them the usual oaths of allegiance, to excuse them from bearing arms against France, and to protect them in the exercise of the Catholic religion.

The Acadians numbered about seventeen thousand souls. They were a simple and harmless people, and were enjoying in a marked degree the blessings of industry and thrift. They had begun their settlements by depending upon the fur-trade and the fisheries for their support, but had abandoned these pursuits for that of agriculture, which was already

yielding them rich rewards for their skill and labor. They were proud of their farms and took but little interest in public affairs, scarcely knowing what was transpiring in the world around them. It is hard to imagine a more peaceful or a happier community than this one at the time they passed under the baleful rule of England. Crime was unknown among them, and they seldom carried their disputes before the English magistrates, but settled them by the arbitration of their old men. They encouraged early marriages as the best means of preserving the morality of their people; and when a young man married, his neighbors turned out in force and built him a house, and for the first year of his marriage aided him to establish himself firmly, while the bride's relatives helped her to furnish the home thus prepared. Thus the people were taught to regard and practise neighborly kindness as one of the cardinal Christian virtues. They were devoted Catholics, and practised their religion without bigotry. They were attached to the rule of France by language and religion, and would have been glad to see her authority re-established over them; but they submitted peacefully to the rule of the English and faithfully observed the terms of their surrender.

Unfortunately for the Acadians their possessions soon began to excite the envy of the English. Lawrence, the governor of Nova Scotia, expressed this feeling in his letter to Lord Halifax, the English premier. "They possess the best and largest tract of land in this province," he wrote; "if they refuse the oaths, it would be much better that they were away." The English authorities had prepared a cunningly devised scheme for dispossessing these simple people of their homes, and they now proceeded to put it in execution. The usual oaths of allegiance had not been tendered to the Acadians upon their surrender, as it was known that as Frenchmen and Catholics they could not take them, as they required them to bear arms against their own brethren in Canada, and to make war upon their religion. It was resolved now to offer the oaths to them, and thus either drive them into rebellion or force them to abandon their homes. When this intention was known, the priests urged them to refuse the oaths. "Better surrender your meadows to the sea," they declared, "and your houses to the flames, than, at the peril of your souls, take the oath of allegiance to the British government." As for the Acadians themselves, "they, from their very simplicity and anxious sincerity, were uncertain in their resolves; now gathering courage to flee beyond the isthmus, for other homes in New France, and now yearning for their own houses and fields, their herds and pastures."

The officers sent by the English authorities to enforce their demands conducted themselves with a haughtiness and cruelty which added greatly

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