had come to reside at Greenway Court in the Shenandoah Valley, and here the boy often stopped as he jour neyed to and fro. The result was a warm personal friendship from which the country youth must have profited. Lord Fairfax was a man of the world and had seen life in every form. He had passed his youth as a fiue gentleman in the most elegant society of London; had known Addison, and even written some numbers of the "Spectator;" and after mingling with dukes and duchesses and flirting the fans of fine ladies, had come, a disappointed old man, to pass his age in the Virginia woods. He was almost alone at Greenway Court, where he spent his time chiefly in hunting; and the visits of young George Washington were doubtless a great pleasure to him. To the youth they must have been equally profitable in expanding his views and giving him a glimpse of the great world; and it is certain that to the end of his life he retained the warmest regard for the old nobleman.

The direct result of this early association and employment as surveyor was to place him in the way of promotion. His ability was recognized, and at nineteen he was appointed Adjutant-General of the Northern District of Virginia. He discharged his duties with credit; became known as a man of efficiency; and the result was his selection to bear the English protest beyond the Ohio.

His adventures on this perilous expedition are familiar to all. In a freezing spell of weather (November, 1753), he set out with a small party; penetrated the woods to the Indian village of Logstown: and was there directed where to find the French Commandant near Lake Erie.

He was the Chevalier de St. Pierre, an old

nobleman with silvery hair, and met the envoy with low bows and profuse courtesies. Under the courtier, however, was the soldier. His reply to Dinwiddie's protest was: "I am here by the orders of my General, and I entreat you, sir, not to doubt one moment, but that I am determined to conform myself to them with all the exactness and resolution that can be expected from the best officer." With this response Washington was obliged to return; and the march back was terrible. The rivers were full of broken ice, and often the party were compelled to carry the canoes on their shoulders. The worn-out horses stumbled and fell in the roads and made no progress; and at last Washington with one companion set out on foot, knapsack on shoulder, through the snow for Virginia. The journey was made at the risk of his life. Near a place bearing the ominous name of Murdering Town, an Indian guide attempted to shoot him, and not far from the present city of Pittsburg, while crossing the Alleghany on a raft, he fell into the water filled with floating ice and narrowly escaped drowning. Gaining an island he passed the night there half frozen, and nearly perished; but pushing on in the morning through the winter woods at last reached the settlements, from which he continued his way on horseback, and in sixteen days was at Williamsburg.

The English protest had thus come to nothing, and in the next year (1754), an expedition was sent against the French, which resulted in the disaster of the Great Meadows. This brief and rather inglorious incident demands only a few words. The vanguard of the English force, commanded by Washington, advanced toward the present Pittsburg, when intelligence was received that a large body of French and Indians were coming.

to attack him. He took the initiative by surprising a French party under De Jumonville, who fell in the engagement, and then retreating to a point known as Great Meadows threw up intrenchments. Here the enemy in large force soon appeared and made a resolute attack. It resulted in the surrender of the English, who seem to have been without ammunition, and (July 4, 1754), they marched out and made their way back to Virginia.

Such was the first military event in the career of Washington. It was not very imposing, but the surrender seems to have been a military necessity, since the young commander and his troops received the thanks of the Virginia Assembly. The result was for the time decisive. The first appeal to arms had been disastrous to the English claim; and the leaden plate, buried by the French on the banks of the Ohio, seemed to have asserted a title to the country which France was able to support with muskets and cannon.

XXVI.

THE TRAGEDY OF DUQUESNE.

THE surrender at Great Meadows aroused a bitter excitement in England. The English flag had gone down before the lilies of France; and the possession of half a continent was at issue. After all the long protests and diplomatic wrangles affairs in America had suddenly come to the sword; and the French sword had beat down the English.

Prompt steps were taken to reverse this great disas ter by another appeal to arms; and this time the fight

ing was not to be confined to one region, but to aim at a great general result. A comprehensive scheme for driving the French from the entire country was matured in England; and (February, 1755), General Edward Braddock, with an English force of about 1,000 men, was sent to carry out part of the project. The General first conferred with Governor Dinwiddie at Williamsburg, and then proceeded to Alexandria on the Potomac, where his troops were quartered. Here he was met in April by the Governors of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The plan of operations was speedily determined upon. The English troops sent to Virginia, reënforced by Provincials, were to advance and capture Fort Duquesne, then to march and reduce Fort Niagara, then Fort Frontenac and all the French strongholds toward the Lakes. Of the success of the campaign, Braddock said there could be no doubt. Duquesne would certainly capitulate in three or four days; the others would follow the same example; and by autumn of this year (1755), the English would be masters of all North America south of the St. Law

rence.

It was a very fine campaign on paper, or set forth in the eloquent words, interspersed with oaths, of General Braddock. The English authorities had made a very bad selection of a leader. The commander in this important expedition was a brave soldier and nothing more. He was about forty, bluff of manner, rubicund, fond of "strong waters," with an overweening opinion of his own capacity, very obstinate, immensely prejudiced in favor of "regular troops," and cordially despised the ragged Provincials. A certain civilian from Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin by name, gave him.

sound advice which he only laughed at. When Braddock, rattling his sword and swearing his military oaths, spoke of capturing Fort Duquesne with little difficulty, the cautious Franklin replied:

“Tɔ be sure, sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne, with these fine troops, the fort can probably make but a short resistance."

But there were the Indians, added this obstinate civilian with his provincial ideas of military operations. The Indians would side with the French and watch the English from the moment when they entered the Great Woods, and unless the utmost care were taken the scarlet column would be "cut like a thread into several pieces." At this the bluff soldier burst forth into oaths and expressions of disdain.

"These savages," he exclaimed, "may be indeed a formidable enemy to raw American militia, but upon the King's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible to make any impression!"

It was the pride that goes before the heavy falls of life. This worthy soldier, as brave as his sword, and with a hundred generous instincts, wanted the brain of the army-leader, and was merely a fighting man. The only act of his life, at this critical moment, which indicated prudence was the invitation sent to young Colonel George Washington, of Mount Vernon, to accompany him as a member of his staff. Washington had resigned his commission in great disgust, at the end of 1754, upon hearing that, under a new organization, his subordinates were to rank him. He however accepted Braddock's invitation, and thus became an actor in the tragedy that followed. It was May now, and the English troops were on the march westward to the rendezvous