In the spring of 1781, Cornwallis left Wilmington, in North Carolina, and marched into Virginia, to join the invading forces under Phillips and Arnold at Petersburg. After attempts to capture stores in the heart of Virginia, and finding the forces of La Fayette, Wayne, and Steuben rapidly increasing, the earl thought it prudent to return toward the sea-shore. He accordingly retreated to Richmond, and from thence across the Chickahominy to Williamsburg and Jamestown, and then down the James River to Portsmouth, opposite Norfolk. From the stables and pastures of the planters he took the fine horses which they had refused to Greene, 1 and well mounted his cavalry. In his retreat he was closely pursued, and greatly annoyed by La Fayette and Wayne, with about four thousand men. 2

Cornwallis reached Williamsburg on the 25th of June [1781.]. Informed that the Americans had some boats and stores on the Chickahominy River, he sent Lieutenant-colonel Simcoe, with his Rangers, and a company of Yagers, under Major Armstrong and Captain Ewald, to destroy them, and to collect all the cattle they could find. 3 La Fayette, with great circumspection, had kept about a score of miles in the rear of the royal army while pursuing Cornwallis. He was at Tyre’s plantation, about twenty miles from Williamsburg, when informed of Simcoe’s expedition, and immediately detached Lieutenant-colonel Percival Butler, a brave officer of the Pennsylvania line, to intercept that partisan on his return. 4 Butler’s detachment consisted of a corps of Continental troops, two rifle corps, under Majors Call and Willis, and about one hundred and twenty horsemen, under Major M‘Pherson. Simcoe accomplished his purpose without opposition, and was hastening back to Williamsburg with a quantity of cattle procured from the planters, when he was overtaken at Spencer’s Ordinary, by M‘Pherson and his dragoons, and a very severe skirmish ensued. Both parties were ignorant of the real strength of each other, and maneuvered with caution. Simcoe believed the whole force of La Fayette to be near, and Butler supposed his detachment was fighting with the advanced guard of Cornwallis’s army.

The infantry and rifle corps under Simcoe were now brought into action. Butler’s riflemen had also reached the scene of conflict. The fence on each side of the road had been thrown down by Simcoe early in the morning, to allow greater freedom for his troops. The action became general and fierce within an eighth of a mile of Spencer’s. Simcoe soon perceived that he could not win a victory by fair fighting, and turned his attention to stratagem. While Captain Althouse with the riflemen, and Captain Ewald with the Yagers, were engaged in fierce conflict with the corps of Call and Willis, he moved the whole body of his mounted Rangers to an eminence near Lee’s, displayed them imposingly in full view of the Americans for a few moments, and then withdrew them. This maneuver, as was intended, deceived the patriots. The march of Simcoe was concealed from them by intervening hills and woods, and they did not suspect the party thus displayed to be that partisan’s Rangers. They believed them to be the front of a more formidable force deploying in the rear, preparatory to a general charge. At the same moment a three-pounder, which had been stationed upon the hill (M, in the plan), near Spencer’s, was discharged; and, while its echoes were booming over the country, Shank, with his cavalry, made another furious attack upon the main body of the Republicans, now gathered more compactly in the road and the adjacent fields, a short distance from Spencer’s. 5

So widely different are the official accounts of the numbers lost in this engagement that it is difficult to ascertain the truth. La Fayette states the loss of the British at sixty killed and one hundred wounded, while Cornwallis says that only three officers and thirty privates were killed and wounded. The latter also states that three American officers and twenty-eight privates were taken prisoners. The number of the Americans killed has never been named by our writers. Simcoe says, "It is certain they had a great many killed and wounded, exclusive of prisoners;" but this was merely conjecture. He also says that his own groom was the only prisoner secured by the Americans, the bat-men at Lee’s, who were captured at the commencement of the action, having been rescued, except the groom. Cornet Jones, a promising young officer of the Rangers, who was killed, was greatly beloved, and was buried at Williamsburg, the next day, with military honors. 6

At this time, Sir Henry Clinton, having received some intercepted letters written by Washington, in which a plan for attacking New York was divulged, 7 became alarmed for his safety. He accordingly made a requisition upon Cornwallis for a portion of his troops to be sent immediately to New York. The earl, supposing himself too weak, after complying with this requisition, to remain at Williamsburg, resolved to retire to Portsmouth, near Norfolk. He broke up his encampment at Williamsburg on the 4th of July [1781.], and marched for Jamestown Island. He disposed of his troops in such a manner as to cover the ford, and the Queen’s Rangers crossed over to the island the same evening. The two succeeding days were employed in passing over the baggage of the army.

La Fayette and his troops were at Green Spring plantation 8 on the morning of the 6th of July [1781.]. At sunrise, the whole country was enveloped in a fog; at noon, an unclouded sun poured down its almost vertical rays with fierce intensity. Assured that only the rear-guard of Cornwallis’s army remained off the island, the marquis moved from Green Spring, at three o’clock in the afternoon, for the purpose of attacking them. This late hour was judiciously chosen; the heat was less oppressive, and, if deceived concerning the numbers of the enemy on the main land, the night-shadows would favor a retreat. In front of Green Spring mansion, and extending to the Williamsburg road from the lower ford of the Chickahominy, where I crossed, was low, sunken ground, and a morass bridged by a causeway of logs. Over this, in narrow files, the Americans were obliged to make their way, and it was almost five o’clock before they arrived in sight of the British outposts. La Fayette detached Wayne, with about eight hundred men, to make the attack. His advanced guard consisted of the rifle corps of Call and Willis, and a patrol of dragoons. These were followed by the cavalry of Armand’s 9 and Mercer’s troops, led by Major M‘Pherson, who had recovered from the effects of his unhorsing at Spencer’s. The Continental infantry, chiefly Pennsylvania troops, under Wayne, supported the whole. La Fayette, with nine hundred Continentals and some militia, halted after crossing the morass, to be in readiness to support Wayne, if necessary. Steuben, with the main body of the militia, remained as a reserve at Green Spring.

Cornwallis was astonished and perplexed by the charge and retreat. The lateness of the hour, and the whole movement, made him view the maneuver as a lure to draw him into an ambuscade; and, instead of pursuing the Republicans, he called in his detachments, crossed over to Jamestown Island during the evening, and three days afterward [July 9, 1781.] crossed the James River with the largest portion of his troops, and proceeded by easy marches to Portsmouth. 10 The other portion of his army, pursuant to General Clinton’s requisition, embarked in transports for New York. 11 In this action, according to La Fayette, the Americans lost one hundred and eighteen men 12 (including ten officers), in killed, wounded, and prisoners; also the two pieces of cannon, which they were obliged to leave on the field, the horses attached to them having been killed. The British loss was five officers wounded, and seventy-five privates killed and wounded. 13

I arrived at Williamsburg at noon [Dec. 20, 1848.], and proceeded immediately to search out the interesting localities of that ancient and earliest incorporated town in Virginia. They are chiefly upon the main street, a broad avenue pleasantly shaded, and almost as quiet as a rural lane. I first took a hasty stroll upon the spacious green in front of William and Mary College, the oldest literary institution in America except Harvard University. 14 The entrance to the green is flanked by stately live oaks, cheering the visitor in winter with their evergreen foliage. In the center of the green stands the mutilated statue of Lord Botetourt, the best beloved of the colonial governors. This statue was erected in the old capital in 1774, and in 1797 it was removed to its present position. I did not make a sketch of it, because a student at the college promised to hand me one made by his own pencil before I left the place. He neglected to do so, and therefore I can give nothing pictorially of "the good Governor Botetourt," 15 the predecessor of Dunmore.

A little eastward of Palace Street or Court, is the public square, on which area are two relics of the olden time, Brenton Church, a cruciform structure with a steeple, 16 and the old Magazine, an octagon building, erected during the administration of Governor Spottswood [1716.]. The sides of the latter are each twelve feet in horizontal extent. Surrounding it, also in octagon form, is a massive brick wall, which was constructed when the building was erected. This wall is somewhat dilapidated, as seen in the engraving. The building was occupied as a Baptist meeting-house when I visited Williamsburg, and I trust it may never fall before the hand of improvement, for it has an historical value in the minds of all Americans. The events which hallow it will be noticed presently.

THE OLD MAGAZINE. 17

On the square fronting the magazine is the court-house. It stands upon the site of the old capitol, in which occurred many interesting events connected with the history of our War for Independence. The present structure was erected over the ashes of the old one, which was burned in 1832. Around it are a few of the old bricks, half buried in the green sward, and these compose the only remains of the Old Capitol. 18 While leaning against the ancient wall of the old magazine, and, in the shadow of its roof, contemplating the events which cluster that locality with glorious associations, I almost lost cognizance of the present, and beheld in reverie the whole pageantry of the past march in review. Here let us consult the oracle of history, and note its teachings.

THE OLD CAPITOL. 19

The Earl of Orkney succeeded Nicholson as governor, but exercised the functions of the office through deputies. He enjoyed the sinecure for thirty-six years. His first deputies were Mott and Jennings; the first remaining in office one year, and the other four years. In 1710, Jennings was succeeded by Sir Alexander Spottswood, 20 one of the most acceptable governors Virginia ever had. He was liberal-minded and generous, and at once reversed the usual practice of royal governors, by making his private interest, if necessary, subservient to the public good. 21 He promoted internal improvements, set an example of elegant hospitality, encouraged learning, revered religion, and if he had been the royal representative when the eloquence of Henry aroused every generous heart in the Old Dominion, he would doubtless have been among the boldest rebels of the day. From the close of his administration in 1722, until the commencement of difficulties with the French and Indians, more than twenty years afterward, Virginia continued to increase in wealth, and general happiness and prosperity prevailed within its borders. 22

We have already considered the most important events connected with the French empire in America which occurred along our northern frontier, and alluded to the fact that, in the ambitious scheme for gaining the mastery of this continent, the French made strenuous efforts to form a continuous chain of military works from the northern lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Upon widely different grounds did the French and English base their claims to the possession of the territory west of the Alleghany Mountains. The former claimed a right to the soil because of prior actual occupation; the latter claimed the domain as their own on account of the discovery of the Atlantic coast by the Cabots, before the French had made any settlements. The Pacific coast was considered as the western boundary. Upon the principle of settling claims by drawing a line interiorly at right angles from the coast discovered, the French, from their undisputed province of Acadia, might have claimed almost the whole of New England, and one half of New York, with all the lakes. It was a difficult question, while the argument rested upon a foundation of unrighteousness. 23

In 1749, a royal grant of six hundred thousand acres of land on the Ohio River was made to a number of English merchants and Virginia planters, who, under the name of The Ohio Company, had associated for the ostensible purpose of trade. The British ministry, anticipating early hostility with France, had also sent out orders to the governor of Virginia to build two forts near the Ohio River, for the purpose of securing possession. But the order came too late; already the French were planting fortifications in that direction. The establishment of this trading company was the first positive intimation which the French had received of the intention of the English to vindicate their claims. They regarded the movement as the incipient steps toward a destruction of their western trade with the Indians, and to break their communication between New France or Canada, and Louisiana. With such impressions they resolved on defensive measures – aggressive ones too, if necessary. A pretense was not long wanting. While some English traders were engaged in their vocation near the present site of Pittsburgh, they were seized by some French and Indians, and conveyed to Presque Isle, now the town of Erie, on the lake of that name. The object was to learn from them the designs of the English in Virginia. In retaliation for this outrage, the Twightwees, 24 a body of Indians friendly to the English, seized some French traders, and sent them to Pennsylvania. Bitter animosity was now engendered, and it was intensified by those national and religious feuds which had so long made the English and French inimical to each other. Finally, the French began the erection of forts on the south side of Lake Erie, sending troops across the lakes with munitions of war, and forwarding bodies of armed men from New Orleans. One fort was built at Presque Isle (now Erie); another at Le Bœuf (now Waterford), on the head waters of the Venango (now French Creek 25), and a third at Venango (now Franklin, the capital of Venango county, Pennsylvania, at the junction of French Creek with the Alleghany). The Ohio Company complained, and Robert Dinwiddie, 26 the lieutenant governor of Virginia, within whose jurisdiction the offensive movement occurred, felt called upon to send a formal remonstrance to the French commandant, M. De St. Pierre, and demand a withdrawal of his troops. The mission was an exceedingly delicate one, and demanded the exercise of great courage, discretion, and judgment. George Washington, then a young man of twenty-one, was chosen, from among the hundreds of the Virginia aristocracy, to execute this commission of trust. At the age of nineteen he had received the appointment of adjutant general of one of the four military districts of Virginia, with the rank of major. The appointment was as creditable to the sagacity of Dinwiddie as it was flattering to the young officer.

On the 31st of October, 1753, Major Washington, bearing a letter from Dinwiddie to the French commandant of the Western posts, left Williamsburg. At Fredericksburg he engaged Jacob Vanbraam, a Dutchman, to accompany him as French interpreter, and John Davidson as Indian interpreter, and then turned his face toward the wilderness. Before him was a journey of more than five hundred miles. At the junction of Will’s Creek with the Potomac (now Cumberland, in Maryland), fourteen days journey from Williamsburg, he was joined by Mr. Gist (mentioned in a note on page 266) and four other men, two of them Indian traders [Nov. 14, 1753.]. This point, at the mouth of Will’s Creek on the Potomac, was on the verge of civilization, and near the lofty Alleghanies, then covered with snow. Over these the little party pushed their way, enduring every hardship incident to a dreary wilderness and the rigors of winter. The streams in the valleys were swollen, and upon frail rafts the travelers crossed them; or, when occasion demanded, they entered the chilling flood, and, by wading or swimming, accomplished a passage. At length they reached the forks of the Ohio [Nov. 23.], at the present site of Pittsburgh, and, after resting part of a day, they hastened onward twenty miles down the river, to Logstown (now in Beaver county), accompanied by Shingias, a chief sachem of the Delawares. There Washington called the surrounding Indian chiefs together in council [Nov. 26.], made known to them the objects of his visit, and solicited a guide to conduct him to the French encampment, one hundred and twenty miles distant. The request was complied with, and Tanacharison 27 (Half King), with two other chiefs, 28 and a bold hunter, accompanied Washington and his little band. After suffering terrible hardships, they reached the French camp. At Venango, a French outpost, attempts were made to detain the Indians, though Joncaire, the commandant, received Washington with civility [Dec. 5, 1753.]. The head-quarters of the French were higher up the stream, at Fort Le Bœuf, and there the Virginia commissioner was received with great politeness by M. De St. Pierre [Dec. 12.]. After a perilous journey of forty-one days, Washington had reached his destination. St. Pierre was an elderly man, a knight of the order of St. Louis. He entertained Washington and his party for four days with cordial hospitality, and then delivered to him a sealed reply to Governor Dinwiddie’s letter. 29 In the mean while, Washington and his attendants made full observations respecting the fort and garrison, construction of the works, numbers of cannon, &c.; information of much value. After a journey marked by more perils and hardships than the first, 30 a large portion of which Major Washington and Mr. Gist performed alone and on foot, the former reached Williamsburg [Jan. 16, 1754.], having been absent eleven weeks. 31

Dinwiddie was greatly incensed when he opened the letter of St. Pierre. That officer, writing like a soldier, said it did not belong to him as a subaltern to discuss treaties; that such a message as Washington bore should have been sent to the Marquis Duquesne, governor of Canada, by whose instructions he acted, and whose orders he should obey; and that the summons to retire could not be complied with. There could be no longer a doubt of the hostile designs of the French. 32 Governor Dinwiddie called his council together, and, without waiting for the Burgesses to convene, took measures for the expulsion of their troublesome neighbors from Virginia soil. The council advised the enlistment of two companies, of one hundred men each, for the service; and the Ohio Company sent out a party of thirty men to erect a fort at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers (Pittsburgh), a spot which Washington strongly recommended as most eligible, and to enlist men among the traders on the frontier. The command of the two companies was given to Major Washington, one of which was to be raised by himself; the other by Captain Trent, who was to collect his men among the traders in the back settlements. Washington proceeded to Alexandria, while Trent went to the frontier and collected his corps in the neighborhood of the Ohio Fork.

When the Virginia Assembly met, they voted ten thousand pounds toward supporting the expedition to the Ohio. The Carolinas also voted twelve thousand pounds. With this aid, and promises of more, Dinwiddie determined to increase the number of men to be sent to the Ohio to three hundred, to be divided into six companies. Colonel Joshua Fry 33 was appointed to the command of the whole, and Major Washington was made his lieutenant. Ten cannons and other munitions of war were sent to Alexandria for the use of the expedition.

Washington left Alexandria, with two companies of troops, on the 2d of April [1754.], and arrived at Will’s Creek on the 20th. He was joined on the route by Captain Adam Stephen, the general who was cashiered after the battle at Germantown, twenty-three years subsequently. When about to move on, Ensign Ward arrived with the intelligence that Captain Trent’s corps, with those sent out by the Ohio Company to construct a fort at the Ohio Fork (now Pittsburgh), had been obliged to surrender the post to a French force of one thousand men, most of them Indians, under Monsieur Contrecœur [April 7.]. 34 This was the first overt act of hostility – this was the beginning of the FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR, which lasted seven years. The French completed the fort taken from Trent, and called it Duquesne, in honor of the governor general of Canada.

Washington pushed forward with one hundred and fifty men [May 1, 1754.], to attempt to retrieve this loss, confident that a larger force than his own, under Colonel Fry, would speedily follow. He marched for the junction of the Red Stone Creek and Monongahela River, thirty-seven miles from Fort Duquesne, where he intended to fortify himself, and wait for the arrival of Colonel Fry, with artillery. On the way, he received intelligence from Half King [May 24.] that a French force was then marching to attack the English, wherever they might be found. Washington was now a few miles beyond the Great Meadows, an eligible place for a camp, and thither he returned and threw up an intrenchment, which he called Fort Necessity, from the circumstances under which it was erected. On the 27th, he received another message from Half King, informing him that he had discovered the hiding-place of a French detachment of fifty men. With a few Indians, and forty chosen troops, Washington proceeded to attack them. They were found in a well-sheltered place among rocks, and, assaulting them by surprise, he defeated them after a severe skirmish of ten minutes. Ten of the Frenchmen were killed (among whom was M. De Jumonville, the commander), one wounded, and twenty-one made prisoners. Washington had only one man killed, and two or three wounded. The prisoners were conducted to Fort Necessity, and from thence sent over the mountains into Eastern Virginia. 35

Two days after Washington wrote his dispatch to Colonel Fry, communicating the facts respecting the attack on the French, that officer died at Will’s Creek [May 31.]. His troops, intended to re-enforce Washington, were sent forward, and swelled his little army to four hundred men. On the death of Fry, the chief command of the expedition devolved upon Washington, and with his inadequate force he proceeded to attack Fort Duquesne. He held a council of war at Gist’s plantation, where information was received that the French at Duquesne were re-enforced, and were preparing to march against the English. Captain Mackay, with his South Carolina company, and Captains Lewis and Polson, with their detachments, were summoned to rendezvous at Gist’s plantation, where another council was held, and a retreat was resolved upon. The intrenchments thrown up at Gist’s were abandoned, and, with their ammunition and stores, the whole party reached Fort Necessity on the first of July [1754.]. There, on account of great fatigue, and suffering from hunger, they halted, and commenced the construction of a ditch and abatis, and strengthened the stockades. 36

On the third of July, a French force under M. De Villiers, Jumonville’s brother, reported to be nine hundred strong, approached to the attack of Fort Necessity. It was about eleven o’clock when they came within six hundred yards of the outworks, and began an ineffectual fire. Colonel Washington had drawn up his little band outside the trenches, and ordered his men to reserve their fire until the enemy were near enough to do execution. But the French were not inclined to leave the woods and make an assault upon the works. At sunrise, rain had begun to fall, and toward noon it came down in torrents, accompanied by vivid lightning. The trenches into which Colonel Washington ordered his men were filled with water, and the arms of the provincials were seriously injured. A desultory fire was kept up the whole day by both parties, without any decisive result, when De Villiers sent proposals to capitulate. Washington at first declined, but on consultation with his officers, and being assured there was no chance of victory over such overwhelming numbers, he consented, and highly honorable terms were conceded. The English were allowed to march out of the fort with all the honors of war, retaining their baggage, and every thing except their artillery, and to return to Will’s Creek unmolested. Washington agreed to restore the prisoners taken at the skirmish with Jumonville, 37 and that the English should not attempt to erect any establishment beyond the mountains for the space of one year. On their march from the fort, a party of one hundred Indians, who came to re-enforce the French, surrounded them, and menaced them with death. They plundered their baggage, and committed other mischief.

The provincials finally arrived at Will’s Creek, and Washington, with Captain Mackay, proceeded to Williamsburg, where the former communicated to Dinwiddie, in person, the events of the campaign. 38 The House of Burgesses of Virginia approved generally of the conduct of the campaign, and passed a vote of thanks to Washington and his officers. 39 The exact loss of the provincials in this engagement is not known. There were twelve killed, and forty-three wounded, of the Virginia regiment; the number of killed and wounded belonging to Captain Mackay’s Carolinians is not recorded. The number of provincials in the fort was about four hundred; the assailants were nearly one thousand strong, five hundred of whom were Frenchmen. The loss of the latter was supposed to be more than that of the former.

When the British ministry called the attention of the French court to the transactions in America, the latter expressed the most pacific intentions and promises for the future, while its actions were in direct opposition to its professions. The English, therefore, resolved to send to America a sufficient force to co-operate with the provincial troops in driving the French back to Canada. On the twentieth of February, 1755, General Braddock arrived at Alexandria, in Virginia, with two regiments of the British army from Ireland, each consisting of five hundred men, with a suitable train of artillery, and with stores and provisions. His colonels were Dunbar and Sir Peter Halket. At a meeting of colonial governors, 40 first called at Annapolis, and afterward convened at Alexandria, three expeditions were planned, one against Fort Duquesne, under Braddock; a second against Niagara and Frontenac (Kingston, U. C.), under General William Shirley; and a third against Crown Point, under General William Johnson. The last two expeditions have been fully considered in the first volume of this work.

It was one o’clock, and the sun was pouring its rays down fiercely, when the rear of the British army reached the north side of the Monongahela. A level plain extended from the river to a gentle hill, nearly half a mile northward. This hill terminated in higher elevations thickly covered with woods, and furrowed by narrow ravines. 41 Next to Gage, with his advanced party, was another division of two hundred men, and then came Braddock with the column of artillery and the main body of the army. Just as Gage was ascending the slope and approaching a dense wood, a heavy volley of musketry poured a deadly storm into his ranks. No adversary was to be seen. It was the first intimation that the enemy was near, and the firing seemed to proceed from an invisible foe. The British fired in return, but at random, while the concealed enemy, from behind trees, and rocks, and thick bushes, kept up rapid and destructive volleys. Beaujeu, the commander of the French and Indians, was killed at the first return fire, and M. Dumas took his place. Braddock advanced with all possible speed to the relief of the advanced guard; but so great was their panic, that they fell back in confusion upon the artillery and other columns of the army, and communicated their panic to the whole. The general tried in vain to rally his troops. Himself and officers were in the thickest of the fight, and exhibited indomitable courage. Washington ventured to suggest the propriety of adopting the Indian mode of skulking, and each man firing for himself, without orders; but Braddock would listen to no suggestions so contrary to military tactics. 42 For three hours he endeavored to form his men into regular columns and platoons, as if in battle with European troops upon a broad plain, while the concealed enemy, with sure aim, was slaying his brave soldiers by scores. Harassed on every side, the British huddled together in great confusion, fired irregularly, and in several instances shot down their own officers without perceptibly injuring their enemies. The Virginians under Washington, contrary to orders, now adopted the provincial mode of fighting, and did more execution than all the rest of the troops. The carnage was dreadful. More than half of Braddock’s whole army, which made such a beautiful picture in the eyes of Washington in the morning, 43 were killed and wounded. General Braddock received a wound which disabled him, and terminated his life three days afterward. 44 Through the stubbornness of that general, his contempt of the Indians, and the cowardice of many of his regular troops, an army thirteen hundred strong was half destroyed and utterly defeated by about one half that number, a large portion of whom were Indians. 45 Every mounted officer, except Washington, was slain before Braddock fell, and the whole duty of distributing orders devolved upon the youthful colonel, who was almost too weak from sickness to be in the saddle when the action commenced. 46

William Pitt entered the British ministry at the close of 1757, and one of his first acts was the preparation of a plan for the campaign of 1758 against the French and Indians. Lord Loudoun, who had been appointed to the chief command of the troops in America, 47 was also appointed the successor of Dinwiddie, who left Virginia in January, 1758. Loudoun’s deputy, Francis Fauquier, a man greatly esteemed, performed the functions of governor. Pitt, in his arrangements, planned an expedition against Fort Duquesne. Every thing was devised upon a just and liberal scale.

Brigadier-general Forbes 48 was intrusted with the command of the expedition. The Virginian army was augmented to two thousand men. These were divided into two regiments. The first was under Colonel Washington, who was likewise commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces; the second was under Colonel William Byrd, of Westover, mentioned on page 235. After much delay in the collecting of men and munitions, the Virginians were ordered to Fort Cumberland, on the Potomac, at Will’s Creek, to join the other portions of the expedition. The illness of General Forbes detained him long in Philadelphia, and, when able to move, his perversity of judgment placed many obstacles in the way of success. Instead of following Braddock’s road over the mountains, he insisted upon constructing a new one farther northward; and in September, when it was known that not more than eight hundred men were in garrison at Fort Duquesne, and the British might have been successfully beleaguring the fortress if Washington’s advice had been heeded, General Forbes with six thousand men was yet east of the Alleghanies! It was November when he reached the scene of action, and then his provisions were nearly exhausted.

In the mean while, Major Grant, of a Highland regiment, who had been ordered by Colonel Bouquet to march toward Fort Duquesne with about eight hundred men, and reconnoiter the country, exceeded his instructions, and made an unsuccessful attempt to capture it [Sept. 21, 1758.]. The British were defeated with great loss, and both Major Grant and Major Andrew Lewis, of Washington’s regiment (who commanded a rear guard), were made prisoners, and sent to Montreal. The retreat of the survivors was effected by the skill and energy of Captain Bullit, who, with fifty men, was left in charge of the baggage. The total loss on that occasion was two hundred and seventy-eight killed, and forty-two wounded. 49 The French, greatly inspirited by this event, determined to attack Colonel Bouquet at Loyal Hanna, 50 before General Forbes should arrive from Fort Bedford. 51 A force under De Vetrie, consisting of twelve hundred French and two hundred Indians, marched eastward, and on the twelfth of October attacked Bouquet’s camp. The battle lasted four hours, and the French were repulsed with considerable loss. Colonel Bouquet lost sixty-seven men in killed and wounded. The Indians, bitterly disappointed, left the French in great numbers, and went out upon their hunting-grounds to secure a supply of food for the winter.

General Forbes arrived, toward the close of October, at Loyal Hanna, about half way between Fort Bedford and Fort Duquesne, where he called a council of war. The increasing inclemency of the season and scarcity of provisions, made it appear inexpedient to attempt to reach the fort, and they were about to abandon the expedition until Spring, when a knowledge of the extreme weakness of the garrison at Fort Duquesne was communicated by some prisoners who had been taken. Encouraged by this intelligence, the expedition moved on, the regiment of Colonel Washington forming the advanced corps. When he was within a days’ march of Fort Duquesne, he was discovered by scouts. Fear magnified his numbers, and the garrison "burned the fort, and ran away by the light of it at night, going down the Ohio by water, to the number of about five hundred men, according to the best information." 52 The English took possession of its site the next day [Nov. 25, 1758.]. The blackened chimneys of thirty tenements stood in bold relief among the ruins. 53 The works were repaired, and the name of Pitt was given to the new fortress. After furnishing two hundred men from his regiment to garrison Fort Pitt, Colonel Washington marched back to Winchester, from whence he soon proceeded to Williamsburg to take his seat in the House of Burgesses, to which he had been elected a member by the county of Frederick, while he was at Fort Cumberland. The French being expelled from the Ohio, and the fear of frontier troubles subsiding, Washington determined to yield to the demands of enfeebled health and required attention to private affairs, and leave the army. At about the close of the year, he resigned his commission as colonel of the first Virginia regiment and commander-in-chief of all the troops raised in the colony. 54

7 These letters, written by Washington for the express purpose of deceiving Sir Henry Clinton, have been noticed on page 781, vol. i.

8 See page 240.

9 Charles Armand, marquis de la Rouarie, was a French officer in the Continental army, who had been ten years in military service before he came to this country. On the 10th of May, 1777, Congress gave him the commission of colonel, and authorized him to raise a corps of Frenchmen, in number not exceeding two hundred men. He was a zealous and spirited officer, and did good service throughout the war. He was with La Fayette in New Jersey, after the battle of Red Bank, in the fall of 1777, and the next year was actively engaged in Westchester county, New York, in opposition to the corps of Simcoe and Emerick, and the Loyalists under Baremore. The latter was captured by Armand, who, at one time, had his quarters at a house which stood on the site of the present St. John’s College, at Fordham. He was stationed at Ridgefield, in Connecticut, under General Robert Howe, in the summer of 1779. Belonging to his corps was a company of cavalry called Maréchaussée, * whose duties appertained chiefly to the police of the army. Armand’s corps, exclusive of this company, was incorporated with Pulaski’s in February, 1780. Armand was with the army under Gates at Clermont, near Camden, in South Carolina, and was directed by that general to form an advance attacking party in the night-march against Cornwallis at Camden. He censured the conduct of his general on that occasion very much. "I will not say," he remarked, "that the general contemplated treason; but I will say, that if he had desired to betray his army, he could not have chosen a more judicious course." Armand was dissatisfied with the promotions in the army, for he perceived no chance for himself to advance, yet he continued in faithful service. He went to France in February, 1781, to procure clothing and accoutrements, but came back again in time to join the army before Yorktown in October of that year. On the earnest recommendation of Washington, who knew his worth, Congress gave Colonel Armand the commission of brigadier general in the spring of 1783. He returned to France in 1784. In a letter to Rochambeau, written in May of that year, Washington strongly recommended General Armand as worthy of promotion in his own country. He was married, in 1786, to a wealthy lady, belonging to an ancient family, and on that occasion wrote a letter to Washington, inviting him to come to Europe and partake of the hospitalities of his home. In his reply, Washington remarked, "I must confess I was a little pleased, if not surprised, to find you think quite like an American on the subject of matrimony and domestic felicity; for, in my estimation, more permanent and genuine happiness is to be found in the sequestered walks of connubial life than in the giddy rounds of promiscuous pleasure, or the more tumultuous and imposing scenes of successful ambition. This sentiment will account in a degree for my not making a visit to Europe."

15 Norborne Berkeley (Baron de Botetourt) obtained his peerage in 1764. He was appointed Governor of Virginia in July, 1768, to succeed General Amherst. He arrived at Williamsburg in October, and was received with every demonstration of respect. After taking the oath of office, and swearing in the members of his majesty’s council, he supped with the government dignitaries at the Raleigh Tavern. The city was illuminated during the evening, and balls and festivities succeeded. * His administration was mild and judicious. He died at Williamsburg October 15, 1770, and was succeeded by John Murray, earl of Dunmore. The following year the Assembly resolved to erect a statue to his memory, which was accordingly done in 1774.