ÆT. 22.]

PRAYERS IN THE CAMP.

117

way, so that it should present no unnecessary obstacles to the passage of artillery carriages, was a task of such difficulty that two weeks were spent in effecting a march through a narrow gorge of the mountains to Gist's settlement, a distance of but thirteen miles. It must have been a picturesque and an impressive sight, to see by some streamlet, dashing through clefts of precipices, and under gigantic trees whose branches were bent with the rich green foliage of early summer, the troops, in their red uniforms, with arms glistening in the occasional rays of sunlight which penetrated the enduring shade, coming together at the morning drum beat, with the hereditary kings of the forest and their followers, with painted faces and strange and grotesque costumes, to hear the public prayers which Washington by the advice of his friend William Fairfax had instituted in the camp. As they had no chaplain it may be that he himself read the solemn words of devotion. Certainly he must have set a fit example of reverent attention to them.

Scouts were continually in advance, sometimes almost as far as Fort Duquesne, and their reports, with intelligence brought in by traders, deserters, and friendly Indians, of accessions to the French garrison and of a projected movement against the English by M. Contrecœur, induced a halt at Gist's place, where a council of war decided that it was best to make a stand and await the coming of the enemy. Entrenchments were undertaken, two parties sent out under Captains Lewis and Polson were recalled, and an express despatched to the Great Meadows to summon Captain Mackay with his independent company. On the thirtieth, another council was held, at which the officers of the Virginia regiment and of the corps from South Carolina were present. They had now information from a trusty sachem who but two days before had been at the fort on the Ohio, that he had seen a considerable reinforcement arrive there from Canada, and heard that De Villiers would without delay march at the head of eight hundred French and four hundred Indians to attack the English. Others represented that the enemy was rapidly approaching, "as numerous as the pigeons in the woods." The troops were nearly destitute of provisions, the ground

they occupied had few advantages for defence, and it was known that by another defile than that by which they had passed through the mountains the French might reach the Great Meadows, cut off their supplies, starve them into a surrender, or fight them with a superiority of three to one. Under these discouraging circumstances it was without hesitation decided to retreat.

Preparations for retracing their steps were reluctantly but immediately commenced. There was a deficiency of horses, and Washington surrendered his to be laden with ammunition and other public stores, hiring some of the men for four pistoles to carry forward his personal luggage. This generous example was followed by the other officers. Nine swivels were drawn over the rough road by soldiers of the Virginia regiment, feeble with hunger and the sultry heat, without any assistance from the South Carolinians, who considered it beneath their position to perform services of this nature. They also refused to act as pioneers, or to take any part in the extraordinary duties which belonged to the occasion. The spectacle of their comfortable idleness had an unhappy influence upon the troops who had thus far borne all the burthen of the difficult campaign, and their submission to a proper discipline was only secured by Washington's inflexible will, and ready participation as far as possible in their toils and sufferings.

They reached the Great Meadows on the first of July, having been two days on their march. When leaving Gist's plantation it had not been the intention of Washington to stop at this place, but he found that the men were too much exhausted with fatigue and a want of food to proceed further. They had been eight days without bread, and the commissary's agent whom they met here had but a few bags of flour, not enough for a week, and for cooking or preserving beef, for which they had cattle, there was no salt. In the hope of being quickly joined by the New York companies, of whose landing at Alexandria they had heard, it was determined to reoccupy Fort Necessity, and to await the issue of a siege or a battle.

De Villiers arrived in sight of the works at Laurel Hill early on

ET. 22.]

SCENES AT THE GREAT MEADOWS.

119

the morning after they were abandoned, and concluding that the English had made good their retreat to the settlements, and that it was too late to pursue them, was about returning to Fort Duquesne, when informed by a deserter that Washington had halted at his former post, where his troops were in a starving condition. The fellow, as if ashamed of his part, added that he had been impelled to leave his companions by apprehensions that he would otherwise die of hunger. De Villiers ordered him into confinement, to be rewarded or hanged, as he should determine upon ascertaining whether his words were true or false.

Washington meanwhile was exerting his utmost energies in strengthening Fort Necessity, upon which Captain Mackay's company had done nothing during the three weeks of its occupation by them. The fort, which under the direction of Captain Robert Stobo, the acting engineer of the expedition, had grown from a small stockade into a breastwork of heavy logs, about one hundred feet square, with three bastions guarding its entrances, and ditches on two sides, was by the side of a narrow stream, in a level meadow two hundred and fifty yards wide, which was covered with long grass and low bushes. The nearest bluffs or hills were distant a hundred yards or more, so that its garrison could not be effectively assailed from them with musketry.

The second was passed in making such additional preparations as seemed practicable for defence. The South Carolinians were no longer expected to assist, and they manifested as little interest in the efforts which were being made by the Virginians as if they were to have no share in the approaching dangers. Washington himself was everywhere conspicuous, animating the common soldiers and inferior officers by words of sympathy and encouragement, and exciting their emulation by an active participation in their labors.

The Indians were quick to understand the vacillations of fortune. The camp had been thronged with emissaries from tribes secretly in the French interest, and though their representations had probably not induced Tanacharisson to consider favorably overtures

intended to attach him to the French, he was disheartened at the faint prospects of securing advantages for his people through any successes of the English. He was a patriot and a hero, in his way, and never pretended to any kindly regard for the English except as they seemed to him less dangerous neighbors than their adversaries. He was now dissatisfied at being subjected to military regulations, and wounded by a suspicion that his counsels had not had a proper influence; and foreseeing the result of the inevitable conflict, he excused himself by representing the necessity of placing his wife and children in a place of safety, and withdrew from the fort, accompanied by most of his warriors.*

As the day broke on the morning of the third, Washington, who had probably taken no rest during the night, was already at work, with his men, upon the fort, when a sentinel was brought in wounded, having been fired upon by an advanced party of the French while at his post. The garrison was instantly summoned to arms, and at nine o'clock information was received from returning scouts that the main body of the enemy was about four miles distant. Captain Mackay and his company occupied the trenches, which were nearly filled with mud and water, in consequence of a heavy rain that had commenced early in the day, and Washington arranged the Virginians on the cleared level ground outside the inclosure, to await the attack, which it was supposed would be by a vigorous assault,

*Very few of the Indians whose names are preserved in American history are entitled to a more respectful notice than Tanacharisson. He was honest, sagacious, and brave, and should not be judged with severity for abandoning Washington in this hour of peril. He considered himself the father of his people, and had steadily maintained that their interests were his rule of action. Charles Thompson, afterwards secretary of the Continental Congress, while usher to a quaker grammar school in Philadelphia, two years after these occurrences, wrote a small volume entitled, "An Inquiry into the Causes of the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians," &c., in which he repeats some observations which the chief made to Conrad Weiser respecting this campaign. "The colonel," said Tanacharisson, "took upon him to command the Indians as his slaves, and would have them every day upon the scout, and to attack the enemy by themselves, but would by no means take advice from them. He lay in one place from one full moon to another without making any fortifications except that little thing on the Meadows; whereas, had he taken advice, and built such defences as I recommended, he might easily have beat off the French. But the French acted like cowards, and the English like fools." Washington and Tanacharisson never met again. The half king retreated into Pennsylvania, became melancholy, and his health rapidly declined. It was believed by his tribe that the French had bewitched him for killing Jumonville, who was said to have fallen by his hand. He died at the place of John Harris, an Indian trader, then called Harris's Ferry and now Harrisburgh, on the fourth of October, 1754.