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But in 1755, General Braddock was sent out to undertake energetic operations against the French, and Washington accepted the General's offer of a position on his staff. It was now that the eminent Benjamin Franklin did such great service to the British arms by organizing transport, and listened with astonishment to Braddock's anticipations of easy victory.
Some carried shot guns and cartridges stuffed with buckshot and some poured in buckshot by the handful. They had no artillery and they needed none. The skill in marksmanship of these men is beyond belief, there is nothing like it in the world. It was such natural fighters as these that George Washington led against the French and the Indians, when he saved the wreck of Braddock's army.
He longed so for the campaign, that the actual wish made him timid. He dared not speak on the matter as he went home with George. They rode for miles in silence, or strove to talk upon indifferent subjects; each knowing what was passing in the other's mind, and afraid to bring the awful question to an issue. On their arrival at home the boys told their mother of General Braddock's offer.
In every instance the English were the aggressors but they justified their action on the ground that the places to be attacked were on British territory. This the French as emphatically denied. Braddock's attempt resulted in a most disastrous failure, Shirley's expedition was abandoned, William Johnson won a brilliant victory at Lake George and Colonel Monckton captured Beausejour.
A pre-concerted attack might occur on the front ranks of an advancing column, and almost immediately spread to the flanks. This occurred at Braddock's defeat. The glittering army of redcoats, so much admired by Washington, with drums beating and flags flying, forded the Monongahela and ascended the banks of the river between two hidden ravines.
I made haste to say that I knew little of the general; that I was but a prejudiced witness at best, since my father had known and misliked the man in Braddock's ill-fated campaign against the French in '55. But Richard spoke his mind more freely. "'Tis not in the man at this pass, Colonel Sevier," he would say; "not after Camden.
>From the midst of the debacle of Braddock's defeat rises the figure of the young Washington. Twenty-three he was then, tall and spare and hardbodied from a life spent largely in the open. When Braddock fell, this Washington appeared. Reckless of the enemy's bullets, which spanged about him and pierced his clothes, he dashed up and down the lines in an effort to rally the panic-stricken redcoats.
He seemed to have formed a habit of jamming his hands far down into his coat pockets. "That was the only chance he'll ever have," was his sententious remark. No other word was uttered until they were inside the house, Mrs. Braddock's gasp of relief could not have been called a sigh. "Thank God!" she breathed, sinking upon the hall seat and clasping her clenched hands to her breast.
Well, we will not give in that we are finally beaten. We read together in those days the story of Braddock, and how, as he was carried dying from the scene of his defeat, he promised himself to do better another time: a story that will always touch a brave heart, and a dying speech worthy of a more fortunate commander. I try to be of Braddock's mind.
Their jokes were all received in good part, and parried by treating all around. When her husband left in the morning, Mrs. Braddock's heart was lightened with a new hope, although a fear was blended with that hope, causing them both to tremble in alternate preponderance in her bosom.
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