The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1905-06-30
Written for the CITIZEN by CHAS. l..
SHPLEY, Pikesville, Md.
ARTICLE SECOND.

his undertaking the long and
tedious Journey before him. Brad
dock issued orders for the army
to leave Fort Cum berland. On
the 30th of May, Sir John St.
Clair with Major Chapman, of
the FOrty-Fourth, and 600 men, set
out to clear road to Little Mead
ows on the YOughiOgeny, thirty
miles distant, where they were to
erect fortified camp. The army
followed in three divisions: the
first under Halkett, on the 9TH of
June; the next under Gage, on the
Sth; and the third under Dunbar.
on the 10th: Braddock delaying
his departure until the last man
had marched away and the army
was under way to Fort DuQueSne.
Owing to the innumerable diff
entities the progress of the army
was painfully slow; five miles
being good days march, and
sometimes only half of this dis
lance was accomplished Roads
were to be cut through the for
estS and over steep mountains;
streams to be bridged and mo.
raSSeS made pasSable. The nun
Der of wagons and pack horses
struggling through this wild, I'LL
travelled country protracted the
line to a dangerous length, and
all the difficulties predicted by
Franklin were i'll fair way TO be
realized.
Accordingly at the end of the
first days march, it was resolved
to considerably Tighten their mum
bers and burdens. A part of the
artillery and 30 men were sent
back to Fort Cumberland; 80
more under Captain Hogg, were
dispatched as covering party
for the wOrkmen on the Pennsyl
vania road, and IS of the soldiers
wives sent on their way to Phila
delphia. The officers. who even
in the infantry, always rode upon
the march, returned to Wills
Greek, all but such baggage as
was most absolutely essential, and
over "a hundred of their super
fiuous horses were freely contrib.
uted to the general service, the
General and his staff giving
twenty. The route pursued by
Braddock was in many respects
an unwiSe one. A few intelligent
ScountS sent out ahead could have
discovered shorter and better
course; but precautionary meas
ureS of this kind were not within
the sphere of Braddock's compre
tension. In addition to other
delays general sickness pre-
vailed among the troops, the con
sequences of a long confinement
on a salt diet.
THE "SHADES OF DEATH -
The army had now been on the
march ten days, and were near
ing the Little Meadows, but
twenty four miles from Cumber-
land, passing with a line four
miles long, through numerous
spots too we'll adapted for an
ambush or a surprise to escape
the soldiers eyes. Such were
those dark and immense forests
Of enormous white pin that
Swallowed the region beyond the
Great Savage Mountain, and
reached cut i'll huge semi circle,
from near the Maryland line,
through Pennsylvania, circling
PittsbuIg to the north and ex-
tending into what is now The
State Of Ohio.
A section of this great body !
of timber was still standing on
the line between Pennsylvania
and Ohio in the year 1920, when
Anon Grimes, resident of Car.
roll County, Maryland. and a
second cousin to the writer, pass
ed through it on foot, going west.
He said at that time it was eight
miles wide by forty long, and |
that the gloom and stiffness of
such scene could not well be
described. But to return to Brad
dock. The weirdness and moDOt- !.
ony of such scene cannot read I
lily be portrayed; it more resem- /
bled the stiffness of the desert. /
No bird chirped among t he
foliage; no wild animal had its
lair beneath its leafy gloom. Like !
the dark wave of some endless
dream born cathedral, the tall /
columns rose before, behind, on
every side, in uDcOunted and be.
multiplicity-and were
lost in the thick mantel that shut