The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-04-04

at once. after taking Fort Du.
ouesne," he said to Franklin, Il am
to proceed to Niagara; and after hav-
ing taken that, to Frontenac, if the
season will allow time; and I suppose
it viii, for Duquesne can hardly de-
t1in ne above three or four days; and
then I can see nothing that can OBJ
struct my march TO Niagara"
The sagacious Franklin.
"To re sure, sir, quietly replied the
sagacious Franklin; IF YOU arrive
Well before Duquesne with these fine
troops, SO well provided with artillery,
the fort can probably make
bUt . short resistance"
Put there was the trouble Twould
have been better, no doubt, had a
route through Pennsylvania been
chosen. where cultivated farms al
ready stretched we'll into the west,
With their own roads and grain and
cat le and wagons to serve an army
with; but the Virginia route had been
selected (by intrigue of gentlemen in
tercsted in the Ohio company. it was
hinted), and must needs be made the
best Of.
There was there. at the least, the
rough track Washington's men had
cut to the Great Meadows. This must
be widened and leveled for an army
with its cumbrous train of artillery,
and it's endless procession of wagons
laden with baggage and provisions. To
take two thousand men through the
dense forests with all the military
tTappings and supplies of a European
army would be to put, it might be,
four miles of its rough trail between
van and rear of the struggling line.
and it would be a clumsy enemy, as
fighting went in the woods, who could
not cut such a force into pieces-'like
thread as Franklin said
The Advance Eegins.
The thing was to be attempted,
nevertheless, with stubborn British
resolution. 1t was the 18th of May
before all the forces intended for tie
march were finally collected at Fort
Cumberland, twenty-five hundred men
in ail-fourteen hundred regulars,
now the recruits were in; nearly five
hundred Eirginians, horse and foot;
two Independent companies from New
York; and a small force of sailors
from the transports to rig tackle for
the ordnance when there was need on
the rough way. And it was the 10th
of June when the advance began,
straight into that realm OF forests
ancient as the world" that lay with
out limit upon all the western ways"
7raddock a Mischief Breeder.
1t was a thing of infinite difficulty
to get that numbering train through
the tangled wilderness, and it kept
the temper of the truculent Braddock
very hot to see how it played havoc
with every principle and practice of
campaigning he had ever heard Of
He charged the colonists with an ut
ter want alike of honor and of hon
esty to have kept him so long await
ing the transportation and supplies
they had promised, and to have done
SO little to end with, and so drew
Washington into frequent disputes,
maintained with warmth on both
sides; but the difficulties Of the
march presently wrought a certain
forest change upon him, and disposed
him to take counsel of his young Vir-
ginian aide-the only man in all his
company who could speak out of
knowledge in that wild country.
On the 18th. at Washingtons ad-
vice, he took twelve hundred men
and pressed forward with a lightened
train to a quicker advance, leaving
Colonel Dunbar to bring up the rest
of the troops with the baggage. Even
this lightened force halted ITO level
every mole-hill. and to erect bridges
over every brook" as Washington
chafed 70 see, and were. four days in
getting twelve miles; but the pace
was better than before. and brought
thcm at last almost to their dastina-
ton.
Surprised BY the Enemy.
On he 9th Of July, at midday, they
waded the shallow Monongahela. but
eight miles from Duquesne, making a
brave show as the sun struck upon
their serried ranks. their bright uni
forms, their futtering banners, and
their glittering arms, and went
straight into the rough and Swallowed
forest path that led to the French
post.
Upon a sudden there came q man
bounding along the path to meet them,
wearing the gorget of a French OIL
Ger, and the forest behind him
swarmed with a great host Of but
half-discoyered men. Upon signal
given, these spread themselves to the
right and left within the shelter of
the forest, and from their covert
poured a deadly fire upon Braddock's
advancing lines.
With good British pluck the steady
regulars formed their accustomed
ranks. crying, God save the king"
to give grace to the vollevs they sent
back into the forest; the ordnance