The leader-enterprise. [volume] (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1912-1915, 1913-04-11

and tie black night. ut rained so
hard we could hardly keep the candle
lighted to read them by" said an Of
f1cer; but there was really no choice
what to do More than fifty men lay
dead or wounded in the flooded camp;
the ammunition was all but spent;
the French strength had hardly been
touched in the fight, and might at
any moment be increased. Capitula-
ton was inevitable. and Washington
did not hesitate.
A Sorry Return Home.
The next morning saw his wretched
force making their way back again
along the rude road they had cut
through the forests. They had Meth
err horses nor wagons to carry their
baggage. What they could they burn
ed: and then set out. sore stricken in
heart and body. their wounded COM
rades and their scant store of food
slung upon their backs, and dragged
themselves very YEARLY all the fifty
miles TO the settlements at home.
Two of the kings Independent COM
panies from New York ought to have
Joined them long ago, but had gotten
no further than Alexandria when the
fatal day came at the Great Meadows.
North Carolina had dispatched three
hundred and fifty of her militiamen,
under an experienced officer, to aid
them, but they also came too late.
It had been expected that Maryland
would raise two hundred and fifty
men, and Pennsylvania had at last
voted money. TO be spent instead OF
blood, for she would levy no men;
but no succor had come from any
quarter when it should. The English
were driven in, and all their plans
were worse than undone
Bitter Medicine for Washington.
It was a bitter trial for the young
Virginian commander to have his
first campaign end so disastrously-
to be worsted in petty fight, and
driven back hopelessly outdone.
No one he cared for in Virginia
blamed him. His ragged troops had
borne themselves like men in the
fight; his own gallantry no man could
doubt. The house of burgesses thank
ed him and voted money to his men.
| But it had been rough apprentice.
ship, and Washington felt to the
quick the lessons it had taught him.
The discouraging work of recruit
ing at Alexandria, the ragged idlers
to be governed there, the fruitless
drilling of listless and insolent men
the two months work with axe and
spade cutting way through the for
ests, the whole disheartening work Of
making ready for the fight, of seeking
the enemy, and of choosing field oil
encounter. he had borne as a stalwart
young man can while his digestion
holds good.
He had at least himself done every
thing that was possible, and it hat
been no small relief to him to write
plain-spoken letters to the men who
were supposed to be helping him in
| Williamsburg, telling them exactly
how things were going and who was
to blame-letters which showed both
how efficient and how proud he was.
Enjoyed the Bullets.
He had even shown a sort of boy
ish zest in the affair when 1t came to
actual fighting with Jumonville and
his scouts hidden in the forest. He
had pressed to the thick of that hot
and sudden skirmish and had taken
the French volleys with lads relish
of the danger. 81 heard the bullets
whistle" he wrote his brother, and
believe me there is something charm
ing in the sound"
But after he had stood day in the
flooded trenches of his wretched
fort" at Great Meadows, and fought
till evening in the open with an en-
envy he could not see, he knew that
he had been taught a lesson; that he
was very young at this terrible bust
ness of fighting; and that something
more must be learned than could be
read in the books at Mount Vernon.
He kept a cheerful front in the dreary
retreat, heartening his men bravely
hv word and example of steadfast-
ness: but it was a sore blow to his
pride and his hopes, and he must only
have WINGED without protest could he
have heard how Horace Walpole call
, ed him "brave braggart" for his
rodomontade about the music of dead
ly missiles.
He had no thought, however, OF
quitting his duty because his first
) campaign had miscarried
When he had made his report at
Williamsburg he rejoined his demon
! allied regiment at Alexandria. where
it lay but an hours ride from Mount
Vernon, and set about executing his
: orders to recruit once more, as if the
business were only just begun.
, Build Fort Cumberland.
Captain Innes. who had brought
: three hundred and fifty men from
North Carolina too late to be of as
sistance at the Meadows, and who had
had the chagrin of seeing them take
themselves off home again because
there was no money forthcoming tt
pay them what had been promised
y