The next day Grandma Elsie, true to her promise, remained with the
children at Woodburn, while the younger ladies went on their shopping
expedition to the city. Ned had been carried down to the library,
and lay there on a sofa, his pale face bright with expectation; for
he dearly loved grandma's stories, especially now when it seemed too
great an exertion to hold a book and read for himself; his sister Elsie
was there, too, and so were several of the young cousins from Ion and
Fairview, who had come riding in on their bicycles, full of joyful
expectation, for grandma's stories were to them a great delight.
They gathered about her, and she began.
"I am going to tell you of our Washington and some of his deeds and
experiences. He has been called the Father of his Country. Some one
once gave the toast, 'Washington: Providence left him childless that
his country might call him father.'"
"Had he never any children at all, grandma?" asked Ned.
"None of his very own; only some step-children. He married a widow who
had some by a former husband.
"Washington was very young when he left school and began life as a
surveyor. At sixteen he was public surveyor of Culpeper County, and he
continued there at that work for three years. Then, at nineteen, he
was made adjutant-general, with the rank of major, in one of the four
military districts into which Virginia was divided.
"In 1753 Great Britain instructed her governors of the American
colonies to serve notice on the French that their forts built on
western lands claimed by the English were an encroachment on her
colonies; and if the French resisted, they were instructed to use force
to drive them away.
"Washington was then twenty-one--a tall, grave, handsome young man,
and one with the talents and information required; he had courage,
experience in the woods, knowledge about forts and tact with savages.
The governor offered the dangerous and difficult mission to him, and he
accepted it.
"This was in the summer. In October the governor resolved to enlarge
his army to ten companies of one hundred men each, and no officer in
that Virginia regiment was to rank higher than captain. Indignant at
that, Washington resigned and left the army.
"The next February Braddock came from England with two regiments of
troops, supplies and artillery. He landed in Virginia, and Washington
sent him a congratulatory letter. Shortly afterward Braddock
invited him to become his aide-de-camp, and he willingly accepted
the invitation. He joined Braddock at Frederickstown, feeling much
displeased that the army should pass through Maryland instead of
Virginia.
"Braddock--proud Englishman--despised all colonials except Franklin and
Washington, but from the beginning he was pleased with them."
"Colonial, grandma?" said Ned, inquiringly.
"Yes, dear; you must remember that at that time there were no United
States of America; instead, just thirteen colonies subject to Great
Britain, and all on or near the Atlantic coast. Our country has grown
very much since then."
"And in more ways than one, hasn't it, grandma?" remarked Elsie Raymond
with a look of joy and pride.
"Yes, dear; it is many times as large, as wealthy and full of comforts
and conveniences. Indeed, I think we may safely say that we are the
richest and most powerful nation in the world. God has been wonderfully
good to us, and to Him be all the glory and the praise.
"In the days I am telling you of there were no railroads, and the
rough mountain roads would be very difficult to cross with the heavy
artillery and baggage. Therefore, Washington urged a forward movement
with a small but chosen band and only such artillery and light stores
as were absolutely necessary.
"Washington went with the rear division, riding in a covered wagon,
for he had been quite sick with fever and pains in his head, and was
not yet able to sit a horse. He overtook the advance division at the
mouth of the Youghiogheny River, fifteen miles from Fort Duquesne, and
the next morning, though still very weak in body, attended Braddock
on horseback. The ground was very steep on the north side of the
Monongahela, which made it necessary to ford the river twice and march
a part of the way on the south side. About noon they were within ten
miles of Fort Duquesne. It was here they crossed to the north side,
and their road lay through a level plain, at the north end of which
a gradual ascent began, leading to hills of some height, and then
through an uneven country covered with trees. Three hundred men, under
Colonel Gage, marched first, then came another party of two hundred,
then Braddock with the main body, artillery and baggage.
"All had crossed the river, and the advance body was going cheerfully
up the hill, on each side of which was a ravine eight or ten feet deep,
covered with trees and long grass. General Braddock had not employed
any scouts. He despised Indians, colonists and their irregular kind
of warfare. A hundred friendly Indians had joined him on the march,
but he treated them so coldly, in spite of all Washington could say in
their favor, that they had all gone away. They came again on the very
night before this dress parade between the ravines, and again offered
their assistance; but in spite of all Washington could say in favor of
employing them, the general refused to do so."
"And were the French and their Indians hiding in those ravines,
grandma?" asked Ned.
"Yes," she replied; "that was just what they were doing, and after
the first British division had got well into the field between the
ravines, without seeing or hearing an enemy, they suddenly received a
volley of musket-balls in their faces. As one of the soldiers afterward
said, they could only tell where the enemy were by the smoke of their
muskets. But the British at once returned a fire that killed the French
commander, and was so heavy that the Indians thought it came from
artillery, and were about to retreat when Dumas, who was in command now
that his superior officer was killed, rallied them and sent them, under
French officers, to attack the right flank while he held the front.
"The British now received another rain of bullets, and the wood rang
with the savage yells of the Indians, but they could see only smoke,
except when now and then an Indian ventured from behind a tree to take
a scalp. The Virginians, used to the Indian's way of fighting, dropped
on the ground or rushed behind trees, and the British regulars tried
to imitate them. Braddock, just then reaching the scene, was furious
at that. Riding about the field, he forced his men, both British and
Virginians, back into the ranks, just where the enemy could get full
sight of them and shoot them down the more readily."
"Why, grandma, what did he do that for?" asked Ned.
"It seems he wanted them to keep rank just because he considered that
the regular thing to do."
"Stupid old fellow!" exclaimed one of the other young listeners.
"Yes; he does not seem to have been very bright in that particular
line," assented Mrs. Travilla, "but he was very brave; four horses
were shot under him, and he mounted a fifth. All his aides were shot
down but one--our Washington; though hardly well enough to sit in his
saddle, he rode about the field delivering Braddock's orders to the
troops, so making himself a conspicuous target for the enemy, who fired
at him again and again, but could not kill him--did not even succeed in
wounding him, though two horses were shot under him, and he sprang upon
a third and went fearlessly on with his work."
"But he was not wounded. I remember reading that," said Elsie. "Surely,
grandma, God took care of him, that he might after a while become the
Father of his Country."
"Yes, God protected him, and that made it impossible for the foe to
destroy him."
"But they killed Braddock, didn't they?" asked Ned.
"I don't know," replied Mrs. Travilla, "that Braddock was fatally
wounded at that time, but I have seen an account of his fatal wounding,
which may or not be true. It is thought that among the Americans who
were in the fight were two of the name of Fausett--brothers--Thomas
and Joseph. Thomas is said to have been a man of gigantic frame and
of uncivilized, half savage propensities. It is said that he spent
most of his life in the mountains, living as a hermit on the game
that he killed. In the battle we are talking of he saw his brother
behind a tree, saw Braddock ride up to him in a passion and strike him
down with his sword. Tom Fausett drew up his rifle instantly and shot
Braddock through the lungs, partly in revenge for the outrage upon his
brother and partly, as he always declared, to get the general out of
the way that he might sacrifice no more of the lives of the British and
Americans."
"Why, grandma, did he want his own men killed?" asked Ned.
"No; but he was foolish, obstinate and determined to have his own way.
Those who appointed him commander of that force made a great mistake.
He was a good tactician, but proud, prejudiced and conceited. Talking
with Benjamin Franklin, who was then postmaster-general, he said,
'After taking Fort Duquesne, I am to proceed to Niagara, and having
taken that, to Frontenac, if the season will allow time, and I suppose
it will, for Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four days;
and then I can see nothing that can obstruct my march to Niagara.'
Franklin thought the plan excellent if he could take his fine troops
safely to Fort Duquesne, but told him there might be danger from Indian
ambuscades; the savages, shooting unexpectedly from their places of
concealment in the woods, might destroy his army in detail. Braddock
thought that an absurd idea, and replied that the Indians might be
formidable enemies to raw American troops, but it was impossible they
should make an impression upon the King's regular and disciplined
troops. And, as I have already told you, that was the idea he acted
upon in the fight, which is always spoken of as 'Braddock's defeat.' He
insisted that his men should be formed in regular platoons; they fired
by platoons--at the rocks, into the bushes and ravines, and so killed
not enemies only, but many Americans--as many as fifty by one volley."
"Oh, how dreadful!" cried Elsie; "killing their own comrades instead of
the enemies they were fighting."
"Grandma, did Tom Fausett's shot kill Braddock at once?" asked Ned.
"No; it was on the 9th of July he was shot, and he died on the evening
of the 13th. It was on that day the remnant of his army went into
camp at the Great Meadows. In the evening, after the fight, Braddock
exclaimed, 'Who would have thought it?'
"Then he remained silent until a few minutes before he died, when he
said, 'We should better know how to deal with them another time.' They
buried him before daybreak in the road and levelled his grave with
the ground, lest the Indians should find and mutilate his body. The
chaplain had been wounded, and Washington read the burial service."
"At the Great Meadows, grandma?" asked Elsie.
"About a mile from Fort Necessity," replied Mrs. Travilla. "I have read
that on the 17th the sick and wounded reached Fort Cumberland, and the
next day Washington wrote to a friend that since his arrival there he
had heard a circumstantial account of his own death and dying speech,
and now he was taking the earliest opportunity of contradicting the
first, and of giving the assurance that he had not yet composed the
latter."
"Well, I hope he got the praise he deserved from somebody," said Elsie.
"Yes, he did," replied her grandma. "An eloquent and accomplished
preacher, Rev. Samuel Davies, who a few years later became president of
Princeton College, in a sermon to one of the companies organized after
Braddock's defeat, after praising the zeal and courage of the Virginia
troops, added: 'As a remarkable instance of this, I may point out to
the public that heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but
hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some
important service to his country.'"
"And doesn't it seem that that was what God preserved him for,
grandma?" exclaimed Elsie, her eyes shining with pleasure.
"It does, indeed; God was very good to us in giving us such a leader
for such a time as that of our hard struggle for the freedom which has
made us the great and powerful nation that we now are."
"And we are not the only people that think very highly of Washington,"
remarked one of the cousins in a tone which was half assertive, half
inquiring.
"No, indeed," replied Mrs. Travilla; "one English historian has said
that Washington's place in the history of mankind is without a fellow,
and Lord Brougham said more than once, 'It will be the duty of the
historian in all ages to let no occasion pass of commemorating this
illustrious man; and until time shall be no more will a test of the
progress which our race has made in wisdom and virtue be derived from
the veneration paid to the immortal name of Washington.'"
"That's high praise, grandma, isn't it?" said Eric Leland; "and I think
our Washington deserved every word of it."
"As I do," she replied; "he was just, generous, disinterested--spending
so many of the best years of his life in fighting for the freedom of
his country, and that without a cent of pay--wise, fearless, heroic,
self-sacrificing; he feared God, believed in Christ, was a man of
prayer, fully acknowledging divine aid and direction in all that he
attempted and all he accomplished. He was a wonderful man, a God-given
leader to us in a time when such an one was sorely needed."
"When was the war quite over, grandma?" asked Ned.
"The treaty of peace was signed in Paris on the 20th of January, 1783,"
replied Mrs. Travilla. "News did not then fly nearly so fast as it
does now, and it was not till the 17th of the following April that
Washington received the proclamation of peace by our Congress. On the
19th of April, the anniversary of the shedding of the first blood of
the war, at Lexington, eight years before, the cessation was proclaimed
at the head of every regiment of the army. That was by Washington's
general orders, in which he added, 'The chaplains of the several
brigades will render thanks to Almighty God for all His mercies,
particularly for His overruling the wrath of man to His own glory, and
causing the rage of war to cease among the nations.'"