short way to build," was Washington's significant reply.
The English officers were bound to have their own way, and they decided
to make the new road, in view of which Washington wrote to the Speaker
of the Assembly: "If this conduct of our leaders does not flow from
superior orders, it must flow from a weakness too gross for me to name.
Nothing now but a miracle can bring this campaign to a happy issue."
A few days later he wrote:
"I believe that all is lost. Our enterprise is ruined, and we shall be
stopped this winter at the Laurel Hills."
As the sequel will show, Washington proved himself to be a prophet.
While these warlike preparations were going forward, Washington was
elected to a seat in the House of Burgesses. It was not expected,
however, that he would take his seat until the contemplated action
against the French at Duquesne was consummated.
It was in the month of May, 1758, that Washington went to Williamsburg
and found his future wife, when passing through Kent County. It was the
21st of September before the army was ready to strike their tents and
take up the march from Raystown, where the whole army had assembled.
Much of this time was fooled away by the English officers, who seemed to
think that both French and Indians would take to their heels when they
saw them coming.
Washington was greatly annoyed by this unnecessary delay. To him it was
ominous of evil. He was impatient to plant the English flag on the walls
of Duquesne, and to make the beautiful Mrs. Custis his bride. The sooner
the army accomplished the former, the sooner he would realize the
latter.
To add to his annoyance, General Forbes proposed to repeat General
Braddock's folly, and send his regulars forward as a party of
observation.
"Such an arrangement was the cause of General Braddock's defeat," he
said to General Forbes.
"How so?"
"His regulars knew nothing about Indian warfare. They never saw savages
on the field of battle, and so they undertook to fight Indians as they
did French."
"Plenty of artillery, with a shower of bullets, whether by regulars or
provincials, will do the business," remarked General Forbes, showing
that he was as ignorant of the way savages fight as Braddock was.
"I hope I can say, without vanity," continued Washington, "that, from
long intimacy with these woods, and frequent scouting in them, my men
are at least as well acquainted with all the passes and difficulties as
any troops that will be employed. I will volunteer to scour the country
in advance of the army."
"You are brave and unselfish, certainly," answered Forbes; "but the
regulars would hardly thank me for sending inexperienced troops forward
instead of them."
"If General Braddock's regulars, who were shot down in their tracks,
could come to life, they would thank you for doing this very thing,"
said Washington.
"Then you have no faith in the English army to fight Indians."
"None at all. Braddock's regulars were more terrified by the _yell_ of
the savages than they were by the cannon of the French."
"Well, then, colonel, I think we must redeem the credit of the British
regulars by sending them forward at this time," answered General Forbes.
"If Braddock's regulars disgraced their country and cause, as you affirm
they did, it is time that Forbes's regulars should wipe out the
dishonor. And that can be done only by detailing them for the work
proposed."
"As you please, general," answered Washington, seeing that Forbes was
determined to employ his regulars as a scouting party. "You have my
opinion, and you will have my obedience as heartily. Nothing that I can
do to make this expedition successful shall be withholden."
Therefore the regulars scoured the country in advance, eight hundred in
number. Washington wrote again concerning the prospects under these
unwise arrangements:
"The golden opportunity has been lost, perhaps never more to return.
Between building a new road and sending forward regulars to meet the
Indians, our hope of success is small indeed. Small parties of Indians
will effectually demoralize the English by keeping them under continual
alarms, and attacking them in ambuscade."
The advance party was under the command of Major Grant, a conceited,
overbearing officer, who was as ignorant of Indian tactics as a baby.
Besides, his extreme self-confidence made him boastful and reckless, as
he subsequently found to his sorrow and shame. One of Washington's
biographers says of Grant:
"He was instructed to find out all he could about the enemy, without
suffering the enemy to find out more than he could help about himself,
and by all possible means to avoid a battle. But instead of conducting
the expedition with silence and circumspection, he marched along in so
open and boisterous a manner as made it appear he meant to give the
enemy timely notice of his coming, and bully him into an attack even
while yet on the way. The French, keeping themselves well-informed by
their spies of his every movement, suffered him to approach almost to
their very gates without molestation. When he got in the neighborhood of
the fort, he posted himself on a hill overlooking it, and began throwing
up intrenchments in full view of the garrison. As if all this were not
imprudence enough, and as if bent on provoking the enemy to come out and
give him battle on the instant, whether or no, he sent down a party of
observation to spy out yet more narrowly the inside plan and defences of
the fort, who were suffered not only to do this, but even to burn a
house just outside the walls, and then return to their intrenchments
without a hostile sign betokening the unseen foe so silent, yet
watchful, within.
"Early the next morning, as if to give the enemy warning of the
threatened danger, the drums of the regulars beat the _reveille_, and
the bag-pipes of the Highlanders woke the forest-echoes far and wide
with their wild and shrilly din."
During all this time there was silence in the fort, and no sign of the
enemy anywhere around.
"No enemy is here; they have fled before us," said Major Grant to
General Forbes. "The English regulars have frightened them out of their
wits, and they have taken leg-bail."
"An illustration of the old adage, 'discretion is the better part of
valor,'" answered Forbes.
"And these are the heroic French and terrible savages of which that
young American colonel tells so much!" continued Major Grant in a
derisive manner. "All I regret is, that they did not stay to fight."
"It is too serious a joke to fit out this expedition and march through
this wilderness for nothing," added General Forbes. "We ought to have
one chance at the foe, if nothing more."
"Well, I am not disappointed in the least," responded Grant. "All this
talk about the bravery of the French and the savagery of Indians is
buncomb, and that is all. I will raise the English flag over the fort
without a drop of blood being shed. Let me advance with the regulars;
and Captain Lewis, with his Americans, remain behind with the baggage.
We will show you how a fort can be taken."
"Your order shall be obeyed," replied Captain Lewis, although he looked
with contempt upon the braggart whom he addressed.
General Braddock's blunder was repeated on that day. The regulars moved
forward, and marched directly into an Indian ambuscade.
With unearthly yells the savages sprang from their hiding places, and
poured a terrific fire into the faces of the regulars. At the same time
the French rushed out of their fort, sending volley after volley of
leaden death into their ranks. The English stood their ground for a
moment, then broke and retreated in confusion. The savages, emboldened
by their success, rushed on to more fearful slaughter, and between
musket and tomahawk, butchery reigned supreme.
Major Lewis, who was left behind with the baggage, leaving fifty men
under the charge of Captain Bullit to guard it, rushed forward with his
Virginia force to the relief of the regulars. His timely aid checked the
advance of the foe; but, in a hand to hand fight with an Indian warrior,
he was taken prisoner, though not until the warrior lay dead at his
feet.
Major Grant was taken prisoner, and would have been tomahawked on the
spot but for the interposition of a French officer.
The retreat became a complete rout, the savages pursuing with their
accustomed yells. Captain Bullit determined to resist the pursuit of the
enemy by piling the baggage across the road for a barricade. Behind
this, with his fifty men, he poured a deadly fire into the foe as they
approached, volley after volley, checking their advance by striking
terror to their hearts for a moment. Perceiving that he could not long
hold out, he resorted to a strategy that would have been regarded
barbarous if adopted by Indians. Irving speaks of it as follows:
"They were checked for a time, but were again pressing forward in
greater numbers, when Bullit and his men held out the signal of
capitulation, and advanced, as if to surrender. When within eight yards
of the enemy, they suddenly leveled their arms, poured a most effectual
volley, and then charged with the bayonet. The Indians fled in dismay,
and Bullit took advantage of this check to retreat, with all speed,
collecting the wounded and scattered fugitives as he advanced."
The whole of the straggling army did not reach Fort Loyal Harman at
Laurel Hills until the fifth day of November. Many of the soldiers,
especially the wounded, suffered terribly on the retreat.
Washington was at Raystown when the attack was made upon the advance.
Why and for what he was there, except by order of the commander, General
Forbes, we know not. But he joined the beaten and demoralized army at
Fort Loyal Harman.
"Braddock's folly repeated must end in Braddock's defeat and shame," he
remarked, on hearing of the disaster. "The result is no worse than I
feared."
"Your Virginians fought bravely," remarked General Forbes to Washington,
evidently thinking that he had underrated their valor and efficiency.
"I am not surprised to hear it," replied Washington. "I knew that they
would prove themselves equal to the occasion."
"Braver fellows never met a foe on the battlefield," continued General
Forbes. "Our defeat would have been more bloody and shameful but for
them."
"And if they had formed the advance, they would not have been caught in
an Indian ambuscade," remarked Washington suggestively.
In this unfortunate battle the British lost twenty-one officers and two
hundred and seventy-three privates in killed and wounded, more than
one-third of the advance under Grant.
"Well," continued General Forbes, "this snow and freezing weather will
compel us to go into winter quarters here. After this defeat we are not
in a condition to attack the fort immediately."
"Our prospects are not very flattering, it must be confessed," remarked
Washington, without expressing his opinion of the unnecessary and
foolish blunder that had brought them into this plight. Had he led his
Virginia rangers in advance, such a disgraceful record would not have
been made.
Washington prophesied that, between building a new road and sending
regulars in advance, defeat was inevitable, and now General Forbes
proposed to fulfil his prophecy.
"What is your advice, Colonel Washington, under the circumstances?"
inquired General Forbes, evidently designing to atone somewhat for his
previous shabby treatment of the young Virginia hero. "Is it wise to
march against the fort at this late season and in this rough weather?"
Washington was not at all disposed to give advice after all his previous
counsels had been treated with contempt; therefore he prolonged the
conversation without gratifying the commanding general with an explicit
statement of his opinions. In the midst of their interview two or three
prisoners were brought in, and they gave such an account of the
weakness and destitution of the French garrison that Washington advised
an immediate advance upon the fort.
"Is it possible?" said General Forbes, doubting the statement.
"It is _possible_," answered Washington. "It is an easy matter to find
out, however."
"We are not exactly prepared for such a movement now," replied the
general.
"I am at your service, general, with my rangers," answered Washington,
in a tone which showed that he coveted the business. We strongly suspect
that Washington was thinking of his promised bride, and desired to close
the campaign against Duquesne that he might claim her. To go into winter
quarters, and leave the fort to be captured another season, would put
off his wedding-day far beyond his wishes. The understanding was, that
he would not be married until after the fall of Duquesne.
"Your brave and generous offer is accepted, without conditions," General
Forbes immediately replied, only too glad now to impose the labor and
risk upon provincial troops.
"I will be ready to move to-morrow," added Washington with his usual
promptness.
"As soon as you please, and in what manner you please. The whole thing
is in your hands."
"Very well, sir; we march to-morrow," added Washington as he hurried
away.
On the next day he took up the line of march towards Duquesne,
proceeding with extreme caution as he approached the vicinity of the
fort. The locality of the recent battle was marked by the dead bodies of
their fallen brothers, a sickening spectacle to behold. Around them,
too, were scattered the bones of comrades who fell in the first battle,
three years before, a melancholy reminder of the defeat and death which
followed the blundering of conceited officers.
No sign of the enemy appeared. Silence reigned supreme. Scouts reported
no trace of the foe. Still the "rangers" moved forward with the utmost
caution. Indians could not surprise them now.
Coming in sight of the fort, they saw that it was deserted. No flag
floated over its walls. On the double-quick, Washington led his troops
into it, and not a Frenchman or Indian was found. The wooden buildings
were burned to ashes, together with such baggage and other material as
the occupants could not carry away in boats. Not a cannon, gun, or
cartridge remained. Washington planted the English flag upon the walls
of the fort with his own hand, on the twenty-fifth day of November,
1758.
It was learned, subsequently, that on account of the signal victories of
the British army in Canada, no reinforcements or provisions were
received at Duquesne. As the French garrison was in urgent need of both,
the commander concluded, on the approach of Washington's command, that
the better part of valor would be to abandon it; hence its evacuation.
Washington adopted immediate and vigorous measures to rebuild the fort,
to which he gave the name of Fort Pitt, in honor of the great English
statesman, through whose influence the British Government finally
ordered the capture of the fort. Leaving a sufficient number of troops
to garrison it, he returned to Laurel Hill, whence he wrote to the
Governor of Virginia, in behalf of his needy soldiers at Duquesne, as
follows:
"Considering their present circumstances," he writes: "I would by no
means have consented to leave any part of them there, had not the
general given me express orders.... By their present nakedness, the
advanced season, and the inconceivable fatigues of an uncommonly long
and laborious campaign, they are rendered totally incapable of any sort
of service; and sickness, death, and desertion must, if they are not
speedily supplied, greatly reduce their numbers. To replace them with
equally good men will, perhaps, be found impossible."
Irving says, "One of the first offices of the army, after taking
possession of the fort, was to collect and bury, in one common tomb, the
bones of their fellow-soldiers who had fallen in the battles of Braddock
and Grant. In this pious duty it is said every one joined, from the
general down to the private soldier; and some veterans assisted, with
heavy hearts and frequent ejaculations of poignant feeling, who had been
present in the scenes of defeat and carnage."
The fall of Duquesne brought to an end the domination of the French on
the Ohio, as Washington predicted, restoring peace to the frontier.
Hostile Indians hastened to cast in their allegiance to the English, who
had become conquerors, thus laying aside both tomahawk and
scalping-knife, at least for a season.
Washington resolved to abandon military life and retire to his estate at
Mount Vernon, exchanging the hardships of war for the blessings of
peace. He sent in his resignation, whereupon the officers of his command
presented him with a flattering testimonial, from which we make the
following extracts:
"Sir, we, your most obedient and affectionate officers, beg leave to
express our great concern at the disagreeable news we have received of
your determination to resign the command of that corps in which we
have so long served under you. The happiness we have enjoyed, and the
honor we have acquired, together with the mutual regard which has always
subsisted between you and your officers, have implanted so sensible an
affection in the minds of us all, that we cannot be silent on this
critical occasion.
"In our earliest infancy you took us under your tuition, trained us up
in the practice of that discipline which alone can constitute good
troops, from the punctual observation of which you never suffered the
least deviation.
"Your steady adherence to impartial justice, your quick discernment, and
invariable regard to merit, wisely intended to inculcate these genuine
sentiments of true honor and passion for glory, from which the greatest
military achievements have been derived, first heightened our natural
emulation and our desire to excel. How much we improved by those
regulations and your own example, with what alacrity we have hitherto
discharged our duty, with what cheerfulness we have encountered the
severest toil, especially while under your particular directions, we
submit to yourself, and flatter ourselves that we have, in a great
measure, answered your expectations.
"Judge, then, how sensibly we must be affected by the loss of such an
excellent commander, such a sincere friend, and so affable a
companion.... It gives us additional sorrow, when we reflect, to find
our unhappy country will receive a loss no less irreparable than our
own. Where will it meet a man so experienced in military affairs--one so
renowned for patriotism, conduct, and courage? Who has so great a
knowledge of the enemy we have to deal with?... Who, in short, so
able to support the military character of Virginia?
"Your approved love to your king and country, and your uncommon
perseverance in promoting the honor and true interest of the service,
convince us that the most cogent reasons only could induce you to quit
it; yet we, with the greatest deference, presume to entreat you to
suspend those thoughts for another year, and to lead us on to assist in
the glorious work of extirpating our enemies, towards which so
considerable advances have been already made. In you we place the most
implicit confidence. Your presence only will cause a steady firmness and
vigor to actuate in every breast, despising the greatest dangers, and
thinking light of toils and hardships, while led on by the man we know
and love."
This tribute to the character of an honored commander conveys to the
reader a clear view of his illustrious position in the army, confirming
the favorable opinions hitherto expressed by the author.
XV.
HIS WIFE AND HOME.
Washington renounced military life to claim his bride. He was married at
the "White House" on the 6th of January, 1759, a few weeks before his
twenty-seventh birthday. Mrs. Custis was three months younger than the
bridegroom.
At seventeen years of age, Miss Martha Dandridge (for such was her
maiden name) was a gay and beautiful belle, having many suitors, upon
none of whom she looked favorably, except Colonel Daniel Parke Custis,
son of Hon. John Custis of Arlington. To him she was married in 1749.
Two sons and a daughter were the fruits of this marriage, the eldest of
whom died a short time before his father. The biographer of Mr. Custis
records an incident which furnishes a key to the character of this
worthy and influential gentleman:
"A short time before his death, he sent for a tenant, to whom, in
settling an account, he was due one shilling. The tenant begged that the
colonel, who had ever been most kind to his tenantry, would not trouble
himself at all about such a trifle, as he, the tenant, had forgotten it
long ago. 'But I have not,' rejoined the just and conscientious
landlord; and bidding his creditor take up the coin, which had been
purposely placed on his pillow, exclaimed, 'Now my accounts are closed
with this world!' and shortly after expired."
The loss of both husband and son was a terrible affliction to the
youthful widow; yet her Christian hope sustained her wonderfully, so
that she did not abandon herself to useless repinings. Her husband left
her his large plantation, and from one to two hundred thousand dollars
in money, the care of which, with her two surviving children, imposed
new and unusual duties upon her. How well she met these responsibilities
is told by her husband's biographer, thus:
"Mrs. Custis, as sole executrix, managed the extensive landed and
pecuniary concerns of the estates with surprising ability, making loans
on mortgage of moneys, and, through her stewards and agents, conducting
the sales or exportations of the crops to the best possible advantage."
"Beautiful, gifted, with great fascination of manners, unusually
accomplished, extremely wealthy, and youthful," as another has said, it
is not surprising that, when the usual period of seclusion and mourning
had passed, her hand and heart were sought by other worthy men. It was
not, however, until she providentially met Colonel Washington, in the
manner we have described, that she was at all disposed to enter into
another matrimonial alliance.
The wedding of Washington was a splendid affair conducted after the old
English style that prevailed among wealthy planters. Military and civil
officers with their wives, graced the occasion. Ladies appeared in the
costliest brocades, laces, and jewels which the Old World could provide.
The bride was arrayed in the height of English fashion, her wealth of
charms a fit accompaniment to the manly beauty of the bridegroom, who
stood six feet and three inches in his shoes, "The tallest and
handsomest man of the Old Dominion."
An old negro servant of Mrs. Custis expressed his views of his new
master, as follows:
"Never seed the like, sir,--never the like of him, though I have seen
many in my day,--so tall, so straight! And then, sir, he sat on a horse
and rode with such an air! Ah, sir, he was like no one else! Many of the
grandest gentlemen, in the gold lace, were at the wedding, but none
looked like the man himself."
Washington resided at the "White House" three months before taking his
seat in the House of Burgesses. That he had resolved to abandon a
military career, and that his new relation afforded him unalloyed
pleasure, is quite evident from what he wrote to a friend:
"I am now, I believe, fixed in this seat, with an agreeable partner for
life; and I hope to find more happiness in retirement than I ever
experienced in the wide and bustling world."
From a child, Mrs. Washington had enjoyed the luxuries and society that
wealth multiplies. Her own property, now united to that of her husband,
amounted to a large fortune. She could live in princely style, although
she adopted that style only so far as her social position demanded.
There was an aristocratic element that ruled in Virginia at that time,
embracing the wealthy, cultured, and ruling classes, to which she
belonged; and to this standard of living she was obliged to conform.
Her home was the resort of the wealthiest and most influential people of
Virginia.