When General Braddock heard that this was the young man who had ventured so boldly into the Ohio Country, he offered him a place on his staff.  This was very pleasing to Washington, for there was nothing more attractive to him than soldiering.

It was several weeks before the army was ready to start:  and then it moved so slowly that it did not reach the Monongahela until July.

The soldiers in their fine uniforms made a splendid appearance as they marched in regular order across the country.

Benjamin Franklin, one of the wisest men in America, had told General Braddock that his greatest danger would be from unseen foes hidden among the underbrush and trees.

“They may be dangerous to your backwoodsmen,” said Braddock; “but to the trained soldiers of the king they can give no trouble at all.”

But scarcely had the army crossed the Monongahela when it was fired upon by unseen enemies.  The woods rang with the cries of savage men.

The soldiers knew not how to return the fire.  They were shot down in their tracks like animals in a pen.

“Let the men take to the shelter of the trees!” was Washington’s advice.

But Braddock would not listen to it.  They must keep in order and fight as they had been trained to fight.

Washington rode hither and thither trying his best to save the day.  Two horses were shot under him; four bullets passed through his coat; and still he was unhurt.  The Indians thought that he bore a charmed life, for none of them could hit him.

It was a dreadful affair—­more like a slaughter than a battle.  Seven hundred of Braddock’s fine soldiers, and more than half of his officers, were killed or wounded.  And all this havoc was made by two hundred Frenchmen and about six hundred Indians hidden among the trees.

At last Braddock gave the order to retreat.  It soon became a wild flight rather than a retreat; and yet, had it not been for Washington, it would have been much worse.

The General himself had been fatally wounded.  There was no one but Washington who could restore courage to the frightened men, and lead them safely from the place of defeat.

Four days after the battle General Braddock died, and the remnant of the army being now led by a Colonel Dunbar, hurried back to the eastern settlements.

Of all the men who took part in that unfortunate expedition against the French, there was only one who gained any renown therefrom, and that one was Colonel George Washington.

He went back to Mount Vernon, wishing never to be sent to the Ohio Country again.

The people of Virginia were so fearful lest the French and Indians should follow up their victory and attack the settlements, that they quickly raised a regiment of a thousand men to defend their colony.  And so highly did they esteem Colonel Washington that they made him commander of all the forces of the colony, to do with them as he might deem best.