that he wore engaged in the service.  Presently this desire became known, and Braddock, hearing of the young Virginian’s past experience, offered him a place on his staff with the rank of colonel where he would be subject only to the orders of the general, and could serve as a volunteer.  He therefore accepted at once, and threw himself into his new duties with hearty good-will.  Every step now was full of instruction.  At Annapolis he met the governors of the other colonies, and was interested and attracted by this association with distinguished public men.  In the army to which he was attached he studied with the deepest attention the best discipline of Europe, observing everything and forgetting nothing, thus preparing himself unconsciously to use against his teachers the knowledge he acquired.

He also made warm friends with the English officers, and was treated with consideration by his commander.  The universal practice of all Englishmen at that time was to behave contemptuously to the colonists, but there was something about Washington which made this impossible.  They all treated him with the utmost courtesy, vaguely conscious that beneath the pleasant, quiet manner there was a strength of character and ability such as is rarely found, and that this was a man whom it was unsafe to affront.  There is no stronger instance of Washington’s power of impressing himself upon others than that he commanded now the respect and affection of his general, who was the last man to be easily or favorably affected by a young provincial officer.

Edward Braddock was a veteran soldier, a skilled disciplinarian, and a rigid martinet.  He was narrow-minded, brutal, and brave.  He had led a fast life in society, indulging in coarse and violent dissipations, and was proud with the intense pride of a limited intelligence and a nature incapable of physical fear.  It would be difficult to conceive of a man more unfit to be entrusted with the task of marching through the wilderness and sweeping the French from the Ohio.  All the conditions which confronted him were unfamiliar and beyond his experience.  He cordially despised the provincials who were essential to his success, and lost no opportunity of showing his contempt for them.  The colonists on their side, especially in Pennsylvania, gave him, unfortunately, only too much ground for irritation and disgust.  They were delighted to see this brilliant force come from England to fight their battles, but they kept on wrangling and holding back, refusing money and supplies, and doing nothing.  Braddock chafed and delayed, swore angrily, and lingered still.  Washington strove to help him, but defended his country fearlessly against wholesale and furious attacks.