[Footnote 228:  “Nous primes le parti de nous retirer en vue de rallier notre petite armee.” Dumas au Ministre, 24 Juillet, 1756.

On the defeat of Braddock, besides authorities already cited,—­Shirley to Robinson, 5 Nov. 1755, accompanying the plans of the battle reproduced in this volume (Public Record Office, America and West Indies, LXXXIL).  The plans were drawn at Shirley’s request by Patrick Mackellar, chief engineer of the expedition, who was with Gage in the advance column when the fight began.  They were examined and fully approved by the chief surviving officers, and they closely correspond with another plan made by the aide-de-camp Orme,—­which, however, shows only the beginning of the affair.

Report of the Court of Inquiry into the Behavior of the Troops at the Monongahela.  Letters of Dinwiddie.  Letters of Gage.  Burd to Morris, 25 July, 1755.  Sinclair to Robinson, 3 Sept.  Rutherford to——­, 12 July.  Writings of Washington, II. 68-93. Review of Military Operations in North America.  Entick, I. 145. Gentleman’s Magazine (1755), 378, 426. Letter to a Friend on the Ohio Defeat (Boston, 1755).

Contrecoeur a Vaudreuil, 14 Juillet, 1755.  Estat de l’Artillerie, etc., qui se sont trouves sur le Champ de Bataille.  Vaudreuil au Ministre, 5 Aout, 1755.  Bigot au Ministre, 27 Aout.  Relation du Combat du 9 Juillet.  Relation depuis le Depart des Trouppes de Quebec jusqu’au 30 du Mois de Septembre.  Lotbiniere a d’Argenson, 24 Oct.  Relation officielle imprimee au Louvre.  Relation de Godefroy (Shea). Extraits du Registre du Fort Duquesne (Ibid.). Relation de diverses Mouvements (Ibid.).  Pouchot, I. 37.]

James Smith, the young prisoner at Fort Duquesne, had passed a day of suspense, waiting the result.  “In the afternoon I again observed a great noise and commotion in the fort, and, though at that time I could not understand French, I found it was the voice of joy and triumph, and feared that they had received what I called bad news.  I had observed some of the old-country soldiers speak Dutch; as I spoke Dutch, I went to one of them and asked him what was the news.  He told me that a runner had just arrived who said that Braddock would certainly be defeated; that the Indians and French had surrounded him, and were concealed behind trees and in gullies, and kept a constant fire upon the English; and that they saw the English falling in heaps; and if they did not take the river, which was the only gap, and make their escape, there would not be one man left alive before sundown.  Some time after this, I heard a number of scalp-halloos, and saw a company of Indians and French coming in.  I observed they had a great number of bloody scalps, grenadiers’ caps, British canteens, bayonets, etc., with them.  They brought the news that Braddock was defeated.  After that another company came in, which appeared to be about one hundred, and