Another Mission

The year following the mission to Venango (1754) Colonel Washington was sent in command of a small force in the same direction; but by reason of the greatly superior strength of the enemy, the expedition resulted in a calamitous retreat.  By a singular coincidence, the compulsory evacuation of the English stronghold—­“Fort Necessity,” as it was called—­occurred on the Fourth of July, 1754—­a date afterward made forever glorious in great measure by the inestimable services of the young commander of this earlier and ill-fated military expedition.  But such were the ability, energy, and power evinced by its youthful commander, that the disaster resulted in his own greatly enhanced reputation as a born leader of men.

Braddock and Washington

In the following year (1755) a gigantic effort was made by England to recover lost ground, and to repair the military misadventures of 1754.  The history of Braddock’s disastrous expedition is familiar to every schoolboy in the land.  At this period, Colonel Washington had retired from the army in disgust at the unjust regulations which gave undue preference to officers holding commissions from the Crown over abler men—­some of them their seniors of the same rank—­in the service of the provinces.  He was, however, at length induced—­in great measure from motives of the purest patriotism, and partly, no doubt, from his strong leaning toward a military career—­to accept a position on the staff of the commanding General, Braddock, a soldier of courage and large experience, but, as events afterward proved, a haughty, self-willed, and passionate man.

During the passage of Braddock’s forces through the Alleghany Mountains, Washington was attacked by so violent and alarming a sickness that its result was for a time extremely uncertain; on his partial recovery the General caused him to move with the heavy artillery and baggage.  In this position Washington remained two weeks, returning to the General’s headquarters on the eighth of July, the day preceding the fatal battle of the Monongahela.

On the morning of this day—­forever and sadly memorable in American annals—­Washington mounted his horse, weak and worn by sickness, but strong in hope and courage.  These are his own words uttered in other and better days: 

The most beautiful spectacle I had ever beheld was the display of the British troops on that eventful morning....  The sun gleamed from their burnished arms, the river flowed tranquilly on their right, and the deep forest overshadowed them with solemn grandeur on the left.

Braddock’s Defeat

It is needless to repeat here the tale of that day of defeat and slaughter.  Historians have recorded its events, and poets have sung its story.  Throughout the action Washington was in the thickest of the fight.  “I expected every moment to see him fall,” wrote Dr. Craik, his physician and friend.  It was during this disastrous battle that Washington escaped perhaps the most imminent peril of his life.  In company with Dr. Craik, in the year 1770, he descended the Ohio River on a journey of observation to the Great Kanawha, and it was there that an incident occurred, which is thus described by Irving: