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Show YvJTVthe story or tiie first vmsmEtiSlji Crrg T11E president-' 1 -1 petty works he should htve stayed to finish were well bexun. ' Compelled to Surrender , When, therefore, on the 17th of April, the river suddenly filled with ranocs Waring an army of more than COO Frenchmen, who put cannon ashore, and summoned the 40 men who held the place to surrender, or be blown Into the water, there was no choice but to comply. The young ensign en-sign who commanded the lltllo garrison gar-rison urged a truce till be could communicate com-municate with bis superiors, but the French commander would brook no delay. The boy might either take bla men off free and unhurt, or else fight and face sheer destruction ; and the nearest succor was a little forte of 160 men under Colonel Washington, who had not yet topped the Alleghantes In their painful work of cutting a way through the forests for their field pieces and wagons. Second In Command. The governor's plans bad been altered al-tered by the assembly's vote of money and the additional levy of men which. It made possible. Col. John Pry. whom Dinwiddle deemed "a man of good sense, and one of our best mathematicians," math-ematicians," had been given the command com-mand In chief, and Washington had been named hi second In command, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. "Dear Qeorge," wrote Mr. Corbln of the Governor's council, "I enclose you your commission. God prosper you with It!" and the brunt of the work In fact fell upon the younger man. Hut 300 volunteers could be gotten got-ten together; and, all too late, half of the raw levy were sent forward under Washington to find or mske a way for wagons and ordnance to the Ohio. The last days of May were almost at hand before they bad crossed cross-ed the main ridge of the Alleghentes. so Inexperienced' were they In the rough labor of cutting a road through the closset growth and over the sharp slopes of the mountains, and so 111 equipped; and by that time It wa already too late by a full month and more to forestall the French, who had only to follow the open highway of the Alleghany to bring what force they would to the key of the west at the forks of the Ohio. Build Fort Duqutsne. As the spring advanced, the French force upon the river grew from 600 to 1,400 men, and work waa pushed rapidly forward upon fortifications such as the little band of Engllshmet they had ousted had not thought of attempting a veritable fort, albeit of a rude frontier pattern, which Its builders called Duquesne, In honor of , their governor. . Washington could hit upon no wa-T. ter course that would afford him quick transport; 'twould have been ' 1 folly, basldes, to take his handful of ragged provincials Into the presence of an Intrenched army. He was fain to-go into camp at Grand Meadows. Just across the ridge of the niogntalts, and there await his colonel with supplies sup-plies and an additional handful of x . men. Becomts Comander-ln-Chlif. It waa "a charming field for an en- ' counter," the young . commander thought, but It waa to be hoped the enemy would not find their way to It In too great numbers. An "Independent "In-dependent Company" of provincials in the king's pay joined him out of South Carolina, whence tbey bad been sent forward by express orders from England Eng-land and the rest of the Virginia volunteers vol-unteers at last came up to Join their comradea at the Meadows without good Colonel Fry, the doughty mathematician, mathe-matician, who had sickened and died on the way so that there were presently pres-ently more than 300 men at the camp, and Washington waa now their commander. com-mander. The officers of the Independent company com-pany from South Carolina, holding their commissions from the king, would not. Indeed, take their orders from Washington, with bis colonial commission merely; and, what waa worse, their men would not work; but there was no doubt they would fight with proper dignity and spirit for bla majesty, their royal master. The first blood bad already been drawn, on the 28th of May, before reinforcements reinforce-ments bad arrived, when Washington had but just come to camp. tTO OK CONTINUED.) Installment 3 An English lieutenant at Oswego bad described tbe multltudlous Oeet efcanoea upon Ontario carrying this levy to Its place of landing In the fcke beyond, and a vagrant Frenchman French-man bad told blm plainly wbat It waa. It waa an army of six hundred men, be boasted, going to the Ohio, "to cause all the English to quit those parta." It was plain to every English Eng-lish governor In the colonies who had bia eyes o(en that tbe French woujd not stop with planting a fort upoifan obscure branch of the Alleghany, but that they would Indeed press forward t. take possession of the Ohio, drive every English trader forth, draw all the native trtbea to their Interest by force or favor, and close alike the western landa and tbe western trade In very earnest against all tbe king's subjects. Governors See the Danger. Governor Dinwiddle waa among the first to no tbe danger and the need for action, aa, In truth, was very natural. nat-ural. In office and out, his study had been the colonial trade, and be bad been merchant and official now a long time. He was one of the twenty stockholders of the Ohio company, and had come to hla governorship in Virginia with bis eye upon tbe western west-ern country. He bad but to look about him to perceive that Virginia would very' likely be obliged to meet the crisis unaided, If, Indeed, be could Induce even ber to meet It Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, Pennsylva-nia, also saw bow critically affairs stood, it la true, and bat ought to be done. HI;, agents bad met and acted rlth tbe agenta of the Ohio company already in aeeklng Indian alliances and fixing upon points of vantage beyond be-yond the Allegbanles. Hut the Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania assembly could by no argument argu-ment or device be Induced to vote money or measures In the business. Tbe placid Quaker traders were as stubborn as tbe stolid German farmers. farm-ers. They opposed It because tbey could not for the life of them see the necessity of parting with their money to send troops) upon so remote an errand. I Dinwiddle Does Not Hesitate, Dinwiddle did not wait or parley. He actod first and consulted bis legislature, legis-lature, afterwards. It waa In bla Scots blood to take tbe buainesa very strenuously, and In bla trader's blood to take It very anxiously. He bad kept himself advised from the first of tbe movements of the French. Their vanguard bad acarcely reached Presque Isle ere be dispatched letters let-ters to England apprising the government govern-ment of the danger. Answer had come very promptly, too, authorizing blm to build forts upon the Ohio. If be could get tbe money from the Burgesses; Bur-gesses; and meantime, abould the rtench trespaaa further, "to require of them peaceably to depart." "If they would not desist for a warning," , i lH :11. rv. "-Air " ,uva...i comes a Messenger. aid bis majesty, "we do hereby strictly strict-ly charge and command you to drive them off by force of arms" Even to aend a warning to the French waa no easy matter when tbe king's letter came and the chill autumn rains were at band. The mountain streams, already swollen, presently to be full of Ice. would be very dangerous for men and borse. and tbe forests were likely enough to teem with hostile savages, now tbe French were tbere. A proper messenger waa found aod dispatched, nevertheless young Major George Washington, of the Northern district. The errand lay In tria quarter; quar-ter; bla three years of surveying at the bert of the wilderneaa had made blm aa experienced woodsman and bardy traveler, bad tested hla pluck and made proof of bis character; be was well known upon the frontier, and bla friends were very lafiuenUai, and very cordial la recommending hlra for this or any other manly service thai called for steadiness, hardihood and resource. fnwtddle Knew Hie Man. Dlawtddle had been a eorrespoadeai of Law it nee Wathlagtoa'a ever elcee the presidency of the Onto ceaapaay had Uilen to the young Vlrglaia ayei tbe death of Ms neighbor. Thomas Lee, writing to hlra upon terme of Intimacy. He knew the stock of which Gorge, the younger brother, came, and the Interests In which he might be expected to embark with ardor; he could feel that be took small risk In selecting such an agent Knowing him. too. thus through his family and like a friend, be did not hesitate In writing to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania,- to apeak of thla youth of twentyone as "a person of distinction." distinc-tion." Washington performed his errand as Dinwiddle must have expected be would. He received his commission and tbe governor's letter to the French commandant on the last day of October, Octo-ber, and set out the same day for the mountains. Jacob Vanbraam. the Dutch soldier of fortune who had been bis fencing master at Mount Vernon, accompanied biro aa Interpreter, and Christopher Gist, tbe bardy, self-reliant frontier trader, whom tbe Ohio company bad employed to make Interest Inter-est for them among the Indiana of the far region upon tbe western rivers which he knew so well, was engaged to act aa hla guide and counselor; and with a few aervanta and pack horses be struck straight Into tbe forests for-ests In the middle or bleak November Reaehsa the French Fort It waa the eleventh of December before the Jaded party rode, In the coid dusk. Into the drenched and miry clearing where the dreary little fort stood that held the French commander. command-er. Through two hundred and fifty miles and more of forest they had dragged thcmselvea over swollen rivers, riv-ers, amidst an almost ceaseless fall of rain or snow, with not always an Indian In-dian trail, or tbe beaten track of the bison, to open the forest growth for their flagging horses, and on the watch always against savage treachery. It had become plain enough before they reached their destination what answer they should get from the French. Sixty miles nearer borne than these lonely headquarters of the French commander at Fort Le Doeuf they bad come upon an outpost where the French colors were to be seen flying fly-ing from a house from which an English Eng-lish trader had been driven out. and tbe French officers there had uttered brutally frank avowal of their pur pose In that wilderness aa they aat at wine with the aJ-t and temperate young Virginian, "it was their absolute abso-lute design," they said, "to take possession pos-session of the Ob'o, and, by G , tbey would do It. . . . They were aenslble the English could raise two men for their one, yet they knew their motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any undertaker of thelre." The Commandant Courteous. The commandant at Fort Le Doeuf received the wayworn ambassador very courteously, and even graciously a thoughtful, elderly man, Washington Washing-ton noted blm, "with much the air of a aoldler" but would make no profession pro-fession even that be would consider tbe English summons to withdraw; and the little party of Englishmen presently turned back amid the winter'! win-ter'! storms to carry through the froxen wilderness a letter which boasted boast-ed the French lawful masters of all tbe continent beyond tbe Alleghantes. When Washington reached Williamsburg, Wil-liamsburg, In the middle of January, 1764, untouched by even the fearful fatlguea and anxieties of that daring Journey, be bad accomplished nothing but tbe establishment of his own character char-acter In the eyes of the men w ho were to meet the crisis now at band. He bad been at Infinite pains, at every stage of the dreary adventure, to win and hold the confidence of the Indians Indi-ans who were accounted friends of tbe English, and had displayed an older man's patience, address and fortitude In meeting all their subtle shifts; and be bad borne hardships that tried even the doughty Gist. When the horses gave out, be had left them to come by easier stages, while he made bis way afoot, with only a single companion, across the weary lnagu.ee that lay upon his homeward home-ward way. Gist, bis comrade In the haxard, bad been solicitously "unwilling "unwil-ling he should undertake such a travel, who had never been used to walking before thla time." but tbe Imperative young commander would not be stayed, and the Journey was made, spite of sore feet and frosts and exhausting ex-hausting weariness. He at least knew what the French were about, with what strongholds and forces, and could afford to wait orders what to do next , The Governor Had teen Busy. Dinwiddle bad not been Idle wbile Washington went bla perilous errand. He bad gotten tbe burgesses together by the first ef November, before Waahlagton bad left the bsek settlements settle-ments to cross the wilderneaa. and would have gotten a liberal grant ef money from them had they not fallen la their debet anon tbe question wf the new fee charged, since bis coming, for every grant oat of the public laada ef the colony, and Instated that It should be done away with. "Boh-J "Boh-J acta," they said, very atuhtoerwly. "caaoot tbe deprived of tbe least tart ex their property without their con sent;" and auch a fee, they thought was too like a tax to be endured, Tbty would withhold the graut, they declared, unless the fee was abolished, notwithstanding they saw plainly enough In how critical a caae things stood in the west; and the tealy governor gov-ernor very Indignantly sent them home again. He ordered a draft of 200 men from the militia, nevertheless, neverthe-less, with the purpose of assigning the command to Washington and aee-Ing aee-Ing wbat might be done upon the Ohio without vote of tbe assembly. Defies the Burgesses. A hard heade Scotchman past sixty could not be expected to wait upon a body of wrangling and factloua provincials pro-vincials for leave to perform bla duty In a crisis, and, Inasmuch aa the object ob-ject waa to save their own lands, and perhaps their own persons, from the French, could hardly be blamed for proposing In his anger that tbey be taxed for the purpose by act of parliament. par-liament. "A governor," he exclaimed, "Is ready to be pitied In the discharge dis-charge of of his duty to bis king and country In having to do with such obstinate, self-conceited people!" Some money be advanced out of his own pocket When Washington came buck from his fruitless mission, Dinwiddle or- Ragged Regiment dered bit journal printed and copies sent to all tbe colonial governors. "As It was thought advisable by hla bonor the governor to bave tbe following account ac-count of my proceedings to and from the French on Ohio committed to print," aald thi modest young major, "I think I can ? no leas than apologize, apolo-gize, In aome measure, for the numberless number-less Imperfections In It" Dut It waa a very manly recital of noteworthy things, and touched tbe Imagination and feara of every thoughtful man who read It quite aa near tbe quick as tbe urgent and repealed letters of tbe troubled Dinwiddle. Virginia, It turned out was after all more forward than all ber neighbors neigh-bors when it came to action. The Pennsylvania assembly very coolly declared they doubted his majesty's ma-jesty's claim to the landa on the Ohio, and tbe assembly In New York followed suit "It appears," they said, in blgb judicial tone, "that the French have built a fort at the place called French Creek, at a considerable distance dis-tance from the river Ohio, which may, but doea not by any evidence or Information In-formation appear to us to be, an Invasion In-vasion of any of hla majesty's colonies" colo-nies" Tbe governors of the other colonies whose safety was most directly menaced men-aced by the movements of the French in the west were thus even less able to act than Dinwiddle. For the Virginia Vir-ginia burgessea, though they would not yield tbe point of the fee upon land granta, did cot mean to leave Major Washington In tbe lurch, and before an expedition could be got afoot bad come together again to vote a su-j of money. A Regiment Rslssd. It would be possible with the sum they appropriated to put 300 or 400 men Into the field; and aa spring drew on, raw volunteers began to gather gath-er In some numbers at Alexandria a ragged regiment made up for the most part of Idle and shiftless men, who did not always have shoes, or even shirts, of their own to wear; anxious to get their eight pence a day, but not anxious to work or submit to discipline. dis-cipline. 'Twaa astonishing bow steady and bow spirited tbey showed themselves when once they bad shaken shak-en their lethargy off and were on the march or face to face with the enemy. A body of woodsmen had been hurried forward In February, ere spring bad opened, to make a clearing and set to work upon a fort at tbe forks of tbe Ohio; but it was the 2d of April before men enough could he collected at Alexandria to begin the main movement towards the frontier, and by that time It waa too late to checkmate the French. The little force seat forward to begin forUSca-Meea forUSca-Meea had set about their task very slergJshiy aad without skill, and their commander had turned back agsfa with some of hie men te rejoin re-join the forces behind hla before the |