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Show ARostiance 2 Rraddcck's Defeat By iiusii Pcndextcr 14 Illustrations by Irwlsi Myers CopvUKHt t'v lluyh IViulovter. W.NU S.illoi CHAPTER IX Continued 27 Tlioy l,rt i"tm rtii M ns !" orlod tlie jiiiul:isa. Ami sounding Ills wnr-wlioop wnr-wlioop lt tlivil nl the llsurra now swiftly huutiilliis forward. I also tired ntnl stopped a savnj;o. Hut I tllil ""I In-Hove t tie iifYnlr would amount n anything "lore limn nn exchange ex-change of shots hotweeu lie scouts unlll I rccognh-ed (.'nptnln IVnuJon lit Hie lu-ad of a mixed force of 1'reiicli niij liulliins. On the hroast of his frincit hmilliii; shirt was a silver por-M. a pleasing turret hiul I not emptied my rlilo nt the savage. A moment after 1 fired, IVmiJeu hulled inul waved his hat nhove his dead, and Ihe Indians scattered to left ma! right. 1 would have helleved the enemy was rotreatins had not the Canadians regulars remained to held the road against ns. Y!:ile 1 was reloading. Mr. Gordon of the engineers enme up and was the lirsl c Hie regulars to In-hold the ene-hit. ene-hit. It seemed to he a most foolhardy tiling for two hundred Frenchman to iiispi:te the liuo,iiesne road against our proud army. I began to realize we were in for si'i-.iol hing more man a skirmish when a heavy tire opened on us from ahead ami from both sides, liouml I'aw and I hoth hunted the prouiul and retired to the right. A terrific howling and yelling was started hy Ihe savages, a sinister chorus that eucompa;-sed t lie road for some distance. Cage's troops seemed in' he cmii'used hy the tiendish clamor and the invisibility of Ihe foe. The ciD starred under the cruel tire, iheD rallied and began emptying their muskets in volleys. Hut there wus netliln? to shunt lit except the slim French force ahead. Kefore they could fall back from Ihe Jaws of the trap. St. Clair's working force came up on the run t pile confus-iou on confusion. Gage fell the reinforcements behind Mm and ordered his men to charge siraiglit ahead and eliminate the Frenchmen. Tne head of his column was speedily wiped out. am) the rest were sadly staggered by the fierce 6 re. A gam was rushed up to support the pioneers, and ut the third discharge of the piece. Beaujeu fell dead, dyiiii: tallanlly as became a C'hevalii-r ot St. Louis. Captain I'umas tnoU nh place, and tor a while the righting was stubbornly maintained by huth sides, with neither, apparently, securine nn distinct advantage, but with ihe Kng lisli sustaining heavy punishment General P.raddock persisted in sending heavy masses of nit-u up the road, whereas he should have fallen hack ' until he could have cleared the woods od both sides of the road. During this portion of the tight, the 1 Onondaga and I shifted about und loot turns tiring, and taking care that ' one of our Titles should be loaded ut all times. On three diiTerent occasions occa-sions we were charged by small bands ;' 'if savages, but the second unexpected scot from behind the same life al J ways spoiled the attack and sent the red mao hack to where ihe killing ia? easier. TlieD Braddock's mectiunloal dls clpline began to give ground before tlie marksmanship of the enemy. We sealed our fate b.v remaining ustrad-die ustrad-die the ravine. Braddock. furious almost al-most to the poim ot Incnhereni-y hushed Burton forward with r lie van' S'Jard. thus making the congestion worse; toi the road was but twelve rfl h-et wide. Eurton formed Ids troops undet a most galling tjie and had just finished 'he difficult maneuver when (Inge's f"res fell hack rapidly to form he hind him. TheD occurred the definite shift In ur faring. We had been sustaining terrible punishment, the penalty ol Eit hriug cauglit iu column, but we had "ie superiority nt numbers to permit .- ,ieav.v losses. Bui now the two regl U mts became badly mixed and stum hied ahoui in the smoke-tilled road like sheep. There was smoke every -i "hert!- The woods were choked with ll- 'be road was blotted mil at times 1J It. Sheets of tire rippled along the ST3 tcrj edges of the narrow way. The p i ,wo regimental colors were advanced opposite directions The ollicers --" Were hling picked off at an alarming igj rwe, and the regulars had not been 'aught self-dependence. Some of the enemy s guns were thrust from the foliage into the very fAB 'aces of the victims. There were -o,,, soiniers In that hurtle who did :Cff D,0' See an Indian. Down the Hue .;? ' were delivering their tire at two hundred yards, thereby throwing it j Wl'?. With the ancient forest closely eeinming in the road, with no foe vis-1 vis-1 tQe army was as helpless as a ""id man. 't has been repeatedly charged Sa'D Braddock that he had no Hankie Hank-ie d?,00' on the Wednesday afternoon July ninth. Such statements are true. ve had flankers out a bun-! bun-! yards or more on both sides of ,r" en 8rmy' but we rtld n(" st(,ut far ,C wa""811 aheu(i of tne "r,"y' Tnere ,lS uo ambuscade, however. Once e fighting commenced, the Hankers 1C Ie' S''' ''"Wn ny "le haphazard vol g" S "' ht own ariilliT.v How many fiiiS kill iS'""'n provincials Knglaml ; d0M "'at dav will novel lie known "'( l'"roinli ;niii 1 1 1 1-i i allies ac counted for only n portion of our dead and wounded. As Hound I'nw and I fell back through the woods on the right of the road and rh-ked death at every step from the tiro of ,iur wn ,,, t.m,K,t a glimpse of (leneral Hruddock. Ills horse was down and he was striking a man with the tint of his sword to drive him from the shelter of a tree where the fellow had very Benslhly taken refuge. Au aide supplied the commander with a fresh mount, Just as young Washington, bareheaded, his eyes blazing, reined In his frantic horse and loudly urged, "Ot them out of this slaughter-U'n I Into the woods!" "B.v 0 d, I'm commander here, sir I They'll tight here I We must advance ad-vance I" roared the general, his heavy face suffused with anger. "You d d sheep, close up I Close np there!". The last to a squad of met, who were trying to tree themselves. And he was riding them down to gel hack Into the road to be slaughtered like sheep. Sir Peter llalket, who with four hundred hun-dred men was guarding Ihe baggage train, came through the thick smoke and yelled a request that the men be ordered to find shelter. "Damnation I" thundered the gen eral. "Did I lead his majesty's regulars reg-ulars out here to hide from a parcel of naked red beggars? Advance I We must advance!" Then he was raging f-.s. r-jr With the Ancient Forest Closel Hemming In the Road, With No Foe Visible, the Army Was as Helpless as a Blind Man. dowo on those delinquents whose years of training were being swepi aside by the Instinct ot self-preserva tion "Curse you I Gel hack there!' And the flat of his sword tieat them soundly over head and shoulders. Washington wheeled. bis horse humping into Sir Peter's mount, and either to that gentleman, or lu upos trophe to the whole terrible situation he cried: "Cy G d! My Virginian. shan't be slaughtered!" With thai he was plunging through the smoke to the edge of Ihe growth where Hound Paw and I. and some riflemen, were treeing ourselves. He shouted, "(.'nptalu Waggoner, Wag-goner, tree yourself! Clear this side of the road !" Captain Waggoner raised his nand and penetrated deeper Into the growth. Eighty men. all excellent rltle shots, streamed after him. The Onou daga and 1 kepi abreasl of tne cap tain. He did not attempt to make his voice heard above the Infernal din. but pointed to the rising ground, on Ihe brow of which extended a fallen tree that must have measured at the least live feel In diameter. Once he-hind he-hind that stout barricade I knew Waggoner's Wag-goner's men would soon clear flint side of the road, and then could circle around Ihe head of the army and drive the -savages from the terrible ravine. Now we were In the trap: (leneral Braddock's solution was the only one. The army must advance We lost three men by the enemy by gaining the hill; and then the crazy mob in the road poured a volley Into our rear that killed fifty men! A few remained on the hill for safety's sake. The rest took their luck below in the woods, striving to keep on the outskirts of the enemy'si line. The Onondaga and I fell back fighting from tree to tree and striving to reach the wagon train. The after noon was wcl Ing away and from the triumphant howls of the French fn (Hang we knew the army was practically prac-tically surrounded. The Onondaga, glistening with aweat and forooloui for closer lighting, yelled In my enr: "They say we shall die like bravt men !" I did not desire to he slaughtered, as the uselessly heroic never appealed lo me. But the Dlnw'old girl was cooped up Inside, the devilish clrrle and there are certain things o man must always do. She was of my race and I was especially hound to find her. With the Onondaga the case was different. L lo hud a fair chance of winning clear of tho terrible mistake, and 1 urged him to do so. lie asked me If I would keep wllb him, and when 1 answered that 1 must llnd the wltch-woman wltch-woman he whooped hoarsely and took the lend In a line that ran parnllel to the blood-soaked road. We heard the drums sound the retreat re-treat and knew that Braddock was dead or had lost his haughty pride. We heard the firing down the line B9 the enemy attacked llalket's men at the baggage-train, and from the lessening les-sening volume of the return tire we knew our losses must be tremendous, or else the ammunition was fnlllng. At t he time Braddock ordered the retreat to he sounded only a third of the urmy was left. We learned that much afterward. The smoke made It impossible to see clearly, and the individual indi-vidual combats between rangers and savages served to confuse further our . sense of direction. 1 remember the Onondaga giving a mighty grunt as he crashed his ax through the head of a Huron who bumped Into us. I recall mechanically staving In another red skull with the butt of my loaded rltle. And then to my surprise both the Indian nnd I were In the road, surrounded by the dead and dying. and those who fired blindly, and more often killed a friend than they wounded wound-ed n foe. "These men are fools!" cried the Onondaga, dodging a blow from a musket swung by a madman. "The woods ! The woods !" But now we were In the road It was I most difficult to leave It without being be-ing shot In the back; yet to remain In the frenzied crowd mennt death without with-out a chance to strike back. We were only a short distance above the hag-gage-trnln, and toward It we began making our way. Guns were spurting flame from the bushes nt our feet. The guards were pointing their muskets mus-kets high and firing thin volleys Into the foliage. Once the retreat was sounded a panic had seized upon the survivors, nnd In a stumbling, insane rush those who could walk made last attempt to reach the river. The howling of the Indians In creased In volume ns they realized the extent of their unexpected triumph. A few hours hack the fort Indians had flatly refused to follow Beaujeu. und now they were lustln; like demons to kill. kill, until not an Knglishman was left alive. The savages, sav-ages, observing the mad fear now possessing pos-sessing Ihe army, grew bolder and began to npponr from behind the great trees, from under the grape and pea-vines, and through the tall grass, (lory hands darted out to seize some dead or dying man and drag him Into the cover. The best equipped nnd proudest army Kngiand had ever sent to North America was a rahhle of crazy men. Captain Urine of the regulars, and Captain Stewart of t lie Virginia riflemen, rifle-men, aided by another American of. ticer 1 did not know, came through the mass bearing a heavy figure. It was General Braddoek and he was puffing for breath and was wounded through the chest. "Braddock's killed! Braddock's Killed!" was the despairing cry raised us the commander was carried to the rea r. "Bally the fools at the ford," gasped ihe commander. "Braddock's killed!" howled a drill sergeant, although be must have heard his general speak. And he danced up and down until red hands shot our from the hushes and caught him by the ankles and lerked him from our sight. Colonel Washington now had all the riflemen fighting In the Indian fashion and only his maneuver saved the army from being annihilated. As it was. four hundred and fifty ollicers and men were dead, slain outright, und nearly as many more wounded, dul of eighty-nine commissioned officers of-ficers sixty-three were killed or wounded; und not a tield-ollicer bad escaped unhurt. Lean Virginians from behind trees were shouting encouragement en-couragement to one another and calling call-ing for the regulars to fall back out of the way and cross the river It was the first time oui riflemen and England's carefully drilled regulars had gone into battle together, and already al-ready the colonials were discovering they, were better men for forest fighting. fight-ing. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |