Part 12

"No; that won't do," said Washington to Gist, pushing aside his gun. "We are worse off when you have killed him than we are now." He thought the tribe would avenge his death by killing them.

"The villain deserves a bullet through his heart," shouted Gist, "and I can put one through with good relish."

"Very true," answered Washington with the most astonishing coolness, "but it is not good policy for us to take his life now."

Washington took away the Indian's gun and compelled him to walk ahead. At the first run of water he ordered him to build a camp fire, as if he designed to encamp there for the night. When this was done Gist said to him:

"I suppose you were lost, and fired your gun."

"No, I was not lost," answered the savage, "I know where my cabin is, and it is not far away."

"Well, then," continued Gist, "do you go home, and here is a cake of bread for you, and you must provide meat for us in the morning."

The Indian was glad enough to get away without being pierced by a bullet, and he promised them excellent fare the next morning. It was nine o'clock at night when he left them, taking with him his gun, that Washington returned to him. Gist followed him for quite a distance, to be sure that he was not deceiving them, and then hurried back.

"Now, since you would not let me shoot the villain," he said to Washington, "we must shoulder our packs and hurry away, and walk all night, or we shall never see Williamsburg."

"You are right, Gist, and we will be off at once; and the fellow may keep his meat till we come this way again," replied Washington, with as much composure as if their lives had not been in jeopardy. By the light of the camp fire their compass showed them which way to go.

The excitement of this perilous episode seemed to rest Washington's weary limbs, so that they traveled rapidly through the whole night, finding themselves at the head of Piney Creek in the morning. Washington's journal has the following entry for that day:

"The next day we continued traveling until quite dark, and got to the river, two miles above Shannopin's. We expected to have found the river frozen, but it was not, only about fifty yards from each shore. The ice, I suppose, had broken up above, for it was driving in vast quantities."

"What next?" said Gist, with an air which indicated that he recalled his warning words to Washington about the perils of such a journey. "If the Indian's bullet had taken effect we should have been saved some trouble here."

"A formidable difficulty, to be sure," answered Washington; "but a good share of wit and perseverance may overcome it. No way of getting over this stream, I think, except on a raft."

"A raft!" exclaimed Gist. "A raft would be swamped in a giffy by that ice. Besides, what have we to build a raft with? A hatchet alone will not do it."

"A hatchet is much better than nothing," responded Washington. "We will try what a hatchet can do towards it. If we fail, we will fail in trying."

"Try it is, then," said Gist, rather admiring Washington's hopefulness and pluck than otherwise. "I am at your service, and if anybody can cross the river, I think a man of your grit can."

So they set to work to construct a raft, with no implement but a solitary hatchet, consuming a whole day in the work. When the awkward affair was fairly launched, they went on board of it, and pushed off for the opposite shore. About mid-way of the river, the floating ice came down with such violence as to threaten the destruction of the raft.

"We can never reach the shore on this craft," said Gist, in a tone indicating entire resignation to a watery grave.

"Can't we stop the raft and let the ice go by?" answered Washington, at the same time putting down the setting pole to accomplish this purpose. But the rapidity of the torrent dashed the raft with such violence against the pole that it threw Washington into ten feet of water.

"Hold on!" shouted Gist under the greatest alarm; "grasp this oar." And he reached out his oar to Washington, who had already caught hold of one of the raft-logs. A severe but short struggle, and he was on the raft again.

"A cold bath," remarked Washington, as he stood upon the raft again, shaking the water from his drenched clothes.

"It is a miracle that you were not drowned," replied Gist; "and you would have been if you were as nervous as some people."

"I am cool enough now," said Washington, his wet clothes already beginning to stiffen on his back in the wintry blast. "I shall not despair so long as I remember that one faithful saint is praying for me," referring to the promise of his mother.

They made a desperate effort to keep their craft right side up in the floating ice, but failed in the attempt.

"No use!" exclaimed Gist. "We must quit the concern and make for that island."

"Yes; and that immediately, if we would save ourselves," responded Washington, as he leaped into the water, followed by Gist. The island was but a few rods distant, and they reached it just at night, with the gloomy prospect of remaining shelterless upon it until the next morning.

"Not much better off here than we were in the water," suggested Gist. "My fingers are frozen, and some of my toes; and what is to prevent the freezing of the remainder of my body?"

"If we perish, we will perish trying to keep alive," remarked Washington. "We have plenty of room to exercise ourselves here, and keep up a circulation, with no fear of being shot at by savages. It will not do to sleep in this predicament."

"It will be our last sleep if we do," answered Gist. "The cold is rapidly increasing, and I hardly see how any amount of exercise can save us."

"Be a little more hopeful, Gist. I have faith to believe that we shall be saved yet," said Washington. "This increasing cold is providential, I think. It will freeze the river before morning, and thus provide a way for us to escape from this island."

"Well, that is a hopeful view, I confess," replied Gist; "but how the biting cold can freeze the river without freezing us is incomprehensible to me."

They made a remarkable night of it, and saved their lives by muscular exertion. They dashed about in the cold, gathering hope and courage from hour to hour as the water of the stream congealed harder and harder. In the morning they crossed the river on the ice, truly thankful to a kind Providence, which had delivered them from what, to human view, was inevitable death.

Once upon the other side of the river, they made their way as speedily as possible to the house of Mr. Frazier, a few miles distant, where they regaled themselves with fire and food to their hearts' content, recounting their adventures, and causing all to wonder that they were still among the living.

Here Washington met twenty warriors, who were going to the southward to war, but had returned from Great Kenhawa, because there they found a family of seven people killed and scalped.

"Why did you return?" inquired Washington of a chief.

"For fear the inhabitants might take us to be the murderers," the chief replied.

"Did the condition of the bodies show that the massacre was recent?" Washington inquired further.

"Not very recent; the bodies were scattered about, and several of them were much eaten by hogs," was the chief's answer.

"Have you any suspicions as to who the murderers were?" urged Washington.

"Certain marks which they left behind showed that the butchery was done by Indians of the Ottawa nation," was the information given in answer to his question.

Mr. Frazier informed Washington that an Indian queen, living three miles distant, had taken offense because he did not call upon her on his way to the fort. As he was obliged to wait two days for horses, he paid her a visit and made her a present of a watch-coat.

Washington's final entry in his journal is:

"Tuesday, the 1st of January, 1774, we left Mr. Frazier's house, and arrived at Mr. Gist's, at Monongahela, the 2d, where I bought a horse and saddle. The 6th, we met seventeen horses loaded with materials and stores for a fort at the fork of the Ohio, and the day after, some families going out to settle. This day we arrived at Will's Creek, after as fatiguing a journey as it is possible to conceive, rendered so by excessive bad weather. From the first day of December to the fifteenth, there was but one day on which it did not rain or snow incessantly; and throughout the whole journey we met with nothing but one continued series of cold, wet weather, which occasioned very uncomfortable lodgings, especially after we had quitted our tent, which was some screen from the inclemency of it."

Washington arrived at Williamsburg on the sixteenth day of January, and immediately reported to Governor Dinwiddie, delivering the reply of the French commander; the belts of wampum from the Indian tribes, as pledges of friendship; together with his journal, as his report of the expedition.

Weems says, "The governor was much pleased with the Indian belts, more with the Frenchman's letter, but most of all with Washington's journal."

"I shall have your journal published immediately," said the governor to Washington.

"I beg your honor not to give it to the public in print," replied Washington; "it is a very defective document, written, as it was, in the wilderness, under the most unfavorable circumstances. It was intended for no eyes but yours."

"My dear man," said the hearty Scotchman, "you are altogether too modest in this matter. I am sure that the document is worthy of the greatest publicity."

"But you will grant me the privilege of amending it," pleaded Washington, almost frightened at the idea of his journal appearing in print.

"Indeed, major, there is no time for that now," answered the governor. "The Assembly will rise to-morrow or next day, and I want each member to have several copies to carry home with him. You need not give yourself any uneasiness, man, for your journal is worthy of a perusal by the King of Great Britain, and I intend to present him with a copy."

The journal went to press at once, and was in the hands of members of the Assembly before the adjournment. It was received with the greatest enthusiasm and praise everywhere, and was published in all the papers of the Colony. Copies were sent to England, and there it appeared in the journals of the day.

XI.

HIS FIRST BATTLE.

Washington's report concerning the designs of the French created intense excitement in Virginia and the neighboring Colonies. Governor Dinwiddie could see no other way to maintain the dignity of his government than by a resort to arms. He so reported to his Majesty the King of England. The excitement there became even greater than it was in America. Everybody wanted to fight to vindicate the nation's honor. The popular conversation was a declaration of war against the French.

The British Government was not long in framing instructions to the American Colonies, and orders were issued that they should unite in one confederacy and drive the French out of the land. The king directed Governor Dinwiddie to raise a force in Virginia, and the order was received with great enthusiasm. Washington was appointed to push recruiting, with headquarters at Alexandria. New York and South Carolina pledged two independent companies.

Washington anticipated a rush of volunteers when the governor sent out his call for troops, but the small pay offered did not induce the stalwart yeomanry, and other reliable classes, to relinquish their honorable occupations at home for the hunger and hardships of war. The result was, that a very unreliable class offered to enlist. One writer says:

"There gathered about him a rabble of ragamuffins and worthless fellows, who had spent their lives in tramping up and down the country, without settled homes or occupations. Some were without hats and shoes; some had coats and no shirts, some had shirts and no coats; and all were without arms, or any keen desire to use them if they had them. All this disgusted and disheartened our youthful colonel not a little, for he was young, and had yet to learn that it is of just such stuff that the beginnings of armies are always made."

Washington wrote to Governor Dinwiddie in a very desponding tone, complaining of the want of patriotism in the Colony. Immediately the governor came to his relief by issuing a proclamation, in which he said:

"Two hundred thousand acres of the very best land on the head-water of the Ohio will be appropriated, and divided among those who enlist and serve during the war."

The effect of this order was good, and soon one company was raised and sent forward, under Captain Trent, to occupy the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany Rivers, and there erect a fort, before the French could possess it. This was the spot which Washington recommended to Governor Dinwiddie as an admirable location for a fort.

When the work of recruiting was completed, the governor offered the command of the whole force to Washington, although Colonel Fry was entitled to it by right of seniority. Such was Washington's popularity, that Governor Dinwiddie knew the people would hail the appointment with unfeigned satisfaction. But Washington, with his usual modest estimate of himself, said to a friend:

"I cannot take the responsibility; I am not equal to it."

"That is not for you to say," urged his friend. "The people believe that you are just the man for the place, and will not be satisfied unless you take command."

"The command belongs to Colonel Fry, whose competency no one disputes, and whose age is certainly a qualification in his favor," answered Washington.

"All that may be true; it probably is true; nevertheless, the governor understands what the popular demand is, and has acted accordingly," his friend retorted. "My advice is, accept the position, and bury your modesty."

"It is not modesty," protested Washington. "I have too much love for my country to do anything to prejudice her interests."

On declining to assume the chief command, Washington wrote to Colonel Corbin, who desired that he should accept, as follows:

"The command of the whole forces is what I neither look for, expect, or desire, for I must be impartial enough to confess it is a charge too great for my youth and inexperience to be intrusted with. Knowing this, I have too sincere a love for my country to undertake that which may tend to the prejudice of it. But, if I could entertain hopes that you thought me worthy of the post of lieutenant-colonel, and would favor me so far as to mention it at the appointment of officers, I could not but entertain a true sense of the kindness. I flatter myself that, under a skilful commander or man of sense (which I most sincerely wish to serve under), with my own application and diligent study of my duty, I shall be able to conduct my steps without censure, and, in time, render myself worthy of the promotion that I shall be favored with now."

Colonel Joshua Fry was appointed to the chief command, and Washington was made lieutenant-colonel.

While Washington was attending to his duties at Alexandria, an incident occurred which illustrates the strength of his moral character. There was an election for members of the House of Burgesses, and the two opposing candidates in that district were Colonel George Fairfax and a Mr. Elzey.

"I am well acquainted with Colonel Fairfax," remarked Washington to the bystanders, "and I know him to be abundantly qualified for the position. He is able, and a true patriot."

"As much can be said of Mr. Elzey, and perhaps more," replied a man by the name of Payne, a great friend and admirer of the latter gentleman. "His experience qualifies him for the office beyond most men in the district."

Here Washington remarked, somewhat sarcastically, that character, after all, in such times, was the highest qualification, a remark that was readily construed into an insinuation that Payne's candidate did not possess it, whereupon Payne struck him so violently with a stick as to knock him down.

A scene followed. Washington's friends sprang forward to his rescue, but he was on his feet before their help reached him. They turned upon his assailant.

"What do you mean, you dastard?" exclaimed one.

"Take him into custody"! shouted another.

"Knock him down!" bawled a third.

"No, gentlemen," interrupted Washington, just in season to prevent a collision, "do not touch the man. Perhaps he was not altogether to blame. My remark was hasty. Let us have no more trouble."

The officers and others present were nearly as much surprised by Washington's intercession for his assailant as they were by the latter's heartless blow, and they stood speechless. The young commander remained until the excitement ceased, when he repaired to his lodgings at the hotel, where he immediately wrote a note to Mr. Payne, asking him to call in the morning.

Anticipating a challenge to a duel, Payne armed himself with a pistol in the morning before making the call. To his surprise, Washington met him at the door with an apology.

"I ask your pardon for an offence given in an unguarded moment," he said, grasping his hand.

Payne was thoroughly embarrassed by this reception, and he was so filled with admiration by the magnanimity of the act, that he became one of Washington's warmest friends. Their mutual friendship lasted as long as they lived.

Mr. McGuire very properly says of this deed:

"How noble and becoming was this conduct! It was especially admirable in a youthful soldier, whose very profession exposed him to peculiar temptations on such an occasion. How many would have been driven, by the fear of reproach and dread of unfavorable insinuations, to incur the hazards of a duel, thus offering up at the shrine of honor the costly sacrifice of human life. It was not possible that a man like Washington, so endowed with moral courage and regard for virtue, should be moved by the fear of man to such a course. He dreaded not the charge of cowardice from the mouths of fools. In his own bosom he had its ample refutation. He was conscious of a fortitude which no dangers could shake. To display it in murdering a fellow-citizen was not his ambition. He had before him the tented field and the enemies of his country, and he was pledged for the hazards of a mortal conflict in her defence. Here he was willing to show his courage and lay down his life. He would not do so to gratify revenge, or win applause from the vain."

When Washington had recruited two more companies of fifty men each, he applied to Governor Dinwiddie for permission to advance for the better protection of the frontier. Having procured the order from the governor, he marched out of camp, equipped not only with arms, but also with implements of labor for constructing a road over which supplies and cannon might be readily transported. This was a great undertaking, since there were giant trees to be felled, hills to be levelled, marshes to be filled, rocks to be blasted, and bridges to be built. So great a work was this, that the little army was fourteen days going thirteen miles. They reached Will's Creek on the 24th of April, 1754, where Washington unexpectedly met Captain Trent.

"What are you doing here, captain," said Washington, somewhat surprised at seeing him.

"Recruiting my command," answered Trent. "I need more men to construct the fort."

"That is certain, and we need more men everywhere," responded Washington. "It is fearfully hard work to prosecute such a campaign with so few men. But how are you succeeding?"

"As well as could be expected under the circumstances. I am thankful for the smallest number of recruits, for forty men to construct and garrison a fort at the forks of the Ohio is altogether too small a force."

While discussing this matter, Ensign Ward entered the camp, and surprised both Washington and Trent by saying:

"The garrison at the fort have surrendered to the French."

Captain Trent left Ensign Ward in command of his force at the forks, while he was recruiting at Will's Creek.

"How can that be?" exclaimed Trent, surprised beyond measure.

"On the 17th," the ensign explained, "we were surprised by the appearance of the French fleet in the river, under the command of Captain Contrecoeur, consisting of three hundred canoes and sixty batteaux, carrying a thousand men and eighteen cannon."

"To take possession of the forks and erect a fort for their own defence," interjected Washington, who had called the attention of Governor Dinwiddie to the probability of such an event.

"Yes, that was what they came for," replied Ward; "and they were glad to see one so far under way, no doubt, as it would lighten their labors."

"Did they make an attack?" inquired Washington.

"Captain Contrecoeur planted his cannon to sweep the fort, drew up his men in readiness for an attack, and then sent a demand to the English to surrender in one hour, or he would open fire."

"Under the circumstances you could not object with much resolution," remarked Washington.

"I didn't, but surrendered without parleying," replied Ward; "and we were allowed to march out bearing our arms and all our tools."

"This is a declaration of war," remarked Washington, "and we must govern ourselves accordingly."

He called his officers together for consultation, and said to them:

"The French have now invaded the frontier of the Colony, and as I construe my instructions from the government, it is my duty to march forward to meet the invaders."

"Without reinforcements from Colonel Fry?" anxiously inquired one of his officers.

"No. We can march to the mouth of Red Stone Creek, which is thirty-seven miles above the fort captured by the French, there throw up defences, and await the arrival of reinforcements."

A messenger was posted away to Colonel Fry, while the army took up the line of march to Red Stone Creek, where it hastily intrenched and awaited reinforcements.

About the 1st of May, Captain Stevens arrived with his company of fifty men. Colonel Fry remained at his post to complete arrangements and bring up supplies; but he suddenly died, so that Washington was forced to act as commander-in-chief.

With his little army increased to one hundred and fifty men, Washington proceeded to Great Meadows, making a road suitable for transporting supplies as he advanced, and reaching his destination on the 27th of May. They had but just encamped when Mr. Gist arrived.

"I have seen the trail of a party within five miles of you, which I am sure were French," he said to Washington, under evident excitement.

"I am not surprised at that announcement," replied Washington. "War is inevitable, and we must accept the issue. We must look after these French."

"Or they will look after _us_," retorted Gist. "The French mean business; there can be no doubt of that. Unless we mean business it is all up with us."

"I will pursue them at once," continued Washington; and he took forty men, leaving the remainder of his force to work on the intrenchments. Half-king, with a few Indians, joined him, and when it was supposed they were in the vicinity of the French party, two Indian scouts were sent forward, who discovered their camp two miles distant. It was in the dawn of the morning, and they had traveled all night through the driving storm and darkness, and, of course, were poorly prepared for battle. But Washington determined upon an attack immediately. Arranging his own men on the right and the Indians on the left, he advanced rapidly upon the enemy. The latter were taken unawares, but they sprang to their arms and opened fire on catching sight of the English. A brief, sharp, bloody encounter ensued, when the French surrendered, having lost ten men killed and one wounded. Twenty-one were taken prisoners. Washington's loss was one man killed and two or three wounded.