attempt, on the 24th of July, to throw
themselves into the fort as a reinforcement, were intercepted and
killed, taken, or dispersed, and the next day the garrison capitulated."
(History of Massachusetts Bay, Vol. III., p. 77.)

The expedition against the French Fort du Quesne, on the Ohio river, so
fatal to General Braddock, was entrusted to General Forbes, with
Washington, colonel of the Virginia regulars, as second in command.
Forbes, though wasting under the disease of consumption, heroically
superintended and endured for three months the difficulties and fatigues
of the same line of march pursued by Braddock three years before,
leaving Philadelphia in command of 8,000 men early in July, but not
reaching Fort du Quesne until late in November. On the evening preceding
his arrival, the French garrison, deserted by their Indians, abandoned
the fort, and escaped in boats down the Ohio. Hutchinson says: "The
expedition for dispossessing the French of Fort du Quesne, near the
Ohio, had at first a very unfavourable prospect. The English forces met
with a variety of obstructions and discouragements; and when they had
advanced to within thirty or forty miles of the fort, they were at a
stand deliberating whether they should go forward or not. Receiving
intelligence that the garrison was in a weak condition, they pushed on.
Upon their arrival at the fort they met with no opposition. The enemy
had deserted it, for want of provisions, as was generally believed; and
it was added that the provisions intended to supply that fort were
destroyed by Bradstreet at Fort Frontenac.[244] Thus the gallant and
laborious exploit of Bradstreet in demolishing Fort Frontenac
contributed to the reduction of Fort du Quesne without firing a shot."
"The English now took possession of that important fortress, and, in
compliment to the popular Minister, called it Pittsburg. No sooner was
the English flag erected on it, than the numerous tribes of the Ohio
Indians came in and made their submission to the English. General Forbes
having concluded treaties with the natives, left a garrison of
provincials in the fort and built a block-house near Loyal Hannah, but,
worn out with fatigue, he died before he could reach Philadelphia."[245]
In the same month of July that Sir William Johnson dispossessed the
French of Niagara, General Amherst took possession of the enemy's lines
at Ticonderaga, which the French abandoned after having set fire to the
fort. A f