_, pp. 294-315.]

%83. The French and Indian War.%--Thus was begun what the colonists
called the French and Indian War, but what was really a struggle
between the French and the British for the possession of America.
Knowing it to be such, both sides made great preparations for the
contest. The French stood on the defensive. The British made the attack,
and early in 1755 sent over one of their ablest officers, Major General
Edward Braddock, to be commander in chief in America. He summoned the
colonial governors to meet him at Alexandria, Va., where a plan for a
campaign was agreed on.

%84. Plan for the War.%--Vast stretches of dense and almost
impenetrable forest then separated the colonies of the two nations, but
through this forest were three natural highways of communication: 1.
Lake George, Lake Champlain, and the St. Lawrence River. 2. The Hudson,
the Mohawk, Lake Ontario, and the Niagara River. 3. The Potomac to Fort
Cumberland, and through the forest to Fort Duquesne.

It was decided, therefore, to have four expeditions.

1. One was to go north from New York to Lake Champlain, take the French
fort at Crown Point, and move against Quebec.

2. Another was to sail from New England and make such a demonstration
against the French towns to the northeast, as would prevent the French
in that quarter going off to defend Quebec and Crown Point.

3. The third was to start from Albany, go up the Mohawk, and down the
Oswego River to Lake Ontario, and along its shores to the Niagara River.

4. The fourth was to go from Fort Cumberland across Pennsylvania to Fort
Duquesne.

%85. Braddock's Defeat, July 9, 1755.%--Braddock took command of this
last expedition and made Washington one of his aids. For a while he
found it impossible to move his army, for in Virginia horses and wagons
were very scarce, and without them he could not carry his baggage or
drag his cannon. At last Benjamin Franklin, then deputy
postmaster-general of the colonies, persuaded the farmers of
Pennsylvania, who had plenty, to rent the wagons and horses to
the general.

All this took time, so that it was June before the army left Fort
Cumberland and literally began to cut its way through the woods to Fort
Duquesne. The march was slow, but all went well till the troops had
crossed the Monongahela River and were but eight miles from the fort,
when suddenly the advance guard came face to face with an army of
Indians and French. The Indians and French