ly seemed possible in view of the
inequality of the forces, is the fruit of the experience of Monsieur
Dumas and of the activity and valor of the officers that he had under
his orders.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] The regulars laid the responsibility of defeat on the provincials,
alleging "that they were harassed by duties unequal to their numbers,
and dispirited through want of provisions; that time was not allowed
them to dress their food; that their water (the only liquor, too, they
had) was both scarce and of a bad quality; in fine, that the provincials
had disheartened them by repeated suggestions of their fears of a defeat
should they be attacked by Indians, in which case the European method of
fighting would be entirely unavailing."--_Review of the Military
Operations in North America from 1753 to 1756._ The _Gentleman's
Magazine_ asserted these same forces--Irish, Scotch, and English--ran
away "shamefully" at Prestonpans. The news of Braddock's defeat "struck
a general damp on the spirits of the soldiers" in Shirley's and
Pepperell's regiments, and many deserted.

"I must leave a proper number in each county to protect it from the
combinations of the Negro slaves, who have been very audacious on the
defeat on the Ohio. These poor creatures imagine the French will give
them their freedom."--DINWIDDIE to Earl of Halifax, 23 July, 1755.

[38] "Fearful of an unpursuing foe, all the ammunition, and so much of
the provisions were destroyed for accelerating their flight, that Dunbar
was actually obliged to send for thirty horse-loads of the latter before
he reached Fort Cumberland, where he arrived a very few days after, with
the shattered remains of the English troops."--_Review of the Military
Operations in North America._ Dinwiddie wished Dunbar to remain and make
a new attempt on Duquesne; but a council of officers unanimously decided
the scheme was impracticable, and on the next day (August 2d) began his
march toward Philadelphia.

EXILE OF THE ACADIAN NEUTRALS

A.D. 1755

WILLIAM H. WITHROW[39]

The deportation and dispersion of the French Neutrals from their
Acadian homes at Grandpre, on the peninsula that projects into Minas
Basin, Nova Scotia, was one of the most pitiful incidents in the
French and Indian war, known as the American phase of the Seven
Years' War. The region is familiar to Americans, through the epic of
the poet Longfellow, as the Land of Evangeline. The district a