to dislodge them from a fortress which
they had erected at Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, within what was
claimed as British territory; to dispossess them of the fort which
they had constructed at Niagara, between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie;
to drive them from the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and
recover the valley of the Ohio. The Duke of Cumberland,
captain-general of the British army, had the organization of this
campaign; and through his patronage, Major-general Edward Braddock was
intrusted with the execution of it, being appointed generalissimo of
all the forces in the colonies.

Braddock was a veteran in service, and had been upwards of forty years
in the guards, that school of exact discipline and technical
punctilio. He was a brave and experienced officer; but his experience
was that of routine, and rendered him pragmatical and obstinate,
impatient of novel expedients, and his military precision, which would
have been brilliant on parade, was a constant obstacle to alert action
in the wilderness. He was to lead in person the grand enterprise of
the campaign, that destined for the frontiers of Virginia and
Pennsylvania; it was the enterprise in which Washington became
enlisted, and, therefore, claims our especial attention.

Prior to the arrival of Braddock, came out from England
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John St. Clair, deputy quartermaster-general,
eager to make himself acquainted with the field of operations. He made
a tour of inspection, in company with Governor Sharpe, of Maryland,
and appears to have been dismayed at sight of the impracticable
wilderness, the region of Washington's campaign. From Fort Cumberland,
he wrote in February to Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, to have the
road cut, or repaired, toward the head of the river Youghiogeny, and
another opened from Philadelphia for the transportation of supplies.
Unfortunately the governor of Pennsylvania had no money at his
command, and was obliged, for expenses, to apply to his Assembly, "a
set of men," writes he, "quite unacquainted with every kind of
military service and exceedingly unwilling to part with money on any
terms." However, by dint of exertions, he procured the appointment of
commissioners to explore the country, and survey and lay out the roads
required. At the head of the commission was George Croghan, the Indian
trader, whose mission to the Twightwees we have already spoken of.

When Sir John St. Clair had finished his to