lation in America--every thing dear to me here is gone--I have no
wishes--no hopes--no fears--I would not have risen to my feet to save
my life."

[74] When Capt. Paul came on the enemy's camp, he silently posted his
men in an advantageous situation for doing execution, and made
arrangements for a simultaneous fire. To render this the more deadly
and efficient, they dropped on one knee, and were preparing to take
deliberate aim, when one of them (John M'Collum) called to his
comrades, "Pull steady and send them all to hell." This ill timed
expression of anxious caution, gave the enemy a moment's warning of
their danger; and is the reason why greater execution was not done.

The Indians had left all their guns, blankets and plunder--these
together with the three white captives, were taken by Capt. Paul to
Fort Dinwiddie.[18]

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[1] Father of Dr. Archibald Alexander, sometime president of
Hampden Sydney College in Virginia, and afterwards a professor
at Princeton in New Jersey.

------

_Comment by L. C. D._--He was the grandfather of Dr.
Alexander.

[2] The attacks on the Roanoke settlement, mentioned by
Withers, occurred in June and July, 1755 (not the spring of
1757, as he states); that on Greenbrier, in September
following; and the expedition against the Shawnees did not take
place in 1757, but in February and March, 1756. Diaries and
other documents in the Wisconsin Historical Society's library
prove this. Dr. Draper estimated that Lewis's force was about
263 whites and 130 Cherokees--418 in all. The several companies
were officered by Peter Hogg, John Smith, William Preston,
Archibald Alexander, Robert Breckenridge, Obadiah Woodson, John
Montgomery, and one Dunlap. Two of Dr. Thomas Walker's
companions in his Kentucky exploration of 1750, were in the
expedition--Henry Lawless and Colby Chew. Governor Dinwiddie
had stipulated in his note to Washington, in December, 1755,
that either Col. Adam Stephen or Maj. Andrew Lewis was to
command. Washington having selected the latter, dispatched him
from Winchester about the middle of January, 1756, with orders
to hurry on the expedition. To the mismanagement of the guides
is attributed much of the blame for its failure. The
interesting Journals of Capt. William Preston and Lieut. Thomas