ructive
fire could not be returned with any effect. Major Grant was taken in an
attempt to force into the woods, where he observed the thickest of the
fire. On losing their commander, and so many officers killed and
wounded, the Highlanders dispersed, and were only saved from utter ruin
by the provincials. Only one hundred and fifty of the Highlanders
succeeded in making their way back to Loyal Hanna.

In this battle, fought September 14, 1758, two hundred and thirty-one
Highlander's were killed and wounded. The officers killed were Captain
William Macdonald and George Munro; Lieutenants Alexander Mackenzie,
William Mackenzie; Robert Mackenzie, Colin Campbell, and Alexander
Macdonald; and the wounded were Captain Hugh Mackenzie, Lieutenants
Alexander Macdonald, Archibald Robertson, Henry Munro, and Ensigns John
Macdonald and Alexander Grant.

General Forbes did not reach Loyal Hanna until November 5th, and there a
council of war determined that no farther advance should be made for
that season. But Washington had plead that owing to his long intimacy
with these woods, and his familiarity with the difficulties and all the
passes should be allowed the responsibility of commanding the first
party. This having been denied him, he prevailed on the commander to be
allowed to make a second advance. His brigade was of provincials, and
they toiled cheerfully by his side, infusing his own spirit into the men
he commanded. Over the hills white with snow, his troops poorly fed and
poorly clothed toiled onward. His movements were rapid: on November 15th
he was at Chestnut Ridge; and the 17th at Bushy Run. As he drew near
Fort du Quesne, the disheartened garrison, about five hundred in number,
set fire to the fort, and by the light of the conflagration, descended
the Ohio. On the 25th Washington could point out to the army the
junction of the rivers, and entering the fortress, they planted the
British colors on the deserted ruins. As the banner of England floated
over the Ohio, the place was with one voice named Pittsburg, in honor of
the great English premier William Pitt.

The troops under Washington were accompanied by a body of Highlanders.
On the morning of November 25th, the army advanced with the provincials
in the front. They entered upon an Indian path. "Upon each side of which
a number of stakes, with the bark peeled off, were stuck into the earth,
and upon each stake was fixed the head and kilt of a Highlander who had
b