artillery and baggage. In this
position Washington remained two weeks, returning to the General's
headquarters on the eighth of July, the day preceding the fatal battle
of the Monongahela.

On the morning of this day--forever and sadly memorable in American
annals--Washington mounted his horse, weak and worn by sickness, but
strong in hope and courage. These are his own words uttered in other and
better days:

The most beautiful spectacle I had ever beheld was the display of
the British troops on that eventful morning.... The sun gleamed
from their burnished arms, the river flowed tranquilly on their
right, and the deep forest overshadowed them with solemn grandeur
on the left.

_Braddock's Defeat_

It is needless to repeat here the tale of that day of defeat and
slaughter. Historians have recorded its events, and poets have sung its
story. Throughout the action Washington was in the thickest of the
fight. "I expected every moment to see him fall," wrote Dr. Craik, his
physician and friend. It was during this disastrous battle that
Washington escaped perhaps the most imminent peril of his life. In
company with Dr. Craik, in the year 1770, he descended the Ohio River on
a journey of observation to the Great Kanawha, and it was there that an
incident occurred, which is thus described by Irving:

Here Washington was visited by an old sachem, who approached him
with great reverence and addressed him through Nicholson, the
interpreter. He had come, he said, a great distance to see him. On
further discourse, the sachem made known that he was one of the
warriors in the service of the French, who lay in ambush on the
banks of the Monongahela, and wrought such havoc to Braddock's
army. He declared that he and his young men had singled out
Washington, as he made himself conspicuous riding about the field
of battle with the General's orders, and fired at him repeatedly,
but without success; whence they concluded that he was under the
protection of the Great Spirit, that he had a charmed life, and
could not be slain in battle.

Washington himself wrote thus to his brother:

By all the powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been
protected beyond all human probability and expectations; for I had
four bullets through my coat and two horses shot under me; yet I
escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companion