Four Great Americans: Washington, Franklin, Webster, Lincoln | Page 8

As no horse could travel through the trackless
woods at this time of year, he must make his way on foot.
So, with only the woodsman, Gist, he shouldered his rifle and knapsack,
and bravely started home.
It was a terrible journey. The ground was covered with snow; the rivers
were frozen; there was not even a path through the forest. If Gist had
not been so fine a woodsman they would hardly have seen Virginia
again.
Once an Indian shot at Washington from behind a tree. Once the brave
young man fell into a river, among floating ice, and would have been
drowned but for Gist.
At last they reached the house of a trader on the Monongahela River.
There they were kindly welcomed, and urged to stay until the weather
should grow milder.
But Washington would not delay.
Sixteen days after that, he was back in Virginia, telling the governor all
about his adventures, and giving his opinion about the best way to deal
with the French.
* * * * *
IX.--HIS FIRST BATTLE.
It was now very plain that if the English were going to hold the Ohio
Country and the vast western region which they claimed as their own,
they must fight for it.
The people of Virginia were not very anxious to go to war. But their
governor was not willing to be beaten by the French.
He made George Washington a lieutenant-colonel of Virginia troops,
and set about raising an army to send into the Ohio Country.
Early in the spring Colonel Washington, with a hundred and fifty men,
was marching across the country toward the head waters of the Ohio. It
was a small army to advance against the thousands of French and
Indians who now held that region.
But other officers, with stronger forces, were expected to follow close
behind.
Late in May the little army reached the valley of the Monongahela, and
began to build a fort at a place called Great Meadows.
By this time the French and Indians were aroused, and hundreds of
them were hurrying forward to defend the Ohio Country from the

English. One of their scouting parties, coming up the river, was met by
Washington with forty men.
The French were not expecting any foe at this place. There were but
thirty-two of them; and of these only one escaped. Ten were killed, and
the rest were taken prisoners.
This was Washington's first battle, and he was more proud of it than
you might suppose. He sent his prisoners to Virginia, and was ready
now, with his handful of men, to meet all the French and Indians that
might come against him!
And they did come, and in greater numbers than he had expected. He
made haste to finish, if possible, the fort that had been begun.
But they were upon him before he was ready. They had four men to his
one. They surrounded the fort and shut his little Virginian army in.
What could Colonel Washington do? His soldiers were already
half-starved. There was but little food in the fort, and no way to get any
more.
The French leader asked if he did not think it would be a wise thing to
surrender. Washington hated the very thought of it; but nothing else
could be done.
"If you will march your men straight home, and give me a pledge that
they and all Virginians will stay out of the Ohio Country for the next
twelve months, you may go," said the Frenchman.
It was done.
Washington, full of disappointment went back to Mount Vernon. But
he felt more like fighting than ever before.
He was now twenty-two years old.
* * * * *
X.--THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
In the meanwhile the king of England had heard how the French were
building forts along the Ohio and how they were sending their traders
to the Great Lakes and to the valley of the Mississippi.
"If we allow them to go on in this way, they will soon take all that vast
western country away from us," he said.
And so, the very next winter, he sent over an army under General
Edward Braddock to drive the French out of that part of America and at
the same time teach their Indian friends a lesson.
It was in February, 1755, when General Braddock and his troops went

into camp at Alexandria in Virginia. As Alexandria was only a few
miles from Mount Vernon, Washington rode over to see the fine array
and become acquainted with the officers.
When General Braddock heard that this was the young man who had
ventured so boldly into the Ohio Country, he offered him a place on his
staff. This was very pleasing to Washington, for there was nothing