necessity at a critical period in the affairs of the continent, all
humanity that listens to the dictates of the heart and tender feeling
will ever deplore the exile of those hapless people.

Previous to the expulsion of the Acadians from their pleasant homes on
the meadows of Grand Pré and Minas, England sustained a severe defeat in
the valley of the Ohio, which created much alarm throughout the English
colonies, and probably had some influence on the fortunes of those
people. France had formally taken possession of the Ohio country and
established forts in 1753 on French Creek, at its junction with the
Alleghany, and also at the forks of the Ohio. Adventurous British
pioneers were at last commencing to cross the Alleghanies, and a company
had been formed with the express intention of stimulating settlement in
the valley. George Washington, at the head of a small Colonial force,
was defeated in his attempt to drive the French from the Ohio; and the
English Government was compelled to send out a large body of regular
troops under the command of General Braddock, who met defeat and death
on the banks of the Monongahela, General Johnson, on the other hand,
defeated a force of French regulars, Canadian Militia and Indians, under
General Dieskau, at the southern end of Lake George.

In 1756 war was publicly proclaimed between France and England,
although, as we have just seen, it had already broken out many months
previously in the forests of America. During the first two years of the
war the English forces sustained several disasters through the
incompetency of the English commanders on land and sea. The French in
Canada were now led by the Marquis de Montcalm, distinguished both as a
soldier of great ability and as a man of varied intellectual
accomplishments. In the early part of the Canadian campaign he was most
fortunate. Fort William Henry, at the foot of Lake George, and Fort