{April.}

{June.}

Having determined to accept this invitation, he joined the
commander-in-chief, immediately after his departure from Alexandria,
and proceeded with him to Wills' Creek. The army, consisting of two
European regiments and a few corps of provincials, was detained at
that place until the 12th of June, by the difficulty of procuring
wagons, horses, and provisions. Colonel Washington, impatient under
these delays, suggested the propriety of using pack-horses instead of
wagons, for conveying the baggage. The commander-in-chief, although
solicitous to hasten the expedition, was so attached to the usages of
regular war, that this salutary advice was at first rejected; but,
soon after the commencement of the march, its propriety became too
obvious to be longer neglected.

{Fifteenth.}

On the third day after the army had moved from its ground, Colonel
Washington was seized with a violent fever, which disabled him from
riding on horseback, and was conveyed in a covered wagon. General
Braddock, who found the difficulties of the march greater than had
been expected, continuing to consult him privately, he strenuously
urged that officer to leave his heavy artillery and baggage with the
rear division of the army; and with a chosen body of troops and some
pieces of light artillery, to press forward with the utmost expedition
to fort Du Quesne. In support of this advice, he stated that the
French were then weak on the Ohio, but hourly expected reinforcements.