Colonel Washington was obliged to stop at that place;--the physician
having declared that his life would be endangered by continuing with
the army. He obeyed, with reluctance, the positive orders of the
general to remain at this camp, under the protection of a small guard,
until the arrival of Colonel Dunbar; having first received a promise
that means should be used to bring him up with the army before it
reached fort Du Quesne.

{July 8.}

The day before the action of the Monongahela he rejoined the general
in a covered wagon; and, though weak, entered on the duties of his
station.

In a short time after the action had commenced, Colonel Washington was
the only aid remaining alive, and unwounded. The whole duty of
carrying the orders of the commander-in-chief, in an engagement with
marksmen who selected officers, and especially those on horseback, for
their objects, devolved on him alone. Under these difficult
circumstances, he manifested that coolness, that self-possession, that
fearlessness of danger which ever distinguished him, and which are so
necessary to the character of a consummate soldier. Two horses were
killed under him, and four balls passed through his coat; but, to the
astonishment of all, he escaped unhurt,--while every other officer on
horseback was either killed or wounded. "I expected every moment,"
says an eye-witness,[5] "to see him fall. His duty and situation
exposed him to every danger. Nothing but the superintending care of
Providence could have saved him from the fate of all around him."

[Footnote 5: Dr. Craik.]