[Sidenote: Defeat and death of that general.]

{August.}

At length, after an action of nearly three hours, General Braddock,
under whom three horses had been killed, received a mortal wound; and
his troops fled in great disorder. Every effort to rally them was
ineffectual until they had crossed the Monongahela, when, being no
longer pursued, they were again formed. The general was brought off in
a small tumbril by Colonel Washington, Captain Stewart of the guards,
and his servant. The defeated detachment retreated with the utmost
precipitation to the rear division of the army; soon after which,
Braddock expired. In the first moments of alarm, all the stores were
destroyed, except those necessary for immediate use; and not long
afterwards, Colonel Dunbar marched the remaining European troops to
Philadelphia, in order to place them in, what he termed, winter
quarters.

Colonel Washington was greatly disappointed and disgusted by the
conduct of the regular troops in this action. In his letter to
Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie, giving an account of it, he said, "They
were struck with such an inconceivable panic, that nothing but
confusion and disobedience of orders prevailed among them. The
officers in general behaved with incomparable bravery, for which they
greatly suffered; there being upwards of sixty killed and wounded--a
large proportion out of what we had.

"The Virginia companies behaved like men, and died like soldiers; for,
I believe, out of three companies on the ground that day, scarce