unremitting exertion of three days, in the county of Frederick, could
produce only twenty men.

The incompetency of the military force to the defence of the country
having become obvious, the assembly determined to augment the regiment
to fifteen hundred men. In a letter addressed to the house of
burgesses, Colonel Washington urged the necessity of increasing it
still farther, to two thousand men; a less number than which could not
possibly, in his opinion, be sufficient to cover the extensive
frontier of Virginia, should the defensive system be continued. In
support of this demand, he stated, in detail, the forts which must be
garrisoned; and observed, that, with the exception of a few
inhabitants in forts on the south branch of the Potowmac, the north
mountain near Winchester had become the frontier; and that, without
effectual aid, the inhabitants would even pass the Blue Ridge. He
farther observed that the woods seemed "alive with French and
Indians;" and again described so feelingly the situation of the
inhabitants, that the assembly requested the governor to order half
the militia of the adjoining counties to their relief; and the
attorney general, Mr. Peyton Randolph, formed a company of one hundred
gentlemen, who engaged to make the campaign, as volunteers. Ten well
trained woodsmen, or Indians, would have rendered more service.

The distress of the country increased. As had been foreseen,
Winchester became almost the only settlement west of the Blue Ridge,
on the northern frontier; and fears were entertained that the enemy
would soon pass even that barrier, and ravage the country below.
Express after express was sent to hasten the militia, but sent in
vain. At length, about the last of April, the French and their savage
allies, laden with plunder, prisoners, and scalps, returned to fort Du