ndians. The French could easily
descend to the Ohio, in their boats from Canada, and nearly all the
Indians of this vast interior, were in alliance with them.

Braddock insisted upon encumbering his march with heavily laden
wagons, which were to penetrate savage regions through which he must,
every mile, construct his road. There was a young American in the camp
by the name of George Washington. He was a man of the highest rank,
and of commanding influence, having obtained much experience in Indian
warfare. Modestly, but warmly, he remonstrated against this folly. He
not only feared, but was fully assured that such a measure would lead
to the inevitable destruction of the army. He urged that pack horses
only should be employed, and as few of them as possible; and that thus
they should hurry along as rapidly and in as compact a mass as they
could.

But Braddock was inexorable. He demanded his two hundred and fifty
wagons, and a large train of pack horses, to be laden with sumptuous
provisions for his officers. The farmers of Maryland and Virginia were
reluctant to expose the few wagons and teams they had, to such
inevitable destruction. Neither had they any confidence that the
British Government would ever remunerate them in case of their loss.

Four-wheeled vehicles were very scarce in the colonies. There were
many people who had never seen one. The general, after exhausting all
his efforts, could obtain but twenty-four. One day as he was giving
vent to his indignation, Franklin suggested that it would probably be
much more easy to obtain wagons in the more densely settled parts of
Pennsylvania. Braddock immediately urged him to undertake the
enterprise. Unwisely, we think, he consented. With his son he hastened
to Pennsylvania, and selected Lancaster, York, and Carlisle as his
centres of operation.

Whatever Franklin undertook, he was pretty sure to accomplish. In
twenty days he obtained one hundred and fifty four-horse wagons, and
two hundred and fifty-nine pack-horses. He did not accomplish this
feat however, until he had exhausted all the money which Braddock had
furnished him, had spent over a thousand dollars of his own money, and
had given bonds for the safe return of horses and wagons, whose money
value was estimated at one hundred thousand dollars.

Braddock was lavish in his compliments. Franklin dined with him daily.
The idea seemed never to have entered Braddock's mind that British
Regulars, under his