command, could ever be seriously annoyed by bands
of French and Indians. He said one day,

"After taking Fort Duquesne, I shall go to Niagara. Having taken that,
if the season will permit, I shall proceed to Fort Frontenac. Fort
Duquesne can hardly detain me more than three or four days."

Franklin, who was well aware that Braddock was entering upon a far
more formidable campaign than he anticipated, ventured very modestly
to suggest,

"To be sure, sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne with the fine
troops so well provided with artillery, the fort, though completely
fortified, and assisted with a very strong garrison, can probably make
but a short resistance. The only danger I apprehend of obstruction to
your march, is of ambuscades of the Indians, who, by constant
practice, are dexterous in laying and executing them. And the slender
line, near four miles long, which your army must make, may expose it
to be attacked by surprise in its flanks, and to be cut like a thread
into several pieces, which, from their distance, cannot come up in
time to support each other."

Braddock smiled derisively, at this ignorance of a benighted American.
"These savages may indeed," he said, "be a formidable enemy to your
raw American militia. But upon the king's regular and disciplined
troops, it is impossible that they should make any impression."

Colonel Washington regarded the wagons, and the long array of
pack-horses, as so many nuisances, arresting the rapidity of their
march, and inviting attacks which it would be impossible to repel. At
length the army was in motion. The progress was very slow. Franklin
was continually forwarding supplies; and even advanced between six and
seven thousand dollars, from his own purse, to expedite purchases. A
part of this he never received back.

The attack upon Braddock's army, and its terrible defeat soon came. A
minute account of the conflict is given in the Life of George
Washington, one of the volumes of this series. The teamsters cut the
traces of their horses, mounted the swiftest, and, in the frenzy of
their panic, rushed for home. The other horses and the wagons, with
their abounding supplies, were left to magnify the triumph of the
exultant Indians. Disastrous as was the campaign, Franklin obtained
much credit for the efficient services he had rendered.

War, with all its horrors, had now penetrated the beautiful region of
Pennsylvania, which had enjoyed eighty years of peace, thr