ongahela. They numbered six hundred
and thirty-seven; and with them went thirty-six French officers and
cadets, seventy-two regular soldiers, and a hundred and forty-six
Canadians, or about nine hundred in all.[220] At eight o'clock the
tumult was over. The broad clearing lay lonely and still, and
Contrecoeur, with what was left of his garrison, waited in suspense for
the issue.

[Footnote 217: _Relation de Godefroy_, in Shea, _Bataille du
Malangueule_ (Monongahela).]

[Footnote 218: Dumas, however, declares that Beaujeu adopted the plan at
his suggestion. _Dumas au Ministre, 24 Juillet, 1756_.]

[Footnote 219: _Relation depuis le Depart des Trouppes de Quebec
jusqu'au 30 du Mois de Septembre, 1755_.]

[Footnote 220: _Liste des Officiers, Cadets, Soldats, Miliciens, et
Sauvages qui composaient le Detachement qui a ete au devant d'un Corps
de 2,000 Anglois a 3 Lieues du Fort Duquesne, le 9 Juillet, 1755; joint
a la Lettre de M. Bigot du 6 Aout, 1755_.]

It was near one o'clock when Braddock crossed the Monongahela for the
second time. If the French made a stand anywhere, it would be, he
thought, at the fording-place; but Lieutenant-Colonel Gage, whom he sent
across with a strong advance-party, found no enemy, and quietly took
possession of the farther shore. Then the main body followed. To impose
on the imagination of the French scouts, who were doubtless on the
watch, the movement was made with studied regularity and order. The sun
was cloudless, and the men were inspirited by the prospect of near
triumph. Washington afterwards spoke with admiration of the
spectacle.[221] The music, the banners, the mounted officers, the troop
of light cavalry, the naval detachment, the red-coated regulars, the
blue-coated Virginians, the wagons and tumbrils, cannon, howitzers, and
coehorns, the train of packhorses, and the droves of cattle, passed in
long procession through the rippling shallows, and slowly entered the
bordering forest. Here, when all were over, a short halt was ordered for
rest and refreshment.

[Footnote 221: Compare the account of another eye-witness, Dr. Walker,
in _Hazard's Pennsylvania Register_, VI. 104.]

Why had not Beaujeu defended the ford? This was his intention in the
morning; but he had been met by obstacles, the nature of which is not
wholly clear. His Indians, it seems, had proved refractory. Three
hundred of them left him, went off in another direction, and did not
rejoin him till the English