s
year. They took pleasure, they said, in recommending him as one whose
skill and experience in Indian warfare, and thorough acquaintance with
the wild country beyond the borders, were such as could be turned to
the greatest advantage in the course of the following campaign.

Desirous of securing services of such peculiar value, Braddock sent
our young Virginian a courteous invitation to join his staff; offering
him the post of volunteer aide-de-camp, with the rank of colonel. Here
was an opportunity of gratifying his taste for arms under one of the
first generals of the day. Could he do it without the sacrifice of
honor or self-respect? Although he had left the service for the best
of reasons, as you must bear in mind, yet there was nothing in these
reasons to hinder him from serving his country, not for pay, but as a
generous volunteer, bearing his own expenses. Besides, such a post as
this would place him altogether above the authority of any equal or
inferior officer who might chance to hold a king's commission.
Debating thus with himself, and urged on by his friends, he accepted
Braddock's invitation, and joined his staff as volunteer aide-de-camp.

Now, would you know what an aide-de-camp is? Wait, and you will find
out for yourselves when we come to the battle of the Monongahela,
where Braddock suffered his gallant little army to be cut to pieces by
the French and Indians.

When Mrs. Washington heard that her son was on the eve of joining the
new army, full of a mother's fears, she hastened to entreat him not
again to expose himself to the dangers and trials of a soldier's life.
Although the army was the only opening to distinction at that time in
the Colonies, yet, to have him ever near her, she would rather have
seen him quietly settled at his beautiful homestead, as an
unpretending farmer, than on the high road to every worldly honor at
the risk of life or virtue. Ever mindful of her slightest wishes, her
son listened respectfully to all her objections, and said all he could
to quiet her motherly fears: but, feeling that he owed his highest
duty to his country, he was not to be turned from his steadfast
purpose; and, taking an affectionate leave of her, he set out to join
his general at Fort Cumberland.

Fort Cumberland was situated on Wills's Creek, and had just been built
by Braddock as a gathering point for the border; and thither he had
removed his whole army, with all his stores, and munitions of war.