he province in a better posture of defence; and, to
this end, resolved to send more troops into the field, raise more
money, procure new arms and fresh supplies of military stores, and
erect a chain of twenty block-houses, or small forts, stretching along
the whole line of their frontier, from Pennsylvania to North
Carolina,--a distance of three hundred and sixty miles. Washington's
career as a soldier had not, up to this time, been marked by any of
those daring and brilliant exploits that charm and dazzle vulgar
minds; but had, on the contrary, been one unbroken train of
misfortunes and disasters. Notwithstanding this, however, the
confidence his countrymen had placed in his prudence, courage,
ability, and patriotism, so far from having been diminished thereby,
had gone on steadily gaining strength from the very beginning. They
well knew, that, had the headstrong and unlucky Braddock given heed to
his prudent and timely counsel, the late campaign could never have
ended in the disgraceful and disastrous manner that it had. As the
most flattering proof of their esteem and confidence, they now turned
to him in their hour of peril, and, although he was not yet
twenty-four years of age, called upon him, as with one voice, to take
the chief command of all the forces of the province. After some
deliberation, being persuaded that it was really their earnest desire,
he modestly accepted the appointment, on condition that certain
changes should be made in the military, and that he should be allowed
to choose his field-officers. This was readily agreed to by the
Virginia House of Burgesses; who, in addition, voted him fifteen
hundred dollars by way of compensating him for the many losses he had
suffered, in horses, baggage, and money since the beginning of the
war.

Accordingly, early in the autumn, he took up his headquarters at the
frontier town of Winchester, beyond the Blue Ridge, in the beautiful
Valley of the Shenandoah. As four great highways met here from as many
different quarters of the country, it was a post of much importance;
and he resolved, by strongly fortifying it, to make it the
rallying-point of all the border. His men were all raw recruits, just
taken from the plough or forge or carpenter's bench, as the case might
be; and, to render them fit for the peculiar service in which they
were to be employed, it became his duty, besides training them in the
regular military exercises, to instruct them in the arts and