e 10th of June," says Parkman, "before the army
was well on its march. Three hundred axemen led the way,
to cut and clear the road; and the long train of
pack-horses, waggons, and cannon toiled on behind, over
the stumps, roots, and stones of the narrow track, the
regulars and provincials marching in the forest close on
either side. Squads of men were thrown out on the flanks,
and scouts ranged the woods to guard against surprise;
for, with all his scorn of Indians and Canadians,
Braddock did not neglect reasonable precautions. Thus,
foot by foot, they advanced into the waste of lonely
mountains that divided the streams flowing into the
Atlantic from those flowing into the Gulf of Mexico--a
realm of forests ancient as the world. The road was but
twelve feet wide, and the line of march often extended
four miles. It was like a thin, long, parti-coloured
snake, red, blue, and brown, trailing slowly through the
depth of leaves, creeping round inaccessible heights,
crawling over ridges, moving always in dampness and
shadow, by rivulets and waterfalls, crags and chasms,
gorges and shaggy steeps. In glimpses only, through
jagged boughs and flickering leaves, did this wild
primeval world reveal itself, with its dark green
mountains, flecked with the morning mist, and its distant
peaks pencilled in dreamy blue. The army passed the main
Alleghany, Meadow Mountain, and traversed the funereal
pine-forest afterwards called the Shadows of Death."[25]

Meanwhile, French scouts had brought news of the approaching column,
and Beaujeu, an officer at Fort Duquesne, conceiving the idea of
attacking Braddock as he came up a deep wooded ravine lying about
eight miles from the fort, repaired thither with a force of nine
hundred men, including French regulars, Canadians, and Indians.

The English troops toiled on, and when the defenceless vanguard was
well advanced up the pass, Beaujeu gave the signal which sent down a
hail of deadly bullets upon them. Still the redcoats held their
ground bravely, firing steady volleys against the hidden foe. By this
time the main army also had entered the pass, only to be thrown into
instant confusion, their solid ranks offering a target to the French
sharpshooters. Bewildered by the converging fire, the column huddled
together at the bottom of the pass, while the bullets mowed them down
pitilessly. The brave but headstrong gen