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sending out any scouts to visit the woods and thickets on both sides of
him, as well as in front. With this carelessness he was advancing, when,
about noon, he was saluted with a general fire upon his front, and all
along his left flank, from an enemy so artfully concealed behind the
trees and bushes, that not a man of them could be seen. The vanguard
immediately fell back upon the main body, and in an instant the panic
and confusion became general; so that most of the troops fled with great
precipitation, notwithstanding all that their officers, some of whom
behaved very gallantly, could do to stop their career. As to Braddock
himself, instead of scouring the thickets and bushes from whence the
fire came, with grape shot from the ten pieces of cannon he had with
him, or ordering flanking parties of his Indians to advance against
the enemy, he obstinately remained upon the spot where he was, and gave
orders for the few brave officers and men who staid with him, to form
regularly, and advance. Meanwhile his men fell thick about him, and
almost all his officers were singled out, one after another, and killed
or wounded; for the Indians, who always take aim when they fire, and aim
chiefly at the officers, distinguished them by their dress. At last,
the general, whose obstinacy seemed to increase with the danger, after
having had some horses shot under him, received a musket shot through
the right arm and lungs, of which he died in a few hours, having been
carried off the field by the bravery of lieutenant-colonel Gage, another
of his officers. When he dropped, the confusion of the few that remained
turned it into a downright and very disorderly flight across a river
which they had just passed, though no enemy appeared, or attempted to
attack them. All the artillery, ammunition, and baggage of the army were
left to the enemy, and, among the rest, the general's cabinet, with all
his letters and instructions, which the French court afterwards made
great use of in their printed memorials or manifestoes. The loss of
the English in this unhappy affair amounted to seven hundred men.
Their officers, in particular, suffered much more than in the ordinary
proportion of batteries in Europe. Sir Peter Halket fell by the very first
fire, at the head of his regiment; and the general's secretary, son to
governor Shirley, was killed soon after. Neither the number of men which
the enemy had in this engagement, nor the loss which they susta