These agonizing sensations were heightened by a circumstance here alluded to, the more painful because he conceived it to be the offspring of injustice and ingratitude, and a reflection upon his honor and fidelity as an officer. Rumors were circulated to the disparagement of the army, charging the officers with gross irregularities and neglect of duty, and indirectly throwing the blame upon the commander. A malicious person filled a gazette with tales of this sort, which seemed for the moment to receive public countenance. Conscious of having acted with the utmost vigilance, knowing the falsehood and wickedness of these slanders, and indignant at so base a manœuvre to stain his character, it was his first impulse to retire from a station, in which patriotism, the purest intentions, hardships, and sacrifices, were rewarded only with calumny and reproach.

*

This intimation was viewed by his friends in the House of Burgesses and the Council with much concern, as their letters testified. Mingling approbation with remonstrance, and praise with advice, they made such representations, as it was not easy for him to disregard. "You cannot but know," said Landon Carter, "that nothing but want of power in your country has prevented it from adding every honor and reward that perfect merit could have entitled itself to. How are we grieved to hear Colonel George Washington hinting to his country, that he is willing to retire! Give me leave, as your intimate friend, to persuade you to forget, that any thing has been said to your dishonor; and recollect, that it could not have come from any man that knew you. And, as it may have been the artifice of one in no esteem among your

Meaning by country the popular branch of the legislature, or the people of Virginia generally.

countrymen, to raise in you such unjust suspicions, as would induce you to desert the cause, that his own preferment might meet with no obstacle, I am confident you will endeavour to give us the good effects, not only of duty, but of great cheerfulness and satisfaction in such a service. No, Sir, rather let Braddock's bed be your aim, than any thing that might discolor those laurels, which I promise myself are kept in store for you." Another friend wrote; "From my constant attendance in the House, I can with great truth say, I never heard your conduct questioned. Whenever you are mentioned, it is with the greatest respect. Your orders and instructions appear in a light worthy of the most experienced officer. I can assure you, that a very great majority of the House prefer you to any other person."

Colonel Fairfax, his early patron, and a member of the governor's Council, wrote in terms still more soothing. "Your endeavours in the service and defence of your country must redound to your honor; therefore do not let any unavoidable interruptions sicken your mind in the attempts you may pursue. Your good health and fortune are the toast of every table. Among the Romans, such a general acclamation and public regard, shown to any of their chieftains, were always esteemed a high honor, and gratefully accepted." The Speaker of the House of Burgesses expressed similar sentiments, in language equally flattering and kind. "Our hopes, dear George, are all fixed on you for bringing our affairs to a happy issue. Consider of what fatal consequences to your country your resigning the command at this time may be; more especially as there is no doubt most of the officers would follow your example. I hope you will allow your ruling passion, the love of your country, to stifle your resent

ment, at least till the arrival of Lord Loudoun, or the meeting of the Assembly, when you may be sure of having justice done. Who those of your pretended friends are, who give credit to the malicious reflections in that scandalous libel, I assure you I am ignorant, and do declare, that I never heard any man of honor or reputation speak the least disrespectfully of you, or censure your conduct, and there is no well-wisher to his country, that would not be greatly concerned to hear of your resigning."

The same solicitude was manifested by many persons in different parts of the province. A voice so loud and so unanimous he could not refuse to obey. By degrees the plot was unravelled. The governor, being a Scotchman, was surrounded by a knot of his Caledonian friends, who wished to profit by this alliance, and obtain for themselves a larger share of consideration, than they could command in the present order of things. The discontented, and such as thought their merits undervalued, naturally fell into this faction. To create dissatisfaction in the army, and cause the officers to resign from disgust, would not only distract the councils of the ruling party, but make room for new promotions. Colonel Innes, the governor's favorite, would ascend to the chief command, and the subordinate places would be reserved for his adherents. Hence false rumors were set afloat, and the pen of detraction was busy to disseminate them. The artifice was easily seen through, and its aims were defeated, by the leaders on the patriotic side, who looked to Colonel Washington as a pillar of support to their cause.

The campaign, being a defensive one, presented no opportunities for acquiring glory; but the demands on the resources and address of the commander were not the less pressing. The scene varied little from that

of the preceding year, except that the difficulties were more numerous and complicated. There were the same unceasing incursions of the savages, but more sanguinary and terrifying, the same tardiness in the enlistments, the same troubles with the militia, the same neglect in supplying the wants of the army; and on every side were heard murmurs of discontent from the soldiers, and cries of distress from the inhabitants.

And what increased these vexations was, that the governor, tenacious of his authority, intrusted as little power as possible to the head of the army. Totally unskilled in military affairs, and residing two hundred miles from the scene of action, he yet undertook to regulate the principal operations, sending expresses back and forth, and issuing vague and contradictory orders, seldom adapted to circumstances, frequently impracticable. This absurd interference was borne with becoming patience and fortitude by the commanderin-chief; but not without keen remonstrance to the Speaker of the Assembly and other friends, against being made responsible for military events, while the power to control them was withheld, or so heavily clogged as to paralyze its action. The patriotic party in the legislature sympathized with him, and would gladly have procured redress, had not the governor possessed prerogatives, which they could not encroach upon, and which he seemed ambitious to exercise; the more so, perhaps, as the leaders of the majority, learning his foible in this respect, had thwarted many of his schemes, and especially had assumed to themselves the appropriation of the public moneys, which by ancient usage had been under the direction of the governor and Council.

The summer and autumn were passed in skirmishes with the Indians, repairing the old forts, and building

new ones. By the advice of Colonel Washington a large fort was begun at Winchester, as a depository for the military stores, and a rallying-point for the settlers and troops, should they be driven from the frontiers. It was called Fort Loudoun, in honor of the Earl of Loudoun, who had now succeeded General Shirley in the American command.

Another enterprise of greater magnitude was likewise set on foot by order of the Assembly; which was a line of forts extending through the ranges of the Allegany Mountains from the Potomac River to the borders of North Carolina, a distance of more than three hundred miles, thus forming a barrier to the whole frontier. The scheme was not liked by the governor. Colonel Washington disapproved it. He objected, that the forts would be too far asunder to support each other, that the Indians might pass between them unmolested, that they would be expensive, and cause the troops to be so much dispersed as to prevent their being brought together on an emergency, thus tempting the enemy to come out in large parties and attack the weaker points. He believed, that three or four strong garrisons would constitute a better defence. In conformity with his instructions, however, he drew up a plan embracing a chain of twenty-three forts, and fixing their several positions. He sent out parties to execute the works, and visited them himself from time to time. On one occasion he made a tour throughout the whole line to the southern limits of Virginia, exposed to imminent danger from the savages, who hovered around the small forts, and lay in wait to intercept and murder all who came in their way.

In the midst of these toils, another source of vexation occurred in the affair of Fort Cumberland. As

VOL. I.

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