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No. 127]
Braddock's Defeat
365

admit of Parlies or Delays and Then ordered the whole Troops to Fix their Bayonets and advance Towards the French, and Bid the 4 right hand Files of the Prisoners Consisting of 24 men wch I told of my Self to Divied from the rest, one of whome I Took hold on (who oposed the Marching) and bid March, he obeyed & the rest followed. thoh Slowly, and went of Praying, Singing & Crying being Met by the women & Children all the way (which is 112 mile) with Great Lamentations upon their Knees praying &c.

I then ordered the remaining French to Chuse out 109 of Their marryed men to follow their young People (the Ice being Broke) they readily Complyed and Drew up in a Body as said the number who upon Capt Adams return I ordered of under a Gaurd Commanded by Capt Osgood one Subaltern 80 non Commission officers and Private men. who marched of them, but when he Came to put them on board the Vessels Found them but 89 Instead of 109. So that the Number Embarqued was but 230 and Thus Ended this Troblesome Jobb, which was Scheen of Sorrow. After this Capt Adams with the Transports Fell Down from Gaspereau and anchored in the Mouth of that river and Piziquid. . . .

Journal of Colonel John Winslow, in Nova Scotia Historical Society, Report and Collections, 1882-1883 (Halifax, 1883), III, 87-110 passim.


127. A French Account of Braddock's Defeat (1755)
ANONYMOUS
(Translated by E.B. O'Callagahan,1843

This brief account from the victor s side, found in the archives at Paris, shows how nearly the fortunes of war had gone the other way. — Bibliography : Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 577-579; Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, I, ch. vii; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 132.

M.DE Contrecœur, Captain of Infantry, Commandant of Fort Duquesne, on the Ohio, having been informed that the English were taking up arms in Virginia for the purpose of coming to attack him, was advised, shortly afterwards, that they were on the march. He dispatched scouts, who reported to him faithfully their progress. On the 17th instant he was advised that their army, consisting of 3000 regulars