Armstrong, "we were agreeably entertained with a quick succession of charged guns, gradually firing off as reached by the fire, but much more so with the vast explosion of sundry bags, and large kegs of powder, wherewith almost every house abounded." The colonel was in a strange condition to enjoy such an entertainment, having received a wound from a large musket-ball in the shoulder. The object of the expedition was accomplished. Thirty or forty of the warriors were slain; their stronghold was a smoking ruin. There was danger of the victors being cut off by a detachment from Fort Duquesne. They made the best of their way, therefore, to their horses, which had been left at a distance, and set off rapidly on their march to Fort Lyttleton, about sixty miles north of Fort Cumberland. Colonel Armstrong had reached Fort Lyttleton on the 14th of September, six days after the battle, and fears were entertained that he had been intercepted by the Indians and was lost. He, with his ensign and eleven men, had separated from the main body when they began their march and had taken another and what was supposed a safer road. He had with him a woman, a boy, and two little girls, recaptured from the Indians. The whole party ultimately arrived safe at Fort Lyttleton, but it would seem that Mercer, weak and faint from his fractured arm, must have fallen behind, or in some way become separated from them, and had a long, solitary, and painful struggle through the wilderness, reaching the fort sick, CAPTAIN HUGH MERCER. 261 weary, and half famished.1 We shall have to speak hereafter of his services when under the standard of Washington, whose friend and neighbor he subsequently became.2 1 "We hear that Captain Mercer was fourteen days in getting to Fort Lyttleton. He had a miraculous escape, living ten days on two dried clams and a rattlesnake, with the assistance of a few berries." - New York Mercury for October 4, 1756. 2 Mercer was a Scotchman, about thirty-four years of age. About ten years previously he had served as assistant-surgeon in the forces of Charles Edward, and followed his standard to the disastrous field of Culloden. After the defeat of the "Chevalier," he had escaped by the way of Inverness to America, and taken up his residence on the frontier of Pennsylvania. CHAPTER XXI. Founding of Fort Loudoun. - Washing.. HROUGHOUT the upon for frontier security.' would permit. It received, or for wagers Loudoun, in honor of the their ammunition whose arrival in Virginia rovisions. In the of the country were in pated. As to the sites of the the little dependence decided upon by Washiny slow in coming to ter frequent and long co sent out to work on them, militia drafted to garri visited occasionally out their preserve regardless of everyIn short, they were enching ruin, that the near at hand. It in a general motion tofor the mountains 265 year's service peculiarly sing to Washington, was respondence with Governor ntleman, either from the natJasion of his mind, or from a perplex, was extremely ambigactory in most of his orders and nuch am I kept in the dark," says . in one of his letters, "that I do not to prepare for the offensive or deWat would be absolutely neccessary , would be quite useless for the other." The orders I receive are full of : י י I am left like a wanderer in the wilto proceed at hazard. I am answerable sequences, and blamed, without the privi or defense." nothing was this disposition to perplex more nt than in the governor's replies respectFort Cumberland. Washington had repeat'y urged the abandonment of this fort as a place CHAPTER XXI. Founding of Fort Loudoun.- Washington's Tour of Inspection. Inefficiency of the Militia System. Gentlemen Soldiers. Cross-purposes with Dinwiddie. - Military Affairs in the North.- Delays of Lord Loudoun. — Activity of Montcalm. - Loudoun in Winter Quarters. HROUGHOUT the summer of 1756, Washington exerted himself diligently in carrying out measures determined upon for frontier security. The great fortress at Winchester was commenced, and the work urged forward as expeditiously as the delays and perplexities incident to a badly organized service would permit. It received the name of Fort Loudoun, in honor of the commander-in-chief, whose arrival in Virginia was hopefully anticipated. As to the sites of the frontier posts, they were decided upon by Washington and his officers, after frequent and long consultations; parties were sent out to work on them, and men recruited, and militia drafted to garrison them. Washington visited occasionally such as were in progress, and near at hand. It was a service of some peril, for the mountains and forests were still infested by prowling savages, especially in the neighborhood of these new forts. At one time when he |