The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

340 WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. [AET. 31.
where, and for some particular purpose, and none more
likely than to oppose his march.*
It was expected, that our Assembly would have been
called, in such exigences as these; but it is concluded,
as I have been informed, that an Assembly without
money would be no eligible plan. To comprehend the
meaning of this expression you must know, that the
Board of Trade, at the instance of the British merchants, have undertaken to rebuke us in the most ample
manner for our paper emissions; and therefore the Governor and Council have directed one thousand militia to
be employed for the protection of the frontiers, five
hundred of whom are to be drafted from Hampshire
and other counties, and to be under the command
of Colonel Stephen, whose military courage and capacity, says the Governor, are well established. The
other five hundred, from the southern fiontier counties,
are to be conducted by Major Lewis; so that you may
readily conceive what an enormous expense must attend these measures. Stephen, immediately upon the
Indians' retiring, advanced to Fort Cumberland with two
- The Shawanees, Delawares, and other Ohio tribes of Indians, had
made a general and almost simultaneous attack upon all the remote frontier settlements and posts. They had committed many murders, and taken
the forts at Le Bceuf, Venango, Presqu'Isle, and others on Lake Michigan, the Miami River, the Wabash, at Sandusky, and Michilimackinac.
Fort Pitt (formerly Duquesne) was in imminent danger of falling into their
hands. In July, Colonel Bouquet was despatched by General Amherst
with five hundred men and a supply of military stores for the relief of that
fort. He marched through Pennsylvania, following the same route, that
had been pursued by General Forbes's army. The Indians, who were
then besieging Fort Pitt, heard of his march, and came out to meet him.
They attacked his army on the 5th of August, in a defile near the head
waters of Turtle Creek, and the contest was kept up during the whole day,
with considerable loss'on both sides. Colonel Bouquet maintained his
ground through the night, and the next day routed the Indians, and
marched without further molestation to Fort Pitt. The news of this action seems not to have reached Washington, when he wrote the above
letter.