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.

90 WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. [AET. 23.
TO ROBERT JACKSON.
Mount Vernon, 2 August, 1755.
DEAR SIR,
I must acknowledge you had great reason to be terrified at the first accounts, that were given of our unhappy
defeat; and, I must own, I was not a little surprised to
find, that Governor Innes was the means of alarming
the country with a report so extraordinary, without having better confirmation of the truth, than the story of an
afrighted wagoner!
It is true, we have been beaten, shamefully beaten,
by a handful of men,- who only intended to molest and
disturb our march. Victory was their smallest expectation. But see the wondrous works of Providence,
and the uncertainty of human things! We, but a few
moments before, believed our numbers almost equal to
the Canadian force; they only expected to annoy us.
Yet, contrary to all expectation and human probability,
and even to the common course of things, we were
totally defeated, and sustained the loss of every thing.
This, as you observe, must be an affecting story to the
colony, and will, no doubt, license the tongues of people
to censure those, whom they think most blamable;
which, by the by, often falls very wrongfully. I join
very heartily with you in believing, that when this story
comes to be related in future annals, it will meet with
unbelief and indignation, for had I not been witness to
heroic youth, Colonel Washington, whom I cannot but hope Providence
has hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some important service
to his country."
This prophetic passage may at least serve as an evidence of the elevated
standing, to which Washington had already raised himself in the esteem
of his countrymen, by his bravery and good conduct. Mr. Davies was
afterwards President of the College at Princeton, in New Jersey.