But I ventur'd only to say,
"To be sure, sir, if you arrive well before Duquesne, with these
fine troops, so well provided with artillery, that place not yet
compleatly fortified, and as we hear with no very strong garrison,
can probably make but a short resistance. The only danger I apprehend
of obstruction to your march is from ambuscades of Indians, who,
by constant practice, are dexterous in laying and executing them;
and the slender line, near four miles long, which your army must make,
may expose it to be attack'd by surprise in its flanks, and to be
cut like a thread into several pieces, which, from their distance,
can not come up in time to support each other."
He smil'd at my ignorance, and reply'd, "These savages may, indeed,
be a formidable enemy to your raw American militia, but upon
the king's regular and disciplin'd troops, sir, it is impossible
they should make any impression." I was conscious of an impropriety
in my disputing with a military man in matters of his profession,
and said no more. The enemy, however, did not take the advantage
of his army which I apprehended its long line of march expos'd it to,
but let it advance without interruption till within nine miles
of the place; and then, when more in a body (for it had just passed
a river, where the front had halted till all were come over), and
in a more open part of the woods than any it had pass'd, attack'd
its advanced guard by a heavy fire from behind trees and bushes,
which was the first intelligence the general had of an enemy's
being near him.
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