Dawn was near, and all was silent; till
at length Lewis returned, and incensed his commander by declaring that
his men had lost their way in the dark woods, and fallen into such
confusion that the attempt was impracticable. The morning twilight now
began, but the country was wrapped in thick fog. Grant abandoned his
first plan, and sent a few Highlanders into the cleared ground to burn a
warehouse that had been seen there. He was convinced that the French and
their Indians were too few to attack him, though their numbers in fact
were far greater than his own.[659] Infatuated with this idea, and bent
on taking prisoners, he had the incredible rashness to divide his force
in such a way that the several parts could not support each other.
Lewis, with two hundred men, was sent to guard the baggage two miles in
the rear, where a company of Virginians, under Captain Bullitt, was
already stationed. A hundred Pennsylvanians were posted far off on the
right, towards the Alleghany, while Captain Mackenzie, with a detachment
of Highlanders, was sent to the left, towards the Monongahela. Then, the
fog having cleared a little, Captain Macdonald, with another company of
Highlanders, was ordered into the open plain to reconnoitre the fort and
make a plan of it, Grant himself remaining on the hill with a hundred
of his own regiment and a company of Maryland men. "In order to put on a
good countenance," he says, "and convince our men they had no reason to
be afraid, I gave directions to our drums to beat the reveille.
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