In one of them he
recognized, by a peculiarity of the teeth, the remains of his father,
Sir Peter Halket, and in the other he believed that he saw the bones of
a brother who had fallen at his father's side. The young officer fainted
at the sight. The two skeletons were buried together, covered with a
Highland plaid, and the Pennsylvanian woodsmen fired a volley over the
grave. The rest of the bones were undistinguishable; and, being
carefully gathered up, they were all interred in a deep trench dug in
the freezing ground.[666]
[Footnote 665: _Stanwix to Pitt, 20 Nov. 1759_.]
[Footnote 666: Galt, _Life of Benjamin West_, I. 64 (ed. 1820).]
The work of the new fort was pushed on apace, and the task of holding it
for the winter was assigned to Lieutenant-Colonel Mercer, of the
Virginians, with two hundred provincials. The number was far too small.
It was certain that, unless vigorously prevented by a counter attack,
the French would gather in early spring from all their nearer western
posts, Niagara, Detroit, Presquisle, Le Boeuf, and Venango, to retake
the place; but there was no food for a larger garrison, and the risk
must be run.
The rest of the troops, with steps quickened by hunger, began their
homeward march early in December. "We would soon make M. de Ligneris
shift his quarters at Venango," writes Bouquet just after the fort was
taken, "if we only had provisions; but we are scarcely able to maintain
ourselves a few days here.
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