ceed to the Shawanee and Delaware villages and notify them. that he was commencing his march to chastise them for their cruelty and treacherous breach of faith, unless they made submission, released their prisoners, and atoned for the blood they had shed.

The troops marched out of fort Pitt on the 3rd of October. The column consisted of 500 men of the 42nd Highlanders, 60th Royal Americans, and the 77th Montgomery's Highlanders. They were mostly those who had been present in the gallant fight at Edge hill on the 5th and 6th of August of the preceding year, and knew well the duty and perils of the expedition. There were 700 Pennsylvanian provincial troops lately raised, and 248 of the Virginian militia present as volunteers, who were the more valuable that they sought the service from sympathy with the cause, and with a full sense of the responsibility they accepted. * One hundred and ten Virginian volunteers had arrived on the 25th of September; the remainder followed in a few days under lieutenant colonel McNeil. One painful duty had been enforced, the execution of two deserters, one from the 42nd, the second from the 60th. This crime had become so common that some fearful example was considered necessary, and the two men were shot in the presence of the garrison.

The value of Bouquet's service on this occasion can be best understood by a description of it. He was to march an armed body through a country which had never been penetrated but by the Indian and some few traders. With the exception of the expedition of de Céleron in 1749,† no organized force had ever made the attempt to pass through it, and on that occasion the expedition was made by canoes. De Céleron

* At the close of the war, although engaged in operations in which Virginia was directly interested, the house of burgesses refused to pay the Virginian militia present as volunteers, from the time they left their stations in the province. "This is surprising," Gage wrote to Halifax 27th April, 1765, [Can. Arch., A. & W. I., 121.2, p. 553] “considering the service they did their country by such a spirited behaviour." The commissioners of Pennsylvania removed the difficulty by consenting to make the payment.

+ Ante, vol. III., p. 396 et ult.

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reached the Miami, which stream he ascended and afterwards made his way to lake Erie. Bouquet's advance was on foot.

The difficulty of obtaining supplies and delivering them at fort Pitt had been immense. The last settlement was Carlisle, 202 miles distant, the point where in the first instance they had been stored. Excepting the two posts of Bedford and Ligonier, the intervening forest was unbroken. The narrow line of road, in good weather fairly passable, was the exception to its loneliness. West of fort Pitt the trail was not even known except to the Indians, who followed it in their periodical hunting expeditions. The weather was pleasant and agreeable, being the first week of October; the nights are not then unduly cold, wet has not set in, and the bivouac fire with its heat and cheery flame, always brings with its warmth the craving for rest, if incentive to sleep be required after a long and weary tramp in the woods. The flies have then. disappeared or are comparatively harmless. There was on this occasion no difficulty in obtaining water, and the heat at mid-day was not powerful and oppressive as in the summer months, often telling even on the strongest frame. Everything was in Bouquet's favour. But the territory was unknown to him and he had to trust to his guides. Many small streams had to be roughly bridged, many swamps passed through, if to skirt them was impossible. Whatever the difficulties of this character, they were more or less calculable. The main danger lay in an attempt to surprise the column on the march, the hostile tribes selecting the spot where the attack could be made. This contingency Bouquet thoroughly understood, and every precaution was taken to make surprise impossible.

On the other hand, whatever the risks of the land march, it is plain that they were less than those to be encountered in the descent of the river. We have seen how Foster had been stopped in the ascent of the Mississippi; and the Ohio offered many spots where similar interruption could be experienced, so as at least to cause confusion and loss. One important duty must be borne in mind, that of bringing with the column every mouthful of food which would be necessary.

H

The supplies had to include all that was required for the march forward, the halt, the return, indeed for the whole campaign. They had to be carried on pack-horses and mules, not with safety only, but preserved from the inclemency of the weather. Little in the shape of food could be gathered on the route, or from friendly tribes, and the possibility of any future deficiency of supplies was, in other words, starvation and the failure of the expedition.

The march was consequently carefully considered; one woman of each regiment and two hospital nurses were alone permitted to accompany the detachment. The Virginian volunteers formed the advance guard, three scouting parties being detached, that of the centre attended by a guide; the two others extended right and left to reconnoitre the woods. The axemen, under the engineer, followed in three divisions. to clear the way. The troops marched, so that in event of attack a square could be formed, the 42nd to occupy the front; the 1st battalion of Pennsylvanians the left face; two platoons of grenadiers, the right face; the Pennsylvanians

The light horse succeeded, the Virginian volunteers formed the rear-guard. The tools and ammunition, the officers' baggage, the tents, oxen, sheep and pack-horses, were enclosed in the square. The troops were enjoined to march in profound silence, each man at two yards distant from the one before him. When a halt took place, all were to face outward; thus, full disposition was made for resistance against attack. The first three days' march, for the distance of twentyseven miles, generally followed the course of the Ohio to its bend, near Big Beaver creek. On the fourth day the river was abandoned and the route took a western direction. An escaped prisoner, who had been seized by a party which was prowling about Bedford, here joined the troops. He brought the information that the force had been reconnoitred by the Indians and they had kept themselves concealed, deterred by its numbers, its order and discipline. As the troops were leaving the banks of the Ohio, their attention had been attracted by the skull of a child placed upon a pole; not a

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spectacle to impose thoughts of gentleness on the armed men. who looked upon it. The detachment passed through several spots now deserted; the ruins of places that had been held of importance at the commencement of the struggle between France and Great Britain. Logstown, now scarcely traceable, attracted de Céleron's attention in 1749 by the activity of the Shawanees and Delawares dwelling there, and had been specially visited by Croghan. They passed Great Beaver creek; a short distance below its junction with the Ohio stood the remains of a town of some size, established by the French for purposes of commerce with the Shawanees and Delawares and Mingoes. The square logs of the dwellings and the stone chimneys still remained. It had been deserted when the French abandoned fort Duquesne in 1758. They reached a point in the trail where the bark of the trees had been cleared away, to admit the production of several Indian drawings, recording previous wars, their successes, with the prisoners and scalps taken; a monument to warn them that the Indian population was numerous. The march was through a fine rolling country, with hills and valleys covered with magnificent timber, and in all directions water was met in rivulets and larger streams. Often, as the force gained a height, the beauty of the landscape impressed all who looked upon it, although their thoughts were seriously occupied by the duty which they were performing. From time to time the country became densely wooded and the road exacted unusual labour. Where the stream was not fordable, bridges were constructed for horses to pass. Occasionally they came to an outcrop of rock, to shew that the territory possessed the additional requisite for settlement; good building stone. They passed over natural savannahs, miniature prairies which in the distance ascended to higher ground and were well watered. The territory thus traversed impressed those who saw it, by its capabilities of being made available for civilization; the more strongly felt, because no interference was attempted with the advance.

Ante, vol. III., p. 401.

The march had been steadily continued for eleven days, when a wide creek discharging into the Muskingum was passed. The main branch of the river was reached, about seventy yards wide, with a good ford. The detachment passed to the west side; a little lower down and above the forks was a spot known as Tuscarawas, which contained the trace of a former village, estimated to have been inhabited by one hundred and fifty families of the Delawares. The force had marched without a halt, and were ninety-six miles from fort Pitt. Following the course of the Muskingum, the spot they had reached was something more than a hundred miles from the junction of the river with the Ohio. Bouquet therefore unopposed had arrived in the neighbourhood of the villages of the Delawares, the Shawanees and the Mingoes. It was Sunday, the 14th of October, the twelfth day, and the troops halted for a few days rest.

Bouquet was here joined by the two men he had sent from fort Pitt with despatches to Bradstreet. They explained that having met several parties of Delawares, their guides, Indians of the Six Nations, had told them that if the messengers themselves carried the letters they would not be safe. The Indians accordingly undertook to deliver them at Sandusky, suggesting that the white men should proceed to the Delaware towns personally to deliver the message of Bouquet. They found the savages busy in constructing canoes and making preparations with their families to leave the country. On hearing of Bouquet's proposal for peace, on the conditions he had named, they expressed great gladness, at once abandoned their work and sent runners in all direetions to summon the chiefs. On the arrival of the several chiefs, a letter to Bouquet was signed by them, thanking him for the promises he made with the assurance that they would come to meet him. Accordingly, on the 15th, they arrived at Tuscarawas, and behaved with the utmost submission. They agreed to deliver all their prisoners on the Ist of November. As Bouquet persevered in his design to reach their towns, they gave their consent that he should do so, and furnished four men as guides