290 The Winning of the West 



ers told how they had lived in the woods for three 

 months, without hearing from the Congress at 

 Philadelphia, nor yet from Boston, where the dis- 

 turbances seemed most likely to come to a head. 

 They spoke of their fear lest their countrymen 

 might be misled into the belief that this numerous 

 body of armed men was hostile or indifferent to 

 the cause of America; and proudly alluded to the 

 fact that they had lived so long without bread or 

 salt, or shelter at night, and that the troops they 

 led could march and fight as well as any in the 

 world. In their resolutions they professed their 

 devotion to their king, to the honor of his crown, 

 and to the dignity of the British empire; but they 

 added that this devotion would only last while the 

 king deigned to rule over a free people, for their 

 love for the liberty of America outweighed all other 

 considerations, and they would exert every power 

 for its defence, not riotously, but when regularly 

 called forth by the voice of their countrymen. 



They ended by tendering their thanks to Lord 

 Dunmore for his conduct. He was also warmly 

 thanked by the Virginia Legislature, as well as by 

 the frontiersmen of Fincastle, 54 and he fully de- 

 served their gratitude. 



The war had been ended in less than six months' 

 time ; and its results were of the utmost importance. 

 It had been very successful. In Braddock's war, 

 the borderers are estimated to have suffered a loss 

 of fifty souls for every Indian slain; in Pontiac's 



54 See De Haas, 167. 



