1755.] THE AMBUSCADE. 109 



There were the Ottawas, led on, it is said, by the 

 remarkable man whose name stands on the title- 

 page of this history ; there were the Hnrons of 

 Lorette under their chief, whom the French called 

 Athanase,^ and many more, all keen as hounds on 

 the scent of blood. At about nine miles from the 

 fort, they reached a spot where the narrow road 

 descended to the river through deep and gloomy 

 woods, and where two ravines, concealed by trees 

 and bushes, seemed formed by nature for an am- 

 buscade. Beaujeau well knew the ground ; and it 

 was here that he had resolved to fight ; but he and 

 his followers were well nigh too late ; for as they 

 neared the ravines, the woods were resounding 

 with the roll of the British drums. 



It was past noon of a day brightened with the 

 clear sunlight of an American midsummer, when 

 the forces of Braddock began, for a second time, 

 to cross the Monongahela, at the fording-place, 

 which to this day bears the name of their ill-fated 

 leader. The scarlet columns of the British regu- 

 lars, complete in martial appointment, the rude 

 backwoodsmen with shouldered rifles, the trains of 

 artillery and the white-topped wagons, moved on 

 in long procession through the shallow current, 

 and slowly mounted the opposing bank.^ Men 



1 " Went to Lorette, an Indian village about eight miles from Quebec. 

 Saw the Indians at mass, and heard them sing psalms tolerably well — a 

 dance. Got well acquainted with Athanase, who was commander of the 

 Indians who defeated General Braddock, in 1756 — a very sensible fel- 

 low." — MS. Journal of an English Gentleman on a Tour through Canada, in 

 1765. 



2 " My feelings were heightened by the warm and glowing narration 

 of that day's events, by Dr. Walker, who was aja eye-witness. He pointed 



