60 THE BATTLE OF BUSHY RUN. [1763, Aug. 



odors through the sultry air. At length from the 

 windy summit the Highland soldiers could gaze 

 around upon a boundless panorama of forest-cov- 

 ered mountains, wilder than their own native hills. 

 Descending from the Alleghanies, they entered 

 upon a country less rugged and formidable in itself, 

 but beset with constantly increasing dangers. On 

 the second of August, they reached Fort Ligonier, 

 about fifty miles from Bedford, and a hundred and 

 fifty from Carlisle. The Indians who were about 

 the place vanished at their approach ; but the gar- 

 rison could furnish no intelligence of the motions 

 and designs of the enemy, having been completely 

 blockaded for weeks. In this uncertainty. Bouquet 

 resolved to leave behind the oxen and wagons, 

 which formed the most cumbrous part of the con- 

 voy, in order to advance with greater celerity, and 

 oppose a better resistance in case of attack. Thus 

 relieved, the army resumed its march on the fourth, 

 taking with them three hundred and fifty pack 

 horses and a few cattle, and at nightfall encamped 

 at no great distance from Ligonier. Within less 

 than a day's march in advance lay the dangerous 

 defiles of Turtle Creek, a stream flowing at the 

 bottom of a deep hollow, flanked by steep declivi- 

 ties, along the foot of which the road at that time 

 ran for some distance. Fearing that the enemy 

 would lay an ambuscade at this place. Bouquet 

 resolved to march on the following day as far as a 

 small stream called Bushy Kun ; to rest here until 

 night, and then, by a forced march, to cross Turtle 

 Creek under cover of the darkness. 



