“The other road—
“From Raestown to the top of the Laurell Hill 46 miles
“From then to Fort Duquesne suppose 40 or 50 miles in all 90 with no rivers to obstruct you and nothing to stop you that I can see, except the Bugbear, a tremendous pass of the Laurel Hill.
“If what I say is true and those two roads are compared, I don’t see that I am to Hesitate one moment which to take unless I take a party [join a faction] likewise, which I hope never to do in Army matters.
“I have now told you my Opinion, and what I think of the affairs of the road, but to judge at such Distance, and of a Country I never saw, nor heard spoke off but in Capt Ward’s account, I therefore can say nothing decisive, so have sent up Sir John St Clair in order that he may explore that new road and determine the most Ellegible to be pursued, but this I think need not hinder you from proceeding upon the new road as soon as you can Conveniently.... I have spoke very roundly upon this subject [roads and forage] to Sir John, who was sent up the Country from Philadelphia for no other purpose than to fix the roads and provide forage, both of which I am sorry to say it, are yet to begin—but all this entre nous until I see you.”
Under the same date (July 25) General Forbes wrote as follows to Major-general Abercrombie: “Scouting Parties have been sent out, with the best Guides we could find, and according to the Reports which some of them have made, the Road over the Allegeny Mountain and the Lawrel Ridge will be found practicable for Carriages, which will be of infinate Consequence, will facilitate Our Matters much by shortening the March at least 70 miles, besides the Advantage of having no Rivers to pass, as We shall keep the Yeogheny upon our Left.... The Troops are all in Motion ... but I have Retarded the March of some of them upon the Route from this Place, as I am unwilling to bring them together till the Route is finally determined.”
On the twenty-sixth Bouquet wrote Forbes as follows:
“I am sending you a letter I have received from Major Armstrong. By the report of the two guides he sent out it seems the thing is very practicable; in an affair of so much consequence as this I thought I ought to act with greatest caution. While the waggoner returned today with an escort to reconnoitre how the road could be laid so as to avoid all the detours and windings of the path; and I have asked Colonel Burd to go with Rhor tomorrow to the top of the mountain (Allegheny) to determine the straightest line from here to the foot of the ascent, and to mark the turnings of the road to reach the top. I hope you will be here on their return, and could then judge if it would be well to risk this route. In 3 days the Major will return to Edmund’s Swamp, where there is abundant forage, and he will let me know what we must expect from Lawrell Hill. A man who has been 50 times by this path to the Ohio says that the remainder of the route after Loyal Hanny is a long series of hills, with swamps and bogs, but not of great ascent. He is a man named Fergusson, very limited, from whom one can elicit nothing precise; I have sent him with the Major and Dunnings. Upon the Major’s report, we shall be sure of the route as far as Loyal Hanny; and, as regards the remainder, I am sending out Captain Patterson tomorrow with 4 men, to follow this same path to the end, and return forthwith to report, observing the bad places, and the facilities afforded by the country for obviating them, such as trees, stones, &c., the quantity of grass and water, the defiles, distances, &c. He ought to be back in 12 days at latest. Colonel Washington has had the beginning of the road cut from Braddock, [along Braddock’s Road?] which I have fixed at 10 miles from Fort Cumberland. You will have been informed by the guides I sent you of the advantages of this route which is open, and needs very little in the way of repair; its drawbacks consist in the want of forage, its length, its defiles, and the crossing of rivers. Colonel Washington, who is animated with sincere zeal to contribute to the success of this expedition, and is ready to march wheresoever you may decide, writes me that, from all he has heard and from all the information he has been able to collect, our route is impracticable even for packhorses, so bad are the mountains, and that the Braddock road is the only one to take &c.
“There, my dear General, you have in brief the reports and opinions which have reached me; I will add no reflection of my own, hoping to see you every day. Do you not think it would be well to see Colonel Washington here, before making your decision? and if our parties continue to send favourable news, to convert him to give way to the evidence?”
In reply to Washington’s letter of the twenty-fifth Bouquet wrote: “Nothing can exceed your generous dispositions for the service. I see with the utmost satisfaction, that you are above the influences of prejudice, and ready to go heartily where reason and judgement shall direct. I wish, sincerely, that we may all entertain one and the same opinion; therefore I desire to have an interview with you at the houses built half way between our camps. I will communicate all the intelligence, which it has been in my power to collect; and, by weighing impartially the advantages and disadvantages of each route, I hope we shall be able to determine what is most eligible, and save the General trouble and loss of time.”[68]