If there be pestilence, famine, earthquake, God is responsible for the consequences; for He sends the scourge. But for these woes, these terrific woes, caused simply by ambitious warfare between the courts of England and France, God is not responsible. They were the work of man. The responsibility rests upon human hearts. Who will be held, by God, accountable for them in the day of judgment? There are some persons who must have cause to tremble.
It was not until the 5th of November, that the whole army was assembled at Loyal Hannan. Dreary winter was at hand. Snow capped the summits, and ice filled the gorges of the mountains. Freezing blasts moaned through the forests and swept the plains. Fifty miles of rugged mountain ranges were to be traversed, through which no road had yet been opened. The march was commenced, without tents or baggage, and with but a light train of artillery, in consequence of the ruggedness of the way.
Washington was in the advance. His route led along the path by which the fugitives of Grant’s army had retreated. It was a melancholy march. The road presented continued traces of the awful defeat. It was strewed with human bones, picked clean by the wolves. These were the remains of beloved sons, husbands, fathers. Some had been cut down and scalped by the Indians. Some had thrown themselves on the ground, to die alone of exhaustion and hunger. Their panic-stricken companions could not remain, in their desperate flight, to nurse the sick or to bury the dead.
As the troops drew near Fort Duquesne the more numerous these mementoes of the awful past appeared. Washington advanced with the greatest caution, until he arrived within sight of the fort. He had anticipated a vigorous defence. But the signal successes of the British armies in Canada had prevented any reinforcement or supplies from being sent to Fort Duquesne. The intelligent officers saw, consequently, that they were in no condition to repel the very formidable army which Great Britain was marching against them.
The commandant had but five hundred men, and his provisions were nearly exhausted. As soon as the English army was within one day’s march of the fort, he at night embarked his troops, and nearly all the valuable material of the fortress, in several large flat-bottomed boats, blew up the magazine, reduced all the works to ashes, and, leaving but blackened ruins behind him, drifted down the rapid current of the Ohio.
In the chill and the gloom of the 25th of November, the English army reached the confluence of the Alleghany and the Monongahela rivers. There was neither fort, village, cabin, or wigwam there. Not an Indian or a Frenchman was to be seen. Not a gun, not a cartridge, not a particle of food was left behind. The grand eminences rose sublimely, as now. The two tranquil streams flowed rapidly along, as if eager to unite in forming La Belle Rivière. The primeval forest, in almost awful grandeur, covered hill and valley as far as the eye could extend. Silence and solitude reigned supreme. The French were driven out the valley, and the British flag was triumphantly unfurled.
Vigorous measures were adopted to erect another fort. It was called Fort Pitt, in honor of England’s illustrious minister. The domination of the French, in the valley of the Ohio, was at an end. The Indians promptly gave in their adhesion to the conquering power, entered into alliances with the English, and, for a short time, allowed peace to exist in that beautiful valley, which God apparently intended as one of the fairest gardens of our world.
Washington, with somewhat accumulated fame, returned to Virginia. On the 6th of January his marriage union with Mrs. Custis took place, at the White House, the attractive residence of the wealthy bride. A numerous assemblage of the distinguished gentlemen and ladies of the land graced the festive scene.[51]
Washington remained for three months, a happy man, with his bride at the White House. He then repaired to Williamsburg, to take his seat as representative in the House of Burgesses.[52] His prospects for a happy life were brilliant indeed. From his own family he had inherited a large fortune. His mental and personal attractions were extraordinary. His fame was enviable. Mr. Custis, the first husband of his wife, had left, in addition to a very large landed estate, money, well invested, amounting to two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. One-third of this fell to his widow in her own right. Two-thirds were inherited equally by her two children: a son of six years, and a daughter of four. Washington’s bride was, in all respects, everything his heart could wish. The two children were intelligent, amiable, and lovely in a high degree.
At the close of the session of the Assembly, he conducted his happy family to his favorite abode of Mount Vernon. In those blessed days of peace and domestic joy he wrote to a friend.[53]