That was how General Braddock made so terrible and
absolute a fiasco of his expedition; it was the custom of the British
army to fight standing in line--(and, in truth, many a notable victory
had they won before, and many have they won since, in that
formation)--therefore fight thus in line they must, no matter what the
nature of the country in which they fought. Hence, in dense forest,
surrounded by yelling savages, our men stood up to be shot by a foe whom
they never saw till it was too late, and panic had set in amongst the
few survivors. Had our troops been taught to adapt themselves to
circumstances and to fight as the colonists fought, as the French in
Canada had learned to fight, as the Red Indians fought, taking every
advantage of cover, Braddock need not thus unnecessarily have lost
nearly seventy per cent, of his force. In matters appertaining to war
or to fighting, it was beneath the dignity, most unhappily it was
beneath the dignity, of a British general to regard as of possible value
the opinion of a mere colonial, no matter how experienced in Indian
fighting the latter might be, or how great his knowledge of the country.
It was that, no doubt, which induced Braddock to disregard the opinion,
and to pooh-pooh the knowledge of his then A.
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