Morton.
"When the British were very near Fort Duquesne," continued Mr. Emerson,
"the French sent out a small band, mainly Indians, to meet them. The
English general didn't understand Indian fighting and kept his men
massed in the road where they were shot down in great numbers and he
lost his own life. There's a town named after him, on the site of the
battle."
"Here it is," and Helen pointed it out on the map in the railway folder.
"It's about ten miles from Pittsburg."
"Washington took command after the death of Braddock, and this was his
first real military experience. However, his heart was in the taking of
Fort Duquesne and when General Forbes was sent out to make another
attempt at capturing it Washington commanded one of the regiments of
Virginia troops."
"Isn't there any poetry about it?" demanded Ethel Brown, who knew her
grandfather's habit of collecting historical ballads.
"Certainly there is. There are some verses on 'Fort Duquesne' by Florus
Plimpton written for the hundredth anniversary of the capture."
"Did they have a great old fight to take the fort?" asked Roger.
"No fight at all. Here's what Plimpton says:--
"So said: and each to sleep addressed his wearied limbs and mind,
And all was hushed i' the forest, save the sobbing of the wind,
And the tramp, tramp, tramp of the sentinel, who started oft in fright
At the shadows wrought 'mid the giant trees by the fitful camp-fire
light.
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