George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 4, 15th edition.

[184] scud safely for Louisburg. Nine more of the French

chap. VIII.} 1755.

squadron came in sight of the British, but were not intercepted; and, before June was gone, Dieskau and his troops, with De Vaudreuil, who superseded Duquesne as governor of Canada, landed at Quebec, Vaudreuil was a Canadian by birth, had served in Canada, and been governor of Louisiana. The Canadians flocked about him to bid him welcome.

From Williamsburg, Braddock had promised Newcastle to be ‘beyond the mountains of Alleghany by the end of April;’ at Alexandria, in April, he prepared the ministry for tidings of his successes by an express in June. At Fredericktown, where he halted for carriages, he said to Franklin, ‘After taking Fort Duquesne, I am to proceed to Niagara, and, having taken that, to Frontenac. Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four days, and then I see nothing that can obstruct my march to Niagara.’ ‘The Indians are dexterous in laying and executing ambuscades,’ replied Franklin, who remembered the French invasion of the Chickasaws, and the death of Artaguette and Vincennes. ‘The savages,’ answered Braddock, ‘may be formidable to your raw American militia; upon the king's regulars and disciplined troops it is impossible they should make any impression.’ Still the little army was ‘unable to move, for want of horses and carriages;’ but Franklin, by his ‘great influence in Pennsylvania,’ supplied both, with a ‘promptitude and probity’ which extorted praise from Braddock and unanimous thanks from the Assembly of his province.¹ Among