[6] It is sometimes said that Braddock fell into an ambuscade. This is a mistake. He was surprised because he did not send scouts ahead of his army; but the Indians were not in ambush. Braddock would not permit the troops to fight in Indian fashion from behind trees and bushes, but forced his men to form in platoons. A part of the regulars who tried to fight behind trees Braddock beat with his sword and forced into line. Some Virginians who sought shelter behind a huge fallen tree were mistaken for the enemy and fired on. In the fight and after it Washington was most prominent. Twice a horse was shot under him. Four bullets passed through his clothes. When the retreat began, he rallied the fugitives, and brought off the wounded Braddock. [7] War between France and Great Britain was declared in May, 1756. In Europe it was known as the Seven Years' War; in America as the French and Indian. On the side of France were Russia and Austria. On the side of Great Britain was Frederick the Great of Prussia. The fighting went on not only in America, but in the West Indies, on the European Continent, in the Mediterranean, and in India. [8] When the colonial troops surrendered Fort William Henry, the French commander, Montcalm, agreed that they should return to their homes in safety. But the Indians, maddened by liquor, massacred a large number, and carried off some six hundred prisoners. Montcalm finally secured the release of some four hundred. Cooper's novel _The Last of the Mohicans_ treats of the war about Lake George. [9] Instead of using the road cut by Braddock, Forbes chose another route, (map, p. 144), and spent much time in road making. Late in September he was still fifty miles from Fort Duquesne, and decided to go into winter quarters. But the French attacked Forbes and were beaten; and from some prisoners Forbes learned that the garrison at Fort Duquesne was weak. A picked force of men, with Washington and his Virginians in the lead, then hurried forward, and reached the fort to find it abandoned. A new stockade was built near by, and named Fort Pitt, and the place was named Pittsburg. [10] Read Parkman's _Montcalm and Wolfe_, Vol. II, pp. 280-297. The fall of Quebec is treated in fiction in Gilbert Parker's _Seats of the Mighty_. [11] When Manila was captured, all private property was saved from plunder by the promise of a ransom of £1,000,000. One half was paid in money, and the rest in bills on the Spanish treasury. Spain never paid these bills. [12] The north boundary was the parallel of 31°; but in 1764 West Florida was enlarged, and the north boundary became the parallel of latitude that passes through the mouth of the Yazoo River. [13] They told the Indians that the British would soon be driven out, and that the Mississippi River and Canada would again be in French hands; that the British were trying to destroy the Indian race, and for this purpose were building forts and making settlements.