On the 18th of June they reached Little Meadows, not thirty miles from Fort Cumberland, where a report reached them that five hundred regulars were on their way to reinforce Fort Duquesne. Washington advised Braddock to leave the heavy baggage and press forward, and following this advice, the next day, June 19th, the advance corps of about twelve hundred soldiers with what artillery was thought indispensable, thirty wagons, and a number of pack-horses, began its march; but the delays were such that it did not reach the mouth of Turtle Creek until July 7th. The distance to Fort Duquesne by a direct route was about eight miles, but the way was difficult and perilous, so Braddock crossed the Monongahela and re-crossed farther down, at one o'clock. Washington describes the scene at the ford with admiration. The music, the banners, the mounted officers, the troops of light cavalry, the naval detachment, the red-coated regulars, the blue-coated Virginians, the wagons and tumbrils, the cannon, howitzers and coehorns, the train of pack-horses and the droves of cattle passed in long procession through the rippling shallows and slowly entered the forest. Fort Duquesne was a strong little fort, compactly built of logs, close to point of where the waters of the Allegheny and Monongahela unite. Two sides were protected by these waters, and the other two by ravelins, a ditch and glacis and a covered way, enclosed by a massive stockade. The garrison consisted of a few companies of regulars and Canadians and eight hundred Indian warriors, under the command of Contrecoeur. The captains under him were Beaujeu, Dumas, and Ligneris. When the scouts brought the intelligence that the English were within six leagues of the fort, the French, in great excitement and alarm, decided to march at once and ambuscade them at the ford. The Indians at first refused to move, but Beaujeu, dressed as one of them, finally persuaded them to march, and they filed off along the forest trail that led to the ford of the Monongahela--six hundred Indians and about three hundred regulars and Canadians. They did not reach the ford in time to make the attack there. Braddock's Defeat.