18. The guard being disordered, the general hurried the troops up to their assistance. This was done in great confusion, through wagons, baggage, and cattle. They were now attacked also from behind. The officers were on horseback, and easily distinguished and picked out as marks by the enemy. The soldiers were thrown together in great disorder, having or hearing no orders, and standing to be shot at, till two thirds of them were killed; then, being seized with a panic, the remainder fled in precipitation. 19. The wagoners took each a horse out of his team, and scampered. Their example was immediately followed by others, so that all the wagons, provisions, artillery and stores were left to the enemy. The general, being wounded, was brought off with difficulty; out of eighty-six officers, sixty-three were killed or wounded; and seven hundred and fourteen men killed, of eleven hundred. 20. These men had been picked from the whole army; the rest had been left behind with Colonel Dunbar, who was to follow with the heavier parts of the baggage. The fugitives arrived at Dunbar's camp, and communicated their own panic to him and all his people. Though he had now above a thousand men, he determined not to meddle with the enemy, but to make the best of his way to the settlements. Notwithstanding requests from the governor of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, that he would post his troops on the frontiers to protect the inhabitants, he continued his hasty and disgraceful march till he had arrived at snug quarters in Philadelphia. * * * * * 1. Why were commissioners from the colonies ordered to assemble at Albany? Who were sent from Pennsylvania? 2. What plan did Franklin draw up? 3. Why did the British government disapprove of the proposed union? What course did they pursue? Why was Franklin sent to Fredericktown? 5. What impeded the progress of the expedition? How did General Braddock obviate this difficulty? 6. What step did Franklin take to procure the wagons? 12. How much was furnished by the British general to be paid in advance to the owners of the wagons and horses? How much did Franklin furnish? 13. What was the character of General Braddock? How did he treat the Indians who joined him on his march? 14. What were the general's plans? 15. What did Franklin tell him? 16. What was Braddock's reply? 17. Where were the British troops first attacked? 18. What was the progress of the battle? 19. What became of the wagons and artillery? 20. Where did the fugitives resort? What was Colonel Dunbar's conduct? CHAPTER XIV. _Settlement for the Loss of Wagons. Anecdote. Preparations for Defence. Franklin appointed to a military Command. Assembles the Troops at Bethlehem. Farmers killed by Indians. Building Forts. Extracts from Franklin's Journal. Indian Cunning. Anecdotes of the Moravians._