The Life of George Washington. In Words of One Syllable — John Shaqi
The Life of George Washington. In Words of One SyllablePollard, Josephine
History
The Life of George Washington. In Words of One Syllable
Pollard, Josephine
Presidents -- United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature; Washington, George, 1732-1799 -- Juvenile literature
The next Spring, Gen-er-al Brad-dock came from Eng-land with two large
bands of well-trained troops, which it was thought would drive the
French back in-to Can-a-da. Our men were full of joy, and thought the
war would soon be at an end. Brad-dock urged Wash-ing-ton to join him
in the field. Wash-ing-ton felt that he could be of great use, as he
knew the land and the ways of red-men, so he took up the sword once
more, as Brad-dock's aide-de-camp.
Ben-ja-min Frank-lin, who had charge of the mails, lent his aid to the
cause, and did all that he could to serve Brad-dock and his men.
Brad-dock, with his staff and a guard of horse-men, set out for Will's
Creek, by the way of Win-ches-ter, in A-pril, 1755. He rode in a fine
turn-out that he had bought of Gov-er-nor Sharpe, which he soon found
out was not meant for use on rough roads. But he had fought with
dukes, and men of high rank, and was fond of show, and liked to put on
a great deal of style.
He thought that this would make the troops look up to him, and would
add much to his fame.
In May the troops went in-to camp, and Wash-ing-ton had a chance to
learn much of the art of war that was new and strange to him, and to
see some things that made him smile.
All the rules and forms of camp-life were kept up. One of the head
men who died while in camp, was borne to the grave in this style: A
guard marched in front of the corpse, the cap-tain of it in the rear.
Each man held his gun up-side down, as a sign that the dead would war
no more, and the drums beat the dead march. When near the grave the
guard formed two lines that stood face to face, let their guns rest on
the ground, and leaned their heads on the butts. The corpse was borne
twixt these two rows of men with the sword and sash on the top of the
box in which he lay, and in the rear of it the men of rank marched two
and two. When the corpse was put in the ground, the guard fired their
guns three times, and then all the troops marched back to camp.
The red-men--the Del-a-wares and Shaw-nees came to aid Gen-er-al
Brad-dock. With them were White Thun-der, who had charge of the
"speech-belts," and Sil-ver Heels, who was swift of foot. Half-King
was dead, and White Thun-der reigned in his stead.
The red-men had a camp to them-selves, where they would sing, and
dance, and howl and yell for half the night. It was fun for the King's
troops to watch them at their sports and games, and they soon found a
great charm in this wild sort of life.
In the day time the red-men and their squaws, rigged up in their
plumes and war paint, hung round Brad-dock's camp, and gazed
spell-bound at the troops as they went through their drills.
But this state of things did not last long, and strife rose twixt the
red and white men, and some of the red-skins left the camp. They told
Brad-dock they would meet him on his march, but they did not keep
their word.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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