troops had fallen into an ambuscade, and had been cut up almost to a man. All the officers were taken down by the French marksmen and the savages. The General had been wounded and carried off the field in his sash. Four days afterwards the report was that the General was dead, and scalped by a French Indian."
We have further evidence of the widespread anxiety and alarm, in the sermons of the celebrated Samuel Davies, who then resided in Hanover county. On the 20th of July, 1755, he preached to his people from Isaiah, xxii, 12-14: "And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to mourning," &c. When he began to prepare his discourse, the news of the disaster had not been received, but full of forebodings the preacher, after referring to the peace and abundance lately enjoyed by Virginia, exclaims: "But what do I now see?—what do I now hear? I see thy brazen skies, thy parched soil, thy withered fields, thy hopeless springs, thy scanty harvests. Methinks I hear the sound of the trumpet, and see garments rolled in blood, thy frontiers ravaged by revengeful savages, thy territories invaded by French perfidy and violence. Methinks I see slaughtered families, the hairy scalp clotted with gore, the horrid arts of Indian and popish torture." So he proceeds for several pages, and then: "Thus far had I studied my discourse before I was alarmed with the melancholy news that struck my ears last Thursday. Now every heart may meditate terror indeed; now every face may gather blackness; now I may mingle darker horrors in the picture I intended to draw of the state of my country. For what do I now hear? I hear our army is defeated, our general killed, our sole defence demolished." The people are earnestly exhorted to rally and show themselves "men, Britons, and Christians on this trying occasion." "What," asks the preacher, "is that religion good for that leaves men cowards upon the approach of danger?" "And, permit me to say," he continues, "that I am particularly solicitous that you, my brethren of the Dissenters, should act with honor and spirit in this juncture, as it becomes loyal subjects, lovers of your country, and courageous Christians." At the close of the discourse he remarked: "It is certain many will be great sufferers by the drought, and many lives will be lost in our various expeditions. Our poor brethren in Augusta and other frontier counties are slaughtered and scalped."
