besides the Advantage of having no Rivers to pass, as We shall keep the Yeogheny upon our Left. . . The Troops are all in Motion . . but I have Retarded the March of some of them upon the Route from this Place, as I am unwilling to bring them together till the Route is finally determined."
On the twenty-sixth Bouquet wrote Forbes as follows:
"I am sending you a letter I have received from Major Armstrong. By the report of the two guides he sent out it seems the thing is very practicable; in an affair of so much consequence as this I thought I ought to act with greatest caution. While the waggoner returned today with an escort to reconnoitre how the road could be laid so as to avoid all the detours and windings of the path; and I have asked Colonel Burd to go with Rhor tomorrow to the top of the mountain (Allegheny) to determine the straightest line from here to the foot of the ascent, and to mark the turnings of the road to reach the top. I hope you will be here on their return, and could then judge if it would be well to risk
