and applying them to the use of the Virginians &c which is terrible." In a letter previously quoted Forbes affirms that St. Clair—who was sent in advance of the army to settle the matter of route—"knows nothing of the matter." Forbes's wrath at St. Clair reached a climax before the end of August when he savagely declared that he suspected his "heart as well as the head."[1]
And now as to Washington. His letters are typical of the young man to whom these western forests were not unfamiliar; they are patriotic and loyal. Though he was standing for election to the House of Burgesses in his home county, he had refused to accept a leave of absence to do his electioneering—which in no wise prevented his election. I cannot find any ill-boding prophecy in his letters, concerning the making of a new road westward from Raystown, which after events did not justify. He affirmed that Forbes could not reach Fort Duquesne by a new road before the winter set in; and no prophecy ever seemed more accurately fulfilled. For before Fort Duquesne was reached it was decided not
- ↑ Forbes to Bouquet, August 28, 1756.
