To Mr. Moses Fontaine:—Since the within, Colonel Washington, the commander of our three or four hundred men from Virginia, has, with a party of about forty men and some auxiliary Indians, by the intelligence of an Irish deserter, met with a party of about thirty-six French, who were in ambush in the woods waiting for him. Each party fired, and it has pleased God that we have killed or taken them all. There were thirteen killed and the rest taken. We lost only one man, and two wounded. The French seem to have a great mixture of Indian blood, and are sturdy fellows. The place in dispute is on the Ohio river, about two hundred miles back of our nearest mountains.
Dear Sir:—I return you hearty thanks for your very kind and most agreeable letter of the 30th Nov. 1753, and particularly acknowledge the favor of your having wrote me a longer epistle than I have ever yet received from your side of the water; for, I can with sincerity assure you, that my having more to read at once than I can at once remember, yields me great pleasure, as it sets me to reading again and again your kind letter, wherein I am in hopes, even to the tenth perusal, of finding something new, and never fail of meeting something very entertaining.
The encomiums your kindness has dictated on account of my little draught are, I am very sensible, more than it deserved, though I am very glad it has yielded you any satisfaction, as it has thereby fully answered its end.
I heartily condole with you upon the loss of my dear cousin, I believe, your only daughter. May God Almighty com-
