The French had occupied the vantage ground he was aiming at and
at once proceeded to erect a fort there, which they named Duquesne. Aid
was asked from England to repel these invaders, and early in 1755, a
great force under Major-General Edward Braddock advanced against the
enemy. Washington served as aide-de-camp to the general, whose ideas of
warfare had been gained on the battlefields of Europe, and who could not
understand that these ideas did not apply to warfare in a wilderness. In
consequence, when only a few miles from the fort, he was attacked by a
force of French and Indians, his army all but annihilated and he himself
wounded so severely that he died a few days later. During that fierce
battle, Washington seemed to bear a charmed life. Four bullets tore
through his coat and two horses were shot under him, but he received not
a scratch, and did effective work in rallying the Virginia militia to
cover the retreat. Three years later, he had the satisfaction of
marching into Fort Duquesne with an English force, which banished the
French for all time from the valley of the Ohio.
That victory ended the war for a time, and Washington returned to
Virginia to marry a charming and wealthy widow, Mrs. Martha Custis, and
to take the seat in the House of Burgesses to which he had just been
elected.
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