Memoirs of Major Robert Stobo —— Of the Virginia Regiment

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ISBN: 9781331843917 出版年：2016 页码：89 Robert Stobo Forgotten Books

On the third day of July, A. D. 1754, almost one hundred years ago, that great man who was afterwards to act so grand and glorious a part in the history of our country, and whose fame is now spread and reigns unparalleled throughout the globe we inhabit, the great and good george washington, then an Obscure and undistinguished Colonel of an incomplete Virginia Regiment of one hundred and fifty self-willed and ungovernable men, was beleaguered by French and Indians in Fort Necessity, in an adjoining county. The enemy had a formidable force the hastily constructed work was very defective, and of hopes of relief there were none. For nine hours, the enemy, concealed and protected by the surrounding trees, poured in an incessant fire upon the besieged; already thirty of the garrison were killed, and only three of the enemy. Terms of surrender were, at length, pro posed by the besiegers and accepted. Hostages were to be delivered for the faithful performance of the stipulations on the part of the English Colonies. These hostages were Captain Van Braam, a Dutchman, and the subject Of the following memoirs. On that day, third of July, 1754, the English garrison with drew from the basin of the Ohio, and then, in the eloquent language of Bancroft: In the whole valley of the Mississippi to its head springs in the Alleghenies, no standard floated but that of France. Such was the condition of affairs in this region when Stobo and Van Braam were conveyed as prisoners and hostages to Fort Du Quesne, within the site of our present city. Truly the prospects of poor Stobo were then gloomy and discouraging, indeed. Of Van Braam'e fidelity, some doubts have, perhaps unjustly, been entertained. These doubts, whether well or ill founded, must always blunt the keenness of our conviction of his feelings.