“Did your father tell you what happened?”

“Not really. He has never spoken much about it.”

“Well, you should know; for the past will enlighten you about the war we are about to experience. First, the classical definition of the word ‘hero’ describes a person who willingly puts oneself at risk for the benefit of others. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, because Washington, Morgan, your father, and your late brother Joshua are all heroes. Now, as for the disastrous campaign in the summer of 1755; Lieutenant Colonel Washington urged Braddock to keep his army together, take the time to recruit more of the natives to the British side, and move slowly enough to bring his entire force to bear against the French holding Fort Duquesne. But Braddock was too proud to take the advice.

“He was also unwilling to delay while a suitable road could be carved through the mountains enabling the whole army to advance as a single unit. So he split his force of 2,600 into a ‘flying column’ of 1,400 British Regulars, grenadiers, two light artillery cannons, and three companies of militia with the ­balance—including most of the militiamen under a Colonel ­Dunbar—following slowly in trail with the rest of the artillery, heavy equipment, and baggage.

“When Braddock went charging off into the wilderness toward Fort Duquesne on June 18, Washington and your father went with him. Morgan, ordered to stay with Dunbar, was placed in charge of the baggage train and lead it forward as fast as the engineers could build a passable road.

“Though Washington had far more experience in this terrain than any of the British officers, he was violently ill with bloody flux and colic2 for most of the march. He was near the front of Braddock’s column on the morning of July 9th when they crossed the Monongahela—about ten miles from Fort Duquesne and collided with a force of 800 French Regulars, Canadian militiamen, and natives dispatched from Fort Duquesne.

“Had Braddock and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gage, commanding the advance guard, heeded Washington’s advice to send scouts out in front and on the flanks of their mile-long column, disaster might have been averted. Though the French and their vicious red-skinned allies were fewer in number than the British force, they quickly enveloped the British moving single file on the narrow path in heavily wooded terrain. The murderous crossfire turned the defile into an abattoir.

“Nearly all the senior British officers at the front of the column—including Braddock—resplendent in red dress coats and gold braid, were felled in the first hours of the fight. When the general was shot off his horse by two musket balls in the chest, Washington, your father, and one of the general’s aides were the first to reach him. They carried their gravely wounded commander out of immediate danger where his surviving aides were able to shield him while a surgeon attended to his grievous wounds.