He it was who led them back to meet the reinforcements under
Dunbar. And he it was who laid the remains of Braddock in the grave,
four days later, and read the burial service above him.
Again had the young soldier to taste the bitter dregs of defeat--but it
was salutary, and a part of the iron discipline which was making him
into the future leader.
That he had not lost any prestige by this experience, but rather gained
thereby, is shown by the call that came urgently to him, soon after, to
take command of all the forces of Virginia. He did not want the
command, but felt that after such a vote of confidence he could not
decline it. And so for three years more he struggled on, a general
without an army, to protect the western frontier of Virginia against
invasion. In April, 1757, he wrote:
"I have been posted for more than twenty months past, upon our cold and
barren frontiers, to perform, I think I may say, impossibilities; that
is, to protect from the cruel incursions of a crafty, savage enemy a
line of inhabitants, of more than three hundred and fifty miles in
extent, with a force inadequate to the task."
In the winter of 1758 his health broke down completely, and he feared
that it was permanently impaired. He resigned his commission and
retired to Mount Vernon for a much-needed rest.
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