. Benjamin Franklin: his autobiography : with a narrative of his public life and services. ed to go myself with therest of my force to Gnadenhutten, where a fort wasthought more innnediately necessary. The Mora-vians procured me five wagons for our tools, stores,and baggage. Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers,who had been driven from their plantations by theIndians, came to me requesting a supply of firearms,that they might go back and bring off their gave them each a gun with suitable had not marched many miles before it beganto rain, and it continued raining
. Benjamin Franklin: his autobiography : with a narrative of his public life and services. ed to go myself with therest of my force to Gnadenhutten, where a fort wasthought more innnediately necessary. The Mora-vians procured me five wagons for our tools, stores,and baggage. Just before we left Bethlehem, eleven farmers,who had been driven from their plantations by theIndians, came to me requesting a supply of firearms,that they might go back and bring off their gave them each a gun with suitable had not marched many miles before it beganto rain, and it continued raining all day ; there wereno habitations on the road to shelter us, till we ar-rived near night at the house of a German, where,and in his barn, we were all huddled together, aswet as water could make us. It was well we werenot attacked in our march, for our arms were of themost ordinary sort, and our men could not keep thelocks of their guns dry. The Indians are dexterousin contrivances for that purpose, which we had met that day the eleven poor farmers above LIFE OF FRANKLIN. 233. mentioned, and killed ten of them. The one thatescaped informed us that his and his companionsguns would not go off, the priming being wet withthe rain. The next day being fair, we continued our march,and arrived at the desolated Gnadenhutteu. Therewas a mill near, round which were left several pineboards, with which we soon hutted ourselves; anoperation the more necessary at that inclementseason, as we had no tents. Our first work was tobury more effectually the dead we found there, whohad been half interred by the country people. The next morning our fort was planned andmarked out, the circumference measuring four hun-dred and fifty-five feet, which would require as manypalisades to be made, one with another, of a footdiameter each. Our axes, of which we had seventy,were immediately set to work to cut down trees,and, our men being dexterous in the use of them, 234 LIFE OF FRANKLIN. great despa
Size: 1890px × 1322px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjec, booksubjectstatesmen
