Page:George Washington National Monument.djvu/25

 so signally manifested in more than one event of his life "By the all-powerful dispensations of Providence," wrote Washington himself to his venerated parent, after Braddock's defeat, "I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me; yet I escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me." Well did the eloquent pastor of a neighboring parish, on his return, "point out to the public that heroic youth. Colonel Washington, whom (says he) I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a manner for some important service to the country."

And not less natural or less striking was the testimony of the Indian chief, who told Washington, fifteen years afterwards, "That at the battle of the Monongahela, he had singled him out as a conspicuous object, had fired his rifle at him many times, and directed his young warriors to do the same, but that, to his utter astonishment, none of their balls took effect; that he was then persuaded that the youthful hero was under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, and immediately ceased to fire at him; and that he was now come to pay homage to the man who was the particular favorite of Heaven, and who could never die in battle." Our Revolutionary fathers had many causes for adoring the invisible hand by which they were guided and guarded in their great struggle for liberty; but none, none stronger than this Providential preparation and preservation of their destined chief. Be it ours to prolong that