Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 5).djvu/131

Rh concerning all routes; he sent Colonel Burd out, with his guides, in order to have testimony upon which he was sure he could rely; he urged Forbes to defer his decision of route until he (Forbes) could have a personal interview with Washington; he had Braddock's Road partly cleared and plainly described it as needing "very little in the way of repair;" he never seems to have attempted to minimize the difficulties of making a new route or maximize those of the old; he continually urges the necessity of great caution in the selection of a route.

The motives which directed the movements of Sir John St. Clair during these months of controversy are quite beyond fathoming. It is easy to believe that the "new light," which Forbes said Sir John had received "at Winchester," made it clear that if he did not send the army over the southern route (Fort Frederick–Fort Cumberland) to Cumberland, it was possible that Forbes would never traverse Braddock's Road at all. It is certain that upon Governor Sharpe's and Washington's arrival upon the scene, Sir John began to