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156 Bouquet's "choice." But the fact that Forbes desired to know the exact condition of Braddock's Road, to get into it if it seemed best, and to prove the soundness of his judgment if it was found to be useless, is especially significant because it shows so plainly that the weary man already scented failure. In a few days he wrote again: "These four days of constant rain have completely ruined the road. The wagons would cut it up more in an hour than we could repair in a week. I have written to General Abercrombie, but have not had one scrap of a pen from him since the beginning of September; so it looks as if we were either forgot or left to our fate."

Early in November the poor man was carried on over the mountains to Fort Ligonier where the whole army, approximately six thousand strong, lay. Hope of continuing the campaign had fled and the desperate prospect of wintering amid the mountains, with no certainty of receiving sufficient stores to keep man and beast alive, stared the whole army in the face. Nevertheless, at a council of officers it was decided to attempt nothing further that season.