42 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe.

I writ this Letter to Col^o Stanwix I sent others to the several
Capt^s of Militia in Frederick County advising them of my
being at Frederick Town in my way to the Frontiers &
requiring them to join me without Delay. I had the Satisfac-
tion to hear next Day that they were all in Motion in Obedi-
ence to the orders I had issued & found that I should be able
to march with at least the Number that I had given Col^o
Stanwix room to expect, but in the Evening of the 22^d I had
the pleasure to receive a second Letter from Capt Dagworthy
dated the 17^th wherein he told me that another Party of Chero-
kees had returned to Fort Cumberland the Night before with
two Scalps which they had taken within 100 yds of Fort Du
Quesne & had assured him that the Party of the Enemy which
had been represented to him by the other Cherokees as so
formidable a Body was no more than a scalping Party & that
they took neither Artillery nor Carriages with them; they
declared that they had lain in Sight of Fort Du Quesne when
the Enemy marched thence & were very positive that their
Number did not at most exceed two or three hundred. Being
told what the Cherokees who first came in & who gave the
Alarm had insisted on they said that they were Young Men &
had been frightened that some Cannon had been indeed
fired at the French Fort while they were in Sight of it & when
the Enemy's Party marched thence & they supposed that on
the Report of these Guns & seeing the Tracks of the Enemy's
Party or perhaps the Party itself they had been alarmed &
that their Fear made them magnify the Objects that had
struck them, I presume this was pretty much the Case, tho

perhaps as there was no Body at Fort Cumberland that was
well acquainted with the Language of the Cherokees, the
Mistake might be owing to Nothing but the Want of an Inter-
preter, However as Capt Dagworthy writ in such a manner
as convinced me that he did not beleive that the French
were marching any considerable Body this Way, & as I was
unwilling to put the province to any Expence that could be
prudently avoided I did immediately on my Receit of his
second Letter countermand the Orders that I had before sent
to the Militia Officers, & the Men were accordingly dismissed
the next Morning. As Copies of the Letters that were
brought to me were also sent to Col^o Stanwix & Col^o Wash-
ington & by the latter forwarded to Gov^r Dinwiddie, Col^o
Stanwix was preparing to march with the five Companies of
the Royal Americans & some of the Pensilvania Forces, &
Seven Regiments of the Virg^a Militia were ordered to advance
towards the Frontiers with the utmost Expedition, It hap-
pened that Dagworthy's second Letter reached Col^o Stanwix
before he decamped, but the Virg^a Militia being ordered from