xxxviii Introduction.

troops to garrison Fort Cumberland, very naturally aroused the anger of
Governor Sharpe and of the Earl of Loudoun, who rightly felt that colonial
troops should be used for the general defence wherever they were most needed.
The bitter struggle between these two points of view runs through the records
of the four sessions of the Assembly reproduced in this volume.

In a lengthy address to Governor Sharpe under date of December 15, 1757,
the Lower House gave its version of the original establishment of Fort Cum-
berland on the Potomac at Wills Creek, declaring that it had been informed
that it was originally built, not as a fort but by " some Gentlemen of the Ohio
Company, as a Store-House for their Goods, designed for the Ohio Indian
Trade, and never was Garrisoned by Troops stationed there by Direction of
any Law of this Province, but commonly by Virginia Forces ". This address
then went on to say that the Governor himself in 1756 had described Fort
Cumberland as a mere stockaded enclosure, difficult to defend as it was com-
manded on all sides by nearby hills, and that the Fort then contained military
stores left there in 1756 by Gen. Braddock, and 10 carriage guns, with a
garrison of some three hundred Virginians (pp. 357-358). In a sharp reply
the Governor bluntly informed the Lower House that its opinion that Fort
Cumberland should be abandoned would in no wise influence Loudoun. He
concluded by saying that as regards the assertion of the Lower House that
" Fort Cumberland was first begun by some Gentlemen of the Ohio Company
as a Store-House ..... whoever gave you that Information told you a False-
hood, not that it is Material who began it" (pp. 386-387). Unfortunately
Sharpe did not state what was in his opinion the origin of Fort Cumberland.

COUNTY MILITIA

In his dealings with the Lower House in trying to force that body to pass
a Supply bill which would be satisfactory to the Upper House, the best weapon
which the Governor had, and this proved to be an ineffective one, was the
threat to send the militia of the several counties to the defence of the western
frontier, if the Assembly would not provide a general Provincial force to do so.
During the winter 1757-1758, he had ordered out the militia of Queen Anne's
and Kent counties and sent them to the frontier. This had produced a storm
of opposition in the Lower House, and a violent protest to the effect that he
had exceeded his authority in so doing. Under date of February 22, 1758, the
Lower House by a vote of 32 to 5 adopted an address enquiring why he had
ordered these companies of militia to march to the frontier, and requesting him
to lay before the house all the orders which he had given from time to time
to this end (pp. 439-440). He immediately replied that having reason to
believe that the soldiers then on duty at the frontier would disband when it was
found that the Assembly " had broke up " without making any provision for
their further support, he had ordered the county militia to march to the
frontier to prevent the settlers deserting their plantations. He added that he
could not lay before the house all the orders which he had issued as many were
then in the hands of the officers of the county militia to whom they were