He would carry this knowledge with him all his life. He had developed a new appreciation for the French, warning a comrade that “the policy of the French is so subtle, that not a friendly Indian will we have on the continent, if we do not soon dislodge them from the Ohio.”73 This was a matter not just of manpower but also of military intelligence—a European force in the dense forests of North America that moved without having local allies to act as scouts was operating almost blind.
