During battle in the French and Indian War, a young general seemed to have been protected by a "greater hand". During a slaughter at the Monongahela River, where Indians had killed 1,000 of less that 1,500 British soldiers, Indian sharpshooters set their aim on the remaining generals on horseback. One by one they picked them off until only one general was standing. Over ten rounds were fired at this one general alone, but something seemed to keep him from harm's way. Native warrior's stared in disbelief. One soldier admitted to firing seventeen clear shots at him and couldn't bring him down. "This man was not born to be killed by a bullet," he concluded.
The general himself recall's the battle in a letter to his brother:
“…by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!”
Fifteen years after the battle, George Washington revisited those Pennsylvania woods to meet with an indian chief who traveled a great distance to talk face to face with him.
“I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day when the white man’s blood mixed with the streams of our forests that I first beheld this chief (Washington)…Our rifles were leveled, rifles, which but for you, knew not how to miss. Twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we shielded you.”
This story of Washington's divine protection could be found in many school textbooks until the 1930's. Now few Americans have read it. Washington often recalled this dramatic event that helped shape his character and confirm God's call on his life.
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