three
o'clock
Our company was striking tents and falling in for the march , and the camp was astir from end to end . The sun was just peeping over the tree-tops , for that fateful Wednesday , the ninth of July , 1755 , had dawned clear and fair , and all the day rode through a sky whose perfect blue remained unbroken by a cloud . We were soon ready for the road , and while waiting the word , Captain Waggoner told me that the advance had begun some hours before . At three o'clock . Colonel Gage had marched with two companies of grenadiers and two hundred rank and file to secure both crossings of the river , for it was believed that at the second crossing the French would attack us , unless they intended giving up the fort without a struggle . An hour later , Sir John St. Clair had followed with a working party of two hundred and fifty men , to clear the road for the passage of the baggage and artillery . And at last came the word for us .