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diff --git a/41152.txt b/41152.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 06decb3..0000000 --- a/41152.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3912 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Historic Highways of America (Vol. 4), by -Archer Butler Hulbert - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: Historic Highways of America (Vol. 4) - Braddock's Road and Three Relative Papers - -Author: Archer Butler Hulbert - -Release Date: October 23, 2012 [EBook #41152] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - - - - - - - - -HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA - -VOLUME 4 - - - - - [Illustration: BRADDOCK'S GRAVE - - [_The depression on the right is the ancient track of Braddock's - Road; near the single cluster of gnarled apple trees in the meadow - beyond, Braddock died and was first buried_]] - - - - - HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA - VOLUME 4 - - Braddock's Road - AND - THREE RELATIVE PAPERS - - BY - ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT - - _With Maps and Illustrations_ - - [Illustration] - - THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY - CLEVELAND, OHIO - 1903 - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1903 - BY - THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - - - -CONTENTS - - - PAGE - PREFACE 11 - I. ROUTES OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH WESTWARD 15 - II. THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN 30 - III. FROM ALEXANDRIA TO FORT CUMBERLAND 61 - IV. A SEAMAN'S JOURNAL 79 - V. THE BATTLE OF THE MONONGAHELA 108 - VI. A DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKWOODS 136 - VII. SPARKS AND ATKINSON ON BRADDOCK'S ROUTE 166 - VIII. BRADDOCK'S ROAD IN HISTORY 191 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - I. BRADDOCK'S GRAVE _Frontispiece_ - II. ENGLISH AND FRENCH ROUTES TO THE OHIO; 1756 21 - III. PLAN OF FORT CUMBERLAND; FEBRUARY 1755 27 - IV. VIEW OF FORT CUMBERLAND; 1755 45 - V. MAP OF BRADDOCK'S ROAD; ABOUT 1759 69 - VI. BRADDOCK'S ROAD NEAR FROSTBURG, MARYLAND 148 - VII. MIDDLETON'S MAP OF BRADDOCK'S ROAD; 1847 174 - VIII. BRADDOCK'S ROAD IN THE WOODS NEAR FARMINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA 200 - - - - -PREFACE - - -The French were invariably defeated by the British on this continent -because the latter overcame natural obstacles which the former blindly -trusted as insurmountable. The French made a league with the -Alleghenies--and Washington and Braddock and Forbes conquered the -Alleghenies; the French, later, blindly trusted the crags at Louisbourg -and Quebec--and the dauntless Wolfe, in both instances, accomplished the -seemingly impossible. - -The building of Braddock's Road in 1755 across the Alleghenies was the -first significant token in the West of the British grit which finally -overcame. Few roads ever cost so much, ever amounted to so little at -first, and then finally played so important a part in the development of -any continent. - - A. B. H. - -MARIETTA, O., December 8, 1902. - - - - -Braddock's Road - -and - -Three Relative Papers - - - - -CHAPTER I - -ROUTES OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH WESTWARD - - -If Providence had reversed the decree which allowed Frenchmen to settle -the St. Lawrence and Englishmen the middle Atlantic seaboard, and, -instead, had brought Englishmen to Quebec and Frenchmen to Jamestown, it -is sure that the English conquest of the American continent would not -have cost the time and blood it did. - -The Appalachian mountain system proved a tremendous handicap to Saxon -conquest. True, there were waterways inland, the Connecticut, Hudson, -Delaware, James, and Potomac rivers, but these led straight into the -mountains where for generations the feeble settlements could not spread -and where explorers became disheartened ere the rich empire beyond was -ever reached. - -The St. Lawrence, on the other hand, offered a rough but sure course -tempting ambitious men onward to the great lake system from which it -flowed, and the Ottawa River offered yet another course to the same -splendid goal. So, while the stolid English were planting sure feet -along the seaboard, New France was spreading by leaps and bounds across -the longitudes. But, wide-spread as these discoveries were, they were -discoveries only--the feet of those who should occupy and defend the -land discovered were heavy where the light paddle of the voyageur had -glistened brightly beneath the noon-day sun. It was one thing to seek -out such an empire and quite another thing to occupy and fortify it. The -French reached the Mississippi at the beginning of the last quarter of -the seventeenth century; ten years after the middle of the eighteenth -they lost all the territory between the Atlantic and Mississippi--though -during the last ten years of their possession they had attempted -heroically to take the nine stitches where a generation before the -proverbial one stitch would have been of twenty-fold more advantage. The -transportation of arms and stores upstream into the interior, around -the foaming rapids and thundering falls that impeded the way, was -painfully arduous labor, and the inspiration of the swift explorers, -flushed with fevered dreams, was lacking to the heavy trains which -toiled so far in the rear. - -There were three points at which the two nations, France and England, -met and struck fire in the interior of North America, and in each -instance it was the French who were the aggressors--because of the easy -means of access which they had into the disputed frontier region. They -came up the Chaudiere and down the Kennebec or up the Richelieu and Lake -Champlain, striking at the heart of New England; they ascended the St. -Lawrence and entered Lake Ontario, coveted and claimed by the Province -of New York; they pushed through Lake Ontario and down the Allegheny to -the Ohio River, which Virginia loved and sought to guard. The French -tried to guard these three avenues of approach by erecting fortresses on -the Richelieu River, on Lakes Champlain, Ontario, and Erie, and on the -Allegheny and Ohio Rivers. These forts were the weights on the net -which the French were stretching from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to -the mouth of the Mississippi. And when that net was drawn taut New -England and New York and Virginia would be swept into the sea! - -It was a splendid scheme--but the weights were not heavy enough. After -interminable blunders and delays the English broke into the net and then -by desperate floundering tore it to fragments. They reached the line of -forts by three routes, each difficult and hazardous, for in any case -vast stretches of forests were to be passed; and until the very last, -the French had strong Indian allies who guarded these forests with valor -worthy of a happier cause. New England defended herself by ascending the -Hudson and crossing the portage to Lake George and Lake Champlain. New -York ascended the Mohawk and, crossing the famous Oneida portage to -Odeida Lake, descended the Onondaga River to Oswego on Lake Ontario. -Virginia spreading out, according to her unchallenged claims, across the -entire continent, could only reach the French on the Ohio by ascending -the Potomac to a point near the mouth of Wills Creek, whence an Indian -path led northwestward over a hundred miles to the Monongahela, which -was descended to its junction with the Ohio. The two former routes, to -Lake Champlain and to Lake Ontario, were, with short portages, -practically all-water routes, over which provisions and army stores -could be transported northward to the zone into which the French had -likewise come by water-routes. The critical points of both routes of -both hostile nations were the strategic portages where land travel was -rendered imperative by the difficulties of navigation. On these portages -many forts instantly sprang into existence--in some instances mere posts -and entrepots, in some cases strongly fortified citadels. - -The route from Virginia to the Ohio Valley, finally made historic by the -English General Braddock, was by far the most difficult of all the ways -by which the English could meet the French. The Potomac was navigable -for small boats at favorable seasons for varying distances; but beyond -the mountains the first water reached, the Youghiogheny, was useless for -military purposes, as Washington discovered during the march of the -Virginia Regiment, 1754. The route had, however, been marked out under -the direction of Captain Thomas Cresap, for the Ohio Company, and was, -at the time of Washington's expedition, the most accessible passageway -from Virginia to the "Forks of the Ohio." The only other Virginian -thoroughfare westward brought the traveller around into the valley of -the Great Kanawha which empties into the Ohio two hundred odd miles -below the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was over -this slight trail by Wills Creek, Great Meadows, and the Forks of the -Ohio that Washington had gone in 1753 to the French forts on French -Creek; and it was this path that the same undaunted youth widened, the -year after, in order to haul his swivels westward with the vanguard of -Colonel Fry's army which was to drive the French from the Ohio. -Washington's Road--as Nemacolin's Path should, in all conscience, be -known--was widened to the summit of Mount Braddock. From Mount -Braddock Washington's little force retraced their steps over the road -they had built in the face of the larger French army sent against them -until they were driven to bay in their little fortified camp, Fort -Necessity, in Great Meadows, where the capitulation took place after an -all-day's battle. Marching out with the honors of war, the remnant of -this first English army crawled painfully back to Wills Creek. All this -took place in the summer of 1754. - -[Illustration: ENGLISH AND FRENCH ROUTES TO THE OHIO (1756) -[_From the original in the British Museum_]] - -The inglorious campaign ending thus in dismay was of considerably more -moment than its dejected survivors could possibly have imagined. Small -as were the numbers of contestants on both sides, and distant though the -scene of conflict might have been, the peace between England and France -was at this moment poised too delicately not to be disturbed by even the -faintest roll of musketry in the distant unknown Alleghenies. - -Washington had been able neither to fight successfully nor to avoid a -battle by conducting a decent retreat because the reinforcements -expected from Virginia were not sent him. These "reinforcements" were -Rutherford's and Clarke's Independent Companies of Foot which Governor -Dinwiddie had ordered from New York to Virginia but which did not arrive -in Hampton Roads until the eighth of June. On the first of September -these troops were marched to Wills Creek, where, being joined by Captain -Demerie's Independent Company from South Carolina, they began, on the -twelfth of September, the erection of a fort. The building of this fort -by Virginia nearly a hundred miles west of Winchester (then a frontier -post) is only paralleled by the energy of Massachusetts in building two -forts in the same year on the Kennebec River--Fort Western and Fort -Halifax. New York had almost forgotten her frontier forts at Saratoga -and Oswego, and the important portage between the Hudson and Lake George -was undefended while the French were building both Fort Ticonderoga and -Fort Frederick (Crown Point) on Lake Champlain. New York and New England -could have seized and fortified Lake Champlain prior to French -encroachment as easily as Virginia could fortify Wills Creek. Virginia, -however, had been assisted from the royal chest, while the assemblies of -the other colonies were in the customary state of turmoil, governor -against legislature. The intermediate province of Pennsylvania, home of -the peaceful Quakers, looked askance upon the darkening war-clouds and -had done little or nothing for the protection of her populous frontiers. -As a result, therefore, the Virginian route to the French, though -longest and most difficult, was made, by the erection of Fort Cumberland -at Wills Creek, at once the most conspicuous. - -Fort Cumberland, named in honor of the Duke of Cumberland, -Captain-general of the English Army, was located on an eminence between -Wills Creek and the Potomac, two hundred yards from the former and about -four hundred yards from the latter. Its length was approximately two -hundred yards and its breadth nearly fifty yards; and "is built," writes -an eye-witness in 1755, "by logs driven into the ground, and about 12 -feet above it, with embrasures for 12 guns, and 10 mounted 4 pounders, -besides stocks for swivels, and loop holes for small arms." As the -accompanying map indicates, the fort was built with a view to the -protection of the store-houses erected at the mouth of Wills Creek by -the Ohio Company. This is another suggestion of the close connection -between the commercial and military expansion of Virginia into the Ohio -basin. Wherever a storehouse of the Ohio Company was erected a fort soon -followed--with the exception of the strategic position at the junction -of the Allegheny and Monongahela where English fort building was brought -to a sudden end by the arrival of the French, who, on English -beginnings, erected Fort Duquesne in 1754. A little fort at the mouth of -Redstone Creek on the Monongahela had been erected in 1753 but that, -together with the blasted remains of Fort Necessity, fell into the hands -of the French in the campaign of 1754. Consequently, at the dawning of -the memorable year 1755, Fort Cumberland was the most advanced English -position in the West. The French Indian allies saw to it that it was -safe for no Englishman to step even one pace nearer the Ohio; they -skulked continually in the neighboring forests and committed many -depredations almost within range of the guns of Fort Cumberland. - -[Illustration: PLAN OF FORT CUMBERLAND, AND VICINITY; DATED FEBRUARY, -1755 [_Showing buildings of the Ohio Company across the Potomac River_] -(_From the original in British Museum_)] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN - - -Governor Dinwiddie's zeal had increased in inverse ratio to the success -of Virginian arms. After Washington's repulse at Fort Necessity he -redoubled his energies, incited by a letter received from one of -Washington's hostages at Fort Duquesne. Colonel Innes was appointed to -command the Virginia troops and superintend the erection of Fort -Cumberland, while Washington was ordered to fill up his depleted -companies by enlistments and to move out again to Fort Cumberland. -Indeed it was only by objections urged in the very strongest manner that -the inconsiderate Governor was deterred from launching another destitute -and ill-equipped expedition into the snow-drifted Alleghenies. - -But there was activity elsewhere than in Virginia during the winter of -1754-5. Contrecoeur, commanding at Fort Duquesne, sent clear reports of -the campaign of 1754. The French cause was strengthening. The success of -the French had had a wonderful effect on the indifferent Indians; -hundreds before only half-hearted came readily under French domination. -All this was of utmost moment to New France, possibly of more importance -than keeping her chain of forts to Quebec unbroken. As Joncaire, the -drunken commander on the Allegheny, had told Washington in 1753, the -English could raise two men in America to their one--but not including -their Indians. - -It is, probably, impossible for us to realize with what feelings the -French anticipated war with England on the American continent. The long -campaigns in Europe had cost both nations much and had brought no return -to either. Even Marshal Saxe's brilliant victories were purchased at a -fabulous price, and, at the end, Louis had given up all that was gained -in order to pose "as a Prince and not as a merchant." But in America -there was a prize which both of these nations desired and which was -worth fighting for--the grandest prize ever won in war! Between the -French and English colonies lay this black forest stretching from Maine -through New York and Pennsylvania and Virginia to the Gulf of Mexico. It -seemed, to the French, the silliest dream imaginable for the English to -plan to pierce this forest and conquer New France. To reach any of the -French forts a long passage by half-known courses through an -inhospitable wilderness was necessary; and the French knew by a century -of experience what a Herculean task it was to carry troops and stores -over the inland water and land ways of primeval America. But for the -task they had had much assistance from the Indians and were favored in -many instances by the currents of these rivers; the English had almost -no Indian allies and in every case were compelled to ascend their rivers -to reach the French. However, the formation of the Ohio Company and the -lively days of the summer of 1754 in the Alleghenies aroused France as -nothing else could; here was one young Virginian officer who had found -his way through the forests, and there was no telling how many more -there might be like him. And France, tenfold more disturbed by -Washington's campaign than there was need for, performed wonders during -the winter of 1754-5. The story of the action at Fort Necessity was -transmitted to London and was represented by the British ambassadors at -Paris as an open violation of the peace, "which did not meet with the -same degree of respect," writes a caustic historian, "as on former -occasions of complaint: the time now nearly approaching for the French -to pull off the mask of moderation and peace."[1] As if to confirm this -suspicion, the French marine became suddenly active, the Ministry -ordered a powerful armament to be fitted at Brest; "in all these -armaments," wrote the Earl of Holderness's secret agent, "there appeared -a plain design to make settlements and to build forts; besides, that it -was given out, they resolved to augment the fortifications at Louisburg, -and to build more forts on the Ohio."[2] - -But there was activity now in England, too. Governor Sharpe of -Maryland, but lately appointed Commander-in-chief in America, had only a -hint of what was being planned and was to have even less share in its -accomplishment; in vain his friends extolled him as honest--"a little -less honesty," declared George II, characteristically, "and a little -more ability were more to be desired at the moment." And the rule worked -on both sides of the Atlantic. American affairs had long been in the -hands of the Secretary of the Board of Trade, the Duke of Newcastle, as -perfect an ass as ever held high office. He had opposed every policy -that did not accord with his own "time serving selfishness" with a -persistency only matched by his unparalleled ignorance. Once thrown into -a panic, it is said, at a rumor that a large French army had been thrown -into Cape Breton, he was asked where the necessary transports had been -secured. - -"Transports," he shrieked, "I tell you they marched by land!" - -"By land, to the island of Cape Breton?" was the astonished reply. - -"What, is Cape Breton an island? Are you sure of that?" and he ran away -with an "Egad, I will go directly and tell the King that Cape Breton is -an island!" It is not surprising that a government which could ever have -tolerated such a man in high office should have neglected, then abused, -and then lost its American colonies. - -But Newcastle gave way to an abler man. The new campaign in North -America was the conception of the Captain-general of the British Army, -the Duke of Cumberland, hero of Culloden. - -On November 14, 1754, King George opened Parliament with the statement -that "His principal view should be to strengthen the foundation, and -secure the duration of a general peace; to improve the present -advantages of it for promoting the trade of his good subjects, and -protecting those possessions which constitute one great source of their -wealth and commerce." Only in this vague way did His Majesty refer to -the situation in America, lest he precipitate a debate; but Parliament -took the cue and voted over four million pounds--one million of which -was to be devoted to augmenting England's forces "by land and sea." -Cumberland's plan for the operations against the French in America had, -sometime before, been forwarded to the point of selecting a -Generalissimo to be sent to that continent. Major-General Edward -Braddock was appointed to the service, upon the Duke of Cumberland's -recommendation, on September 24. - -Edward Braddock was a lieutenant-colonel of the line and a major of the -Foot Guards, the choicest corps of the British army--a position which -cost the holder no less than eighteen thousand dollars. He was born in -Ireland but was not Irish, for neither Scot, Irish, nor Papist could -aspire to the meanest rank of the Foot Guards. He was as old as his -century. His promotion in the army had been jointly due to the good name -of his father, Edward Braddock I, who was retired as Major-general in -1715, to his passion for strict discipline, and to the favor of His -Grace the Duke of Cumberland. Braddock's personal bravery was -proverbial; it was said that his troops never faced a danger when their -commander was not "greedy to lead." In private life he was dissolute; in -disposition, "a very Iroquois," according to Walpole. Yet certain of -his friends denied the brutality which many attributed to him. "As we -were walking in the Park," one of Braddock's admirers has recorded, "we -heard a poor fellow was to be chastized; when I requested the General to -beg off the offender. Upon his application to the general officer, whose -name was Dury, he asked Braddock, How long since he had divested himself -of brutality and the insolence of his manner? To which the other -replied, 'You never knew me insolent to my inferiors. It is only to such -rude men as yourself that I behave with the spirit which I think they -deserve.'"[3] And yet, when his sister Fanny hanged herself with a -silver girdle to her chamber door, after losing her fortune at the -gaming tables, the brute of a brother observed, "I always thought she -would play till she would be forced to tuck herself up." On the other -hand it need not be forgotten that Braddock was for forty-three years in -the service of the famed Coldstream Guards; that he probably conducted -himself with courage in the Vigo expedition and in the Low Countries, -and was a survivor of bloody Dettingen, Culloden, Fontenoy, and -Bergen-op-Zoom. In 1753 he was stationed at Gibraltar where, "with all -his brutality," writes Walpole, "he made himself adored, and where -scarce any governor was endured before."[4] - -Two months and one day after Braddock's commission was signed he -received two letters of instructions, one from the King and one from the -Duke of Cumberland. "For your better direction in discharge of y^e Trust -thereby reposed in You," reads the King's letter, "We have judged it -proper to give You the following Instructions." The document is divided -into thirteen heads: - -1. Two regiments of Foot commanded by Sir Peter Halket and Colonel -Dunbar, with a train of artillery and necessary ships were ordered to -"repair to North America." - -2. Braddock ordered to proceed to America and take under his command -these troops, cultivating meanwhile "a good understanding & -correspondence with Aug. Keppel Esq^r." who was appointed commander of -the American squadron. - -3. Orders him also to take command of and properly distribute 3000 men -which the Governors of the provinces had been ordered to raise to serve -under Governor Shirley and Sir William Pepperell; informs him that Sir -John St. Clair, deputy Quarter Master General, and Jas. Pitcher Esq^r., -"our commissary of y^e musters, in North America," had been sent to -prepare for the arrival of the troops from Ireland and for raising the -troops in America. Upon Braddock's arrival he should inform himself of -the progress of these preparations. - -4. Provisions for the troops from Ireland had been prepared lest, upon -arrival in America, they should be in want. - -5. "Whereas, We have given Orders to our said Gov^{rs} to provide -carefully a sufficient Quantity of fresh victuals for y^e use of our -Troops at their arrival, & y^t they should also furnish all our officers -who may have occasion to go from Place to Place, with all necessaries -for travelling by Land, in case there are no means of going by Sea; & -likewise, to observe and obey all such orders as shall be given by You -or Persons appointed by you from time to time for quartering Troops, -impressing Carriages, & providing all necessaries for such Forces as -shall arrive or be raised in America, and y^t the s^d several Services -shall be performed at the charge of y^e respective Governments, wherein -the same shall happen. It is our Will & Pleasure y^t you should, -pursuant thereto, apply to our s^d Governors, or any of them, upon all -such Exigencies." - -6. The Governors had been directed "to endeavor to prevail upon y^e -Assemblies of their respective Provinces to raise forthwith as large a -sum as can be afforded as their contribution to a common Fund, to be -employed provisionally for y^e general Service in North America." -Braddock was urged to assist in this and have great care as to its -expenditure. - -7. Concerns Braddock's relations with the colonial governors; especially -directing that a Council of War which shall include them be formed to -determine, by majority vote, matters upon which no course has been -defined. - -8. "You will not only cultivate y^e best Harmony & Friendship possible -with y^e several Governors of our Colonies & Provinces, but likewise -with y^e Chiefs of y^e Indian Tribes ... to endeavor to engage them to -take part & act with our Forces, in such operations as you shall think -most expedient." - -9. Concerns securing the alliance and interest of the Indians and giving -them presents. - -10. Orders Braddock to prevent any commerce between the French and the -English provinces. - -11. Concerning the relative precedency of royal and colonial -commissions. - -12. Describes the copies of documents enclosed to Braddock concerning -previous relations with the colonies for defense against French -encroachment; "... And as Extracts of Lieut Gov^r Dinwiddie's Letters of -May 10^{th}, June 18^{th}, & July 24^{th}, relating to the Summons of -the Fort which was erecting on y^e Forks of y^e Monongahela, and y^e -Skirmish y^t followed soon after, & likewise of y^e action in the Great -Meadows, near the River Ohio, are herewith delivered to you, you will be -fully acquainted with what has hitherto happened of a hostile Nature -upon the Banks of that River." - -13. Concerns future correspondence between Braddock and the Secretaries -of State to whom his reports were to be sent. - - -The communication from the Duke of Cumberland written by his Aide, -Colonel Napier, throws much light upon the verbal directions which -Braddock received before he sailed: - -"His Royal Highness the Duke, in the several audiences he has given you, -entered into a particular explanation of every part of the service you -are about to be employed in; and as a better rule for the execution of -His Majesty's instructions, he last Saturday communicated to you his own -sentiments of this affair, and since you were desirous of forgetting no -part thereof, he has ordered me to deliver them to you in writing. His -Royal Highness has this service very much at heart, as it is of the -highest importance to his majesty's American dominions, and to the -honour of his troops employed in those parts. His Royal Highness -likewise takes a particular interest in it, as it concerns you, whom he -recommended to his majesty to be nominated to the chief command. - -"His Royal Highness's opinion is, that immediately after your landing, -you consider what artillery and other implements of war it will be -necessary to transport to Will's Creek for your first operation on the -Ohio, that it may not fail you in the service; and that you form a -second field train, with good officers and soldiers, which shall be sent -to Albany and be ready to march for the second operation at Niagara. You -are to take under your command as many as you think necessary of the two -companies of artillery that are in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland as soon -as the season will allow, taking care to leave enough to defend the -Island. Captain Ord, a very experienced officer, of whom his Royal -Highness has a great opinion, will join you as soon as possible. - -"As soon as Shirley's and Pepperel's regiments are near complete, his -Royal Highness is of opinion you should cause them to encamp, not only -that they may sooner be disciplined, but also to draw the attention of -the French and keep them in suspense about the place you really design -to attack. His Royal Highness does not doubt that the officers and -captains of the several companies will answer his expectation in forming -and disciplining their respective troops. The most strict discipline is -always necessary, but more particularly so in the service you are -engaged in. Wherefore his Royal Highness recommends to you that it be -constantly observed among the troops under your command, and to be -particularly careful that they be not thrown into a panic by the -Indians, with whom they are yet unacquainted, whom the French will -certainly employ to frighten them. His Royal Highness recommends to you -the visiting your posts night and day; that your Colonels and other -officers be careful to do it; and that you yourself frequently set them -the example; and give all your troops plainly to understand that no -excuse will be admitted for any surprise whatsoever. - -[Illustration: VIEW OF FORT CUMBERLAND IN 1755] - -"Should the Ohio expedition continue any considerable time, and -Pepperell's and Shirley's regiments be found sufficient to undertake in -the mean while the reduction of Niagara, his Royal Highness would have -you consider whether you could go there in person, leaving the command -of the troops on the Ohio to some officer on whom you might depend, -unless you shall think it better for the service to send to those troops -some person whom you had designed to command on the Ohio; but this is a -nice affair, and claims your particular attention. Colonel Shirley is -the next commander after you, wherefore if you should send such an -officer he must conduct himself so as to appear only in quality of a -friend or counsellor in the presence of Colonel Shirley: and his Royal -Highness is of opinion that the officer must not produce or make mention -of the commission you give him to command except in a case of absolute -necessity. - -"The ordering of these matters may be depended on, if the expedition at -Crown Point can take place at the same time that Niagara is besieged. - -"If after the Ohio expedition is ended it should be necessary for you to -go with your whole force to Niagara it is the opinion of his Royal -Highness that you should carefully endeavour to find a shorter way from -the Ohio thither than that of the Lake; which however you are not to -attempt under any pretense whatever without a moral certainty of being -supplied with provisions, &c. As to your design of making yourself -master of Niagara, which is of the greatest consequence, his Royal -Highness recommends to you to leave nothing to chance in the prosecution -of that enterprize. - -"With regard to the reducing of Crown Point, the provincial troops being -best acquainted with the country, will be of the most service. - -"After the taking of this fort his Royal Highness advises you to consult -with the Governors of the neighboring provinces, where it will be most -proper to build a fort to cover the frontiers of those provinces. - -"As to the forts which you think ought to be built (and of which they -are perhaps too fond in that country), his Royal Highness recommends the -building of them in such a manner, that they may not require a strong -garrison. He is of opinion that you ought not to build considerable -forts, cased with stone, till the plans and estimates thereof have been -sent to England and approved of by the Government here. His Royal -Highness thinks that stockaded forts, with pallisadoes and a good ditch, -capable of containing 200 men or 400 upon an emergency, will be -sufficient for the present. - -"As Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence, who commands at Nova Scotia, hath long -protracted the taking of Beau-Sejour, his Royal Highness advises you to -consult with him, both with regard to the time and the manner of -executing that design. In this enterprise his Royal Highness foresees -that his majesty's ships may be of great service, as well by -transporting the troops and warlike implements, as intercepting the -stores and succors that might be sent to the French either by the Baye -Francoise, or from Cape Breton by the Baye Verte on the other side of -the Isthmus. - -"With regard to your winter quarters after the operations of the -campaign are finished, his Royal Highness recommends it to you to -examine whether the French will not endeavor to make some attempts next -season and in what parts they will most probably make them. In this case -it will be most proper to canton your troops on that side, at such -distances, that they may easily be assembled for the common defence. But -you will be determined in this matter by appearances, and the -intelligence, which it hath been recommended to you to procure by every -method immediately after your landing. It is unnecessary to put you in -mind how careful you must be to prevent being surprised. His Royal -Highness imagines that your greatest difficulty will be the subsisting -of your troops. He therefore recommends it to you to give your chief -attention to this matter, and to take proper measures relative thereto -with the Governors and with your quartermasters and commissaries. - -"I hope that the extraordinary supply put on board the fleet, and the -1000 barrels of beef destined for your use, will facilitate and secure -the supplying of your troops with provisions. - -"I think I have omitted nothing of all the points wherein you desired -to be informed: if there should be any intricate point unthought of, I -desire you would represent it to me now, or at any other time; and I -shall readily take it upon me to acquaint his Royal Highness thereof, -and shall let you know his opinion on the subject. - -"I wish you much success with all my heart; and as this success will -infinitely rejoice all your friends, I desire you would be fully -persuaded that no body will take greater pleasure in acquainting them -thereof, than him, who is, &c." - - -If excuse is needed for offering in such detail these orders, it is that -few men have ever suffered more heavily in reputation and in person -because of the failures, misconceptions, and shortcomings of others than -the man who received these orders and attempted to act upon them. - -These instructions and the letter from the Duke of Cumberland make two -things very clear: it is clear from the King's instructions (item 12) -that the campaign to the Ohio Valley from Virginia was to be the -important _coup_ of the summer; the documents mentioned were to acquaint -Braddock "with what has hitherto happened of a hostile Nature upon the -Banks of that River." This is made more certain by one of the first -sentences in the Duke of Cumberland's letter, "that immediately after -your landing, you consider what artillery and other implements of war it -will be necessary to transport to Will's Creek for your first operation -on the Ohio." It is also clear that Braddock was helplessly dependent -upon the success with which the American governors carried out the royal -orders previously sent to them. They had been ordered to raise money and -troops, provide provisions, open the necessary roads, supply carriages -and horses, and conciliate and arm the Indian nations on the frontier. -How far they were successful it will be proper to study later; for the -moment, let us consider the destination of the little army that set -sail, after innumerable delays, from the Downs December 21, 1754, led by -the famed "Centurian" whose figure-head adorns Greenwich Hospital -today. - -Sending Braddock and his army to Virginia against the French on the Ohio -was a natural blunder of immeasurable proportions. It was natural, -because all eyes had been turned to Virginia by the activity of the Ohio -Company, Washington's campaign of the preceding year, and the erection -of Fort Cumberland on the farthest frontier. These operations gave a -seeming importance to the Virginia route westward which was all out of -harmony with its length and the facilities offered. "Before we parted," -a friend of Braddock wrote concerning the General's last night in -London, "the General told me that he should never see me more; for he -was going with a handful of men to conquer whole nations; and to do this -they must cut their way through unknown woods. He produced a map of the -country, saying, at the same time, 'Dear Pop, we are sent like -sacrifices to the altar.'" This gloomy prophecy was fulfilled with a -fatal accuracy for which the choice of the Virginia route was largely -responsible. Braddock's campaign had been fully considered in all its -bearings in the royal councils, and the campaign through Virginia to -Fort Duquesne seems to have been definitely decided upon. Even before -Braddock had crossed half of the Atlantic his Quartermaster-General, St. -Clair, had passed all the way through Virginia and Maryland to Fort -Cumberland in carrying out orders issued to him before Braddock had -reached England from Gibraltar. "Having procured from the Governors of -Pennsylvania and Virginia and from other sources," writes Mr. Sargent, -"all the maps and information that were obtainable respecting the -country through which the expedition was to pass, he [St. Clair] -proceeded in company with Governor Sharpe of Maryland upon a tour of -inspection to Will's Creek." He inspected the Great Falls of the Potomac -and laid plans for their being made passable for boats in which the army -stores were to be shipped to Fort Cumberland, and had made contracts for -the construction of the boats. He laid out a camp at Watkin's Ferry. It -is doubtful whether Braddock had ever had one word to say in connection -with all these plans which irrevocably doomed him to the almost -impossible feat of making Fort Cumberland a successful base of supplies -and center of operations against the French. Moreover the Virginia -route, being not only one of the longest on which Braddock could have -approached the French, was the least supplied with any manner of wagons. -"For such is the attention," wrote Entick, "of the Virginians towards -their staple trade of tobacco, that they scarce raise as much corn, as -is necessary for their own subsistence; and their country being well -provided with water-carriage in great rivers an army which requires a -large supply of wheel-carriages and beasts of burden, could not expect -to be furnished with them in a place where they are not in general -use."[5] "Their Produce is Tobacco," wrote one of Braddock's army, of -the Virginians, "they are so attached to that, and their Avarice to -raise it, makes them neglect every Comfort of Life." As has often been -said, Carlisle in Pennsylvania would have made a far better center of -operations than Fort Cumberland, and eventually it proved to be -Pennsylvania wagons in which the stores of the army were -transported--without which the army could not have moved westward from -Fort Cumberland one single mile. "Mr. Braddock had neither provisions -nor carriage for a march of so considerable a length, which was greatly -increased and embarrassed by his orders to take the rout of Will's -Creek; which road, as it was the worst provided with provisions, more -troublesome and hazardous, and much more about, than by way of -Pennsylvania."[6] - -Not to use superlatives, it would seem that the American colonial -governors and St. Clair might have presented to Braddock the -difficulties of the Virginia route as compared with the Pennsylvania -route early enough to have induced the latter to make Carlisle his base -for the Ohio campaign; but there is no telling now where the blunder was -first made; a writer in _Gentleman's Magazine_ affirmed that the -expedition was "sent to _Virginia_ instead of _Pennsylvania_, to their -insuperable disadvantage, merely to answer the lucerative views of a -friend of the ministry, to whose share the remittances would then fall -at the rate of 2-1/2 _per cent_ profit."[7] - -Even the suspicion of such treachery as sending Braddock to Virginia to -indulge the purse of a favorite is the more revolting because of the -suggestion in the letter from the Duke of Cumberland that Braddock, -personally, favored an attack on Fort Niagara--which, it has been -universally agreed, was the thing he should have done. "As to _your -design_ of making yourself master of Niagara"--the italics are -mine--wrote Cumberland; and, though he refers at the beginning to their -numerous interviews, this is the sole mention throughout the letter of -any opinion or plan of Braddock's. "Had General _Braddock_ made it his -first business to secure the command of lake Ontario, which he might -easily have done soon enough to have stopt the _force_ that was sent -from _Canada_ to _Du Quesne_, that fort must have been surrendered to -him upon demand; and had he gone this way to it, greater part of that -vast sum might have been saved to the nation, which was expended in -making a waggon road, through the woods and mountains, the way he -went."[8] Yet Cumberland's orders were distinct to go to Niagara by way -of Virginia and Fort Duquesne. - -Horace Walpole's characterization of Braddock is particularly graphic -and undoubtedly just--"desperate in his fortune, brutal in his behavior, -obstinate in his sentiments, intrepid and capable."[9] The troops given -him for the American expedition were well suited to bring out every -defect in his character; these were the fragments of the 44th and 48th -regiments, then stationed in Ireland. Being deficient (even in time of -peace), both had to be recruited up to five hundred men each. The -campaign was unpopular and the recruits secured were of the worst -type--"who, had they not been in the army, would probably have been in -Bridewell [prison]." Walpole wrote, "the troops allotted to him most -ill-chosen, being draughts of the most worthless in some Irish -regiments, and anew disgusted by this species of banishment."[10] "The -mutinous Spirit of the Men encreases," wrote an officer of Braddock's -army during the march to Fort Duquesne, "but we will get the better of -that, we will see which will be tired first, they of deserving -Punishments, or we of inflicting them ... they are mutinous, and this -came from a higher Spring than the Hardships here, for they were -tainted in _Ireland_ by the factious Cry against the L-- L-- Ld G--, -and the Primate; the wicked Spirit instilled there by Pamphlets and -Conversation, got amongst the common Soldiers, who, tho' they are -_Englishmen_, yet are not the less stubborn and mutinous for that." - -Thus the half-mutinous army, and its "brutal," "obstinate," "intrepid," -and "capable" commander fared on across the sea to Virginia during the -first three months of the memorable year of 1755. By the middle of March -the entire fleet had weighed anchor in the port of Alexandria, Virginia. - - -The situation could not be described better than Entick has done in the -following words: "Put all these together, what was extraordinary in his -[Braddock's] conduct, and what was extraordinary in the way of the -Service, there could be formed no good idea of the issue of such an -untoward expedition." - - - - -CHAPTER III - -FROM ALEXANDRIA TO FORT CUMBERLAND - - -What it was that proved to be "extraordinary in the way of the Service" -General Braddock soon discovered, and it is a fair question whether, -despite all that has been written concerning his unfitness for his -position, another man with one iota less "spirit" than Braddock could -have done half that Braddock did. - -The Colonies were still quite asleep to their danger; the year before, -Governor Dinwiddie had been at his wits' end to raise in Virginia a few -score men for Fry and Washington, and had at last succeeded by dint of -drafts and offers of bounty in western lands. Pennsylvania was -hopelessly embroiled in the then unconstitutional question of equal -taxation of proprietary estates. The New York assembly was, and not -without reason, clannish in giving men and money for use only within -her own borders. It is interesting to notice the early flashes of -lurking revolutionary fire in the Colonies when the mother-country -attempted to wield them to serve her own politic schemes. Braddock was -perhaps one of the first Englishmen to suggest the taxation of America -and, within a year, Walpole wrote concerning instructions sent to a New -York Governor, that they "seemed better calculated for the latitude of -Mexico and for a Spanish tribunal than for a free rich British -Settlement, and in such opulence and of such haughtiness, that suspicion -had long been conceived of their meditating to throw off their -dependence on their mother country."[11] It would have been well for the -provinces if they had postponed for a moment their struggle against -English methods, and planned as earnestly for the success of English -arms as they did when defeat opened the floodgates of murder and pillage -all along their wide frontiers. But it is not possible to more than -mention here the struggles between the short-sighted assemblies and the -short-sighted royal governors. The practical result, so far as Braddock -was concerned, was the ignoring, for the greater part, of all the -instructions sent from London. This meant that Braddock was abandoned to -the fate of carrying out orders wretchedly planned under the most trying -circumstances conceivable. Instead of having everything prepared for -him, he found almost nothing prepared, and on what had been done he -found he could place no dependence. Little wonder the doomed man has -been remembered as a "brute" in America! To have shouldered the blame -for the lethargy of the Colonies, for the jealousy of their governors, -and for the wretchedness of the orders given Braddock, would have made -any man brutish in word and action. Pennsylvanians have often accused -Washington of speaking like a "brute" when, no doubt in anger, he -exclaimed that the officials of that Province should have been flogged -for their indifference; they were, God knows,--but by the Indians after -Braddock's defeat. - -The desperateness of Braddock's situation became very plain by the -middle of April, when the Governors of the Colonies met at his request -at the camp at Alexandria to determine upon the season's campaigns. But -it was not until later that he knew the full depths of his unfortunate -situation. As early as March 18 Braddock wrote Sir Thomas Robinson a -most discouraging letter, but on April 19, after the Governors' Council, -another letter to Robinson shows the exact situation. As to the fund -which the Colonies had been ordered to raise, the Governors "gave it as -their unanimous opinion that such a Fund can never be establish'd in the -Colonies without the Aid of Parliament."[12] They were therefore -"unanimously of the Opinion that the Kings Service in the Colonies, and -the carrying on of the present Expedition must be at a stand, unless the -General shall think proper to make use of his Credit upon the Government -at home to defray the Expense of all the Operations under his -Direction."[12] In Braddock's letter of April 19 he affirms "The -L20,000 voted in Virginia has been expended tho not yet collected; -Pennsylvania and Maryland still refuse to contribute anything; New York -has raised L5,000 Currency for the use of the Troops whilst in that -province, which I have directed to be applied for the particular Service -of the Garrison at Oswego.... I shall march from this place for -Frederick tomorrow Morning in my Way to Will's Creek, where I should -have been before this time, had I not been prevented by waiting for the -artillery, from which I still fear further delays, I hope to be upon the -mountains early in May and some time in June to have it in my power to -dispatch an Express with some Account of the Event of our operations -upon the Ohio."[13] The disappointed man was not very sanguine of -success, but adds, "I hope, Sir, there is good prospect of success in -every part of the plan I have laid before you, but it is certain every -single attempt is more likely to succeed from the Extensiveness of -it."[13] By this he meant that the French, attacked at several points -at once, would not be able to send reinforcements from one point to -another. - -But more serious disappointments awaited Braddock--a great part of the -definite promises made by Governor Dinwiddie were never to be realized. -The governor and Sir John St. Clair had promised Braddock that -twenty-five hundred horses and two hundred wagons would be in readiness -at Fort Cumberland to transport the army stores across the mountains, -and that a large quantity of beeves and other provisions would be -awaiting the army through July and August. Braddock was also promised -the support of a large force of Indians and, conformably to his orders, -had been careful to send the usual presents to the tribes in question. -He soon learned, however, that the short-sighted Assemblies of both -Virginia and Pennsylvania had already alienated the Indians whom they -should have attached to their cause, and but a handful were faithful now -when the crisis had come; for the faithfulness of these few Braddock was -perhaps largely in debt to Washington, whom they followed during the -campaign of the preceding year. As to the details of his miserable -situation, nothing is of more interest than the frank letter written by -Braddock to Sir John Robinson from Fort Cumberland, June 5: - -"I had the Honor of writing to you from Frederick the latter end of -April. - -"On the 10th of May I arrived at this place, and on the 17th the train -join'd me from Alexandria after a March of twenty seven days, having met -with many more Delays and Difficulties than I had even apprehended, from -the Badness of the Roads, Scarcity of Forage, and a general Want of -Spirit in the people to forward the Expedition. - -"I have at last collected the whole Force with which I propose to march -to the Attack of Fort Duquesne, amounting to about two thousand -effective Men, eleven hundred of which Number are Americans of the -southern provinces, whose slothful and languid Disposition renders them -very unfit for Military Service. I have employ'd the properest officers -to form and discipline them and great pains has and shall be taken to -make them as useful as possible. - -"When I first came to this place I design'd to have refresh'd the Troops -by a few days Rest, but the Disappointments I have met with in procuring -the Number of Wagons and Horses necessary for my March over the -Mountains have detained me near a Month. - -"Before I left Williamsburg I was informed by the Deputy Quarter Master -general, who was then at this Fort, that 2500 Horses and 200 Wagons -might be depended upon from Virginia and Maryland, but as I had the -utmost reason to fear a Disappointment from my daily Experience of the -Falsehood of every person with whom I was concern'd, I therefore before -I left Frederick, desired Mr. Franklin, postmaster of Pennsylvania, and -a Man of great Influence in that Province, to contract for 150 Waggons -and a Number of Horses, which he has executed with great punctuality and -Integrity, and is almost the only Instance of Ability and Honesty I have -known in these provinces; His Waggons and Horses have all joined me, and -are indeed my whole Dependence, the great promises of Virginia and -Maryland having produc'd only about twenty Waggons and two hundred -Horses: With the Number I now have I shall be enabled with the utmost -difficulty to move from this place, marching with one half of the -provision I entended and having been oblig'd to advance a large -Detachment in order to make a Deposite of provisions upon the Alliganey -Mountains about five days March from me. - -[Illustration: MAP OF BRADDOCK'S ROAD (ABOUT 1759) -[_From original in British Museum_]] - -"It would be endless, Sir, to particularize the numberless Instances of -the Want of public and private Faith, and of the most absolute Disregard -of all Truth, which I have met with in carrying on of His Majesty's -Service on this continent. I cannot avoid adding one or two Instances to -what I have already given. - -"A Contract made by the Governor of Virginia for 1100 Beeves was laid -before me to be delivered in July and August for the subsistence of the -Troops, which Contract he had entered into upon the Credit of twenty -thousand pounds Currency voted by the Assembly for the Service of the -Expedition. Depending upon this I regulated my Convoys accordingly, and -a few days since the Contractors inform'd me that the Assembly had -refus'd to fulfill the Governors Engagements, and the Contract was -consequently void: as it was an Affair of the greatest Importance, I -immediately offer'd to advance the Money requir'd by the Terms of the -Contract, but this the Contractor rejected, unless I would pay him one -third more; and postpone the Delivery of the Beeves two Months, at which -time they would have been of no use to me. - -"Another Instance is the Agent employ'd in the Province of Maryland for -furnishing their Troops with provision, who delivered it in such -Condition that it is all condemn'd upon a Survey, and I have been -obliged to replace it by sending to the Distance of an hundred Miles. - -"This Behavior in the people does not only produce infinite Difficulty -in carrying on His Majesty's Service but also greatly increases the -Expense of it, the Charge thereby occasion'd in the Transportation of -provision and Stores through an unsettled Country (with which even the -Inhabitants of the lower parts are entirely unacquainted) and over a -continued succession of Mountains, is many times more than double the -original Cost of them; for this reason I am obliged to leave a Quantity -of provision at Alexandria, which would be of great Service to use at -this place. The Behaviour of the Governments appears to me to be without -excuse, but it may be some Extenuation of the Guilt of the lower Class -of people, that upon former occasions their assistance in publick has -been ill rewarded, and their payments neglected; the bad Effects of -which proceeding we daily experience. - -"As I have His Majesty's Orders to establish as much as possible a good -understanding with the Indians, I have gathered some from the Frontier -of Pennsylvania chiefly of the Six Nations, with whom I have had two or -three Conferences, and have given them proper Presents; the Number -already with me is about fifty, and I have some hopes of more: Upon my -first Arrivall in America, I received strong assurances of the -assistance of a great Number of Southern Indians, which I have entirely -lost through the Misconduct of the Government of Virginia: And indeed -the whole Indian Affairs have been so imprudently and dishonestly -conducted, that it was with the greatest difficulty I could gain a -proper Confidence with those I have engag'd, and even that could not be -attain'd, nor can be preserv'd without a great Expense. - -"The Nature of the Country prevents all Communication with the French -but by Indians, and their Intelligence is not much to be depended upon; -they all agree the Number of French now in Fort Duquesne is very -inconsiderable, but that they pretend to expect large Reinforcements. - -"I have an Account of the arrival of the two thousand Arms for the New -England Forces, and that they are sailed for Nova Scotia. Batteaus and -Boats are preparing for the Forces destined to the Attacks of Niagara -and Crown Point, but the province of New York, which by its situation -must furnish the greater part, do not act with so much vigor as I could -wish. - -"In order to secure a short and easy Communication with the province of -Pensilvania, after the Forces have pass'd the Alligany Mountains, I -have apply'd to Governor Morris to get a Road cut from Shippensburg in -that Province to the River Youghyaughani; up which he informs me he has -set a proper Number of Men at work, and that it will be compleated in a -Month: This I look upon to be an Affair of the greatest Importance, as -well for securing future Supplies of Provisions, as for obtaining more -speedy Intelligence of what passes in the Northern Colonies.[14] - -"I wait now for the last Convoy and shall, if I do not meet with further -Disappointments, begin my March over the Alleghaney Mountains in about -five days. The Difficulties we have to meet with by the best Accounts -are very great; the Distance from hence to the Forts is an hundred and -ten miles, a Road to be cut and made the whole way with infinite Toil -and Labor, over rocky Mountains of an excessive Height and Steepness, -and many Stoney Creeks and Rivers to cross." - -Braddock's army under Halket and Dunbar proceeded to Fort Cumberland -from Alexandria by various routes. Governor Sharpe had had a new road -built from Rock Creek to Fort Cumberland;[15] this was probably Dunbar's -route and is given as follows in Braddock's Orderly Books:[16] - - MILES - To Rock Creek[17] -- - To Owen's Ordinary 15 - To Dowdens 15 - To Frederick 15 - From Fred^k on y^e road to Conogogee 17 - From that halting place to Conogogee 18 - From Conogogee to John Evens 16 - To the Widow Baringer 18 - To George Polls 9 - To Henry Enock's 15 - To Cox's at y^e mouth of little Cacaph 12 - To Col. Cresaps 8 - To Wills Creek 16 - ---- - 174 - -Halket's regiment went from Alexandria to Winchester, Virginia by the -following route as given in Braddock's Orderly Books: - - MILES - To y^e old Court House 18 - To M^r Colemans on Sugar Land Run where there is Indian Corn &c. 12 - To M^r Miners 15 - To M^r Thompson y^e Quaker wh is 3000 wt corn 12 - To M^r They's y^e Ferry of Shanh 17 - From M^r They's to Winchester 23 - -- - 97 - -At Winchester Halket was only five miles distant from "Widow Baringer's" -on Dunbar's road from Frederick to Fort Cumberland. - -One of the few monuments of Braddock's days stands beside the Potomac, -within the limits of the city of Washington. It is a gigantic rock, the -"Key of Keys," now almost lost to sight and forgotten. It may still be -found, and efforts are on foot to have it appropriately marked. It is -known in tradition as "Braddock's Rock"--on the supposition that here -some of Braddock's men landed just below the mouth of Rock Creek en -route to Frederick and Fort Cumberland. It is unimportant whether the -legend is literally true.[18] A writer, disputing the legend, yet -affirms that the public has reason "to require that the destructive hand -of man be stayed, and that the remnants of the ancient and historic rock -should be rescued from oblivion." The rock may well bear the name of -Braddock, as the legend has it. Nothing could be more typical of the -man--grim, firm, unreasoning, unyielding. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -A SEAMAN'S JOURNAL - - -One of the most interesting documents relative to Braddock's expedition -is a _Journal_ kept by one of the thirty seamen sent with Braddock by -Commodore Keppel. The original manuscript was presented by Colonel -Macbean to the Royal Artillery Library, Woolwich, and is first published -here. - -An expanded version of this document was published in Winthrop Sargent's -_History of Braddock's Expedition_, entitled "The Morris Journal"--so -called because it was in the possession of the Rev. Francis-Orpen -Morris, Nunburnholme Rectory, Yorkshire, who had published it in -pamphlet form.[19] Concerning its authorship Mr. Sargent says, "I do -not know who was the author of this Journal: possibly he may have been -of the family of Capt. Hewitt. He was clearly one of the naval officers -detached for this service by Com. Keppel, whom sickness detained at Fort -Cumberland during the expedition."[20] - -A comparison of the expanded version with the original here printed -shows that the "Morris Journal" was written by Engineer Harry Gordon of -the 48th Artillery. The entry in the expanded version for June 2 reads: -"Col. Burton, Capt. Orme, Mr Spendlowe and self went out to reconnoitre -the road."[21] In the original, under the same date, we read: "Colonel -Burton, Capt. Orme, Mr Engineer Gordon & Lieut Spendelow were order'd to -reconnoitre the Roads." Why Mr. Gordon desired to suppress his name is -as inexplicable as the failure of the Rev. Francis-Orpen Morris, who -compared the expanded and the original manuscripts, to announce it. The -proof is made more sure by the fact that Mr. Gordon usually refers to -himself as an "Engineer," as in the entry for June 3: "This morning an -Engineer and 100 men began working on the new road...." In the original -the name is given: "Engineer Gordon with 100 Pioneers began to break -Ground on the new Road...."[22] He refers to himself again on July 9 as -"One of our Engineers": "One of our Engineers, who was in the front of -the Carpenters marking the road, saw the Enemy first."[23] It is well -known that Gordon first caught sight of the enemy and the original -journal affirms this to have been the case: "Mr Engineer Gordon was the -first Man that saw the Enemy." Mr. Sargent said the author "was clearly -one of the naval officers detached ... by Com. Keppel." Though Mr. -Gordon, as author, impersonated a seaman, there is certainly very much -more light thrown on the daily duties of an engineer than on those of a -sailor; there is far more matter treating of cutting and marking -Braddock's Road than of handling ropes and pulleys. It is also -significant that Gordon, from first to last, was near the seamen and had -all the necessary information for composing a journal of which one of -them might have been the author. He was in Dunbar's regiment on the -march from Alexandria--as were the seamen. He, with the carpenters, was -possibly brigaded in the Second Brigade, with the seamen, and in any -case he was with the van of the army on the fatal ninth as were the -seamen. - -As to the authorship of the original journal the document gives no hint. -From Mr. Gordon's attempt to cover his own identity by introducing the -word "self" in the latter part of the entry of June 3, it might be -supposed the original manuscript was written by the "Midshipman" -referred to under that date in the original journal. But the two -midshipmen given as naval officers in the expedition, Haynes and Talbot, -were killed in the defeat.[24] - -The original journal which follows is of interest because of the -description of the march of Dunbar's brigade through Maryland and -Virginia to Fort Cumberland. The remainder was evidently composed from -descriptions given by officers after their return to Fort -Cumberland:[25] - - -Extracts from - -A Journal of the Proceedings of the Detachment of Seamen, ordered by -Commodore Kepple, to Assist on the late Expedition to the _Ohio_ with an -impartial Account of the late Action on the Banks of the _Monongohela_ -the 9^{th} of July 1755, as related by some of the Principal Officers -that day in the Field, from the 10^{th} April 1755 to the 18^{th} -Aug^{st}. when the Detachment of Seamen embark'd on board His Majisty's -Ship Guarland at Hampton in Virginia - -April 10^{th} Orders were given to March to Morrow with 6 Companies of -S^r P. Halket's Regiment for _Winchester_ towards _Will's Creeks_; April -11^{th} Yesterdays Orders were Countermanded and others given to furnish -Eight days Provisions, to proceed to _Rock's Creek_[26] (8 Miles from -Alexandria) in the Sea Horse & Nightingale Boats; April 12^{th}: Arrived -at _Rock's Creek_ 5 Miles from the lower falls of _Potomack_ & 4 Miles -from the Eastern branch of it; where we encamped with Colonel Dunbars -Regiment - -April 13^{th}: Employed in loading Waggon's with Stores Provisions and -all other conviniences very dear _Rock's Creek_ a very pleasant -Situation. - -April 14^{th}: Detachment of Seamen were order'd to March in the Front: -arrived at M^r. Lawrence Owen's: 15 Miles from _Rock's Creek_; and -encamp'd upon good Ground 8 Miles from the Upper falls of _Potomack_ - -April 15^{th}: Encamp'd on the side of a Hill near M^r. Michael -Dowden's;[27] 15 Miles from M^r. Owen's, in very bad Ground and in 1-1/2 -foot Snow - -April 16^{th}: Halted, but found it extreamly difficult to get either -Provisions or Forrage. - -April 17^{th}: March'd to _Fredericks Town_; 15 Miles from Dowden's, the -road very Mountanious, March'd 11 Miles, when we came to a River call'd -_Monskiso_, which empties itself into the _Potomack_; it runs very -rapid; and is, after hard Rain, 13 feet deep: We ferried over in a Float -for that purpose. This Town has not been settled Above 7. Years; there -are 200 Houses & 2 Churches 1 Dutch, 1 English;[28] the inhabitants -chiefly Dutch, Industrious, but imposing People; Provisions & Forrage in -Plenty. - -April 18^{th}: Encamp'd with a New York Company under the Command of -Captain Gates, at the North End of the Town, upon very good Ground - -April 19^{th}: Exercising Recruits, & airing the Tents: several Waggons -arrived with Ordnance Stores, heavy Dews at Night occasion it to be very -unwholsome - -April 20^{th}: Nothing Material happen'd - -April 21^{st}: The General attended by Captains Orme, Morris and -Secretary Shirley; with S^r John S^t Clair; arrived at Head Quarters. - -April 24^{th} inactive[29]. - -April 25^{th}: Ordnance Stores Arrived, with 80 Recruits for the 2 -Regiments - -April 27^{th}: Employ'd in preparing Harness for the Horses - -April 29^{th}: March'd to M^r. Walker's 18 Miles from _Fredericks Town_; -pass'd the South Ridge, commonly called the Blue Ridge or _Shanandoh -Mountains_ Very easy Ascent and a fine Prospect ... no kind of -Refreshment - -April 30^{th}: March'd to _Connecochiag_; 16 Miles from M^r. Walker's, -Close by the _Potomack_, a very fine Situation, where we found all the -Artillery Stores preparing to go by Water to Wills Creek - -May 1^{st}: Employed in ferrying (over the _Potomack_) the Army Baggage -into Virginia in 2 Floats and 5 Batteaux; The Army March'd to M^r. John -Evans, 16 Miles from y^e _Potomack_ and 20 Miles from Winchester, where -we Encamp'd, and had tolerable good living with Forrage; the roads begin -to be very indifferent - -May 2^{nd}: Halted and sent the Horses to Grass - -May 3^d: March'd to Widdow Barringers 18 Miles from M^r. Evans; the day -was so excissive hot, that many Officers and Men could not Arrive at -their Ground until Evening, this is 5 Miles from Winchester and a fine -Situation - -May 4^{th}: March'd to M^r. Pots 9 Miles from the Widdow's where we were -refresh^t with Vinison and wild Turkeys the Roads excessive bad. - -May 5^{th}: March'd to M^r. Henry Enocks, a place called the _forks of -Cape Capon_, 16 Miles from M^r. Pots; over prodigious Mountains, and -between the Same we cross'd a Run of Water in 3 Miles distance, 20 times -after marching 15 Miles we came to a River called _Kahepatin_ where the -Army ferried over, We found a Company of S^r Peter Halkets Regiment -waiting to escort the Train of Artillery to _Wills Creek_ - -May 6^{th}: Halted, as was the Custom to do every third day, The -Officers for passing away the time, made Horse Races and agreed that no -Horse should Run over 11 Hands and to carry 14 Stone - -May 7^{th}: March'd to M^r. Coxs's by the side of y^e _Potomack_ 12 -Miles from M^r. Enock's, and Encamped we cross'd another run of Water 19 -Times in 2 Miles Roads bad. - -May 8^{th}: Ferried over the River into _Maryland_; and March'd to M^r. -Jacksons, 8 Miles from M^r. Coxs's where we found a Maryland Company -encamp'd in a fine Situation on the Banks of the _Potomack_; with -clear'd ground about it; there lives Colonel Cressop, a Rattle Snake, -Colonel, and a D--d Rascal; calls himself a Frontierman, being nearest -the _Ohio_; he had a Summons some time since from the French to retire -from his Settlement, which they claim'd as their property, but he -refused it like a man of Spirit;[30] This place is the Track of Indian -Warriours, when going to War, either to the N^{o}ward, or S^{o}ward He -hath built a little Fort round his House, and is resolved to keep his -Ground. We got plenty of Provisions &c^a. The General arrived with -Captains Orme and Morris, with Secretary Shirley and a Company of light -Horse for his Guard, under the Command of Cap^t. Stewart, the General -lay at the Colonels. - -May 9^{th}: Halted and made another Race to amuse the General - -D^o. 10^{th}: March'd to _Will's Creek_; and Encamp'd on a Hill to the -E^{t}ward of the Fort, when the General past the Troops; Colonel Dunbar -informed them, that there were a number of Indians at _Will's Creek_, -that were Friends to the English therefore it was the Generals positive -Orders, that they should not be Molested upon any account, upon the -Generals Arrival at the Fort, He was Saluted with 17. Guns, and we found -100 Indian Men, Women & Children with 6 Companies of S^r Peter Halkets -Regiment, 9 Virginian Companies and a Maryland Company. - -May 11^{th}: _Fort Cumberland_, is Situated within 200 Yards of _Wills -Creek_ on a Hill 400 Yards from the _Potomack_, it's greatest length -from East to West is 200 Yards, and breadth 40 it is built with Loggs -drove into the Ground: and 12 feet above it Embrazures are cut for 12 -Guns which are 4. Pounders, though 10 are only Mounted with loopholes -for small Arms; The Indians were greatly surprised at the regular way of -our Soldiers Marching and our Numbers. - -I would willingly say something of the customs & manners of them, but -they are hardly to be described. The Men are tall, well made and Active, -but not strong; The Women not so tall yet well proportion'd & have many -Children; they paint themselves in different Manners; Red, Yellow & -Black intermixt, the Men have the outer Rim of their Ears cut; and -hanging by a little bit at Top and bottom: they have also a Tuft of Hair -left at Top of their Heads, dress'd with Feathers.... Their Match Coat -which is their chief Cloathing, is a thick Blanket thrown round them; -and instead of Shoes wear Mekosins, which laces round the foot and -Ankle ... their manner of carrying Children are by lacing them on a -Board, and tying them with a broad Bandage with a place to rest their -feet, and Boards over their Heads to keep the Sun off and this is Slung -to the Womens backs. These people have no Idea of a Superior Being or of -Religion and I take them to be the most ignorant, as to the Knowledge of -the World and things, of any Creatures living. When it becomes dark they -Return to their Camp, which is [nigh] Woods, and Dance for some Time -with making the most hidious Noise. - -May 12^{th}: Orders for a Council of War at the Head Quarters when the -Indians came, and were received by the Guard with Rested Arms, an -Interpreter was directed to tell them that their Brothers, the English, -who were their friends were come to assist them, that every -misunderstanding in past times, should now be buried under that great -Mountain (which was close by) and Accordingly the Ceremony was perform'd -in giving them a string of Wampum or Beads; and the following speech was -made, to Assure them that this string or Belt of Wampum was a suriety of -our Friendship; and likewise a Declaration, that every one, who were -Enemies to them, were consequently so to us. The Interpretor likewise -assured them, the we had a Considerable Number of Men to the N^{o}Ward, -under the Commands of our great War Captains Generals, Shirley, Pepperel -& Johnson that were making preparations for War to settle them happily -in their Countries, and make the French both ashamed & hungry, however, -should any Indians absent themselves they would be deem'd our Enimies & -treated as such; The Generals moreover told them, he should have -presents for them soon, and would then make them another Speech, after -which he parted with giving a Dram round. - -May 13^{th}: The Indian Camp were 1/4 Miles from the Fort which I went -to visit their Houses are composed of 2 Stakes, drove into the Ground, -with a Ridge Pole & Bark of Trees laid down the sides of it, w^{ch}. is -all they have to Shelter them from the Weather.... The Americans & -Seamen Exercising. - -May 14^{th}: Inactive in our Camp. I went to the Indian to see them -Dance which they do once or twice a Year round a Fire, first the Women -dance, whilst the Men are Sitting, and then every Women takes out her -Man; dances with him; lays with him for a Week, and then Returns to her -proper Husband, & lives with him.[31] - -May 15^{th}: 22 Casks of Beef were Surveyed and condemn'd[32] - -D^o. 16^{th}: Arrived L^t. Col^o. Gage with 2 Companies, and the last -Division of the Train, consisting of 8 Field Pieces; 4 Howitzers and a -Number of Cohorns, with 42 Store Waggons Cap^t. Bromley of S^r P. -Halkets Regim^t. died May 17^{th}: Orders for the Funeral. - -May 18^{th}: Cap^t. Bromley was interred with great -Solemnity[33]--19^{th}: the Indians came to the Generals Tent when he -made them a speech to this Effect; that they would send away immediately -their Wives & Children to Pensilvania, and take up the Hatchet against -the French, that the great King of England their Father had sent their -Wives & Children such & such presents, and he had Ordered Arms, -Ammunition &c^a. to be delivered to their Warriors, and expressd a -Concern for their 1/2 King killed last year--the presents consisted of -Shrouds; Rings, Beads, Linnen, Knives, Wire & paint, they seem'd -pleased, received their presents with 3 Belts & String of Wampum, and -promised an Answer the next day in the Evening they Danced and made a -most terrible Noise to shew were mightily pleased. - -May 20^{th}: Cap^t. Gates March'd into Camp with his New York Comp^y. -The Indians met at the Generals Tent, and told him they were highly -Obliged to the Great King their Father, for sending such Numbers of Men -to fight for them, and they moreover promise to Join them, and do what -was in their power by reconnoitring the Country, & bringing -Intelligence, they were likewise oblidged to the General for expressing -his Concern for the loss of their 1/2 King his Brother, and for the -Presents he had made their Families. Their Chiefs Names were as follows - -1^{st}: Monicatoha their Mentor, 2^d Belt of Wampum, or white Thunder, -who always keep the Wampum, and has a Daughter call'd bright Lightning -3^d: The great Tree and Silver Heels, Jimy Smith and Charles all -belonging to the 6 Nations, The General Assured them of his Friendship -and gave his Honour, that he never would deceive them, after which they -sung their Song of War, put themselves into odd postures, w^{th} -Shouting and making an uncommon Noise, declaring the French to be their -pepetual Enemies, which they never had done before, then the General -took the Indians to the Park of Artillery, Ordered 3 Howtz^{rs}. 3:12 -pounders to be Fired, the Drums beating & Fifes playing the point of -War, which astonish^t but pleased the Indians greatly. They afterwards -Retired to their own Camp to eat a Bullock and Dance in their usual -manner, with shewing how they fight and Scalp, and expressing in their -Dance, the exploits & Warlike Actions of their Ancestors and -themselves--Arrived 80 Waggons from Pensylvania with Stores; and 11 -likewise from Philidelpha with Liquors, Tea, Sugar, Coffe &c. to the -Amount of 400L With 20 Horses, as presents to the Officers of the 2 -Regiments--An Indian came in 6 days from the French Fort, and assured us -they have only 50 Men in the Fort, however they expected 900 more soon, -yet they purpose blowing it up whenever the Army Appears--as this Indian -was one of the Delawars, who never were our Friends he was suspected to -be a Rogue--100 Carpenters were Employed in making a Float, building a -Magazine & squaring Timber to make a Bridge over _Wills Creek_, The -Smiths were making Miners Tools, The Bakers were baking Biscuit, and -every thing was getting ready for a March. - -May 21^{st}: A Troop of light Horse & 2 Companies of S^r P. Halkets -Regim^t. under the Command of Major Chapman came in from Winchester - -May 22^d: The Indians had Arms & Cloaths delivered to them - -D^o. 23^d: The 2 Regiments were Exercised & went through their Formings - -D^o. 24^{th}: Employed in Transporting the large Timber to the Fort, The -Army consists of 2 Regiments, Each 700 Men; 2 _New York_, 1 Independent -_Carolina_ Companies of 100 Men, 9 _Virginia_ 1 _Maryland_ Companies of -50 Men; 1 Comp^y. of Artillery of 60 & 30 Seamen - -May 25^{th}: Preparations for Marching: 2 Men of S^r P. Halkets were -Drum'd out, and received 1000 lashes Each for Theft. - -May 27^{th}: The Companies employed in loading 100 Waggons w^{th}. -Provisions, A Captains Guard March'd for _Winchester_ to Escort -Provisions to Camp--several _Delawar_ Indians came into Camp. - -May 28^{th}: The _Delawar_ Indians Assembled at the Generals Tent and -told him they were come to Assist him, but desired to know his Intention -the General thank'd them, and said that he should March in a few days -for Fort Dec Quisne, The Indians then replyed, they would return home, -Collect their Warriors and meet them on his March. - -May 29^{th}: Major Chapman with a Detachment of 600 Soldiers March'd -with 2 Field Pieces and 50 Waggons full of Provisions when S^r John S^t -Clair, 2 Engineers, Lieut. Spendelow & 6 Seamen with some Indians were -Order'd to clean the Roads for them. - -May 30^{th}: March'd in, Cap^t. Dobbs with a _North Carolina_ Company - -June 1^{st}: The Detachment got 15 Miles though the Roads were very bad; -Lieu^t. Spendelow returned with his 6 Seamen. - -June 2^d: Colonel Burton, Cap^t. Orme, M^r. Engineer Gordon[34] & -Lieu^t. Spendelow were order'd to reconnoitre the Roads, the latter -reported that he had found a tolerable Road, which might avoid the bad -Mountain that they would otherwise be obliged to pass; and accordingly -it was determined to March the Army that way, it being only 2 Miles -about. - -June 3^d: Engineer Gordon[35] with 100 Pioneers began to break Ground on -the new Road, when Lieu^t. Spendelow, 1 Midshipman[36] & 10 Men were -sent to the Place that leads into the Old Road, cleard away and -compleated 1 Mile, - -June 4^{th}: 1 Midshipman & 20 Men cleard 3/4 of a Mile - -5^{th}: continued working on the Roads - -6^{th}: Compleated the new Road & Return'd to Camp. - -7^{th}: S^r P. Halkets Brigade March'd with 2 Field Pieces and some -Waggons with Provisions 1 Midshipman & 12 Seamen were Orderd to Assist -the Train June 9^{th}. Inactive June 10^{th}: The General March'd -w^{th}. the remaining part of the Army. - -25^{th}: it was reported that a party of Indians had Surprized Kill'd, -and Scalp'd 2 families to the Number of 12 within 4 Miles of y^e Fort - -June 26^{th}: Accounts of another family's Scalp'd within 3 Miles of us. -The Governor detach'd a party to bury the Dead, and to look for the -Indians, they found a Child standing in the Water scalp'd, which had 2 -holes in its Skull, they brought it to the Doctor, who dressed it but -Died in a Week.[37] - -June 10^{th}: the last Division of His Majesty's Forces March'd from -_Wills Creek_ with General Braddock, when the General Arrived at the -little Meadows 22 Miles from the _Creek_, and having all his Forces -w^{th}. him, found that the Carriages, Pack horses &c^a. he had with -him, retardid his Marches greatly, insomuch that in all probability, the -French would be renforced, before he could possibly get there, provided -he kept the whole Army together--he therefore selected 1200 of the -Choicest Men besides Artillery & Seamen with the most Necessary Stores -that might be wanted, which compleated 51 Carriages, and left the heavy -Baggage Provisions &c^a. with Col^o. Dunbar and the rest of the Forces -w^{th}. Orders to follow as fast as possible: then March'd & continued -untill 8^{th}. July without Interruption save 8 or 9 Scalps on the March -a Number much inferior to the Expectations, he Encamp'd within 8 Miles -of _Fort Dec Quisne_ where he held a Councill of War, when it was -unaimously agreed that they should pass the _Monongohela_ River in the -Morning twice and that the advanced Party should March at 2 o'Clock in -the Morning to secure that pass (the River being very broad and easily -defended as the Fort was very near they thought it advisable to take -that oppertunity, that the Enemy might not have a View of them, -Therefore the General order'd that the Army should March over with fixt -Bayonets to make a show. - -On the 9^{th}. July the advanced party of 400 Men March'd about -7. o'Clock some Indians Rush'd out of the Bushes, but did no Execution, -the Party went on & secured both passes of the River, and at 11 the Main -Body began to cross with Colours flying, Drums beating, & Fifes playing -the Granadier's March, and soon formed, when they thought that the -French would not Attack them, as they might have done it w^{th}. such -advantages in crossing the _Monogohela_, The advanced party was 1/4 Mile -before the Main Body, the Rear of which was just over the River, when -the Front was attacked The 2. Granadier Comp^{ys}. formed the Flank The -Piquets with the rest of the Men were Sustaining the Carpenters while -they were cutting the Roads. The first Fire the Enemy gave was in Front, -& they likewise gaul'd the Piquets in Flank, so that in few Minutes the -Granadiers were nearly cut to pieces and drove into the greatest -Confusion as was Cap^t. Polsons Comp^y. of Carpent^{rs}. As soon as the -Main Body heard that the Front was Attack'd they instantly advanced to -secure them but found them retreating Upon which, the General Orderd the -Artillery to draw up, & the Battalion to form, by this time the Enemy -had Attacked the Main Body, which faced to the Right & left and engaged -them, but could not see whom they Fired at, it was in an open Road, that -the Main Body were drawn up, but the Trees were excessive thick round -them, And the Enemy had possession of a Hill to the Right, which -consequently was a great advantage to them, Many Officers declare, that -they never saw above 5 of the Enemy at one time during the whole Action -Our Soldiers were Encouraged to make many Attempts by the Officers (who -behaved Gloriously) to take the Hill, but they had been so intimidated -before by seeing their Comrades Scalp'd in their sight and such Numbers -falling, that as they advanced up towards the Hill and there Officer's -being pict off which was generally the Case; they turn'd to their R^t. -About & retired down the Hill. When the General perceived & was -convinced that the Soldiers would not fight in a regular Manner without -Officers, he devided them into small parties, and endeavour'd to -surround the Enemy, but by this time the Major part of the Officers were -either Kill'd or Wounded, and in short the Soldiers were totally deaf to -the Commands & persuasions of the few Officers that were left unhurt. -The General had 4 Horses shot under him before he was wounded, which was -towards the latter part of the Action, when he was put into a Waggon -with great dificulty as he was very Sollicitious for being left in the -Field. The Retreat now became general, and it was the opinion of many -people that had we greater Numbers, it would have been just the same -thing, as our advanc'd party never regained the Ground they were first -Attacked upon, it was extreamly lucky they pursued no farther than the -first Crossing the River but they kill'd & Scalp'd every one they met -with, The Army March'd all Night & Join'd Colonel Dunbar the next Day, -50 Miles distance from the Field of Battle, when the General order'd -Col^o. Dunbar to prepare for a Retreat in Order for which, they were -Obliged to destroy great quantities of Stores and Provisions, to -furnish the Wounded Officers & Soldiers with Waggons The Generals Pains -encreased hourly, and on the 12^{th} of July he Died greatly lamented by -the whole Army, was decently though privately buried the next Morning. - -The Numbers kill'd; Wounded & left in the Field as appeared by the -Returns of the different Companies were 896 besides Officers The 2 -Companies of the Grenadiers and Carpenters sufferd most Col^o. Dunbars -Grenadiers were 79 Compleat out of which 9 Returned untouch'd. S^r P. -Halkets, were 69 & only 13 came out of y^e Field Every Grenadier Officer -was either kill'd or Wounded The Seamen had 11 Kill'd & wounded out of -33 it was impossible to tell the exact Nunbers of the Enemy but it was -premised by the continual smart Fire the kept during the whole Action, -that they must have at least Man for Man M^r. Engineer Gordon[38] was -the first Man that saw the Enemy, being in the Front of the Carpenters, -making & Picketing the Roads for them, and he declared where he first -descover'd them, that they were on the Run, which plainly shews they -were just come from _Fort Dec Quesne_ and that their principal Intention -was to secure the pass of _Monnongohela River_ but the Officer who was -their leader, dressed like an Indian, w^{th}. a Gorgeton, waved his -Hatt, by way of Signal to disperse to y^e Right and left forming a half -Moon Col^o. Dunbar continued his Retreat and Arrived with the Remains of -the Army at _Fort Cumberland_ the 20^{th}. July, and the 21^{st}. the -Wounded Officers & Soldiers were brought in.... 30^{th}. July Orders -were given for the Army to March the 2^{nd}. August 1^{st}. August -Col^o. Dunbar received a Letter from Commodore Kepple to send the Seamen -to _Hampton_ and accordingly the 2^d. they March'd with the Army & on -the 3^d. August left them August 5^{th}. Arrived at _Winchester_ August -11^{th}. March'd into _Fredericksburgh_ and hired a Vessel to carry the -Seamen to _Hampton_ where they embarked on board his Majesty's Ship -Guarland the 18^{th}. August 1755. - -4:6 pounders. 2. 12 pounders, 3 Howitzers, 8 Cohorns, 51 Carriages of -Provisions Ammunition Hospital Stores, The Generals private Chest which -had about 1000L in it with 200 Horses loaded with Officers Baggage.[39] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE BATTLE OF THE MONONGAHELA - - -Sir Peter Halket moved out from Fort Cumberland on June 7 with a brigade -comprising the 44th Regiment, two Independent Companies of New York, two -companies of Virginia Rangers, one of Maryland Rangers, a total of nine -hundred and eighty-four men, six hundred woodchoppers under Sir John St. -Clair having been sent forward to widen and improve Washington's road. -The next day but one Colonel Thomas Dunbar marched away with another -brigade comprising the 48th Regiment, a company of carpenters, three -companies of Virginia Rangers, and one from South and North Carolina -each, a total of nine hundred and ninety-three men. On the tenth, -Braddock and his aides and the rest of the army which was approximately -two thousand two hundred strong--a force powerful enough to have razed -Duquesne, Venango, La Boeuf, Presque Isle, and Niagara to the ground--if -it could have reached them. - -This Franklin who secured Braddock horses and wagons was a prophet. And -once he predicted that this "slender line" of an army would be greatly -in danger of Indian ambuscade "and be cut, like a thread, into several -pieces, which, from their distance, cannot come up in time to support -each other." Braddock laughed at the prophecy, but his army had not been -swallowed up in the gloom of the forests two days before its line was -thinner and longer than Braddock could ever have believed. When encamped -at night, the line of wagons compactly drawn together was half a mile -long; in marching order by day the army was often spread out to a length -of four miles. And even in this fashion it could only creep along. -Halket with the first division made only five miles in three days. In -ten days Braddock had only covered the twenty-four miles to Little -Crossings. The road makers followed implicitly the Indian path where it -was possible; when on the high ground the road was so rugged that many -wagons were entirely demolished and more temporarily disabled; when off -this track in the ravines they were buried axle deep in the bogs. - -To haul the wagons and cannon over this worst road ever trod Braddock -had the poorest horses available. All the weak, spavined, wind-broken, -and crippled beasts in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia were palmed -off on Braddock by unscrupulous contractors. And horses, dead or dying, -were always left with the demolished wagons. "There has been vile -management in regard to horses," wrote Washington; before the army had -covered one third of its journey there were not enough to draw all the -wagons, the strongest being sent back each day to bring up the wagons -left behind the morning before. The continuous diet of salt meat brought -an epidemic of bloody flux on the army; some died, many were sick. -Washington's strong system was in the grasp of a fever before Little -Crossings was reached. - -The situation now was desperate and would have appalled a less stubborn -man than Edward Braddock. Acting on Washington's advice he here divided -his army, preparing to push on to Fort Duquesne with a flying column of -fourteen hundred men. Washington found the first western river almost -dry and reasoned that Riviere aux Boeufs would be too dry to transport -southward the reinforcements that were hurrying from Canada. - -On the nineteenth, Braddock advanced with Colonel Halket and Lieutenant -Colonels Burton and Gage and Major Sparks, leaving Colonel Dunbar and -Major Chapman--to their disgust--to hobble on with the sick and dying -men and horses, the sorry line of wagons creaking under their heavy -loads. The young Virginian Colonel was left at the very first camp in a -raging fever. Though unable to push on further with the column that -would capture Duquesne, yet Braddock considerately satisfied the -ambition of Washington by promising that he should be brought up before -the attack was made. Washington wrote home that he would not miss the -capture of Duquesne "for five hundred pounds!" - -With the flying column were taken the Indians that were with the army -but which numbered less than a dozen. Braddock has been severely blamed -for his neglect of the Indians, but any earnest study of this campaign -will assure the student that the commanding general was no more at fault -here than for the failure of the contractors and the indifference of the -colonies. He had been promised Indians as freely as stores and horses -and wagons. The Indian question seems to have been handled most -wretchedly since Washington's late campaign. Through the negligence of -the busy-body Dinwiddie (so eager for so many unimportant matters) even -the majority of the Indians who served Washington faithfully and had -followed his retreating army back to Virginia were allowed to drift back -to the French through sheer neglect. As none of Dinwiddie's promises -were fulfilled in this respect Braddock turned in despair to Morris for -such Ohio Indians as were living in Pennsylvania. There had been at -least three hundred Indians of the Six Nations living in that province, -but in April the Pennsylvania Assembly had resolved to "do nothing more -for them"; accordingly they went westward and most of them joined the -French. Morris, however, urged George Croghan to send word to the -Delawares, Shawanese, Wyandots, etc., bidding them come and join -Braddock's army. But Croghan brought less than fifty and Braddock was -not destined to keep all of these, for Colonel Innes, commanding at Fort -Cumberland, not desiring the Indian families on his hands during the -absence of the fathers, persuaded Braddock that there were not enough to -add to the fighting strength of the army and that a few would be as -serviceable for spies as many. Nor was this bad reasoning: Braddock -would have been no better off with thirty than with ten. The fact is, he -was in nothing deceived more by false promises and assurances than in -the matter of Indian cooperation. And was he more at fault for the lack -of frontiersmen? True, he refused the services of Captain Jack and his -company, but only because the latter refused to be governed by the -discipline to which the rest of the army was subject; Braddock could not -agree to such an arrangement and it is doubtful if Washington would have -acted differently under similar circumstances. At least the Virginian -had nothing to do with Captain Jack's renowned company the year before. -To other border fighters Braddock gave a warm reception; Gist and -Croghan, the two best known men on the frontier, held important offices -in the army. It is as easy as common to lay at the door of a defeated -and dead commander all the misfortunes of a campaign; whatever -Braddock's errors, the fact remains that the colonies failed absolutely -to make the least move to provide an Indian army for Braddock's use. -Nothing could have more surely promised defeat and disgrace. - -The flying column flew like a partridge with a broken wing. "We set -out," wrote Washington who started with it but was compelled to stop, -"with less than thirty carriages, including those that transported the -ammunition for the howitzers, and six-pounders, and all of them strongly -horsed; which was a prospect that conveyed infinite delight to my mind, -though I was excessively ill at the time. But this prospect was soon -clouded, and my hopes brought very low indeed, when I found, that, -instead of pushing on with vigor, without regarding a little rough road, -they were halting to level every mole-hill, and to erect bridges over -every brook, by which means we were four days in getting twelve miles." - -On the third of July the flying column had passed the Youghiogheny and -were encamped ten miles north of it, forty miles from Fort Duquesne. It -had not averaged three miles a day since leaving Little Crossings! Here -a Council of War was held to decide whether to push on alone or await -the coming of Dunbar and the wagons. Could the Grenadiers and their -officers have seen through that narrow path to their destination, how -quickly would their decision have been made, how eagerly would they have -hurried on to the Ohio! Contrecoeur at Fort Duquesne was in a miserable -plight; every returning red-skin told of the advance of the great -British army in the face of Governor Duquesne's proud boast to Vaudreuil -that it was impossible for the English to cross the Alleghenies in -sufficient force to cause uneasiness! Braddock, despite the utter lack -of proper support from the colonies, was accomplishing the eighth -wonder of the world. It was desperate work. But a Bull-dog was creeping -nearer each day. - -Throughout the winter the British ministry and the Court of Versailles -had been exchanging the most ridiculous pretenses of peace while -secretly preparing for war with dispatch. For every ill-recruited -regiment King George sent to Virginia, King Louis sent two famous -regiments to Canada, and they arrived there despite Boscawen, the -English admiral, who captured two unimportant ships. Yet that was enough -to precipitate the struggle and save more fables from the respective -ambassadors; "I will not pardon the piracies of that insolent nation," -exclaimed Louis--and open war was inevitable. - -At his landing at Quebec Vaudreuil found not less than twelve thousand -soldiers in Canada to defend the claims of his King. But that was a long -frontier to man, from Quebec to New Orleans, and in April only about one -thousand men were forwarded to defend the Ohio river. Of these -Contrecoeur had not more than three hundred, probably less. The summer -before he had two thousand defenders, but Duquesne, blindly trusting to -the ephemeral league he had made with the Alleghenies, had not been -liberal again. In vain Contrecoeur sent messages northward to Venango -and Presque Isle. Riviere aux Boeufs was as dry as the Youghiogheny. -Inevitable surrender or capitulation stared the French commander in the -face. Even the crowds of Indians within hail were not to be reckoned on; -they were terrified at the proportions of Braddock's army. - -Accordingly, Contrecoeur made his arrangements for a capitulation, as -Washington had done one year ago. Braddock had accomplished the -impossible; the Indians were demoralized and took to "cooking and -counciling"; Fort Duquesne was as good as captured. - -On the seventh Braddock reached Brush Fork of Turtle Creek, but the -country immediately between him and the Ohio was so rough that the army -turned westward and pitched its nineteenth encampment in Long Run valley -two miles from the Monongahela. Here Washington came up with the army -in a covered wagon, still weak but ready to move with the army in the -morning and sleep in Duquesne that night. The whole army was infused -with this hope as the ninth of July dawned. - -For no one questioned Braddock's success if he could once throw that -army across the mountains. No one knew the situation better than -Washington, and early in the campaign he wrote his brother: "As to any -danger from the enemy, I look upon it as trifling." In London profane -wits cited Scripture (Ezekiel xxxv: 1-10) to justify the conquest of the -Ohio valley: "Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of -man, set thy face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, and say -unto it, thus saith the Lord God: Behold, O mount Seir, I am against -thee and I will stretch out mine hand against thee and I will make thee -most desolate.... Because thou hast said, These two nations and these -two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it." Already -subscription papers were being passed about in Philadelphia to provide -festal fires to illumine the Quaker City when the news of Braddock's -victory came. - -"Why, the d--l," exclaimed one of the enthusiasts to that odd man -Franklin who did not sign his name at once, "you surely don't suppose -the fort will not be taken?" "I don't know it will not be taken," -replied the Postmaster-General, "but I know that the events of war are -subject to great uncertainty." A jingling ballad in Chester County, -Pennsylvania, was spreading throughout the frontier. It ran, in part: - - To arms, to arms! my jolly grenadiers! - Hark, how the drums do roll it along! - To horse, to horse, with valiant good cheer; - We'll meet our proud foe, before it is long. - Let not your courage fail you: - Be valiant, stout and bold; - And it will soon avail you, - My loyal hearts of gold. - Huzzah, my valiant countrymen!--again I say huzzah! - 'Tis nobly done--the day's our own--huzzah, huzzah! - - March on, march on, brave Braddock leads the foremost; - The battle is begun as you may fairly see. - Stand firm, be bold, and it will soon be over; - We'll soon gain the field from our proud enemy. - A squadron now appears, my boys; - If that they do but stand! - Boys, never fear, be sure you mind - The word of command! - Huzzah, my valiant countrymen!--again I say huzzah! - 'Tis nobly done--the day's our own--huzzah, huzzah! - -Before daybreak on the morning of the fatal ninth Lieutenant Colonel -Gage moved to the Monongahela to secure the two fords the army was to -use on the last day's march. At four o'clock Sir John St. Clair with two -hundred and fifty men went forward to prepare the roads. At five -Braddock advanced and made the first crossing at eight o'clock. He then -formed his army for a triumphant march to the second ford and on to Fort -Duquesne. It had been feared that, however weak, Contrecoeur would -attempt to defend this ford of the Monongahela. But this fear was -dissipated on receipt of the news that Gage held the second ford. - -Contrecoeur knew it would be foolhardy to give Braddock battle. He was -in no mind to waste his men futilely. He knew an honorable capitulation -was all for which he could hope. But on the 8th a captain of the -regulars, M. de Beaujeu, asked leave to go out with a band to oppose -Braddock's passage of the Monongahela. Reluctantly, it is said, -Contrecoeur gave his permission and, the whole garrison desiring to -attend Beaujeu, the commander detailed him selected troops on the -condition that he could obtain the assistance of the Indians who were -about the fort. - -The impetuous Beaujeu hurried off to the Indians and unfolded his plan -to them. But they were afraid of Braddock; some of them had even gone -into the English camp, at Cumberland, or in the mountains, on pretense -of joining the English army; they had seen the long lines of grenadiers -and wagons laden with cannon. - -"How, my Father," they replied, "are you so bent upon death that you -would also sacrifice us? With our eight hundred men do you ask us to -attack four thousand English? Truly, this is not the saying of a wise -man. But we will lay up what we have heard, and tomorrow you shall know -our thoughts." - -Baffled, Beaujeu withdrew while the redskinned allies of the French -frittered away the hours in debate--and the spies brought word that -Braddock was encamped in Long Run valley. The indomitable Beaujeu, -however, went and examined the ground at the ford of the Monongahela, -which Braddock would pass on the next day. On the ninth, however, the -Indians brought word that they would not join in the unequal contest. - -But even as they spoke an Indian scout came running down the narrow -trail toward the fort. He brought the news of Braddock's advance on the -Monongahela fords. Beaujeu, cunning actor, played his last card -desperately and well: - -"I am determined," he cried, "to go out against the enemy; I am certain -of victory. What! will you suffer your father to depart alone?" - -The reproach stung the savage breasts. In a moment hundreds of hoarse -voices were drowning the long roll of the drums. A mad scene followed; -wild with enthusiasm, casks of bullets and flints and powder were -rolled to fort gates and their heads knocked out. About these the -savages, even while painting themselves for the fray, came in crowds, -each one free to help himself as he needed. Then came the race for the -ford of the Monongahela. Down the narrow trail burst the horde of -warriors, led by the daring Beaujeu dressed in savage costume, an Indian -gorget swinging from his neck for good fortune. Behind him poured -Delawares, Ojibways, Pottawattamies, Abenakis, Caughnawagas, Iroquois, -Ottawas, led by their young King Pontiac; Shawanese, Wyandots, Hurons, -led by Athanasius from the mission of Lorette, who gloried in a name -"torn from the most famous page of Christian history." With the six -hundred savages ran two hundred Canadians and four score French -regulars. - -This rabble could not have left Fort Duquesne before high noon; no -wonder Beaujeu ran--fearing Braddock had passed the battle-ground he had -chosen last night. In that case he despaired of delaying the advance -even a single day; yet in one day the expected reinforcements might -arrive from the north! - -Washington rode with Braddock today, though he rode on a pillow in his -saddle. In after life he often recalled the sight of Braddock's -grenadiers marching beside the Monongahela in battle array, a fine -picture with the thin red line framed in the fresh green of the forests. -With the receipt of Gage's note, the fear of ambuscade which had been -omnipresent since the army left Fort Cumberland, vanished. During that -month the Indian guides, flanking squads, and woodchoppers had rushed -into camp time and again calling the companies to arms; each alarm had -been false. As Fort Duquesne was neared Braddock grew doubly cautious. -He even attempted to leave the Indian trail which ran through the -"Narrows" and which crossed the Monongahela at the mouth of Turtle -Creek. When another course was found impossible for the wagons he turned -reluctantly back to the old thoroughfare, but had passed the "Narrows" -safely and his advance guards now held the fords. All was well. - -By two o'clock Braddock was across the river, bag and baggage. Beyond, -the Indian trail wound along to the uplands, skirting the heads of -numerous ravines and clinging persistently, like all the trails of the -Indians and buffalo, to the high ground between the brook and swamp. The -ridge which the trail followed here to the second terrace was twenty -rods in width, with the path near the center. On the west a deep ravine, -completely hidden in the deep underbrush, lay almost parallel with the -trail for a distance of over five hundred feet. On the opposite side -smaller ravines also lay nearly parallel with the trail. On the high -ground between these hidden ravines, and not more than two hundred feet -from them, Braddock's engineers and woodchoppers widened their road for -Gage's advance guard which was ordered to march on until three o'clock. - -As the engineers reached the extremity of the second terrace Beaujeu -came bounding into sight, the pack of eight hundred wolves at his heels. -Seeing the English, the daring but dismayed Frenchman stopped still in -his tracks. He was an hour too late. Attempting to surprise Braddock, -Beaujeu was himself surprised. But he waved his hat above his head and -the crowd of warriors scattered behind him like a partridge's brood into -the forest leaves. - -The French captain knew the ground and Braddock did not, and the ground -was admirably formed for a desperate stand against the advancing army. -Burton, who was just leaving the river shore, was ordered up to support -Gage on the second upland after the first fire. This brought the whole -army, save four hundred men, to the second terrace between the unseen -ravines on the east and west. Into these ravines poured the Indian -rabble. The ravine on the east being shorter than that on the west, many -savages ran through it and posted themselves in the dense underbrush on -the hillside. - -Thus, in a twinkling of an eye, the Indians running southward in the two -ravines and the British northward on the high ground between them, the -fatal position of the battle was quickly assumed.[40] No encounter has -been more incorrectly described and pictured than the Battle of the -Monongahela.[41] Braddock was not surprised; his advance guard saw the -enemy long before they opened fire; George Croghan affirmed that the -grenadiers delivered their first charge when two hundred yards distant -from the Indians, completely throwing it away. Nor did Braddock march -blindly into a deep ravine; his army was ever on the high ground, caught -almost in the vortex of the cross-fire of the savages hidden on the -brink of the ravines on either side, or posted on the high ground to the -right.[42] - -The road was but twelve feet in width. Even as Burton came up, Gage's -grenadiers were frightened and retreating. The meeting of the advancing -and retiring troops caused a fatal confusion and delay in the narrow -road. The fire from the Indians on the high ground to the right being -severe, Braddock attempted to form his bewildered men and charge. It -was futile. The companies were in an inextricable tangle. Finally, to -reduce things to order, the various standards were advanced in different -directions and the officers strove to organize their commands in -separate detachments, with a hope of surrounding the savages. This, too, -proved futile. The Indians on either side completely hidden in the -ravines, the smoke of the rifles hardly visible through the dense -underbrush, poured a deadly fire on the swarm of red-coats huddled in -the narrow track. Not a rifle ball could miss its mark there. As the -standards were advanced here and there, the standard bearers and the -officers who followed encouraging their men to form again were shot down -both from behind and before.[43] As once and again the paralyzed -grenadiers broke into the forest to raid the ravines, in the vain hope -of dislodging the enemy, they offered only a surer mark for the thirsty -rifles toward which they ran. - -The Virginians took to the trees like ducks to water, but the sight -enraged Braddock, mad to have the men form in battle line and charge in -solid phalanx. In vain Washington pleaded to be allowed to place his men -behind the trees; Braddock drove them away with the flat blade of his -sword. Yet they came back and fought bravely from the trees as was their -habit. But it availed nothing to fight behind trees with the enemy on -both flanks; the Virginians were, after all, no safer there than -elsewhere, as the death-roll plainly shows. The provincial portion of -the army suffered as heavily, if not more heavily, than any other. No -army could have stood its ground there and won that battle. The only -chance of victory was to advance or retreat out of range of those hidden -rifles. The army could not be advanced for every step brought the men -nearer the very center of that terrible cross-fire. And the Bull-dog -Braddock knew not the word "retreat." That was the secret of his -defeat.[44] - -Soon there were not enough officers left to command the men, most of -whom were hopelessly bewildered at seeing half the army shot down by a -foe they themselves had never seen. Many survivors of the battle -affirmed that they never saw above five Indians during the conflict. -Braddock was mortally wounded by a ball which pierced his right arm and -lung. Sir Peter Halket lay dead, his son's dead corpse lying across his -own. Of twenty-one captains, seven were dead and seven wounded; of -thirty-eight lieutenants, fifteen were wounded and eleven were dead; of -fourteen second lieutenants or ensigns, five were wounded and three were -dead; of fifty-eight sergeants, twenty were wounded and seventeen dead; -of sixty-one corporals and bombardiers, twenty-two were wounded and -eighteen dead; of eighteen gunners, eight were wounded and six were -dead; of twelve hundred privates, three hundred and twenty-eight were -wounded and three hundred and eighty-six were dead. Each Frenchman, -Canadian, and Indian had hit his man and more than every other one had -killed his man. Their own absolutely impregnable position can be -realized when it is known that not twenty-five French, Canadians or -Indians were killed and wounded. Among the first to fall was the hero of -the day, Beaujeu; his Indian gorget could not save his own life, but it -delayed the capture of Fort Duquesne--three years. - -Yet the stubborn, doomed army held its ground until the retreat was -ordered. The wounded Braddock, who pleaded, it is said, to be left upon -the ground, and even begged for Croghan's pistol with which to finish -what a French bullet had begun, was placed in a cart and afterwards in a -wagon and brought off the field.[45] No sooner was retreat ordered than -it became an utter rout. Some fifty Indians pursued the army into the -river, but none crossed it. Here and there efforts were made to stem the -tide but to no purpose. The army fled back to Dunbar, who had now -crawled along to Laurel Hill and was encamped at a great spring at the -foot of what is now Dunbar's Knob, half a mile north of Jumonville's -hiding place and grave. Dunbar's situation was already deplorable, even -Washington having prophesied that, though he had crossed the worst of -the mountain road, he could never reach Fort Duquesne. - -But as Braddock's demoralized army threw itself upon him, Dunbar's -condition was indescribably wretched. A large portion of the survivors -of the battle and of Dunbar's own command, lost to all order, hurried on -toward Fort Cumberland. Dunbar himself, now senior officer in command, -ordered his cannons spiked and his ammunition destroyed and, with such -horses as could be of service, began to retreat across the mountains. -For this he was, and has often been, roundly condemned; yet, since we -have Washington's plain testimony that he could never have hauled his -wagons and cannon over the thirty comparatively easy miles to Fort -Duquesne, who can fairly blame him for not attempting to haul them over -the sixty difficult miles to Fort Cumberland? To fortify himself, so far -removed from hopes of sustenance and succor, was equally impossible. -There was nothing Dunbar could do but retreat. - -The dying Braddock, tumbling about in a covered wagon on the rough road, -spoke little to the few men who remained faithfully beside him. Only -once or twice in the three days he lived did he speak of the battle; and -then he only sighed to himself softly: "Who would have thought it?" -Once, turning to the wounded Orme, he said: "We shall better know how to -deal with them another time." During his last hours Braddock seems to -have regarded his young Virginian aide, Washington, whose advice he had -followed only indifferently throughout the campaign, with utmost favor, -bequeathing him his favorite charger and his servant. On the night of -the twelfth of July, in a camp in an Indian orchard, near what is now -Braddock's Run, a mile and more east of Fort Necessity, in Great -Meadows, Edward Braddock died. In the morning he was buried in the -center of the roadway. Undoubtedly Washington read the service over the -Briton's grave. When the army marched eastward it passed over the grave, -obliterating its site from even an Indian's keen eye. In 1823, when the -Braddock's Road was being repaired, what were undoubtedly his bones -were uncovered, together with military trappings, etc. These were placed -in the dry ground above the neighboring run, the spot being now marked -by solemn pines. - -Whatever Braddock's faults and foibles, he accomplished a great feat in -leading a comparatively powerful army across the Alleghenies, and had he -been decently supported by the colonies, there would have been no doubt -of his success. As it was, shamefully hampered and delayed by the -procrastinating indifference of the colonies, deceived and defrauded by -wolfish contractors, abandoned by the Indians because of the previous -neglect of the Colonial governors and assemblies, nevertheless the -campaign was a distinct success, until at the last moment, Fate -capriciously dashed the chalice from Braddock's lips. - -The shattered army reached Fort Cumberland on July 20. The tale of -disaster had preceded it. The festal fires were not kindled in -Philadelphia. Now, for the first time the colonies were awakened to the -true situation, and in the months following paid dearly for their -supine indifference. - -For with Beaujeu's victory the French arms became impregnable on the -Ohio. Braddock's defeat brought ten-fold more wretchedness than his -victory could ever have brought of advantage. After that terrible scene -of savagery at Fort Duquesne on the night of the victory, when the few -prisoners taken were burned at the stake, there were no wavering -Indians. And instantly the frontier was overrun with marauding bands -which drove back to the inhabited parts of the country every advanced -settlement. All the Virginian outposts were driven in; and even the -brave Moravian missionaries in Pennsylvania and New York gave up their -work before the red tide of war which now set eastward upon the long -frontiers. - -For Shirley had likewise been beaten back from Fort Niagara, and Johnson -had not captured Fort Crown Point. Two of the campaigns of 1755 were -utter failures. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -A DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKWOODS - - -The clearest insight into the days when Braddock's Road was built, and -the most vivid pictures of the country through which it wound its -course, are given in certain letters of a British officer who -accompanied Braddock. No treatise on Braddock's expedition could be in -any measure complete without reproducing this amusing, interesting, yet -pitiful testimony to the difficulties experienced by these first English -officers to enter the backwoods of America. This is given in a volume -entitled _Extracts of Letters from an officer in one of those Regiments -to his friend in London_, published in London in the year of Braddock's -Defeat: - -"You desire me to let you know the Particulars of our Expedition, and an -Account at large of the Nature of the Country, and how they live here; -also of the Manner of the Service, and which Corps is the most -agreeable to serve in, because it has been proposed to you to strive to -buy a Commission here, and that you awaited my Advice to determine. Dear -Sir, I love you so well that I shall at once tell you, I reckon the Day -I bought my Commission the most unhappy in my Life, excepting that in -which I landed in this Country. As for the Climate, it is excessive hot -in Summer, and as disagreeably cold in Winter, and there is no Comfort -in the Spring; none of those Months of gentle genial Warmth, which -revives all Nature, and fills every Soul with vernal Delight; far from -this, the Spring here is of very few Days, for as soon as the severe -Frosts go off, the Heat of the neighbouring Sun brings on Summer at -once, one Day shall be Frost, and the next more scorching or sultry and -faint than the hottest Dog-Day in _England_. What is excessively -disagreeable here is, that the Wealth of the Country consists in Slaves, -so that all one eats rises out of driving and whipping these poor -Wretches; this Kind of Authority so Corrupts the Mind of the Masters, -and makes them so overbearing, that they are the most troublesome -Company upon Earth, which adds much to the Uncomfortableness of the -Place. You cannot conceive how it strikes the Mind on the first Arrival, -to have all these black Faces with grim Looks round you, instead of -being served by blooming Maid Servants, or genteel white Livery Men: I -was invited to Supper by a rich Planter, and the Heat of the Climate, -the dim Light of the Myrtle Wax-Candles, and the Number of black -half-naked Servants that attended us, made me think of the infernal -Regions, and that I was at Supper with _Pluto_, only there was no -beautiful _Proserpine_, for the Lady of the House was more like one of -the Furies; she had passed through the Education of the College of -_Newgate_, as great Numbers from thence arrive here yearly; Most being -cunning Jades, some pick up foolish Planters; this Lady's Husband was -far from a Fool, but had married, not only for the Charms of her Person, -but because her Art and Skill was Quite useful to him in carrying on his -Business and Affairs, many of which were worthy of an adept in the -College she came from. Among others he made me pay for my Supper by -selling me a Horse upon Honour, which, as soon as it was cool, shewed -itself Dog-lame and Moon-blind. - -"As for eating, they have the Names of almost every Thing that is -delicious, or in Fashion in _England_, but they give them to Things as -little like as _Caesar_ or _Pompey_ were to the _Negroes_ whom they call -by those _Names_. For what they call a Hare is a Creature half Cat, half -Rabbet, with white strong Flesh, and that burrows in rotten Trees; they -call a Bird not much bigger than a Fieldfare, with hard, dry, strong -Flesh, hardly eatable, a Partridge. The best Thing they have is a wild -Turky, but this is only in Season one Month in the Year; the rest it is -hard, strong, and dry. As for Beef, the Months of _October_ and -_November_ excepted, it is Carrion; that is to say, so lean as it would -not be called Meat in _England_; their Mutton is always as strong Goats' -Flesh; their Veal is red and lean, and indeed the Heat of the Summer and -the pinching Frost of Winter, makes all like _Pharaoh's_ lean Kine. They -brag of the Fruits, that they have such plenty of Peaches as to feed -Hogs; and indeed that is true, they are fit for nothing else; I do not -remember, among the Multitudes I have tasted, above one or two that were -eatable, the rest were either mealy or choaky. Melons grow in Fields, -and are plentier than Pumpkins in _England_, as large and as tasteless; -there are such Quantities that the Houses stink of them; the Heat of the -Country makes them at once mellow, so that they hardly ever have the -fine racy Taste of an _English_ good Melon, for in _England_ you have -many bad Melons to one good; but here the Heat makes all Fruits like us -young fellows, rotten before they are ripe. With respect to Fish, they -have neither Salmon, Carp, Trout, Smelts, nor hardly any one good Kind -of Fish. They give the Name of Trout to a white Sea-fish, no more like a -Trout than a Cat to a Hare; they have one good, nay excellent Kind of -Fish, I mean a Turtle; but as Scarce as in _England_. With respect to -public Diversions, the worst _English_ Country Town exceeds all they -have in the whole Province. As to Drink, _Burgundy_ and _Champaign_ were -scarce ever heard of; _Claret_ they have but poor Stuff, tawny and -prick'd, for it cannot stand the Heat of the Summer, which also spoils -the _Port_; the _Madeira_ is the best Wine they have, but that only of -the worst Growths, for the best are sent to _Jamaica_ or _England_; -their only tolerable Drink is Rum Punch, which they swill Morning, Noon, -and Night. Their Produce is Tobacco; they are so attached to that, and -their Avarice to raise it, makes them neglect every Comfort of Life; But -the Intemperance of the Climate affects not only all the Cattle, Fruits, -and Growths of the Country, but the human Race; and it is rare to see a -native reach 50 Years of Age. I have heard from the best Judges, I mean -the kind hearted Ladies most in Vogue, that a _Virginian_ is old at 30, -as an _Englishman_ is at 60. The Ladies I speak of are well experienced, -and for most of them the Public have for peculiar Merit paid the -Passage, and honoured with an Order for Transportation on Record. I -would not deceive you so have told you the truth; I have not -exaggerated, but have omitted many disagreeable Circumstances, such as -Thunder Storms, Yellow Fevers, Musketoes, other Vermin, _&c_ with which -I shall not trouble you. The Ship is just going." - - * * * * * - -"I Sent a Letter to you by Captain _Johnson_ bound for _Bristol_, with a -full Account of the Country, by which you will see the Reasons why it -will be highly improper for you to buy into the Troops here; I send this -by a Ship bound for _London_. - -"They make here a Division between the Settlements and the Woods, though -the Settlements are what we should call very woody in _Europe_. The Face -of the Country is entirely different from any Thing I ever saw before; -the Fields have not the Appearance of what bears that Name in _Europe_, -instead of ploughed Grounds or Meadows, they are all laid out in -Hillocks, each of which bears Tobacco Plants, with Paths hoed between. -When the Tobacco is green it looks like a Coppice; when pulled the -Ground looks more like Hop-Yards than Fields, which makes a very -disagreeable Appearance to the Eye. The Indian Corn also, and all their -Culture runs upon hilling with the Hoe, and the _Indian_ Corn grows -like Reeds to eight or nine Feet high. Indeed in some Parts of the -Country Wheat grows, but Tobacco and _Indian_ Corn is the chief. - -"From the Heart of the Settlements we are now got into the Cow-Pens, the -Keepers of these are very extraordinary Kind of Fellows, they drive up -their Herds on Horseback, and they had need do so, for their Cattle are -near as wild as Deer; a Cow-Pen generally consists of a very large -Cottage or House in the Woods, with about four-score or one hundred -Acres, inclosed with high Rails and divided; a small Inclosure they keep -for Corn, for the Family, the rest is the Pasture in which they keep -their Calves; but the Manner is far different from any Thing you ever -saw; they may perhaps have a Stock of four or five hundred to a thousand -Head of Cattle belonging to a Cow-Pen, these run as they please in the -great Woods, where there are no Inclosures to stop them. In the Month of -_March_ the Cows begin to drop their Calves, then the Cow-Pen Master, -with all his Men, rides out to see and drive up the Cows with all their -new fallen Calves; they being weak cannot run away so as to escape, -therefore are easily drove up, and the Bulls and other Cattle follow -them; then they put these Calves into the Pasture, and every Morning and -Evening suffer the Cows to come and suckle them, which done they let the -Cows out into the great Woods to shift for their Food as well as they -can; whilst the Calf is sucking one Tit of the Cow, the Woman of the -Cow-Pen is milking one of the other Tits, so that she steals some Milk -from the Cow, who thinks she is giving it to the Calf; as soon as the -Cow begins to go dry, and the Calf grows Strong, they mark them, if they -are Males they cut them, and let them go into the Wood. Every Year in -_September_ and _October_ they drive up the Market Steers, that are fat -and of a proper Age, and kill them; they say they are fat in _October_, -but I am sure they are not so in _May_, _June_ and _July_; they reckon -that out of 100 Head of Cattle they can kill about 10 or 12 Steers, and -four or five Cows a Year; so they reckon that a Cow-Pen for every 100 -Head of Cattle brings about 40L Sterling per Year. The Keepers live -chiefly upon Milk, for out of their vast Herds, they do condescend to -tame Cows enough to keep their Family in Milk, Whey, Curds, Cheese and -Butter; they also have Flesh in Abundance such as it is, for they eat -the old Cows and lean Calves that are like to die. The Cow-Pen Men are -hardy People, are almost continually on Horseback, being obliged to know -the Haunts of their Cattle. - -"You see, Sir, what a wild set of Creatures our _English_ Men grow into, -when they lose Society, and it is surprising to think how many -Advantages they throw away, which our industrious Country-Men would be -glad of: Out of many hundred Cows they will not give themselves the -trouble of milking more than will maintain their Family." - - * * * * * - -"Since my last, we are got out of the Settlements and into the Woods. -The Scene is changed, but not for the better. I thought we were then so -bad that we had the Consolation of being out of Danger of being worse, -but I found myself mistaken. The mutinous Spirit of the Men encreases, -but we will get the better of that; we will see which will be tired -first, they of deserving Punishments, or we of inflicting them. I cannot -but say the very Face of the Country is enough to strike a Damp in the -most resolute Mind; the Fatigues and Wants we suffer, added, are enough -to dispirit common Men; nor should I blame them for being low spirited, -but they are mutinous, and this came from a higher Spring than the -Hardships here, for they were tainted in _Ireland_ by the factious Cry -against the L-- L-- Ld G--, and the Primate; the wicked Spirit instilled -there by Pamphlets and Conversation, got amongst the common Soldiers, -who, tho' they are _Englishmen_, yet are not the less stubborn and -mutinous for that. They have the Impudence to pretend to judge of and -blame every Step, not only of the Officers, but of the Ministry. They, -every now and then, in their Defence say they are free _Englishmen_, and -Protestants, and are not obliged to obey Orders if they are not fed with -Bread, and paid with Money; now there is often only Bills to pay them -with, and no Bread but _Indian_ Corn. In fine, in _Europe_ they were -better fed than taught; now they must be better taught than fed. -Indeed the Officers are as ill off about Food as they, the General -himself, who understands good eating as well as any Man, cannot find -wherewithal to make a tolerable Dinner of, though he hath two good Cooks -who could make an excellent Ragout out of a Pair of Boots, had they but -Materials to toss them up with; the Provision in the Settlements was -bad, but here we can get nothing but _Indian_ Corn, or mouldy Bisket; -the fresh Bread we must bake in Holes in the Ground having no Ovens, so -besides the Mustiness of the Flour, it is half Sand and Dirt. We are -happy if we can get some rusty salt Pork, or Beef, which hath been -carried without Pickle; for as we cannot carry Barrels on Horses, we are -forced to take out the Meat and put it in Packs on Horses Backs; -sometimes we get a few live Cattle from the Cow-Pens, but they are so -lean that they are Carion and unwholesome. To this is added, the Heat of -the Country, which occasions such Faintness, that the Men can hardly -carry their Arms; and sometimes when these Heats are a little relaxed, -there comes such Storms of Rain, Thunder and Lightening, that all the -Elements seems on Fire; Numbers of Pine Trees struck to Shivers, and -such Effects of Lightening, that if not seen one could hardly believe; -yet we have not as yet had one Man killed by Lightening, but we have had -several died by the Bite of Snakes, which are mortal, and abound -prodigiously in the Swamps, through which we are often forced to march; -there is another Inconveniency, which, tho it seems small, has been as -teasing to me as the greater, that is a Kind of Tick, or Forest Bug, -that gets into the Legs, and occasions Inflammations and Ulcers, so that -the wound itches and makes one ready to tear off the Flesh; this hath -greatly distressed both Men and Officers, and there is no Help nor Cure -for it but Patience: Indeed they seldom occasion Lameness, tho' -sometimes they do; a Soldier of our Company was forced to have his Leg -cut off, for the Inflammation caused by the many Bites mortifying. We -have nothing round us but Trees, Swamps, and Thickets. I cannot conceive -how we must do if we are attacked, nor how we can get up to attack; but -the best is what the General said, to reassure the old Soldiers who are -all uneasy for Fear of being attack'd on the long March in Defiles, his -Excellency with great Judiciousness says, that where the Woods are too -thick so as to hinder our coming at them, they will hinder their coming -at us. - -[Illustration: BRADDOCK'S ROAD NEAR FROSTBURG, MARYLAND] - -"Just as I write this we hear the best News I ever heard in my Life, the -General hath declared to the _Virginians_, that if they do not furnish -us with Waggons and Provisions in two Days, he will march back; he has -justly upbraided them for exposing the King's Troops, by their Bragging -and false Promises. They undertook to furnish us with Horses, Bread and -Beef, and really have given nothing but Carion for Meat, _Indian_ Corn -for Bread, Jades for Horses which cannot carry themselves. These -Assurances of furnishing every Thing has deceived the General hitherto, -and he, out of Zeal for the Service, hath undergone the utmost -Difficulties; but now it is impossible to go farther without they comply -with the Promises, they were weak, or wicked enough to make, for -certainly they were never able to perform them; it is surprizing how -they bragged before we left the Settlements, of what Plenty they would -furnish us with at the Cow-Pens, and in the Woods; these Assurances has -brought the General into the present Difficulties, and he has very -justly told them, that if he marched any farther without a Supply, he -should be justly charged with destroying his Majesty's Troops in the -Deserts, and thereby occasion the Destruction of _Virginia_ by -encouraging the French; that if he was not supplied in two Days, he -would march back, and lay their Breach of Faith before his Majesty. - -"I now begin to hope that I shall once more have the Pleasure of seeing -you, and the rest of my Friends. Pray acquaint my dear Mr. M--, that I -desire he would not sell my Farm at --, since I hope soon to be over." -[The rest relates to private affairs]. - - * * * * * - -"As the Intention of marching back continues, another Courier is to be -sent, which Opportunity I take, not only to let you know I am well, but -to desire my Cousin -- would not send any Money to Mr. -- to be -remitted to me in _Virginia_. As the Pen is in my Hand, I will give you -an Account of a Diversion we had some Nights ago, it was an _Indian_ -Dancing, which I cannot call a Ball, though it was a Kind of Masquerade, -the Habits being very antick; but this as every Thing in this Country -is, was in the Stile of the Horrible; the Sal de Ball was covered with -the Canopy of Heaven, and adorned with the twinkling Stars, a large -Space of Grass was mark'd out for the Dancing-Place, round which we the -Spectators stood, as at a Cricket-match in _England_, in the Centre of -it was two Fires, at a small Distance from each other, which were -designed as an Illumination to make the Dancers visible; near the Fires -was seated the Musick, which were a number of Men and Women, with a Kind -of Timbrels or small Kettle-Drums, made of real brass Kettles, covered -with Deer Skins made like Parchment by the _Indians_, and these they -beat, and keep good Time, although their Tunes are terrible and savage; -they also sing much in the same Stile, creating Terror, Fear, and all -dreadful Passions, but no pleasing ones. After this Noise had gone on -for some Time, at once we heard a most dreadful Shout, and a Band of -horrid Figures rushed into the Ring, with a Nimbleness hardly -conceivable; they struck the Ground in exact Measure, answering the -rough Musick; at once all the Descriptions of the Fawns and Satyrs of -the _Latin_ Poets came into my Mind, and indeed the _Indians_ seemed to -be the same Kind of brown dancing People, as lived under King _Faunus_, -some 3000 Years ago in _Italy_; they are most chearful and loving to -their Friends, but implacable and cruel to their Enemies. They drink and -act when drunk much like _Silenus_ and his Satyrs; their whole Life is -spent in Hunting, War, and Dancing, what they now perform'd was a War -Dance; as soon as this Surprize ceased the Dancers followed one another, -treading a large Ring, round the two Fires and Music, and ceased -Singing; the Timbrels and Voices in the Centre set up a Tune to which -they continued dancing, and follow'd one another in the Ring with a very -true Measure, antick Postures, and high Bounds, that would puzzle our -best Harlequins to imitate; soon after, to every five Dancers came out -a Boy, carrying in their Hands flaming Splinters of light Wood instead -of Torches, which cast a glim Light that made Things as distinguishable -as at Noon-Day; and indeed the Surprisingness and Newness of the -Spectacle made it not unpleasing; the Indians being dress'd, some in -Furrs, some with their Hair ornamented with Feathers, others with the -Heads of Beasts; their Bodies naked, appearing in many Places, painted -with various Colours, and their Skins so rubbed with Oyl as to glitter -against the Light; their Waists were girded round with Bear or Deer -Skins with the Hair on, and artificial Tails fixed to many of them that -hung down near unto the Ground. After they had danced some Time in a -Ring, the Music ceased, the Dancers divided into two Parties, and set up -the most horrid Song or Cry, that ever I heard, the Sound would strike -Terror into the stoutest Heart. They then formed themselves into two -Bodies, four deep, all which they did, still dancing to the Tune and -Measure; they ceased singing, and the Music began, on which the two -Bodies run in at each other, acting all the Parts the _Indians_ use in -their Manner of Fight, avoiding Shot, and striving to surround their -Enemies. Some Time past in this Manner, and then at the Signal of a -dismal Cry the Dancers all at once rushed out again, leaving one only -behind them, who was supposed to have mastered his Enemy; he struck the -Ground with his Tomohawk or Club, as if he was killing one lying there, -then acting the Motions of scalping, and then holding up a real dried -Scalp, which before hung upon him amongst his Ornaments; he then sung -out the great Achivements which some of their Nation had performed -against the _French_, told the Names of the _Indian_ Warriors, and how -many of _French_ each had scalped, and then the Dance ended, _&c_." - - * * * * * - -"In my last I acquainted you with the joyful News that our General -resolved not to be any longer deceived by the _Virginians_, Orders were -given for our March back, but the Day before that was appointed there -arrived five Quakers decently dressed, they were pure plump Men, on -brave fat Horses, which, by the way, were the first plump Creatures I -had seen in this Country. Then, as I told you before, I believed -_Virginia_ was peopled by _Pharaoh's_ lean Kine, but these Quakers seem -to come from the Land of _Goshen_, they looked like Christian People; -they went directly to his Excellence, and Curiosity carried us all to -the general Quarters. They came with Thanks to the General from the -People of Pensilvania, for the great Labour he had gone through in -advancing so far into the Wilderness for the Protection of his Majesty's -dutiful Subjects. They acquainted him further, that they had been -cutting Roads to meet him with a Number of Waggons loaded with Flour, -Cheese, Bacon, and other Provision; though this was good News I did not -half like it, I fear'd it would occasion our Stay, and prevent our -marching back; besides it was ominous, your Cheese and your Bacon being -the Baits that draw Rats to Destruction, and it proved but too true; -this Bait drew us into a Trap where happy was he that came off with the -Loss of his Tail only. This Evening we saw the Road and Waggons, and -the Men eat, this was a Duty so long disused, that it was a Tour of -Fatigue to the Teeth. The Fellows who drove the Waggons, tho' they would -have made but a shabby Figure amongst our _Hampshire_ Carters, yet here -they looked like Angels, compared with the long, lank, yellow-faced -_Virginians_, who at best are a half-starved, ragged, dirty Set; if by -Accident they can clear enough by their Tobacco to buy a Coat, they -rather chuse a half-wore gaudy Rag, than a substantial coarse Cloth, or -Kersey; they are the very Opposites to the _Pensilvanians_, who buy -Coats of Cloth so strong as to last as long as the Garments of the -_Israelites_ in their March through the Desert; a Coat serves a Man for -his Life and yet looks fresh, but this comes from their never wearing -them at Home; when out of Sight they work half naked. They are a very -frugal People, and if they were not so would be as beggarly as their -Neighbours the _Virginians_. The Ground does not bear half the Crops as -in _England_; they have no Market but by Sea, and that very dull, if you -consider they are forced to put their Flour in Barrels after grinding -and sifting, all at their own Charge, and no Consideration thereof in -the Price; whilst the _English_ Farmer only threshes his Wheat, and -sends it to Market. Tho' _Pensilvania_ is a Paradise to _Virginia_, it -is a very poor Country compared to _England_, and no Man in his Senses -can live with Comfort in _England_ stays here; as soon as they get -Estates they come over to _England_. The Proprietor, a most worthy -Gentleman, and universally admired, went over, and out of Complaisance -staid a little Time with them, but soon returned back to _England_, -where he resides. If _Pennsylvania_ could be agreeable to any one, it -would be so to him, who is one of the most amiable Men living, and the -whole People used their utmost Endeavors to make the Place agreeable; -but alas, the Intemperature of the Climate, the Nearness and Frugality -in their Manner of Living, necessary to carry on the Cultivation; the -Labor that most are forced to undergo to live, prevent their giving Way -to Pleasure, and the rest, as soon as they by Labor and Frugality get -enough to come to _England_, leave that Country, so there are not People -enough at Ease to make an agreeable Society; nor to occasion those -Improvements in Gardens, Buildings, and Parks, as would make Life -agreeable, much less is their Numbers enough of Rich to afford -encouragement to support public Diversions; so that _America_ is a very -disagreeable Place, the least Shire-Town in _England_ has more Pleasures -than the best Town in _North America_. - -"But to return to our Quakers, the Chief of them told the General that -he feared greatly for the Safety of the Army; that the Woods, the -farther we went, would be the more dangerous, and the _French_ were a -subtle and daring Enemy, and would not neglect any Opportunity of -surprising us; that the further we went the more difficult it would be -to supply us with Provisions, and that the Country was not worth -keeping, much less conquering. The _French_ not yet knowing our Force -were in Terror, and if he sent would perhaps come into a Treaty; that -Peace was a heavenly Thing; and as for the Country in Dispute it was -misrepresented by those Projectors, who had some private Advantage; for -it was fit for none but _Indians_, the Soil bad, far from the Sea, and -Navigation; therefore he thought if the _French_ would abandon and -destroy their Forts, and we do the same, and leave the Lands to their -rightful Owners the _Indians_, on Condition that that Nation should pay -some Furrs and Deer Skins, by Way of Tribute, to our most gracious King -_George_, a Pacification might be established till the Matter was made -up before his Majesty. That General _Oglethorp_ had in that Manner -settled all Differences with the _Spaniards_ on the Southern Frontiers, -towards _Florida_, and the Accord lasted to this Day; on the other Hand, -he said, that if the _French_ refused, then the _Indians_, who are a -free and warlike Nation, and much too powerful to be despised, would -probably take our Side; if we would pull down the _French_ Forts, and -our own also, they would be the guard of our Colonies with very small -Expense to _England_. - -"The General not only heard this Proposal with Pleasure, and -communicated it to most of the Officers, but doubted if he had Power to -execute it. Some of the Braggadocio _Virginians_, who last Year ran away -so stoutly, began to clamor against the Quakers and the General; so we -marched on; the General got as far as the Meadows, where, to hasten our -March, he fortified and intrenched a Camp, and left the heavy Baggage, -sick Men, and spare Provision _&c_, and to cover our Communication, he -left Colonel _Dunbar_ with 800 Men. This place was the only one where -regular Troops could make Use of their Discipline and Arms, and it is -all open Ground, therefore the General made this Camp as a Place of -Arms, where a Fortification being erected would supply the Army as they -should want, and might receive, and lay up the Provisions in Safety, as -they arrived from _Pennsylvania_; the General also said, that as this -Place was on the West Side of the _Allegane_ Mountains, it preserved his -Majesty's Rights against the _French_, who pretended that those -Mountains bounded his Majesty's Dominions. Here we halted and refreshed -ourselves bravely, by the Help of the _Pensilvania_ Provisions, and of -Deer, wild Turkeys, and Game of several other Kinds brought in by the -_Indians_, which though we should deem it bad enough in _England_, for -there is not above one Deer in ten that is fat, yet here our former -Wants made these delicious. - -"On the 4th of _July_ our _Indians_ were defeated in the Woods by the -_French_ Parties; a few only was killed, but their chief Man was taken; -the _French_ have treated them very kindly, and declare they intend no -War against the _Indians_. The General is apprehensive this will make an -ill Impression on them, therefore does not care to trust them any -further; he has publickly said he will advance himself with 1200 Men, -drive the Enemy out of the Woods, and invest _Fort Du Quesne_; he is -resolved to be prepared for all Accidents, therefore leaves Colonel -_Dunbar_ with a strong Party to make good this Camp. The Ground round -the Camp is open, and the Situation so advantageous, that this Camp is -defensible against all the Efforts the _French_ can make, if any -Accident, should happen to the General; and he has declared, he has put -it in this Condition, that his Majesty's Affairs may not suffer if he -should miscarry. - -"The General seems very anxious about marching through the Woods, and -gave very particular Orders; Powder and Bullet were given out, and -every Thing fit for Action; two Lieutenant-Colonels were ordered to -command the advanced Party. The General followed with the Gross of the -two Regiments from _Europe_, the _Americans_ followed, and the Rear was -brought up by Captain _Dumary's_, and another Independent Company. We -marched on in this Manner without being disturbed, and thought we had -got over our greatest Difficulties, for we look'd upon our March through -the Woods to be such: We were sure we should be much above a Match for -the _French_, if once we got into the open Ground near the Forts, where -we could use our Arms. We had a Train, and a gallant Party of Sailors -for working our Guns, full sufficient to master better works than those -of the _French_ Forts, according to the Intelligence we had of them. -Then we march'd on, and when within about ten Miles of Fort _Du Quesne_, -we were, on a sudden, charged by Shot from the Woods. Every Man was -alert, did all we could, but the Men dropped like Leaves in _Autumn_, -all was Confusion, and in Spight of what the Officers and bravest Men -could do, Numbers run away, nay fired on us, that would have forced them -to rally. I was wounded in one Leg, and in the other Heel, so could not -go, but sat down at the Foot of a Tree, praying of every one that run -by, that they would help me off; an _American Virginian_ turned to me, -Yes, Countryman, says he, I will put you out of your Misery, these Dogs -shall not burn you; he then levelled his Piece at my Head, I cried out -and dodged him behind the Tree, the Piece went off and missed me, and he -run on; soon after Lieutenant _Grey_, with a Party of _Dumary's_ Company -came by, who brought up the Rear; the Firing was now Quite ceased, he -told me the General was wounded, and got me carried off. When we arrived -at the _Meadows_, we found Colonel _Dunbar_ did not think it expedient -to wait for the _French_ there, but retired, and carried us, the -wounded, with him to _Will's Creek_. I have writ till I am faint." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -SPARKS AND ATKINSON ON BRADDOCK'S ROUTE[46] - - -Several months ago we received from that indefatigable delver in the -early annals of our country, Jared Sparks, Esq., of Salem, -Massachusetts, a letter containing some valuable information as to the -route of General Braddock after leaving Gist's farm, not far from where -Connelsville now stands. That letter we, for reasons which it is -unnecessary to mention, have withheld from publication; but those -reasons no longer existing, we now publish it--premising only a few -introductory remarks. - -Mr. Sparks, as the biographer of Washington and as the collator of his -papers, and as a most indefatigable searcher after the whole truth in -our early history, enjoyed extraordinary advantages, so that his -statements in all such matters should always command the utmost -confidence. There is in the possession of the Pennsylvania Historical -Society a draught of "the Monongahela and Youghiogany rivers" taken by -Joseph Shippen, Jr., in 1759.[47] On this draught the route of General -Braddock is distinctly laid down from Cumberland to Stewart's Crossings, -now Connelsville, and thence to a point about twelve or fourteen miles, -nearly due north, and of course some four or five miles east of the -Youghiogany. From that point the line of march is not laid down until -within about six miles of the Monongahela river, at Braddock's first -ford, about one mile and a half below McKeesport; from that point it is -distinctly traced across the Monongahela twice to the field of battle. -As Mr. Shippen was Brigade Major in General Forbes' army, and in that -capacity visited this place within four years after Braddock's defeat, -we may well suppose that he had accurate information as to the route of -that unfortunate General. - -Extract of a letter from Jared Sparks, Esq., to the editor of the _Olden -Time_. - - "Salem, Mass., Feb. 18th, 1847. - -"Dear Sir:--There is a copy of the 'Memorial' which you mentioned in the -Library of Harvard College which I believe is complete. I shall obtain -it soon, and will have the missing pages copied and forward to you the -manuscript. I suppose you wish it sent by mail. I once compared this -translation with the original[48] and found it clumsily executed, but -the substance is probably retained. - -"Having heretofore examined with care the details of Braddock's -expedition, I am persuaded that the following, as far as it goes, is a -correct account of his march from Gist's plantation: - -"On the 30th of June the army forded the Youghiogany at Stewart's -Crossings and then passed a rough road over a mountain. A few days -onward they came to a great swamp which detained them part of a day in -clearing a road. They next advanced to Salt Lick Creek, now called -Jacob's Creek, where a council of war was held on the 3d of July to -consider a suggestion of Sir John St. Clair that Colonel Dunbar's -detachment should be ordered to join the main body. This proposal was -rejected on the ground that Dunbar could not join them in less than -thirteen days; that this would cause such a consumption of provisions as -to render it necessary to bring forward another convoy from Fort -Cumberland; and that in the meantime the French might be strengthened by -a reinforcement, which was daily expected at Fort Duquesne--and -moreover; the two divisions could not move together after their -junction. - -"On the 4th the army again marched and advanced to Turtle Creek, about -twelve miles from its mouth, where they arrived on the 7th inst. I -suppose this to have been the eastern branch or what is now called Rush -Creek, and that the place at which they encamped was a short distance -northerly from the present village of Stewartsville. It was General -Braddock's intention to cross Turtle Creek, and approach Fort Duquesne -on the other side; but the banks were so precipitous, and presented -such obstacles to crossing with his artillery and heavy baggage that he -hesitated, and Sir John St. Clair went out with a party to reconnoitre. -On his return, before night, he reported that he had found the ridge -which led to Fort Duquesne but that considerable work would be necessary -to prepare a road for crossing Turtle Creek. This route was finally -abandoned, and on the 8th the army marched eight miles and encamped not -far from the Monongahela, west of the Youghiogany and near what is -called in an old map 'Sugar Run.' When Braddock reached this place it -was his design to pass through the narrows, but he was informed by the -guides who had been out to explore that the passage was very difficult, -about two miles in length, with a river on the left and a high mountain -on the right, and that much work must be done to make it passable for -carriages. At the same time he was told that there were two good fords -across the Monongahela where the water was shallow and the banks not -steep. With these views of the case he determined to cross the fords the -next morning. The order of march was given out and all the arrangements -were made for an early movement. - -"About eight o'clock on the morning of the 9th the advanced division -under Colonel Gage crossed the ford and pushed forward. After the whole -army had crossed and marched about a mile, Braddock received a note from -Colonel Gage, giving notice that he had passed the second ford without -difficulty. A little before two o'clock the whole army had crossed this -ford and was arranged in the order of march on the plain near Frazer's -house. Gage with the advanced party was then ordered to march, and while -the main body was yet standing on the plain the action began near the -river. Not a single man of the enemy had before been seen. - -"The distance by the line of march from Stewart's Crossing to Turtle -Creek, or Brush Creek, was about thirty miles. At this point the route -was changed almost to a right angle in marching to the Monongahela. The -encampment was probably two or three miles from the bank of the river, -for Colonel Gage marched at the break of day and did not cross the ford -till eight o'clock. During the whole march from the Great Meadows the -pickets and sentinels were frequently assailed by scouting parties of -French and Indians and several men were killed. Mr. Gist acted as the -General's guide. On the 4th of July two Indians went out to reconnoitre -the country toward Fort Duquesne; and Mr. Gist also on the same day, in -a different direction. They were gone two days, and all came in sight of -the fort, but brought back no important intelligence. The Indians -contrived to kill and scalp a French officer whom they found shooting -within half a mile of the fort. - -"The army seldom marched more than six miles a day and commonly not so -much. From Stewart's Crossing to Turtle Creek there were six -encampments. During one day the army halted. - -"I shall be much pleased to see Mr. Atkinson's map. His knowledge of the -ground will enable him to delineate Braddock's route much more -accurately than it can be done from any sources now available. - - I am, Sir, respectfully yours, - Jared Sparks. - Neville B. Craig, Esq., Pittsburgh." - -[Illustration: MIDDLETON'S MAP OF BRADDOCK'S ROAD (1847) - -[_Braddock's Road is shown as dotted line. The double line is the -present route from Cumberland to Ft. Necessity_]] - -Since the foregoing letter was in type we have received from Mr. T. C. -Atkinson of Cumberland, Maryland, lately employed on the Pittsburgh and -Connelsville Rail Road, a very able and interesting article on the -subject of Braddock's route to the Monongahela, with a very beautiful -map of the country, by Mr. Middleton, one of Mr. Atkinson's assistants -on the survey for the railroad. The article of Mr. Atkinson, and the -map, furnish all the information as to the march of General Braddock's -army which can now be hoped for. - -Mr. Atkinson had for years devoted much time to the examination of the -route of the army of Braddock eastward, and some distance westward of -Cumberland, and his late employ along the Youghiogany and Monongahela -afforded him an opportunity to complete his work. - -As a striking evidence of the accuracy of his researches, we will -mention that in tracing the route he was much surprised and puzzled by -what seemed the strange divergence of the army from the Youghiogany -river after passing it at Stewart's Crossings. Yet the traditionary -evidence and marks on the ground seemed to establish beyond doubt the -fact that the army had passed far into the interior of our present -county of Westmoreland, and near to Mount Pleasant, crossing the line of -the Pittsburgh and Greensburg Turnpike road. This seemed so far from the -natural and direct route that even the strong traditionary and other -evidence, could not entirely remove the possibility of doubt. Mr. -Atkinson himself was entirely satisfied as to the correctness of his own -conclusions, but of course would be gratified to receive a confirmation, -in an authentic shape, of his own convictions. - -Just at that crisis we received the letter from Mr. Sparks, which -precedes these remarks, thus settling most conclusively the verity of -many of the traditions current in the country as to the erratic course -of Braddock's army from Stewart's Crossings to the Monongahela river. - -We are, deeply indeed, indebted to Mr. Atkinson, and also to his -assistant, Mr. Middleton, for their very valuable contribution in -illustration of the early history of this country. - -The Pittsburgh and Connelsville Rail Road project cannot be regarded as -an entirely fruitless effort; it has, at least, produced this most -valuable historical essay. - -All additional information in relation to those early scenes must -possess interest to every intelligent American; and we rejoice in the -opportunity of placing Mr. Atkinson's valuable communication and the -accompanying map before the readers of the _Olden Time_: - - -"The interest with which the routes of celebrated expeditions are -regarded, and the confusion which attends them after the lapse of years, -is well exemplified in the case of Hannibal, whose march toward Rome, in -order to divert their army from the siege of Capua, was totally lost in -the course of a few centuries. The constant blunders of Livy in copying -first from one writer, and then from another who made him take a -different path, justify a recent English historian who went to Italy to -see the ground for himself, in saying that the Punic War was almost as -hard in the writing as the fighting. - -"As the time is coming when the road by which the unfortunate Braddock -marched to his disastrous field will be invested with antiquarian -interest akin to that attending Hannibal's route, or rather the _via -scelerata_, by which the Fabian family marched out of Rome, I have -thought it time not idly spent to attempt to pursue its scattered traces -as far as it is in my power, among more pressing occupations. In this -sketch I do not design to pursue it to its extent, but only to identify -it in those parts where it has been convenient for me to visit it and in -others to shadow out its general direction. Where it is obscure I hope -to have opportunities to examine it at a future day. - -"Of the well conducted expedition of Colonel Bouquet and its precise -path, the publications of Mr. Hutchins, the geographer, who was one of -the engineers, leaves us very well informed. It is presumable that -similar details would be found of the march of 1755 if it had had a -successful termination. The three engineers who were in the field were -wounded; and it is probable their papers fell into the hands of the -enemy or were lost in the flight. - -"General Braddock landed at Alexandria on the 20th of February, 1755. -The selection of this port for the debarcation of the troops, was -censured at the time, though it is probable it had the approval of -Washington. The two regiments he brought with him were very defective in -numbers, having but about five hundred men each, and it was expected -their ranks would be recruited in America. It is shown by the repeated -requests on this point made by the General at Cumberland that this -expectation was vain. After numerous delays, and a conference with the -Royal Governors, we find General Braddock _en route_ on the 24th of -April when he had reached Fredricktown in Maryland. Passing thence -through Winchester, Va., he reached Fort Cumberland about the 9th of -May. Sir John Sinclair, Deputy Quarter Master General, had preceded him -to this point about two weeks.[49] - -"The army struck the Little Cacapehon (though pronounced Cacapon, I have -used for the occasion the spelling of Washington and various old -documents), about six miles above its mouth, and following the stream -encamped on the Virginia side of the Potomac preparatory to crossing -into Maryland. The water is supposed to have been high at the time, as -the spot is known as the Ferry-fields, from the army having been ferried -over. This was about the 4th or 5th of May. - -"The army thence pursued the banks of the river, with a slight deviation -of route at the mouth of the South Branch, to the village of Old Town, -known at that time as the Shawnee Old Town, modern use having dropped -the most characteristic part of the name. This place, distant about -eight miles from the Ferry-fields, was known at that early day as the -residence of Col. Thomas Cresap, an English settler, and the father of -the hero of Logan's speech. The road proceeded thence parallel with the -river and at the foot of the hills, till it passes the narrows of Will's -Mountain, when it struck out a shorter line coincident with the present -county road, and lying between the railroad and the mountain, to Fort -Cumberland. - -"From the Little Cacapehon to this point the ground was comparatively -easy, and the road had been generally judiciously chosen. Thenceforward -the character of the ground was altered, not so much in the general -aspect of the country as that the march was about to abandon the -valleys, and now the real difficulties of the expedition may be said to -commence. - -"The fort had been commenced the previous year, after the surrender at -the Great Meadows, by Col. Innes, who had with him the two independent -companies of New York and South Carolina. It mounted ten four pounders, -besides swivels, and was favorably situated to keep the hostile Indians -in check.[50] - -"The army now consisted of 1000 regulars, 30 sailors, and 1200 -provincials, besides a train of artillery. The provincials were from New -York and Virginia; one company from the former colony was commanded by -Captain Gates, afterwards the hero of Saratoga. On the 8th of June, -Braddock having, through the interest and exertions of Dr. Franklin, -principally, got 150 wagons and 2000 horses from Pennsylvania, was ready -to march. - -"_Scaroodaya_, successor to the Half-King of the Senecas, and -_Monacatootha_, whose acquaintance Washington has made on the Ohio, on -his mission to Le Boeuf, with about 150 Indians, Senecas, and Delawares, -accompanied him.... - -"The first brigade under Sir Peter Halket, led the way on the 8th, and -on the 9th the main body followed. Some idea of the difficulties they -encountered, may be had when we perceive they spent the third night only -five miles from the first. The place of encampment which is about one -third of a mile from the toll-gate on the National Road, is marked by a -copious spring bearing Braddock's name. - -"For reasons not easy to divine, the route across Will's Mountain first -adopted for the national road was selected instead of the more favorable -one through the narrows of Will's Creek, to which the road has been -changed within a few years for the purpose of avoiding that formidable -ascent. The traces are very distinct on the east and west slopes, the -modern road crossing it frequently. From the western foot, the route -continued up Braddock's Run to the forks of the stream, where Clary's -tavern now stands, nine miles from Cumberland, when it turned to the -left, in order to reach a point on the ridge favorable to an easy -descent into the valley of George's Creek. It is surprising that having -reached this high ground, the favorable spur by which the National Road -accomplishes the ascent of the Great Savage Mountain, did not strike the -attention of the engineers, as the labor requisite to surmount the -barrier from the deep valley of George's Creek, must have contributed -greatly to those bitter complaints which Braddock made against the -Colonial Governments for their failure to assist him more effectively in -the transportation department. - -"Passing then a mile to the south of Frostburg, the road approaches the -east foot of Savage Mountain, which it crosses about one mile south of -the National Road, and thence by very favorable ground through the dense -forests of white pine peculiar to this region, it got to the north of -the National Road, near the gloomy tract called the _Shades of Death_. -This was the 15th of June, when the dense gloom of the summer woods and -the favorable shelter which those enormous pines would give an Indian -enemy, must have made a most sensible impression on all minds, of the -insecurity of their mode of advance. - -"This doubtless had a share in causing the council of war held at the -Little Meadows[51] the next day. To this place, distant only about -twenty miles from Cumberland, Sir John Sinclair and Major Chapman had -been dispatched on the 27th of May, to build a fort; the army having -been seven days in reaching it, it follows as the line of march was -upwards of three miles long, the rear was just getting under way when -the advance were lighting their evening fires. - -"Here it may be well enough to clear up an obscurity which enters into -many narratives of these early events, from confusing the names of the -_Little Meadows_ and _Great Meadows_, _Little Crossings_ and _Great -Crossings_, which are all distinct localities. - -"The _Little Meadows_ have been described as at the foot of Meadow -Mountain; it is well to note that the _Great Meadows_ are about -thirty-one miles further west, and near the east foot of Laurel Hill. - -"By the _Little Crossings_ is meant the Ford of Casselman's River, a -tributary of the Youghiogheny; and by the _Great Crossings_, the passage -of the Youghiogheny itself. The Little Crossing is two miles west of the -Little Meadows, and the Great Crossing seventeen miles further west. - -"The conclusion of the council was to push on with a picked force of -1200 men and 12 pieces of cannon; and the line of march, now more -compact was resumed on the 19th. Passing over ground to the south of the -Little Crossings, and of the village of Grantsville, which it skirted, -the army spent the night of the 21st at the Bear Camp, a locality I have -not been able to identify, but suppose it to be about midway to the -Great Crossings, which it reached on the 23d. The route thence to the -Great Meadows or Fort Necessity was well chosen, though over a -mountainous tract, conforming very nearly to the ground now occupied by -the National Road, and keeping on the dividing ridge between the waters -flowing into the Youghiogheny on the one hand and the Cheat River on the -other. Having crossed the Youghiogheny, we are now on the classic ground -of Washington's early career, where the skirmish with Jumonville, and -Fort Necessity, indicate the country laid open for them in the previous -year. About one mile west of the Great Meadows and near the spot now -marked as Braddock's Grave, the road struck off more to the north-west, -in order to reach a pass through Laurel Hill that would enable them to -strike the Youghiogheny, at a point afterwards known as Stewart's -Crossing and about half a mile below the present town of Connellsville. -This part of the route is marked by the farm known as Mount Braddock. -This second crossing of the Youghiogheny was effected on the 30th of -June. The high grounds intervening between the river and its next -tributary, Jacob's Creek, though trivial in comparison with what they -had already passed, it may be supposed, presented serious obstacles to -the troops, worn out with previous exertions. On the 3d of July a -council of war was held at Jacob's Creek, to consider the propriety of -bringing forward Col. Dunbar with the reserve, and although urged by Sir -John Sinclair with, as one may suppose, his characteristic vehemence, -the measure was rejected on sufficient grounds. From the crossing of -Jacob's Creek, which was at the point where Welchhanse's Mill now -stands, about 1-1/2 miles below Mount Pleasant, the route stretched off -to the north, crossing the Mount Pleasant turnpike near the village of -the same name, and thence by a more westerly course, passing the Great -Sewickley near Painter's Salt Works, thence south and west of the Post -Office of Madison and Jacksonville, it reached the Brush Fork of Turtle -Creek. It must strike those who examine the map that the route, for some -distance, in the rear and ahead of Mount Pleasant, is out of the proper -direction for Fort Duquesne, and accordingly we find on the 7th of July, -Gen. Braddock in doubt as to his proper way of proceeding. The crossing -of Brush Creek, which he had now reached, appeared to be attended with -so much hazard that parties were sent to reconnoitre, some of whom -advanced so far as to kill a French officer within half a mile of Fort -Duquesne. - -"Their examinations induced a great divergence to the left, and availing -himself of the valley of Long Run, which he turned into, as is supposed, -at Stewartsville, passing by the place now known as Samson's Mill, the -army made one of the best marches of the campaign and halted for the -night at a favorable depression between that stream and Crooked Run and -about two miles from the Monongahela. At this spot, about four miles -from the battle ground, which is yet well known as Braddock's Spring, he -was rejoined by Washington on the morning of the 9th of July. - -"The approach to the river was now down the valley of Crooked Run to its -mouth, where the point of fording is still manifest, from a deep notch -in the west bank, though rendered somewhat obscure by the improved -navigation of the river. The advance, under Col. Gage, crossed about 8 -o'clock, and continued by the foot of the hill bordering the broad river -bottom to the second fording, which he had effected nearly as soon as -the rear had got through the first. - -"The second and last fording at the mouth of Turtle Creek was in full -view of the enemy's position, and about one mile distant. By 1 o'clock -the whole army had gained the right bank, and was drawn up on the bottom -land, near Frazier's house (spoken of by Washington as his stopping -place on his mission to Le Boeuf), and about 3/4 of a mile distant from -the ambuscade." - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -BRADDOCK'S ROAD IN HISTORY - - -The narrow swath of a road cut through the darkling Alleghenies by -General Braddock has been worth all it cost in time and treasure. -Throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century it was one of the -main thoroughfares into the Ohio valley, and when, at the dawning of the -nineteenth, the United States built our first and greatest public -highway, the general alignment of Braddock's Road between Cumberland and -the last range of the Alleghenies--Laurel Hill--was the course pursued. -In certain localities this famed national boulevard, the Cumberland -Road, was built upon the very bed of Braddock's road, as Braddock's road -had been built partly upon the early Washington's Road which followed -the path of Indian, buffalo, and mound-building aborigines. Nowhere in -America can the evolution of road-building be studied to such advantage -as between Cumberland, Maryland and Uniontown, Pennsylvania. - -For some years after Braddock's defeat his route to and fro between the -Monongahela and Potomac was used only by scouting parties of whites and -marauding Indians, and many were the swift encounters that took place -upon its overgrown narrow track. In 1758 General Forbes built a new road -westward from Carlisle, Pennsylvania rather than follow Braddock's -ill-starred track, for reasons described in another volume of the -present series.[52] Forbes frightened the French forever from the "Forks -of the Ohio" and erected Fort Pitt on the ruins of the old Fort -Duquesne. In 1763 Colonel Bouquet led a second army across the -Alleghenies, on Forbes's Road, relieved Fort Pitt and put an end to -Pontiac's Rebellion. By the time of Forbes's expedition Braddock's Road -was somewhat filled with undergrowth, and was not cut at all through the -last and most important eight miles of the course to Fort Duquesne. -Forbes had some plans of using this route, "if only as a blind," but -finally his whole force proceeded over a new road. However, certain -portions of Braddock's Road had been cleared early in the campaign when -Forbes thought it would be as well to have "two Strings to one Bow." It -was not in bad condition.[53] - -This new northern route, through Lancaster, Carlisle, Bedford -(Reastown), and Ligonier, Pennsylvania, became as important, if not more -so, than Braddock's course from Cumberland to Braddock, Pennsylvania. As -the years passed Braddock's Road seems to have regained something of its -early prestige, and throughout the Revolutionary period it was perhaps -of equal consequence with any route toward the Ohio, especially because -of Virginia's interest in and jealousy of the territory about Pittsburg. -When, shortly after the close of the Revolution, the great flood of -immigration swept westward, the current was divided into three streams -near the Potomac; one went southward over the Virginian route through -Cumberland Gap to Kentucky; the other two burst over Forbes's and -Braddock's Roads. Some pictures of the latter are vividly presented in -early records of pilgrims who chose its rough path to gain the El Dorado -beyond the Appalachian mountain barriers. - -William Brown, an emigrant to Kentucky from Hanover, Virginia, over -Braddock's Road in 1790 has left a valuable itinerary of his journey, -together with interesting notes, entitled _Observances and Occurrences_. -The itinerary is as follows: - - MILES - To Hanover Court House, 16 - To Edmund Taylor's, 16 - To Parson Todd's, Louisa, 20 - To Widow Nelson's, 20 - To Brock's Bridge, Orange Co., 9 - To Garnet's Mill, 5 - To Bost. Ord'y, near Hind's House, 7 - To Raccoon Ford, on Rapidan or Porters, 6 - To Culpepper Co.-House, 10 - To Pendleton's Ford, on Rappahannock, 10 - To Douglass's Tavern, or Wickliffe's House, 13 - To Chester's Gap, Blue Ridge, 8 - To Lehu Town, 3 - To Ford of Shenandore River, Frederick, 2 - To Stevensburg, 10 - To Brown's Mill, 2 - To Winchester, 6 - To Gasper Rinker's, 11 - To Widow Lewis's, Hampshire, 11 - To Crock's Tav., 9 - To Reynold's, on the So. Branch Potowmack, 13 - To Frankford Town, 8 - To Haldeman's Mills, 4 - To North Branch, Potomack, 3 - To Gwyn's Tav., at the Fork of Braddock's - old road, Alleghany Co., Maryland, 3 - To Clark's Store, 6 - To Little Shades of Death, 12 - To Tumblestone Tav., or the Little Meadows, 3 - To Big Shades of Death, 2 - To Mountain Tav., or White Oak Springs, 2 - To Simpson's Tav., Fayette Co., Pennsylvania, 6 - To Big Crossing of Yoh, 9 - To Carrol's Tavern, 12 - To Laurel Hill, 6 - To Beason Town, 6 - To Redstone, Old Fort, 12 - To Washington Town, Washington Co., Penn., 23 - To Wheeling, Old Fort, Ohio Co., Vir., 35 - --- - 359[54] - -Mr. Brown's notes of the journey over the mountains are: - -"Set out from Hanover Friday 6th August 1790 arrived at Redstone Old -Fort about the 25th Inst. The road is pretty good until you get to the -Widow Nelson's, then it begins to be hilly and continues generally so -till you get to the Blue Ridge--pretty well watered. Racoon ford on -Rapidan is rather bad. The little mountains are frequently in view After -you pass Widow Nelson's. Pendleton's ford on Rappahanock is pretty good. -In going over Chester gap you ride about 5 miles among the mountains -before you get clear, a good many fine springs in the Mo. between the -Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Mo. appears to be a fine country, altho the -land is pretty much broken. At Shenandore ford there is two branches of -the river to cross and it is bad fording. But there is a ferry a little -below the ford. There is a very cool stream of water about 14 miles -below Winchester. This is a well watered country but springs are rather -scarce on the road, at Winchester there are several fine springs. The -South branch of Potowmack has a good ford, also the North branch. Soon -after you pass Gwyns Tavern in Maryland you enter upon the Alleghany Mo. -and then you have a great deal of bad road, many ridges of Mo.--the -Winding Ridge--Savage, Negro, etc. and Laurel Hill which is the last, -but before you get to the Mount, there is some stony bad road between -the Widow Lewis' and the Mo. after you pass Clark's store in the Mo. you -get into a valley of very pretty oak land. In many places while you are -in the Mo. there is very good road between the ridges. Just before you -get to the Little Shades of Death there is a tract of the tallest pines -I ever saw. The Shades of Death are dreary looking valleys, growing up -with tall cypress and other trees and has a dark gloomy appearance. -Tumblestones, or the Little Meadows is a fine plantation with beautiful -meadow ground. Crossing of Yoh, is a pretty good ford. There is some -very bad road about here. It is said Gen Braddock was buried about 8 -miles forward from this, near a little brook that crosses the road. -Laurel hill is the highest ridge of the Mo. When you get to the top of -it to look forward toward Redstone there is a beautiful prospect of the -country below the Mo. You see at one view a number of plantations and -Beason Town which is six miles off."[55] - -With the growth of Cumberland and the improvement of navigation of the -upper Potomac, and especially the building of the canal beside it, the -importance of the Braddock route across the mountains was realized by -the state of Maryland and the legislature passed laws with reference to -straightening and improving it as early as 1795; acts of a similar -nature were also passed in 1798 and 1802.[56] - -A pilgrim who passed westward with his family over Braddock's Road in -1796 leaves us some interesting details concerning the journey in a -letter written from Western Virginia after his arrival in the -"Monongahela Country" in the fall of that year. Arriving at Alexandria -by boat from Connecticut the party found that it was less expensive and -safer to begin land carriage there than to ascend the Potomac further. -They then pursued one of the routes of Braddock's army to Cumberland and -the Braddock Road from that point to Laurel Hill. The price paid for -hauling their goods from Alexandria to Morgantown (now West Virginia) -was thirty-two shillings and six-pence per hundred-weight "of women and -goods (freight)"--the men "all walked the whole of the way." Crossing -"the blue Mountain the Monongehaly & the Lorral Mountains we found the -roads to be verry bad." - -It is difficult to say when Braddock's Road, as a route, ceased to be -used since portions of it have never been deserted. There are -interesting references to it in the records of Allegheny County, -Maryland, which bear the dates 1807[57] and 1813[58]. A little later it -is plain that "Jesse Tomlinson's" is described "on _National Road_" -rather than on "_Braddock's Road_," as in 1807.[59] From this it would -seem that by 1817 the term "Braddock's Road" was ignored, at least at -points where the Cumberland Road had been built upon the old-time track. -Elsewhere Braddock's route kept its ancient name and, perhaps, will -never exchange it for another. - -[Illustration: BRADDOCK'S ROAD IN THE WOODS NEAR FARMINGTON, -PENNSYLVANIA] - -The rough track of this first highway westward may be followed today -almost at any point in all its course between the Potomac and the -Monongahela, and the great caverns and gullies which mark so plainly its -tortuous course speak as no words can of the sufferings and dangers of -those who travelled it during the dark half century when it offered -one of the few passage-ways to the West. It was a clear, sweet October -day when I first came into Great Meadows to make there my home until -those historic hills and plains became thoroughly familiar to me. From -the Cumberland Road, as one looks southward from Mount Washington across -Great Meadows and the site of Fort Necessity, the hillside beyond is -well-timbered on the right and on the left; but between the forests lies -a large tract of cultivated ground across which runs, in a straight -line, the dark outline of a heavy unhealed wound. A hundred and fifty -years of rain and snow and frost have been unable to remove, even from a -sloping surface, this heavy finger mark. Many years of cultivation have -not destroyed it, and for many years yet the plow will jolt and swing -heavily when it crosses the track of Braddock's Road. I was astonished -to find that at many points in Fayette and neighboring counties the old -course of the road can be distinctly traced in fields which have for -half a century and more been under constant cultivation. If, at certain -points, cultivation and the elements have pounded the old track level -with the surrounding ground, a few steps in either direction will bring -the explorer instantly to plain evidence of its course--except where the -road-bed is, today, a travelled lane or road. On the open hillsides the -track takes often the appearance of a terrace, where, in the old days -the road tore a great hole along the slope, and formed a catchwater -which rendered it a veritable bog in many places. Now and then on level -ground the course is marked by a slight rounding hollow which remains -damp when the surrounding ground is wet, or is baked very hard when the -usual supply of water is exhausted. In some places this strange groove -may be seen extending as far as eye can reach, as though it were the -pathway of a gigantic serpent across the wold. At times the track, -passing the level, meets a slight ridge which, if it runs parallel to -its course, it mounts; if the rising ground is encountered at right -angles, the road ploughs a gulley straight through, in which the water -runs after each rain, preserving the depression once made by the road. -And as I journeyed to and fro in that valley visiting the classic spots -which appear in such tender grace in the glad sunshine of a mountain -autumn, I never passed a spot of open where this old roadway was to be -seen without a thrill; as James Lane Allen has so beautifully said of -Boone's old road through Cumberland Gap to Kentucky, so may the explorer -feelingly exclaim concerning Braddock's old track: "It is impossible to -come upon this road without pausing, or to write of it without a -tribute." - -This is particularly true of Braddock's Road when you find it in the -forests; everything that savage mark tells in the open country is -reechoed in mightier tones within the shadows of the woods. There the -wide strange track is like nothing of which you ever heard or read. It -looks nothing like a roadway. It is plainly not the track of a tornado, -though its width and straight course in certain places would suggest -this. Yet it is never the same in two places; here, it is a wide -straight aisle covered with rank weeds in the center of the low, wet -course; there, the forests impinge upon it where the ground is drier; -here, it appears like the abandoned bed of a brook, the large stones -removed from its track lying on each side as though strewn there by a -river's torrent; there, it swings quickly at right angles near the open -where the whole width is covered with velvet grass radiant in the -sunshine which can reach it here. In the forests more than elsewhere the -deep furrow of the roadway has remained wet, and for this reason trees -have not come up. At many points the road ran into marshy ground and -here a large number of roundabout courses speak of the desperate -struggles the old teamsters had on this early track a century ago. And -now and then as you pass along, scattered blocks and remnants of stone -chimneys mark the sites of ancient taverns and homesteads. - -In the forests it is easy to conjure up the scene when this old track -was opened--for it was cut through a "wooden country," to use an -expression common among the pioneers. Here you can see the long line of -sorry wagons standing in the road when the army is encamped; and though -many of them seem unable to carry their loads one foot further--yet -there is ever the ringing chorus of the axes of six hundred choppers -sounding through the twilight of the hot May evening. It is almost -suffocating in the forests when the wind does not blow, and the army is -unused to the scorching American summer which has come early this year. -The wagon train is very long, and though the van may have halted on -level ground, the line behind stretches down and up the shadowy ravines. -The wagons are blocked in all conceivable positions on the hillsides. -The condition of the horses is pitiful beyond description. If some are -near to the brook or spring, others are far away. Some horses will never -find water tonight. To the right and left the sentinels are lost in the -surrounding gloom. - -And then with those singing axes for the perpetual refrain, consider the -mighty epic poem to be woven out of the days that have succeeded -Braddock here. Though lost in the Alleghenies, this road and all its -busy days mirror perfectly the social advance of the western empire to -which it led. Its first mission was to bind, as with a strange, rough, -straggling cincture the East and the West. The young colonies were being -confined to the Atlantic Ocean by a chain of forts the French were -forging from Quebec to New Orleans. Had they not awakened to the task of -shattering that chain it is doubtful if the expansion of the colonies -could ever have meant what it has to the western world. Could Virginia -have borne a son in the western wilderness, Kentucky by name, if France -had held the Ohio Valley? Could North Carolina have given birth to a -Tennessee if France had made good her claim to the Mississippi? Could -New England and New York and Pennsylvania have produced the fruits the -nineteenth century saw blossom in the Old Northwest if France had -maintained her hold within that mighty empire? The rough track of -Braddock's Road, almost forgotten and almost obliterated, is one of the -best memorials of the earliest struggle of the Colonies for the freedom -which was indispensable to their progress. There was not an hour -throughout the Revolutionary struggle when the knowledge of the great -West that was to be theirs was not a powerful inspiration to the -bleeding colonies; aye, there was not a moment when the gallant -commander of those ragged armies forgot that there was a West into which -he could retreat at the darkest hour over Braddock's twelve-foot road. - -That is the great significance of this first track through the "wooden -country"--an awakened consciousness. - -The traveller at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, is within striking distance of -Braddock's Road at its most interesting points. A six-mile climb to the -summit of Laurel Hill brings one upon the old-time route which will be -found near Washington's Spring. A delightful drive along the summit of -the mountain northward brings one near the notorious "Dunbar's Camp" -where so many relics of the campaign have been found and of which many -may be seen in the museum of the nearby Pennsylvania Soldiers' Orphans' -Home. Here Dunbar destroyed the quantities of stores and ammunition with -which he could not advance, much less retreat. The visitor here should -find "Jumonville's Grove," about a quarter of a mile up the valley, and -should not miss the view from Dunbar's Knob. - -Less than one mile eastward of Chalk Hill, beside a brook which bears -Braddock's name, beneath a cluster of solemn pines, lies the dust of the -sacrificed Braddock. If there is any question as to whether his body was -interred at this spot, there is no question but that all the good he -ever did is buried here. Deserted by those who should have helped him -most, fed with promises that were never kept, defeated because he could -not find the breath to cry "retreat" until a French bullet drove it to -his throat--he is remembered by his private vices which the whole world -would quickly have forgotten had he won his last fight. He was typical -of his time--not worse. - -In studying Braddock's letters, preserved in the Public Records Office, -London, it has been of interest to note that he never blamed an -inferior--as he boasted in the anecdote previously related. His most -bitter letter has been reproduced, and a study of it will make each line -of more interest. His criticism of the Colonial troops was sharp, but -his praise of them when they had been tried in fire was unbounded. He -does not directly criticise St. Clair--though his successful rival for -honors on the Ohio, Forbes, accused St. Clair in 1758 not only of -ignorance but of actual treachery. "This Behavior in the people" is -Braddock's charge, and no one will say the accusation was unjust. - -With something more than ordinary good judgment Braddock singled out -good friends. What men in America, at the time, were more influential in -their spheres than Franklin, Washington, and Morris? These were almost -the only men he, finally, had any confidence in or respect for. -Washington knew Braddock as well as any man, and who but Washington, in -the happier days of 1784, searched for his grave by Braddock's Run in -vain, desirous of erecting a monument over it? - -Mr. King, editor of the Pittsburg _Commercial-Gazette_, in 1872 took an -interest in Braddock's Grave, planted the pines over it and enclosed -them. A slip from a willow tree that grew beside Napoleon's grave at St. -Helena was planted here but did not grow. There is little doubt that -Braddock's dust lies here. He was buried in the roadway near this brook, -and at this point, early in the last century, workmen repairing the road -discovered the remains of an officer. The remains were reinterred here -on the high ground beside the Cumberland Road, on the opposite bank of -Braddock's Run. They were undoubtedly Braddock's. - -As you look westward along the roadway toward the grave, the significant -gorge on the right will attract your attention. It is the old pathway of -Braddock's Road, the only monument or significant token in the world of -the man from whom it was named. Buried once in it--near the cluster of -gnarled apple-trees in the center of the open meadow beyond--he is now -buried, and finally no doubt, beside it. But its hundreds of great -gorges and vacant swampy isles in the forests will last long after any -monument that can be raised to his memory. - -Braddock's Road broke the league the French had made with the -Alleghenies; it showed that British grit could do as much in the -interior of America as in India or Africa or Egypt; it was the first -important material structure in this New West, so soon to be filled with -the sons of those who had hewn it. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - - -[1] Entick, _History of the Late War_, vol. i., p. 110. - -[2] Entick, _History of the Late War_, vol. i., p. 124. - -[3] _Apology for the Life of George Anne Bellamy_, vol. iii., p. 55. - -[4] _Letters of Walpole_, (edited by Cunningham, London 1877), vol. ii., -p. 461. - -[5] Entick _History of the Late War_, vol. i., p. 142. - -[6] _History of the Late War_, vol. i., p. 142. - -[7] _Gentleman's Magazine_, vol. 75, p. 389 (1755); also _A Review of -the Military Operations in North America_, London, 1757, p. 35. - -[8] _A letter relating to the Ohio Defeat_, p. 14. - -[9] Walpole's _Memoirs of George II_, vol. ii., p. 29. - -[10] Walpole's _Memoirs of George II_, vol. ii., p. 29; also London -_Evening Post_, September 9-11, 1755. - -[11] Walpole's _Memoirs of George II_, vol. i., p. 397; Sargent's -_History of Braddock's Expedition_, p. 153, note. - -[12] Minutes taken "At a Council at the Camp at Alexandria in Virginia, -April 14, 1755." Public Records Office, London: _America and West -Indies_, No. 82. - -[13] Braddock's MS. Letters, Public Records Office, London: _America and -West Indies_, No. 82. - -[14] For these early routes through Pennsylvania, partially opened in -1755, see _Historic Highways of America_, vol. v., chap. I. - -[15] _Maryland Archives_; Correspondence of Governor Sharpe, vol. i., -pp. 77 and 97. - -[16] Preserved at the Congressional Library, Washington. - -[17] Eight miles from Alexandria. See Note 26. - -[18] Arguments pro and con have been interestingly summed up by Dr. -Marcus Benjamin of the U. S. National Museum, in a paper read before the -Society of Colonial Dames in the District of Columbia April 12, 1899, -and by Hugh T. Taggart in the _Washington Star_, May 16, 1896. For a -description of routes converging on Braddock's Road at Fort Cumberland -see Gen. Wm. P. Craighill's article in the _West Virginia Historical -Magazine_, vol. ii, no. 3 (July, 1902), p. 31. Cf. pp. 179-181. - -[19] London, Groombridge & Sons, 1854. Mr. Morris, in footnotes, gave -what he considered any important variations of the original manuscript -from the expanded version he was editing; Mr. Sargent reproduced these -notes, without having seen the original. - -[20] _History of Braddock's Expedition_, p. 359, note. - -[21] _History of Braddock's Expedition_, p. 359, note. - -[22] Mr. Gordon evidently used the word "self" in his entry of June 3 to -throw any too curious reader off the track. - -[23] _History of Braddock's Expedition_, p. 387. - -[24] _History of Braddock's Expedition_, p. 365. - -[25] In the Gordon Journal, under the date of June 10, there are two -entries. One seems to have been Gordon's and reads: "The Director of the -Hospital came to see me in Camp, and found me so ill.... I went into the -Hospital, & the Army marched with the Train &c., and as I was in hopes -of being able to follow them in a few days, I sent all my baggage with -the Army." Without doubt this was Gordon's entry, as no sailor could -have had sufficient baggage to warrant such a reference as this, while -an engineer's "kit" was an important item. Then follow two entries (June -24 and 26) evidently recorded by one who remained at Fort Cumberland, -and a second entry under the date of June 10, which is practically the -first sentence of the entry under the same date in the original -manuscript, and which has the appearance of being the genuine record -made by the sailor detained at Fort Cumberland. The confusion of these -entries in the Gordon Journal makes it very evident that one author did -not compose them. The two entries for June 10 are typical of "Mr -Engineer Gordon" and an unknown sailor. - -[26] This form of the name of the modern Rock Creek is significant and -is not given in the expanded form of this journal. "Rock's Creek" -suggests that the great bowlder known as "Braddock's Rock" was a -landmark in 1755 and had given the name to the stream which entered the -Potomac near it. - -[27] The use of full names in this journal is strong evidence that it is -the original. - -[28] The Gordon Journal assiduously reverses every such particular as -this; it reads here: "there are about 200 houses and 2 churches, one -English, one Dutch." - -[29] Though in almost every instance the Gordon Journal gives a more -wordy account of each day's happenings, it _never gives a record for a -day that is omitted by this journal_, as April 22, 23, and 28; at times, -however, a day is omitted in that journal that is accounted for in this; -see entries for May 9 and May 25--neither of which did Mr. Morris give -in his footnotes, though the latter was of utmost significance. - -[30] The words "from the French" are omitted in the Gordon Journal, -which makes the entry utterly devoid of any meaning--unless that Cresap -had been ordered to retire by the Ohio Company! Cresap in that document -is called "a vile Rascal"; cf. Pennsylvania _Colonial Records_, vol. -vi., p. 400. For eulogy of Cresap see _Ohio State Archaeological and -Historical Publications_, vol. xi. - -[31] This is given for the 13th in the Gordon Journal. - -[32] The Gordon Journal: "Mr Spendlow and self surveyed 22 casks of -beef, and condemned it, which we reported to the General." - -[33] Two chaplains accompanied the two Regiments Philip Hughes was -chaplain of the 44th and Lieut. John Hamilton of the 48th. The latter -was wounded in the defeat. - -[34] The entry of Gordon Journal reads: "Col. Burton, Capt. Orme, Mr. -Spendlowe and self...." - -[35] The Gordon Journal: "This morning an Engineer and 100 men...." - -[36] The only hint given in the Gordon Journal as to the author of the -original document is under this date. The Gordon Journal reads, "Mr. -Spendlowe and self with 20 of our men went to the place where the new -road comes into the old one...." "Self" here seems to refer to -"Midshipman"; but Mr. Gordon often refers to himself as an engineer and -never once inserts his own name, though he was a most important -official. Gordon probably accompanied or followed Spendlowe. - -[37] Entries written by one while detained at Fort Cumberland. If -written by Gordon he hastened immediately to the front, for he was with -Braddock's advance on July 9. - -[38] The Gordon Journal: "One of our Engineers, who was in front of the -Carpenters marking the road, saw the Enemy first." Who but Gordon would -have omitted his name under these circumstances? - -[39] This last paragraph is evidently an additional memorandum of -British loss. The contents of the chest was undoubtedly L10,000. - -[40] _British Newspaper Accounts of Braddock's Defeat_, p. 10. -Pennsylvania _Colonial Records_, vol. vi., p. 482. - -[41] This view of Braddock's defeat is given in the late John Fiske's -recent volume, _New France and New England_. - -[42] London _Public Advertiser_, November 3, 1755. - -[43] London _Public Advertiser_, November 3, 1755. - -[44] Cf. _British Newspaper Accounts of Braddock's Defeat_, p. 9. -Pennsylvania _Colonial Records_, vol. vi., p. 482. London _Public -Advertiser_, November 3, 1755. - -[45] Cf. _British Newspaper Accounts of Braddock's Defeat_, p. 9; London -_Public Advertiser_, November 3, 1755. - -[46] This chapter is from Neville B. Craig's _The Olden Time_, vol. ii., -pp. 465-468, 539-544. - -[47] See _Historic Highways of America_, vol. v. - -[48] Preserved in the library of Harvard University. - -[49] "Many misstatements are prevalent in the country adjacent to the -line of march, especially east of Cumberland, the traditionary name of -Braddock's route being often applied to routes we know he did not -pursue. It is probable the ground of the application consists in their -having been used by the Quarter Master's men in bringing on those -Pennsylvania wagons and pack horses procured by Dr. Franklin, with so -much trouble and at so great expense of truth. Sir John Sinclair wore a -Hussar's cap, and Franklin made use of the circumstance to terrify the -German settlers with the belief that he was a Hussar who would -administer to them the tyrannical treatment they had experienced in -their own country if they did not comply with his wishes. It is singular -that a small brook and an obscure country road in Berkley County, -Virginia, bear the name of Sir John's Run, and Sir John's Road, supposed -to be taken from the name of this officer. - -[50] "The original name of Cumberland was Cucucbetuc, and from its -favorable position on the Potomac, was most probably the site of a -Shawnee village, like Old Town; moreover, it was marked by an Indian -name, a rare occurrence in this vicinity, if any judgment may be drawn -from the few that have been preserved. - -[51] "This interesting locality lies at the west foot of the Meadow -Mountain, which is one of the most important of the Alleghany Ridges, in -Pennsylvania especially, where it constitutes the dividing ridge between -the eastern and western waters. A rude entrenchment, about half a mile -north of the Inn on the National Road, kept by Mr. Huddleson, marks the -site of this fort. This is most probably the field of a skirmish spoken -of in frontier history, between a Mr. Parris, with a scouting party from -Fort Cumberland, and the Sieur Donville, commanding some French and -Indians, in which the French officer was slain. The tradition is -distinctly preserved in the vicinity, with a misapprehension of -Washington's participation in it, arising probably from the partial -resemblance between the names of Donville and Jumonville. From the -positiveness of the information, in regard to the battle ground, -conflicting with what we know of Jumonville's death, it seems probable -enough that this was the scene of this Indian skirmish; and as such, it -possesses a classic interest, valuable in proportion to the scarcity of -such places. - -[52] _Historic Highways of America_, vol. v., ch. 4. - -[53] _Bouquet Papers, MSS._ Preserved in British Museum: Forbes to Pitt, -July 10; Forbes to Bouquet, August 2; Bouquet au Forbes, July 26, 1758. - -[54] Speed's _The Wilderness Road_, pp. 56-57. - -[55] Speed's _The Wilderness Road_, p. 60. - -[56] Lowdermilk's _History of Cumberland_, p. 275. - -[57] _Land Records of Allegheny County, Md._ Liber E, fol. 191. - -[58] _Id._, Liber G. fol. 251. - -[59] _Id._, Liber I and J, fol. 105. - - - * * * * * - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_. - -2. Obvious errors in spelling and punctuation have been corrected except -for narratives and letters included in this text. - -3. Footnotes have been moved to the end of the main text body. - -4. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest -paragraph break. - -5. Certain words use an oe ligature in the original. - -6. 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