Braddock, Edward

Edward (1695-1755), a British general. He was born in Perthshire, Scotland. He was educated for the army, and served in the celebrated Coldstream Guards. He took part in the battle of Fontenoy, 1745. In 1755 he was sent to America as commander-in-chief of the forces designed to dispossess the French in the upper Ohio Valley. He decided to lead an expedition against Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. His bearing toward the colonists was supercilious. He had infinite trouble in securing horses, provisions, and guides. He was regarded as one of the most thorough soldiers in the British army. He had corresponding contempt for the informality and want of military bearing on the part of the colonists. Capt. Jack, the most efficient scout and Indian fighter in the country, refused to accompany one who wished to subject him to regular military rules. By order of the British government all American officers ranked below those holding commissions in the British army. Braddock recognized the merit of George Washington, however, and made him an aide. Franklin assisted in procuring supplies.

An expedition of 2,150 men finally got under way early in June, starting from Fort Cumberland, Maryland. A month was spent in cutting roads and in bridging streams before the army came within twenty-five miles of the fort. Some of the troops and a large part of the supplies were left behind at Little Meadows under Colonel Dunbar; the rest pressed forward On the morning of July 9th Braddock's command turned from the Monongahela River to ascend a ravine. Two hundred Frenchmen barred the way; a large force of Indians lay along either flank concealed in the woods and thickets of the ravine. Braddock had disdained the advice of the Americans; he had failed entirely to send out scouts to see that the way was clear, and even now, when he found himself attacked, he refused to allow his soldiers to shelter themselves. He raved and stormed, driving his men back into the ranks, and ordering them to load and fire and to charge in European fashion. Over half a thousand men, including sixty-three out of eighty-nine officers, fell on the field of battle before he gave the signal for retreat. He himself was so severely wounded that he had to be carried from the field. Washington rallied what was left of the Americans and covered the retreat as well as possible, back to Little Meadows, where Braddock died. In this battle 456 men were slain. Braddock's defeat is the worst repulse ever received by the white men at the hands of the Indians in North America. It left the northwest frontier of that day at the mercy of a horde of bloodthirsty savages elated by victory. The battle ground is now a suburb of Pittsburg.

See Bouquet; Washington; Pittsburg