George Was Here

At the bottom of the cliff on which Kennywood sits, the largest British army yet assembled in the American colonies, with flags flying and drums beating, forded the Monongahela on July 9, 1755. The battle that followed directly across the river ended in victory for the French from Fort Duquesne and their Indian allies. After General Braddock was mortally wounded, twenty-three-year-old Colonel George Washington of the Virginia Militia led the defeated troops back to Maryland. It was neither the first nor the last of Washington’s trips to the Forks of the Ohio, although he never reached there on this occasion.

West Mifflin, Pennsylvania · United States