Gen. Braddock is Defeated

In 1755 King George II sent Gen. Edward Braddock to America with orders to defeat the French in the western lands. Braddock brought two regiments of regular British soldiers, along with cannons and supplies, and struggled to move them across the mountains to Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio River. To reach his destination more quickly, he decided to build a new, shorter road to Ft. Cumberland, while supplies for the colonial soldiers traveling with him were carried along the Great Wagon Road past Joseph Edwards's home. Col. Washington joined the expedition, as did other colonials including Daniel Morgan and Daniel Boone. Although the British were better equipped and better supplied than the French, they were unprepared for frontier fighting. When the armies met in the forest, the French and their Indian allies won. After about four hours of fighting, the English had lost almost two-thirds of their force and Braddock had received a fatal wound. The frightened remnant of the British force retreated to Philadelphia for the winter, leaving the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania open to French and Indian attack, and the roads that had carried Braddock westward could now also carry those enemies toward Virginia's frontier.

Capon Bridge, West Virginia · United States