Home > Braddock Expedition
The Braddock Expedition was a failed British attempt to capture the French Fort Duquesne in the summer of 1755 during the French and Indian War. The expedition takes its name from General Edward Braddock, who led the British forces and died in the effort. Braddock's defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela was a major setback for the British in the early stages of the war with France.1 Braddock's Road
Braddock's Expedition was just one part of a massive British offensive against the French in North America that summer. As commander-in-chief of the British Army in America, General Braddock led the main thrust, commanding two regiments (about 1,350 men) and about 500 regular soldiers and militiamen from several British American colonies. With these men Braddock expected to seize Fort Duquesne easily, and then push on to capture a series of French forts, eventually reaching Fort Niagara. Twenty-three year-old George Washington, who knew the territory, served as a volunteer aide-de-camp to General Braddock. 1
Braddock's attempt to recruit Native American allies from those tribes not yet allied with the French proved mostly unsuccessful; he had but eight Mingo Indians with him, serving as scouts. A number of Indians in the area, notably DelawareThe Lenape or Lenni-Lenape (later named Delaware Indians by Europeans) were, in the 1600s, loosely organized bands of Native American people practicing small-scale agriculture to augment a largely mobile hunter-gatherer society in the region around the De leader ShingasChief Shingas: King of the Delawares (Lenape) "Who was Shingas?" The Delaware (or Lenape) Nation which he came from was an oral society and left no written records. The little we know of the lives of Delawares during the 18th Century was recorded by other, remained neutral. Caught between two powerful European empires at war, local Indians could not afford to be on the side of the loser. Braddock's success or failure would influence their decisions.
Setting out from Fort Cumberland in MarylandAlternate uses: Maryland (disambiguation Maryland ( In Detail) State nickname: Old Line State; Free State Governor: Robert L. Ehrlich Other U. States Capital Annapolis Largest City Baltimore Area Total Land Water % water Ranked 42nd 32,160 km˛ 25,338 km˛ on May 29May 29 is the 149th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (150th in leap years). There are 216 days remaining. Events 1167 Battle of Legano, in which The Lombard League defeats Emperor Frederick I. 1414 Council of Constance. 1453 Ottoman armies under, 1755, the expedition faced an enormous logistical challenge: moving a large body of men with equipment, provisions, and (most importantly for the task ahead) heavy canon, across the densely wooded Allegheny MountainsThe Allegheny Mountains are a part of the Appalachian mountain range located in the eastern United States. They run from northeast to southwest through West Central Pennsylvania, and the western part of Maryland and eastern West Virginia. They begin at th and into western PennsylvaniaPennsylvania (the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is one of four states of the United States of America that is called a commonwealth. It has given its name to the Pennsylvanian time period in geology. Pennsylvania is called the Keystone State. Although Swed, a journey of about 110 miles. Braddock had received important assistance from Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin ( January 17, 1706 — April 17, 1790) was an American journalist, publisher, author, philanthropist, abolitionist, public servant, scientist, librarian, diplomat, and inventor. One of the leaders of the American Revolution, he was well kn, who helped procure wagons and supplies for the expedition. Among the wagoners, incidentally, were two young men who would later become legends of American history: Daniel BooneDaniel Boone ( 1734- 1820), was a famous American pioneer and frontiersman who blazed the Wilderness Trail and founded Boonesborough, Kentucky (also known as Boonesboro). He was born in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania and in 1756 married Rebecca Bryan, a neighbor and Daniel Morgan.
The expedition progressed slowly, in some cases moving as few as two miles a day, creating Braddock's Road—an important vestige of the march—as they went. To speed up movement, Braddock split his men into a "flying column" of about 1,500 men (commanded by him), and a supply column with most of the baggage, which lagged far behind. They passed the ruins of Fort Necessity along the way, where the French had defeated Washington the previous summer. Small French and Indian war bands harried Braddock's men during the march, but these were minor skirmishes.
Meanwhile, at Fort Duquesne, the French garrison consisted of only about 250 regulars and Canadian militia, with about 640 Indian allies camped outside the fort. The Indians were from a variety of tribes long associated with the French, including Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Potawatomis. The French commander, realizing that his fort could not withstand Braddock's canon, decided to launch a preemptive strike: an ambush of Braddock's army as he crossed the Monongahela River.
