1755 Three Accounts of General Braddock's Defeat at Fort
Duquesne
by Winthrop Sargent, George Washington and Captain de
Contrecoeur
***
1.
Winthrop Sargent
The repeated wars between France and England in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had involved also their
colonies in America and India. In America the Indians had been
employed as allies upon both sides, and thus encouraged in their
hideous deeds of massacre and torture. Hence there had grown an
ever-increasing bitterness between the French in Canada and the
English colonists along the Atlantic coasts, and this finally
led to the momentous French and Indian war, which, contrary to
the course of the earlier contests, originated in America and
spread thence to Europe.
Its immediate cause was the disputed possession of the
interior of the continent, the Mississippi and Ohio valleys.
These had been first explored by the French, and when English
pioneers began to penetrate thither the French built a chain of
forts to resist them. An expedition of Virginians under the
command of their youthful leader, Major George Washington, had a
sharp encounter with the enemy in 1754; and then the English
government determined to assert its authority by an overwhelming
force. No war was declared against France, nor even against
Canada; but a distinguished English general, Braddock, was sent
over with three thousand regular troops to seize the French
forts in the Ohio Valley, especially Fort Duquesne, on the site
of the modern city of Pittsburg.
Braddock's expedition thus started the war which ended in the
expulsion of France from the North American continent. It did
more than that: it sowed the seeds of lasting dissension between
the American colonial troops and the British regulars. The
British despised their uninformed allies, and the latter soon
learned in their turn to despise the regulars.
The English general liked the young Virginian major,
Washington, and invited him, as one who knew the ground, to
accompany the projected expedition and give advice - which
Braddock never took. Its caution seemed to him to savor too much
of cowardice, and he persisted in marching through the
wilderness toward Fort Duquesne as though his forces had been
upon parade, with drums beating and colors flying. The French
were very near to being frightened into flight, but determined
on making one effort at resistance. Its results are here told by
the standard Pennsylvania historian, Sargent, and also in
briefer form by Washington himself in a letter to the Virginian
Governor, and by the French commander of Fort Duquesne in his
official report. Text
With a commendable discretion - the utmost, perhaps, that he
was capable of - Braddock had concluded his arrangements for
passing what he regarded as the only perilous place between his
army and the fort, which he designed to reach early on the 10th.
Had the proposition, started and abandoned by St. Clair, to push
forward that very night a strong detachment to invest it before
morning, been actually made to him, it is very probable he would
have discountenanced it. As in all human likelihood it would
have been crowned with success, it is as well for the general's
reputation that the suggestion aborted.
What precautionary steps his education and capacity could
suggest were here taken by Braddock. Before three o'clock on the
morning of the 9th Gage was sent forth with a chosen band to
secure both crossings of the river, and to hold the farther
shore of the second ford till the rest of the army should come
up. At four, St. Clair, with a working party, followed to make
the roads. At 6 A.M. the general set out, and, having
advantageously posted about four hundred men upon the adjacent
heights, made, with all the wagons and baggage, the first
crossing of the Monongahela. Marching thence in order of battle
toward the second ford, he received intelligence that Gage had
occupied the shore, according to orders, and that the route was
clear. The only enemy he had seen was a score of savages, who
fled without awaiting his approach. By eleven o'clock the army
reached the second ford; but it was not until after one that the
declivities of the banks were made ready for the artillery and
wagons, when the whole array, by a little before two o'clock,
was safely passed over. Not doubting that from some point on the
stream the enemy's scouts were observing his operations,
Braddock was resolved to strongly impress them with the numbers
and condition of his forces; and accordingly the troops were
ordered to appear as for a dress-parade. In after-life
Washington was accustomed to observe that he had never seen
elsewhere so beautiful a sight as was exhibited during this
passage of the Monongahela. Every man was attired in his best
uniform; the burnished arms shone bright as silver in the
glistening rays of the noonday sun, as, with colors waving
proudly above their heads, and amid inspiring bursts of martial
music, the steady files, with disciplined precision, and
glittering in scarlet and gold, advanced to their position.
While the rear was yet on the other side, and the van was
falling into its ordained course, the bulk of the army was drawn
up in battle array on the western shore, hard by the spot where
one Frazier, a German blacksmith in the interest of the English,
had lately had his home. Two or three hundred yards above the
spot where it now stood was the mouth of Turtle Creek - the
"Tulpewi Sipu" of the Lenape - which, flowing in a
southwestwardly course to the Monongahela, that here has a
northwestward direction, embraces, in an obtuse angle of about
one hundred twenty-five degrees, the very spot where the brunt
of the battle was to be borne.
The scene is familiar to tourists, being, as the crow flies,
but eight miles from Pittsburg, and scarce twelve by the course
of the river. For three-quarters of a mile below the entrance of
the creek the Monongahela was unusually shallow, forming a
gentle rapid or "ripple," and easily fordable at almost any
point. Its common level is from three to four hundred feet below
that of the surrounding country; and along its upper banks, at
the second crossing, stretches a fertile bottom of a rich
pebbled mould, about a fourth of a mile in width and twenty feet
above low-water mark. At this time it was covered by a fair,
open walnut-wood, uncumbered with bush or undergrowth.
The ascent from the river, however, is rarely abrupt; but by
a succession of gentle alluvial slopes or bottoms the steep
hillsides are approached, as though the waters had gradually
subsided from their original glory to a narrow bed at the very
bottom of the ancient channel. At this particular place the rise
of the first bottom does not exceed an angle of three degrees.
Above it again rises a second bottom of the same width and about
fifty feet higher than the first, and gradually ascending until
its farther edge rests upon the bold, rocky face of the mountain
line, climbing at once some two hundred feet to the usual level
of the region around. A firm clay, overlaid with mould, forms
the soil of the second bottom, which was heavily and more
densely timbered than the first; and the underwood began to
appear more plentifully where the ground was less exposed to the
action of the spring floods. In the bosom of the hill several
springs unite their sources to give birth to a petty rivulet
that hurries down the steep to be lost in the river. Its cradle
lies in the bed of a broad ravine, forty or fifty feet deep,
that rises in the hill-side, and, crossing the whole of the
second bottom, debouches on the first, where the waters whose
current it so far guides, trickle oozily down through a swampy
bed. Great trees grew within and along this chasm, and the usual
smaller growth peculiar to such a situation; and a prodigious
copse of wild grape-vines, not yet entirely gone, shrouded its
termination upon the first bottom and shadowed the birth of the
infant brook.
About two hundred yards from the line of hills, and three
hundred south of the ravine just described, commences another of
a more singular nature; with its steep sides, almost exactly
perpendicular, it perfectly resembles a ditch cut for purposes
of defence. Rising near the middle of the second bottom, it runs
westwardly to the upper edge of the first, with a depth at its
head of four or five feet, increasing as it descends, and a
width of eight or ten. A century ago its channel was overhung
and completely concealed by a luxurious thicket of pea-vines and
trailers, of bramble-bushes and the Indian plum; its edges
closely fringed with the thin, tall wood-grass of summer. But
even now, when the forests are gone and the plough long since
passed over the scene, the ravine cannot be at all perceived
until one is directly upon it; and hence arose the chief
disasters of the day. Parallel with and about one hundred fifty
yards north of this second gulley ran a third; a dry, open
hollow, and rather thinly wooded; but which afforded a happy
protection to the enemy from the English fire. Either of these
ravines would have sheltered an army; the second - the most
important, though not the largest - would of itself afford
concealment to a thousand men.
There is little reason to doubt that as Braddock drew near,
M. de Contrecoeur was almost decided to abandon his position
without striking a blow, and, withdrawing his men, as did his
successor, in 1758, leave to the English a bloodless victory. He
certainly was prepared to surrender on terms of honorable
capitulation. A solitary gun was mounted upon a carriage to
enable the garrison to evacuate with the honors of war; it being
a point of nice feeling with a defeated soldier that he should
retire with drums beating a national march, his own colors
flying, and a cannon loaded, with a lighted match. This deprives
the proceeding of a compulsory air; and to procure this
gratification, Contrecoeur made his arrangements. The British
army was so overwhelming in strength, so well appointed and
disciplined, that he perhaps deemed any opposition to its
advance would be not less fruitless than the defence of the
works. However this may be, he had as yet on July 7th announced
no definite conclusion, though possibly his views were
perceptible enough to his subordinates. On that day it was known
that the enemy, whose numbers were greatly magnified, were at
the head-waters of Turtle Creek. On the 8th, where his route was
changed, M. de Beaujeu, a captain in the regulars, proposed to
the commander that he might be permitted to go forth with a
suitable band to prepare an ambuscade for the English on the
banks of the Monongahela, and to dispute with them the passage
of the second ford. If we may believe tradition, it was with
undisguised reluctance that Contrecoeur complied with this
request, and even then, it is said, refused to assign troops for
the enterprise, bidding him call for volunteers as for a forlorn
hope. To that summons the whole garrison responded.
If this tale be true, Contrecoeur recanted his determination,
and wisely preferred making him a regular detachment,
conditioned on his success in obtaining the union of the
Indians, who, to the number of nearly a thousand warriors, were
gathered at the place. Accordingly, the savages were at once
called to a council. These people, consisting of bands assembled
from a dozen different nations, listened with unsuppressed
discontent to the overtures of the Frenchman. Seated under the
palisades that environed the fort, or standing in knots about
the speaker, were gathered a motley but a ferocious crew.
Alienated from their ancient friends, here were Delawares from
the Susquehanna eager to speed the fatal stroke, and Shawanoes
from Grave Creek and the Muskingum; scattered warriors of the
Six Nations; Ojibwas, Pottawottomis from the far Michigan;
Abenakis and Caughnawagas from Canada; Ottawas from Lake
Superior, led on by the royal Pontiac; and Hurons from the falls
of Montreal and the mission of Lorette, whose barbarous leader
gloried in a name torn from the most famous pages of Christian
story.
To these reluctant auditors Beaujeu stated his designs. "How,
my father," said they in reply, "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
to-morrow you shall know our thoughts." On the morning of July
9th the conference was repeated, and the Indians announced their
intention of refusing to join in the expedition. At this moment
a runner - probably one of those dislodged by Gage in the early
dawn - burst in upon the assembly and heralded the advent of the
foe. Well versed in the peculiar characteristics of the savages,
by whom he was much beloved, and full of tact and energy,
Beaujeu took ready advantage of the excitement which these
tidings occasioned. "I," said he, "am determined to go out
against the enemy. I am certain of victory. What! will you
suffer your father to depart alone?" Fired by his language and
the reproach it conveyed, they at once resolved by acclamation
to follow him to the fray.
In a moment the scene was alive with frantic enthusiasm.
Barrels of bullets and flints and casks of powder were hastily
rolled to the gates: their heads were knocked out, and every
warrior left to supply himself at his own discretion. Then,
painted for war and armed for the combat, the party moved
rapidly away, in numbers nearly nine hundred strong, of whom six
hundred thirty-seven were Indians, one hundred forty-six
Canadians, and seventy-two regular troops. Subordinate to
Beaujeu were MM. Dumas and De Ligneris, both captains in the
regular army, four lieutenants, six ensigns, and twenty cadets.
Though his numbers were thus not so greatly inferior to
Braddock's, it is not likely that Beaujeu calculated on doing
more than giving the English a severe check and perhaps delaying
for a few days their advance. It is impossible that he should
have contemplated the complete victory that was before him.
On the evening of July 8th the ground had been carefully
reconnoitred and the proper place for the action selected. The
intention was to dispute as long as possible the passage of the
second ford, and then to fall back upon the ravines. But long
ere they reached the scene the swell of the military music, the
crash of falling trees apprised them that the foe had already
crossed the river, and that his pioneers were advanced into the
woodlands. Quickening their pace into a run, they managed to
reach the broken ground just as the van of the English came in
sight. Braddock had turned from the first bottom to the second,
and mounting to its brown was about to pass around the head of
the ravines to avoid the little morass caused by the
water-course before described. His route did not lie parallel
with the most dangerous defile, where the banks are so steep and
the cover so perfect, but passed its head at an angle of about
forty-five degrees; thus completely exposing his face and flanks
from a point on the second bottom, at a hundred yards distance,
to another within thirty, where he would turn the ravine. Of
course the farther he advanced the nearer he would approach to
its brink, till the whole should finally be left behind; thus
opening a line of two hundred yards long, at an average distance
of sixty, to the enemy's fire. Had he possessed the least
knowledge of these defiles, he would undoubtedly have secured
them in season, since nothing would have been easier than their
occupation by Gage's advanced party. But not a man in his army
had ever dreamed of their existence.
The arrangement of the march from the river's bank had been
made as follows: The engineers and guides and six light-horsemen
proceeded immediately before the advanced detachment under Gage,
and the working-party under St. Clair, who had with them two
brass six-pounders and as many tumbrils or tool-carts. On either
flank, parties to the number of eight were thrown out to guard
against surprises. At some distance behind Gage followed the
line, preceded by the light horse, four squads of whom also
acted as extreme flankers at either end of the column. Next came
the seamen, followed by a subaltern with twenty grenadiers, a
twelve-pounder and a company of grenadiers. Then the vanguard
succeeded, and the wagon and artillery train, which began and
ended with a twelve-pounder: and the rear-guard closed the
whole. Numerous flanking-parties, however, protected each other;
and six subalterns, each with twenty grenadiers, and ten
sergeants, with ten men each, were detached for this purpose.
The greater part of Gage's command was actually advanced
beyond the spot where the main battle was fought, and was just
surmounting the second bottom, when Mr. Gordon, one of the
engineers who were in front marking out the road, perceived the
enemy bounding forward. Before them, with long leaps, came
Beaujeu, the gayly colored fringes of his hunting-shirt and the
silver gorget on his bosom at once bespeaking the chief.
Comprehending in a glance the position he had attained, he
suddenly halted and waved his hat above his head. At this
preconcerted signal the savages dispersed to the right and left,
throwing themselves flat upon the ground, and gliding behind
rocks or trees or into the ravines. Had the earth yawned beneath
their feet and reclosed above their heads, they could not have
more instantaneously vanished. The French - some of whom,
according to Garneau, were mounted - held the centre of the
semicircular disposition so instantly assumed; and a tremendous
fire was at once opened on the English. For a moment Gage's
troops paused aghast at the furious yells and strangeness of the
onset. Rallying immediately, he returned their fire, and halted
a moment till St. Clair's working-party came up; when he bade
his men advance at once upon the centre of the concentric line.
As he drew near he was again greeted with a staggering
discharge, and again his ranks were shaken. Then in return, they
opened a fire of grape and musketry so tremendous as to sweep
down every unsheltered foe who was upon his feet, and to utterly
fright the savages from their propriety. Beaujeu and a dozen
more fell dead upon the spot, and the Indians already began to
fly, their courage being unable to endure the unwonted tumult of
such a portentous detonation.
But reanimated by the clamorous exhortations of Dumas and De
Ligneris, and observing that the regulars and militia still
preserved a firm front, they returned once more to their posts
and resumed the combat. For a time the issue seemed doubtful,
and the loud cries of "Vive le Roil!" of the French were met by
the charging cheers of the English. But precision of aim soon
began to prevail over mere mechanical discipline. In vain the
Forty-fourth continued their fire; in vain their officers, with
waving swords, led them to the charge; hidden beneath great
trees or concealed below the level of the earth, the muzzles of
their pieces resting on the brink of the ravine, and shooting
with a secure and steady aim, the majority of the enemy rested
secure and invisible to their gallant foemen.
In the mean time Braddock, whose extreme rear had not yet
left the river's bank, hearing the uproar in advance, ordered
Burton to press forward with the vanguard, and the rest of the
line to halt; thus leaving Halket with four hundred men to
protect the baggage while eight hundred engaged the enemy. But
just as Burton, under a galling fire, was forming his troops
upon the ground, Gage's party gave way and precipitately
endeavored to fall into his rear; confusing men who were
confused before. The manoeuvre was unsuccessfully executed, and
the two regiments became inextricably commingled. Vainly
Braddock strove to separate the soldiers, huddling together like
frightened sheep. Vainly the regimental colors were advanced on
opposite directions as rallying-points.
"Ut conspicuum in proelio Haberent signum quod sequerentur
milites." The officers sought to collect their men together and
lead them on in platoons. Nothing could avail. On every hand the
officers, distinguished by their horses and their uniforms, were
the constant mark of hostile rifles; and it was soon as
impossible to find men to give orders as it was to have them
obeyed. In a narrow road twelve feet wide, shut up on either
side and overpent by the primeval forest, were crowded together
the panic-stricken wretches, hastily loading and reloading, and
blindly discharging their guns in the air, as though they
suspected their mysterious murderers were sheltered in the
boughs above their heads; while all around, removed from sight,
but making day hideous with their war-whoops and savage cries,
lay ensconced a host insatiate for blood.
Foaming with rage and indignation, Braddock flew from rank to
rank, with his own hands endeavoring to force his men into
position. Four horses were shot under him, but mounting a fifth
he still strained every nerve to retrieve the ebbing fortunes of
the day. His subordinates gallantly seconded his endeavors,
throwing themselves from the saddle and advancing by platoons,
in the idle hope that their men would follow; but only to rush
upon their fate. The regular soldiery, deprived of their
immediate commanders and terrified at the incessant fall of
their comrades, could not be brought to the charge, while the
provincials, better skilled, sought in vain to cover themselves
and to meet the foe upon equal terms; for to the urgent
entreaties of Washington and Sir Peter Halket, that the men
might be permitted to leave the ranks and shelter themselves,
the general turned a deaf ear. Wherever he saw as man skulking
behind a tree, he flew at once to the spot and, with curses on
his cowardice and blows with the flat of his sword, drove him
back into the open road.
Wherever the distracted artillerymen saw a smoke arise,
thither did they direct their aim; and many of the flankers who
had succeeded in obtaining the only position where they could be
of any service, were thus shot down. Athwart the brow of the
hill lay a large log, five feet in diameter, which Captain
Waggoner, of the Virginia Levies, resolved to take possession
of. With shouldered firelocks he marched a party of eighty men
to the spot, losing but three on the way; and at once throwing
themselves behind it, the remainder opened a hot fire upon the
enemy. But no sooner were the flash and the report of their
pieces perceived by the mob behind, than a general discharge was
poured upon the little band, by which fifty were slain outright
and the rest constrained to fly.
By this time the afternoon was well advanced and the whole
English line surrounded. The ammunition began to fail and the
artillery to flag; the baggage was warmly attacked; and a runner
was despatched to the fort with the tidings that by set of sun
not an Englishman would be left alive upon the ground. Still,
gathering counsel from despair, Braddock disdained to yield;
still, strong in this point only of their discipline, his
soldiers died by his side, palsied with fear, yet without one
thought of craven flight. At last, when every aide but
Washington was struck down; when the lives of the vast majority
of the officers had been sacrificed with a reckless intrepidity,
a sublime self-devotion, that surpasses the power of language to
express; when scarce a third part of the whole army remained
unscathed, and these incapable of aught save remaining to die or
till the word to retire was given - at last, Braddock abandoned
all hope of victory, and, with a mien undaunted as in his
proudest hour, ordered the drums to sound a retreat. The instant
their faces were turned, the poor regulars lost every trace of
the sustaining power of custom; and the retreat became a
headlong flight. "Despite of all the efforts of the officers to
the contrary, they ran," says Washington, "as sheep pursued by
dogs, and it was impossible to rally them."
Beneath a large tree standing between the heads of the
northernmost ravines, and while in the act of giving an order,
Braddock received a mortal wound; the ball passing through his
right arm into the lungs. Falling from his horse, he lay
helpless on the ground, surrounded by the dead, abandoned by the
living. Not one of his transatlantic soldiery "who had served
with the Duke" could be prevailed upon to stay his headlong
flight and aid to bear his general from the field. Orme thought
to tempt them with a purse containing sixty guineas; but in such
a moment even gold could not prevail upon a vulgar soul, and
they rushed unheeding on. Disgusted at such pusillanimity, and
his heart big with despair, Braddock refused to be removed, and
bade the faithful friends who lingered by his side to provide
for their own safety. He declared his resolution of leaving his
own body on the field; the scene that had witnessed his dishonor
he desired should bury his shame. With manly affection, Orme
disregarded his injunctions; and Captain Stewart, of Virginia,
the commander of the light-horse which were attached to the
general's person, with another American officer, hastening to
Orme's relief, his body was placed first in a tumbrel, and
afterward upon a fresh horse, and thus borne away. Stewart seems
to have cherished a sense of duty or of friendship toward his
chief that did not permit him to desert him for a moment while
life remained.
It was about five o'clock in the afternoon when the English
abandoned the field. Pursued to the water's edge by about fifty
savages the regular troops cast from them guns, accoutrements,
and even clothing, that they might run the faster. Many were
overtaken and tomahawked here; but where they had once crossed
the river, they were not followed. Soon turning from the chase,
the glutted warriors made haste to their unhallowed and
unparalleled harvest of scalps and plunder. The provincials,
better acquainted with Indian warfare, were less disconcerted;
and though their losses were as heavy, their behavior was more
composed. In full possession of his courage and military
instincts, Braddock still essayed to procure an orderly and
soldier-like retreat; but the demoralization of the army now
rendered this impossible. With infinite difficulty, a hundred
men, after running about half a mile, were persuaded to stop at
a favorable spot where Braddock proposed to remain until Dunbar
should arrive, to whose camp Washington was sent with suitable
orders. It will thus be seen how far was his indomitable soul
from succumbing in the discharge of his duties, beneath the
unexpected burthen that had been laid upon him. By his
directions Burton posted sentries here, and endeavored to form a
nucleus around which to gather the shattered remains of the
troops, and where the wounded might be provided for.
But all was idle. In an hour's time almost every soldier had
stolen away, leaving their officers deserted. These, making the
best of their way off, were joined beyond the other ford by
Gage, who had rallied some eighty men; and this was all that
remained of that gallant army which scarce six hours before was
by friend and foe alike deemed invincible. With little
interruption the march was continued through that night and the
ensuing day, till at 10 P.M. on July 10th they came to Gist's
plantation; where early on the 11th some wagons and hospital
stores arrived from Dunbar for their relief. Despite the
intensity of his agonies, Braddock still persisted in the
exercise of his authority and the fulfilment of his duties. From
Gist's he detailed a party to return toward the Monongahela with
a supply of provisions to be left on the road for the benefit of
stragglers yet behind, and Dunbar was commanded to send to him
the only two remaining old companies of the Forty-fourth and
Forty-eighth, with more wagons to bring off the wounded; and on
Friday, July 11th, he arrived at Dunbar's camp. Through this and
all the preceding day men half famished, without arms and
bewildered with terror, had been joining Dunbar; his camp was in
the utmost confusion, and his soldiers were deserting without
ceremony.
Braddock's strength was now fast ebbing away. Informed of the
disorganized condition of the remaining troops, he abandoned all
hope of a prosperous termination to the expedition. He saw that
not only death, but utter defeat, was inevitable. But conscious
of the odium the latter event would excite, he nobly resolved
that the sole responsibility of the measure should rest with
himself, and consulted with no one upon the steps he pursued. He
merely issued his orders, and insisted that they were obeyed.
Thus, after destroying the stores to prevent their falling into
the hands of the enemy - of whose pursuit he did not doubt - the
march was to be resumed on Saturday, July 12th, toward Will's
Creek. Ill-judged as these orders were, they met with but too
ready acquiescence at the hands of Dunbar, whose advice was
neither asked nor tendered on the occasion. Thus the great mass
of those stores which had been so painfully brought thither were
destroyed. Of the artillery but two six-pounders were preserved;
the cohorns were broken or buried, and the shells bursted. One
hundred fifty wagons were burned; the powder-casks were staved
in, and their contents, to the amount of fifty thousand pounds,
cast into a spring; and the provisions were scattered abroad
upon the ground or thrown into the water. Nothing was saved
beyond the actual necessities for a flying march; and when a
party of the enemy some time afterward visited the scene, they
completed the work of destruction. For this service - the only
instance of alacrity that he displayed in the campaign - Dunbar
must not be forgiven. It is not perfectly clear that Braddock
intelligently ever gave the orders; but in any case they were
not fit for a British officer to give or to obey. Dunbar's duty
was to have maintained here his position, or at the least not to
have contemplated falling back beyond Will's Creek. That he had
not horses to remove his stores was, however, his after-excuse.
It was not until Sunday, July 13th, that all this was
finished; and the army with its dying general proceeded to the
Great Meadows, where the close was to transpire:
"Last scene of all,
That ends this strange, eventful history."
Ever since the retreat commenced Braddock has preserved a
steadfast silence, unbroken save when he issued the necessary
commands. That his wound was mortal he knew; but he also knew
that his fame had received a not less fatal stab; that his
military reputation, dearer than his own life to a veteran or
those of a thousand others, was gone forever. These reflections
embittered his dying hours; nor were there any means at hand of
diverting the current of his thoughts or ministering to the
comfort of his body; even the chaplain of the army was among the
wounded. He pronounced the warmest eulogiums upon the conduct of
his officers - who, indeed, had merited all he could say of them
- and seems to have entertained some compunctions at not having
more scrupulously followed the advice of Washington, or perhaps
at the loss of power to provide for that young soldier's
interests as thoroughly as he would have done had he returned
victorious.
At all events, we find him singling out his Virginia aide as
his nuncupative legatee, bequeathing to him his favorite charger
and his body-servant Bishop, so well known in after-years as the
faithful attendant of the patriot chief. The only allusion he
made to the fate of the battle was to softly repeat once or
twice to himself, "Who would have thought it?" Turning to Orme,
"We shall better know how to deal with them another time," were
his parting words. A few moments later and he breathed his last.
Thus at about eight on the night of Sunday, July 13th, honorably
died a brave old soldier, who, if wanting in temper and
discretion, was certainly, according to the standard of the
school in which he had been educated, an accomplished officer;
and whose courage and honesty are not to be discussed. The
uttermost penalty that humanity could exact he paid for his
errors; and if his misfortune brought death and woe upon his
country, it was through no shrinking on his part from what he
conceived to be his duty. He shared the lot of the humblest man
who fell by his side.
So terminated the bloody battle of the Monongahela; a scene
of carnage which has been truly described as unexampled in the
annals of modern warfare. Of the 1460 souls, officers and
privates, who went into the combat, 456 were slain outright and
421 were wounded; making a total of 877 men. Of 89 commissioned
officers, 63 were killed or wounded; not a solitary
field-officer escaping unhurt.
***
2. By George Washington
"Fort Cumberland, 18 July, 1755. "To Governor Dinwiddie:
"Honbl. Sir - As I am favored with an opportunity, I should
think myself inexcusable was I to omit giving you some account
of our late Engagement with the French on the Monongahela, the
9th instant.
"We continued our march from Fort Cumberland to Frazier's
(which is within 7 miles of Duquesne) without meeting any
extraordinary event, having only a straggler or two picked up by
the French Indians. When we came to this place, we were attacked
(very unexpectedly) by about three hundred French and Indians.
Our numbers consisted of about thirteen hundred well-armed men,
chiefly Regulars, who were immediately struck with such an
inconceivable panic that nothing but confusion and disobedience
of orders prevailed among them. The officers, in general,
behaved with incomparable bravery, for which they greatly
suffered, there being near sixty killed and wounded - a large
proportion, out of the number we had!
"The Virginia companies behaved like men and died like
soldiers; for I believe out of three companies that were on the
ground that day scarce thirty were left alive. Capt. Peyroney
and all his officers, down to a corporal, were killed; Captn.
Polson had almost as hard a fate, for only one of his escaped.
In short, the dastardly behavior of the Regular troops (so
called) [Footnote 1] exposed those who were inclined to do their
duty to almost certain death, and, at length, in despite of
every effort to the contrary, broke and ran as sheep before
hounds, leaving the artillery, ammunition, provisions, baggage,
and, in short, everything a prey to the enemy. And when we
endeavored to rally them, in hopes of regaining the ground and
what we had left upon it, it was with as little success as if we
had attempted to have stopped the wild bears of the mountains or
rivulets with our feet; for they would break by, in despite of
every effort that could be made to prevent it.
[Footnote 1: The regulars laid the responsibility of defeat
on the provincials, alleging "that they were harassed by duties
unequal to their numbers, and dispirited through want of
provisions; that time was not allowed them to dress their food;
that their water (the only liquor, too, they had) was both
scarce and of a bad quality; in fine, that the provincials had
disheartened them by repeated suggestions of their fears of a
defeat should they be attacked by Indians, in which case the
European method of fighting would be entirely unavailing." -
Review of the Military Operations in North America from 1753 to
1756. The Gentleman's Magazine asserted these same forces -
Irish, Scotch, and English - ran away "shamefully" at
Prestonpans. The news of Braddock's defeat "struck a general
damp on the spirits of the soldiers" in Shirley's and
Pepperell's regiments, and many deserted. "I must leave a proper
number in each county to protect it from the combinations of the
Negro slaves, who have been very audacious on the defeat on the
Ohio. These poor creatures imagine the French will give them
their freedom." - Dinwiddie to Earl of Halifax, 23 July, 1755.]
"The General was wounded in the shoulder and breast, of which
he died three days after; his two aids-de-camp were both
wounded, but are in a fair way of recovery; Colo. Burton and Sr.
John St. Clair are also wounded and I hope will get over it; Sir
Peter Halket, with many other brave officers, were killed in the
field. It is supposed that we had three hundred or more killed;
about that number we brought off wounded, and it is conjectured
(I believe with much truth) that two-thirds of both received
their shot from our own cowardly Regulars, who gathered
themselves into a body, contrary to orders, ten or twelve deep,
would then level, fire and shoot down the men before them.
"I tremble at the consequences that this defeat may have upon
our back settlers, who, I suppose, will all leave their
habitations unless there are proper measures taken for their
security.
"Colo. Dunbar, who commands at present, intends, as soon as
his men are recruited at this place, to continue his march to
Philadelphia for winter quarters, ^1 consequently there will be
no men left here, unless it is the shattered remains of the
Virginia troops, who are totally inadequate to the protection of
the frontiers." [Footnote 1: "Fearful of an unpursuing foe, all
the ammunition, and so much of the provisions were destroyed for
accelerating their flight, that Dunbar was actually obliged to
send for thirty horse-loads of the latter before he reached Fort
Cumberland, where he arrived a very few days after, with the
shattered remains of the English troops." - Review of the
Military Operations in North America. Dinwiddie wished Dunbar to
remain and make a new attempt on Duquesne; but a council of
officers unanimously decided the scheme was impracticable, and
on the next day (August 2d) began his march toward
Philadelphia.]
***
3.
By Captain de Contrecoeur
Monsieur de Contrecoeur, captain of infantry commanding at
Fort Duquesne, having been informed that the English would march
out from Virginia to come to attack him, was warned a little
time afterward that they were on the road. He put spies through
the country who would inform him faithfully of their route. The
7th of this month (July) he was warned that the army, composed
of 3,000 men of the regular English forces were only six leagues
from his fort. The commander employed the next day in making his
arrangements, and on the 9th of the month he sent Monsieur de
Beaujeu against the enemy and gave him for second in command
Monsieurs Dumas and de Lignery, all three of them being
captains, with four lieutenants, six ensigns, 20 cadets, 100
soldiers, 100 Canadians, and 600 savages, with orders to hide
themselves in a favorable place that had previously been
reconnoitred. The detachment found itself in the presence of the
enemy at three leagues from the fort before being able to gain
its appointed post. Monsieur de Beaujeu seeing that his
ambuscade had failed, began a direct attack. He did this with so
much energy that the enemy, who awaited us in the best order in
the world, seemed astounded at the assault. Their artillery,
however, promptly commenced to fire and our forces were confused
in their turn. The savages also, frightened by the noise of the
cannon rather than their execution, commenced to lose ground.
Monsieur de Beaujeu was killed, and Monsieur Dumas rallied our
forces. He ordered his officers to lead the savages and spread
out on both wings, so as to take the enemy in flank. At the same
time he, Monsieur de Lignery, and the other officers who were at
the head of the French attacked in front. This order was
executed so promptly that the enemy, who were already raising
cries of victory, were no longer able even to defend themselves.
The combat wavered from one side to the other and success was
long doubtful, but at length the enemy fled.
They struggled unavailingly to keep some order in their
retreat. The cries of the savages with which the woods echoed,
carried fear into the hearts of the foe. The rout was complete.
The field of battle remained in our possession, with six large
cannons and a dozen smaller ones, four bombs, eleven mortars,
all their munitions of war and almost all their baggage. Some
deserters who have since come to us tell us that we fought
against two thousand men, the rest of the army being four
leagues farther back. These same deserters tell us that our
enemies have retired to Virginia. The spies that we have sent
out report that the thousand men who had no part in the battle,
also took fright and abandoned their arms and provisions along
the road. On this news we sent out a detachment which destroyed
or burned all that remained by the roadside. The enemies have
lost more than a thousand men on the field of battle; they have
lost a great part of their artillery and provisions, also their
general, named Monsieur Braddock, and almost all their officers.
We had three officers killed and two wounded, two cadets
wounded. This remarkable success, which scarcely seemed possible
in view of the inequality of the forces, is the fruit of the
experience of Monsieur Dumas and of the activity and valor of
the officers that he had under his orders.
END
