History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 6

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967

USA > Pennsylvania > Bedford County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Fulton County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 6
USA > Pennsylvania > Somerset County > History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania > Part 6

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

At last, encumbered with a vast and dispro- portionate train of wagons and artillery, the advance of Braddock's army under the command of Maj. Chapman began the march from Will's Creek at daybreak of May 30, but "it was night before the whole baggage had got over a moun- tain about two miles from camp. * *

* The general reconnoitered this mountain and de- termined to set the engineers and three hun- dred more men at work on it, as he thought it impassable by howitzers. He did not imagine that any other road could be made, as a recon- noitering party had already been to explore the country. Nevertheless, Mr. Spendelow, lienten- ant of the seamen, a young man of great dis- cernment and abilities, acquainted the general that in passing that mountain he had discovered a valley which led quite around the foot of it. A party of a hundred men with an engineer was ordered to cut a road there, and an, extreme good one was made in two days, which.fell into the other road about a mile on the other side of the mountain."*

Having sent back to the fort much surplus baggage and "all the King's wagons," they "be- ing too heavy and requiring large horses for the shafts, which conid not be procured, and coun- try wagons were better fitted for powder in their stead," the advance of the column reached Martin's plantation on the 13th, and on the 15th it "passed the Aligany mountain, which is a rocky ascent of more than two miles, in many places exceedingly steep; its descent is very rugged and almost perpendicular ; in passing which we entirely demolished three wagons and shattered several." That night the 1st brigade encamped about three miles west of Savage river, and on the 16th the head of the column reached the Little Meadows, ten miles from Martin's plantation ; but the rear did not arrive there until the 18th.

Braddock now adopted a new plan of cam- paign -to move forward with a division com- posed of some of his best troops with a few guns and but little baggage, leaving behind the remainder of his force to bring up the heavy

* Orme's Journal.

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD, SOMERSET AND FULTON COUNTIES.

stores and artillery. This decision was taken largely through the advice of Washington, who, though not commissioned, possessed no small share of the general's confidence by reason of the experience he had gained in the campaign of the preceding year. Washington had from the first urged the use of pack-horses instead of wagons for the greater part of the transporta- tion, and although his advice was at first ignored by the general, its wisdom now became apparent.

The force selected to move in the advance consisted of nearly thirteen hundred men. "A detachment of one field-officer with four hun- dred men and the deputy quartermaster-general marched on the 18th to cut and make the road to the Little Crossings of the Yoxhio Geni,* taking with them two six-pounders with their ammunition, three wagons of tools and thirty- five days' provisions, all on carrying-horses, and on the 19th the general marched with a detachment of one colonel, one lieutenant- colonel, one major, the two eldest grenadier companies, and five hundred rank and file, the party of seamen, and eighteen light-horse, and four howitzers with fifty rounds each, and four twelve-pounders with eighty rounds each, and one hundred rounds of ammunition for each man, and one wagon of Indian presents; the whole number of carriages being about thirty. The howitzers had each nine horses, the twelve- pounders seven and the wagons six. There was also thirty-five days' rations carried on horses." The troops left behind with Dunbar numbered about nine hundred, including four artillery officers. Eighty-four wagons and all tbe ordnance stores and provisions not imme- diately needed by the advance column were also left in his charge.

Braddock, with the advance force, reached the Little Crossings (Castleman's river) on the evening of the 19th, camping on the west bank of that stream, and in four days from his de- parture from the Little Meadows had made nineteen miles, passed over the southwest corner of the present county of Somerset, and arrived at the Great Crossings of the Youghio- gheny. Deeming it needless, however, to at- tempt to describe the route taken by Braddock's force, in detail, we add here, in as few words as possible, that from Fort Cumberland to Gist's

plantation the army followed the road opened by Washington the previous year. From Gist's Braddock moved northward by the " Nemacolin path," which was part of the Catawba trail of the Six Nations. At Braddock's Ford, a short distance below the present borough of New Haven, Fayette county, the Youghiogheny was recrossed ; thence he marched on through the present county of Westmoreland to the Great Sewickley, crossing that stream near Painter's saltworks ; thence south and west of the post- office of Jacksonville to the Brush Fork of Tur- tle creek ; then turning sharply to the left, Braddock moved toward the Monongahela, en- camping on the night of July 8, about two miles east of the river, below the mouths of the Youghiogheny. At this camp Washington re- joined the army (although not yet fully recov- ered), having been left behind, seriously ill with fever, at the Little Crossings.

On the morning of the 9th of July the English and provincial troops under Braddock, to the number of about fifteen hundred men (the force having been increased by nearly two hun- dred men after leaving the Little Meadows by guards sent forward from time to time with sup- plies) marched to the Monongahela and crossed to the southwest shore, moving thence on the left bank for about three miles ; then recrossed the river at Frazier's, just below the mouth of Turtle creek. The crossing was completed at about one o'clock in the afternoon, and when the column reformed on the right bank of the Monon- gahela it was within three-quarters of a mile of the place where the French and their numerous Indian allies lay hidden along the slopes of the forest defile, which, ere the sun went down on that memorable day, was to be reddened by the blood of the bravest, and made historic for all time as "Braddock's field " of disaster.

Meantime, while Braddock was consuming forty one days in marching from Fort Cumber- land to the field of battle, his enemy, fully aware of his movements, had been reinforced and was eager to meet him, not doubting the result. French and Indian scouts met Braddock's force east of Laurel Hill. They were there, not for the purpose of attacking openly, but to hover along the front and flanks, to spy out the move- ments of the English, to murder stragglers, and to keep the commandant at Fort Du Quesne in- formed from day to day of Braddock's progress. And from the time the English troops crossed

* Meaning the Youghiogheny, but the place here mentioned was more generally known as the Little Crossings of Castleman's river.

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BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.

the Youghiogheny hostile Indians were always about them, and evidences of their presence multiplied with each succeeding day's march. Indeed, nearly all of the savages west of the Alleghenies were now ranged on the side of the French. A few only of the Indian allies of the English had remained true to them after the surrender of Fort Necessity, and among these were Scarooyada, the successor of the friendly Half-King, and Monacatoocha, whose acquaint- ance Washington had made on his trip to Le Bœuf in 1753. These two chiefs, with nearly one hundred and fifty Seneca and Delaware war- riors, had joined the English on their march to the Youghiogheny, and proposed to accompany them as scouts and guides. They could without doubt have rendered great service in that ca- pacity, and, if the warnings of their forest experi- ence had been listened to, might perhaps have saved Braddock's army from the surprise and disaster which overtook it. But Braddock re- jected their services, and treated them with so much of slight and contempt that they finally retired angry and disgusted, leaving him to his fate.

The battle of the Monongahela has been too often described to require repetition here. It resulted in the utter defeat and rout of the English, and the headlong flight of the sur- vivors to the south side of the river at the point where they had crossed. The force which en- tered the forest defile under Braddock was four- teen hundred and sixty strong, including officers and privates. Of this number four hundred and fifty-six were killed" and four hundred and twenty-one wounded, making a total of eight hundred and seventy-seven, while only five hun- dred and eighty-three escaped unhurt, many of the latter not having been in the fight proper at all. Of eighty-nine commissioned officers, sixty- three were killed. or wounded, including every officer above the rank of captain except Col. Washington. Of the captains, ten were killed and five wounded ; of the lieutenants, fifteen killed and twenty-two wounded. Gen. Brad- dock had four horses shot under him, and while mounting the fifth received the wound which proved mortal. Washington had two horses shot under him. Sir Peter Halkert (next in command to Braddock) was killed instantly.

Secretary Shirley was killed. Col. Burton, Sir John Sinclair and Lieut .- Col. Gage were among the wounded, also Brig .- Maj. Halkert, Dr. Hugh Mercer," Maj. Sparks and Capt. Orme. Of the naval officers present, Lieut. Spendelow and Midshipman Talbot were killed. A num- ber of women and officers' servants were also killed and scalped, though every wagoner es- caped. One hundred beeves were captured by the enemy, also the general's papers (orders, instructions and correspondence) and the mili- tary chest, containing £25,000 in money, as well as all of Washington's papers, including his notes referring to the Fort Necessity campaign of the previous year. The journal of Capt. Orme alone, of all the military papers, was saved. All the artillery, ammunition, baggage and stores fell into the hands of the French and Indians, and the dead and badly wounded were left on the field to be scalped and tortured by the savages, who, however, strangely enough, made little show of pursuit.

When Braddock received his fatal wound he expressed a wish to be left to die on the field, and this wish came very near being gratified. Nearly all his panic-stricken followers deserted him, but his aids-de-camp, Capt. Orme and Capt. Stewart, of the Virginia light-horse, re- mained around him, and at the imminent risk of their own lives succeeded in bearing him from the woods and across the river. The wounded general then gave orders that the troops should be rallied and a stand made at that place, but this was found impossible. A few subordinate officers and less than one hundred soldiers were all who remained around him. Of this move- ment Capt. Orme's journal says : " We intended to have kept possession of that ground till we could have been reinforced. The general and some wounded officers remained there about an hour, till most of the men ran off. From that place the general sent Mr. Washington to Col. Dunbar with orders to send wagoners for the wounded, some provisions and hospital stores, to be escorted by the two youngest grenadier com- panies, to meet him at Gist's plantation, or nearer if possible. It was found impracticable to remain here, as the general and officers were left almost

. The great disproportion between the killed and wounded on this field, in comparison with more modern ones, is accounted for from the fact that the wounded left on the field were nearly all killed and scalped, and their bodies, together with those who bad fallen dead, were maugled most atrociously.

* Afterward Gen. Mercer, of the American army, who was killed at the battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777. Left on the field with others badly wounded, he managed to conceal himself behind a fallen tree, where he witnessed the atrocities commited by the savages on the other wounded men and the dead. When darkness came on he crept from the woods, crossed the Monon- gahela, and after wandering in the forests for many days with his undressed wound, and nearly famished, he at last reached Fort Cumberland in safety.

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD, SOMERSET AND FULTON COUNTIES.

alone; we therefore retreated in the best manner we were able. After we had passed the Monon- gahela the second time we were joined by Lieut .- Col. Gage, who had rallied near eighty men. We marched all night and the next day, and about ten o'clock that night we got to Gist's planta- tion."

While Gen. Braddock was advancing toward Fort Du Quesne, Col. Dunbar with the rear division was toiling slowly along, encumbered with the reserve artillery and heavy stores. He passed the ruins of Fort Necessity on July 2, and a few days later reached the place which has borne the name of " Dunbar's camp " to the present time. This historic spot is situated southeast of the summit of Wolf Hill, one of the highest points of Laurel Hill Mountain, and about three thousand feet above the ocean level. The camp was about three hundred feet below the summit, occupying land then cleared of its timber, and supplied with two fine springs of water. This point was the end of Dunbar's outward march, for he there received from the battlefield tidings which forbade all thoughts of a further advance. Washington, in carrying out the orders referred to by Orme, set out with two private soldiers as an escort, and, traveling without a halt through the long hours of the dark and rainy night which succeeded the day of the battle, arrived at Dunbar's camp early on the morning of the 10th. At about the middle of the forenoon several of Braddock's Dutch wagoners (from the southeastern counties of Pennsylvania) reached the camp, announcing themselves as the only survivors of the bloody fight on the Monongahela. Soon after Sir John Sinclair and another wounded officer were brought in by their men in blankets.

Dunbar's camp was then a scene of the wild- est panic, and as the rattle of the "long roll," beaten by the affrighted drummers, reverberated among the crags of Laurel Hill ; each one, from the commander to the lowest camp-follower, be- lieved that the savages and the scarcely less dreaded French were near at hand and would soon surround the camp. True to their cow- ardly instincts, Dunbar's wagoners and pack- horse drivers, like those in the advance with Braddock on the Monongahela, and like many others of the same base brood on scores of later battlefields, were the first to seek safety in flight, mounting the best horses and hurrying away

with all speed toward Fort Cumberland, leaving their places on the wagons and with the pack- horse trains to be filled by brave soldiers from the ranks. Their disgraceful example infected the numerous camp-followers, who, as well as many of those from whom better things might have been expected, fled toward the Great Cross- ings of the Youghiogheny, and it was with the greatest difficulty that Dunbar prevented the desertion and flight from becoming general.

A few days after their cowardly flight from Dunbar's camp several of those panic-stricken wagoners appeared at Carlisle, bringing with them the first news of Braddock's disaster. Thereupon they were examined by Gov. Morris, at that place, and their depositions taken and subscribed before him are found in the Penn- sylvania archives. One of these depositions, similar in tenor to all the others, was as fol- lows :

Matthew Laird, being duly sworn, deposed and said : * That this examinant continued with Col. Dunbar. And on the 10th of this instant, the regiment being about seven miles beyond a place called the Great Meadows, at eleven o'clock of. that day, there was a rumor in the camp that there was bad news, and he was soon after informed by wagoners and pack- horse drivers, who were then returned to Col. Dunbar's camp, but had gone out with the advance party under Gen. Braddock, that the general, with the advanced party, was defeated by the French on the 9th instant, about five miles from Fort Du Quesne, and about forty miles from where Col. Dunbar was, at which engagement the wagoners and pack-horse drivers said they were present; that the English were attacked as they were going up a hill by & numerous body of French and Indians, who kept a continual fire during the whole engage- ment, which lasted nigh three hours ; that most of the English were cut off and the whole train of artillery taken ; that Gen. Braddock was killed, as also Sir Peter Halkert, Capt. Orme, and most of the officers. This examinant further saith that he saw a wounded officer brought through the camp on a sheet ; that about noon of the same day they beat to arms in Col. Dun- bar's camp, upon which the wagoners, as well as many common soldiers and others, took to flight, in spite of the opposition made to it by the centrys, who forced some to return, but

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BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.

many got away, among whom was this exam- inant."

"Despite the intensity of his agonies," says Sargent, "Braddock still persisted in the exer- cise of his authority and the fulfillment of his duties." On reaching Gist's he found that no provisions, stores nor surgical aid had arrived there in obedience to the command sent by Washington to Col. Dunbar, and thereupon he sent still more peremptory orders to that officer to forward them instantly, also two companies of the regulars to assist in bringing off the wounded. The wagons, stores, etc., reached Gist's on the morning of Friday the 11th, and as soon as the wounds of the injured were dressed and the men had refreshed themselves somewhat, the retreat of the wounded general and his small party of guards and attendants was continued to Dun- bar's camp. Meantime the terror and consterna- tion at this camp had been constantly increasing from the time when the first of the frightened wagoners had galloped in with the alarming news, on the morning of the day succeeding the battle. Through all that day and the following night terrified fugitives from the field, many of them wounded, were continually pouring in, each telling a fearful tale of rout and massacre, and all uniting in the assertion that the French and savages, in overwhelming forces, were following close in the rear .. This latter statement was wholly false, for the enemy had made no attempt at pursuit from the banks of the Monongahela ; but the tale was believed, and its effect was an uncontrollable panic.

As before noted, Capt. Stewart, with his mounted troop, bearing the wounded general, arrived at Dunbar's camp on the 11th, and it was at once determined that the army should retreat* without delay to Fort Cumberland.

The work of destroying wagons, stores, guns, etc., made inevitable from the fact that many of the horses had been ridden away by the panic-stricken wagoners and camp-followers, leaving barely enough transportation for the sick and wounded, who numbered more than three hundred, began immediately, and on Sun- day, July 13, the retreating troops, composed of Dunbar's command and the remnant of the force that fought on the Monongahela, moved away on the road to the Great Crossings of the Youghiogheny. They took with them the only artillery pieces that were left (two six-pounders), a meager supply of provisions and hospital stores, and the remaining wagons, nearly all of which were laden with the sick and wounded. The commander-in-chief, rapidly nearing his end, was borne along with the column. Capt. Orme's journal for this day reads : "July 13. We marched hence to the camp near the Great Meadows, where the general died.".

Old Orchard camp, about two miles west of Fort Necessity, was the place where Dunbar's troops bivouacked after this day's march, and there, at eight o'clock on that midsummer Sunday night, Gen. Edward Braddock breathed his last. Wash- ington* and Orme were also with him at the last moment. Sargent said that shortly before his death the general bequeathed to Washington his favorite horse and his body-servant, Bishop, so well known in after years as the faithful attendant of the patriot chief.

On the morning of July 14 the dead general was buried at the camp where he died, and the two pieces of artillery, the wagon-train and the soldiers, moving out to take the road to Will's Creek, passed over the spot to obliterate all traces of the new grave, and thus save it from desecration by the savages, who were expected soon to follow in pursuit. The wagons con-

. Regarding who was responsible for the disgraceful retreat from Dunbar's camp and the destruction of all the vast quantities of war material which had, with such great expense and labor, buen transported over the Alleghenies and to the top of Laurel Hill, the blame has generally been placed on Dunbar, and this appears to be just, though in a letter addressed to Gov. Shirley, under date of August 21, 1755, Col. Dunbar and his officers said " We must beg leave to undeceive you in what you are pleased to mention of guns being buried at the time Gen. Braddock ordered the stores to be destroyed, for there was not a gun of any kind buried." True, the orders were still issued in Brad- dock's name, but the hand of death was upon him and he was irresponsible. The command really lay with Col. Dunbar, had he been disposed to assume it, and as he doubtless would have done had it not happened that the so-called orders of Braddock were in this instance, and for the first time in all the campaign, in accordance with his wishes.

Of this matter Sargent writes in the following rather contra- dictory manner: "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 of 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 meemre should rest with himself, and consulted with no one upon the steps he pursued. He merely issued his orders and

. insisted that they should be 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 12, toward Will's Creek. Ill-judged as these orders were, they met with too ready acquiescence at the hands of Dunbar, whose advice was neither asked nor tendered on the occasion. 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 main- tained here his position, or at least not have contemplated falling back beyond Will's Creek. That he had not horses to remove his stores was, however, his after-excuse."

* The utter absurdity of accounts with which many are familiar, i. e., that Washington assumed command after the fall of Brad- dock and saved the remnant of the force from destruction, is made apparent by reading Capt. Orme's journal. Doubtless he rendered very efficient services, but, as before stated, his position during that expedition was only that of a volunteer aide-de- camp.

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HISTORY OF BEDFORD, SOMERSET AND FULTON COUNTIES.

taining the sick and wounded took the lead, then came the others with the hospital and the ineager stock of provisions, then the advance of the infantry column, then the ammunition and guns, and finally the two veteran companies of the 44th and 48th British regular regiments, with Stewart's Virginia light-horse as a guard to the rear and flanks. In the evening of the same day Youghiogheny river was crossed by the last man of the force, and the retreating army bivouacked for the night on the eastern side of that stream, within the limits of the present county of Somerset. Continuing the march the succeeding day, rapid progress was made; for, though Braddock's road was rough, and in many places barely passable, the head of the wagon-train bearing the sick and wounded arrived at Will's Creek on the 17th, and three days later the last of Dunbar's soldiers reached Fort Cumberland and lighted their bivouac fires within the range of its guns.

Thus ended an expedition from which such brilliant results had been expected. Fort Du Quesne was still held by the French, who, with their Indian allies, soon extended their domina- tion over a wide scope of country lying to the east and southeast. Gaining courage as they advanced, they came to Dunbar's camp a week or two after his forces had left it, and there completed the work of destruction which he had left undone. Within the next two months they had advanced eastward to the Alleghe- nies, and by sending incursion parties beyond that range, naught but death and desolation was left in many parts of the present counties of Bedford, Fulton, Franklin, Adams, York, Cumberland, Perry, Juniata, Huntingdon, Mif- flin, Snyder and Union, where before had ex- isted new but prosperous white settlements.

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History of Bedford, Somerset, Fulton counties Pennsylvania, Part 6

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Number of Pages: 967

Author: Waterman, Watkins & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 967