History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 10

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 10

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" Everything being now settled, Sir Peter Halket, with the Forty-fourth Regiment, marched on the 7th of June; Lieutenant-Colonel Burton, with the inde- pendent companies and Rangers, on the 8th, and Col- onel Dunbar, with the Forty-eighth Regiment, on the 10th, with the proportions of baggage as was settled by the council of war. The same day the general left Fort Cumberland, and joined the whole at Spen- delow Camp, about five miles from the fort."4 The camp was named in honor of Lieut. Spendelow, who discovered the route around the foot of the mountain.

At Spendelow Camp a reduction of baggage was made, and the surplus sent back to the fort, together with two six-pounders, four cohorns, and some powder and stores, which cleared about twenty wagons of their loads, "and near a hundred able horses were given to the public service. . . . All the king's wagons were also sent back to the fort, they being too heavy, and requiring large horses for the shafts, which could not be procured, and country wagons were fitted for powder in their stead."

8 Orme's Journal.

4 Ibid.

BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.

On the 13th the column moved to Martin's plan- tation; on the 15th it "passed the Aligany Moun- tain, 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 First Brigade camped about three miles west of Savage River. 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. At this place they found Sir John Sinclair encamped with three hundred men, this being the farthest point he could reach in the five days specified in the orders.

At the Little Meadows the general adopted a new plan of campaign,-to move forward with a division composed of some of his best troops, with a few guns and but little baggage, leaving the remainder of his force behind to bring up the heavy stores and artillery.

This decision was taken largely through the advice of Washington, who, although not of rank to sit in the councils of war, possessed no small share of the gen- eral's confidence, by reason of the experience he had gained in the campaign of the preceding year. He gave it as his opinion that the movement of the army was too slow, on account of the cumbrous wagon- train, which on the march stretched out for a distance of more than three miles, thus not only retarding the progress of the forces, but affording an excellent op- portunity for lurking parties of the enemy to attack and destroy some lightly-defended part of it before help could arrive from the main body. He had from the first urged the use of pack-horses instead of wagons for the greater part of the transportation, and although his advice was ignored by the general, its wisdom now became apparent. Orme's Journal says that by the experience of the four days' march from Spendelow Camp to the Little Meadows, "it was found impos- sible to proceed with such a number of carriages. The horses grew every day fainter, and many died ; the men would not have been able to have undergone the constant and necessary fatigue by remaining so many hours under arms, and by the great extent of the baggage the line was extremely weakened. The general was therefore determined to move forward with a detachment of the best men, and as little in- cumbrance as possible."

The selected force destined to move in the advance consisted of between twelve and thirteen hundred men. " A detachment of one field-officer with four hundred men and the deputy quartermaster-general marched on the 18th to cut and make the road to the Little Crossing of the Yoxhio Geni, taking with them two six-pounders with their ammunition, three wagons of tools, and thirty-five days' provisions, all on carry- ing-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 presente; 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' provisions carried on horses." The troops left behind with Col. Dunbar numbered about nine hundred, including four artillery officers. Eighty- four wagons and all the ordnance stores and provis- ions not immediately needed by the advance column were also left in his charge.

The advanced force under Braddock reached the Little Crossings (Castleman's River) on the evening of the 19th, and camped on the west side of the stream. At this camp Washington was taken seri- ously ill with a fever, and when the troops marched the next morning he was left behind with a guard and proper attendance1 and comforts. As soon as able he was to come on with the rear division under Col. Dunbar; but it has been stated that he asked and received from Gen. Braddock a promise that the fort should not be attacked until he had recovered and rejoined the assaulting column. It does not, however, seem reasonable to suppose that he would have wished to jeopardize the success of the expedition by asking such an indefinite delay, nor that Braddock would, under any circumstances, have bound himself by such a promise.

In four days from his departure from the Little Meadows, Gen. Braddock's column had made nine- teen miles, and arrived at the Great Crossings of the Youghiogheny, which the troops crossed without bridging.2 On the 24th of June they passed an In- dian camp, recently vacated, which gave indications that it had been occupied by about one hundred and seventy persons. "They had stripped and painted some trees, upon which they and the French had written many threats and bravadoes, with all kinds

1 In some accounts of this sickness of Washington, it has been stated that Dr. James Craik (who was with the expedition as a surgeon in the Virginia troops, and who was also the life-long friend and physi- cian of Washington) was left behind at the Little Crossings to attend him, but such does not appear to have been the case. The Hon. James. Finley, in a letter written to the editor of Niles' Register, dated Youngs- town, Pa., March 27, 1818, relates some conversations which he had with Washington in reference to Braddock's campaign, from which letter the following extracts are made: "On one occasion, in a mixed company, some question being asked of me, then sitting next the President (Wash- ington), about the Big Meadows and Dunbar's Run, by Col. Sprigg, of Maryland, which I could not answer, the President, to whom I referred the question, in answering them described Dunbar's camp, to which the remains of Braddock's army retired after the defeat. . . . Looking round seriously to me, he said, 'Braddock was both my general and my physi- cian. I was attacked with a dangerous fever on the march, and he left a sergeant [not a surgeon] to take care of me, and James' ferer powders, with directions how to give them, and a wagon to bring me on when I would be able, which was only the day before the defeat.'"

2 An entry in Orme's Journal for this day is to this effect: "The 24th of June we marched at five in the morning, and passed the second branch of the Yoxhio Geni, which is about one hundred yards wide, about three feet deep, with a very strong current."

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

of scurrilous language." The French had received early information of Braddock's coming, and parties of them with their Indian allies had advanced east beyond the Laurel Hill to meet the English ; not for the purpose of attacking them, but to hover along their front and flanks, to spy out their movements, murder stragglers, and to keep the commandant at Fort Du Quesne informed, from day to day, of the progress of the English forces. From the time when the troops crossed the Youghiogheny, hostile Indians were always near them along the route, and evidences of their presence multiplied with each succeeding day's march.

In fact, nearly all the savages west of the moun- tains were now ranged on the side of the French. A few only of the Indian allies of the English had re- mained true to them after the surrender of Fort Ne- cessity, and among these were Monacatoocha, the successor of the friendly Half-King,1 and Scarooyada, whose acquaintance Washington had made on his trip to Le Bœuf in the previous year. These two chiefs, with nearly a hundred and fifty Seneca and Delaware warriors, had joined the English on their march, and proposed to accompany them as scouts and guides. They could without doubt have rendered great ser- vice in that capacity, and if the warnings of their forest experience had been listened to, might perhaps have saved Braddock's army from the disaster which overtook it. But the general despised and rejected their services, and treated them with so much of slight and contempt that they finally retired in dis- gust and left him to his fate.

On the 25th of June, " at daybreak, three men who went without the sentinels were shot and scalped." Gen. Braddock was greatly incensed at these murders, and issued an order directing that "every soldier or Indian shall receive five pounds for each Indian scalp." At their halting-place on the same evening they found the marks of another French and Indian camp, so lately vacated that the fires were yet burn- ing. "The Indians who had occupied it," said Orme, "had marked in triumph upon trees the scalps they had taken two days before, and many of the French had written on them their names and sundry insolent expressions. We picked up a commission on the march, which mentioned the party being under the command of the Sieur Normanville. This Indian camp was in a strong situation, being upon a high rock, with a very narrow and steep ascent to the top. It had a spring in the middle, and stood at the termi- nation of the Indian path to the Monongahela, at the confluence of Redstone Creek. By this path the party came which attacked Mr. Washington last year, and also this which attended us. By their tracks they seemed to have divided here, the one party going straight forward to Fort Du Quesne, and the other

returning by Redstone Creek to the Monongahela. A captain, four subalterns, and ninety volunteers marched from the camp with proper guides to fall in the night upon that party which we imagined had returned by the Monongahela. They found a small quantity of provisions and a very large bateau, which they destroyed," but they saw nothing of the foe they were sent to capture.

On the 27th of June the troops reached Gist's plan- tation, where they found Lieut .- Col. Burton and Sir John Sinclair, with a detachment of about four hun- dred men, who had been sent forward to cut out the road in advance of the main body. On the 28th the forces moved on from Gist's, crossed the Youghio- gheny on the 30th, and thence moved northward along the route of the old Iroquois war trail, leading to the Allegheny. On the 3d of July " we marched," says Orme in his journal, "about six miles to the Salt Lick Creek.2 Sir John St Clair proposed to the Gen- eral to halt at this camp, and to send back all our horses to bring up Colonel Dunbar's detachment," which was then encamped at Squaw's Fort, about three miles east of the Great Crossings of the Youghio- gheny, in the present county of Somerset. Upon this suggestion of Sir John, the general convened a council of war, composed of Col. Sir Peter Halket, Lieut .- Cols. Gage and Burton, Maj. Sparks, and Sir John Sinclair, D.Q.G. After due consideration of the proposition, "the council were unanimously of the opinion not to halt there for Col. Dunbar, but to proceed the next morning." The camp where this council of war was held was about one and one-half miles below the site of the present town of Mount Pleasant, in Westmoreland County. From this place the column marched on to the Great Sewickley ; thence to the Brush Fork of Turtle Creek, where Braddock halted in indecision, as the crossing of that stream and the passage through the ravines appeared hazardous, He finally decided to abandon the route originally proposed from this point along the ridges to Fort Du Quesne, and accordingly, turning sharply to the left, he moved towards the Monongahela, en- camping on the night of the 8th of July about two miles east of the river, below the mouth of the Youghiogheny. It was at this camp that Wash- ington (although not yet fully recovered from his ill- ness) rejoined the army, having left Col. Dunbar's force near the Great Meadows, and came on "in a covered wagon," under protection of a detachment sent on to guard a pack-horse train laden with pro- visions for the advance column.

On the morning of the 9th of July the troops 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 Fraser's, just be- low the mouth of Turtle Creek. The crossing was completed at about one o'clock in the afternoon, and

1 The Half-King, Tanacharison, had died in the preceding October, at Harris' Ferry (now Harrisburg), on the Susquehanna.

2 Now known as Jacobs Creek.

BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITION IN 1755.

when the column reformed on the right bank of the Monongahela, it was within three-fourths of a mile of the place where the French with their 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 and defeat.

were left on the field to be scalped and tortured by the savages, who, however, strangely enough, made little show of pursuit.

Braddock, when he received his fatal wound, ex- pressed a wish to be left to die on the field, and this wish came near being gratified. Nearly all his panic- stricken followers deserted him, but his aide-de-camp, Orme, and Capt. Stewart, of the Virginia light- The bloody battle of the Monongahela has been too often described to require repetition here. It resulted bin the utter defeat and rout of the English, and the headlong flight of the survivors to the south side of the river at the point where they had crossed. The horse, stood faithfully by him, and at the imminent risk of their own lives succeeded in bearing him from the woods and across the river. On reaching the south side of the Monongahela the general, though suffering intense pain from his wound, gave orders force which entered the defile was fourteen hundred ! that the troops should be rallied and a stand made and sixty strong,1 including officers and privates. Of at that place, but this was found impossible. A few subordinate officers and less than one hundred sol- diers were all who remained around him. Of this 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 hos- pital stores, to be escorted by the two youngest grena- dier companies, to meet him at Gist's plantation, or nearer if possible. It was found impracticable to re- main here, as the general and officers were left almost alone; we therefore retreated in the best manner we were able. After we had passed the Monongahela 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 plantation." wthis force 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 hundred and eighty-three escaped unhurt. Of eighty-nine commissioned officers, sixty-three were killed or wounded, including every officer above the rank of captain except Col. Washington, who, how- ever, was a colonel only by courtesy. Of the cap- tains, ten were killed and five wounded ; of the lieu- tenants, fifteen killed and twenty-two wounded. Gen. Braddock 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 Halket (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. Halket, Dr. Hugh Mercer,2 Maj. Sparks, and Capt. Orme. Of the naval officers present, Lieut. Spendelow and Midshipman Talbot were killed. A number of women and officers' servants were also killed and scalped, though every wagoner escaped. One hundred beeves were captured by the enemy, also the general's papers (orders, instructions, and correspondence), and the military chest, containing £25,000 in money, as well as all of Washington's papers, including his notes re- ferring 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, ammu- nition, baggage, and stores fell into the hands of the French and Indians, and the dead and badly wounded

During the time when Gen. Braddock was ad- vancing to the Monongahela, Col. Dunbar was toil- ing slowly along with the rear division, the artillery, and heavy stores. Leaving the Little Crossings soon after Braddock's departure, he came on by the same route, passing the ruins of Fort Necessity on the 2d of July, and a few days later reached the place, high up on the Laurel Hill, which is known to this day as "Dunbar's Camp," $ and where he then encamped his troops and parked his trains. This was the end of Dunbar's outward march, for he there received from the Monongahela battle-field the fearful tidings which forbade all thoughts of a farther advance.

It was to this camp that " Mr. Washington" (as he was designated by Orme, he holding no military rank under Braddock) was ordered from the lower crossing of the Monongahela to proceed with all possible speed, and with peremptory orders * to Col. Dunbar to send

1 The force had increased by nearly two hundred men between the time when Braddock moved forward from the Little Meadows with be- tween twelve and thirteen hundred men and the time when they reached the Monongahela. This increase was made principally by small detach- ments which were detailed from the rear-guard, under Dunbar, as guards to the trains which were sent forward with supplies to the advance.

2 Afterwards Gen. Mercer, who was killed at the battle of Princeton, Jan. 3, 1777. The wound which he received at the battle of the Monon- gahela was a very severe one. He was left on the field with the other badly wounded, but managed to conceal himself behind a fallen tree, where he witnessed the atrocities committed by the savages on the other wounded men and on the dead. His place of concealment was not dis- covered by the Indians, who soon left the field. When darkness came on he crept from the woods, crossed the Monongahela, and after wander- ing in the woods for many days with his wound undressed, and nearly famished, he at last reached Fort Cumberland in safety.

3 Col. Burd, who visited this place in 1759, when on his way to erect a fort on the present site of Brownsville, said of Dunbar's camp that it was "the worst chosen piece of ground for an encampment I ever saw."

4 It was known that there was ill feeling on the part of Dunbar to" wards the commander-in-chief, and it was therefore thought necessary to send the most positive orders in Braddock's name to insure obedience.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

wagons with supplies and hospital stores without delay, as has already been noticed. He set out with two private soldiers as an escort, and traveling with- out halt through the long hours of the dark and rainy night which succeeded the day of the battle, came early in the morning of the 10th to the camp of Col. Dunbar, who, as it appears, was greatly demoralized by the startling intelligence which he brought. At about the middle of the forenoon several of Brad- dock's Pennsylvania Dutch wagoners (from the east- ern counties) arrived at the camp, bringing the dread news from the battle-field, and announcing themselves as the only survivors of the bloody fight on the Mo- nongahela. Nearly at the same time arrived Sir John Sinclair and another wounded officer, brought in by their men in blankets.

Dunbar's camp was then a scene of the wildest panic, as the rattle of the "long roll," beaten by his drummers, reverberated among the crags of the Laurel Hill. Each one, from the commander to the lowest camp-follower, believed that the savages and the scarcely less dreaded French were near at hand and would soon surround the camp.

True to their cowardly instincts, Dunbar's wagoners and pack-horse drivers, like those who were with Brad- dock on the Monongahela, and like many others of the same base brood on a hundred later battle-fields, were the first to seek safety in flight, mounting the best horses and hurrying away with all speed towards Fort Cumberland,1 leaving their places on the wagons

1 A few days after their cowardly flight from Dunbar's camp, several of these panic-stricken wagoners appeared at Carlisle, bringing with them the first news of the disaster to Braddock's army. Thereupon they were examined by the Governor of Pennsylvania at that place, and their depositions taken and subscribed before him are found in the Pennsylvania Archives. Two of these depositions (similar in tenor to all the others) are here given, viz .:

Matthew Laird being duly sworn, deposed and said,-

. . . That this examinant continued with Col. Dunbar. And on the tenth of this instant the regiment being at 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 advanced party under Gen. Braddock, that the general with the advanced party was defeated by the French on the ninth instant about five miles from Fort Du Quesne, and about forty miles from where Col. Dunbar then 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 a numerous body of French and Indians, who kept a continual fire during the whole engagement, which lasted nigh three hours ; that most of the English were cut off, and the whole train of artillery taken ; that General Braddock was killed, as also Sir Peter Hacket, Capt. Orme, and most of the officers. This examinant further saith 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. Dunbar's camp, upon which the wagoners as well as many common soldiers and others took to flight in spite of the opposition made by the centrys, who forced some to return, but many got away, amongst whom was this ex- aminant."

Following is the deposition of Jacob Huber:

" This examinant saith that he was in .Col. Dunbar's camp the tenth of July instant, and was informed that two officers who had come from Fort Cumberland, and had proceeded early in the morning with a party of Indians to join General Braddock, returned to the camp in about three hours after they set out, and a rumor spread that there was bad

and with the pack-horse trains to be filled by brave soldiers from the ranks. Their base example infected the numerous camp-followers, who, as well as many of those from whom better things might have been ex- pected, fled towards the Allegheny Mountains, and it was with the greatest difficulty that Dunbar prevented the desertion and flight from becoming general.

At ten o'clock in the evening of the same day (Thursday, July 10th), Gen. Braddock reached Gist's. From the place where he fell he was brought away on a tumbril. Afterwards the attempt was made to move him on horseback, but this he could endure only for a short time, after which he was dismounted and carried all the remaining distance by a few of his men. The weary journey was continued with scarcely a halt during all the night succeeding the battle and all the following day. Through all the sad hours of that long march the gallant Capt. Orme (himself suf- fering from a painful wound) and the no less brave and steadfast Virginia cavalry captain, Stewart, were constantly by the side of their helpless commander, never leaving him a moment.

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 10

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216