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General Edward Braddock
General 'Edward Braddock' (1695? –
July 13,
1755) was a British soldier and commander-in-chief for North America during the actions at the start of the
French and Indian War.
He was born in
Scotland circa 1695 to Major-General Edward Braddock (died
1725). His military career started with the
Coldstream Guards in
1710. In 1747 as a lieutenant-colonel he served under the Prince of
Orange in
Holland during the siege of
Bergen op Zoom. In
1753 he was given the colonelcy of the ''14th (Buckinghamshire) Prince of Wales Own Regiment of foot'' (today's
West Yorkshire Regiment), and in 1754 he became a major-general.
Appointed shortly afterwards to command against the
French in
America, he landed in
Virginia on
February 19,
1755 with two regiments of British regulars. He met with several of the colonial governors at the
Council of Alexandria on
April 14 and was persuaded to undertake vigorous actions against the French. He planned four separate initiatives; Governor
Shirley of Massachusetts would attack at
Fort Niagara, General
Johnson at
Crown Point, Colonel
Monckton at
Fort Beausejour on the
Bay of Fundy. He would lead an
Expedition against
Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the
Ohio.
After some months of preparation, in which he was hampered by administrative confusion and want of resources, he took the field with a picked column, in which
George Washington served as a volunteer officer. The column crossed the
Monongahela River on
July 9,
1755 and almost immediately afterwards encountered an Indian and French force. Braddock's troops were completely surprised and routed, and Braddock, rallying his men time after time, fell at last, mortally wounded by a shot through the right arm and into his lung.
Braddock was carried off the field by Washington and another officer (possibly his other advisors,
Captain Robert Orme or
Lt. Col. Robert Stewart), and died on
13 July 1755, just four days after the battle. Before he died Braddock left Washington his ceremonial sash that he wore with his battle uniform. Reportedly, Washington never went anywhere without this sash for the rest of his life, be it as the Commander of the Colonial Army or with his presidential duties.
He was buried just west of
Great Meadows, where the remnants of the column halted on its retreat to reorganize. Braddock was buried in the middle of the road and wagons were rolled over top of the grave site to prevent his body from being discovered and desecrated. George Washington presided at the burial service, as the chaplain had been severely wounded. In
1804, human remains believed to be Braddock's were discovered buried in the roadway about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Great Meadows by a crew of road workers. The remains were exhumed and reburied. A marble monument was erected over the new grave site in
1913.
Benjamin Franklin's
Autobiography includes an account of helping General Braddock garner supplies and carriages for the general's troops. He also describes a conversation with Braddock in which he explicitly warned the General that his plan to march troops to the fort through a narrow valley would be dangerous because of the possibility of an ambush.
He is the namesake of
Braddock, Pennsylvania, the town sited on the battlefield where he was fatally wounded.
External links
http://www.fayetteportal.com/braddocks-grave/
★
Braddock Memorial in Braddock Heights, Pennsylvania