Historic Highways of America/Volume 4/Chapter 7

by Archer Butler Hulbert

CHAPTER VII

SPARKS AND ATKINSON ON BRADDOCK'S ROUTE^[1]

SEVERAL months ago we received from that indefatigable delver in the early annals of our country, Jared Sparks, Esq., of Salem, Massachusetts, a letter containing some valuable information as to the route of General Braddock after leaving Gist's farm, not far from where Connelsville now stands. That letter we, for reasons which it is unnecessary to mention, have withheld from publication; but those reasons no longer existing, we now publish it—premising only a few introductory remarks.

Mr. Sparks, as the biographer of Washington and as the collator of his papers, and as a most indefatigable searcher after the whole truth in our early history, enjoyed extraordinary advantages, so that his statements in all such matters should always command the utmost confidence. There is in the possession of the Pennsylvania Historical Society a draught of "the Monongahela and Youghiogany rivers" taken by Joseph Shippen, Jr., in 1759.^[2] On this draught the route of General Braddock is distinctly laid down from Cumberland to Stewart's Crossings, now Connelsville, and thence to a point about twelve or fourten miles, nearly due north, and of course some four or five miles east of the Youghiogany. From that point the line of march is not laid down until within about six miles of the Monongahela river, at Braddock's first ford, about one mile and a half below McKeesport; from that point it is distinctly traced across the Monongahela twice to the field of battle. As Mr. Shippen was Brigade Major in General Forbes' army, and in that capacity visited this place within four years after Braddock's defeat, we may well suppose that he had accurate information as to the route of that unfortunate General.

Extract of a letter from Jared Sparks, Esq., to the editor of the Olden Time.

"Salem, Mass., Feb. 18th, 1847.

"Dear Sir:—There is a copy of the 'Memorial' which you mentioned in the Library of Harvard College which I believe is complete. I shall obtain it soon, and will have the missing pages copied and forward to you the manuscript. I suppose you wish it sent by mail. I once compared this translation with the original^[3] and found it clumsily executed, but the substance is probably retained.

"Having heretofore examined with care the details of Braddock's expedition, I am persuaded that the following, as far as it goes, is a correct account of his march from Gist's plantation:

"On the 30th of June the army forded the Youghiogany at Stewart's Crossings and then passed a rough road over a mountain. A few days onward they came to a great swamp which detained them part of a day in clearing a road. They next advanced to Salt Lick Creek, now called Jacob's Creek, where a council of war was held on the 3d of July to consider a suggestion of Sir John St. Clair that Colonel Dunbar's detachment should be ordered to join the main body. This proposal was rejected on the ground that Dunbar could not join them in less than thirteen days; that this would cause such a consumption of provisions as to render it necessary to bring forward another convoy from Fort Cumberland; and that in the meantime the French might be strengthened by a reinforcement, which was daily expected at Fort Duquesne—and moreover; the two divisions could not move together after their junction.

"On the 4th the army again marched and advanced to Turtle Creek, about twelve miles from its mouth, where they arrived on the 7th inst. I suppose this to have been the eastern branch or what is now called Rush Creek, and that the place at which they encamped was a short distance northerly from the present village of Stewartsville. It was General Braddock's intention to cross Turtle Creek, and approach Fort Duquesne on the other side; but the banks were so precipitous, and presented such obstacles to crossing with his artillery and heavy baggage that he hesitated, and Sir John St. Clair went out with a party to reconnoitre. On his return, before night, he reported that he had found the ridge which led to Fort Duquesne but that considerable work would be necessary to prepare a road for crossing Turtle Creek. This route was finally abandoned, and on the 8th the army marched eight miles and encamped not far from the Monongahela, west of the Youghiogany and near what is called in an old map 'Sugar Run.' When Braddock reached this place it was his design to pass through the narrows, but he was informed by the guides who had been out to explore that the passage was very difficult, about two miles in length, with a river on the left and a high mountain on the right, and that much work must be done to make it passable for carriages. At the same time he was told that there were two good fords across the Monongahela where the water was shallow and the banks not steep. With these views of the case he determined to cross the fords the next morning. The order of march was given out and all the arrangements were made for an early movement.

"About eight o'clock on the morning of the 9th the advanced division under Colonel Gage crossed the ford and pushed forward. After the whole army had crossed and marched about a mile, Braddock received a note from Colonel Gage, giving notice that he had passed the second ford without difficulty. A little before two o'clock the whole army had crossed this ford and was arranged in the order of march on the plain near Frazer's house. Gage with the advanced party was then ordered to march, and while the main body was yet standing on the plain the action began near the river. Not a single man of the enemy had before been seen.

"The distance by the line of march from Stewart's Crossing to Turtle Creek, or Brush Creek, was about thirty miles. At this point the route was changed almost to a right angle in marching to the Monongahela. The encampment was probably two or three miles from the bank of the river, for Colonel Gage marched at the break of day and did not cross the ford till eight o'clock. During the whole march from the Great Meadows the pickets and sentinels were frequently assailed by scouting parties of French and Indians and several men were killed. Mr. Gist acted as the General's guide. On the 4th of July two Indians went out to reconnoitre the country toward Fort Duquesne; and Mr. Gist also on the same day, in a different direction. They were gone two days, and all came in sight of the fort, but brought back no important intelligence. The Indians contrived to kill and scalp a French officer whom they found shooting within half a mile of the fort.

"The army seldom marched more than six miles a day and commonly not so much. From Stewart's Crossing to Turtle Creek there were six encampments. During one day the army halted.

"I shall be much pleased to see Mr. Atkinson's map. His knowledge of the ground will enable him to delineate Braddock's route much more accurately than it can be done from any sources now available.

I am, Sir, respectfully yours,
Jared Sparks.

Neville B. Craig, Esq., Pittsburgh."

Middleton's Map of Braddock's Road (1847)

[Braddock's Road is shown as dotted line. The double line is the present route from Cumberland to Ft. Necessity]

Since the foregoing letter was in type we have received from Mr. T. C. Atkinson of Cumberland, Maryland, lately employed on the Pittsburgh and Connelsville Rail Road, a very able and interesting article on the subject of Braddock's route to the Monongahela, with a very beautiful map of the country, by Mr. Middleton, one of Mr. Atkinson's assistants on the survey for the railroad. The article of Mr. Atkinson, and the map, furnish all the information as to the march of General Braddock's army which can now be hoped for.

Mr. Atkinson had for years devoted much time to the examination of the route of the army of Braddock eastward, and some distance westward of Cumberland, and his late employ along the Youghiogany and Monongahela afforded him an opportunity to complete his work.

As a striking evidence of the accuracy of his researches, we will mention that in tracing the route he was much surprised and puzzled by what seemed the strange divergence of the army from the Youghiogany river after passing it at Stewart's Crossings. Yet the traditionary evidence and marks on the ground seemed to establish beyond doubt the fact that the army had passed far into the interior of our present county of Westmoreland, and near to Mount Pleasant, crossing the line of the Pittsburgh and Greensburg Turnpike road. This seemed so far from the natural and direct route that even the strong traditionary and other evidence, could not entirely remove the possibility of doubt. Mr. Atkinson himself was entirely satisfied as to the correctness of his own conclusions, but of course would be gratified to receive a confirmation, in an authentic shape, of his own convictions.

Just at that crisis we received the letter from Mr. Sparks, which precedes these remarks, thus settling most conclusively the verity of many of the traditions current in the country as to the erratic course of Braddock's army from Stewart's Crossings to the Monongahela river.

We are, deeply indeed, indebted to Mr. Atkinson, and also to his assistant, Mr. Middleton, for their very valuable contribution in illustration of the early history of this country.

The Pittsburgh and Connelsville Rail Road project cannot be regarded as an entirely fruitless effort; it has, at least, produced this most valuable historical essay.

All additional information in relation to those early scenes must possess interest to every intelligent American; and we rejoice in the opportunity of placing Mr. Atkinson's valuable communication and the accompanying map before the readers of the Olden Time:

"The interest with which the routes of celebrated expeditions are regarded, and the confusion which attends them after the lapse of years, is well exemplified in the case of Hannibal, whose march toward Rome, in order to divert their army from the siege of Capua, was totally lost in the course of a few centuries. The constant blunders of Livy in copying first from one writer, and then from another who made him take a different path, justify a recent English historian who went to Italy to see the ground for himself, in saying that the Punic War was almost as hard in the writing as the fighting.

"As the time is coming when the road by which the unfortunate Braddock marched to his disastrous field will be invested with antiquarian interest akin to that attending Hannibal's route, or rather the via scelerata, by which the Fabian family marched out of Rome, I have thought it time not idly spent to attempt to pursue its scattered traces as far as it is in my power, among more pressing occupations. In this sketch I do not design to pursue it to its extent, but only to identify it in those parts where it has been convenient for me to visit it and in others to shadow out its general direction. Where it is obscure I hope to have opportunities to examine it at a future day.

"Of the well conducted expedition of Colonel Bouquet and its precise path, the publications of Mr. Hutchins, the geographer, who was one of the engineers, leaves us very well informed. It is presumable that similar details would be found of the march of 1755 if it had had a successful termination. The three engineers who were in the field were wounded; and it is probable their papers fell into the hands of the enemy or were lost in the flight.

"General Braddock landed at Alexandria on the 20th of February, 1755. The selection of this port for the debarcation of the troops, was censured at the time, though it is probable it had the approval of Washington. The two regiments he brought with him were very defective in numbers, having but about five hundred men each, and it was expected their ranks would be recruited in America. It is shown by the repeated requests on this point made by the General at Cumberland that this expectation was vain. After numerous delays, and a conference with the Royal Governors, we find General Braddock en route on the 24th of April when he had reached Fredricktown in Maryland. Passing thence through Winchester, Va., he reached Fort Cumberland about the 9th of May. Sir John Sinclair, Deputy Quarter Master General, had preceded him to this point about two weeks.^[4]

"The army struck the Little Cacapehon (though pronounced Cacapon, I have used for the occasion the spelling of Washington and various old documents), about six miles above its mouth, and following the stream encamped on the Virginia side of the Potomac preparatory to crossing into Maryland. The water is supposed to have been high at the time, as the spot is known as the Ferry-fields, from the army having been ferried over. This was about the 4th or 5th of May.

"The army thence pursued the banks of the river, with a slight deviation of route at the mouth of the South Branch, to the village of Old Town, known at that time as the Shawnee Old Town, modern use having dropped the most characteristic part of the name. This place, distant about eight miles from the Ferry-fields, was known at that early day as the residence of Col. Thomas Cresap, an English settler, and the father of the hero of Logan's speech. The road proceeded thence parallel with the river and at the foot of the hills, till it passes the narrows of Will's Mountain, when it struck out a shorter line coincident with the present county road, and lying between the railroad and the mountain, to Fort Cumberland.

"From the Little Cacapehon to this point the ground was comparatively easy, and the road had been generally judiciously chosen. Thenceforward the character of the ground was altered, not so much in the general aspect of the country as that the march was about to abandon the valleys, and now the real difficulties of the expedition may be said to commence.

"The fort had been commenced the previous year, after the surrender at the Great Meadows, by Col. Innes, who had with him the two independent companies of New York and South Carolina. It mounted ten four pounders, besides swivels, and was favorably situated to keep the hostile Indians in check.^[5]

"The army now consisted of 1000 regulars, 30 sailors, and 1200 provincials, besides a train of artillery. The provincials were from New York and Virginia; one company from the former colony was commanded by Captain Gates, afterwards the hero of Saratoga. On the 8th of June, Braddock having, through the interest and exertions of Dr. Franklin, principally, got 150 wagons and 2000 horses from Pennsylvania, was ready to march.

"Scaroodaya, successor to the Half-King of the Senecas, and Monacatootha, whose acquaintance Washington has made on the Ohio, on his mission to Le Bœuf, with about 150 Indians, Senecas, and Delawares, accompanied him. . . .

"The first brigade under Sir Peter Halket, led the way on the 8th, and on the 9th the main body followed. Some idea of the difficulties they encountered, may be had when we perceive they spent the third night only five miles from the first. The place of encampment which is about one third of a mile from the toll-gate on the National Road, is marked by a copious spring bearing Braddock's name.

"For reasons not easy to divine, the route across Will's Mountain first adopted for the national road was selected instead of the more favorable one through the narrows of Will's Creek, to which the road has been changed within a few years for the purpose of avoiding that formidable ascent. The traces are very distinct on the east and west slopes, the modern road crossing it frequently. From the western foot, the route continued up Braddock's Run to the forks of the stream, where Clary's tavern now stands, nine miles from Cumberland, when it turned to the left, in order to reach a point on the ridge favorable to an easy descent into the valley of George's Creek. It is surprising that having reached this high ground, the favorable spur by which the National Road accomplishes the ascent of the Great Savage Mountain, did not strike the attention of the engineers, as the labor requisite to surmount the barrier from the deep valley of George's Creek, must have contributed greatly to those bitter complaints which Braddock made against the Colonial Governments for their failure to assist him more effectively in the transportation department.

"Passing then a mile to the south of Frostburg, the road approaches the east foot of Savage Mountain, which it crosses about one mile south of the National Road, and thence by very favorable ground through the dense forests of white pine peculiar to this region, it got to the north of the National Road, near the gloomy tract called the Shades of Death. This was the 15th of June, when the dense gloom of the summer woods and the favorable shelter which those enormous pines would give an Indian enemy, must have made a most sensible impression on all minds, of the insecurity of their mode of advance.

"This doubtless had a share in causing the council of war held at the Little Meadows^[6] the next day. To this place, distant only about twenty miles from Cumberland, Sir John Sinclair and Major Chapman had been dispatched on the 27th of May, to build a fort; the army having been seven days in reaching it, it follows as the line of march was upwards of three miles long, the rear was just getting under way when the advance were lighting their evening fires.

"Here it may be well enough to clear up an obscurity which enters into many narratives of these early events, from confusing the names of the Little Meadows and Great Meadows, Little Crossings and Great Crossings, which are all distinct localities.

"The Little Meadows have been described as at the foot of Meadow Moutain; it is well to note that the Great Meadows are about thirty-one miles further west, and near the east foot of Laurel Hill.

"By the Little Crossings is meant the Ford of Casselman's River, a tributary of the Youghiogheny; and by the Great Crossings, the passage of the Youghiogheny itself. The Little Crossing is two miles west of the Little Meadows, and the Great Crossing seventeen miles further west.

"The conclusion of the council was to push on with a picked force of 1200 men and 12 pieces of cannon; and the line of march, now more compact was resumed on the 19th. Passing over ground to the south of the Little Crossings, and of the village of Grantsville, which it skirted, the army spent the night of the 21st at the Bear Camp, a locality I have not been able to identify, but suppose it to be about midway to the Great Crossings, which it reached on the 23d. The route thence to the Great Meadows or Fort Necessity was well chosen, though over a mountainous tract, conforming very nearly to the ground now occupied by the National Road, and keeping on the dividing ridge between the waters flowing into the Youghiogheny on the one hand and the Cheat River on the other. Having crossed the Youghiogheny, we are now on the classic ground of Washington's early career, where the skirmish with Jumonville, and Fort Necessity, indicate the country laid open for them in the previous year. About one mile west of the Great Meadows and near the spot now marked as Braddock's Grave, the road struck off more to the north-west, in order to reach a pass through Laurel Hill that would enable them to strike the Youghiogheny, at a point afterwards known as Stewart's Crossing and about half a mile below the present town of Connellsville. This part of the route is marked by the farm known as Mount Braddock. This second crossing of the Youghiogheny was effected on the 30th of June. The high grounds intervening between the river and its next tributary, Jacob's Creek, though trivial in comparison with what they had already passed, it may be supposed, presented serious obstacles to the troops, worn out with previous exertions. On the 3d of July a council of war was held at Jacob's Creek, to consider the propriety of bringing forward Col. Dunbar with the reserve, and although urged by Sir John Sinclair with, as one may suppose, his characteristic vehemence, the measure was rejected on sufficient grounds. From the crossing of Jacob's Creek, which was at the point where Welchhanse's Mill now stands, about 1½ miles below Mount Pleasant, the route stretched off to the north, crossing the Mount Pleasant turnpike near the village of the same name, and thence by a more westerly course, passing the Great Sewickley near Painter's Salt Works, thence south and west of the Post Office of Madison and Jacksonville, it reached the Brush Fork of Turtle Creek. It must strike those who examine the map that the route, for some distance, in the rear and ahead of Mount Pleasant, is out of the proper direction for Fort Duquesne, and accordingly we find on the 7th of July, Gen. Braddock in doubt as to his proper way of proceeding. The crossing of Brush Creek, which he had now reached, appeared to be attended with so much hazard that parties were sent to reconnoitre, some of whom advanced so far as to kill a French officer within half a mile of Fort Duquesne.

"Their examinations induced a great divergence to the left, and availing himself of the valley of Long Run, which he turned into, as is supposed, at Stewartsville, passing by the place now known as Samson's Mill, the army made one of the best marches of the campaign and halted for the night at a favorable depression between that stream and Crooked Run and about two miles from the Monongahela. At this spot, about four miles from the battle ground, which is yet well known as Braddock's Spring, he was rejoined by Washington on the morning of the 9th of July.

"The approach to the river was now down the valley of Crooked Run to its mouth, where the point of fording is still manifest, from a deep notch in the west bank, though rendered somewhat obscure by the improved navigation of the river. The advance, under Col. Gage, crossed about 8 o'clock, and continued by the foot of the hill bordering the broad river bottom to the second fording, which he had effected nearly as soon as the rear had got through the first.

"The second and last fording at the mouth of Turtle Creek was in full view of the enemy's position, and about one mile distant. By 1 o'clock the whole army had gained the right bank, and was drawn up on the bottom land, near Frazier's house (spoken of by Washington as his stopping place on his mission to Le Bœuf), and about ¾ of a mile distant from the ambuscade."

Layout 2

1. This chapter is from Neville B. Craig's The Olden Time, vol. ii., pp. 465–468, 539–544.
2. See Historic Highways of America, vol. v.
3. Preserved in the library of Harvard University.
4. "Many misstatements are prevalent in the country adjacent to the line of march, especially east of Cumberland, the traditionary name of Braddock's route being often applied to routes we know he did not pursue. It is probable the ground of the application consists in their having been used by the Quarter Master's men in bringing on those Pennsylvania wagons and pack horses procured by Dr. Franklin, with so much trouble and at so great expense of truth. Sir John Sinclair wore a Hussar's cap, and Franklin made use of the circumstance to terrify the German settlers with the belief that he was a Hussar who would administer to them the tyrannical treatment they had experienced in their own country if they did not comply with his wishes. It is singular that a small brook and an obscure country road in Berkley County, Virginia, bear the name of Sir John's Run, and Sir John's Road, supposed to be taken from the name of this officer.
5. "The original name of Cumberland was Cucucbetuc, and from its favorable position on the Potomac, was most probably the site of a Shawnee village, like Old Town; moreover, it was marked by an Indian name, a rare occurrence in this vicinity, if any judgment may be drawn from the few that have been preserved.
6. "This interesting locality lies at the west foot of the Meadow Mountain, which is one of the most important of the Alleghany Ridges, in Pennsylvania especially, where it constitutes the dividing ridge between the eastern and western waters. A rude entrenchment, about half a mile north of the Inn on the National Road, kept by Mr. Huddleson, marks the site of this fort. This is most probably the field of a skirmish spoken of in frontier history, between a Mr. Parris, with a scouting party from Fort Cumberland, and the Sieur Donville, commanding some French and Indians, in which the French officer was slain. The tradition is distinctly preserved in the vicinity, with a misapprehension of Washington's participation in it, arising probably from the partial resemblance between the names of Donville and Jumonville. From the positiveness of the information, in regard to the battle ground, conflicting with what we know of Jumonville's death, it seems probable enough that this was the scene of this Indian skirmish; and as such, it possesses a classic interest, valuable in proportion to the scarcity of such places.