July 8, 1755. Braddock at Camp 20. A reassessment.

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July 8, 1755. Braddock at Camp 20. A reassessment.

By: streiff (Diary) | July 8th, 2015 at 03:00 PM

On the night of July 8, 1755, the ‘flying column’ of General Edward Braddock’s army rested at Camp 20, at the head of Sugar Creek in what is now the township of White Oak in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.*

 

Ten days earlier, when the army was camped at Great Meadows, he had received intelligence that French reinforcements were enroute to Fort Duquense. In a series of events that are still subject to debate and speculation, Braddock divided his army into a ‘flying column’ of some 1200 soldiers and left the baggage and about 800 behind as rear detachment to follow the path of the main attack as fast as it could.

 

Braddock took with him the about 900 British regulars from the 44^th and 48^th Foot, one Independent Company from New York (it included a Captain Horatio Gates, yes, the Revolutionary War general), three companies of Virginia militia, artillery, and a troops of Virginia light horse.

 

In short, his arrival at Fort Duquense with his force intact, with all his baggage and artillery, and with he size of his force unknown to the French was simply masterful. http://www.redstate.com/2015/07/08/july-8-1755-braddock-camp-20-reassessment/

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Braddock At The Monongahela the first battle of the American Revolution

By: streiff (Diary) | July 9th, 2015 at 09:20 AM

 

(originally posted in 2010. I’m recycling this with some updated material. This is a sequel to yesterday’s post.)

 

July 9, 1755.

 

After an epic march of 43 days covering over 100 miles across the heart of the Appalachians, a mixed force of British regulars and colonial militia were closing in on Fort Duquense, a French stronghold at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.

 

This operation was part of an elaborate three-pronged offensive designed to secure the American frontier from French inspired Indian depredations and open the lands of the Ohio Valley to settlement.

 

Like so many disasters it looked great on paper.

 

A faction of Braddock’s staff was eager to close with the French before they could abandon their fortification and deprive the British force of a military victory. They had prevailed upon Braddock to designate a “flying column” built around the 44th Regiment of Foot and Virginia militia. It was that force which broke camp early on the morning of July 9 and pushed across the Monongahela and into military history. http://www.redstate.com/diary/streiff/2015/07/09/braddock-at-the-monongahela/