Show low uck W k J avii V A 9 4 M 1 al 0 V r V y S cd x 8 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON NL hundred und and seventy two years para ago july ii occurred within tile the present city limits of pittsburgh n battle which was one of tile greatest defeats ever inflicted upon dil an army of white men nic n by their red elle enemies inies an all army of 1 lnor 00 british regulars regul urs abild lull commanded by gen lidward braddock marching to tile the cal capture of the french fort duquesne was met on the banks of the noonon milida river by a force of less leas than M french freach un and d indians and utterly routed avith a loss of nearly mo killed and wounded thus braddicks Brad ducks defeat became a high spot in american school history lil story eight years later inter another army of british regulars and colonials number in ing men anil and commanded command dd by col henry bouquet was marching through the forest only a few miles away from the he vet spot where the unburied burled un bones of braddicks braddocks Brad docka docks men still littered the ground they too were on their way to 0 o this same fort at the forks of the ohio only it was now in tile the hands of the british and was called fort pitt instead of fort duquesne but it was closely beleaguered beleaguer ed by the enemy the warriors of the groat great chief pontiac Pont luc and if fort pitt fell a v vil table red wave of destruction would sweep over the border sett settlements letin ants of tile the quaker col co caloir loir olif if it held field out until bouquet archd d that danger would be greatly lessened twenty five miles from their goal on the banks of a little creek called bushy run kun the soldiers were attacked tacked ift by indians there on august 5 and 0 6 occurred one of tile roost most bril victories ever registered by an army of white men over their indian foes and one of the most decisive defeats that the red banever ma man never ever suffered it was due solely to the skill of col henry bouquet a swiss soldier of fortune fortuna Brad braddicks braddocks docks defeat Is afa a familiar mIllar word to everyone you will search the schoolbooks in vain for mention of bouquets victory such lucli Is the inconsistency sis tency of history I 1 the story stor hofgen edward braddock Is also an example of the injustice of history especially the so called popular history for more than a hundred and fifty years popular history hf story has done bilm a grave injustice has painted him as a strong willed professional dional soldier scorning advice a stubborn fool rushing to a well merited destruction st fortunately for ills fame modern historians have revised that estimate and one of them no less an authority than archer butler hulbert has even declared that braddocks braddicks Brad docks do de feat should really be braddocks braddicks Brad docks victory because it wits was the ability of the as demonstrated by tills this unfortunate general to make a road across the country from the potomac to the ohio and to make a second three years later that really won the ohio country it has remained for other historians to correct many of the othar utterly distorted ideas about this this bloody business of braddock by digging up contemporary documents long hidden away in musty ar chlus they hav proved that con to nil all the statements of popular history story braddock did not fall into an that lie he did not scorn the of washington and other colo bals that he did not throw away the only chance to win a victory after ills arany iny was attack attacked edby by driving his soldiers back into line instead of letting them light fight from behind trees as they tried to do A study of the map of this engagement which appears in montcalm and wolfe will dispel at once that ambush theory C actu wr recent biographies of washington show that braddock did take this young oung virginia colonels advice and that he profited by it As aa for the charge that it would have been better to have ret let men tight fight from behind trees military experts have declared that braddock braddack did the only possible thing to do when lie he attempted to accept his losses form a column and push his way forward butof out of the vise in which its his army was caught apparently the earlier gee generation ration of historians thought it necessary to build up the reputation of washington and his other colon colonials fals by running down those of braddock and hla his british subordinates certainly this was not necessary in the caso case of washington for a simple recital of the tact fact Is enough to show the brilliance of his achievement in this affair it Is now generally admitted that one of the contributing factors to the disaster was tile the jealousy and lack of co opera tion shown by the various colonial governments and that under the circumstances cum stances his expedition was doomed from the start if americans can 1 take pride in the part played by any of their fellow americans washington and franklin are about the only ones entitled to their admiration modern historical scholarship has revealed E edward d braddock in the light of a man who for all of his faults was a real military leader as the victim of circumstances cum stances and as a man who deserves better from history than th tb odium which so long has been cached to ills his name when we see how unjust history ha haa been to braddock the defeated it Is little to be wondered at that it has not done better by bouquet the victorious in considering his achievement in relation to the circumstances under which he fought his gallant tight light and the forces which he had at hand to wrest victory from what seemed to be certain defeat it la Is not saying too much to rank him irmond among the great captains of american history PI picture actu r e if you can the situation in which this a leader found himself on that hot august night away out on the western frontier of pennsylvania encamped upon a low barren hill to which they had been driven after the attack that morning his little force of men were posted on tile the slopes in a large circle in the venter center of the circle lay 35 desperately wounded officers and men in the blac blackness kriess of tile the forest which surrounded Bon bouquets army on every side bide were hidden three or four times as many as the whites flushed with their recent successor successes in the capture of a number of british army posts and remembering the great victory which they had won over braddock who had more than three times as many nien men as did bouquet the sav ages were cont confident ident of another victory outside of af the circle lay the bodies of some 25 soldiers idlers killed in the fighting during the day on the hill there was suffering from heat and thirst and undressed wounds for there was not a drop of water to be had tills this was the situation which bou faced ut tit tile the dawn of august 0 k thero there was waa no hope for rescue either from the tha tiny force which garrisoned fort pitt and which was praying for life hla arrival nor from any of the posts which lay behind him lie ile must fight it out by himself defeat meant the annihilation of every man in that little army and a horde of blood mad savages sweeping eastward W with ith tomahawks antl ana scalping knives against the women and children crowded into the unprotected towns behind him with the coming of daylight the indians resumed their attack and slowly but surely the plunging fire of bf the indians cut down the number of defenders on the hill at lost last bouquet seeing that destruction was inevitable I 1 if f this type ot of fighting continued resolved to attempt one risky maneuver and wager everything on one desperate chance if he could get the enemy out into the open long enough to give his high landers an opportunity tor for a bayonet charge he believed that one such decisive stroke might end the affair explaining plain pla ining trig clearly to his men wh what at he wanted them to do so there would be no mistake the tha colonel ordered the two companies of highlanders High landers to withdraw suddenly from the line retreat rapidly across the hill until they reached the little ravine which ran along one side of it advance down this ravine and be ready to attack from it when necessary agthe As the high landers did this the Ind indians fani seeing me ine maneuver and believing it to be e beginning of a retreat which would e them a chance to fall upon the ear of the retiring Ting column abandoned their cover and the whooping mob of sti came charging out into the open and like a thunderbolt struck the weakened line which had bad been extended across the hill to replace the highlanders High landers under the terrific onset this line gave way but just in the nick of time the highlanders High landers came charging out of the ravine and fell upon the rear of tho the indians ind lans As an they bore b 0 r e down upon the howling red men with their flashing steel the indians realized that they had been trapped then bouquet put the final touch upon his fits tactics once more taking a desperate chance he again broke his line and threw two companies of light infantry opt of the circle on the other lank stank the flying indians TOr retreating eating before the highlanders High landers ran squarely into the infantry and withered away before the volleys which swept their line A few later the savages had led fled leaving bouquet in full possession of the field it bad been a dearly bought victory for the gallant colonel colone 1 nearly a fourth of his force had been killed billed and wounded but he had saved his army and with it he saved pennsylvania As aa he advanced toward fort pitt he met but little opposition from the indians and when he rell relieved eved that fort he sounded the knell to the high hopes of the great pontiac Pont lac within a year Pont laes conspiracy had cI collapsed lapsed entirely and the last jast threat to english occupation of the north american continent was ended |