| Show zedoe jk at 47 V V it al aa 1562 ay cau 9 fa cr y maraca Mart ca fsr 1 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON NE hundred and seventy two years rears ago july 9 1755 there occurred wah la in the present city limits holts of pittsburgh a battle which was one of the r greatest defeats ever inflicted upon no an army ot of white men by their red enemies an army ot of laoo british regulars and provincials commanded by gen edward braddock marching to the capture of the french fort duquesne was met on the banks of the loonon fabela river by a force of less than COO french and indians and utterly routed with a loss of nearly killed and wounded thus braddocks braddicks Brad docks defeat became a high spot in amerian Amert tan school chool history eight years later another army of british regulars and colonials numbering men and commanded by col henry bouquet was marching through the forest only a few miles away from the spot where the unburied burled un bones of braddocks braddicks Brad docks men still littered the ground they too were on oil their way to this same fort at the forks of the ohio only it was now in the hands of the british and was called fort ritt instead of fort duquesne but it was closely beleaguered beleaguer ed by the enemy the warriors of the great chief pontiac Pont lac and if fort pitt fell a tillable red wave of destruction would sweep greep over the border settlements of the he quaker colony it if it held out until bouquet arrived ir rived that danger would be greatly lessened twenty five tive miles from their goal on the banks of a little creek called bushy busby run the soldiers were attacked by indians there on august 5 and 6 occurred one of the most brilliant victories ever registered by an army of white men over their indian foes and one of the most decisive defeats that the red man ever suffered it was due solely to the skill of col henry bouquet a swiss soldier of fortune braddocks braddicks Brad docks defeat Is a familiar word to everyone you will search the schoolbooks in vain for mention of 0 bouquets bictory ilc ic tory such Is the incon sis Is tency of hist history oryl 1 the story of gen edward braddock Is also an example of the injustice of history especially the so called pop lar history for more than a hundred and fifty years popular history has done him a grave injustice has painted him as a strong willed protes soldier scorning advice a stubborn fool rushing to a well merited destruction st fortunately for ills hig fame modern historians have revised that eirma te and one of them no less an ara authority hority than archer butler hulbert has oven even declared that braddicks braddocks Brad docka docks defeat should really be braddocks braddicks Brad docks victory because it was the ability of the british as demonstrated by this unfortunate general to make a road across the country from the potomac ac to the oldo ohio find and to make a second three years year flater later that really won the oho country it has remained for naw other historians to correct many of the other utterly distorted ideas about this bloody busi business nebs of braddock by digging up contemporary docu ment hidden away in musty archives cl they hav proved that contrary to nil all the statements of popular history braddock did not tall fall into an ambuscade that he did not scorn the advice dalce of washington and other colonials nials that he did not throw away the only chance to will a victory after his big army was attacked by driving his so soldiers back into line instead of letting them fight from behind trees as they tried to do A study of the map ot of this engagement appears in Park mang mans montcalm and wolfe will dispel at once that ambush theory I 1 pk 4 N r recent biographies ot of washington show that braddock addock Er did take this young virginia colonels advice and that he be profited by it As tor for the charge that it would have been better to have let men fight from behind trees military experts have declared that braddock did the only possible thing to do when he attempted to accept his losses form a column anit and push his way forward out of the vise in which his army was caught apparently the earlier enroller generation of historians thought it necessary to build up the reputation of washington and his other colonl colonials als by running down those of braddock and his british subordinates certainly this was not necessary in the case of washington tor for a simple recital of the 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 the jealousy and lack of co opera tion lion shown by the various colonial governments and that under the circumstances cum stances his expedition was doomed from the start it if americans can 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 hist historical scholarship has revealed edward braddock in the light of a man who for all of his faults was EL a real military leader as the victim of circumstances cum stances and as a man who deserves better from history than the odium which so long has been attached to his name when we see how unjust history has 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 band to wrest victory from what seemed r to be certain defeat it Is not saying too much to rank him among the great captains of Amer american ienn history picture it if you can the situation in which abich this 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 the slopes in a large circle in the center of the circle lay 35 desperately wounded officers and men in the blackness of the forest which surrounded bouquets army on every side were hidden three or four times as many ns as the whites flushed with their recent successes in the capture of a number of british army posts and remembering the great victory which they had bad won over braddock who had more than three times as many men as did bouquet the savages were confident of another victory outside ot of the circle circie lay the bodies of some 25 soldiers killed in the fighting during the day on the hill there was suffering rIng from heat and thirst and undressed wounds for there was not a drop of water to be had this was the situation which bou faced at the dawn ol of augut august 8 6 there was no hop tor for rescue either from the tiny force which garrisoned fort pitt and which was praying lor for his arrival nor from any of the posts post which lay behind him ile he must fight it out by himself defeat meant the of every mail in that little army and a horde borde of blood mad savages sweeping eastward with tomahawks and 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 the indians indiana cut down the number of 0 defenders on the hill apelast At last bouquet seeing that destruction was inevitable if this type of 0 fighting continued resolved to attempt one risky mau maneuver euver and wager everything on one desperate chance if he could get the enemy out nto into the open long enough to give his high landers an opportunity for a bayonet charge he believed that one such decisive stroke might end the affair explaining pla ining clearly to his men what he be wanted them to do so there would be no mistake the colonel ordered the th two companies of highlanders High landers to withdraw suddenly from the line retreat rapidly across the hill bill until they reached the little ravi ravine n e which h r ran a n along one side of it advance down this ravine and be ready to attack from it when necessary As the high landers did this the indians seeing the maneuver and believing it to be the beginning of a retreat which would give them a chance to tall fall upon the rear of the retiring column abandoned their cover and the whooping mob of savages came charging out into the open and like a thunderbolt struck the weakened line which had been extended across the hill to replace the highlanders High landers tinder 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 tell fell upon the rear of the indians indian As they bore down upon the howling bowling red men with their flashing steel the indians realized that they had bad been trapped then bouquet put the final touch upon his magnificent tactics once more taking a desperate chance he again broke his line and threw two companies of light infantry out of the circle on the other flank the flying indians retreating before the highlanders High landers ran squarely into the infantry and withered away before the volleys which swept their line A few ts later the savages had fled leaving bouquet in full possession of the held field it bad been a dearly bought victory for the gallant colonel nearly a fourth of his force had been I 1 killed and wounded but he had saved his army and with it he saved pennsylvania As he be advanced toward fort pitt he met but little opposition from the indians end and when he relieved that fort he be sounded the knell to the high hopes of the great pontiac Pont lac with in a year pontiacs Pont Ponti lacs acs conspiracy had collapsed entirely and the last threat to english occupation of the north american continent was ended |
