Coordinates: 40°24′13″N 79°52′7″W

Battle of the Monongahela

The Battle of the Monongahela (also known as the
Battle of the Monongahela
Battle of Braddock's Field and the Battle of the
Wilderness) took place on 9 July 1755, at the beginning Part of the French and Indian War
of the French and Indian War, at Braddock's Field in what
is now Braddock, Pennsylvania, 10 miles (16 km) east of
Pittsburgh. A British force under General Edward
Braddock, moving to take Fort Duquesne, was defeated
by a force of French and Canadian troops under Captain
Daniel Liénard de Beaujeu with its American Indian allies.

The defeat marked the end of the Braddock Expedition, by

which the British had hoped to capture Fort Duquesne and
gain control of the strategic Ohio Country. Both Braddock
and Beaujeu were killed in action during the battle, with
Washington the Soldier
Braddock being mortally wounded in the fight and dying
during the retreat near present-day Uniontown, Lt. Col. Washington on horseback during
Pennsylvania. He specifically asked for George the Battle of the Monongahela — Reǵnier
Washington, who accompanied him on the march, to 1834
oversee his burial. The remainder of the column retreated
Date 9 July 1755[1]
south-eastwards and the fort, and region, remained in
French hands until its capture in 1758. Location near present-day Braddock,
Pennsylvania
The Native Americans allied to the French were stealthy 40°24′13″N 79°52′7″W
and used the terrain to their advantage in order to cause
Result French-Indian victory
large number of British casualties. The French ambushed
the British as they were more prepared for the combat, Belligerents
which was the cause of their success in this battle. France Great Britain
New France British America
Abenaki
Contents Lenape
Shawnee
Background
Commanders and leaders
Battle
Daniel Liénard Edward
Order of battle
de Beaujeu † Braddock †
Aftermath Jean-Daniel Peter Halkett †
Legacy Dumas George
Commemorations Charles de Washington
See also Langlade Robert
Orme (WIA)
References
Thomas Gage
Bibliography John Fraser
Strength
Background 637 First Nations 1,300 regulars and
(the Ottawas, Ojibwa provincial troops.[2]
Braddock had been dispatched to North America in the and Potawatomis)
new position of Commander-in-Chief, bringing with him 108 troupes de la
two regiments (the 44th and 48th) of troops from Marine
Ireland.[7] He added to this by recruiting local troops in 146 militia[2]
British America, swelling his forces to roughly 2,200 by Total: 891
the time he set out from Fort Cumberland, Maryland on 29
May.[8] He was accompanied by Virginia Colonel George Casualties and losses
Washington, who had led the previous year's expedition to 39 killed 457 killed[5][2]
the area.[1] 57 wounded[3][4] 450+ wounded[6]

Braddock's expedition was part of a four-pronged attack on the French in

North America. Braddock's orders were to launch an attack into the Ohio
Country, disputed by Britain and France. Control of the area was
dominated by Fort Duquesne on the forks of the Ohio River. Once it was
in his possession, he was to proceed on to Fort Niagara, establishing
British control over the Ohio territory.

He soon encountered a number of difficulties. He was scornful of the need

Major General Edward
Braddock launched a
military expedition aimed at
capturing the French Fort
Duquesne.
French to abandon the fort upon their approach.[9]
to recruit local Native Americans as scouts, and left with only eight Mingo
guides. He found that the road he was trying to use was slow, and needed
constant widening to move artillery and supply wagons along it.
Frustrated, he split his force in two, leading a flying column ahead, with a
slower force following with the cannon and wagons.[8]
The flying column of 1,300 crossed the Monongahela River on 9 July,
within 10 miles (16 km) of their target, Fort Duquesne. Despite being very
tired after weeks of crossing extremely hard terrain, many of the British
and Americans anticipated a relatively easy victory—or even for the

Fort Duquesne had been very lightly defended, but had recently received significant reinforcements.[10]
Claude-Pierre Pecaudy de Contrecœur, the Canadian commander of the fort, had around 1,600 French
troupes de la Marine, Canadian militiamen and Native American allies. Concerned by the approach of the
British, he dispatched Captain Daniel Liénard de Beaujeu with around 800 troops, (108 Troupes de la
Marine, 146 Canadian militia, and 600 Indians),[11] to check their advance.[12]

Battle
The French and Indians arrived too late to set an ambush, as they had been delayed, and the British had
made surprisingly speedy progress. They ran into the British advance guard, commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel Thomas Gage. Seeing the enemy in the trees, Gage ordered his men to open fire. Despite firing at
very long range for a smooth-bored musket, their opening volleys succeeded in killing Captain Beaujeu.

Unconcerned by the death of Beaujeu, the Indian warriors took up positions to attack. They were fighting
on an Indian hunting ground which favored their tactics, with numerous trees and shrubbery separated by
wide open spaces. The rolling platoon fire of the British initially caused roughly one hundred of the French
to flee back to the fort. Captain Dumas rallied the rest of the French troops. The Indian tribes allied with the
French, the Ottawas, Ojibwa and Potawatomis, used psychological warfare against the British. After the
Indians killed British soldiers, they would nail their scalps to surrounding trees. During the battle, Indians
made a terrifying "whoop" sound that caused fear and panic to spread in the British infantry.[13]
As they came under heavy fire, Gage's advance guard began
taking casualties and withdrew. In the narrow confines of the road,
they collided with the main body of Braddock's force, which had
advanced rapidly when the shots were heard. Despite comfortably
outnumbering their attackers, the British were immediately on the
defensive. Most of the regulars were not accustomed to fighting in
forest terrain, and were terrified by the deadly musket fire.
Confusion reigned, and several British platoons fired at each
other.[14] The entire column dissolved in disorder as the Canadian
militiamen and Indians enveloped them and continued to snipe at British forces are attacked by Native
American, French, and Canadian
the British flanks from the woods on the sides of the road. At this
forces positioned along the tree line.
time, the French regulars began advancing along the road and
began to push the British back. General Braddock rode forward to
try to rally his men, who had lost all sense of unit cohesion.

Following Braddock's lead, the officers tried to reform units into regular order within the confines of the
road. This effort was mostly in vain, and simply provided targets for their concealed enemy. Cannon were
used, but due to the confines of the forest road, they were ineffective. Braddock had several horses shot
under him, yet retained his composure, providing the only sign of order to the frightened British
soldiers.[14] Many of the Americans, lacking the training of British regulars to stand their ground, fled and
sheltered behind trees, where they were mistaken for enemy fighters by the redcoats, who fired upon
them.[14] The rearguard, made up of Virginians, managed to fight effectively from the trees—something
they had learned in previous years of fighting Indians.[15]

Despite the unfavorable conditions, the British began to stand firm and blast volleys at the enemy.
Braddock believed that the enemy would eventually give way in the face of the discipline displayed by the
English-led troops. Despite lacking officers to command them, the often makeshift platoons continued to
hold their crude ranks.

Finally, after three hours of intense combat, Braddock was shot in the lung,
possibly by one of his own men,[16][17] and effective resistance collapsed.
He fell from his horse, badly wounded, and was carried back to safety by
his men. As a result of Braddock's wounding, and without an order being
given, the British began to withdraw. They did so largely with order, until
they reached the Monongahela River, when they were set upon by the
Indian warriors. The Indians attacked with hatchets and scalping knives,
after which panic spread among the British troops, and they began to break
ranks and run, believing they were about to be massacred.

Colonel Washington, although he had no official position in the chain of

command, was able to impose and maintain some order, and formed a rear
guard, which allowed the remnants of the force to disengage. By sunset,
the surviving British forces were fleeing back down the road they had
After three hours of intense built, carrying their wounded. Behind them on the road, bodies were piled
combat, General Braddock high. The Indians did not pursue the fleeing redcoats, but instead set about
was mortally wounded, scalping and looting the corpses of the wounded and dead, and drinking
resulting in the withdrawal of two hundred gallons of captured rum.[18]
British forces.
A number of British soldiers and women were captured in the battle. Some
of the soldiers were spared, as were most of the women, but around a
dozen soldiers were tortured and burned to death by the Indians that night, witnessed by British prisoner
James Smith.[19]
Daniel Boone, a famous American pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman — and one of the first
folk heroes of the United States — was among the soldiers involved in the battle. Boone served under
Captain Hugh Waddell of North Carolina, whose militia unit was assigned in 1755 to serve under
Braddock. Boone acted as a wagoner, along with his cousin Daniel Morgan, who would later be a key
general in the American Revolution.[20] In the Battle of the Monongahela, Boone narrowly escaped death
when the baggage wagons were assaulted by Indian troops - Boone escaped, it is said, by cutting his
wagons and fleeing. Boone remained critical of Braddock's blunders for the rest of his life.[21] While on the
campaign, Boone met John Finley, a packer who worked for George Croghan in the trans-Appalachian fur
trade. Finley first interested Boone in the abundance of game and other natural wonders of the Ohio Valley.
Finley took Boone on his first hunting trip to Kentucky 12 years later.[22]

Order of battle

Aftermath
Of the approximately 1,300 men Braddock led into battle,[1] 456
were killed outright and 422 were wounded. Commissioned
officers were prime targets and suffered greatly: out of 86 officers,
26 were killed and 37 wounded. Of the 50 or so women that
accompanied the British column as maids and cooks, only 4
returned with the British; about half were taken as captives. The
French and Canadians reported only 23 killed, including the
French commander, and 20 wounded.[23]: 235–36
The mortally wounded General
Braddock died of his wounds on July 13, four days after the battle, Braddock during the retreat. The
and was buried on the road near Fort Necessity. British saw significant casualties in
the battle.
Colonel Thomas Dunbar, with the reserves and rear supply units,
took command when the survivors reached his position. Realizing
there was no further likelihood of his force proceeding to capture Fort Duquesne, he decided to retreat. He
ordered the destruction of supplies and cannon before withdrawing, burning about 150 wagons on the spot.
His forces retreated back toward Philadelphia. The French did not pursue, realizing that they did not have
sufficient resources for an organized pursuit.

Captain Daniel Liénard de Beaujeu, commander of the French forces, was buried on July 12 at Fort
Duquesne.[23]

Legacy
The battle was a devastating defeat, and has been characterized as one of the most disastrous in British
colonial history.[24] It marked the end of the Braddock expedition, which many had believed contained
overwhelming force, to seize the Ohio Country. It awakened many in London to the sheer scale of forces
that would be needed to defeat the French and their Indian allies in North America.[25]

The inability of the redcoats to use skirmishers, and the vulnerability this caused for the main force, had a
profound effect on British military thinking. Although Braddock had posted a company of flankers on each
side, these troops were untrained to do anything but stand in line and fire platoon volleys, which were
unsuited to such conditions. Learning from their mistakes the British made much better use of skirmishers,
often equipped with rifles, who could protect the main body of troops from such devastating fire, both later
in the French and Indian War and in the American War of Independence.
Because of the speed with which the French and Indians launched their
attack and enveloped the British column, the battle is often erroneously
reported as an ambush by many who took part. In fact, the French had
been unprepared for their contact with the British, whom they had
blundered into. The speed of their response allowed them to quickly gain
the upper hand, and brought about their victory.

The French remained dominant in the Ohio Country for the next three
years, and persuaded many previously neutral Indian tribes to enter the war
on their side.[24] The French were eventually forced to abandon Fort
Duquesne in 1758 by the approach of the Forbes Expedition.
Braddock's Field 175th
anniversary commemorative
Commemorations issue of 1930

In 1930, on the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Braddock's Field, a

statue of Colonel Washington was unveiled, and a commemorative postage stamp, modeled after that
statue, was released for usage the same day.

See also
Braddock's Battlefield History Center

References
1. "The Battle of the Monongahela" (http://www.wdl.org/en/item/9580/). World Digital Library.
1755. Retrieved 2013-08-03.
2. Borneman p.55
3. Borneman p.55—French: 28 killed 28 wounded, Indian:11 killed 29 wounded
4. Preston 2015 pg 270
5. Preston 2015 pg276
6. Frank A. Cassell. "The Braddock Expedition of 1755: Catastrophe in the Wilderness" (http://
www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=622). Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2010060720302
1/http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=622) from the original on 7 June 2010. Retrieved 1 July
2010.
7. Anderson p.67-71
8. Anderson p.96
9. Anderson p.97
10. Dull p.31
11. W. J. Eccles, France in America, p184
12. Anderson p.98-99
13. Ward, Matthew C. (1995), "Fighting the "old Women" ", The Virginia Magazine of History and
Biography: 297+.
14. Anderson p.102
15. Anderson p.102-3
16. Hadden, 117
17. According to Crocker, Tom Fausett (1713?-1822) claimed he shot Braddock to avenge his
brother whom Braddock caught cowering on the battlefield and ran through with his sword.
He was something of a character and there are doubts about this story. He later settled in
western Pennsylvania and died, it is said, at the age of 109.
18. Anderson p.103-4
19. Preston 2015 pg 265
20. Wallace, Paul A. W. (1 August 2007). "Daniel Boone in Pennsylvania". DIANE Publishing
Inc. p. 17. Missing or empty |url= (help)
21. Wallace, Paul A. W. (1 August 2007). "Daniel Boone in Pennsylvania". DIANE Publishing
Inc. – via Google Books.
22. Draper, Lyman C. (1998). Belue, Ted Franklin (ed.). The Life of Daniel Boone.
Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.
23. PAPIERS CONTRECOEUR Le Conflit Angelo - Francias Sur L' Ohio De 1745 a 1756.
English translation of documents in the Quebec Seminary by Donald Kent, 1952 (https://ww
w.academia.edu/37292956/PAPIERS_CONTRECOEUR_Le_Conflit_Angelo_Francias_Sur
_L_Ohio_De_1745_a_1756_English_Translation_by_Donald_Kent_1952)
24. McLynn p.35
25. McLynn p.35-36

Bibliography
Anderson, Fred (2000). Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and The Fate of Empire in
British North America, 1754–1766 (https://archive.org/details/crucibleofwarsev00ande_0).
New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40642-5.
Crocker, Thomas E. (2009). Braddock's March. Yardley, PA: Westholme.
Borneman, Walter R. (2007). The French and Indian War. Rutgers. ISBN 978-0-06-076185-
1.
Dull, Jonathan R. (2005). The French Navy and the Seven Years' War. New York: University
of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-1731-5.
Hadden, James (1910) [1755]. Washington's Expedition (1753-1754) and Braddock's
Expedition. Uniontown, PA: James Hadden).
Ellis, Joseph J. (2008) [2004]. George Washington: His Excellency. United States.
McLynn, Frank (2004). 1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World (https://archive.or
g/details/1759yearbritainb00mcly/page/322). New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. pp. 322 (http
s://archive.org/details/1759yearbritainb00mcly/page/322). ISBN 0-87113-881-6.

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