Road to Disaster
On June 25, 1755, the largest army assembled in North America up to that time passed this spot. British Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock led the first 1,400 soldiers of his 2,400-man army along a 12-foot-wide road. Lt. Col. Thomas Dunbar lagged behind with 1,000 men and the army's supplies. Braddock's goal of expelling the French from Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh) was thwarted when his advance troops collided with a force of French and Indians.
On July 14, what remained of that once proud British army hobbled past this point, retreating from their disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela. Today, the trail leads to this remnant of the "Braddock Road" where a British army marched toward battle, returned in defeat, and buried its fallen leader.
Marker can be reached from National Pike (U.S. 40) 1.2 miles east of Fayette Springs Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
