"D.C. close to scene of conflict that set stage for Revolution"
Mike
French and Indian War sites
Greg Pierce
Washington is surrounded by Civil War battlefields, but what history
buffs hereabouts may not realize is that we also live within easy
reach of many sites from the French and Indian War.
Some folks may shrug their shoulders at that fact, but the French and
Indian War is not only a fascinating conflict in its own right, it
remains what historian Fred Anderson calls "the most important event
to occur in 18th century North America," paving the way for the
American Revolution.
During the last week in October, I journeyed across Western Maryland
and into Pennsylvania, following British Gen. Edward Braddock's path
through the wilderness in the summer of 1755. Braddock and his army of
Colonists and British regulars would come to grief near what is now
Pittsburgh. Today's tourist will discover a historical adventure that
includes a half-dozen or more French and Indian War forts, traces of
Braddock's Road, remains of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal and the old
National Road, Braddock's grave, and a few surprises along the way.
I was joined by Kevin Cullen, a journalist and friend from Lafayette,
Ind. To get in the spirit of walking up and down mountains, as
Braddock's force of about 2,300 men (and some women) was required to
do, we hiked the Appalachian Trail in Maryland, which follows South
Mountain from the Pennsylvania line to Harpers Ferry, W.Va.
From there we jumped into my Volkswagen Jetta and headed for U.S. 40,
once known as the National Road. What follows is a description of what
we saw. You might want to try it yourself.
Along the way
Clearspring, Md., about12 miles west of Hagerstown, is an old town in
which you can still see the flowing water that gave the place its
name. A historical marker directs visitors south toward Fort
Frederick, a massive stone structure built in 1756 to protect frontier
settlers from Indian attacks after Braddock's defeat.
The fort has been rebuilt, but much of the original stone remains. At
the visitors center, a short slide show explains its origins and later
history.
On the drive to the fort, we were delighted to make a short detour to
Four Locks, an unusual and scenic section of the C&O Canal. You go
through a tunnel to get there.
Sideling Hill, 33 miles west of Hagerstown and six miles west of
Hancock, was one of the most challenging obstacles for early travelers
on the National Road. Over the years, many wagons went over the side,
along with their teams and sometimes their drivers.
A new route over Sideling Hill opened in 1985 as part of Interstate
68. The top of the mountain (why it's called a hill baffles me) was
blasted away to make room for the highway, leaving an astonishing 850-
foot view into the interior of the Earth.
Sadly, a unique geological museum at the top of Sideling Hill was
closed permanently in August, a victim of state budget cuts.
Thankfully, the parking area with its restrooms and snack machines
remains open. A fenced pathway leads into the cut, and placards
interpret what you see.
Ironically, the synclines (U-shaped folds in the rock) visible in the
mountain face on each side of the road reveal that this high landmark
was once a low spot between mountains since eroded away.
Rich history
Cumberland used to be the second-largest city in Maryland, but the
population fell from 50,000 to about 20,000 as railroads and new
highways cut down traffic on the National Road. Today the town
emphasizes its rich history. Historical markers are seemingly
everywhere.
The National Road began here, in 1811. The C&O Canal ended here, in
1850. The town got its name from Fort Cumberland, named after the Duke
of Cumberland, a son of King George II. The duke planned Braddock's
campaign. When the French and Indian War began, this was the
westernmost outpost of the British Colonies.
The wooden fort was the jumping-off point for Braddock and his troops,
the last supply post before setting off for Fort Duquesne at the forks
of the Ohio. Fort Cumberland, which sat on a hill at the confluence of
Wills Creek and the Potomac River, is long gone, replaced by a church
and City Hall, but a series of historical markers makes it easy to
imagine what it must have been like in 1755.
One placard mentions that hostile Indians sometimes shot down at the
fort from not-so-distant hills. Another says that authorities
attempted to humiliate some captured Indians by dressing them in
petticoats and sending them back into the woods. This was letting them
off easy — the Indians often burned their prisoners alive.
A small cabin that George Washington used as a headquarters is nearby.
A stop at the downtown visitors center is recommended. It includes a
C&O Canal museum, a bookshop and informational brochures. Helpful
attendants gave us a map and directed us to the fort site.
We stayed at the Holiday Inn downtown. Numerous motels can be found in
nearby La Vale, at the top of Wills Mountain, a few miles west of
Cumberland on U.S. 40.
The highway, going west, climbs through the Narrows, a mountain pass
that Braddock used.
The Alleghenies
Braddock's men, who started off from Alexandria, Va., passing through
Winchester, thought they had seen a lot of wilderness before arriving
at Fort Cumberland, but now they would climb up onto the Allegheny
Plateau, part of the Appalachian Plateau that stretches from New York
to Alabama.
Millions of years of stream erosion have formed a series of rugged
mountains, known as the Alleghenies, that sorely tested Braddock's
army and its long wagon train. Army road builders went out each
morning to clear a path, a precursor to U.S. 40.
The Casselman River Bridge, just off U.S. 40 east of Grantsville, Md.,
was once the longest single-span stone arch bridge in the world, built
as part of the National Road in 1813 and used until 1933. Braddock's
army forded the river at this spot.
From the little state park that contains the stone bridge one can see
another bridge carrying U.S. 40 over the stream and, farther to the
south, a third bridge, for I-68. This demonstrates how, over time, the
route has changed. Braddock's road crisscrosses U.S. 40, which often
varies somewhat from the original National Road and is now largely
supplanted by the interstate. Historical markers for Braddock's
various camps as well as traces of his road can be seen along U.S. 40
in this stretch and beyond.
At the foot of the stone bridge stands the Spruce Forest Artisan
Village. Historic buildings were moved to the site from various
locations in Western Maryland and restored.
Jumonville Glen
Entering Pennsylvania, travelers soon come to Fort Necessity National
Battlefield, where George Washington suffered a humiliating defeat in
1754, the year before Braddock's expedition.
The park visitors center includes a museum focusing not only on the
battle at Fort Necessity, but also the National Road. A short walk out
the back door and you come to what seems an impossibly small fort —
circular palisades surrounding what amounts to little more than a
shack. This is a reconstruction, of course, but one based on
archaeological discoveries.
To understand what happened at Fort Necessity, you have to know what
happened not long before at Jumonville Glen, now a National Park
Service site a few miles up the road from the fort.
Washington had led 40 Virginians into what is now Pennsylvania, hoping
to drive the French from the forks of the Ohio. Alerted by friendly
Indians, Washington staged a surprise attack at dawn on May 28 against
a small French force camping near the top of Chestnut Ridge. Ten of
the French were killed, one was wounded, and 21 were captured.
The French commander, Joseph Coulon de Villiers, Sieur de Jumonville,
was among the wounded. Jumonville protested to Washington that he was
on a peaceful diplomatic mission, and he presented papers written in
French.
Legend has it that while Washington looked for a translator, the
leader of the Indians approached the prostrate Frenchman and said in
French, "Thou art not yet dead, my father."He then crushed
Jumonville's skull with a hatchet.
The ravine where this firefight — and murder — took place probably
looks much as it did in 1754. A paved path takes hikers in a circle
through the woods and below a rock ledge where the French were
attacked. Traces of Braddock's Road and an army camp site can be found
along Jumonville Road at the top of the ridge.
Braddock's grave
Washington and his men fell back a few miles to Great Meadows to await
reinforcements. There he immediately began construction of Fort
Necessity. Meanwhile, one Frenchman had escaped, running all the way
back to Fort Duquesne in his bare feet to tell of the evil that had
befallen Jumonville.
On July 3, a force of about 600 French and 100 Indians moved into the
woods surrounding Fort Necessity, led by Jumonville's brother, Louis
Coulon de Villiers. Reinforcements now gave Washington 293 men and
officers, most of whom took cover in entrenchments outside the fort.
Washington never stood a chance. The fort's site had been poorly
chosen, and the enemy poured in a galling fire from the woods. To make
matters worse, heavy rains flooded the trenches and disabled the
Colonists' firearms.
Washington surrendered that night. The next day, July 4, he and his
men were allowed to withdraw with the honors of war.
A mile or so up the road from Fort Necessity is one of the most
melancholy monuments in North America. Here Braddock is buried beneath
a 12-foot-high granite monument on a knoll next to U.S. 40.
Braddock and 1,300 of his men were just eight miles from Fort Duquesne
when, on July 9, 1755, a force of about 200 French and 650 Indians
slipped around his flanks in the forest above the Monongahela River
and inflicted one of the most one-sided slaughters known to history.
Approximately 900 of Braddock's men — about two-thirds of his force —
were killed or wounded, many by "friendly fire."
Braddock, wounded through the arm and lungs, died four days later.
Washington had him buried in the middle of the road to keep Indians
from finding the body and desecrating it. In 1804, while repairing
this section of Braddock Road, a work crew discovered the skeleton,
and it was moved to the present location. Today you can see the old
road trace, and a marker shows the spot where the body was found.
This is a resort area, near Ohiopyle State Park, and it has numerous
lodging choices.
Fort Ligonier
About 35 miles north and east of Fort Necessity is the small town of
Ligonier, Pa., where, in 1758, Gen. John Forbes built Fort Ligonier as
the jumping-off point for his attack on Fort Duquesne. In November of
that year, Forbes (accompanied by Washington) succeeded where Braddock
had failed, as the French blew up their fort and retreated before
Forbes' army. Forbes ordered the construction of a new fort at the
forks — what is now Pittsburgh.
Fort Ligonier has been reconstructed in a magnificent way and has a
first-rate museum and perhaps the best bookstore anywhere for those
interested in the French and Indian War. A Ramada Inn is next door to
the fort on U.S. 30.
U.S. 30, the Lincoln Highway, follows the road built by Forbes in
1758. To the east, in Bedford, a blockhouse contains a museum with
information about Fort Bedford. (It was closed for the season when we
passed through.) Farther east is the reconstructed Fort Loudon.
Two other Pennsylvania sites, though not part of my trip, would be
well worth a visit: Point State Park in Pittsburgh, at the forks of
the Ohio, and Bushy Run Battlefield, where the British repulsed an
Indian attack in 1763.
One surprise: U.S. 30 took us near the place where United Flight 93
crashed after passengers challenged the terrorist hijackers on Sept.
11, 2001. We paid our respects there and were reminded that history is
not restricted to the distant past.