Class E 1 9 9 
 Bonk • H / 2S 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
Washington's Expeditions 
 
 (1753-1754) 
 
 and 
 
 Braddock's Expedition 
 
 (1755) 
 
 With history of Tom 
 Fausett, the slayer of 
 General Edward Braddock 
 
 (SECOND EDITION) 
 
 By 
 
 James Hadden 
 
 Uniontown, Pa. 
 

 ** 
 
 Entered according to act of congress 
 in the year 1910, by James Hadden, 
 Uniontown, Pa., in the office of the Li- 
 brarian of Congress at Washington, D. 
 C. 
 
 em 
 
 4 
 
 IAR 21 1S1 
 
I 
 
 List of Illustrations 
 
 Page. 
 
 The Great Meadows with Fort Necessity 
 Outlined in the Center — 1904. .Frontispiece 
 
 Major George Washington — 1754 8 
 
 Rock Fort where the Half-King was En- 
 camped 22 
 
 Ledge of Rocks from which Washington 
 Fired on the French 26 
 
 Jumonville's Grave 28 
 
 Road over which Washington's men pull- 
 ed the cannon by hand 32 
 
 Fort Necessity as sketched by Freeman 
 Lewis — 1816 52 
 
 Washington's Mill, built in Fayette Coun- 
 ty— 1776 58 
 
List of Illustrations (continued) 
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 Page 
 
 General Edward Braddock 66 
 
 Fort Cumberland — 1755 70 
 
 Braddock's Battlefield 80 
 
 Dunbar's Encampment 86 
 
 Braddock's Watch 102 
 
 Braddock's Grave 104 
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 Washington's Springs 120 
 
 Peddler's Rocks 124 
 
 Rebecca Fausett, Grand-daughter of Jo- 
 seph Fausett 130 
 
 Grave of Thomas Fausett 138 
 
Preface. 
 
 In presenting this narrative of the ex- 
 peditions of Lieutenant Colonel George 
 Washington and Major General Edward 
 Braddock to the public it is with the be- 
 lief that a short and comprehensive rela- 
 tion of these two important events in the 
 history of our country will prove both 
 interesting and instructive. 
 
 These expeditions were the initiatives 
 of a great struggle between two great 
 powers to decide whether America was 
 to be an appendage of France or to be- 
 come the land of an English-speaking 
 race. 
 
 The great Mississippi valley, a region 
 vast enough and fertile enough to feed 
 the inhabitants of the world, was a goal 
 far more to be desired than for which 
 the armies of the nations had ever be- 
 fore contended. 
 
 Not only this, but these expeditions 
 schooled the colonists in the arts of war 
 and gave them that confidence in their 
 prowess that enabled them later suc- 
 cessfully to throw off the yoke of op- 
 pression and establish a new nation 
 which is now attracting the wonder and 
 admiration of the civilized world. 
 
WASHINGTON'S EXPEDITIONS— 
 1753-1754. 
 
 Washington's Mission to the French 
 Posts at the Head of the Alle- 
 gheny River, 1753. 
 
 More than a century had elapsed after 
 the discovery of this continent by the 
 Cabots before the first English settle- 
 ment was established in America, and 
 one hundred and forty years more had 
 rolled away before settlements were at- 
 tempted west of the Allegheny Moun- 
 tains. Thus for two hundred and fifty 
 years after having gained possession by 
 discovery had England been content to 
 colonize only the American seaboard. 
 
 The French had made settlements on 
 the St. Lawrence, and by the last half of 
 the seventeenth century had pushed 
 their way along the shores of the great 
 lakes, and by the middle of the eigh- 
 teenth century had explored the country 
 from the lakes on the north to the gulf 
 on the south and from the Alleghenies 
 on the east to the Mississippi on the 
 
3 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 west, and had established their trading 
 posts and their missions. 
 
 Although a lucrative business had 
 been carried on for some years by Penn- 
 sylvania, Maryland and Virginia fur 
 traders with the Indians of the Ohio Val- 
 ley, no systematic effort on the part of 
 the English colonists had been made to 
 establish settlements west of the Alle- 
 gheny Mountains until 1748, when 
 Thomas Lee, president of the Virginia 
 Council, associated with himself twelve 
 other gentlemen, among whom were 
 Gov. Robert Dinwiddie, Lawrence and 
 Augustine Washington — brothers of 
 George Washington, and Mr. John Ham- 
 burg, a wealthy merchant of London. 
 This company was to be known as the 
 Ohio Company, and a royal grant was 
 obtained in March, 1749, for a tract of 
 five hundred thousand acres of land ly- 
 ing on the south side of the Ohio and be- 
 tween the Monongahela and the Kana- 
 wha rivers, with privilege to embrace a 
 portion of land on the north side if 
 deemed expedient. Two hundred thou- 
 sand acres were to be selected immedi- 
 ately, the whole to be exempt from quit 
 rent for ten years, the company agreeing 
 
Major George Washington -1754 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 9 
 
 to seat one hundred families on the same 
 within seven years, and at their own ex- 
 pense to build a fort and maintain a gari- 
 rison sufficient to protect the settlement. 
 Christopher Gist was employed as the 
 agent for this Ohio Company to select 
 the lands and to conciliate the Indians. 
 With these objects in view he left his 
 home on the banks of the Yodkin, near 
 the boundary line between Virginia and 
 North Carolina, in the fall of 1749, and 
 ascended the Potomac to the mouth of 
 Will's Creek. From here, on the thirty- 
 first of October, he proceeded to where 
 Bedford is now located, and from thence 
 to the Forks of the Ohio. At Logstown, 
 about sixteen miles below the Forks, a 
 conference was held with Tanacharison, 
 a Seneca chief of great note, he being 
 head Sachem of the mixed tribes, which 
 had migrated to the Ohio and its tribu- 
 taries. He was generally surnamed the 
 Half-King, being subordinate to the Iro- 
 quois Confederacy, and was a man of 
 considerable intelligence. After the 
 usual formalities and the delivery of 
 many presents in securing the friendship 
 of the Indians, Gist passed on down the 
 Ohio River to within fifteen miles of the 
 
10 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 Falls, and thence by a circuitous route he 
 returned to Virginia in 1751. 
 
 In 1750 the Ohio Company built a 
 small storehouse on the site once occu- 
 pied by the Shawanee town Cainctucuc 
 on the west side of Will's Creek where 
 that stream empties into the Potomac 
 River and where the city of Cumberland 
 now stands, and the following year Col- 
 onel Thomas Cresap, who then lived at 
 Shawanee Old Town, was employed to 
 open out a road from Will's Creek to the 
 mouth of the Monongahela. He wisely 
 selected for his assistant a Delaware 
 Indian by the name of Nemacolin, whose 
 residence was at the mouth of Nerna- 
 colin's Creek, now known as Dunlap's 
 Creek, on the Monongahela River. Be- 
 ginning at the terminus of the road al- 
 ready made, to the storehouse at Will's 
 Creek, they followed an old trail worn by 
 the foot of the red man centuries before 
 the pale face beheld the outlines of a 
 new continent. Running westward un- 
 til reaching the crest of Laurel Hill this 
 road turned abruptly northward along 
 the crest of the mountain and descended 
 the western slope, where it joined the old 
 Catawba Trail what is now known as the 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS H 
 
 Mt. Braddock farm. From this point 
 northward this road was, with few de- 
 viations, identical with the above men- 
 tioned trail, crossing the Youghiogheny 
 River a short distance below the present 
 town of New Haven, passing to the west 
 of the location of Mount Pleasant, and 
 when reaching a point to the west of the 
 location of Greensburg it deflected to 
 the west and on to the Forks of the 
 Ohio. From the fact that Nemacolin 
 was employed on the improvement of 
 the trail it received the name of Nema- 
 colin's Trail, which name it retained un- 
 til Braddock's army passed over it, since 
 which it has been known as Braddock's 
 Road. 
 
 Gist made a second survey for the 
 Ohio Company in 1752, this time pass- 
 ing over the Nemacolin Trail and cross- 
 ing the Monongahela below where Mc- 
 Keesport now stands. Returning, he 
 crossed the Monongahela at the mouth 
 of Nemacolin Creek, where he met his 
 old Indian friend, who proposed the fol- 
 lowing question:. "If the French claim 
 all the land north of the Ohio, and the 
 English all on the south, where do the 
 
12 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 Indians' lands lie?" This question went 
 unanswered. 
 
 Gist had selected for himself twenty- 
 five hundred acres of land at the foot of 
 Laurel Hill, considering this within the 
 Ohio Company's grant, and in 1753 he 
 here established a small settlement con- 
 sisting of eleven families. He built his 
 cabin near a fine spring and within a few 
 rods of the exact geographical center of 
 Fayette County. He was the second set- 
 tler within the bounds of what is now 
 Fayette County, Wendell Brown having 
 preceded him by one year. 
 
 In 1753 the French began active meas- 
 ures to secure the Ohio valley by the 
 force of arms by erecting a cordon of 
 forts to extend from Lake Erie down the 
 Allegheny and Ohio rivers. This news 
 soon reached the ears of the governor of 
 Virginia, who in the fall of the same 
 year determined to dispatch a messeng- 
 er to demand of the French an explana- 
 tion of their design and warn them off. 
 
 George Washington, then in his twen- 
 ty-second year, was commissioned by 
 Governor Dinwiddie as a special envoy 
 to proceed to the headwaters of the Al- 
 legheny and deliver the message to Gen- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 13 
 
 eral St. Pierre, the French commander. 
 He started out on his journey October 
 thirtieth, the day or the day after he had 
 received his credentials, and arrived at 
 Will's Creek November fourteenth. Here 
 he secured the services of Christopher 
 Gist as guide, John Davidson as Indian 
 interpreter, Captain Jacob Van Braam 
 as French interpreter; Curram and Mc- 
 Quire, Indian traders, and Stewart and 
 Jenkins — these four as servitors. 
 
 From here they followed the Nema- 
 colin Trail, passing Gist's new settle- 
 ment, and after seven days reached 
 Frazier's trading post at the mouth of 
 Turtle Creek, on the Monongahela River. 
 Passing on down they arrived at Logs- 
 town, about sixteen miles below the 
 Forks, after sunset November twenty- 
 fourth. Here a consultation was held 
 with Tanacharison, the Half-King; 
 Monacatootha, the next in command, 
 and other friendly Indians of the mixed 
 tribes, some of which Washington en- 
 gaged to accompany him to Venango, 
 the advance post of the French. Here 
 they arrived December fourth, and found 
 the French flag flying over the log house 
 from which Frazier, the English trader, 
 
14 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 had been driven and which was now oc- 
 cupied by Joncaire, who referred Wash- 
 ington to the commanding officer, 
 whose headquarters were at Le Boeuf, 
 the fort lately built a short distance 
 above on French Creek. Here he was 
 courteously received by Legardeur de 
 St. Pierre, who promised to forward his 
 message to the governor-general of 
 Canada, and refused to discuss the great 
 questions involving the remonstrance of 
 Virginia, but stated that he would in the 
 meantime hold his position to the best 
 of his ability, and intended, further, to 
 eject every Englishman from the Ohio 
 valley. 
 
 His mission fulfilled, Washington, af- 
 ter much delay, started back, and becom- 
 ing impatient of the company he and 
 Gist alone concluded to strike out on 
 foot across the country. After much fa- 
 tigue and suffering, being shot at by a 
 treacherous Indian and nearly lost in the 
 Allegheny River, they reached Frazier's 
 house once more. They left Frazier's on 
 January I, 1754, and reached Gist's plan- 
 tation on January second. Here they 
 procured horses and pressed on, reach- 
 ing Will's creek on the sixth. Washing- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 15 
 
 ton spent the night with Gist, and met 
 seventeen horses loaded with material 
 and stores for the fort at the Forks of 
 the Ohio, and the day after some families 
 going out to settle. The Ohio Com- 
 pany, having determined to build their 
 fort at the Forks and to establish trad- 
 ing posts at Frazier's and elsewhere, were 
 proceeding energetically toward the ac- 
 complishment of these objects. He de- 
 livered the message of Saint Pierre and 
 made a full report of his journey to the 
 governor at Williamsburg on the six- 
 teenth of January ; thus Washington's 
 first important public service was ac- 
 complished. 
 
 Before Washington had returned from 
 his mission to the French forts the Ohio 
 Company had appealed to Governor Din- 
 widdie for military protection at their 
 fort already begun at the Forks, in com- 
 pliance with which, early in January of 
 1754, Wm. Trent, an explorer, who at 
 this time was engaged in erecting a 
 strong log storehouse at the mouth of 
 Redstone Creek on the Monongahela 
 River for the Ohio Company — this being 
 the next storehouse west of that already 
 built at Will's Creek, was commissioned as 
 
16 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 captain, John Frazier, before mentioned, 
 as lieutenant, and Edward Ward, ap- 
 pointed as ensign, were authorized to 
 raise a company of militia of one hun- 
 dred men, proceed to the Forks and 
 finish and garrison the fort already be- 
 gun. 
 
 Trent proceeded by Nemacolin's Trail 
 as far as Gist's plantation, and from 
 thence to the mouth of Redstone, where 
 after finishing the Hangard he returned 
 to Will's Creek, leaving Ensign Ward in 
 command to proceed to the Forks, at 
 which place he arrived on the seven- 
 teenth of February. Here with Gist and 
 George Croghan they proceeded to fin- 
 ish the fort, which was supplied with ten 
 four-pound field pieces and eighty bar- 
 rels of powder and a supply of small 
 arms. 
 
 The French descend the Allegheny in 
 considerable force. 
 
 Everything seemed quiet until the Alle- 
 gheny, freed from ice, opened in the 
 spring. On April thirteenth Ensign 
 Ward received notice that the French 
 were descending the river in consider- 
 able force. 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 17 
 
 The following day he dispatched a let- 
 ter to Captain Trent at Will's Creek, 
 and went directly himself to Lieutenant 
 Frazier at Turtle Creek, who replied that 
 he could not leave his work, as by doing 
 so he would lose shillings for every 
 pence he would receive for his services. 
 The following morning Ensign Ward 
 sent for the Half-King and one of his 
 chiefs named Serreneatta, and set to 
 work to finish the stockade. They had 
 the last gate erected before the French 
 appeared. 
 
 On the seventeenth Contrecoeur ap- 
 peared before the fort with three hun- 
 dred wooden canoes and sixty bateaux 
 with four men to each, eighteen pieces of 
 cannon, three of which were nine-pound- 
 ers. A landing was made a small dis- 
 tance from the fort, and Le Mercier was 
 sent to demand a surrender of the fort. 
 Looking at his watch, which indicated 
 two o'clock, he demanded that an an- 
 swer be delivered at the French camp in 
 writing within one hour. Ensign Ward 
 spent half of this hour in consulting 
 with the Half-King, who advised him to 
 acquaint the French commander that he 
 was not an ofhcer of rank, nor invested 
 
18 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 with power to answer his demand, and 
 to request him to await the arrival of 
 the principal commander. Contrecoeur 
 was inflexible, and demanded an answer 
 that instant. 
 
 Ward saw the French to number about 
 a thousand, and his own force being 
 forty-one in all — only thirty-three of 
 which were soldiers, he surrendered, 
 with liberty to march off with everything 
 belonging thereto by twelve o'clock the 
 next day. He encamped within three 
 hundred yards of the fort with a party 
 of friendly Indians. The French com- 
 mander sent for him to supper and made 
 many inquiries as to the intention of the 
 English, but Ward refused to impart 
 the desired information. The command- 
 er then tried to buy some carpenter 
 tools, which Ward refused to sell. 
 
 The following morning Ensign Ward 
 received a speech from Half-King to the 
 governor and proceeded with all his men 
 to Redstone, where he arrived in two 
 days, and from there to Will's Creek, 
 where he arrived on the twenty-second 
 and met Colonel Washington on his way 
 to the Forks. 
 
 The French immediately completed 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 19 
 
 the stockade evacuated by Ensign Ward 
 and named it Fort Duquesne in honor of 
 the governor-general of Canada. 
 
 The reply of the French general, Saint 
 Pierre, together with the information re- 
 ceived from Washington, convinced Gov- 
 ernor Dinwiddie that inaction on his 
 part would lose to the English the whole 
 valley of the Ohio. 
 
 Washington is commissioned Major and 
 ordered against the French. 
 
 He therefore commissioned Wash- 
 ington as major, with authority to en- 
 list one hundred and fifty men and pro- 
 ceed to the Forks of the Ohio to finish 
 the fort already begun, to make prison- 
 ers and to kill or destroy all who inter- 
 rupted the English settlement. This 
 commission was soon raised to that of 
 lieutenant-colonel, and the number of 
 men increased to three hundred, to be 
 divided into six companies. Enlistments 
 were encouraged by a royal grant of two 
 hundred thousand acres of land, to be 
 divided among them. Colonel Joshua 
 Fry, an English gentleman, was appoint- 
 ed to command the whole, and was to 
 
20 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 follow with the artillery to be conveyed 
 up the Potomac. The first intention was 
 to make a wagon road from Will's 
 Creek, to which point the Ohio Com- 
 pany had already opened a road, to the 
 mouth of Redstone, and there erect a 
 fort; thence, when reenforced, to pro- 
 ceed against the French at the Forks. 
 With these objects in view Washington 
 started from Alexandria, Virginia, April 
 2, 1754, with two companies, amounting 
 to one hundred and fifty men, and hav- 
 ing been joined on the route by a detach- 
 ment under Captain Adam Stephens, ar- 
 rived at Will's Creek, April twentieth, 
 and two days later Ensign Ward arrived 
 with the intelligence of the surrender of 
 the works at the Forks of the Ohio. 
 
 From here sixty men were sent for- 
 ward to widen the Nemacolin Trail, and 
 and April twenty-ninth the army moved 
 from Will's Creek, and by the ninth of 
 May were encamped at the Little Mead- 
 ows, a distance of twenty miles. Here 
 Washington received information that 
 Contrecoeur had been reenforced with 
 eight hundred men, and expresses were 
 immediately sent to the governors of 
 Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 21 
 
 requesting reenforcements, and after 
 consultation with his brother officers de- 
 cided to advance. Castleman Creek was 
 two miles west of Little Meadows, and 
 here more than two days were spent in 
 bridging the stream ; this was named the 
 Little Crossings. On the eighteenth the 
 Youghiogheny River was reached, seven- 
 teen miles west of the Little Crossings, 
 and although the army was enabled to 
 cross without bridging, this place was 
 named the Big Crossings. 
 
 While the army lay here several days 
 Washington, with Lieutenant West, 
 three soldiers and an Indian descended 
 the river in a canoe to ascertain if it was 
 navigable for the transportation of the 
 artillery, which they had been obliged 
 to drag by hand since leaving Will's 
 Creek. This journey ended in disap- 
 pointment at the Falls, a distance of 
 thirty miles from the Great Crossings. 
 Scarcely had Washington returned from 
 his journey to the falls when a messeng- 
 er arrived from his old friend, the Half- 
 King, that a detachment of French was 
 marching toward him with a determina- 
 tion to make an attack, and that he (the 
 Half-King) would be on in five days to 
 
22 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 hold a council. Washington thereupon 
 hastened to the Great Meadows, a dis- 
 tance of about fifty-one miles west of 
 Will's Creek, reaching this place on the 
 twenty-fourth of May, and here he 
 again received intelligence that the 
 French were on their way to meet him. 
 A halt was made and a stockade erected, 
 and by clearing away the brush and un- 
 dergrowth, prepared, as he said, "a most 
 charming field for an encounter." 
 
 A scouting party was sent out on 
 wagon horses to reconnoitre, but return- 
 ed without having seen an enemy. The 
 same evening the Half-King's warning 
 was confirmed by a trader, who told that 
 the French were at the crossing of the 
 Youghiogheny, eighteen miles distant 
 from the Big Crossings, and known as 
 Stewart's Crossing, as William Stewart 
 lived near that place in 1753 and part of 
 1754, and was driven out by the French. 
 
 About two o'clock in the night an 
 alarm was given. The sentries fired up- 
 on what they mistook to be prowling 
 foes ; the troops sprang to arms and re- 
 mained on the alert until daybreak. Not 
 an enemv was to be seen. The roll was 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 23 
 
 called and six men were missing, having 
 deserted. 
 
 On May twenty-seventh Mr. Gist 
 came in and reported that La Force, with 
 a detachment of about fifty men, had 
 been seen at his place, about fifteen 
 miles distant, and that he had just come 
 upon their tracks within five miles of 
 the camp, whereupon Washington sent 
 a detachment of seventy-five men in pur- 
 suit of him and his band, but the scouts 
 returned without having discovered the 
 enemy. 
 
 The Half-King Joins Washington. 
 
 Between eight and nine o'clock that 
 same night a messenger arrived from 
 Half-King, who with his followers was 
 then encamped at the Big Rock, about 
 six miles off, with the information that 
 he had tracked two men who were out 
 as scouts, and was satisfied that the 
 whole force was in ambush near by. 
 Washington, fearing a stratagem, left a 
 strong guard to protect the baggage, and 
 with a detachment of forty men set out 
 before ten o'clock to join the Indian al- 
 lies. They groped their way along the 
 
24 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 footpath in a heavy rain and murky 
 darkness, so that it was nearly sunrise 
 when they reached the encampment of 
 Half-King. From here the Half-King 
 and his associate sachem, Scarooyada — 
 or Monacatootha, conducted Washington 
 to the tracks which had been discovered. 
 Upon these he put two of his Indians, 
 who followed them up like hounds and 
 brought back word that they had traced 
 them to a low bottom surrounded by 
 rocks and trees, where the French were 
 encamped, having built a few cabins for 
 shelter from the rain. 
 
 A plan of attack was now determined 
 upon to come upon them by surprise. 
 Washington and his men formed on the 
 right, Half-King and his men on the left, 
 and with ghost-like silence they advanc- 
 ed to the brow of the ledge of rocks be- 
 neath which the French were encamped. 
 Washington was in the advance, and as 
 the French caught sight of him they flew 
 to arms. A sharp fire ensued, which 
 lasted for fifteen minutes, when the 
 French gave way and ran. They were 
 soon overtaken, and twenty-one pris- 
 oners taken. Washington's men on the 
 right received the fire of the enemy. One 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 25 
 
 man was killed and three wounded near 
 Washington, the Indians sustaining no 
 loss. The French had ten killed and one 
 wounded. One, a bare-footed Canadian, 
 named Mouceau, escaped and carried 
 the tidings of the defeat to the Forks. 
 Monsieur Jumonville, their commander, 
 was shot through the head at the first 
 fire, and his fate has been made the sub- 
 ject of lamentation in prose and verse. 
 The Indians soon scalped the dead, and 
 would have killed and scalped the pris- 
 oners had not Washington prevented 
 them. 
 
 This battle, fought at daybreak on the 
 morning of May 28, 1754, was the first 
 in which Washington ever took a part; 
 it was the initial battle which lost to the 
 French so much of her possessions on 
 American soil, and as Francis Parkman 
 tersely put it, "in it was fired the shot 
 that was heard around the world." Wash- 
 ington, in writing of this occasion, said : 
 "And, believe me, the whistling of the 
 bullets had a most charming sound." 
 
 Jumonville was a native of Picardy, 
 one of the old French provinces border- 
 ing on the English Channel. His name 
 was N. Coulon de Jumonville, and he 
 
26 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 was at the age of twenty-nine years, 
 therefore seven years the senior of 
 Washington. Early in life he came to 
 Canada and married. He left a widow 
 and one daughter. In 1755, one year 
 after his death, the widow was pension- 
 ed in a small sum, and in 1775 the 
 daughter, then grown to womanhood, 
 took the veil as Charlotte Amiable. 
 
 Of the twenty-one prisoners taken at 
 this engagement the two most important 
 were an officer of some consequence, 
 named Drouillion, and the subtle and re- 
 doubtable La Force. As Washington 
 considered the latter an arch mischief- 
 maker, who had made considerable 
 trouble at Venango the year previous, 
 he now rejoiced to have him within his 
 power. The prisoners were conducted 
 to the camp at the Great Meadows, and 
 from there, on the following day, were 
 sent under a strong escort to Governor 
 Dinwiddie, who was at Winchester, 
 Virgina. They were treated with great 
 courtesy by Washington, who furnished 
 Drouillion and La Force with clothing 
 from his own scanty stock, and at 
 their request gave them letters to the 
 governor bespeaking for them the "re- 
 

 m i 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 27 
 
 spect and favor due their character and 
 personal merit." 
 
 The Half-King was now fully aroused. 
 He sent the scalps of the Frenchmen 
 slain in the late skirmish, accompanied 
 with black wampum and hatchets, to all 
 his allies, summoning them to take up 
 arms and join him at Redstone Creek, 
 "for their brothers, the English, had now 
 begun in earnest." He went off to his 
 home, promising to send down the river 
 for all the Mingoes and Shawanees and 
 to be back at the camp on the thirteenth 
 with thirty or forty warriors accom- 
 panied by their wives and children. To 
 assist him in the transportation of his 
 people and their effects thirty men were 
 detached, and twenty horses. 
 
 A pile of stones and a rude cross mark- 
 ed the grave of Jumonville until July 
 4th, 1908, when a tablet was erected 
 bearing the following inscription : 
 
 Here lie the mortal remains 
 
 of 
 
 N. Coulon de Jumonville, 
 
 who in command of thirty-three 
 
 French regulars, was surprised and 
 
 killed in an engagement with Major 
 
28 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 George Washington, in command 
 of forty provincial troops, and Tan- 
 nacharison, the Half-King, in com- 
 mand of a company of friendly Indi- 
 ans, on May 28, 1754. 
 
 This action was the first conflict 
 at arms between the French and 
 English for supremacy in the Mis- 
 sissippi valley. 
 
 Erected July 4th, 1908, under the 
 auspices of the Centennial Commit- 
 tee of 1904. 
 
 Washington's situation now was ex- 
 tremely perilous. Contrecoeur had fin- 
 ished the fort from which Ward had been 
 driven. He had already nearly one thou- 
 sand men with him, and reenforcements 
 and Indian allies were on their way to 
 join him. Messengers sent by Jumon- 
 ville previous to the late affray apprised 
 him of the weakness of the encampment 
 at the Great Meadows. 
 
 Washington lost no time in enlarg- 
 ing the entrenchments and erecting pali- 
 sades. He wrote to Colonel Fry, who 
 lay sick at Will's Creek, having been 
 seriously injured by his horse falling on 
 him, urging immediate reenforcements, 
 
Jumonville's Grave 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 29 
 
 but at the same time declaring his reso- 
 lution to "fight with unequal numbers 
 rather than give up one inch of what he 
 had gained." The Half-King and Queen 
 Aliquippa and twenty-five or thirty fami- 
 lies, making in all eighty to one hundred 
 Indians, arrived at the Great Meadows on 
 June first. 
 
 Colonel Fry died on the thirty-first of 
 May, a few days after the accident, and 
 Major Muse took command and joined 
 Washington, where he arrived on the 
 ninth of June with the residue of the Vir- 
 ginia regiment and nine swivel guns, 
 powder and balls. Major Muse had 
 served with Lawrence Washington in the 
 campaign of the West Indies, and had 
 been with him in the attack on Cartha- 
 gena. He had been Washington's in- 
 structor three years before in the manual 
 of arms, and was now acting as quarter- 
 master. By the death of Colonel Fry 
 the chief command devolved upon Major 
 Washington, who was commissioned 
 lieutenant-colonel on June fourth. 
 
 Captain James Mackaye, with an inde- 
 pendent company of the royal army, com- 
 posed of one hundred men from South 
 Carolina, joined Washington on the tenth 
 
30 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 of June, bringing with him sixty beeves, 
 five days' allowance of flour and some 
 ammunition, but no cannon, as was ex- 
 pected. Captain Mackaye bearing a 
 king's commission, could not receive or- 
 ders from a provincial colonel, and camp- 
 ed separate from Washington's forces ; 
 neither would his men do work on the 
 road, as it was not incumbent upon them 
 as king's soldiers to perform such meni- 
 al service. The force now encamped at 
 the Great Meadows numbered about four 
 hundred men. 
 
 Leaving Captain Mackaye with one 
 company to guard the fort, to thus 
 avoid mutiny and a conflict of authority, 
 Washington and the rest of the force, 
 on the sixteenth of June, pushed on over 
 Laurel Hill, cutting the road with ex- 
 treme labor, to Gist's plantation — a dis- 
 tance of about thirteen miles, consum- 
 ing two weeks in the work, taking with 
 him some wagons and the swivels. 
 
 On June twenty-seventh a detachment 
 of seventy men under command of Cap- 
 tain Lewis was sent forward to clear the 
 road from Gist's to the mouth of Red- 
 stone. Ahead of this was sent a party 
 under Captain Poison, who were to re- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 31 
 
 connoitre. Meanwhile Washington com- 
 pleted his movements to Gist's. 
 
 Washington Retreats to the Great Mead- 
 ows and Strengthens Fort Necessity. 
 
 On the twenty-ninth a council of war 
 was held at Gist's at which it was de- 
 termined to concentrate all the forces at 
 this point, where some entrenchments 
 had been already thrown up, with a 
 view of making a stand. This entrench- 
 ment was near Gist's Indian's hut and 
 a fine spring, and within fifty rods of the 
 geographical center of Fayette County. 
 
 Captains Lewis and Poison were call- 
 ed in, and Captain Mackaye and his 
 compan}^ were sent for. They all came, 
 but upon receiving later news of the 
 superior force of the French it was ap- 
 parent that a stand here was inexpedi- 
 ent and that they should fall back as far 
 as Will's Creek and await reenforce- 
 ments. The private baggage was left be- 
 hind, and the horses of the officers were 
 laden with ammunition and public stores. 
 The soldiers of the Virginia regiment 
 dragged the nine swivels by hand, the 
 members of the independent company 
 
32 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 looking on and offering no aid. They 
 reached the Great Meadows on the first 
 day of July. Here the men were so ex- 
 hausted by their labors and lack of nour- 
 ishment that they could not draw their 
 swivels nor carry their baggage on their 
 backs any farther. They had been eight 
 days without bread. They had milch 
 cows for beef, but had no salt with which 
 to season it, nor were the supplies which 
 had been left at the stockade adequate to 
 sustain the march. It was thought best, 
 therefore, to here await both the supplies 
 and reenforcements, having now but two 
 poor teams and a few equally poor pack 
 horses. 
 
 Washington immediately set his men 
 to work to strengthen the fortifications, 
 and under the supervision of Captain Sto- 
 bo a ditch and additional dimensions 
 and strength were given to the fort, 
 which was now given the name of Fort 
 Necessity on account of the extreme 
 need of the troops. 
 
 Hearing of the arrival at Alexandria of 
 two independent companies from New 
 York some days before it was supposed 
 that they might by this time have arriv- 
 ed at Will's Creek, and a messenger was 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 33 
 
 dispatched to urge them up. Horses 
 were hired to go to Will's Creek for more 
 ammunition and provisions, Gist endeav- 
 oring to have the artillery hauled out by 
 Pennsylvania teams. It was ascertained 
 that the two independent companies from 
 New York and the one from North 
 Carolina would fail to arrive until too 
 late, and they only reached Will's Creek 
 after the surrender of Forty Necessity. 
 No artillery came in time, only ten of the 
 thirty four-pound cannon and carriages 
 which had been sent from England 
 reaching Will's Creek until too late. 
 
 Besides the Indians already mentioned 
 as crowding into the fort, many of the 
 settlers with their families sought pro- 
 tection under the English arms. The 
 warriors expected and promised by the 
 Half-King from the Muskingum and 
 Miami countries failed to join Washing- 
 ton. 
 
 From the time news reached Fort Du- 
 quesne of the defeat of Jumonville the 
 greatest activity prevailed. On the 
 twenty-eighth of June, just one month 
 after that affair, a force of five hundred 
 French and one hundred Indians, after- 
 wards augmented to four hundred, left 
 
54 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 Fort Duquesne under command of M. 
 Coulon de Villiers, a half-brother to Ju- 
 monville, who sought the command as a 
 special favor to enable him, as he termed 
 it, to avenge the "assassination" of his 
 kinsman. 
 
 De Villiers passed up the Mononga- 
 hela on the thirtieth of June, and then 
 moved on to Gist's settlement, a distance 
 of about sixteen miles, reaching the place 
 early the morning of the second of July. 
 Opening fire upon the rude half-finished 
 fort, and receiving no response, he found 
 the place deserted. He thereupon pre- 
 pared to return to Fort Duquesne, when 
 a deserter arrived from Fort Necessity, 
 who revealed the whereabouts and 
 wretched condition of Washington's 
 forces. He concluded to press on in pur- 
 suit of the English. He ascended the 
 mountain by the road just opened by 
 Washington, passed within five hundred 
 yards of where his half-brother had fal- 
 len a little over a month before, and came 
 within sight of Fort Necessity, after a 
 rainy night, early on the morning of the 
 third of July. He immediately delivered 
 the first fire from the woods, at a dis- 
 tance of four or five hundred yards. The 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 35 
 
 first position taken by the French was in 
 the northwest, but afterwards they took 
 position on the east and southeast, near 
 the fort. Washington formed his men 
 on the south, in the meadow outside the 
 fort, in order to draw the enemy into an 
 open encounter. Failing in this he re- 
 tired behind the lines. The heavy rains 
 the previous night had made the trenches 
 untenable for Captain Mackaye's com- 
 pany. The French then took position 
 on an eminence on the north, about 
 sixty yards distant, and the Indians took 
 position behind trees and in tree tops. 
 For nine hours, during a rain storm, the 
 assailants poured an incessant shower of 
 balls upon the little band crowded with- 
 in the lines of the fort. The English re- 
 plied with vigor, and toward six o'clock 
 in the evening the conflict grew in ani- 
 mation, and continued until eight o'clock. 
 Washington's tranquil presence encour- 
 aged his men and deceived the enemy. 
 
 Washington Makes His First and His 
 Last Surrender. 
 
 De Villiers, fearing his ammunition 
 would fail, proposed a parley, which 
 Washington at first declined, but when 
 
36 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 repeated it was granted. The articles of 
 capitulation were written in the French 
 language, which, after sundry modifica- 
 tions in Washington's favor, were sign- 
 ed in duplicate — in the rain, by the light 
 of a candle — by Captain James Mackaye, 
 Lieutenant Colonel George Washington 
 and Coulon Villiers. According to the 
 articles agreed to the garrison were al- 
 lowed to remove all their belongings ex- 
 cept the artillery and to march out with 
 drums beating, and to have protection 
 from insult or injury by the French or 
 Indians. The English were to deliver up 
 the officers, two cadets and the prisoners 
 made at the defeat of Jumonville, and 
 send them under safeguard to Fort Du- 
 quesne within two months and a half at 
 the farthest. A duplicate of the articles 
 was fixed upon one of the posts of the 
 stockade. Jacob Van Braam and Robert 
 Stobo, both captains, were delivered as 
 hostages to the French officer as surety 
 for the faithful compliance of the English 
 to the articles of capitulation. 
 
 There were at the encampment at the 
 Great Meadows at the time of the sur- 
 render about four hundred persons. 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 37 
 
 In this engagement it is reported that 
 Washington lost thirty men killed and 
 forty-two wounded. Captain Mackaye's 
 loss was never reported. The French 
 had two men killed and seventy wound- 
 ed^,two whereof were Indians. 
 
 By daylight the following morning 
 the English flag was struck and the 
 French flag took its place. The humil- 
 iated garrison took the situation as 
 cheerfully as possible under the circum- 
 stances, and with banners flying and 
 drums beating, the little army wend- 
 ed its way towards Will's Creek. In 
 its wake followed a retinue of settlers 
 and adherents. The lilies of France now 
 floated in undisputed victory over every 
 fort, trading post and mission from the 
 Allegheny Mountains westward to the 
 Mississippi River. No sooner had the 
 English garrison filed out of Fort Ne- 
 cessity than the French began its demo- 
 lition. This accomplished to their grati- 
 fication they began retracing their steps 
 toward the mouth of Redstone the same 
 day, for fear of re-enforcements as had 
 been requested by Washington, and en- 
 camped about two leagues distant — per- 
 haps at the Big Rock, where the Half- 
 
38 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 King had encamped the night before the 
 attack on Jumonville. Doubtless DeVil- 
 liers turned aside and visited the spot 
 where his half-brother had fallen and 
 tenderly covered the remains with earth 
 and stone to prevent their destruction 
 by wild beasts and to mark the spot of 
 their last resting place. 
 
 They reached the abandoned entrench- 
 ment at Gist's on the fifth, and after de- 
 molishing what was of it they burned all 
 the contiguous houses. They reached 
 the mouth of Redstone at ten o'clock 
 next day, where they proceeded to burn 
 the Hangard and then re-embarked on 
 the Monongahela, returning to Fort Du- 
 quesne on the seventh. 
 
 Fort Necessity was in a glade between 
 two eminences, which were covered with 
 forests, except within sixty yards of it. 
 The road by which Washington's army 
 had advanced passed within a few feet 
 on the south, and Great Meadow run 
 skirted the base line on the north. 
 
 The fort was in the form of an obtuse 
 angled triangle of one hundred and five 
 degrees, its base resting on Great Mea- 
 dow Run, about two perches of which 
 were thrown across the stream and con- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 39 
 
 nected with the base by lines perpendic- 
 ular to the opposite lines of the triangle. 
 The base was eleven perches long, the 
 western seven perches and the eastern 
 line six perches. About fifty square 
 perches of land, or nearly one-third of 
 an acre, were included within these lines. 
 The embankments in 1816 were still 
 three feet high above the level of the 
 meadow. The outside trenches, in which 
 Captain Mackaye's men were stationed 
 when the fight began, and from which 
 they were flooded out, were already filled 
 up, but inside the lines were ditches of 
 about two feet in depth, formed by 
 throwing the earth up against the pali- 
 sades. It is ten miles east of Union- 
 town, and about eight hundred yards 
 south of the National Road. 
 
 The swivel cannon captured at the 
 surrender, excepting the one allowed to 
 be taken away by Washington's men, 
 were left at the fort, where in after years 
 they were found and used by emigrants 
 for firing salutes. Eventually they were 
 taken to Kentucky to be used by the set- 
 tlers in defense against the Indians. 
 
 The night following the surrender 
 Washington's army encamped barely 
 
40 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 three miles distant from the fort. It la- 
 boriously wended its way, the sick and 
 wounded being carried by their fellows, 
 to Will's Creek, where the foremost ar- 
 rived on the ninth. 
 
 Personnel of the Officers Engaged. 
 
 M. Coulon de Villiers, captain of His 
 Majesty's troops, was a half-brother to 
 Jumonville, and was of a family of seven 
 brothers, six of whom lost their lives in 
 the American wars. De Villiers was 
 taken prisoner by the English at the cap- 
 ture of Fort Niagara in 1770. 
 
 Captain Mackaye assisted Colonel 
 James Innes in the construction of Fort 
 Cumberland, and afterward became one 
 of the justices of the peace for West- 
 moreland County, Pa., and lived at Pitts- 
 burgh. He had been holding court at 
 Hannastown and returned home on the 
 ninth of April, 1774, and was arrested on 
 the following day by Dr. Connelly under 
 authority of the governor of Virginia. 
 Connelly was holding court at Fort Dun- 
 more under authority of Virginia, and 
 Mackaye holding court at Hannastown 
 under authority of Pennsylvania. He 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 41 
 
 was sent, with other justices, to Staun- 
 ton to be lodged in jail, but was permit- 
 ted to go to Williamsburg, to present an 
 account of his arrest and was allowed to 
 return home. Colonel Mackaye was sta- 
 tioned at Kittanning to succeed Van 
 Swearingen at Fort Armstrong in July 
 20, 1776, with his battalion, and remain- 
 ed at that post until the fifteenth of De- 
 cember, when he was, against the re- 
 monstrances of the inhabitants, ordered 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Captain Adam Stephens, to whom 
 Washington gave a major's commission, 
 became a captain in the Virginia regi- 
 ment at Braddock's defeat and was 
 wounded in the action at that time. He 
 rose to be a colonel in the Virginia 
 troops, and was with Grant at his de- 
 feat at Fort Duquesne. He became a 
 brigadier general, and in February, 1779, 
 was made a major general in the Revo- 
 lutionary War. He was stationed at 
 Fort Cumberland in November 1775, as 
 lieutenant colonel by Governor Innes, of 
 North Carlina, who had been in com- 
 mand at that place. While here there 
 arose a dispute between Stephens and 
 Captain Dagworthy as to rank, and Ma- 
 
42 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 jor General Shirley, who had succeeded 
 Braddock in command of the colonies, 
 had Dagworthy removed. 
 
 General Stephens was born about 1718 
 in Pennsylvania, and migrated to Vir- 
 ginia in 1738. He died in 1791 and was 
 buried on his own plantation, a part of 
 which is now embraced within the town 
 limits of Martinsburg, Virginia. 
 
 Captain Robert Stobo was the only 
 son of William Stobo, a merchant of 
 Glasgow, in which city Robert was born 
 in 1727. His father and mother both 
 dying when he was young, he came to 
 Virginia to serve in a store which was 
 owned by some Glasgow merchants. He 
 became a favorite of Governor Dinwid- 
 die, who in 1754 appointed him the old- 
 est captain of the Virginia regiment then 
 raised. He was the engineer of Fort 
 Necessity, and was one of the two host- 
 ages given up by Washington to be tak- 
 en by the French to Fort Duquesne to 
 be there held until the return of the 
 French officers taken in the fight with 
 Jumonville. The governor of Virginia 
 refusing to comply with Washington's 
 agreement and release the French offi- 
 cers, Stobo with Van Braam was sent 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 43 
 
 to Canada. They were the first English 
 military prisoners at Fort Duquesne. 
 He was allowed much privilege as a pris- 
 oner until after the defeat of Braddock, 
 when a great change was made in the 
 treatment he received. The plans of 
 Fort Duquesne, an exact description of 
 which he had forwarded to Governor 
 Dinwiddie, and the information he had 
 furnished, were captured among Brad- 
 dock's effects and published. The conse- 
 quence was that Stobo was ordered in- 
 to close confinement. Subsequently he 
 was tried and sentenced to be executed. 
 The sentence was deferred, and at length 
 he effected his escape and arrived at 
 Louisburg, on the Island of Cape Bre- 
 ton, shortly after General Wolf had 
 sailed for Quebec. He immediately re- 
 turned to Quebec and afforded General 
 Wolf much important information. He 
 returned to Virginia in 1759, from 
 whence he went to England. His heirs 
 got an extra allowance of one thousand 
 pounds and nine thousand acres of land 
 in Kentucky for his services. 
 
 Captain Jacob Van Braam, as well as 
 Adjutant Muse, had been a campaign- 
 ing comrade of Lawrence Washington, 
 
44 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 and had been in the British army. He 
 professed to be a complete master of 
 fencing, and gave George Washington, 
 when a youth, instructions in sword 
 exercise. He was a Dutchman who 
 knew a little French, and having served 
 Washington as a French interpreter the 
 previous year on his mission to the forts 
 on French creek, he was called upon to 
 interpret the articles of capitulation at 
 the surrender of Fort Necessity. It was 
 through his stupidity as an interpreter 
 that Washington was placed under the 
 ban of an assassin by the French. For 
 this blunder Van Braam was condemned 
 of treachery by the House of Burgesses. 
 He was given up by Washington to the 
 French to be held as a hostage, along 
 with Captain Stobo, until the return of 
 the French officers taken at the defeat 
 of Jumonville. By the refusal of Gover- 
 nor Dinwiddie to comply with Washing- 
 ton's agreement Van Braam was kept 
 some time at Fort Duquesne and then 
 sent to Quebec, along with Captain Sto- 
 bo, where he was held until the conquest 
 of Canada by the English. He returned 
 to Virginia in 1760. He was awarded an 
 allowance of five hundred pounds and 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 45 
 
 nine thousand acres of land in Kentucky 
 for his services. 
 
 Captain Andrew Lewis became a cap- 
 tain in Braddock's campaign, but had 
 no command in the fatal action. He was 
 with Major Grant in his defeat at Grant's 
 Hill in 1758. He became the General 
 Lewis of Bottetourt in the great battle 
 with the Indians at Point Pleasant in 
 Dunmore's war of 1774, and was a dis- 
 tinguished general officer in the Revolu- 
 tion. It was he whom it was said Wash- 
 ington recommended for commander-in- 
 chief of the American army. 
 
 Lieutenant William Poison became a 
 captain in Braddock's campaign and was 
 killed in the defeat. He was a native of 
 Scotland. 
 
 Ensign Peyronie was a French Pro- 
 testant chevalier, settled in Virginia, 
 was badly wounded in the attack on Fort 
 Necessity and became a Virginia cap- 
 tain in Braddock's campaign. Pie was 
 killed on the field. 
 
 Dr. James Craik, a Scotchman by 
 birth, but a resident of Alexandria, Vir- 
 ginia, had long been a friend and the 
 family physician of Washington. He ac- 
 companied Washington as physician and 
 
46 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 surgeon from the beginning to the end 
 of this campaign. He attended Colonel 
 Fry, who died at Will's creek from in- 
 juries sustained by the falling of his 
 horse. He was the companion of Wash- 
 ington when on his journey to the west 
 in 1770, and was also his physician 
 through his last illness. He entered the 
 Revolutionary army as a surgeon and 
 rose to the first rank. He was director- 
 in-chief of the military hospital at York- 
 town in 1781. He named one of his 
 sons George Washington Craik, who 
 became private secretary to President 
 Washington in his second term. Dr. 
 Craik was willed a chair and a desk, as 
 mementoes, by Washington. Besides 
 drawing his pay as both officer and sur- 
 geon in the campaign of 1754, Dr. Craik 
 was awarded one thousand seven hun- 
 dred and ninety-four acres of land. On 
 the third of September, 1788, he obtained 
 from Pennsylvania patents for two tracts 
 of land in Franklin township, Fayette 
 county, Pennsylvania. One was known 
 as "Bowland's Camp," and the other as 
 "Freeman's Sword," each containing 
 four hundred and three acres. They 
 were both sold the twenty-seventh of 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 47 
 
 March, 1791, to Samuel Bryson. Dr. 
 Craik died on his plantation, within five 
 miles of Mt. Vernon, on the sixth of 
 February, 1814. 
 
 Queen Aliquippa, with her son, lived 
 at the confluence of the Youghiogheny 
 with the Monongahela. She was an In- 
 dian squaw of some importance among 
 her people, and received her royal title 
 from the English. She became offended 
 because Washington did not stop to see 
 her on his way to the French forts in 
 November, 1753, an offense for which he 
 fully atoned on his return by presenting 
 her with a few presents, among which 
 the most highly prized was a bottle of 
 rum. ^ y> 
 
 Christopher Gist was of English de- 
 scent. His grandfather, Christopher 
 Gist, died in Baltimore county in 1691. 
 His father, Richard Gist, was a survey- 
 or; was one of the commissioners in 
 1729 for laying off the town of Balti- 
 more, and was presiding magistrate in 
 1736. Christopher was one of three sons 
 — Christopher, Thomas and Nathaniel, 
 who all married sisters. Christopher 
 had three sons — Nathaniel, Richard, 
 Thomas — and two daughters, Nancy and 
 
48 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 Violet. He was a leading character of 
 the times, being by nature an adventur- 
 er. In 1748 his residence was on the 
 Yadkin, in North Carolina. He was em- 
 ployed by the "Ohio Company" in lo- 
 cating their grant of five hundred thou- 
 sand acres of land on the Ohio River, the 
 duties of which he performed in the 
 years 1751 and 1752. On his return to 
 his home in the former year he found 
 the Indians had made an incursion into 
 that settlement, had murdered many of 
 hi? neighbors and burned the houses. 
 His family had fled to the banks of the 
 Roanoke, in Virginia, a distance of thir- 
 ty-five miles. His residence was on the 
 Yadkin River, and on the west side of a 
 stream known as Sawmill Creek, near 
 and west of Reddie's River, near the 
 present town of Wilkesbarre, in Wilkes 
 County, North Carolina. He was resid- 
 ing at Will's Creek when Washington se- 
 cured his services as guide to the French 
 posts, near Lake Erie, in November, 
 1753. On their way out and also on 
 their return he stopped at Gist's new 
 settlement at the western foot of Laurel 
 Hill. Washington also spent the night 
 with Gist at Will's Creek on his return. 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 49 
 
 With his sons, Nathaniel and Thomas, 
 he was with Braddock on the fatal field, 
 and for his services received a grant of 
 twelve thousand acres of land from the 
 king of England. He, with George Cro- 
 ghan, assisted in building the stockade 
 at the Forks of the Ohio for the Ohio 
 Company in 1754, and was purchasing 
 agent for the Virginia soldiers stationed 
 at Fort Mount Pleasant. After the de- 
 feat of Braddock, 1755 till 1765, he was 
 engaged in various public capacities in 
 the south and southwest. In the latter 
 year he returned to his settlement west 
 of the mountains, and after settling his 
 family, he returned to his old home 
 where he died of small-pox. 
 
 His son, Thomas Gist, remained at 
 this new settlement until his death, in 
 1786, and was a man of considerable in- 
 fluence. Richard was killed at the bat- 
 tle of King's Mountain. Nancy made her 
 home with Thomas until his death, when 
 she moved with her brother Nathaniel 
 to their grant in Kentucky, where the 
 family of Nathaniel Gist became quite 
 prominent. Violet married William 
 Cromwell, and lived on this new settle- 
 ment. 
 
50 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 What at that time was known as the 
 Gist Plantation was subsequently war- 
 ranted by Virginia to Thomas Gist in 
 right of Christopher Gist. There were 
 five surveys made the twenty-sixth of 
 October, 1785, aggregating two thou- 
 sand, five hundred acres in one body. 
 After the death of Thomas Gist this 
 whole tract was sold to Colonel Isaac 
 Meason, who gave it the name of Mt. 
 Braddock. On this he erected a large 
 stone mansion in 1802. His son, Isaac 
 Meason, Jr., succeeded him in the pos- 
 session of this farm, and after the death 
 of the latter his widow sold it to Isaac 
 A Beeson. 
 
 Dr. Hugh Mercer was a Scotchman, 
 having fled to Virginia from the service 
 of the Pretender, on the fatal field of Cul- 
 loden. He accompanied the Virginia 
 troops as a surgeon. He also accom- 
 panied Braddock's army and was badly 
 wounded on the fatal field. Being un- 
 able to escape in the general flight, he 
 concealed himself behind a tree, from 
 which place he was a forced witness to 
 the scalping and plundering of the dead 
 and dying. After darkness he left his 
 hiding place and by the aid of the stars 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 51 
 
 and streams, after several days of pain- 
 ful suffering, reached Fort Cumberland. 
 He served as captain in Colonel Arm- 
 strong's expedition against the Indians 
 at Kittanning, in 1756, from which he 
 again returned severely wounded to Fort 
 Cumberland. He finally became a field 
 officer in the Revolution and fell at 
 Princeton in January, 1777. 
 
 The Proprietories of Pennsylvania, on 
 March 2, 1771, granted to Dr. Hugh Mer- 
 cer, of Fredericksburg, Virginia, two 
 tracts of land, about three and a half 
 miles from Stewart's Crossing, now in 
 Bullskin township, Fayette County, con- 
 taining two hundred and eighty-two and 
 one-half, and three hundred and eleven 
 acres respectively, and the usual allow- 
 ance. These tracts were sold by the ex- 
 ecutors of Dr. Mercer to Isaac Meason 
 the third of November, 1789. 
 
 Lieutenant Thomas Waggener, with 
 his company, supported that of Washing- 
 ton at the attack on Jumonville, and 
 these two companies received all the fire 
 of the enemy. In this action he was 
 wounded. He subsequently became a 
 captain of the Virginia troops and as 
 such accompanied Braddock in his cam- 
 
52 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 paign and displayed in that fatal action 
 signal good sense and gallantry, and es- 
 caped unhurt. 
 
 Tanacharison was a Seneca chief of 
 great note, being head sachem of the 
 mixed tribes which had migrated to the 
 Ohio and its tributaries. He was sur- 
 named the Half-King, being subordinate 
 to the Iroquois confederacy. Washing- 
 ton pronounced him a man of more than 
 usual intelligence. In the spring of 1753, 
 the Miami tribes under the leadership 
 of Half-King, made a treaty at Carlisle 
 with Benjamin Franklin, at which they 
 plighted their friendship to the English. 
 That Half-King proved faithful to his 
 vow, history offers ample proof. His 
 home was at Logstown, whence he ac- 
 companied Washington to the French 
 forts in 1753. He was at the Forks of 
 the Ohio when Ensign Ward surren- 
 dered that post, and vehemently protest- 
 ed against the conduct of the French 
 commander on that occasion. He ren- 
 dered invaluable service in the detection 
 and defeat of Jumonville, and by his dis- 
 cretion and unswerving loyalty had won 
 the admiration of Washington. 
 
 When Washington's little army re- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 53 
 
 traced its steps over the mountains, 
 Half-King took his family and went to 
 Anghquick, in Pennsylvania, where they 
 were maintained at the expense of the 
 colony. A short time after his removal 
 to Aughquick he was taken sick and in 
 October of this same year he died. His 
 death was mourned with great lamenta- 
 tion by both the Indians and the whites. 
 Scarooyada succeeded him as sachem 
 of the DelaAvare tribe. In April, 1755, 
 the colony of Pennsylvania refused long- 
 er to support them and their destitute 
 families. This treatment and that receiv- 
 ed at the hands of Braddock, created an 
 antipathy in the breasts of the hitherto 
 friendly Indians. 
 
 Washington Retires to Mt. Vernon. 
 
 In 1752 the Ohio Company concluded 
 to establish this as a permanent trading- 
 post, although this point was eighty 
 miles west of the frontier settlements. 
 Here they erected another storehouse 
 and magazine, which was known as the 
 New Storehouse. This was located on 
 the Virginia side of the Potomac, and 
 was near the place now occupied by the 
 
54 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 abutment of the Potomac bridge. This 
 structure was built of logs and was suf- 
 ficiently commodious to accommodate a 
 garrison and afford protection to settlers 
 in case of an attack by Indians. 
 
 Washington proceeded to Williams- 
 burg, where he made a full report of the 
 campaign to Governor Dinwiddie, and af- 
 ter receiving a vote of thanks from the 
 House of Burgesses for his bravery and 
 gallant defense of his country, he retired 
 to his home at Mount Vernon. 
 
 After Washington's return to Wil- 
 liamsburg Colonel James Innes, a 
 Scotchman by birth, but a resident of 
 North Carolina, marched to Will's Creek 
 and on the first of September, 1754, took 
 command of that post, which had been 
 garrisoned by Rutherford's and Clark's 
 independent companies from New York. 
 These had been sent to join Washington, 
 but got no farther than Winchester. 
 
 Colonel Innes constructed a fort at the 
 mouth of Will's Creek, with the assist- 
 ance of Captain Mackaye, beginning the 
 twelfth of September and completing the 
 work in about one month. This he nam- 
 ed Fort Mount Pleasant. It was garri- 
 soned during the winter of 1754-55. The 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 55 
 
 fort proper occupied almost the identical 
 spot on which now stands the residence 
 of James A. Milholland, known as the 
 "Hoge House." This fort mounted four 
 ten-pounders, besides swivels, and was 
 favorably situated to keep the hostile In- 
 dians in check. 
 
 Washington Acquires a Title to the Site 
 
 of Fort Necessity and Which He 
 
 Held at the Time of His Death 
 
 As early as 1767 Washington acquired 
 from Virginia a pre-emption to a tract 
 of land of three hundred and thirty-four 
 acres under the name of Mt. Washing- 
 ton, which included the site of Fort Ne- 
 cessity. June 13, 1769, an application 
 was sent in to the land office in right of 
 William Brooks for three hundred acres 
 called "Great Meadows," including an 
 improvement made by a grant from Cap- 
 tain Charles Edmundstone, patented 
 February 18, 1782, to General George 
 Washington. The patent from the su- 
 preme Executive Council of Pennsylva- 
 nia to General Washington recites that 
 said tract of land was surveyed by virtue 
 of an order issued June 13, 1769, by Wil- 
 
56 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 Ham Brooks, who by deed dated the sev- 
 enteenth day of October, 1771, conveyed 
 said tract of land and the appurtenances 
 unto George Washington in fee simple, 
 and a warrant of acceptance of the survey 
 issued to him, dated February 14, 1782. 
 The consideration paid by Washington 
 to the commonwealth of Pennsylvania 
 was thirty-three pounds, fifteen shillings 
 and eight pence, Pennsylvania money, 
 which was some less than one hundred 
 dollars. 
 
 This tract was referred to in his last 
 will, and owned by him at the time of 
 his death. 
 
 In December, 1776, the Virginia legis- 
 lature proposed as adjustment to the 
 boundary controversy that the western 
 line of Maryland should be extended 
 northward to the fortieth degree of lati- 
 tude and thence westward along that 
 parallel "until the distance of five de- 
 grees of longitude from the Delaware 
 should be accomplished. " This would 
 have thrown the site of Fort Necessity 
 a distance of several miles within the ter- 
 ritory of Virginia, but no formal action 
 was taken on the part of Pennsylvania 
 to this proposition. The running of the 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 57 
 
 Mason and Dixon line put an end to all 
 controversy and secured to the Keystone 
 state one of her cherished historic sites. 
 After the death of Washington his ex- 
 ecutors sold it to Andrew Parks, of Bal- 
 timore, whose wife, Harriet, was a rel- 
 ative and legatee of Washington. She 
 sold it to General Thomas Meason, who 
 sold it to Joseph Huston, from whom it 
 was sold to Colonel Samuel Evans for 
 the taxes in 1824, and, (it seems to have 
 reverted back to Huston) sold as prop- 
 erty of Huston by the sheriff to Honor- 
 able Nathaniel Ewing, who sold it to 
 James Sampey, April 6, 1836, whose ex- 
 ecutors sold it to Godfrey Fazenbaker, 
 December 29, 1856, for four thousand 
 dollars. Mr. Fazenbaker's deed contain- 
 ed the following clause : ''Excepting and 
 reserving that piece heretofore conveyed 
 by said executors to the Fort Necessity 
 Washington Monument Association, 
 with right of way and privileges, but if 
 the conditions of the said asociation are 
 not complied with the reservation is a 
 nullity Mr. Fazenbaker, however, 
 agreed to extend the time almost indef- 
 initely should the association continue 
 
58 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 its efforts to erect a monument at the 
 old stockade. 
 
 Mr. Lewis Fazenbaker, the son of 
 Godfrey Fazenbaker, is the present own- 
 er of the farm and says that the site of 
 the fort has never been, nor never shall 
 be, plowed over while it remains in the 
 Fazenbaker name. 
 
 Washington owned at the time of his 
 death over sixteen hundred acres of land 
 in Franklin and Washington townships, 
 on which was erected a flouring mill, 
 which is still in operation. This tract 
 of land was sold to Colonel Israel 
 Shreeve. 
 
 An act of assembly was passed April 
 6, 1850, incorporating the Fort Necessity 
 Washington Monument Association, 
 making Daniel Sturgeon, John Washing- 
 ton, Samuel Y. Campbell, John Huston, 
 Hervey Morris, Robert P. Flenniken, 
 Andrew Stewart, Sebastian Rush, Dan- 
 iel Kaine, Joshua B. Howell, William 
 Stone, Zalmon Ludington and Isaac 
 Beeson, of Fayette County, "and all oth- 
 er persons who have subscribed, or shall 
 hereafter subscribe, any sum for the erec- 
 tion of a monument under the provis- 
 ions of this act, and their successors or 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 59 
 
 assigns, be and are hereby made a body 
 corporate under the style of Fort Ne- 
 cessity Washington Monument Associa- 
 tion, the property of this corporation to 
 be forever exempt from taxation." 
 
 The first election of officers was to be 
 held the first Monday in May, 1850, and 
 thereafter to be held on the twenty-sec- 
 ond day of February each year. The 
 board of managers held their first meet- 
 ing at the house of Samuel Y. Camp- 
 bell, May 6, 1850, but for lack of a quo- 
 rum, agreed to meet at the office of R. 
 P. Flenniken, Esq., Saturday, the elev- 
 enth. At this meeting Samuel Y. Camp- 
 bell was elected president; Andrew 
 Stewart, Hervey Morris, Joshua B. How- 
 ell, Samuel A. Gilmore and R. P. Flen- 
 niken, managers, and Isaac Beeson, treas- 
 urer. 
 
 A committee, consisting of Andrew 
 Stewart, Sebastian Rush, Samuel Y. 
 Campbell and Thomas R. Davidson, was 
 appointed to secure a title to one acre 
 of ground, embracing the site of Fort 
 Necessity, together with right of way 
 thereto. Two agents were appointed in 
 each township of the county to solicit 
 subscriptions for the purchase of the 
 
60 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 ground and the erection of the monu- 
 ment. At a meeting of the managers, 
 June twenty-second, Mr. Stewart pre- 
 sented the form of a deed of conveyance 
 from the executors of James Sampey, 
 conveying to the corporation one acre 
 of ground, including the site of the fort, 
 which form it was agreed should be ex- 
 ecuted. 
 
 Requests for contributions were sent 
 to the President of the United States, 
 the different heads of departments, the 
 representatives in Congress from Penn- 
 sylvania, Maryland, Virginia and South 
 Carolina, the literary institutions of the 
 state, the governor, and to Major Dela- 
 field and cadets of West Point, the Ma- 
 sonic and Odd Fellow lodges and en- 
 campments of the state. 
 
 An effort was made March 2, 1852, to 
 have the Topographical Department at 
 Washington appoint a gentleman of the 
 department to visit the site of Fort Ne- 
 cessity and make a drawing, as near as 
 circumstances would permit, of the orig- 
 inal stockade for the purpose of having 
 the same lithographed, to be used as an 
 inducement for subscriptions. 
 
 On August 6, 1851, Captain F. Clarke, 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 61 
 
 who was then at Brownsville, was writ- 
 ten to and solicited to visit the site and 
 make a draft of the location and envi- 
 rons. On August 14, 1 85 1, Captain K. 
 Dawson was also requested to make a 
 draft of the same. 
 
 Agents were sent out to canvass Fay- 
 ette and neighboring counties for sub- 
 scriptions. Some little money was ob- 
 tained ; some of the solicitors proved to 
 be defaulters, and what funds did find 
 their way to the treasury were consumed 
 in stationery, postage and clerical work. 
 So, after several months of heroic effort 
 in a noble cause the Fort Necessity 
 Washington Monument Association was 
 doomed to a lingering death. 
 
 In 1854, J. N. H. Patrick, Esq., editor 
 of the Democratic Sentinel of Union- 
 town, Pa., urged a celebration to be held 
 on the Fourth day of July of that year 
 with a view of making a move toward 
 the erection of a monument at the site 
 of the old stockade. Lodge No. 228 A. 
 Y. M. of Uniontown and a large con- 
 course of citizens visited the place and 
 conducted suitable ceremonies, and a 
 corner stone was placed near the center 
 of the enclosure. David Shriver Stew- 
 
62 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 art son of Hon. Andrew Stewart, per- 
 formed the last named ceremony. 
 
 Not long after the corner-stone was laid 
 the contents., whatever they may have 
 been, were removed, and some six years 
 ago, the upper stone was pried from its po- 
 sition, broken in two and left on the sur- 
 face of the ground, a sad reminder of the 
 vandalism liable to be perpetrated on any 
 sacred object. The embankments have 
 been worn down in the lapse of years 
 until they are scarcely larger than a fur- 
 row thrown up with a plow yet much of 
 the outlines can be easily traced. 
 
 In January, 1899, Hon. T. Robb Deyar- 
 mon, of Fayette County, introduced in 
 the lower House a bill entitled, "An act 
 providing for the acquisition by the state 
 of certain grounds at Fort Necessity, 
 Fayette County, and making an appro- 
 priation of ten thousand dollars there- 
 for." This bill got as far as the commit- 
 tee on appropriations, and there it was 
 buried in oblivion. 
 
 A magnificent and patriotic celebra- 
 tion was held on the site of Fort Neces- 
 sity, July 4th, 1904, in commemoration of 
 the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary 
 of the surrender of that fort. 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 63 
 
 The patriotic sentiment of the citi- 
 zens of Fayette County was aroused when 
 Fort Necessity Lodge of I. O. O. F. took 
 the iniative in a celebration of the one 
 hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the 
 surrender of Fort Necessity. Pressing 
 invitations were sent throughout Fayette 
 and adjoining counties, urging that an 
 enthusiastic meeting be held at the site 
 of the old fort and that patriotic ad- 
 dresses appropriate to the occasion be 
 made. 
 
 The suggestion met with a most hap- 
 py response, and upon the day of the oc- 
 casion, long before daylight, the roads 
 leading to this historic spot were crowd- 
 ed with vehicles and persons on foot. 
 
 A grand parade was formed on the 
 National Road under Chief Marshal 
 Lieutenant Colonel Everhart Bierer and 
 his aide, M. A. Keifer, followed by Flut- 
 ter's Silver Cornet Band, Co. C of Union- 
 town under command of Capt. A. G. Bee- 
 son, Co. D of Connellsville under com- 
 mand of Capt. John L. Gans, Uniontown 
 Fire Department, Co. A Boys Brigade 
 under Lieut. Chas. Hall, Co. E under 
 Sergeant Maj. L. S. Sloan, Co. F under 
 First Sergeant Jay W. Johns, Co. G un- 
 
64 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 der First Lieut. Ralph C. Kennedy and 
 all under the command of Adjutant I. E. 
 Keener. 
 
 Next came the Soldiers' orphans from 
 the Jumonville Soldiers' Orphan school 
 under the care of Superintendent John 
 A. Waters, Fort Necessity Lodge I. O. 
 O. F., followed by a cavalcade most im- 
 posing. 
 
 It is estimated that fully 8,000 people 
 participated in the celebration of the oc- 
 casion, and it can be truthfully stated 
 that not the slightest disorder marred 
 the enjoyment of the day. 
 
 The officers of this celebration com- 
 mittee were, President, Hon. E. H. Rep- 
 pert, Secretary, James Hadden, Treas- 
 urer, M. H. Bowman. These were ably 
 assisted by not only many of the promi- 
 nent citizens of the town but throughout 
 the county. 
 
 The meeting at the grove was presid- 
 ed over by Hon. E. H. Reppert who in- 
 troduced the speakers. Rev. F. E. J. 
 Lloyd of the Episcopal Church pro- 
 nounced the invocation, after which 
 Judge Reppert made some happy intro- 
 ductory remarks and then introduced 
 Robert F. Hopwood who read the Dec- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 65 
 
 laration of Independence. Hon. George 
 C. Sturgis of Morgantown, West Vir- 
 ginia delivered a most able and patri- 
 otic address. He was followed by Rev. 
 Father A. A. Lambing of Wilkinsburg. 
 The next speaker was Judge F. G. White 
 of Pontiac, 111. 
 
 Letters of regret from Senator P. C. 
 Knox, Hon. Hampton L. Carson, Hon. 
 J. P. Dolliver, Hon. Lott Thomas, John 
 W. Beazell, Hon. Boyd Crumrine, Dr. 
 T. N. Boyle, Dr. C. W. Smith, Dr. Cam- 
 den M. Coburn and Gen. M. I. Luding- 
 ton were read by John S. Ritenour, and 
 the benediction was pronounced by Rev. 
 W. H. Gladden of the M. P. Church of 
 Connellsville. 
 
 The services at the grove were enjoy- 
 ed to the utmost by the vast throng who 
 gave the speakers most respectful at- 
 tention. 
 
 A most bountiful dinner was served in 
 the grove, after which a sham-battle took 
 place between the troops, and another 
 between the members of the boys' bri- 
 gade all of which were greatly enjoyed 
 by the spectators. 
 
 The site of Fort Necessity remained 
 unmarked until July 4th, 1908, when a 
 
66 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 tablet was erected thereon bearing the 
 following inscription : 
 
 This tablet marks the site 
 
 of 
 
 Fort Necessity 
 
 where Lieutenant Colonel George 
 Washington, in command of four 
 hundred provincial troops, after an 
 engagement of nine hours, capitu- 
 lated to M. Coulon de Villiers, in 
 command of nine hundred French 
 regulars and their Indian allies, on 
 July 4th, 1754. 
 
 Washington lost 30 men killed and 
 42 wounded. Captain Mackaye's 
 loss was never reported. The French 
 had two men killed and 70 wounded, 
 two whereof were Indians. 
 
 Erected July 4th, 1908, under the 
 auspices of the Centennial Celebra- 
 tion committee of 1904. 
 
General Edward Braddock 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 67 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Expedition of Major General Edward 
 
 Braddock Against the French at 
 
 Fort Duquesne, 1755. 
 
 Edward Braddock was born in Perth- 
 shire, Scotland, about 1695, an d was the 
 only son of Major General Braddock. He 
 entered the army as ensign in the Gren- 
 adier company, second regiment of the 
 Coldstream Guards, on the eleventh of 
 October, 1710, at the age of fifteen years. 
 This was a very aristocratic division of 
 the British army, and the bodyguard of 
 royalty. From this his promotions were 
 rapid. 
 
 On the twenty-fifth of November, 
 1754, Major General Edward Braddock 
 was commissioned general-in-chief of His 
 Majesty's forces in North America and 
 received his instructions concerning his 
 duties in relation to the encroachments 
 of the French. Becoming impatient of 
 the preparation of the troops he set sail 
 
63 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 from Cork aboard the "Norwich" on the 
 twenty-first of December, 1754, and ar- 
 rived at Alexandria, Virginia, February 
 20, 1755. His troops — the Forty-fourth 
 regiment, under Colonel Sir Peter Hal- 
 ket, and the Forty-eighth regiment, un- 
 der Colonel Dunbar- — set sail on the four- 
 teenth of January and landed in March, 
 1755, and marched to Alexandria. These 
 regiments were of the royal troops, and 
 numbered five hundred men each. 
 
 A council was held at Alexandria on 
 the fourteenth of April, at which were 
 present Honorable Augustus Keppel, 
 commander-in-chief of His Majesty's 
 ships, and the governors of Massa- 
 chusetts, Virginia, New York, Pennsyl- 
 vania and Maryland. Here three expedi- 
 tions were planned, one of which was to 
 be under the command of General Brad- 
 dock with the British troops, with such 
 aid as might be derived from Maryland 
 and Virginia, to which were afterward 
 added tAvo independent companies from 
 New York. 
 
 General Braddock was to move 
 against the French at Fort Duquesne, 
 and from thence to Canada. With this 
 object in view he marched from Alex- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 69 
 
 andria the twentieth of April, and reach- 
 ed Fredericktown, Maryland, on the 
 twenty-fourth. Passing through Win- 
 chester he reached Fort Mount Pleasant 
 on the ninth of May, to which point Sir 
 John Sinclair, deputy quartermaster 
 general, had preceded him about two 
 weeks. General Braddock, having been 
 designated by the Duke of Cumberland 
 the captain general of the British army, 
 requested of Governor Dinwiddie that 
 the name of the new fort be changed 
 from Fort Mount Pleasant to that of 
 Fort Cumberland, by which name it was 
 ever afterward known. Here, on the 
 ioth of May, Washington was appointed 
 aide-de-camp to His Excellency, Major 
 General Braddock. 
 
 Braddock's army now consisted of 
 the Forty-fourth regiment, English in- 
 fantry, Col. Sir Peter Halket; the Forty- 
 eighth, Col. Thomas Dunbar; sundry in- 
 dependent colonial companies, a com- 
 pany of horse, a company of artillery, a 
 company of marines, etc. The two in- 
 dependent companies of New York, un- 
 der command of Captains Rutherford 
 and Gates, the latter to whom Burgoyne 
 surrendered at Saratoga, had garrisoned 
 
70 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 the fort during the winter of 1754-55. 
 The field officers were Lieut. Cols. Bur- 
 ton and Gage, the latter of Bunker Hill 
 notoriety; Majors Chapman and Sparks, 
 Major Sir John Sinclair, quartermaster 
 general; Matthew Leslie, his assistant; 
 Capt. Robert Orme, of the Coldstream 
 Guards ; Christopher Gist and his son . j 
 Nathaniel as guides ; Drs. James Clark O^ 
 and Hugh Mercer. These had been with 
 Washington in his campaign the previ- 
 ous year. 
 
 Braddock was here tendered the valua- 
 ble services also of George Croghan, the 
 Indian agent of Aughwick; Montour, the 
 Indian diplomatist; Monacatootha, the 
 successor of Half- King, whose acquaint- 
 ance and friendship Washington had for- 
 med when on his mission to Le Boeuf, 
 with about 150 Seneca and Delaware In- 
 dians, and Captain Jack with his com- 
 pany of warriors and scouts. These of- 
 fered their services without pay and to 
 furnish their own arms, all on conditions 
 that they were to dress, march and fight 
 as they pleased and to be free from strict 
 military discipline. 
 
 With such a strict disciplinarian as 
 Braddock such conditions could not for 
 
Fort Cumberland — 1755 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 71 
 
 one moment be considered and the offer 
 was peremptorily refused, whereupon 
 Captain Jack with his band, together 
 with nearly every Indian, turned upon 
 his heel in disgust and marched back to 
 the hills of the Juniata. 
 
 Had Braddock accepted the services of 
 these experienced warrors and scouts the 
 result of his expedition can only now be 
 conjectural, but the consequence of his 
 refusal and of his strict adherence to 
 military discipline history has amply re- 
 corded. 
 
 Captain Jack, who was also known as 
 "Susquehanna Jack," "The Black Rifle," 
 "The Black Hunter," and "The Wild 
 Hunter of the Juniata," was a large, pow- 
 erful and fearless frontier settler of the 
 valley of the Juniata, through whose 
 veins ran a goodly mixture of Indian if 
 not a baser blood. 
 
 Once upon returning from a long and 
 weary chase he was horrified to find his 
 cabin in ashes and the corpses of his mur- 
 dered family scattered around. From 
 this time to the day of his death his 
 thirst for Indian blood could never be 
 satisfied. His fame as an Indian fighter 
 
72 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 soon spread from the head springs of the 
 Susquehanna to the Potomac. 
 
 The old pathway along which Captain 
 Jack traveled, and in which he met his 
 dusky foe in mortal combat, and in which 
 so many fell a victim to his deadly rifle, 
 is still plainly visible. 
 
 His bones respose in a lonely grave 
 near his favorite spring at the base of the 
 mountain which bears his name and 
 stands as a towering monument to per- 
 petuate his memory. 
 
 Reference has frequently been made to 
 a monument that stands in the Falling 
 Spring cemeterv at Chambersburg, Pa., 
 which bears the following inscription: 
 "Colonel Patrick Jack, an officer of the 
 Colonial and Revolutionary wars, died 
 January 25th, 1829, aged 91 years. '' 
 
 This latter was not the Captain Jack 
 who offered his services to Braddock, 
 but was a resident of Chambersburg at 
 the time of his death. 
 
 Monacatootha, known also as Scaroo- 
 yada, with a few of his followers, not 
 more than eight in number, however, fol- 
 lowed Braddock through the campaign 
 and rendered valuable service. At a 
 council held at Onondago by the Six 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 73 
 
 Nations. Monacatootha had been select- 
 ed to succeed Tanacharison or Half- 
 King, as sachem. The clever pencil of 
 the artist could not throw upon canvass 
 a more dignified specimen of the noble 
 race. The majestic form of this warrior 
 as it towered above his followers lead- 
 ing the van, followed by the glittering 
 array of the first disciplined army whose 
 martial tread ever awoke the echoes of 
 these primeval forests, was grand in the 
 extreme. His leggings were frilled with 
 locks from the dried scalps of his con- 
 quered foes ; his own scalp lock, plaited 
 down his back, a well understood token 
 of defiance, over which waved the plume 
 feathers of the eagle, the emblem of 
 American liberty, was further gaudily 
 ornamented with the gorgeous plumage 
 of the blue jay. On his noble breast was 
 plainly tattooed a tomahawk, the emblem 
 of war, and on each cheek he bore the 
 signs of the hunter, the bow and arrow. 
 The army had marched but a little, 
 over twenty miles from Fort Cumber- 
 land when Monacatootha, who was a lit- 
 tle in advance, was surrounded and taken 
 by some French and Indians. The for- 
 mer were determined to put him to death 
 
74 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 but the latter remonstrated and even 
 threatened to join the English should the 
 French carry out their design. The 
 sachem was then lashed to a tree and 
 left to his fate, but fortunately was soon 
 found and released by his son and other 
 Indians. 
 
 While the army was encamped at 
 Thicketty Run, July 4th, two of Monaca- 
 tootha's men were sent to reconnoiter 
 and returned with the scalp of a French 
 officer which they had succeeded in 
 taking within half a mile of the fort. 
 
 On July 6th, while the army was on 
 the march from Thicketty Run, by a dis- 
 regard of a preconcerted signal, Manaca- 
 tootha's son was fired upon and killed by 
 some outraugers of Braddock's army. 
 The general displayed great sorrow for 
 the unfortunate occurrence and after 
 due expressions of sympathy and dona- 
 tions caused the body to be buried in the 
 honors of war at the next encampment, 
 which also received the name of "Mon- 
 acatootha" in honor of the bereaved 
 sachem. 
 
 The Colonial Records and the Penn- 
 svlvania Archives bear ample evidence 
 that this noble sachem not only held a 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 75 
 
 commission under the province of Penn- 
 sylvania, but that his mature judgment 
 was sought in the deliberations of the 
 councils of the same. 
 
 Braddock's whole force amounted to 
 about 2150 men at Fort Cumberland. 
 But by haughtily rejecting the proffered 
 services of the Indians as scouts and 
 guides, many of them retired to the 
 mountains of the Juniata. Scarooyada 
 and a few others, however, followed 
 Braddock throughout the campaign. This 
 sachem afterward, in a speech at Phila- 
 delphia, denounced the French as cow- 
 ards and the English as fools. 
 
 Braddock at this time had under his 
 command several officers, both white 
 and Indian, who were far more compe- 
 tent to command than he, and who, if 
 permitted the opportunity, would doubt- 
 less have led the troops to victory. 
 
 On the 30th of May Sir John Sinclair 
 and Major Chapman were sent forward 
 with a detachment of 600 men to widen 
 the road opened by Washington the pre- 
 vious year, to advance as far as the Little 
 Meadows and there erect a fort and col- 
 lect provisions. On the 7th of June the 
 first division, under Sir Peter Halket, 
 
76 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 moved forward and on the 8th the second 
 division, under Lieut. Col. Gage, of the 
 Forty-fourth, and on the ioth the 
 main body of the army, with the com- 
 mander-in-chief left Fort Cumberland. 
 
 Through the influence of Dr. Benja- 
 min Franklin 150 wagons and 2000 
 horses joined Braddock on the 8th of 
 June, and the army was enabled to move. 
 The first camp was called "Camp at the 
 Grove," and from here orders were is- 
 sued, and the commander-in-chief rest- 
 ed till the 12th. He encamped at "Mar- 
 tin's" on Saturday, June 14th. The army 
 was seven days in reaching the Little 
 Meadows, a distance of twenty miles 
 from Fort Cumberland. Here a council 
 was held, at which it was determined 
 that Gen. Braddock, with 1200 men and 
 12 pieces of cannon, should press on, 
 leaving Colonel Dunbar and Major 
 Chapman to follow by easy stages. At 
 the Little Crossings, two miles west of 
 the Little Meadows, Washington was 
 taken down with a fever and was left un- 
 der the care of Dr. Craik and a guard to 
 await the arrival of Colonel Dunbar, who 
 came up in two days. Washington had 
 exacted, however, from Braddock, a 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 77 
 
 promise not to make the attack on Fort 
 Duquesne until he came up. The army 
 reached the Great Crossings, a distance 
 of 17 miles farther west, on the 23rd. 
 
 The first encampment on Fayette 
 County soil was at the ''Twelve Springs/' 
 having marched from Squaw's Fort, near 
 the Big Crossings, six miles. This en- 
 campment was between what is now 
 known as Mount Augusta and Marlow's, 
 and south of the National Road. Here 
 the army encamped the 24th. 
 
 On the 25th the army made a memor- 
 able march. Within about a quarter of 
 a mile after starting a blufl was reached 
 over which it was necessary to let down 
 the carriages by the use of ropes and 
 tackle. During the day's march three 
 men were killed and scalped by the 
 enemy, and some French and Indians 
 were fired upon by the sentinels. 
 
 The Site of Fort Necessity Passed With- 
 out Notice. 
 
 The ruins of Fort Necessity were pas- 
 sed without halt or seeming notice, and 
 the army camped about one mile be- 
 vond the Great Meadows after a march 
 
78 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 of seven miles. This encampment is 
 known as the "Old Orchard Camp," and 
 was reached late in the day. There may 
 have been some superstitions belief 
 which caused Braddock to pass the Great 
 Meadows without a halt. 
 
 Nothing was farther from the proud 
 commander's mind while encamped at 
 this place than the thought that within 
 a little more than a fortnight the same 
 should witness the disordered retreat of 
 the remnant of his defeated army, should 
 hear his dying moans and be his sepul- 
 cher, but such it proved to be. 
 
 The following day (26th) Braddock 
 offered a bounty of five pounds for every 
 scalp that his Indians and soldiers should 
 take. On account of the roughness of 
 the road the march was a distance of 
 four miles only. This encampment was 
 known as "Rock Fort" or "Great Rock," 
 and was near a fine spring, now known 
 as Washington's Spring. The rock was 
 situated on the crest of Laurel Hill, and 
 near the same as occupied by Half-King 
 the year before, when he notified Wash- 
 ington of the approach of Jumonville's 
 party. Here they found another Indian 
 camp, which had just been deserted. The 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 79 
 
 fire was still burning, and a commission 
 was found indicating that the party was 
 under the command of Sieur Norman- 
 ville. 
 
 From "Rock Fort" the army marched 
 on the 27th northward along the crest of 
 Laurel Hill, passing within a few hun- 
 dred feet of the scene of Jumonville's 
 defeat, and to the eastward of the promi- 
 nence, at the western foot of which was 
 lately located the Jumonville Orphan 
 school, and encamped at Gist's planta- 
 tion, where Washington had commenced 
 a stockade the year before, a distance of 
 some eight miles from "Rock Fort/' 
 
 On the 28th the army marched to the 
 Youghiogheny and encamped at Stew- 
 art's Crossing, a short distance below 
 where the town of Connellsville now 
 stands. The crossing was effected on the 
 30th, and the army pursued a north- 
 easterly course and passed through 
 where the town of Mount Pleasant 
 now stands, and west of Greens- 
 burg to Bush fork of Turtle Creek 
 Here Braddock left the Nemacolin 
 Trail and turning to the westward 
 encamped about two miles distant from 
 the Monongahela River. Here Washing- 
 
80 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 ton joined him on the evening of July 
 8th, he having come forward with a de- 
 tachment of ioo men with packhorses 
 and provisions on July 3d, and was haul- 
 ed to this place in a covered wagon. 
 
 At 3 o'clock on the morning of July 
 gth Col. Thomas Gage led the advance 
 and crossed to the west bank of the Mon- 
 ongahela by 8 o'clock, with a body of 
 300 men. He was immediately followed 
 by another body of 200 men. Next came 
 the general with the column of artillery, 
 the main body of the army and the bag- 
 gage. This crossing: was near the site 
 of the present town of McKeesport. The 
 army then marched down three miles and 
 halted to take dinner. Washington de- 
 scribes the march and manoeuvers of 
 the army at this place to be the grandest 
 sight he had ever beheld. The recross- 
 ing was effected just below the mouth of 
 Turtle Creek, and by 1 o'clock the whole 
 had recrossed the river. 
 
 The Assault. 
 
 Almost at this moment a sharp fire 
 was heard upon the advance party, under 
 Col. Gage, who was now ascending the 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 81 
 
 hill about ioo yards from the terminus 
 of the plain. A heavy fire of musketry 
 was poured in upon his troops by an in- 
 visible foe. The fire was returned at 
 random, consequently to no effect. The 
 advance became panic stricken and fell 
 back, the officers all the while trying in 
 vain to cause a rally and restore order. 
 For nearly three hours the troops hud- 
 dled together in confusion in the narrow 
 pass and were being shot down by the 
 enemy hidden in the ravines on each side. 
 The Virginia provincials, understanding 
 the Indian mode of warfare, would have 
 taken to the trees and routed the enemy 
 had Braddock permitted. He de- 
 nounced them as cowards and dastards 
 for treeing, and even struck many of 
 them down with his sword, an act for 
 which he soon paid the penalty, as the 
 sequel will show. 
 
 In the confusion of the battle more 
 than half of the whole army were either 
 killed or wounded, two-thirds of them 
 being shot down by their own men. 
 Braddock had four horses killed under 
 him and at last, while on the fifth, he re- 
 ceived a mortal wound which shattered 
 his right arm and penetrated his lungs. 
 
82 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 He was carried from the field. Had it 
 not been for the devotedness of his aide, 
 Capt. Orme, and the fidelity of Capt. 
 Stewart, of Virginia, who was in com- 
 mand of the light horse, the fallen gen- 
 eral would have had his wish gratified, 
 "that the scene of his disaster would also 
 witness his death." He was wrapped in 
 a silken sash taken from about his waist, 
 which English officers were wont to 
 carry, and was carried off the field by his 
 faithful body servant, Bishop, whom, in 
 his dying moments, he bequeathed to 
 Washington. 
 
 The silken sash in which he was borne 
 from the field was kept, and after the 
 Mexican war was presented to Gen. 
 Zachary Taylor from whom it descended 
 to his daughter, Mrs. Betty Dandridge, 
 in whose possession it remained until 
 her death. 
 
 The Deadly Result. 
 
 Out of eighty-nine commissioned offi- 
 cers twenty-six were killed and thirty- 
 seven wounded, and of the soldiers 430 
 were killed and about 400 wounded, 
 the killed being in excess of the wound- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 83 
 
 ed. Every field officer, and every one on 
 horseback, except Washington, who had 
 two horses killed under him and four 
 bullets through his coat, was either kill- 
 ed or carried off the field wounded. 
 Washington that day rode upon a pillow, 
 so enfeebled and emaciated was he from 
 the attack of fever; and yet, with great 
 coolness, at the head of the provincials, 
 he formed and covered the retreat. 
 
 Sir Peter Halket and the gallant young 
 secretary, Shirley, were among the kill- 
 ed. Captain Orme saved his journal, 
 which is now so highly prized as being 
 an authentic and continuous record of 
 this unfortunate campaign. All the artil- 
 lery, ammunition, baggage and stores, to- 
 gether with the dead and the dying were 
 left on the fatal field. All the secre- 
 tary's papers, with all the commanding 
 general's orders, instructions and cor- 
 respondence, together with the military 
 chest, containing twenty-five thousand 
 pounds in money, fell into the hands of 
 the French. The Pennsylvania wagoners 
 escaped to a man on their fleetest horses, 
 some arriving at Dunbar's camp, a dis- 
 tance of 40 miles, by 10 o'clock the next 
 morning, and one or two wounded offi- 
 
84 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 cers were carried into camp before noon 
 of this same day. 
 
 The French Contingent. 
 
 M. de Contrecour was in chief com- 
 mand at Fort Duquesne, under whom 
 were De Beaujeu and Charles de Lang- 
 dale. De Beaujeu, at the head of a force 
 of 250 French and 650 Indians, marched 
 out of Fort Duquesne at 9 o'clock on 
 the morning of July 9th, and by half 
 past twelve o'clock found himself in the 
 presence of the English. De Beaujeu 
 fell early in the battle and soon expired, 
 and Dumas being next in command, led 
 the attack after De Beaujeu fell. The 
 loss of the French was slight, but fell 
 chiefly on the officers, three of whom 
 were killed and four wounded. Of the 
 regular soldiers all but four escaped 
 unwounded. The Canadians suffered 
 still less in proportion to their number. 
 The Indians, who won the victory, bore 
 the principal loss. 
 
 The remnant of Braddock's defeated 
 army attempted to make a rally on the 
 west side of the river to await reinforce- 
 ments from Col. Dunbar, but in this they 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 85 
 
 utterly failed. The Indians made no at- 
 tempt to pursue the retreating army, but 
 contented themselves with scalping and 
 pillaging the dead. From this place 
 Washington was ordered on to Dunbar 
 for wagons, provisions and hospital 
 stores. He rode all nig'ht in the rain and 
 darkness and reached Dunbar at day- 
 break. , 
 
 Braddock was borne on a litter and 
 reached Gist's plantation by 10 o'clock 
 the next evening and lay at the Indian's 
 spring that night awaiting surgical aid 
 from Dunbar. Early in the night suc- 
 ceeding the battle many reached the de- 
 serted settlement of Gist. Here they 
 met wagons and provisions with Wash- 
 ington and a detachment of soldiers from 
 Dunbar. These Braddock ordered to 
 proceed to the relief of the stragglers 
 still left behind. 
 
 Sir John Sinclair was borne into Dun- 
 bar's camp on the ioth, on a sheet, and 
 Braddock was moved up the following 
 day. Col. Dunbar, with Major Chapman, 
 had been left at the Little Meadows, to 
 follow on by easy stages with the heavy 
 ordnance and supplies. They passed 
 Fort Necessity on the 2nd of July, and 
 
86 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 formed his final encampment on the sum- 
 mit of Laurel Hill, a flat piece of land in 
 close proximity to a fine spring, and 
 within a few hundred yards of the fatal 
 action with Jumonville. 
 
 The panic-stricken fugitives came 
 pouring into the encampment of Dun- 
 bar; the drums beat to arms, the fright 
 became contagious, and disorder reigned 
 supreme. By order of Braddock barrels 
 of powder, amounting to 50,000 pounds, 
 were staved and the contents thrown in- 
 to a pool which had formed below the 
 spring; the shells were bursted and about 
 150 wagons were burned to prevent them 
 falling into the hands of the enemy. Col. 
 Dunbar, in his report to Governor Shir- 
 ley, states positively that there was not 
 a gun of any kind buried. Many balls, 
 bayonets and pieces of shells have been 
 gathered up from the camp, and scarcely 
 a museum of the state but contains many 
 specimens. One collector has in his pos- 
 session the half of a forty-pound shell 
 which was made for an eight-inch gttn, 
 and two solid shot weighing 12 pounds 
 each. These bear the English mark of 
 the "Broad Arrow." 
 
 Since the removal of the Soldiers' 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 87 
 
 Orphan school to the immediate neigh- 
 borhood of the camp, in 1875, there have 
 been collected enough pieces of shell 
 and balls from which two small cannons 
 were moulded. These weigh about 200 
 pounds each. One is in Pittsburg and 
 the other is mounted and kept at the 
 school, where it is used for firing salutes. 
 One of these small cannons was present- 
 ed to the Abe Patterson Post No. 88 G. 
 A. R., of Allegheny City. It was mount- 
 ed on lumber taken from Perry's fleet. 
 
 The retreat from Dunbar's camp was 
 begun on the 13th, and by the same 
 route as the advance had been made. An 
 encampment was made at the Old Orch- 
 ard, the same place as Braddock had en- 
 camped on his way out. Braddock was 
 silent all the first day after the defeat, 
 and at night only said : "Who would 
 have thought it?" All the next day he 
 he was again silent, till at last he mut- 
 tered : "We shall know better how to 
 deal with them the next time," and died 
 in a few minutes after. Before breathing 
 his last the dying general bequeathed 
 his favorite charger and his body ser- 
 vant, Bishop, to Washington in recogni- 
 tion of his faithfulness as a staff officer. 
 
88 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 General Braddock's Death and Burial. 
 
 General Braddock died on Sunday 
 evening about 8 o'clock. July 13, 1755. 
 He was wrapped in his cloak as a winding- 
 sheet and buried at daybreak on Monday 
 morning, at the camp, in the middle of 
 the road, that the army in passing over 
 the grave might obliterate every trace 
 of its whereabouts, and thus avoid any 
 desecration of the body by the Indians. 
 The chaplain having been wounded, 
 Washington read the Episcopal funeral 
 service, and the dead general was buried 
 with the honors of war. A few days 
 after the retreat of Dunbar the French 
 sent out a party who advanced as far as 
 the deserted camp, and proceeded to 
 complete the destruction of everything 
 destructible that could be found. 
 
 Braddock's Slayer. 
 
 It has always been related that one 
 Thomas Fossit fired the fatal shot that 
 caused the death of General Braddock. 
 Fossit was a soldier in Captain Chol- 
 mondeley's company, having enlisted at 
 Shippensburg, Pa. He was a large man, 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 89 
 
 of great strength, rude habits and strong 
 passions. He had a brother Joseph who 
 was also in the same company. In the 
 engagement at Braddock's field the pro- 
 vincials took to the trees, in Indian 
 fashion, and were doing good execution, 
 but Braddock cursed them as dastards 
 and cowards and cut many of them down 
 with his sword. Tom Fossit saw the 
 reckless general cut his brother down, 
 and this was more than a man of his 
 temperament could endure. He sought 
 and obtained revenge. Fossit took up a 
 tract of ioo acres of land at the junction 
 of Braddock's and Dunlap's roads on the 
 summit of Laurel Hill. This included 
 the site of "Rock Fort" or "Big Rock" 
 and ''Washington Springs." Here he kept 
 a tavern for several years. He sold his 
 rights to this tract April 29, 1788, to 
 Isaac Phillips for the sum of fifty pounds. 
 This stand was afterward known as 
 Slack's tavern, and was considered a 
 good stand until the National Road was 
 opened over the mountains. In October, 
 1816, Fossit was a pauper at Thomas 
 Mitchell's, in Wharton township, and 
 claimed then to be 104 years of age. He 
 made his final home with Thomas Stew- 
 
90 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 art, not far distant from Ohio Pyle, and 
 at whose home he died at the remarkable 
 age of 109 years. When intoxicated he 
 would often relate the scenes of Brad- 
 dock's defeat, and in obscure language 
 hint to the circumstances of firing the 
 fatal shot. He was said to have been 
 married three times, and that two of his 
 wives were killed by the Indians, and 
 that his favorite, as he termed his "little 
 Dutch wife,' was tomahawked before his 
 eyes. He died about 1820. 
 
 The Continued Retreat. 
 
 The retreating army encamped at Lit- 
 tle Meadows the following night after 
 Braddock's death, a distance of 32 miles 
 from Old Orchard Camp. Col. Dunbar 
 arrived at Fort Cumberland by the 18th 
 of July, and remained there until the 2nd 
 of August. While here he was met with 
 earnest requests from the governors of 
 Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia 
 that he Avould post his troops on the 
 frontier so as to afford some protection 
 to the inhabitants. To all these en- 
 treaties Dunbar turned a deaf ear, and 
 continued his hasty march through the 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 91 
 
 country, not considering himself safe un- 
 til he arrived at Philadelphia. 
 
 The Scattered Army. 
 
 Washington remained at Fort Cumber- 
 land for a few days, being in feeble 
 health and still suffering from the effects 
 of his illness. While here he wrote the 
 following letter to Governor Dinwiddie : 
 
 Fort Cumberland, July 18, 1755. 
 Honorable Sir: — 
 
 As I am favored with an opportunity, 
 I should think myself inexcusable were I 
 to omit giving you some account of our 
 late action with the French on the Mon- 
 ongahela, the 9th instant. We conduct- 
 ed our march from Fort Cumberland to 
 Frazer's, which is about seven miles from 
 Fort Duquesne, without meeting any ex- 
 traordinary event, having only a strag- 
 gler or two picked up by the French 
 Indians. When we came to this place 
 we were attacked (very unexpectedly I 
 must own) by about 300 French and 
 Indians. Our number consisted of about 
 1300 chosen men, well armed, chiefly 
 regulars who were immediately struck 
 
92 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 with such a deadly panic that nothing 
 but confusion and disobedience of orders 
 prevailed among them. The officers in 
 general behaved with incomparable brav- 
 ery, for which they greatly suffered, 
 there being nearly 60 killed and wound- 
 ed, a large proportion out of the number 
 we had. 
 
 Our poor Virginians behaved like men 
 and died like soldiers, for T believe out 
 of three companies that were there that 
 day scarce 30 were left alive. Capt. Pol- 
 son shared almost as hard a fate, for 
 only one of his escaped ; in short the 
 dastardly behavior of the English sol- 
 diers exposed all those that were inclin- 
 ed to do their duty to almost certain 
 death, and at length, in despite of every 
 effort, broke and ran like sheep before 
 the hounds, leaving the artillery, am- 
 munition and provisions and every indi- 
 vidual thing amongst us as a prey for 
 the enemy; and when we endeavored to 
 rally them, in hopes of regaining our in- 
 valuable loss, it was with as much suc- 
 cess as if we had attempted to stop the 
 w r ild boars on the mountains. 
 
 The General was wounded behind the 
 shoulder and in the breast, of which he 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 93 
 
 died the third day after. His two aids-de- 
 camp were both wounded, but are in a 
 fair way of recovery. Col. Burton and 
 Sir John Sinclair were also wounded and 
 I hope will get over it. 
 
 Sir Peter Halket, with many other 
 brave officers, was killed on the field. I. 
 luckily, escaped without a wound, 
 though I had four bullets through my 
 coat and two horses shot under me. 
 
 It is supposed we left 300 or more 
 dead on the field; about that number we 
 brought off wounded, and it is imagined, 
 with great notice too, that two-thirds of 
 both these numbers received their shots 
 from our own cowardly dogs of soldiers 
 who gathered themselves into a body, 
 contrary to orders, ten or twelve deep; 
 would then level and fire and shoot down 
 the men before them. 
 
 I tremble at the conseqeunce this de- 
 feat may have on the back inhabitants, 
 who I suppose will all leave their habi- 
 tations unless proper measures are 
 taken for their security. Col. Dunbar, 
 who commands at present, intends as 
 soon as his men are recruited at this 
 place, to continue his march to Phila- 
 delphia into winter quarters, so that 
 
94 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 there will be none left here unless the 
 poor remains of the Virginia troops who 
 now are and will be too small to guard 
 our frontier. 
 
 As Capt. Orme is now writing to your 
 Honor I doubt not that he will g'ive you 
 a circumstantial account of all things 
 which will make it needless for me to 
 add more than that I am, Honorable Sir, 
 Your most humble servant, 
 Geo. Washington. 
 
 He then retired to Mt. Vernon, where 
 he arrived on the 26th day of July. Col. 
 Dunbar returned to England, where in 
 November following he was suspended 
 because of his injudicious retreat, and 
 was sent into honorable retirement as 
 lieutenant governor of Gibraltar. He 
 was never again actively employed, and 
 died in 1777. 
 
 By the defeat of Braddock and the 
 withdrawal of the troops the frontiers of 
 Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia 
 were left in unutterable gloom. The 
 most westward forts were Fort Cumber- 
 land and Fort Ligonier, and behind these 
 the inhabitants shut themselves far east 
 of their western boundaries. This condi- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 95 
 
 tion of affairs continued until in Novem- 
 ber. 1758, when Brig. Gen. John Forbes 
 crossed the mountains at Ligonier and 
 settled forever the dispute for the Ohio 
 Valley. 
 
 Some of the Participants. 
 
 One Samuel Jenkins, who was born a 
 slave and was the property of Captain 
 Broadwater, of Fairfax County, Virginia, 
 drove a provision train over the moun- 
 tains in the Braddock campaign. He 
 died in Lancaster, Ohio, on the 4th of 
 February, 1849, at the advanced age of 
 115 years. He doubtless was the last 
 survivor of this ill-fated campaign. 
 
 Owen Davis was the owner and driver 
 of a team in this expedition. He settled 
 on Georges Creek, where he built a mill, 
 Avhich he replaced by a far better one in 
 1795. This mill was erected very near 
 the site of what is recently known as the 
 Ruble mill. Mr. Davis died December 
 22,, 1809, in the 85th year of his age, and 
 was buried on his farm, near the Ruble 
 mill. 
 
 Sir John Sinclair was shot through the 
 bodv and carried to Fort Cumberland. 
 
96 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 He afterward fully recovered and ac- 
 companied Gen. Forbes in his expedition 
 against Fort Duquesne, and the very 
 best eulogy that general could pass upon 
 Sir John was that "his only talent was 
 for throwing everything into confusion." 
 One other accomplishment might have 
 been mentioned, that "he could, on the 
 least provocation, use the vilest and 
 most profane language." 
 
 Sir Peter Halket, of Pitcairn, had 
 ominous forebodings as to the result of 
 the coming conflict, and had earnestly 
 pressed upon his general the importance 
 of guarding against an ambuscade. He 
 was captain of the 44th regiment of foot 
 and was in command of the First Bri- 
 gade. In the engagement he was killed 
 from his horse while directing the move- 
 ments of his- men. Two of his sons were 
 fighting under his command, one of 
 which, Lieutenant James Halket, hasten- 
 ed at the moment to his aid, and, bend- 
 ing to raise the prostrate form, he too 
 was pierced by a bullet from the invis- 
 ible foe and fell dead across the prostrate 
 form of his father. 
 
 When Erig. Gen. John Forbes march- 
 ed his army out in the fall of 1758 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 97 
 
 against Fort Duquesne, there accompani- 
 ed him a son of Sir Peter Halket, who 
 was also Sir Peter Halket, acting at this 
 time as aide-de-camp to Gen. Forbes, a 
 major of the 42nd regiment. His mis- 
 sion on this occasion to America was 
 principally to ascertain more definitely 
 the fate of his father. In company with 
 other officers of the Highland regiment 
 and a company of Pennsylvania rifles, 
 under Captain West and a few Indians 
 from the neighborhood who had fought 
 with the French on that fatal day, they 
 proceeded to the scene of the conflict. 
 One of the Indian guides had seen Sir 
 Peter fall and had also witnessed the 
 sad fate of the son and had no difficulty 
 in identifying the spot. The thick- fallen 
 leaves were removed and the two ghastly 
 skeletons of father and son discovered 
 as they had fallen. Upon examination, 
 young Halket identified the remains of 
 his father by a peculiar artificial tooth 
 and exclaimed "it is my father" and sank 
 into the arms of his scarce less affected 
 companions. The two remains were 
 wrapped in a Highland plaid and inter- 
 red in a common grave and a voile}' was 
 fired over their resting places. A stone 
 
98 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 was placed to mark the sacred spot and 
 the little company marched silently and 
 sadly away. For more than a century 
 that stone remained to indicate to the 
 visitor of this historic ground the last 
 resting place of one of England's bravest 
 soldiers and Scotland's noblest sons. 
 
 Fort Cumberland Continued. 
 
 After the retirement of the troops un- 
 der Col. Dunbar from Fort Cumberland 
 a garrison was still maintained at that 
 post for the protection of the frontier 
 settlers. Col. James Innes held com- 
 mand there until in May, 1756, when he 
 placed the command with Major James 
 Livingston. Col. Adam Stephens suc- 
 ceeded Major Livingston in the fall of 
 1756. About the 1st of February, 1757, 
 Washington, then commander-in-chief of 
 the Virginia forces, established his head- 
 quarters at Fort Cumberland, where he 
 remained until the middle of April, when 
 Capt. Dagworthy was placed in com- 
 mand. 
 
 Marauding parties of Indians and 
 French continued to harass the frontier, 
 penetrating far eastward of Fort Cum- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 99 
 
 berland, murdering, scalping and plund- 
 ering even in sight of the walls of the 
 fort. Sieur Langlade, at the head of a 
 detachment of French and Indians, ad- 
 vanced as far as Fort Cumberland in Au- 
 gust, 1756, to ascertain the movements 
 of the English, and after reconnoitering 
 the locality retired without doing seri- 
 ous damage. Sieur de Celeron de Blain- 
 ville, with a scouting party, encountered 
 some English near the fort in August. 
 Three of the English were killed and 
 scalped ; de Blainville and three Indians 
 were killed. A detachment under de 
 Celeron penetrated as far as Cresap's 
 Post, some 15 miles east of Fort Cumber- 
 land, and killed eight English. 
 
 About the middle of July, 1765, the 
 last British troops were withdrawn from 
 Fort Cumberland, and the frontier set- 
 tlers were left to their own resources. 
 This state of affairs, happily, was of 
 short duration, as a treaty of peace be- 
 tween the whites and Indians was effect- 
 ed early in 1776. 
 
 When what is known as the "Whiskey 
 Insurrection" took place in Western 
 Pennsylvania in 1794, the President or- 
 dered out some government troops for 
 
100 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 its suppression. Some of the troops were 
 quartered for a short time at Fort Cum- 
 berland. While here they were inspect- 
 ed by General Washington on the 19th 
 of October, with Generals Lee and Mor- 
 gan, General Washington appearing in 
 full uniform. This is the last body of 
 troops that ever occupied Fort Cumber- 
 land, and is said to be the last time in 
 which Washington appeared in full uni- 
 form. 
 
 The stone structure, known as the 
 Emmanuel Episcopal church, now oc- 
 cupies a portion of the site of old Fort 
 Cumberland. 
 
 General Washington, on his visit to 
 the west in 1784, sought to visit the last 
 resting place of his former commander, 
 through respect for the same, but his 
 search was in vain. He wrote: "I made 
 diligent search for the grave, but the 
 road had been so much turned and the 
 clear land so much extended that it 
 could not be found." 
 
 Mr. Abraham Stewart, father of the 
 Hon. Andrew Stewart, was road super- 
 visor, and in 1804, while repairing the 
 Braddock road at this place, found hu- 
 man bones a few yards from the road. 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 101 
 
 The military trappings found with them 
 indicated that the remains were those of 
 a British officer of rank, and as General 
 Braddock was known to have been buri- 
 ed at this camp the bones doubtless were 
 his. These bones were carefully gather- 
 ed up and reinterred a short dis- 
 tance eastward from the place 
 they were found, at the foot of 
 an oak tree. Mr. Stewart caused a 
 board to be marked "Braddock's Grave," 
 which was nailed to the tree. This tree 
 was broken off during a severe storm 
 about 1868. Mr. Josiah King, editor of 
 the Pittsburgh Gazette, frequently spent 
 a few weeks' vacation at Chalk Hill, in 
 the vicinity of the grave of General 
 Braddock, and noticing the dilapidated 
 condition of this historic spot, made ar- 
 rangements to have it enclosed by a neat 
 and substantial fence. In 1872 he pro- 
 cured from Murdock's nursery a wil- 
 low whose parent stem drooped over the 
 grave of the Emperor Napoleon at St. 
 Helena and planted it over the remains 
 of General Braddock, but unfortunately 
 it soon withered and died. He then 
 planted a number of pine trees within 
 the enclosure, which still remain to in- 
 
102 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 dicate to the passerby the last resting 
 place of Major General Edward Brad- 
 dock. 
 
 The British government has never 
 taken the slightest notice of the spot 
 where sleep the remains of one who 
 gave his service and his life for the Eng- 
 lish cause. The situation is on the 
 north side and a few yards from the Na- 
 tion al Road, and a few rods east of where 
 Braddock's run crosses that road, and 
 about nine miles east of Uniontown. 
 
 ''Far from the land he called his own, 
 Nor friends nor kindred o'er him weep ; 
 
 A group of forest trees alone, 
 Stand sentinels around his keep." 
 
 General Braddock's Watch. 
 
 The gold watch-case of which the 
 above is an illustration was found near 
 the route of Braddock's retreating army 
 in 1880, near a fine spring. 
 
 The case is a fine specimen of the en- 
 graver's skill and illustrates the legend 
 of "The Judgment of Paris." Paris is 
 represented in a sitting posture : with 
 his right hand he is presenting the gold- 
 en apple to Venus who stands before 
 
Braddock's Watch 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 103 
 
 him. Beneath his feet are the figures of 
 a dog and a quiver of arrows. Between 
 Paris and Venus is the figure of Cupid. 
 In the rear of Venus are the figures of 
 Hera and Athens,, the rivals of Venus. 
 The owl, the helmet, the shield and two 
 peafowls are also represented. 
 
 It bears the name of the engraver, 
 George Michael Moser, who excelled in 
 his profession and flourished in the time 
 of Braddock. 
 
 The dying general was carried along 
 Avith the retreating army and doubtless 
 this watch dropped from his pocket and 
 was picked up by one of the frightened 
 soldiers and hidden near a spring ex- 
 pecting some day to recover it, but the 
 opportunity never came. 
 
 The works of the watch were corrod- 
 ed away when found and the case is 
 now kept as a relic of that ill-fated ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 On July 4th, 1908, a tablet was erect- 
 ed to mark the grave of General Brad- 
 dock containing the following inscrip- 
 tion : 
 
 Here lie the mortal remains of 
 Major General Braddock, 
 
104 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 who in command of the Forty-fourth and 
 Forty-eighth regiments of English regu- 
 lars, was mortally wounded in an en- 
 gagement with the French and Indians 
 under the command of de Beaujeu at the 
 battle of the Monongahela, within ten 
 miles of Fort Duquesne, July 9, 1755. 
 
 He was borne back with the retreating 
 army to the Old Orchard camp, where 
 he died July 13, 1755. 
 
 Erected July 4, 1908, under the auspi- 
 ces of the Centennial Celebration com- 
 mittee of 1904. 
 
 The Site of Braddock's Grave to be Made 
 a Park. 
 
 In 1909, a number of spirited citizens 
 of Uniontown, Pa., organized an associa- 
 tion to be known as "The General Ed- 
 ward Braddock Memorial Park Asso- 
 ciation." The officers chosen were Ed- 
 gar S. Hackney, cashier of the First Na- 
 tional Bank, president; James Hadden, 
 secretary and treasurer; and Edgar S. 
 Hackney, James Hadden, W. C. Mc- 
 Cormick, Chas. S. Seaton, Isaac W. Se- 
 mans, E. H. Reppert, J. C. Work, W. A. 
 Stone, and William Hunt, directors. 
 
Braddock's Grave 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 105 
 
 Twenty-four acres of land, including 
 the grave, have been secured by the as- 
 sociation with the purpose of embellish- 
 ing and preserving this historic spot. 
 
106 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A Sketch of Thos. Fausett, the Slayer of 
 
 Major General Edward Braddock, who 
 
 Became a Resident of Fayette 
 
 County, Pa. 
 
 The English Attempt to Drive the 
 French from the Ohio Valley. 
 
 "Circumstances make strange bedfel- 
 lows," and it was under peculiar circum- 
 stances that the name of Tom Fausett 
 has become inseparably connected with 
 that of the brave officer of the famous 
 Cold Stream Guards, Major General Ed- 
 ward Braddock. 
 
 When France began the erection of a 
 cordon of posts along the Allegheny and 
 Ohio rivers with the purpose of taking 
 possession of the great Mississippi val- 
 ley, England was aroused to the fact 
 that unless active measures be immedi- 
 atelv taken she must forfeit all her 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 107 
 
 claims to this vast and fertile portion of 
 the new world. 
 
 English traders had been driven from 
 their trading posts on the Ohio and oth- 
 ers had been carried away as prisoners 
 by the French, when Robert Dinwiddie, 
 then governor of the province of Virginia, 
 commissioned George Washington, then 
 just twenty-one years of age, as an en- 
 voy to the French posts at the head of 
 the Allegheny River to demand of the 
 commandant of the French forces the 
 purpose of their encroachment upon the 
 territory claimed by the English crown, 
 and to demand his immediate removal. 
 
 Being apprised of the intentions of 
 the French, the governor of Virginia im- 
 mediately dispatched a small force under 
 the command of Captain Trent, Lieuten- 
 ant Frasher and Ensign Ward, to take 
 possession of the Forks of the Ohio, and 
 to hold the same against the intrusion of 
 'the French. 
 
 Ward began the construction of a 
 small fort, but before its completion the 
 French dropped down the Allegheny in 
 great numbers and Ward, who was the 
 only officer present at the time, was com- 
 pelled to surrender without a blow, and 
 
108 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 retraced his steps to Virginia, and the 
 French began the construction of a fort 
 which they named Fort Duquesne. 
 
 At Will's Creek, where the city of 
 Cumberland now stands, Ward was met 
 by Washington, who, in command of a 
 small force, was on his way to the forks 
 with reinforcements. 
 
 Washington Fights His First Battle and 
 Defeats the French. 
 
 On reaching the Great Meadows, fifty- 
 one miles west of Will's Creek, Washing- 
 ton learned that a body of French had 
 been seen not a great distance off, and by 
 the aid of a few friendly Indians under 
 the command of their chief, the Half- 
 King, who were encamped at the Great 
 Rock on the crest of Laurel Hill, he was 
 enabled to surprise them in their se- 
 cluded encampment. Here an engage- 
 ment took place at sunrise on the morn- 
 ing of the 28th of May, 1754, in which 
 Jumonville, the commander of the 
 French party, and nine others were kill- 
 ed, one wounded and twenty-one taken 
 prisoners, among whom were M. La 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 109 
 
 Force, M. Drouillion and two cadets; 
 one, a Canadian, escaped. 
 
 This was the first battle in which 
 Washington was ever engaged, and was 
 the initial battle of the great French and 
 Indian war. 
 
 When the news of the defeat of Ju- 
 monville reached Fort Duquesne great 
 activity prevailed and a force was sent 
 against Washington under the command 
 of M. Conlon de Villiers, who was a half- 
 brother to Jumonville. This force came 
 up the Monongahela River in large canoes 
 to the mouth of Redstone Creek, thence 
 passing the place of the engagement 
 with Jumonville to the Great Meadows, 
 to which place Washington had retreat- 
 ed and erected a small stockade which 
 he named Fort Necessity. Here on the 
 third day of July, 1754, the French 
 forces made an attack, and owing to 
 the distressed condition of his little 
 army, Washington capitulated; this be- 
 ing the first as well as the last time 
 Washington ever surrendered to a foe. 
 
 News of this defeat was soon heralded 
 to England and preparations were im- 
 mediately made to send two regiments 
 of trained soldiers to recover what the 
 
HO WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 provincial troops had failed to accomp- 
 lish. 
 
 General Braddock Lands in America. 
 
 Major General Edward Braddock had 
 entered the British army at the age of 
 fifteen years as a member of the Cold 
 Stream Guards, a very aristocratic, di- 
 vision of the army. He was commis- 
 sioned general-in-chief of His Majesty's 
 forces in North America and arrived at 
 Alexandria in Virginia, February 20, 
 1755. Two regiments of the royal army, 
 consisting of the Forty-fourth and Forty- 
 eighth, to which were added such pro- 
 vincials as might be recruited from 
 Maryland and Virginia were moved 
 against the French at the Forks of the 
 Ohio, where they had erected Fort Du- 
 quesne immediately after the surrender 
 of Ward as before mentioned, and thence 
 to Canada. 
 
 After a long, tedious and laborious 
 march, consuming more than a month 
 from the time he left Fort Cumberland, 
 General Braddock arrived at the Mon- 
 ongahela River, a short distance below 
 the present town of McKeesport. The 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 11 1 
 
 army crossed to the left bank of the 
 river; here the maneuvers of the troops 
 presented the grandest military display 
 Washington claimed it was ever his pri- 
 vilege to behold. The burnished arms 
 of the marching- columns flashed in the 
 light of the mornino- sun as they step- 
 ped to the strains of martial music, and 
 the proud British general little thought 
 that within a few short hours these dis- 
 ciplined troops in which he now reposed 
 so much confidence would be fleeing in 
 disorder before a horde of yelling sav- 
 ages. 
 
 The army had scarcely recrossed to 
 the right bank of the river, just below 
 the mouth of Turtle Creek, and within 
 ten miles of the fort which they ex- 
 pected to enter in triumph the following 
 day, when a brisk fire was received from 
 an unseen foe. Braddock's troops re- 
 sponded, but to little effect and the en- 
 gagement which lasted for three hours 
 was most furious. 
 
 Braddock Meets a Disastrous Defeat. 
 
 More than half of the army was either 
 killed or wounded, two-thirds of them 
 
112 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 being shot down by their own men. 
 Braddock had four horses killed under 
 him; at last, while on the fifth, he re- 
 ceived a mortal wound which shattered 
 his right arm and penetrated his lungs. 
 He was wrapped in a silken sash taken 
 from about his Avaist, which English offi- 
 cers were wont to carry, and by his aids, 
 Captain Orme and Captain Stewart of 
 Virginia, assisted by his faithful body 
 servant, Bishop, whom in his dying mo- 
 ments he bequeathed to Washington, he 
 was carried off the field. This silken 
 sash was later presented to General 
 Zachary Taylor and contains woven in 
 its meshes the initials "E. B." and is 
 marked with blood stains of that un- 
 fortunate general. It was in the posses- 
 sion of Mrs. Bettie Dandridge. the 
 daughter of President Taylor, of Win- 
 chester, Va., until her death. 
 
 Out of eighty-nine commissioned offi- 
 cers twenty-six were killed and thirty- 
 seven wounded, and of the soldiers four 
 hundred and thirty were killed and 
 about four hundred wounded, the killed 
 being in excess of the wounded. Every 
 field officer and every one on horseback 
 except Washington, who had two horses 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 113 
 
 killed under him and four bullets through 
 his coat, was either killed or carried off 
 the field wounded. Washington, al- 
 though enfeebled and emaciated from 
 fever, formed and covered the retreat. 
 
 The officers endeavored in vain to ral- 
 ly the distracted troops, and to intimi- 
 date others ran the fugitives through 
 with the sword, and were in turn killed 
 by others. One eye witness declared 
 that the slaughter among the officers was 
 not made by the enemy, but as they had 
 run several fugitives through the body to 
 intimidate the rest, when they were at- 
 tempting in vain to rally them, some oth- 
 ers who expected the same fate fired 
 their pieces with deadly effect. 
 
 During the whole of the engagement 
 Braddock raved and swore and cursed 
 his troops as dastards and cowards. The 
 provincials, being acquainted with the 
 Indian mode of warfare, had taken to 
 the trees and were doing good execution, 
 but Braddock ordered them to stand out, 
 as he said, "like English soldiers" and 
 fight in the open. He struck many of 
 them down with his sword, among whom 
 was Joseph Fausett, a brother to the 
 
114 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 subject of this sketch, and for which act 
 he paid the penalty with his life. 
 
 Braddock was described as "desperate 
 in his fortune, brutal in his behavior and 
 obstinate in his sentiments." His secre- 
 tary writes of him before the battle "We 
 have a general most judiciously chosen 
 for being disqualified for the service in 
 which he is employed in almost every re- 
 spect." 
 
 Tom Fausett Fires the Fatal Shot. 
 
 Thomas Fausett and his brother, Jo- 
 seph Fausett, were enlisted as privates 
 at six pence a day, at Shippensburg, 
 Pennsylvania, by Captain William Pol- 
 son, who had served under Washington 
 in the expedition of 1754, into Captain 
 Cholmondeley's company of the 48th 
 regiment, and marched with the advance 
 of Braddock's army to the fatal field. 
 
 During the engagement Tom witness- 
 ed the fearful slaughter of the army by 
 the unseen foe, the raving madness of 
 his commander and the striking down 
 of his brother for no other offense than 
 that of fighting in the only successful 
 manner against the Indians. This was 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS H5 
 
 too much for a man of his temperament 
 to stand and he determined at once to 
 have revenge and at the same time to 
 put an end to the terrible carnage for 
 which the officers had pleaded in vain. 
 He raised his gun and sent the deadly 
 missile crashing through the right arm 
 and into the lungs of Braddock, who as 
 he fell from his horse expressed the wish 
 that the scene of his defeat might wit- 
 ness his death. 
 
 While this rash act of Fausett can 
 never be palliated but deserves hearty 
 condemnation, the affection he had for 
 his brother, the love he bore toward his 
 comrades and countrymen and his ad- 
 miration for Washington appealed to his 
 untutored mind and brutal instinct more 
 forcibly than his loyalty to his com- 
 mander. 
 
 The wounded commander was borne 
 along with the retreating army until 10 
 o'clock of the evening of the following 
 day. when they arrived at Gist's planta- 
 tion, in the exact geographical center of 
 what is now Fayette county. Here he 
 awaited provisions and hospital stores 
 which he had ordered sent forward from 
 Col. Dunbar, who was encamped on the 
 
116 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 summit of Laurel Hill, six miles distant. 
 Braddock still persisted in the exercise 
 of his authority, and on the nth was re- 
 moved to Dunbar's camp which he found 
 to be in the utmost confusion. Here he 
 ordered the provisions and ammunition 
 destroyed lest they fall into the hands of 
 the enemy. One hundred and fifty 
 wagons were burned, the powder casks 
 were staved and their contents, to the 
 amount of 50,000 pounds, cast into the 
 stream. Nothing beyond the actual ne- 
 cessities Of a flying march was saved, 
 and until recent years this has been a 
 fruitful field for the relic seekers. 
 
 Gen. Braddock Dies, and Tom Fausett 
 Locates the Grave 49 Years Afterward. 
 
 On Sunday, the 13th, the army retrac- 
 ed its steps to the Old Orchard Camp 
 where it had halted on its way out. The 
 general softly repeated to himself : "Who 
 would have thought it?" and turning to 
 Orme said, "We shall better know how 
 to deal with them another time." He 
 breathed his last about 8 o'clock on the 
 same night and was wrapped in his cloak 
 as a winding sheet and was buried at 
 daybreak on Monday morning at the 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS H7 
 
 camp in the middle of the road that the 
 army in passing over the grave might 
 obliterate every trace of its whereabouts, 
 and thus avoid any desecration of the 
 body by the Indians. The chaplain hav- 
 ing been wounded, Washington read the 
 Episcopal funeral service and the dead 
 general was buried in the honors of war. 
 Abraham Stewart, father of the late 
 Honorable Andrew Stewart, was road 
 supervisor in Wharton township in 1804, 
 and while repairing the old road at this 
 place Tom Fausett, who had settled in 
 this neighborhood after the retreat of the 
 army, as will be related hereafter, came 
 along where the men were at work and 
 remarked, "If you will dig right there," 
 indicating, "you will find the bones of 
 General Braddock," and sure enough, Mr. 
 Stewart dug as directed and exhumed 
 the bones of the unfortunate general and 
 his military trappings. A merchant hap- 
 pened to witness the discovery and car- 
 ried off one of the largest bones which 
 he placed in Peale's museum in Phila- 
 delphia where it was destroyed by fire. 
 Mr. Stewart carefully reinterred the re- 
 mainder of the bones at a short 
 distance east of the place where 
 
118 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 they were found, at the foot of an 
 oak tree and caused a board to be mark- 
 ed "Braddock's Grave," which was nail 
 ed to the tree. This tree was broken off in 
 a severe storm about 1868. Mr. James 
 Mitchell, a blacksmith, who lived at Mt. 
 Washington, and Mr. Peter Hager, who 
 was raised in the family of Mr. Stewart, 
 with others witnessed the reinterment of 
 Braddock's remains and often related the 
 circumstances to others. 
 
 Mr. Josiah King, editor of the Pitts- 
 burg Gazette, frequently spent a few 
 weeks' vacation at Chalk Hill in the vi- 
 cinity of the grave of General Braddock, 
 and noticing the dilapidated condition of 
 this historic spot, made arrangements 
 with Mr. Dixon, the proprietor of the 
 land, to have it enclosed with a neat and 
 substantial fence. In 1872, he procured 
 from Murdock's nursery a willow whose 
 parent stem drooped over the grave of 
 the Emperor Napoleon. at St. Helena and 
 planted it over the remains of General 
 Braddock, but, unfortunately it soon 
 withered and died. He then planted a 
 number of pine trees within the enclos- 
 ure which still remain to indicate to pas- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 119 
 
 sers-by the last resting place of the un- 
 fortunate general. 
 
 The British government has never tak- 
 en the slightest notice of the spot where 
 sleep the remains of one who gave his 
 service and his life for the English 
 cause. 
 
 ''Far from the land he called his own. 
 Nor friends nor kindred o'er him weep ; 
 
 A group of forest trees alone 
 
 Stand sentinels around his keep." 
 
 The situation is on the north side and 
 a few yards from the National Road and 
 a few rods east of where Braddock's Run 
 crosses that road, about nine miles east 
 of Uniontown. 
 
 Tom Fausett, the slayer of Braddock, 
 was a large, illiterate, muscular man of 
 great strength, rude habits and strong 
 passions. His brother, Joseph, was 
 doubtless the same, and, as before stated, 
 both were enlisted and served in the 
 same company during the expedition. 
 
 When Braddock's retreating army pas- 
 ed over the mountains confusion prevail- 
 ed and many deserted from the ranks, 
 among whom were Tom and Joe Fausett. 
 
120 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 Washington's Springs on the Crest of 
 
 Laurel Hill Once Owned by Tom 
 
 Fausett. 
 
 The next we learn of Tom Fausett we 
 find him located on the summit of Laurel 
 Hill at the junction of Dunlap's Road, 
 which led to the Monongahela River at 
 the mouth of Dunlap's Creek, with the 
 Braddock Road, which here turned 
 abruptly to the north and on to Gist's 
 and to Stewart's Crossing of the Yough- 
 ioghcny River a short distance below the 
 present town of Connellsville. 
 
 This location has always been known 
 as Washington's Springs and was on a 
 tract of 10234 acres of land which was 
 warranted the 17th of September, J 772, 
 to Henry Hunt. Here Fausett conduct- 
 ed a tavern for some years, besides 
 spending much of his time in hunting 
 the wild game so abundant in those 
 days. A writer in the National Intel- 
 ligencer, supposed to have been the late 
 William Darby, Esq., said: "When my 
 father was removing with his family to 
 the west one of the Fausetts kept a pub- 
 lic house eastward from Uniontown, with 
 whom we lodeed about the 10th of Oc- 
 
w 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 121 
 
 tober, 1781, and there it was made any- 
 thing but a secret that he dealt the death 
 blow to the British general. Thirteen 
 years afterwards, 1794, I again met Tom 
 Fausett and put to him the plain ques- 
 tion, 'Did you shoot General Braddock?' 
 and his reply was prompt and explicit, 
 T did shoot him,' and then went on to 
 explain that by so doing he had contri- 
 buted to save what was left of the army. 
 The property rolls of Wharton town- 
 ship give Tom Fausett as located here 
 and having in his possession horses and 
 cows as taxables. How Fausett acquir- 
 ed the right to this tract is not apparent, 
 but on April 29th, 1788, he disposed of it 
 as the following abstract from the public 
 records will show : 
 
 "Know all men by these presents, that 
 T, Thomas Fossit, of the county of Phay- 
 ette and state of Pennsylvania for and in 
 Consideration of the sum of Fifty 
 Pounds to Mee In hand Paid by Isaac 
 Philips of the same Place the Receipt 
 whereof I do acknowledge have Granted, 
 bargained, sold, Releas'd, confirmed and 
 made over all My rite tract of Land and 
 Parcel of Land I now live Upon at the 
 
122 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 forks of the Road on the top of Laurel 
 Hill Known by the name of Washing- 
 ton's Spring adjoining the Lands of 
 Jonathan Hill Els whereby Vacant Land 
 Containing one hundred acres More or 
 less To Have and to Hold the said tract 
 of Land and premises and appertenances 
 thereunto belonging unto the said Isaac 
 Phillips his Heirs and assigns war- 
 ranting and defending it all, Every of My 
 self My heirs or any Claim or Claiming 
 by virtue of My Rite and title to said 
 Land only nevertheless under and Sub- 
 ject to the States and it all other dues 
 and Demands unto which the same are 
 Liable. 
 
 In witness whereof I Have set my 
 
 Hand and seal hereunto. Dated the 29th 
 
 day of April in the year of our Lord one 
 
 Thousand Seven Hundred Eighty Eight. 
 
 his 
 
 THOMAS X FOSSET, seal" 
 
 mark. 
 
 A few years after Fausett had disposed 
 of his claim to the Washington's Springs 
 tract it came into the possession of John 
 Slack who had previously kept a tavern 
 in Uniontown. Slack's tavern stood 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 123 
 
 some little distance south of the Wash- 
 ington's Springs and here he conducted 
 his business for many years. This was 
 a favorite stopping place and was ex- 
 tensively known and patronized by the 
 wagoners on the old road. His daugh- 
 ter, Tamzon, married Ephraim McClean 
 who kept a public house on the summit 
 of Laurel Hill in the palmy days of the 
 old National Road. Slack's place was con- 
 sidered a good stand for the entertain- 
 ment of the traveling public until the 
 completion of the National Road, at which 
 time the old Braddock Road was aban- 
 doned and quiet once more settled over 
 the old Nemacolin Trail. 
 
 Tom Fansett was said to have been 
 married three times and that two of his 
 wives were killed by the Indians, and 
 that his favorite, as he termed her his 
 "little Dutch wife," was tomahawked be- 
 fore his eyes. There is no tradition in 
 this section of the country that he had 
 a wife after settling here, but after re- 
 tiring from the tavern business and dis- 
 posing of his tract of land he remained a 
 citizen of Wharton township, and for 
 some time occupied a cabin on the old 
 Braddock road back of Chalk Hill. This 
 
124 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 old cabin was west of what was long 
 known as the Cushman House, the loca- 
 tion of which is still visible, and still 
 west of his old cabin is a group of im- 
 mense rocks known as the "Peddler's 
 Rocks." With this picturesque group of 
 rocks is connected the legend that at one 
 time a peddler was murdered here for 
 his money and pack of jewelry and other 
 valuables which he carried. His pack 
 and other articles were found secreted 
 among these rocks, but what became of 
 the peddler was never certainly known, 
 but suspicion rested upon more than one 
 of the several persons living in the neigh- 
 borhood of the rocks. 
 
 While Tom Fausett occupied this old 
 cabin, making a precarious living with 
 his gun, he had as his housekeeper an 
 old colored woman who had been a slave. 
 One morning upon calling his house- 
 keeper and receiving no response he went 
 to her couch and found her cold in death. 
 She was buried in a field some distance 
 away between two apple trees, as mark- 
 ers, and as there was no minister pres- 
 ent to conduct the funeral service one of 
 the neighbors deeming it appropriate 
 
Peddler's Rocks 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 125 
 
 that some remarks should be made at the 
 grave, ventured the following: 
 
 "Earth to earth and dust to dust, 
 
 If the Lord wont take her the devil must." 
 
 Joseph Fausett, although struck down 
 with the sword of the enraged Braddock, 
 survived, and also became a resident of 
 Wharton township, and left descendants. 
 One of his sons, Joseph Fausett, Jr., mar- 
 ried Amelia Lynch, daughter of Corneli- 
 us Lynch of Uniontown, who at one 
 time owned and occupied the ground 
 now covered by the Thompson-Ruby 
 building, corner Main and Morgantown 
 streets. This son, Joseph, owned a farm 
 north of Chalk Hill and died young, leav- 
 ing a wife and two small children, Joseph 
 and Elizabeth, the latter of whom is 
 well remembered by the older citizens of 
 Uniontown. The widow, as adminis- 
 tratrix, sold the farm, September 28th, 
 1800, to John Chaplin who in turn con- 
 veyed the same to Jonathan Downer. 
 Another son of the original Joseph Fau- 
 sett was Uriah who left quite a family of 
 which one daughter, Rebecca, made her 
 home in Wharton township until old 
 
126 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 age overtook her when she was sent to 
 the county home, to which institution 
 she was admitted May 17, 1906, and 
 where she died Jan. 9, 1910, aged 84 
 years, having made her home for more 
 than forty years with William Smith and 
 was later the housekeeper of Isaac Spik- 
 er a short distance east of Farmington. 
 
 Tom Fausett Confesses That He Fired 
 the Fatal Shot That Killed Braddock. 
 
 Tom Fausett never denied that he 
 fired the shot that killed Braddock, but 
 upon repeated occasions, especially when 
 in his cups, did he relate the circum- 
 stances which prompted him to commit 
 the deed. Besides the confessions al- 
 ready recited, Mr. Freeman Lewis, who 
 assisted Judge Veech in collecting data 
 in compiling his "Monongahela of Old," 
 recites that he at one time taught a 
 country school and one day when the 
 children were at play he heard the cry of 
 "There's old Tom Fausett, the man who 
 killed Braddock." The children feared 
 him, his appearance and noisiness, es- 
 pecially when intoxicated, being rather 
 terrifying. I knew him and got him to 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 127 
 
 sit down by a tree. He at once began 
 fluttering his fingers over his mouth to 
 imitate the roll of a drum, he soon got at 
 his old rigmarole, which ran about thus : 
 Poor fellows — poor fellows — they are all 
 gone — murdered by a madman — Brad- 
 dock was a madman — he would not let 
 us tree, but made us stand out and be 
 shot down when we could see no In- 
 dians ; — Yes, Braddock was a madman. 
 He said, "No skulking, no treeing, but 
 stand out and give them fair English 
 play." If he had been shot when the bat- 
 tle began and Washington had taken 
 command we would have licked them, — 
 yes, we'd a licked then." "How could 
 you have done that?" I asked. "Why, 
 we'd 'ave charged on them, and driven 
 them out of the brush and peavines, — 
 then we would have seen their red skins 
 and could have peppered them — yes, 
 we'd have peppered their red skins." He 
 would then repeat his "boo-oo-oo my 
 old Virginia Blues — poor fellows — all 
 gone," &c, cvC, and tears would roll over 
 his rough cheeks. 
 
 Fausett often related the circumstances 
 of the killing of Braddock to the late 
 Hon. Andrew Stewart, who served eigh- 
 
128 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 teen years in congress, who when a 
 young man and a resident of Wharton 
 township was intimately acquainted with 
 Fausett, then in his old age. Peter Hag- 
 er, who was raised as a member of the 
 family of Abraham Stewart, and who as- 
 sisted in removing the bones of General 
 Braddock, repeatedly heard Fausett re- 
 late the circumstances of the killing of 
 what he termed the madman. 
 
 The late Basil Brownfield of South 
 Union township, who was born near the 
 present site of Smithfield, related that 
 Tom Fausett frequently visited that lo- 
 cality on hunting expeditions, and that by 
 frequent interviews with him he learned 
 that the Fausetts were at one time resi- 
 dents of the South Branch valley, in the 
 present state of West Virginia, from the 
 neighborhood of the site of Moorefield, 
 and that Tom's principal occupation was 
 that of a hunter. 
 
 One time on returning from a hunting 
 expedition he was horrified at finding his 
 cabin in ashes and the dead and scalped 
 bodies of his wife and children a short 
 distance off where they had been over- 
 taken and slaughtered by the Indians. 
 He could never refer to this incident 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 129 
 
 without manifesting great emotion and 
 tears would roll down his rugged cheeks. 
 He said he could not remain in the vicin- 
 ity where his family had been killed, 
 and removed to Pennsylvania where he 
 and his brother enlisted in Braddock's 
 campaign. 
 
 Mr. Brownfield further related that 
 Fausett was a man of rugged frame, of 
 uninviting features, distant in his man- 
 ners, rarely associating' with others, was 
 not communicative when sober but in- 
 clined to be boisterous and boastful when 
 intoxicated. He frequently related to 
 Mr. Brownfield that he fired the fatal 
 shot at Braddock in revenge for strik- 
 ing his brother and for other offenses. 
 
 It is related that an Indian trader by 
 the name of McCullough used to travel 
 an Indian trail leading from Winchester 
 to the west and the trail became known 
 as McCullough's path. This McCullough 
 was in the habit of supplying the Indi- 
 ans, even in times of war, with knives, 
 hatchets, powder and balls. The set- 
 tlers threatened him for this but he 
 would not desist. Learning when he 
 was to pass that way a number of set- 
 tlers disguised themselves and went in 
 
130 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 pursuit. They caught and threatened him 
 with dire punishment unless he gave up 
 his nefarious traffic. He at first refused 
 to comply with their wishes, but Tom 
 Fausett, being one of the party, caught 
 McCullough in his giant grasp and held 
 him until his tormentors made him prom- 
 ise never more to transgress, and after 
 despoiling him of his peltry, they let him 
 go, and he never was seen again in that 
 region of country. 
 
 Writers upon this unfortunate expedi- 
 tion are wont to cast a doubt as to the 
 manner in which Braddock received his 
 death wound, and produce conflicting- 
 rumors to dispute the statements made 
 by Fausett. No one who was acquaint- 
 ed with Fausett, knew his disposition and 
 habits, doubted his statement as to the 
 death of the British general. Freeman 
 Lewis, previously referred to, stated that 
 his last interview with Fausett was in 
 the month of October, 1816, and that 
 Fausett then claimed to be one hundred 
 and four years of age, and that his ap- 
 pearance bore him out, and that some of 
 Fausett's statements were "wholly irre- 
 concilable with well ascertained facts." 
 Who would expect an illiterate man at 
 
Rebecca Fausett, 
 Grand-daughter of Joseph Fausett 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 131 
 
 that extreme age to relate circumstances 
 in detail with perfect accuracy that had 
 transpired a half century before? 
 
 Winthrop Sargent in his "Braddock's 
 Expedition" goes some length to dis- 
 prove the statements made by Faucett, 
 while at the same time he adduces the 
 evidence of William Butler who had ser- 
 ved as a private in the Pennsylvania 
 Greens at the defeat of Braddock, and 
 under Forbes in 1758, and under Wolf 
 in 1759, at the Plains of Abraham, who 
 when interrogated as to the killing of 
 Braddock unhesitatingly declared that 
 he was shot by Fausett for striking down 
 his brother. The Millerstown (Perry 
 county, Pa.) Gazette of 1830, mentions 
 the fact that Butler was in that town in 
 company with another who had served 
 under Braddock and that both concur- 
 red in saying that Braddock had been 
 killed by Fausett, 
 
 The Colonization Herald (Philadel- 
 phia) of June 20. 1838, contained the 
 notice of the death of William Butler at 
 the age of one hundred and eight years, 
 and further states that he had lived at 
 the corner of Sixth and Chestnut streets, 
 which was then in woods and leaning on 
 
132 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 his crutch, often entertained visitors by 
 a recital of the unfortunate expedition 
 and the circumstances of the death of 
 Braddock. 
 
 The evidence of Billy Brown, a negro 
 living at Frankfort, Pennsylvania, taken 
 in 1826, when he was ninety-three years 
 of age is also adduced to confirm Fau- 
 sett's story. He was born in Africa and 
 brought as a slave to this country at an 
 early age. He was present at Brad- 
 dock's defeat as a servant to a colonel 
 in the Irish regiment. He relates that 
 Braddock's character was obstinate and 
 profane and he also confirms the report 
 that Braddock was shot by an American 
 because he had killed, or was supposed 
 to have killed, his brother, and that none 
 seemed to care for it. 
 
 Daniel Adams of Newber^port, Mas- 
 sachusetts, states that in 1842, it had 
 been told him by one who had it from 
 another who was present at the occur- 
 rence that the principal officers had de- 
 sired a retreat which the general per- 
 tinaciously refused and upon seeing the 
 rashness of the commander a brother of 
 one who had been stricken down fired 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 133 
 
 the fatal shot, which several of the sol- 
 diers witnessed but said nothing. 
 
 Historian Sargent in his effort to dis- 
 prove that Braddock met his death at 
 the hands of Fausett not only admits but 
 certainly establishes the fact that such 
 was the current belief at the time among 
 those in position to know. 
 
 A still further witness who heretofore 
 has entirely escaped the notice of the 
 historian is James Edwards, who was 
 a captain in one of the Associated Com- 
 panies of Kent County, now Delaware, in 
 August, 1748, in the service of the Pro- 
 vince of Pennsylvania. He enlisted in 
 Braddock's campaign, and in the defeat 
 was wounded in the leg by a musket ball, 
 which he carried to his grave. He subse- 
 quently served in the Revolutionary war 
 in Colonel Thomas Proctor's celebrated 
 artillery in preference to infantry on ac- 
 count of his wounded leg, and served at 
 Brandy wine, Chadd's Ford, Newtown, 
 Germantown, Bergen Neck and Trenton. 
 Mr. Edwards finally settled at Barnegat, 
 New Jersey, where he was a prominent 
 member of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. He too lived to an advanced 
 age and frequently related the scenes of 
 
134 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 Braddock's defeat and always positively 
 asserted that the unfortunate general 
 was killed by one of his own men by the 
 name of Fausett for striking down his 
 brother and, as he thought, uselessly 
 sacrificing the lives of his soldiers. Mr. 
 Edwards was an ardent admirer of 
 Washington and in his old age expressed 
 his willingness to depart and join his 
 "dear old General, Washington/' whom 
 he believed to be "one of the brightest 
 stars in the region of glory." Mr. Ed- 
 wards is buried in the Methodist Church 
 yard at Tuckerton, New Jersey. 
 
 It will be remembered that Braddock's 
 army precipitately fled from the fatal 
 field and scattered like leaves before the 
 hurricane, but Sargent does not account 
 for the fact that William Butler, of Phila- 
 delphia, and Billy Brown of Frankfort, 
 Pennsylvania and Daniel Adams of New- 
 berryport, Massachusetts, and James Ed- 
 wards of New Jersey, and many others, 
 having no communication whatever with 
 each other all concurred in relating sub- 
 stantially the same story as Fausett un- 
 less they had gotten these facts before 
 the army was disbanded at Fort Cum- 
 berland on the retreat. 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 135 
 
 The evidence here adduced is certain- 
 ly all that would be necessary to war- 
 rant conviction in a court of justice were 
 Fausett on trial for having fired the fatal 
 shot at the British general. 
 
 Tom Fausett Becomes a Charge Upon 
 the Township of Wharton. 
 
 For some years before his death Tom 
 Fausett became a charge upon the town- 
 ship of Wharton, and it was the custom 
 to sell out paupers to the lowest bid- 
 der. In an old book still extant, kept by 
 the overseers of the poor for that town- 
 ship, are the following entries : 
 
 "March 20, 1812, Be it remembered 
 that James Wear has undertaken to keep 
 Thomas Fausett for the space of one 
 year for the sum of thirty-seven dollars 
 and seventy-five cents exclusive of find- 
 ing him any clothing. 
 
 March 19, 1813, Samuel Spaugh under- 
 takes to keep Thomas Fausett one year 
 for the sum of thirty-seven dollars and 
 seventy-five cents, exclusive of finding 
 him any clothing. 
 
 April 4, 1814, For the keeping of Fau- 
 
136 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 sett for one year, fifty-seven dollars. For 
 selling Fausett in 1814, $1.00. 
 
 For the keeping of Fausett for the year 
 1815, $39.80. 
 
 March 15, 1816, Be it remembered that 
 Thomas Mitchell undertakes to keep 
 Thomas Fausett, one of the poor of 
 Wharton township, for one year for 
 fort}r~eight dollars, exclusive of finding 
 him clothing. 
 
 March 21, 1817, Be it remembered that 
 Edward Tissue undertakes to keep 
 Thomas Fausett, one of the poor of 
 Wharton township, exclusive of finding 
 him clothing, for one year for $37.50. 
 
 March 20, 181 8, Be it remembered that 
 Thomas Mitchell undertakes to keep 
 Thomas Fausett, one of the poor of 
 Wharton township, exclusive of finding 
 him clothing for twenty-eight dollars and 
 fifty cents, the time not to commence un- 
 til the 24th of April. 
 
 April 24, 1819, Be it remembered that 
 Thomas Mitchell undertakes to board, 
 lodge and wash and mend and find tobac- 
 co for Thomas Fausett for one year from 
 this date for the sum of fifty dollars. 
 
 Auditors' report for 1819. By noticing 
 the sale of Fausett for the present year, 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 137 
 
 50 cents, tobacco for Fausett, 25 cents, 
 paid for keeping Fausett twenty-eight 
 dollars and fifty cents. 
 
 April 24, 1819. By one day selling Fau- 
 cett and settling with auditors, $1.00. 
 
 1820, Contra. Moses Mercer and John 
 Bolin, overseers of the poor, Cr. by keep- 
 ing Thomas Fausett, fifty dollars. 
 
 By Fausett clothing and Mercer, his 
 attendance, sixty-two dollars and seven- 
 ty-five cents." 
 
 From this last entry it would appear 
 that poor old Tom had been deprived of 
 clothing until he had no further use of 
 the same. Then the township furnished 
 a suit in order that he might appear the 
 more respectable in the happy hunting 
 grounds. 
 
 This last entry in this old township 
 book would indicate that Tom Fausett 
 died in 1820, and that Moses Mercer was 
 in attendance at his death and burial, and 
 that the overseers of the poor settled the 
 bill of expenses. From the fact that Fau- 
 cett's name does not again appear on the 
 book the inference would be reasonable 
 that he died during the year 1820. 
 
 For some years before his death Fau- 
 sett made his home in a little log cabin 
 
138 WASHINGTON'S AND 
 
 which stood on Avhat was subsequently 
 the Frederick Nicolay farm about one 
 mile and a half west of Ohiopyle Falls. 
 Here he cultivated among other things a 
 little patch of tobacco for his own use 
 which he husbanded with the greatest 
 care. This old cabin, like its tenant, has 
 long since passed away, but after nearly 
 a half century had rolled away since the 
 death of its distinguished occupant, Mr. 
 Nicolay was plowing near the site of the 
 old cabin, a few stones of the old chim- 
 ney only remaining, near which his plow 
 turned up a small box containing a 
 quantity of silver coins and jewelry. He 
 took his find to Pittsburgh for the pur- 
 pose of ascertaining its value, the coins 
 being in different denominations of for- 
 eign money such as was current in those 
 early days, and placed it in charge of an 
 old acquaintance and well known banker 
 of that city, but notwithstanding his 
 frequent inquiries he died before he as- 
 certained the value or recovered his valu- 
 able discovery. 
 
 The finding of this box of jewelry and 
 coin revived the story that was current 
 in the mountain region of Wharton 
 township many years before, as pre- 
 
BRADDOCK'S EXPEDITIONS 139 
 
 viously related, that a peddler had been 
 murdered at the Peddlers Rocks near the 
 cabin of Fausett, and the discovery of 
 this box with its peculiar contents would 
 indicate that Fausett might have known 
 somewhat of the missing peddler. 
 
 Fausett's last home was in the family 
 of Thomas Mitchell, about two miles 
 west of Ohiopyle Falls. He was buried 
 in a small burying ground on what was 
 known as the Jacob H. Rush farm, since 
 occupied by the late Patton Rush, where 
 also rest the remains of many of the old 
 residents of that neighborhood. Some 
 years after his death a rude headstone 
 was erected to his memory on which is 
 inscribed the following: 
 
 THO FAUCET 
 
 died 
 March 23 
 
 1822 
 Aged 109 
 9 mos 
 Thus is marked the last resting place 
 of the slayer of Major General Edward 
 Braddock, and on each recurring memo- 
 rial day a flag and a few flowers are 
 placed on the little mound of earth to 
 keep his memory green. 
 

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