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Braddock's Road extended from Fort Cumberland on Wills Creek (Cumberland, Maryland) to the Monongahela River. General Edward Braddock marched his army to the Forks of the Ohio along this route despite the recommendation from some of his colonial advisers that a route through Pennsylvania would be easier. Braddock's London superiors had ordered him to depart from Wills Creek on the Potomac River, and George Washington, who served as the general's aide-de-camp, had pioneered this route a year earlier when he traveled into the Ohio Country and met Tanacharisson.

Braddock, however, had a much larger army in tow than Washington. When he left Fort Cumberland in early June, he commanded a force of about 2,500 British regulars, American recruits, laborers, and female camp followers. The Indians who were supposed to support his army as guides and scouts abandoned Braddock after he failed to assure them that the British would honor their claim to the Ohio Country once the French were removed. [Original Document]

Braddock's men had to cut a road wide enough to accommodate the wagons and draft animals that accompanied them, as well as the siege artillery that they brought along to use against Fort Duquesne. Progress was painstakingly slow until Braddock decided to split the force into two groups: a flying column of about 1,500 men and a support column that would drag along the artillery and supplies.

The flying column made rapid progress, and with each day, the distance between it and the support column increased. On the morning of July 9, the flying column crossed the Monongahela and came within ten miles of Fort Duquesne. But at Braddock's Crossing, disaster struck.

The following Markers in Fayette County have similar story lines and therefore have the same behind and beyond the marker text: Braddock Road (Rock Fort Camp) US 40, about 6 miles SE of Uniontown at Summit and Braddock Road (Stewarts Crossing) located at US 119, .2 mile S of Connellsville.

Beyond the Marker