[45] This is the only region on the entire route in which pine trees
in any considerable quantity still remain.
[46] Orme very accurately and tersely describes this day's march over
Keyser Ridge: "We could not reach our ground till about 7 of the
clock, which was three hours later than common, as there was no water,
nor even earth enough to fix a tent, between the great Mountain and
this place" (_Orme Journal_, 338).
[47] At this camp, Washington, prostrated by a violent attack of
fever, was left under a guard to await the arrival of Dunbar with the
rest of the army. That it was really here, and not, as is usually
asserted, at Little Meadows or Little Crossings that Washington was
left, is clear from his own words. "We set out [from Little Meadows],"
he wrote to his brother on June 28, "with less than thirty carriages
including those that transported the ammunition for the howitzers,
twelve-pounders, and six-pounders, and all of them strongly horsed;
which was a prospect that conveyed infinite delight to my mind, though
I was exceedingly ill at the time. But this prospect was soon clouded,
and my hope brought very low indeed, when I found that, instead of
pushing on with vigor, without regarding a little rough road, they
were halting to level every mole-hill, and to erect bridges over every
brook, by which means we were four days in getting twelve miles.
At this camp I was left by the Doctor's advice, and the General's
positive orders" (Washington, _Writings_, Sparks ed., II. 82-83).
What Washington says about the length of time spent in marching from
Little Meadows helps to fix the location of the camp; for it agrees
with Orme's assertion that they left Little Meadows on June 19 and
marched from the camp on June 23 (_Orme Journal_, 336-340). Even in
the matter of distance there is a difference of only a mile between
the two accounts, and this difference may be accounted for by the fact
that Orme always uses the phrase "we marched _about_" so many miles.
See also _Pennsylvania Gazette_, July 3, 1755.
[48] See Shippen's manuscript draft of 1759, in the library of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
[49] _Orme Journal_, 340. This camping-ground was reached June 23,
1755. Shippen's draft would seem to confirm the foregoing statements
as to the course of the road from Addison to the Youghiogheny. On
file, however, in the land office of the Interior Department at
Harrisburg, under date of Oct. 8, 1788 is the survey of a tract (also
marked Braddock's Old Road) situated near the headwaters of the south
branch of Braddock's Run, about one mile south of Addison. This
discovery, recently made, necessitates a further examination of the
ground in order, if possible, to determine the exact location of the
road between the state line and the Youghiogheny.
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