HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA VOLUME 4 [Illustration: BRADDOCK'S GRAVE [_The depression on the right is the ancient track of Braddock's Road; near the single cluster of gnarled apple trees in the meadow beyond, Braddock died and was first buried_]] HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA VOLUME 4 Braddock's Road AND THREE RELATIVE PAPERS BY ARCHER BUTLER HULBERT _With Maps and Illustrations_ [Illustration] THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY CLEVELAND, OHIO 1903 COPYRIGHT, 1903 BY THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENTS PAGE PREFACE 11 I. ROUTES OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH WESTWARD 15 II. THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN 30 III. FROM ALEXANDRIA TO FORT CUMBERLAND 61 IV. A SEAMAN'S JOURNAL 79 V. THE BATTLE OF THE MONONGAHELA 108 VI. A DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKWOODS 136 VII. SPARKS AND ATKINSON ON BRADDOCK'S ROUTE 166 VIII. BRADDOCK'S ROAD IN HISTORY 191 ILLUSTRATIONS I. BRADDOCK'S GRAVE _Frontispiece_ II. ENGLISH AND FRENCH ROUTES TO THE OHIO; 1756 21 III. PLAN OF FORT CUMBERLAND; FEBRUARY 1755 27 IV. VIEW OF FORT CUMBERLAND; 1755 45 V. MAP OF BRADDOCK'S ROAD; ABOUT 1759 69 VI. BRADDOCK'S ROAD NEAR FROSTBURG, MARYLAND 148 VII. MIDDLETON'S MAP OF BRADDOCK'S ROAD; 1847 174 VIII. BRADDOCK'S ROAD IN THE WOODS NEAR FARMINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA 200 PREFACE The French were invariably defeated by the British on this continent because the latter overcame natural obstacles which the former blindly trusted as insurmountable. The French made a league with the Alleghenies--and Washington and Braddock and Forbes conquered the Alleghenies; the French, later, blindly trusted the crags at Louisbourg and Quebec--and the dauntless Wolfe, in both instances, accomplished the seemingly impossible. The building of Braddock's Road in 1755 across the Alleghenies was the first significant token in the West of the British grit which finally overcame. Few roads ever cost so much, ever amounted to so little at first, and then finally played so important a part in the development of any continent. A. B. H. MARIETTA, O., December 8, 1902. Braddock's Road and Three Relative Papers CHAPTER I ROUTES OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH WESTWARD