It was not long before Washington went again as commanding officer of a small army, and in 1755 he served under General Braddock in the famous battle which resulted in the defeat of the English and the death of their general. Washington, as we know, brought off the troops with honor to himself. In each of these expeditions something was done toward cutting away the trees and grading a road from Fort Cumberland to the head of the Ohio river at Pittsburg. [Illustration: FIG. 34. MILESTONE ON THE LINE OF BRADDOCK’S ROAD, NEAR FROSTBURG, MARYLAND] On the line of Braddock’s road, a dozen miles west of Cumberland, is a milestone, set up about a hundred and fifty years ago. A photograph of it is shown above. It is a rough brown stone, standing in a pasture half a mile outside the city of Frostburg, in western Maryland. The stone was once taken away and broken, but it has since been set up again and cemented into a base of concrete. The view shows how it has been split up and down. On one side are directions, and on the other are the words, “Our Country’s Rights We Will Defend.” Braddock’s journey from Alexandria to Fort Duquesne was an uncomfortable one, to say nothing of its disastrous end. He bought a carriage to ride in, but the road was not suited to a coach, as were the roads he knew in old England. Beyond Cumberland, especially, in spite of all the work his men could do upon it, it was so bad that he was forced to take Washington’s advice and change the baggage from wagons to pack horses. Gradually, as time went on, these rough paths were beaten down into smoother thoroughfares. The same causes that led to the development of the North were working also at the South. Along the Potomac, as in New York and in Pennsylvania, the stream of colonial life flowed westward. First the pioneers settled the lowlands around Chesapeake bay and along the deep rivers; then as their strength and courage reached beyond the mountains they found the forests and fertile soil behind the Blue Ridge. Farther within the rugged highlands they built Fort Cumberland and sent out discoverers and armies to the Ohio river. When the woods were cleared and towns and states grew up on the Ohio, there was frequent occasion to cross the mountains for trade, for travel, and to reach the seat of government, which in 1801 was moved to Washington on the Potomac. [Illustration: FIG. 35. OLD ROAD HOUSE, BROWNSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA]