All of this gives very little local detail. Fortunately that is more freely supplied from another and fortuitous source. There was attached to Braddock's expedition, when it left England, a certain commissary who had a widowed sister, one Mrs. Browne. She accompanied her brother from London to Fort Cumberland and, following the valuable eighteenth century habit, kept a journal which in 1924 was owned by Mr. S. A. Courtauld of the Howe, Halstead, Essex, and a photostatic copy of which has been acquired by the Library of Congress.[70] This journal or diary runs from the 17th November, 1754, to the 19th January, 1757. When Braddock and his men departed from Alexandria in April he had a number of soldiers too ill to travel. These he left there temporarily in charge of a force of "1 officer and 40 men" and the commissary (Mrs. Browne's brother), and Mrs. Browne stayed with them to help nurse the invalids. By June the sick men had so far recovered that they moved to join the main force, following the old Ridge (Alexandria-Winchester) Road over which Halkett and his men had marched before them. Here follows a full copy of Mrs. Browne's journal entries from her entrance into present Loudoun until she reached the Shenandoah: [70] _Virginia Magazine of History and Biography_, Vol. 38, p. 169. 1755. "June the 2. At Break of Day the Drum beat. I was extreemly sleepy but got up, and as soon as our Officer had eat 6 Eggs and drank a dram or two and some Punch we march'd; but, my Waggon being in the Rear the Day before, my Coachman insisted that it was not right that Madam Browne should be behind, and if they did not give way they should feel the soft end of his Whip. He gain'd his Point and got in Front. The Roads are so Bad that I am almost disjointed. At 12 we halted at Mr. Coleman's, pitched our markeys and dined on Salt Gammon,[71] nothing better to be had. [71] i.e. Cured ham or even bacon.