Braddock's March: How the Man Sent to Seize a Continent Changed American History

General Edward Braddock was sent by Great Britain on a mission to drive France once and for all from the New World. Accompanied by the largest armed expeditionary force ever sent to North America, Braddock’s primary target was the Forks of the Ohio (present day Pittsburgh), where he planned to seize Fort Duquesne and then march north to the Canadian border.

The expedition began its nearly 250-mile trek in May 1755, heroically cutting through dense wilderness, fording rivers, and scaling the Appalachian Mountains. Braddock was joined on the expedition by a young Virginia colonel, George Washington, and others who would later play roles in the future revolution. Among those driving the wagons were Daniel Boone and Daniel Morgan.

Braddock’s advance column was annihilated short of Fort Duquesne, by combined French and Indian forces. Over two-thirds of Braddock’s British and colonial troops suffered casualties. Braddock himself fell mortally wounded, while George Washington miraculously escaped harm despite four bullet holes through his clothing. With this battle, North America at once started and was drawn into a global war between Britain and France.

In Braddock’s March: How the Man Sent to Seize a Continent Changed American History, the author uses a wealth of sources, including newly discovered letters, to tell the story of one of the most important events in the American colonial period. This fateful march opened the first major road for westward expansion, anointed a national hero in George Washington, and sowed the seeds for the American Revolution.

352 pages, paperback, 2009, 60 b/w illustrations, $24.00