Site Twenty-three – Near Fort Duquesne
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Nearby is the Carnegie Library that houses a small museum dedicated to the battle. The town of Braddock today is a typical urban landscape. One must use imagination to recreate the conditions of July 9, 1755, when some 800 French, Canadians, and Indians routed the greatest European army ever seen in America to that time, slaughtering 500 of Braddock’s troops and wounding 500 more. Their opponents lost a mere 28 men. When the railroad you see nearby was built, workers uncovered the bones of hundreds of slain British and American soldiers. Despite their remarkable victory, the French and Indians were doomed to ultimate defeat. In 1758, another British army under General John Forbes built a more substantial road from Bedford, Pennsylvania, to Fort Duquesne. The French were forced to blow up their post and flee. The English then built Fort Pitt on the ruins. The Indians of the Ohio River Valley continued to resist the encroachments of white settlers, but by the middle of the 1790’s, they had been thoroughly defeated. Within a short time, their culture was eradicated from the region save for the names they left on rivers and towns. The English, of course, had sacrificed blood and treasure in vain to control the Ohio River Valley. The treaty ending the American Revolution gave the new United States claim to the region. Braddock’s Road and Forbes Road became the 18th and 19th century equivalents of superhighways allowing many thousands of Americans to immigrate west. The best way to leave Braddock is to return along Braddock Avenue to the Rankin Bridge. Turn right at the top of the ramp. The road continues to be named Braddock Avenue. Follow it all the way to the Interstate 376 known as the Parkway East. This road can lead you to downtown Pittsburgh or to the Pennsylvania Turnpike further east. |