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7/9/1755: French & Ottawa (Under Chief Pontiac) decimate & rout English
regulars under Ed Braddock at Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh.) The retired Lt.
Col. George Washington served as a volunteer (unpaid) aide-de-camp and as
adjutant to Gen. Gage. Braddock (born c1695) was mortally wounded & died
on the 13th. The Reports are that he was personally fighting heroically &
he rallied the men repeatedly but was desperately short on supplies.
Other reports show that Benjamin Franklin was in charge of provisions for
the whole area and had secured adequate horses & wagons and personally
quaranteed payment for them and that Braddock had two regiments of picked
troops. Their meeting was portrayed at a stereotypical one between the
shrewd, cool provincial and the blustering, blundering, drinking British
officer.
The song is a rare surviving example of pre-Revolution American song.
(There probably were many, they just weren't recorded.) Lomax gives no
source or historical detail. The writer seems to be a soldier of the
time, and certainly not anti-British.
1. It was our hard general's false treachery,
Which caused our destruction in that great day.
Oh, he is a traitor, his conduct does show;
He was seen in the French fort, six hours ago.
In the song, not only is Braddock a traitor, but a murderer. A British
soldier is busy killing French while standing behind a tree. Braddock is
enraged that a British soldier should fight like an Indian and kills the
soldier. The soldier's brother, at the scene, kills Braddock in revenge.
Washington had asked the brother to refrain but on the brother's refusal,
Washington turns his back and lets it happen. Gates is then lauded for
his heroic rearguard action back across the Monongahela...
9. We had for to cross, it was at the very last,
And cross over the river, they killed us so fast.
Men fell in the river till they stopped up the flood
And the streams of that river ran red down with blood.
"Braddock's Defeat," Lomax, Am Bal & FS
© Abby Sale - all rights reserved
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