Braddock Park
Wharton Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Gen. Edward Braddock was buried here in 1755, after his disastrous defeat and death. The site of his original grave, the new grave to which his remains were moved in 1804, and a trace of the Braddock Road may be seen here.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In July 1755, British General Edward Braddock led a large expedition toward the French-held forks of the Ohio and met catastrophe near the Monongahela, where he was mortally wounded. His men buried him in the roadbed here so passing wagons would hide the grave from pursuing enemies. His remains were reinterred nearby in 1804, and a trace of the military road he cut through the wilderness can still be seen.
Why it matters
Braddock's defeat was a stunning early blow in the French and Indian War, and the road he built became a vital artery of westward migration.
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Related people
- · Edward Braddock
Related events
- · Braddock's defeat, 1755
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Braddock Road (Dunbar's Camp)
North Union Township, PA · est. 1952
In the summer of 1755, General Edward Braddock cut a military road westward through the Pennsylvania mountains toward the French stronghold of Fort Duquesne, and Colonel Thomas Dunbar's detachment made its last camp near this point while hauling the army's heavy baggage. When Braddock's main column was shattered in ambush near the Monongahela, the survivors streamed back to Dunbar's position. Rather than regroup, Dunbar destroyed his supplies and retreated, abandoning the frontier to the French and their allies.
Braddock Road (Twelve Springs Camp)
Henry Clay Township, PA · est. 1952
On June 24, 1755, General Braddock's army made its eighth camp here as it struggled toward Fort Duquesne, with Chestnut Ridge — the last mountain barrier before the descent toward the Ohio — looming on the western horizon. To move supply wagons and artillery over the ridge, Braddock's axemen widened an existing Indian path into a rough military road. It was slow, backbreaking work that set the army's crawling pace.
Fayette County
Uniontown, PA · est. 1982
Formed from Westmoreland County in 1783, Fayette County honors the Marquis de Lafayette, the French nobleman who fought for American independence. Its rolling ground holds Fort Necessity, where a young George Washington fought an early engagement of the French and Indian War in 1754. Later the county's seat, Uniontown, incorporated in 1796, sat astride the National Road, the young republic's great federally built highway west that became U.S. Route 40.
Braddock Road (Stewart's Crossing)
Dunbar Township, PA · est. 1952
By late June 1755, General Braddock's army had reached its twelfth camp near the Youghiogheny River as it labored toward the French position at Fort Duquesne. On June 30 the troops forded the river at Stewart's Crossing, a well-known frontier fording place near present-day Connellsville. The crossing was one more grueling stage in an expedition that had to carve a wagon road through the wilderness as it advanced.