John Kennedy Lacock

“ From the Henry Blocher farm the line follows the general course of a private road westward for about a mile, crosses Mudlick Run to Read Anderson’s house, and thence leads up a rather formidable hill, on which Braddock’s engineers appear for the first time to have made use of a winding path as a means of ascent. From this hill the road runs by very favorable ground in a nearly straight line to the corner of a wood, and then on through the woods to a township road, which it crosses at a point about a quarter of a mile from the National turnpike. ”

“ A short distance beyond the Hoffman coal mines, on the north side of the road, is a very deep scar, which is probably a part of Braddock’s roadbed. At the top of the hill the road turns northward at almost a right angle in order to avoid what was formerly a very wide swamp, and then passes over the ridge and down through Layman’s orchard, where there is a deep scar. Near the end of this ridge, overlooking Frostburg and about five miles from Spendelow Camp, is the site of the second encampment, Martin’s Plantation. ”

“ The descent for a half mile or more is also very rugged and in places extraordinarily steep. [34] On the east and west slopes the traces of the route are very distinct.
At the foot of the mountain the road unites with a highway a little to the east of Andrew Jackson Moore’s stone house, and continues with it for nearly half a mile, when it apparently turns into a private or secondary road for about another mile to a point where there is a favorable place for fording Savage River, the last water that empties itself into the Potomac. ”

“ From Mount Pleasant the course for the next few miles is quite evidently that of the township line between Mount Pleasant and Hempfield townships on the east and north and East Huntingdon and South Huntingdon townships on the west and south respectively. A portion of this line coincides with the road now in use. About a mile north of Mount Pleasant is a very deep scar in an old orchard on the John McAdam farm, a trace which continues to be visible for some rods farther north on the same farm. ”

“ For a mile and a half from the James Bishop house the road can be very accurately followed to the point at which it intersects the National turnpike,—a point, it may be noted, about a stone’s throw south of the spot where lie the mortal remains of General Braddock. [54] At this intersection the road leaves the turnpike never again to rejoin it, and turns somewhat to the northwest in order to gain a favorable pass over Chestnut Ridge, the last mountain ridge to be crossed. ”

“ If the course of the road as thus indicated be correct, then the thickest of the fight would have been east of the Pennsylvania Railroad between Thirteenth and Sixth Streets, the location of the Hollow Way and of Frazer’s Run respectively. The writer was told that when the Pennsylvania Railroad built its roadbed through the battlefield it unearthed a great number of human skeletons, a circumstance which, if true, would seem to confirm his conclusion as to the ground on which the principal fighting took place. ”

“ Although the ground between these two obstructions to the Narrows on its right bank might have afforded a good roadbed, yet undoubtedly they proved to be obstacles that Braddock’s engineers, with the appliances which they had at hand, could not easily surmount. It is well known to the older residents of Cumberland that as late as 1873 the mass of boulders at the eastern end of the gap, lying along the right bank of the stream, were in their primitive condition when a wagon road was constructed by George Henderson, Jr., to join the Cumberland road on that side of Wills Creek. ”

“ On May 30 a detachment of six hundred men commanded by Major Russell Chapman set out to clear a road twelve feet wide from Fort Cumberland to Little Meadows, twenty miles away; but in spite of some work previously done on Wills Mountain, just west of the fort, they had so great difficulty in passing the elevation that on the first day they got but two miles from the starting-place. In the process, moreover, three of their wagons were entirely destroyed and many more shattered. ”

“ From various indications it seems reasonable to conclude that the farm of Henry Blocher, with the adjoining one of George Blocher, marks the location of Braddock’s third encampment, Savage River Camp. [36] There is a local tradition that about five hundred yards west of the Henry Blocher farm a skirmish with the Indians took place, and that near a clump of trees east of Blocher’s house some British soldiers were buried. ”

“ From here it keeps its northerly course along a very narrow crest of the mountain, past the Honey Comb Rock, and thereafter in the main follows the dividing line between North Union and Dunbar townships to a point about one mile south of the old Meason house on the Gist Plantation, when by a slight deflection northwestward it crosses Cove Run and the Pennsylvania Railroad to Gist’s Plantation, the place of the eleventh encampment. [59] Between the tenth and eleventh encampments the traces of the road are so plain that one does not have to rely on inference. ”

“ Professor Channing has pointed out among other things that, while “a lie in print is a persistent thing,” one on a map is even less eradicable, and for three reasons: (1) because the historical evidence on maps is liable to error, and an error once made is copied by other cartographers, with the result that a false impression frequently continues through centuries ”

“ A little way beyond the point where the Braddock Road leaves the McAdam farm there is also a marked depression for over five hundred yards on the property of the Warden heirs. Extending a mile westward from the intersection of the Mount Pleasant, Hempfield, and East Huntingdon township lines is a great swamp of several hundred acres, [67] which the road skirts to the eastward and then keeps on to the Edwin S. Stoner farm, near Belson’s Run, a tributary of Sewickley Creek. ”

“ A short distance westward from his house the line runs to the north of the house of A. M. Thomas, thence into a township road, then on past Charles Umble’s residence to that of B. F. Miller, and a little way from this place enters the woods on Division Ridge. No other part of the old Braddock Road presents such difficulties as this section of it over Division Ridge, for the underbrush is so thick in places that one is compelled to crawl on hands and knees in order to keep the road. The slopes are very rocky and the passes are exceedingly difficult, but with plainly marked scars. ”

“ He did not reach Fort Cumberland himself till May 10. [6] Then he lost no time in giving his attention to the three matters which were of greatest significance to the success of his expedition,— (1) the Indian question, (2) the arrangements about wagons and provisions, (3) the construction of a road through Pennsylvania to serve as a means of connection with the base of supplies.
Of Braddock’s relations with the Indians there are many conflicting stories ”

“ Braddock appears to have crossed Jacob’s Creek a short distance west of Pershing Station, on the Scottdale branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad near the spot where Welshonse’s mill formerly stood. [66] On this side of the creek the road follows the township line a distance of one and one-half miles to Eagle Street in Mount Pleasant, and while still within the limits of the town crosses the Pittsburg and Mount Pleasant pike. ”

“ For many miles to the northward the traveller passes over a vast extent of country from under which the coal has been taken, and from which the props have given way in many places, leaving deep and treacherous holes. ”

“ The writer may be permitted to say, however, that he has exercised great care in laying down the road on the topographic sheets, and that from many trustworthy sources he has gained information which has helped to fix definitely points long since obliterated.
[2] Charles C. Coffin, Old Times in the Colonies, 377.
[3] The five governors were William Shirley of Massachusetts, James De Lancey of New York, Robert Hunter Morris of Pennsylvania, Robert Dinwiddie of Virginia, and Horatio Sharpe of Maryland. ”