Daily stories of Pennsylvania

by Frederic Antes Godcharles

Preparatory to the ill-fated expedition of General Braddock, which precipitated the forays of the French and Indians upon the unprotected frontiers of Pennsylvania, was the letter to Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, asking to have a road cut so that there might be communication between Philadelphia and the Three Forks of the Youghiogheny, both for the security of retreat and to facilitate the transport of provisions. These English officers were unacquainted with American geography, and at best the maps used by them were by no means accurate.

Governor Morris in response advised Sir John St. Clair, deputy quartermaster general, that there was a very good wagon road from Philadelphia to the mouth of the Conococheague, but only a horse path through the mountains by which the Indian traders carried their goods, and that there would be great difficulty in making a wagon road that way. He also gently intimated that the distance was much greater than the English officers realized.

Governor Morris, with the sanction of the Assembly, sent George Croghan, John Armstrong, James Burd, William Buchanan and Adam Hoopes as commissioners to explore the country west of the “Great Virginia Road,” as the road through the Cumberland Valley was called, and to survey and lay out such roads as were most direct and commodious. No better men could have been chosen. They were acquainted with the country, and Armstrong was the best surveyor on the frontier.

These commissioners projected a road from McDowell’s Mill, in present Franklin County, to within eighteen miles of the Three Forks, where they found too many French and Indians scouting and hunting to venture farther. The length of projected road so far as it was surveyed was sixty-nine miles.

The commissioners could not effect a meeting with Sir John until April 16. When they showed him the drafts he raved like a wild man, and the commissioners, believing they had done their part well, were abashed by their unusual reception.

Sir John told them it was too late to build this road now, and instead of marching to the Ohio they would march into Cumberland County. Not a soldier should handle an ax, but by fire and sword General Braddock would compel the inhabitants to build it. He would kill all the cattle and drive away the horses, burn the houses, and if the French defeated the army by the delays of the Province, he would, with his sword drawn, pass through it and treat the inhabitants as a parcel of traitors to his master. He even avowed his purpose to “shake Mr. Penn’s Proprietaryship” by representing Pennsylvania as a disaffected province.

Braddock was constantly complaining of the failure of Pennsylvania and Virginia. He spoke slightingly of the provincial contingent and scoffed at danger from the Indians. “These savages,” he said to Franklin, “may indeed be a formidable enemy to raw American militia, but upon the King’s regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make an impression.”

Governor Morris early in May sent Secretary Peters to expedite the work of the road-makers by his presence. Neither General Braddock nor Sir John had any distinct idea of the obstacles to road-building over the Pennsylvania mountains or of the difficulties which confronted Governor Morris in a work of such magnitude, who lacked both money and men for the undertaking.

This road, which afterward received the name of Braddock’s Road, passed beyond McDowell’s Mill, around Parnell’s and Jordan’s Knobs into Path Valley, into Cowan’s Gap, past Burnt Cabins and Sugar Cabins to Sideling Hill. From the latter point the road extended to the crossing of the Juniata, thence to Raystown (now Bedford), and it then went over the Alleghenies to the Great Crossing, three miles from Turkey’s Foot.

The entire expense of making the road was to be paid by the Province. Advertisements were broadcasted in Cumberland, York and Lancaster Counties for laborers. James Wright and John Smith contracted to supply the workmen with provisions.