Braddock Road

by John Kennedy Lacock

In the solution of his third problem, that of constructing a road through Pennsylvania in order to have an adequate avenue for securing supplies, Braddock was less successful. He quickly recognized the importance of having the road cut west of the Susquehanna in order to intersect with the route of the army at a place called indifferently Turkey Foot, Crow Foot, or the three forks of the Youghiogheny (at what is now Confluence[8]); and he had the satisfaction of seeing the work of building this road prosecuted with great diligence by Governor Morris of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately for Braddock, however, it proved to be impossible to complete the road in time for it to be of any service to him in the expedition.[9]

From Fort Cumberland westward Braddock had to make a road for his troops across mountains divided by ravines and torrents, over a rugged, desolate, unknown, and uninhabited country. The history of the construction of this road and a description of its course it is the purpose of this paper to set forth; for the growing interest with which the routes of celebrated expeditions are coming to be regarded, and the confusion that attends the tracing of such routes after a lapse of years, make it altogether fitting that the road by which the unfortunate Braddock marched to his disastrous field should be surveyed, mapped, and suitably marked while it is yet possible to trace its course with reasonable definiteness.

In any discussion of this subject three things should be borne clearly in mind: (1) the irregular topography and mountainous nature of the country through which the road had to be built, for there were as many as six ranges of the Alleghanies to be crossed, besides other mountain elevations and passes that presented as great and serious difficulties; (2) the wooded character of the country; (3) the fact that the road had to be constructed by the soldiers of the army. It is noteworthy that the road which Braddock made followed very closely the course of the so-called Nemacolin Indian trail,[10] and that it was used as a pioneer road as far west as Jumonville until late in the first quarter of the nineteenth century.

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.[11]

Of the road from old Fort Cumberland to the foot of Wills Mountain no trace can be found today, but it seems probable that its course lay along what is now Green Street in Cumberland. There is, however, just as good and as direct a route from the camp by way of Sulphur Spring Hollow, past the present Rose Hill cemetery, with an easy, ascending grade to the ridge of the spur of Wills Mountain, and so on to a point at or near the intersection of the Sulphur Spring, Cresaptown, and Cumberland roads.[12] Something might be said in support of this route. Nevertheless, the former was the direct way to reach the fording at Wills Creek, the old trading-post at this point; and it was the way best known to the Indians.

At the foot of the mountain the road proceeds westerly, parallel to the Cumberland Road but ninety feet north of it, to a point opposite the old Steel House.[13] At this spot the first depression or scar of the Braddock Road can be seen today.

A short distance farther on, the road enters the wooded part of Wills Mountain. At a distance of about four hundred feet westward it veers away to the north from the old Cumberland Road, following to the top of the mountain a succession of absolutely straight lines, no one of which varies more than five degrees from the preceding line. Thence the course bears to the south and joins the Cumberland Road opposite the old Steiner House (now owned by Frederick Lang) in Sandy Gap,[14] about a mile and a half from the junction with the Cresaptown road. To this point the route may be traced with very little difficulty. From Sandy Gap it follows the present course of the old Cumberland Road for about seven-tenths of a mile,[15] crossing the George’s Creek and Cumberland Railroad and the Eckhart branch of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad, to the house now occupied by Edward Kaylor, 380 feet from the latter railroad crossing. Here the line leaves the old Cumberland Road and runs due west four-tenths of a mile, passing under the front or southwest corner of the new house recently built by William Hendrickson, then fording Braddock Run in Alleghany Grove south of Lake View Cottage, thence running through Alleghany Grove to the Vocke road 440 feet south of its intersection with the National turnpike and 700 feet north of the now abandoned part of the old Cumberland Road, and keeping on still in the same straight line 1100 feet westward to the turnpike.

So great was the difficulty experienced by the advance party in passing this mountain that General Braddock himself reconnoitered it, and had determined to put 300 more men at work upon it when he was informed by Mr. Spendelow, lieutenant of the seamen,[16] that he had discovered a pass by way of the Narrows through a valley which led round the foot of the mountain.[17] Thereupon Braddock ordered a survey of this route to be made, with the result that a good road was built in less than three days, over which all troops and supplies for Fort Cumberland were subsequently transported.[18]

Every endeavor of the writer and his party to locate this new road through the Narrows and round Wills Mountain proved fruitless. Of approaches from Fort Cumberland to the Narrows over which an army with baggage trains could pass, four, and only four, were possible.[19] (1) One could cross Wills Creek at the ford or bridge near its mouth;[20] and then go up the left or eastern bank of the stream;[21] (2) one could pass down the decline back of the present Alleghany Academy to the creek, and then follow the shore on either side, fording at the most convenient point; (3) one could go down the sloping ground northward from the fort, reaching the creek about where the cement mill now stands, and then go up the creek as in the second route;[22] (4) one could follow Fayette street and Sulphur Spring valley to the cemetery, and thence turning abruptly to the right go down a little valley to the Narrows, where a crossing of the creek would be immediately necessary. A high bluff, or “stratum,” running down to the very water’s edge of the creek on the right bank of the stream at the eastern entrance to this gap makes it almost unquestionable that the beginning of the pathway through the Narrows was on the left, or eastern, bank of Wills Creek.[23] The question is, did this pathway follow the left bank of the stream through the entire length of the gap, recrossing the creek near the month of Braddock Run; or did it recross it in the Narrows near the present location of the bridge over Wills Creek on the National turnpike, and thence follow the course of the turnpike to the western terminus of the Narrows? Judged by present conditions, the latter view seems the more probable; but it is impossible to do more than make a shrewd guess, for the construction of three separate railroads through this narrow valley has completely altered the banks of the creek and obliterated all traces of the road. In favor of the former contention it should be said that, within the memory of some of the older and more trustworthy citizens of Cumberland, there has been opportunity for the easy construction of a road on the left, or eastern, bank of Wills Creek.[24] Furthermore, at the entrance of the Narrows from the western end the stratum of hard white sandstone formerly extended to the waters of the creek.

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 the contrary, the left bank presented no such difficulties in the way of road-building; and a careful examination of the ground through the entire length of the gap cannot fail to convince one that in Braddock’s day there was opportunity for the easy construction of a road on that side.