Updated Braddock’s Battlefield History Center reopening
On his march to capture Fort Duquesne and lay claim to North America in 1755, British Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock and 1,500 soldiers waded across the Monongahela River while fife and drums played “The Grenadiers March.”
On the afternoon of July 9, the 60-year-old Braddock and his men climbed a steep ridge toward a crest more than 1,100 feet above the Monongahela River.
Lying in wait and holding the high ground were about 600 Native Americans allied with 250 French and Canadian soldiers. Hidden behind massive trees, the Indian-French army attacked the British column along both of its flanks. After a three-hour battle, more than 456 people died and more than 420 were wounded. More than three years later, in November 1758, the British took Fort Duquesne soon after the French set it on fire and abandoned it.
The Battle of the Monongahela is a story Erica Nuckles knows well because she grew up in a family of re-enactors. A curator and historian, Ms. Nuckles has been creating new exhibits at Braddock’s Battlefield History Center at 609 6th St. in North Braddock.
On Saturday, the museum reopens for the holiday weekend, including Memorial Day. And every day from July 6 through July 15, the museum will be open to mark the 264th anniversary of Braddock’s defeat.
“I have three mannequins that I’ve been adjusting and accessorizing to represent a French Marine, a Native American warrior and a British soldier from the 44th Regiment, said Ms. Nuckles, director of history and collections at Fort Ligonier.
Capt. Daniel Beaujeu led the French and Native American forces.
“He is the one who created the
plan and strategy for that Franco-Indian army. He was killed near the first clash, near the current museum’s location,” Ms. Nuckles said.
To dress mannequins, she drew on her network of contacts.
“I was able to borrow or acquire different pieces to outfit them. I had some good connections coming from a reenactor family. The French Marine is actually wearing some of my clothes. I dress like a man sometimes when I reenact. I’m a French soldier sometimes,” Ms. Nuckles said.
Last year, Fort Ligonier, a restored 18th-century military stockade and museum in Ligonier, agreed to manage Braddock’s Battlefield History Center. The North Braddock museum was founded by Robert T. Messner, a retired attorney who lives in Blackridge.
Since the mid-1990s, Mr. Messner has collected 250 artifacts and 50 artworks related to the Battle of the Monongahela. Initially, he exhibited them at the Carnegie Library in Braddock. In 2012, Mr. Messner opened Braddock’s Battlefield History Center, where he and volunteers led tours.
The battle cemented the military reputation of a young George Washington, General Braddock’s aide. As Braddock lay dying, he gave Washington his military sash and two pistols.
A new artifact on display in the Braddock museum is a large, brass cannon, a replica of one that British soldiers hauled across the Allegheny Mountains. It was borrowed from Fort Ligonier.
“They were really planning to put Fort Duquesne under siege and they needed artillery to do that,” Ms. Nuckles said. “The British army included 35 sailors from the Royal Navy. They knew how to use block and tackle to move all this heavy equipment through the mountains.”
To earn her doctorate in history, Ms. Nuckles studied the journals of Charlotte Browne, the highest ranking woman in Braddock’s North American expedition.
Mrs. Browne traveled from London to Alexandria, Va., and accompanied Braddock’s men on their march from Virginia to Fort Cumberland, Md. There, she managed the British hospital and endured a bout of dysentery.
During the Battle of the Monongahela, Mrs. Browne, “was back in Fort Cumberland, Maryland. She was the matron of the British army’s general hospital. She was a young widow before the war broke out. She had three young children and left them behind in London to come over with Braddock,” Ms. Nuckles said.
At the history center, visitors also will learn about Atiatoharongwen, a Mohawk warrior who fought with the French at the Battle of the Monongahela. He also was known as “Louis Cook” or “Colonel Lewis.”
“He was born to a black enslaved father and an Abenaki mother. When he was a child of about 5, his settlement was raided by Mohawks. He was captured and adopted into the Mohawk tribe,” Ms. Nuckles said.
On July 9, 1775, the 20th anniversary of Braddock’s defeat, Atiatoharongwen visited Washington in Cambridge, Mass. The warrior, who resented British occupation of his Canadian homeland, told Washington that some Indians and Canadians would support American colonists in their fight for independence from Britain. Atiatoharongwen served in the Continental Army and the U.S. Congress commissioned him a lieutenant colonel.