Braddock's Defeat
July 9, 1755

French, Indians,
and British Forces

by Capt. Dave Parker

The French and Indians at Fort Duquesne

To Captain de Contrecoeur, commander at Duquesne, the situation appeared hopeless. He knew that troops had landed from Britain and were on their way west, but he knew few details of their march toward the fort and did not receive reports of their imminent arrival until as late as 6 July - only three days before the battle. [7]

After reviewing the scouting reports, the captain had reason to worry. He faced a British army reported to be 3,000 to 4,000 strong bristling with heavy guns. With this in mind he reflected on the 1,500 men he had to stop this juggernaut.

Contrecoeur had perhaps 800 Indians. This number about equaled the entire Indian population of the Ohio Valley at the time. [8]

The western tribes mentioned earlier contributed about ninety percent of these. Due to long-standing hostilities between the two, the tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy rarely sided with the French. [9]

More reliable as recruits were the Canadian militia. Katcher tells us "Theoretically, during the Seven Years War some 15,000 men were available for service. In 1758 only 1,100 were called up, and another 4,000 were used to transport and supply the fighting forces... There were no militia uniforms. Each man wore... a mixture of French civilian, frontier buckskins, and Indian garb." [10]

These men varied considerably in their martial abilities and although some were steady, most of those with Beaujeu ran at the first fire. [11]

The regular troops (called colony regulars) at Fort Duquesne were probably soldiers of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine; independent companies of the Navy. Despite the name, they should not be considered naval soldiers or as marines in the tops of ships of war. The colonial affairs of France were administered by the navy and these soldiers were accordingly called marines.

ED. NOTE: Marines were uniformed in a greyish white coat (justacorps) which was collarless, single-breasted and lined with dark or cornflower blue. Cuffs and turnbacks were therefore of the same color. Officers' coats were white and made of finer material. Beneath was worn a longsleeved waistcoat and breeches also of blue. A tricorned hat trimmed in false gold lace was regulation headgear. Black buckled shoes, gaiters of white duck, a white cravat and a white shirt completed the official uniform with buff colored and gold buckled belts and a brownish red cartridge box sometimes ornamented with a white anchor and border trim or the King's arms. On campaign during the summer, marines often adopted different clothing. They might discard thejustacorps in favor of wearing only the waistcoat. The tricorn might be replaced by a cloth fatigue cap and Indian leggings and mocassins proved to be better than shoes and gaiters. Some were indistinguishable from Indians.

There were between six and seven hundred regulars and militia at the fort in early July. if we assume the same ratio of regulars to militia for the entire contingent as for Beaujeu's detachment, then Contrecoeur had about 250 marines and 400 militia. If on the other hand, more regulars were saved for the fort's defense and the bulk of the militia were sent against the British then this ratio is off. I have no definitive source that reports the composition of the 600+ regulars at the fort. [12]

With these Contrecoeur was to stop a huge British column? His Indians had refused to harass them, being afraid of the tightly arrayed forest of bayonets. It was too concentrated to strike the limbs and too well guarded by flankers to snipe at the trunk. Once the redcoats reached Duquesne, their 12 pounders would turn the wooden stockade into matchsticks. The Frenchman could well be concerned with the reports he heard, but had he known the makeup of Braddock's army he might be less fearful.

The British Contingent

The red coats were not from the hardy battalions which had stood at Fontenoy a decade earlier. They were new regiments. Except for the few men who had suffered defeat at Fort Necessity the year before and some men of the 48th who were at Culloden, Braddock's men were new to war. [13]

The 44th Regiment posted a return 8 June at Fort Cumberland of 770 rank & file (858 all ranks) men with 66 "sick present" and 19 "sick in hospitals". of these, 258 had been recruited since the last return (I believe this was at the time of sailing from Cork). The 48th Regiment posted 684 rank & file (773 all ranks) with 19 "sick present" and 20 "sick in hospitals". Of these, 174 had been recruited. By royal warrant both regiments wore black tricornes edged white, a red coat faced yellow for the 44th or buff for the 48th, red waistcoat and breeches (replaced by white Osnaburg coarse linen - ED.), white spatterdashes, black shoes and white sling straps. The regiments each carried two flags. The first, or King's color, was a 'Great Union'with the regiment's number embroidered on it. The second was the regimental color with a 'Union' in the upper right canton and the other three cantons were the color of the facings. The regimental number was placed in the center. [14]

To pound down timber walls, Braddock had 14 guns, 4 howitzers, and 15 cohorn mortars that I can identify. These consisted of six 6 pounders and eight 12 pounders. Four of the larger guns had been taken from the upper tier of the H. M.S. Norwich and were manned by three midshipmen, two boatswains mates and 30 seamen who were also armed with muskets and bayonets. The other four were of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. The complement of artillerists numbered 70 of all ranks including 11 listed as sick in hospitals 8 June. [15]

Completing the array of troops on the regular establishment were several independent regular companies which still existed though in various states of disorder. These companies were on the regular establishment but most had been allowed to fall into decay.

Of the four New York companies, the 4th company only mustered 46 out of 100, the 3rd only 2l and the 1st and 2nd were worse! Only the 3rd and 4th were with Braddock and their strength had been augmented and on 8 June each company had 91 rank & file (101 all ranks) with 7 sick (inclusive). The 3rd South Carolina mustered at 100 rank & file (110 all ranks) with 4 men sick. Quartermaster Sir John St. Clair was required to overhaul the independents. He thought the South Carolinians were better than the New Yorkers, several of the latter being 'from sixty to seventy years of age, lame and every way disabled.' Subsequently, over 40 of these relics were discharged. The independents were uniformed and equipped as their regimented comrades. The only facing color known to me is green for the 3rd New York. [16]

(Speculation is that facings for all were green - ED.)

Virginia's provincial troops met Braddock in Alexandria in March. These men were apparently not akin to militia, but were a cut above. No longer the 'Virginia Regiment', they were organized in unregimented companies. Braddock ultimately reorganized the Virginians into nine companies which were designated by their captains' names. There were two companies of artificers (axemen and engineers' assistants), Poison's and Mercer's; six of "rangers", Stephens', Wagener's, Peyronie's, Hogg's, Cocke's, and Lewis', and a company of light horse "rangers" under Stewart. These rangers were not armed with rifles and were not bushfighters. They were mostly tidewater men. Maryland contributed a company who were quite fit for service and became known as Dagworthy's Rangers after their captain. North Carolina also contributed a company of provincials to the army. They were dubbed 'Dobbs' Rangers' and mustered 84 for duty. Nichols reports that "All colonial troops [not including independents] wore blue uniformsof the regulation cut, faced with red to set off the blue of the coats and breeches." [17]

Despite the inexperience of Braddock's army, in a straight siege Contrecoeur would still be in trouble. He was outgunned and outnumbered 5 to 3. Those wargamers interested in siege warfare might see what could have happened had Braddock made it to Duquesne. [18]

While he was marching to do so reports came to the French in swarms. French and Indian scouts reported a great army of three to four thousand men approaching. Panic set in as a result of the huge train of artillery they brought.

Contrecoeur considered his station untenable and would probably have withdrawn to safety but someone, apparently Captain Beaujeu, convinced him to remain. Beaujeu would take a quarter of the French and Canadians to attack the marching column. After a good deal of haranguing, he was joined by over six hundred Indians, mostly from the west, but representing the Ottowas, Chippewas, Menomonees, Winnebagoes, Pottawotamies, Hurons, Wyanclots, Shawnees, Missisaugas, and some Delawares and Mingoes. The plan was to ambush the British as they cross the Monongahela. However, the British had crossed over the Monongahela River already and this was now impossible. [19] See Map 2.

More French and Indian Wars: 1744-1766

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