Ohio History Journal

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432 Ohio Arch

432        Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications.

 

FIFTH SESSION.

At the Saturday afternoon session, under the direction of

Professor A. E. Morse, of Marietta College, the following pa-

pers were read and at the conclusion the members of the Asso-

ciation extended a most hearty vote of thanks to the President

and officers of instruction of Marietta College, where the meet-

ings were held, and to the people of the city of Marietta, whose

thoughtful care and attention had resulted in so successful a

gathering and had secured for them the opportunity to enjoy the

many spots of historic interest in this famous communited.

 

 

 

BRADDOCK'S ROAD.

 

HENRY TEMPLE,

Washington, Pennsylvania

The purpose of this paper is to give some account of Braddock's

road before General Braddock's expedition passed over it and to add a

few notes on the traces that still mark the route which he followed.1

The interest attracted by the highway cross the Alleghenies which long

bore the unfortunate general's name is of various kinds. Like other

pioneer roads it was first an Indian trail and a traders' path. It was

the earliest road laid out and opened west of the mountains by the

English in conscious rivalry with the French for commercial and military

control of the great west. When the country was opened to settlement,

 

1. That portion of the following paper which contains a brief de-

scription of General Braddock's route and of the traces of the road

that remain to the present time is taken from notes made along the

line of the road in August. 1908, when, in company with seven others,

the writer tramped over all but a few miles of it from Cumberland to the

battlefield. The expedition was proposed and managed by Mr. John Ken-

nedy Lacock, formerly of Washington, Pa., now of Harvard. The re-

maining members of the party were: Professor Clarence S. Larzelere of

Mount Pleasant, Michigan; Mr. C. F. Abbott of Somerville, Massachu-

setts; Mr. Em. K. Weller, photographer for the expedition; Messrs.

Edgar B. Murdoch, John H. Murdoch, Jr., John Parr Temple and my-

self. The five last named members of the party are all of Washington,

Pennsylvania.

For a more detailed description of the route than I intend to give

in this paper those interested must be referred to the article which Mr.

Lacock is preparing, and which, he informs me, will be published in an

early number of the "American Historical Review."