Talk:Braddock expedition

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see lists of open tasks and regional and topical task forces. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.

Start

This article has been rated as Start-Class on the quality scale.

Additional information and associated task forces:

	This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-Class status: Referencing and citation: criterion not met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met
Associated task forces (nations and regions):
	French military history task force

	This article is within the scope of the sub-project WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America/Anishinaabe, an attempt to gather and assess articles on the Anishinaabe peoples for the larger project WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America, which collaborates on Native American, First Nations, and related subjects on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion. If you specialize in articles related to the Ojibwa, Odawa, Potawatomi, Mississaugas, Nipissing, Algonquin, Saulteaux, or Oji-Cree, please visit WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America/Anishinaabe as well.
???	This article has not yet been rated on the assessment scale.
Suggested article edit guidelines: To help us prioritise our workload, and in readiness for Wikipedia:1.0, we need to assess our articles for Quality. If this article is Unassessed, please assess it. See the Article Classification for instructions. If you disagree with a rating, you can change it or discuss it at Article Classification. Before assessing this article, be sure to check the existing Archive of assessments made under the previous system (used until July 2006), and feel free to help in migrating the existing comments besides from adding your own evaluation. After assessing this article's quality, please make sure it to add it to the Lists at Article Classification, following the grading scheme detailed there.
Please rate this article and leave comments here to explain the ratings and/or to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article.

	Braddock expedition is part of WikiProject Pittsburgh, which is building a comprehensive guide to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and its metropolitan area on Wikipedia. To participate, you can edit the attached article, join or discuss the project. Editors are currently needed to tag Pittsburgh-related articles with {{pghproj}}.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the quality scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.

This article still needs at least two additions. First is a discussion of impact, such as the growing distrust between the regulars (especially officers) and militia. This grew until the revolution. We also need something on governor Dinwiddie's reaction.

The second is a note of the key players who went on into the revolution. A partial list includes Gage, Washington, Daniel Morgan. I know there are others, but haven't had time to build a list. Lou I 03:43 May 10, 2003 (UTC)

1 Legend?
2 Naming
3 "(Thomas Fawcett) ... shot Braddock through the lungs ..." - Edith Fawcett Zelley, 1925.
4 Ironically, at this point the demoralised and disorganised British forces still outnumbered their opponents, who had not even dared to pursue.

[edit] Legend?

When I was in elementary school, while studying local geography and Braddock Road we learned about some sort of buried treasure left behind by this expedition, somewhere near the road. Now research I've done on the Internet shows that this was a result of the payroll being lost (with the supplies). If found, this supposedly buried cache would be $15000 to $25000 in English gold coins ($300,000 today), and probably also contain pre-Revolutionary war relics (absolutely priceless). I live in Virginia, but the treasure is probably buried somewhere in Pennsylvania, and this is probably a "local legend" all along the path; I would appreciate it if someone did some good research and added it to the article. 68.100.68.23 06:48, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Naming

It was suggested that this article should be renamed Braddock expedition. The vote is shown below:

Is there any reason to capitalize Expedition? Septentrionalis 17:12, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

This article has been renamed after the result of a move request. violet/riga (t) 22:52, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "(Thomas Fawcett) ... shot Braddock through the lungs ..." - Edith Fawcett Zelley, 1925.

I am a descendant of Thomas Fawcett, and I have a 1925 text written by Edith Fawcett Zelley claiming that Thomas Fawcett "... saw Braddock cut down his brother Joseph ... (Thomas) raised his gun and shot Braddock through the lungs and he fell mortally wounded."

This corroborates the information found on this website: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/do/digitalbookshelf/27843260/27843260_part_109.pdf

The Zelley text also notes: "Some have thought it was John Fawcett who shot General Braddock. I found the account in five histories in the Pittsburgh Libraries, all of which gave his name as Thomas Fawcett."

It is not clear if the Zelley information was handed down within the Fawcett family whereupon Zelley researched it more, or if while researching her family, Zelley came across this information. (I am suspicious of the latter.) It is also not clear if the reference to "I found ..." was Zelley or another researcher, Elmer F. Kirtland.

Confirmation of the General's demise by his own men may not be possible, but the lack of consistent discipline and tactics throughout his army unit (differing strategies of the colonials and British troops) may have been a significant factor in the defeat of Braddock's combined forces. Braddock may have been defeated from within as well as from without.

-JAK

[edit] Ironically, at this point the demoralised and disorganised British forces still outnumbered their opponents, who had not even dared to pursue.

This statement is somewhat false and a rather elaborate claim. In total, there was 852 French and Indian troops against 1,500 British and Colonials. After the battle ended, the French had suffered a mere 39 casualties, bringing their total strength down to 813. The British however, suffered more casualties than the French had men; they lost 878. So, that brings the British strength down to 622. How does 622 men outnumber 813? Should this statement be altered? (Trip Johnson (talk) 21:17, 11 May 2008 (UTC))