The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1888-05-19
Historical Facts.
From the Cumberland Courier.I

ana It's successor, the National road,
out such writings have been rather
q asketchv than historic character.
hey did not appear to be sufficiently
song in research and authenticity
lo nave made them valuable to read
ers In search of real information.
lnere would seem to be room, ana
even necessity for something more
on the subject, if carefully distracted
ana collected from reliable sources,
which have been and now are rapidly
disappearing so far as any human
\ MI ..et;ons and traditions are con-
ksas It shall be the purpose of
lhisVAper to contribute something,
howWer small, to history perhaps
mOreaccarately speaking, material
for hfory; and if the general reader
shouldfiud additionally something
OF relinisdc and entertaining char
acter, stmuch more accomplished.
Braddck, or Braddock's road,
takes lts,name from Gen. Edward
Braddock a veteran officer of the
British arpy-a man of more faults
than Yirtus. nut he was a thorough
and successful solder in European
tactics, andthat was sufficient for
military reputation in that part OF
the world. He disenbarked his little
army of two erack regiments at AL
exandria, Va. ,early n the spring OF
1855. This royal fore, with some
Virginia, Maryland and North Caro-.
lima leyies took up its line of march
from this base lAleXMdria) in the
latter part of April for some distance
over the same road the Union army
CALAMITY marched to the now his
toric field of Bull Run with the same
disastrous and humiliating results.
AS to the first campaign three year,
were needed to repair and become
ready for the successful one of 1853,
and in the latter four long bloody
years such as history knew not of be.
fore. From this scene over the
subsequent route of Gen. j. E.
Jackson's army, reversed to Fort
Loud0n NOW Winchester then bear.
ing North to the Upper Potomac,
with or close to it till the great Caca
.is;ef.uas reached, then over to Mary
r.fd, and up by way of "Skipton"
the fortified abode of Col. Thomas
CresaD, in after times greatly rated
as frontiersman of the defensive
and offensive kind. Fort Cumber.
land at the confluence of Wills creek
and Potomac was reached 18th OF
May. This fort was built in 1854 up.
on the site of an earlier and weaker
work then known as Mount Pleas
ant, upon a stragetic hill in the basin
in which the city OF Cumberland was
subsequently, built. 1t was named
in honor of the Duke of Cumberland,
the Capt. Gen. of the British army,
a very popular man in his day, as
shown by the many places in this
country that still bear his entitled
name.
On the 10th of June Braddock
with his army of 1,400 men, started
upon his Inflated, or rather ill-con-
Quoted, expedition from Cumberland
to capture the annoying and menac.
ing Fort Duquesne, now the great
city of Pittsburg. In the start from
Cumberland the natural and best
route up Wills Greek was ignored
and more Westerly DETECTION, BY
way of Sandy Gap in Wills noun.
tain, adapted, or rather followed.
Up Jennings Run through a gap in
Dams mountain, onward to the
."Savages," 1.-THE Shades of Death, y
"Lttle Meadows" a place already
familiar to Washington, now one OF
the most charming in all the ALE
gess jes; next the Little Crossings
we're reached, then BEAR Camps" in
the mountain heights, then down.
ward to "Squaws Fort" next
big Crossings" "Great Meadows y
Rock Fort" "Gests." "Yoho.
gheny," "Great Swamp" Jacobs
Cabin" "Salt Lick" "Thickety
Run" and "Monongahela camp
Only so much of the route as lay be.
You'd Fort Necessity was his own
choice and engineering. All, OF
nearly so, the line from Alexandris
to Cumberland had been gone over
by Washington and was familiar tC
him. Only year before he had
raised and led a military expedition
in the nature of daring recogni.
zance, with artillery and wagons in
the direction of Fort Duquesne, and
lost all but honor and youthful repu'
tation. So in reality there was not
much after all In what has been
known as Braddock's route, or road
OF his own original choice, or engi'