The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1910-07-15
THE BURIAL OF BRADDOCK
July Fourteenth, 1855.

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day-giving lamp.
The torch light flashed on sword and
on rifle,
And the hot July air-it choked and it
stihedl
We had marched through the forest,
many long, weary miles.
And the notes of the bugle still rang
through its aisles;
We had challenged the red man in his
own native lair
Felt his rifles hot breath as it redeemed
the air
His war whoop's fierce warning rent
the great forest wide,
And revengeful his bullet pierced our
brave cheftain's side
Disheartened and terror-striclen his
soldiers gathered around,
TO guard his couch and listen for the
least hostile sound
What is that noise that rings through
the pines,
And startles the warriors Of the red
coated lines?
Hark! Is it the war whoop of the
Ottawa
That we have heard in our dreams?
No! 1t is but the echo of the wild
cats scream.
Our army was now, far far from the
field,
Which our ill-fated cheftain was COM
PEELED to yield
We watched over him tenderly through
the long hours of pain,
Hoped for the best, but our hopes
were in vain.
And bending over his cot his last mes
sage to hear,
To give comfort to hearts which he held
most dear.
I'VE shall know better the next time,
who would have thought it,"
| Came advice from the lips that dearly
had bought
This warning to his comrades was his
last farewell,
And our grayhaired leader laid
corpse in the dell.
His shroud was the ensign which the
soldier loved best,
| Crossed with his sword on his silent
breast.
And far from the haunts of civilized
men.
Our chieftain's mausoleum was the pan
theirs den.
Then he whose advice our general had
Scorned,
Read the funeral rites for him whom
we mourned
| The solemn words rose on the mid
night still,
AS we prayed for the dead with fervid
will
Our voices rembled and hearts turned
weak
And tears rolled down many vet
| eran's cheek.
| The soldiers in companies said a last
"Amen,
And the solemn dirge of the bugles
echoed through the glen.
The moonbeams played over the noun
tains wide,
As we left him alone by the wild road
side.
The place of Braddock's interment
was within few yards of small stream,
the banks of which abruptly sloped down
to the water, and distant about one mile
from the site of Fort Necessity.
The grave was made Immediately in
the road, about stones throw from the
present National Road When the
march was resumed the horses, wagons
and troops were passed over the grave
the purpose being to prevent its dscov-
cry and desecration BY the enemy. A
secret mark, however, had been placed
near by so as to locate it in the near
future.
In 1924, a party of workmen engaged
| in repairing the old road came upon the
remains of human skeleton, which was
conceded to be that of General Brad
dock. Numerous inquiries failed 10
supply any other information. Numer-
Gus insignia of office and rank was
found with it, and there was no knowl-
edge of the burial of any other officer in
that vicinity.
Those who were present carried away
with them as souvenirs, the buttons and
other metal articles. which had not been
destroyed by corrosion Some of the
party even carried off the small bones of
the hand.
A Mr. lanes Matthews, blacksmith,
who lived at Mount Washington, as
Fort Necessity is at present called, was
present at the dsinterment, and he tells
us that the remains were carried TO a
point one hundred and fifty yards east
ward and buried in field at the foot of a
large oak tree, some twenty-five yards
from the National Road.
In order to mark the spot, the Hon
Andrew Stewart, prepared a board
upon which was inscribed the fact that
it was the last resting place of Major
General Edward Braddo k
Braddock's grave was one of the
great points of attraction on the old
National Road, and every day the
stages were stopped to allow the passen-
gers to view the grave. The old oak
tree blew down about 1868, the trunk
breaking off some ten feet from the
ground.
In 1871, party Of gentlemen from
England visited the spot, and before
leaving it they had it enclosed with a
stout board fence, and thus it remains
today
AmoJ the private soldiers under
BraddJ was William Browning,
grandh er of Meshach Browning, the
celebrated Maryland hunter. Of cen.
tury ago, OF what is now Garrett county
and whose descendants are still living in
that part of the State. The Brownings
atone time.owned greater portion o
THE Glades," where the summer re
sorts of Deer Park, Mountain Lake
Park, and Oakland are now located.
There is tradition that on the day 0
the defeat Gully 9th, 1851 a large lor
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