The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-07-15

white men by their red enemies. An
army of 1900 British regulars and
provineials, commanded by Gen. Ed
ward BraddOck, marching to the cap
ture Of the French Fort DuQuesne,
was met on the banks of the Monon-
gahela river by a force of less than
900 French and Indians and utterly
routed with a loss Of nearly 900 killed
and wounded. Thus Braddock's de-
feat became a high spot in American
school history.
Eight years later another army of
British regulars and colonials, number
ing 40 men and commanded by Col
Henry Bouquet, was marching through
the forest only few miles away from
the spot where the unburied bones of
Braddock's men still Uttered the
ground. They, too, were on their way
to this same fort at the forks of the
Ohio, only it was now in the hands
Of the British and was called Fort Pitt
instead Of Fort DuQuesne. But 1t was
closely beleaguered by the enemy, the
warriors Of the great chief Pontiac
and If Fort Pitt fell a veritable red
wave Of destruction would sweep over
the border settlements Of the Quaker
colony. If 1t held out until Bouquet
arrived, that danger would be greatly
lessened.
Twenty-Five miles from their goal,
on the banks Of a little creek called
Bushy Run, the soldiers were attacked
by Indians. There, on August and g.
1853, occurred one of the most bril-
liant victories ever registered by an
army of white men over their Indian
foes and one Of the most decisive de-
feats that the red man ever suffered
1t was due solely to the skill of Col.
Henry Bouquet, Swiss soldier Of for
tune. -.-
Braddock's defeat Is familiar word
to everyone. You will search the
schoolbooks in vain for mention of
Bouquets victory. Such Is the incon-
sistency of history!
The story Of Gen. Edward Braddock
is also an example of the injustice of
history, especially the so-called ''popu-
lar history" For more than q hun
dred and fifty years popular history"
has done him a grave injustice, has
painted him as a str0ng-willed profess
stonal soldier, scorning advice, a stub
born fool rushing to a well-merited de-
struction. Fortunately for his fame,
modern historians have revised that
estimate and one of them, no less an
authority than Archer Butler Hubert,
sas gwen declared that Braddock's de-
feat SHOULD really be Braddock's vic
toy, because it was the ability of the
British az demonstrated by this un-
fort5nrte general, to make a road
across TIE country from the Potomac
to the Ohio and to make a second
three years later that really won the
Ohio country. It has remained for
other historians to correct many of the
other utterly distorted ideas about this
bloody business" OF Braddock.
By digging up contemporary docu-
ments long hidden away In musty ar
chives, they have proved that, con-
trary to all the statements of popular
history" Braddock did not fall into an
ambuscade, that he did not scorn the
advice Of Washington and other colo
malls, that he did not throw away the
only chance to win victory after his
army was attacked by driving his SOL
dfers back into line, instead of letting
them fight from behind trees as they
tried to do. A study Of the map OF
this engagement which appears in
Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe" will
dispel at once that ambush theory.