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Braddock Road in Y2K: The Old Road In A New Millennium
Western Maryland Chapter member Robert (Bob) Bantz, Sr., has been researching and investigating the Braddock Road from Cumberland, Md. to Pittsburgh, Pa.. He has been walking in the footsteps of Nemacolin, George Washington, Thomas Cresap, Gen. Braddock and other adventurous souls who defined the future expansion of our country by literally carving their way into the rugged wilderness to ‘the Ohio country’.
It seems as though the ‘Old Road’ has only the hottest days of summer and the coldest days of winter and Bob Bantz has shared those days on the trail with snakes, bugs and poison ivy. He’s even frozen his nose a few times tracing the Braddock Road across Savage Mountain. To appreciate what George Washington and his contemporaries must have endured, Bob feels he must walk in their boots. He’s walked over 500 miles on this journey, so far.
The first phase of his study was to accurately locate, photograph, and plot General Edward Braddock’s Road, as it exists in Allegany and Garrett County, Maryland. Considering the ‘Old Road’ is over two hundred twenty five years of age, some encroachment by timbering, surface mining, weathering, erosion and the addition of new roads and homes can be expected. While ninety eight percent of it is on private land the road is in remarkable condition.
First as an animal trace and Native American footpath, the trail to the Ohio Valley was used for trade and travel from coastal settlements, the Shenandoah Valley and other points East and South. Throughout the 1700’s trappers and traders extensively used the trail.
A group of entrepreneurs recognized the financial potential of these westward lands, formed the ‘Ohio Company’ and secured a grant of 200,000 acres in the upper Ohio River Valley. They built storehouses for pelts and other goods at the western-most defensible outpost west of the Piedmont- the current location of Cumberland, Md.. From there, Delaware Indian Nemacolin, Christopher Gist and Thomas Cresap opened the trail for the Ohio Company in 1751. The trail was to undergo frequent upgrading by the Ohio Company in a constant battle against erosion, wear and expanding travel needs.
The French had commercial ideas of their own however, and began building forts on Lake Erie, at several points south, and near the Ohio River. In November 1753, the trail was improved by twenty-one year old George Washington who was sent to ‘instruct the French’ to leave.
The French didn’t take Washington’s suggestion. Consequently, trapper and military officer Captain Wm.Trent was sent by the Ohio Company to strengthen their foothold at a trading post on what is now Pittsburgh. While building Fort Prince George, Captain Trent was unceremoniously evicted in April 1754, by the French and their Indian allies. Faced with this new crisis, the Ohio Company immediately sent George Washington and an accompanying military force to remove the French. Along the way, ‘Washington’s Road’, as it was called at some points, was improved and widened for his army.
This fateful trip resulted in the beginning of the French and Indian War. It was quickly marred by Washington’s defeat and surrender in July, at the hastily built Fort Necessity, along this wilderness road. The colonies now feared that the new and improved road to the west might become a road to the east, for the French.
In the summer of 1755, the trail was again improved and widened to accommodate large wagons and heavy cannons for the army of British General Braddock. His attempts to finally expel the French from the former Ohio Company garrison, renamed Fort Duquesne, resulted in his crushing defeat and death west of Ft.Necessity. His clandestine grave is located under the road he helped to build.
The trail saw heavy traffic through the end of the 18th century as the young nation expanded westward. The largest effect upon the course and size of the trail came as it was improved to allow passage of large teams of horses pulling the Conestoga Wagons and Coaches. This trail was used until the construction of the federally funded National Pike in 1811.
While many works have provided a complete and satisfactory history of the French and Indian War, only one source exists today that contains a map, and a description of the trail as it existed in the early 1900’s. Written in 1914 by John Kennedy Lacock, “Braddock Road” was published in the “Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography”. It was the inspiration of this writing that motivated Bob Bantz to determine if the old trail still exists in this new century and to seek the history and spirit of the trail.
Fortunately, several miles of the road passes through Savage River State Forest in Garrett County. This section of the trail contains typical features found on all of the private lands. It has steep ravines, grooved stones as a result of wagon traffic and typical dual trails used for ‘passing’ or as the result of replacement for a worn section of road.Stones used for support and the age of trees and stumps in the trail, all help determine the relative age, use and location of the trail.
In an attempt to assure it’s preservation in the State Forest, Bob has met with the forest manager in Garrett Co., toured the trail with his personnel and used their Global Positioning System unit to record its location on topographic maps. We can report that the trail is alive and well in Allegany and Garrett counties as we enter into a new century.
Robert Bantz, Sr. is a retired Principal Engineer for Kelly-Springfield Tire Co. He holds a B.S. degree from Frostburg State University with graduate studies in Physics, Mathematics and Earth Science at Univ. of Md. and American University. He is married and lives near Cumberland, MD... .............not far from the trail.
Braddock Road Links
Braddock Road Preservation Association
Christopher Gists Journals 1750-54
John Kennedy Lacock Report 1908-09
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