British Redcoats vs. French Canadian Troops & Native Warriors : The Battle Of The Monongahela

welcome to history at the OK Corral don't forget to subscribe hit the like button leave us a comment down below and share this episode with a fellow history lover and now on to tonight's episode July 3rd 1754 George Washington signs off on the surrender of Ford necessity after a Relentless assault by a contingent of French and Native forces the official tally for the British would be 31 killed 70 wounded and 369 captured including Colonel George Washington self the Franco Indian Force only lost three men with 19 wounded the numbers do little to paint the true picture of dispair the colonial militia men found themselves in that day with their killed and wounded littering the drenched sod of the Great Meadows after a torrential downpour that afternoon rendered even their weapons impotent perhaps even Washington himself would have found it hard to believe that in just one year's time he would be back in the Ohio country just 50 Mi North facing levels of atrocities that would out Shine the defeat at Fort Necessity 10-fold on July 4th Washington headed out from Fort Necessity with his men having agreed to not return for a period of one year under the conditions of his surrender and release two Colonial officers were to be held captive by the frint for this period to ensure the terms were observed Washington prioritized getting the wounded to Medical Care as quickly as possible hoping to save as many men as they could with many requiring amputations from the onset of infections in their wounds along the way the natives continued to loot and raid the militia men but Washington ordered them to stand down not wanting to suffer another violent confrontation that would almost certainly end in the other side's favor during the Battle of Fort Necessity the Congress of Albany was underway taking place from mid June through mid July 1754 the Congress saw representatives of seven British colonies convened to discuss how to improve relations with native tribes and defend themselves against the encroachment of New France in their territorial interests at the Congress Benjamin Franklin attempted to get the colonies to agree to a plan of Union forming together under a president appointed by the British crown the popular Join or Die political cartoon was born from Franklin's idea while this plan was voted down by the representatives it would become the basis of the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution adopted two decades later the foundation of the independent United States Government after the disappointing defeat at for necessity Washington resigned his post when the Virginia regimen was divided into 10 independent companies this realignment would have brought with it a demotion from the rank of Colonel Washington knew the early retirement would be temporary writing that his stepping aside wase not to gratify any desire I had to leave the military my inclinations are strongly bent to Arms after the death of his father Lawrence Washington a series of events would lead to his coming into power as the Lord of Mount fit Lawrence's Widow Anne remarried and moved to West Morland County and then on December 10th 1754 her daughter Sarah passed away George who was not a wealthy man by his own means whatsoever at the time would leas the estate from an as well as its 18 slaves under the condition that each Christmas George would ship 15,000 lbs of tobacco to Anne as payment this agreement would bring George Washington considerable stress but would also in time make him one of the wealthiest men in the Virginia Commonwealth Major General Edward bradock was sent to the British colonies to lead an aggressive multipronged campaign to rebuke new France from their territory bradoock arrived in Hampton Virginia on February 20th 1755 with two regiments of British regular troops his comprehensive strategy included Admiral Edward bosen sailing a fleet to the Gulf of St Lawrence to prevent French reinforcements from reaching Canada Brock's two regiments were sent to Wills Creek to embark on an expedition to Fort duain the 50th and 51st regiments had been dormant since King George's War and were to head out from Albany to the French Fort of Niagara under the command of William Shirley after bradoock took Fort ducain he would continue up the alany river one by one taking every French Fort along the way until uniting with Shirley in Niagara that fall Major General bradoock requested that George Washington join his staff while he had reservations about the young Colonel's conduct at Fort Necessity bradoock learned that Washington possessed an intimate knowledge of the landscape of the Ohio country that would prove invaluable Washington responded that he wished to be given a royal officer's Commission elevating him above the status he held as Colonel in the Virginia militia when that was denied Washington offered to serve as Aid to camp and a volunteer capacity this position would prevent him from being ordered around by the British officers and have him directly reporting to bradock in hindsight had Washington and given the Royal officer commission he so vigorously sought there is a distinct possibility he would not have altered that allegiance to become the commander-in-chief in 1775 of the United States Army Washington wrote that an ambitious man must hide his desires and though he desired not only the Royal officer status but also to run for the house of Burgess ultimately he inquired to his younger brother Jack to gather information on how it would be received where George to run finding his support was not at the time sufficient he opted not to run thus showing his pension for political cunning and a willingness to undertake clandestine action when it benefited him after appointing Jack Washington to take over as Lord of Mount Vernon in his absence George would join brck in May of 1755 in Frederick Maryland Colonel Washington disputed Major General Brock's plan for an assault through traditional means informing him of the fighting style of the natives their desire was to inflict damage on a larger force and flee before suffering casualties stressing an asymmetrical approach to Warfare bradic maintained an air of superiority towards every Colonial he interacted with even at his own Peril upon these four warnings of the natives pinent for hostile Ambush he demur these Savages may be a formidable enemy to your ra American militia but upon the king's regular and disciplined troops it is impossible that they would make any impression in early June bradock and his force of 3,000 men headed out for the forks of the Ohio with dozens of cattle in tow as well as 50 women who had agreed to assist the procession the pace of their Advance was at times 2 m a day bradock had rebuked Washington's suggestion to travel lightly through the Appalachian range they were to Traverse taking only pack horses and Bare Essentials Brad however opted for an overloaded Caravan of carriages and cannons bradoock who was unfamiliar with the physical geography also struggled to make Headway as much of the trails and roads they needed to use had to be widened and worked on as they Advanced Washington would call for them to split into two columns one with the majority of the fighting men to charge ahead and the other column to construct the pathway bringing it up with the women cattle and wagons bradoock would agree on the adoption of this strategy and lead the column charge forth at a great pace the general so emboldened by the lack of resistance they faced along the way that he would end up several miles ahead of the supply column Washington was afflicted with dissenter that gave him fits of diarrhea and vomiting that severely depleted his energy he also suffered from an agonizing case of hemorrhoids that caused him to have to travel lying flat in the back of a wagon much of the time unable to sit upon a saddle brck gave Washington a bottle of Dr james' medical powder a combination of phosphate of lime and antimony to treat his hemorrhoids Washington would call it the finest medicine in the world just after crossing the manonga Hala in route to Fort Duan the progress would come to an abrupt halt on the morning of July 9th a majority native Coalition Force led by French Captain Daniel Lenard deou arrived too late to the river to Ambush the British and Colonial forces the French Captain's forces number roughly 800 men under his command about half the number of men stationed to defend Fort duain composed of officers regulars as well as Canadian militia alongside 600 native Warriors among the tribes present are the Ottawa the Moga the Delaware the shauni the wand do and the patami the native forces hit amongst the trees on either side of the road towards Fort Duan with the majority of the French Canadians stationed further up the road along the path to the Fort around 1:00 that afternoon the advanced guard of the British commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gage spotted the enemy lying in wait in the trees just after crossing the river and ordered his to fire upon them the opening volley of the battle did little damage to the Franco native forces as a whole but as luck would have it Captain bjo was caught in the line of fire and killed in the opening Salvo of the battle of manonga Hala which would also be referred to for good reason as the battle of the Wilderness the native forces as they had done at Fort Necessity took cover amongst the trees stones and brush raining down an ongoing fire upon the Red Coats the British repeatedly attempted to form themselves into C columns as was their training and in doing so merely simplified the task of the natives as the advanced guard was repelled suffering heavy casualties Gage's men began to retreat while this was occurring bradoock ordered the troops from the main body to charge forward causing a chaotic sequence when they collided with one another in a Folly of errors this allowed the natives to wreak further Havoc as they fired on this Tangled mass of humanity disorganized disheveled and suffering ever greater losses as officers of the advanced guard attempt to organize their men waving swords that glittered in the sun overhead they became the easiest targets of all Gage's Force suffered 18 officers killed in these early exchanges this perpetuated a further breakdown of British command and discipline bradoock attempted to reclaim order by calling for his men to reorganize in advance but the mounting losses and unrelenting native fire presented any Ensemble larger than a platoon from forming the disoriented herd of British soldiers were coralled together in an area stretching less than 250 yards in length and under 100 ft across even when the British soldiers could gather themselves enough to return fire they had few targets of which to take Aim their best chances to fire came when a native was sprinting from One Tree to another to reposition himself with even deadlier Effectiveness and even then they would only catch a mere glimpse of them when the Red Coats formed themselves into lines as they had been trained multiple incidents of Friendly Fire occurred the rear guard tasked with defending the siege cannons brought to overcome Fort duain were left on their own civilian Teamsters unhitched their horses from their wagons and rode away in fear the women who had been driving the cattle just over 50 in total were nearly all lost with over half being killed outright bradoock maintained the most steadfast level of composure throughout this day riding valiantly even as four horses had been shot out from underneath him it was only when a musket ball was shot through Brock's back knocking him off his horse that a complete collapse in order occurred this came after withstanding ceaseless fire for over 3 hours Washington who had ridden up from the rear with Brock had by all accounts performed courageously having had two horses shot out from under him that day and even requiring the help of his men to place him back in the saddle as he was so stricken from exhaustion due to his illness by the end of the day Washington had four bullet holes torn through his cap and uniform but as per usual he was improbably unharmed the final tally of British and Colonial losses from their 1300 strong was 457 killed 450 wounded and a few dozen taken prisoner James Smith a member of this colonial British Force who was captured that day would recall several soldiers being tortured and burned alive in the night following the Battle as they retreated from the battlefield Washington received his final order from the dying bradock to deliver a message to Colonel dumbar his division lying 40 Mi to the rear to send forth wagons medicine and provision for the helpless Legions of defeated and dying that lay in the wake of the days of fair Washington exhausted and Ill gathered the fortitude to ride all through the night to deliver the message during the retreat back from the manaa bradoock succumbed to his wounds and Washington had him buried on the road passing through the Great Meadows near Fort Necessity after his burial Washington had the wagons and Men Traverse over the top of his freshly dug grave packing the Earth back together tightly to prevent it from being discovered by Natives and saving his body from desecration Colonel dumbar led the defeated Force back to the east he ordered 150 wagons to be burned and the Cannons destroyed preventing these supplies and armaments from falling into enemy hands the dejected survivors then carried on towards Philadelphia Captain bjo was buried on July 12th at Fort duain the Victor in a battle that saw both commanders lose their lives the defeat was far more shocking to the British than Fort Necessity as the small undersized militia Force inside the crudely built fortification had not been expected to Dave off such an act of French aggression on their own Brock's multif front strategy designed to evoke the power of the British Empire and her colonies to drive out New France was for all intents and purposes buried with Major General Brock on the road passing Great Meadows New France now had a strong foothold within the Ohio country bradoock left his battle Sash and two pistols to George Washington and it was recorded that Brock's last spoken words were who would have thought we shall know better another time it would take three long years for the British to return to Fort Duan and attempt to turn the tide of war that was now undeniably underway but for tonight those are other stories for other times thank you for joining us on this episode of history at the okay Corral be sure to click the like button share this episode with a friend and become a subscriber and also if you'd like to support our work and gain Early Access to episodes as well as adree viewing you can become a member of this channel by clicking on the join button or click the link in the description below to become a 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Channel: History at The OK Corral

Views: 15,125

Keywords: george washington, history at the ok corral, hokc, history documentary, george washington snl, george washington documentary, george washington shane gillis, french and indian war documentary, george washington edit, french and indian war oversimplified, french and indian war crash course, french and indian war explained, battle of the monongahela 1755, redcoat british military history, us history documentary, french history documentary, british history documentary bbc

Id: 2g_-mnqt6k8

Length: 14min 10sec (850 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 14 2024