an old hotel, and then, immediately rejoining it, coincides or closely parallels it for a distance of less than half a mile. At this point the road enters the farm of W. H. Hansel, and, proceeding in a northwesterly direction, presently enters a strip of woods, passes the old Bishop house (unoccupied), and then runs down Hager Hill south of James Bishop’s, a quarter of a mile south of Fort Necessity.[53] For a mile and a half from the James Bishop house the road can be very accurately followed to the point at which it intersects the National turnpike,—a point, it may be noted, about a stone’s throw south of the spot where lie the mortal remains of General Braddock.[54] At this intersection the road leaves the turnpike never again to rejoin it, and turns somewhat to the northwest in order to gain a favorable pass over Chestnut Ridge, the last mountain ridge to be crossed. About a quarter of a mile northward from Braddock’s grave was “the camp on the west side of the Great Meadows,” the Orchard Camp.[55]

SITE OF FORT NECESSITY
FROM PAINTING BY PAUL WEBER, 1854

A short distance from this camp the road runs south of Nemacolin’s Wigwam,[56] and a few rods northward near a schoolhouse enters the wooded part of Chestnut Ridge, on the eastern slope of which it passes the spot called Peddler’s Rocks. On the western slope a sort of transverse road, the traces of which are easily followed except for about a quarter of a mile, was cut to join a township road near the house of John Henry Rankin, three miles and a half from Braddock’s grave. A few rods distant on the west side of the township road are the Half King’s Rocks, better known as the Great Rock, where the old camp of the Half King was located; and close by these rocks and south of the road is “Washington Springs,” the place of Braddock’s tenth encampment, called Rock Fort,[57] two miles south of Dunbar’s camp.

From Washington Springs the line follows the course of the present road for about a mile, with distinct marks at intervals along the sides; it then continues in a northerly direction eastward of the present road to a point east of Jumonville and of Jumonville’s grave.[58] From here it keeps its northerly course along a very narrow crest of the mountain, past the Honey Comb Rock, and thereafter in the main follows the dividing line between North Union and Dunbar townships to a point about one mile south of the old Meason house on the Gist Plantation, when by a slight deflection northwestward it crosses Cove Run and the Pennsylvania Railroad to Gist’s Plantation, the place of the eleventh encampment.[59] Between the tenth and eleventh encampments the traces of the road are so plain that one does not have to rely on inference.

The last mountain barrier had now been passed. Along this narrow road, cut but twelve feet wide and with the line of march often extending four miles at a time, the army had toiled on day after day, crossing ridge after ridge of the Alleghany Mountains, now plunging down into a deep and often narrow ravine, now climbing a difficult and rocky ascent, but always in the deep shadow of the forest. On such a thoroughfare, running between heavily-wooded forests on either side of the road and made still narrower and often several feet deep by usage, it was of course impossible for a vehicle coming in the opposite direction to pass; but on nearly all the mountain ranges, and especially in the low grounds, there were wider places where by some kind of signals or by some preconcerted understanding the packtrains and wagons, which frequently moved in caravans, could meet and pass one another. Thenceforward, however, the character and general aspect of the country were noticeably different. The land of active coal developments, including coke ovens, had been reached. For many miles to the northward the traveller passes over a vast extent of country from under which the coal has been taken, and from which the props have given way in many places, leaving deep and treacherous holes. Such crevices are especially frequent from Prittstown to a point east of Mount Pleasant, a circumstance which in some places materially interferes with the relocation of Braddock Road.

Leaving Gist’s Plantation the line runs abruptly to the northward, evidently keeping the higher ground to a point about a quarter of a mile east of Leisenring, where it turns into the valley of Opossum Run and follows the stream to its mouth in the Youghiogheny. On the west side of the Youghiogheny, near Robinson’s Falls, was the place of the twelfth encampment.[60] Although no trustworthy scars of the road from Gist’s Plantation to this point are discernible, there can be little doubt that this was the line of march.[61]

Braddock forded the Youghiogheny at Stewart’s Crossing, below the mouth of Opossum Creek, to a point on the opposite side of the river above the mouth of Mounts Creek, half a mile below Connellsville.[62] His next encampment, which was on the east side of the fording, a mile north of the mouth of Mounts Creek, cannot be definitely fixed; but most probably it was on Davidson’s land, southeast of the Narrows.[63] Between this point and the battleground there were still some highlands to be crossed, which, though trivial in comparison with the mountains already traversed, were yet rugged enough to present serious difficulties to the troops, already worn out with previous