The Fort Comes and Goes

The Fort Comes and Goes. . Continent of Conflict , By the mid 1700s the British realized that the French had set up trading posts throughout the heart of North America by traversing the Mississippi River and in tributary and by exploring the Great Lakes. The English knew that the Appalachian Mountains were now considered their western boundary. When George Washington's diplomatic trip to the French commander at For LaBeour failed to convince the French to withdraw from British claimed lands and with Col. Washington's subsequent defeat at Fort Necessity in 1754, the British knew they must take decisive action., Gen. Braddock Comes to Hampshire , The British were not about to give up their claims to the western lands. In 1755 King George II sent Gen. Edward Braddock to America with orders to defeat the French. He brought two regiments of regular British soldiers. He also brought cannons and supplies that he struggled to get across the mountains to Fort Duquesne, the French stronghold at the Forks of the Ohio River., In order to get to his destination as quickly as possible, Gen. Braddock decided to build a new, shorter road to Fort Cumberland. In Hampshire County the road ran from Bloomery across the Cacapon just after the North River joins it at Forks of Capon. Then it continued over Spring Gap Mountain to Ferry Field where the Little Cacapon joins the Potomac. It then crossed into Maryland. Although this road did not come near Joseph Edwards's location, some supplies for the colonial soldiers who accompanied Gen. Braddock were transported along the Great Wagon Road past Edwards's home., Braddock is Defeated , Col. Washington accompanied Gen. Braddock on the expedition, as did several other colonials including Daniel Morgan and Daniel Boone. Although the British were well equipped and well supplied compared to the French, they were very unprepared for frontier fighting. When the two armies ran into each other in the forest near present day Pittsburgh, the French and their Indian allies were victorious. After about four hours of fighting, the English had lost almost two- thirds of their force and Braddock himself had suffered a fatal wound., After burying Braddock in the road back to Ft. Cumberland. the British army went into winter quarters in Philadelphia never to return to the Virginia Frontier again., Braddock's army was practically destroyed by a force less than half its size. This overwhelming defeat had far reaching consequences. First, Great Britain which had previously been seen as the greater power with more people, more resources and better trade goods was now seen as "the old woman.” The native Americans lost respect for the English. Secondly, plunder replaced trade as the way for natives to acquire the goods they wanted. Just as they had plundered the battlefield taking weapons and other personal effects from the fallen soldiers, now they knew they could plunder the English settlers. To do this they realized the third major consequence of the defeat: the road Gen. Braddock had built ran two ways. The twelve foot wide road which narrowly allowed movement of Braddock's army now was a major thoroughfare from Indian lands to the white settlements., Washington Has a Plan , After Gen. Braddock's army was defeated in July 1755, and its remnant returned to Philadelphia, the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania were open to the enemy. It then fell to Col. George Washington, appointed commander of the Virginia Regiment, to build an army to defend the long Virginia frontier from Ft. Cumberland to the North Carolina border. Colonel Washington not only formed the Virginia Regiment, he also devised a plan for a string of forts to protect the frontier., Col. Washington had his headquarters in Winchester where he built Ft. Loudoun. To the west he used the site of Joseph Edwards's fortified homestead to guard the road that led to the forts of the South Branch Valley and to Ft. Cumberland., The fort at Joseph Edwards's became the first link in the chain of forts running from Maryland to the North Carolina border. It was the first stopping point and the place where supplies were then directed north to Fort Cumberland or south to the South Branch Valley forts and beyond. Exactly who did the work on the fort at Joseph Edwards's land is not clear. Because there were no drawings or narrative descriptions, it is not known exactly what the fort looked like. However, by October 1755, Col. Washington's orders speak of a fort at Edwards's location., The fort at Edwards's was not only used to station soldiers who provided protection for supplies moving along the road between Ft. Loudoun and Pearsall's fort on the South Branch (at present day Romney) and the other forts of the frontier chain of protection. It was also a secure point that was expected to shelter and encourage the settlers to stay in order to farm and to fight., There was one important event that occurred near Edwards's. On April 18, 1756, Capt. John Fenton Mercer and men from his company who were temporarily staying at the fort until the Cacapon River subsided from flood stage, left the fort in search of Indians. Somewhere north of the fort in the area of Edwards Run they ran into an ambush. Capt. Mercer, Ensign Thomas Carter and fifteen soldiers were killed by a large party of Indians and French soldiers. It was the largest engagement with French and Indians to occur in Virginia during the war. It shocked the Governor and everyone in Williamsburg, and it terrified the frontier settlers., The Frontier Moves, the Family Leaves , In late 1758 the road by Joseph Edwards was filled with activity as soldiers and supplies moved west toward the Ohio Country. In November 1758, Gen. John Forbes successfully completed the campaign to capture Ft. Duquesne that Gen. Braddock had started. With the fall of the northern French strongholds of Forts Carillon, Niagara and Quebec in 1759, the war was really over. It took several more years to complete negotiations and sign the Treaty of Paris, but now Great Britain was master of North America. With the peace the flood of immigrants to America increased and the western lands experienced a surge of settlement. Although England had technically set the "Line of the Alleghenies,” limiting the advance of white settlers, the frontier was rapidly advancing to the Ohio River., In 1781 Joseph Edwards died, and his land was divided and passed to his heirs. There was some problem with his will, and in 1787 a court settlement gave the "plantation” with the house to Joseph's grandson, Samuel Edwards. Other members of the family had already moved west. Samuel sold half the property to Elias Boston, who may have run a ferry on the river. Eventually, Samuel moved away., The Memory Remains , The local community never forgot the location or story of the fort. Today we welcome you to come visit and learn more.