PRINTER'S NO. 2466
No. 396 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY PISTELLA, DeWEESE, TIGUE, BALDWIN, BEBKO-JONES,
BELFANTI, BIANCUCCI, BUNT, CALTAGIRONE, CAPPELLI, CASORIO,
CAWLEY, CLYMER, CORRIGAN, CRAHALLA, CREIGHTON, CRUZ, DeLUCA,
DENLINGER, DONATUCCI, J. EVANS, FABRIZIO, FICHTER, FORCIER,
FRANKEL, GEIST, GEORGE, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HARHAI, HARHART,
HENNESSEY, HERMAN, HERSHEY, HESS, JAMES, KOTIK, LEDERER,
MAJOR, MANN, MARKOSEK, MARSICO, McGILL, METCALFE, S. MILLER,
MUSTIO, PALLONE, PETRONE, PHILLIPS, PYLE, RAMALEY, READSHAW,
ROBERTS, ROEBUCK, ROSS, RUBLEY, SAINATO, SATHER, SCAVELLO,
SCHRODER, SHANER, B. SMITH, STABACK, STERN, SURRA, TANGRETTI,
WALKO, WOJNAROSKI, YOUNGBLOOD AND YUDICHAK, JULY 2, 2005
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
JULY 2, 2005
A RESOLUTION
1 Commemorating the 250th anniversary of Braddock's defeat on the
2 Monongahela River in 1755 and honoring the heroic efforts of
3 those men who fought and lost their lives at the Battle of
4 the Monongahela.
5 WHEREAS, In January 1755 an English fleet with two regiments
6 set sail from Cork for North America; and
7 WHEREAS, These understrength regiments were to be brought up
8 to strength with recruits from the colonies; and
9 WHEREAS, With 1,400 British regulars and 500 colonial troops,
10 Major General Edward Braddock expected to drive the French out
11 of Fort Duquesne on the present-day site of the City of
12 Pittsburgh; and
13 WHEREAS, Charles Michel de Langlade, Captain Daniel Lienard
14 de Beaujeu and Captain Jean-Daniel Dumas commanded a smaller
1 French and Indian force of more than 600 Ottawas, Miamis,
2 Hurons, Delawares (Lenni Lenape), Shawnees and Mingoes
3 (Iroquois), Canadian militia and French regular and colonial
4 troops; and
5 WHEREAS, By July 7, 1755, Braddock's army reached the
6 Monongahela River at a point about ten miles east of Fort
7 Duquesne; and
8 WHEREAS, On July 9, having passed through the valley and
9 having safely forded the river, Braddock's army was ambushed by
10 the French and Indians; and
11 WHEREAS, The British, fighting an unseen enemy, fired
12 blindly; and
13 WHEREAS, British regular troops fired by mistake as their
14 colonial troops took cover; and
15 WHEREAS, Braddock, who had four horses shot from under him
16 while trying to rally his troops, was shot through the lungs
17 while mounting a fifth horse; and
18 WHEREAS, After his death on July 13, Braddock was buried
19 under the military road; and
20 WHEREAS, Braddock's troops marched over his burial site so
21 Indians would not find and mutilate his body; and
22 WHEREAS, In the end, 977 of the 1,459 British and provincial
23 troops, including 63 of 86 officers, were killed, and Indians
24 had taken Braddock's war chest containing British plans for
25 military operations in the south and west; and
26 WHEREAS, Colonel George Washington brought news of the defeat
27 to Colonel Thomas Dunbar, who ordered the destruction of
28 cannons, ammunition, powder wagons and shells, even as another
29 attack seemed imminent; therefore be it
30 RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives commemorate the
20050H0396R2466 - 2 -
1 250th anniversary of Braddock's defeat on the Monongahela River
2 in 1755 and honor the heroic efforts of those men who fought and
3 lost their lives at the Battle of the Monongahela.
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