In July, 1755, General James Braddock, with a company of red-coated, elegant British Grenadier Guards, some colonial soldiers and Indians, marched from Virginia towards Fort Duquesne intent on capturing the Fort and claiming the Western frontier for the King. General Braddock, though a brave man, was not well liked by the men. He was contemptuous of the colonial soldiers and the Indians, and he knew nothing of Indian war tactics in the American wilderness.
            Guided by Christopher Gist (who is mentioned in the song “Forks of the Ohio”) and accompanied by young Major George Washington, Braddock and his 1200 men were attacked about 10 miles from Fort Duquesne, near where the Edgar Thomson steel plant now stands, near Rankin, Swissvale and Braddock. Captain de Beaujeu, the French Commander of Fort Duquesne attended Mass that morning at the chapel of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin of the Beautiful River and received communion from Father Baron (who is mentioned in the song “La Vierge de la Belle Riviere”).
            Unaccustomed to the tactics of the French and Indians, more than half of Braddock’s men were killed and Braddock was mortally wounded. While the defeat was disastrous, it did establish the fact, for the colonials, that the British army was by no means invincible, as was later proven at Lexington some 20 years later.