Braddock's Battlefield History Center
The exhibits in the History Center help visitors understand why the Battle of the Monongahela sent military and political shockwaves through the 18th century world and set in motion events that would effect the development of Western Pennsylvania and indeed the whole western frontier of colonial America. Through maps , vivid art works and historical artifacts visitors become aware of the social and political background of the era and the ambitions of Great Britain and France that caused this confrontation in a distant wilderness. They will appreciate the epic scope of General Edward Braddock’s march up through the thickly forested mountains of Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. They will see and hear stories detailing the lives of the participants — the French and French Canadian marines and their American Indian allies stationed at Fort Duquesne; the British, Irish, Scottish and American common soldiers who marched to drive the French out; the young George Washington and his fellow officers in the British Army, some of whom he would eventually face on the battlefields of the American Revolution.
