Existing comment:
Dowden's Ordinary:
A French & Indian War Site
On April 15, 1755 a British seaman wrote in his diary:
On the 15th: Marched at 5 in our way to one Dowden's, a Publichouse ... and encamped upon very bad ground on the side of a hill. We got our tents pitched by dark when the wind shifted from the South to the North - from a sultry hot day it became excessively cold, and rained with thunder and lightning till 5 in the morning, when in 10 minutes it changed to snow, which in 2 hours covered the ground a foot and a half.
What were British soldiers doing at Dowden's Ordinary in the middle of a spring snowstorm? The answer begins in 1754 when Great Britain and France renewed their war for control of North America - a war that became known as the Seven Years' War in Europe. The war's spark occurred when George Washington's Virginia volunteers fired on a French scouting party in southeastern Pennsylvania. The French counterattacked and forced Washington from the area. In response to this defeat, the British in 1755 sent Major- General Edward Braddock to America to expel the French from Fort Duquense (Pittsburgh).
Concerned about limited supplies, Braddock divided his forces, sending the 44th Regiment of Foot and his artillery to Winchester, Virginia and the 48th Regiment of Foot (about 700 troops) under Thomas Dunbar to Frederick by way of the Great Road through Rockville and Clarksburg. At Clarksburg, Dunbar's troops were caught in the snowstorm. Following a few days later, General Braddock took the same route to Frederick as the 48th Regiment, possibly enjoying a meal or spending a night at Dowden's Ordinary.
On July 9, 1755, a combined French and Indian force attacked Braddock's troops outside Fort Duquesne. Mortally wounded, Braddock died five days later. Washington and Dunbar led the remaining British and colonial troops to safety.
By 1758, the war shifted in Britain's favor, and in 1763 France surrendered, losing its territory in North America. As a result of the war, Great Britain imposed taxes on the colonists to help pay for its mounting war debt. Colonial opposition of taxes without consent became an important cause of the American Revolution.
The Cannon
The three - pound cannon is a replica of a British brass field piece, three pounds being the weight of an individual cannon ball. The cannon along with its carriage, weighed about 500 pounds and was drawn by two horses. Along with a six-pounder cannon, these lighter weight field pieces were more suited to the rough roads of colonial America during the French and Indian War.
Route of General Braddock's doomed wilderness march to expel the French from the Ohio Valley. |