Braddock's Defeat

 First -- Promise of Carnage and Flame is only 99 cents on Sep 11 and 12. After that, the price jumps back to $4.99 

A disturbing vision sends Alex and Lucette into action in the cause of liberty. The Americans are losing the war and a new power has risen to counter the efforts of Alex and Lucette. When Alex is forced to make a deal with the devil, neither Alex nor the cause may recover. Will he succeed in defeating his new nemesis, or will the American forces in the north be utterly destroyed?

One of the dragon hunters has a secret that may forever rend the alliances, friendships, and new relationships. None of that matters. The secret has driven this one across the sea to face risks unknown to most of mankind. Even the American cause cannot compare with the importance of this very personal mission.

These adventures and more await our friends who must put everything at risk for their ideals and obligations.

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Fun Fact:

After the treaty of Aix-la-chapelle, the English colonies in North America remained surrounded by French claims from the St. Lawrence to the the mouth of the Mississippi. Although France claimed a vast territory, it lacked a population in the New World to settle and hold it. From New Orleans to Acadia, the French population numbered around 75,000. By contrast, the English colonists numbered 1.1 million. 

While the French floated the rivers nailing metal markers to trees and burying lead plates to stake the French King's claims to the Ohio country, the English were increasing their stream of commerce with the Iroquois Empire, pushing its frontiers with commercial settlements. 

The French did build forts. On December 11, 1753, George Washington and his guide Christopher Gist, appeared at Fort Le Boeuf at the head of French Creek to deliver a message from Governor Dinwiddie informing the French that they were encroaching on English territory and were directed to withdraw. The French responded with a big "How 'bout Not," politely phrased as, "I do not think I am obliged to obey it," and sent Washington back the way he came.

As you might expect, relations did not improve. George Washington was sent back at the head of troops and Indian allies. They ambushed the French at Jumonville Glen (retold as I imagined it here in the prologue to Clamorous Harbingers, book 3 in the Tomahawks and Dragon Fire Series), and on July 4, 1754, the same young officer was forced to surrender Fort Necessity to the French and retreat toward the Potomac.

Enter the tactless General Edward Braddock to lead the attack in an as-yet-undeclared war against the French. The British would make four thrusts against the French in North America. Braddock would lead one of those attacks, following Washington's trail to the forks of the Ohio to take the newly constructed Fort Duquesne. You may have heard about Braddock's expedition. Some have reported that it did not go well. I could describe the fort for you, but Braddock never got theat far, so I don't think I will. 

Although his force outnumbered the French and their Indian allies at the Battle of the Monongahela, or Braddock's defeat as it has been called, his troops were stretched out when they ran into the French van guard and at a distinct tactical disadvantage; he also had no Indian allies with him. Braddock exacerbated his disadvantage by ordering his main force forward as his advance troops were falling back into the same position--resulting in disorganization and confusion in both bodies. 

The French turned the two six-pounders, abandoned by Gage and the advance troops, against their former owners to supplement the musket fire from the surrounding woods. The muddled affair continued for two hours. Braddock had five horses shot from beneath him before he proved he could catch lead as well as any equine and had to be taken to the rear, mortally wounded. 

The British troops made a tactical withdrawal in the form of a mad dash to the ford and across the river, leaving some 500 dead in their wake. The French and Indians combined suffered approximately 40 killed and 60 wounded. Braddock's three principal lieutenants, Washington, Gage, and Horatio Gates would all oppose one another in one way or another 20 years in the future. John Burgoyne, who criticized Braddock as unfit for his command, would also come to understand defeat in the American wilderness and the label of scapegoat.

In addition to the wagons, supplies, and munitions captured by the French at the event, were the plans for the other three thrusting attacks on the French. As one might expect, when the information reached Paris, fans and fecal matter collided. The war--which might arguably be called a world war--was on.

If I remember, next time I'll get to the fun and games of how the British, having lost a general and their clandestine war plans, decided to execute an admiral.

--Although the above information is available from many sources, and I've read them in other places, I've consulted my highlights from The French and Indian Wars: Deciding the Fate of North America by Walter R. Borneman, which I am currently enjoying immensely, for this fun fact episode.