

The British: Reportedly had around 4,000
officers and troops altogether. However, the
actual number was much smaller: 1600 troops
were in the field, consisting of around 200 of
British “regulars,” 200 volunteers, 40-50
women, and a few Oneida Native allies.
The French and Allies: 36 officers, 72
“regulars,” 146 militiamen, 637 Natives
A British prisoner of war recalled this:
After sundown, I … [saw] about a dozen prisoners,
stri[p]ped naked, with their hands tied behind their
backs, and their faces and parts of their bodies
blackened; these prisoners they burned to death on the
bank of the … river ... I stood on the fort wall until I
beheld them begin to burn one of these men; they had
him tied to a stake, and kept touching him with
firebrands, red-hot irons … and he screamed ... [T]he
Indians, in the mean-time, yelling like infernal spirits.

Toward the end of the battle, General Braddock
and his assistant, Major George Washington,
were the only officers on the British side still
alive.
Charles Langlade was a Frenchman who lived among the Natives
of modern-day Wisconsin and Michigan in the mid-1700s. Like so
many of his French countrymen, he lived off the land, hunting,
trapping, and trading with Natives. The Natives gave the French
furs to sell to Europe, food to survive in the wilderness, and
lessons about how to survive and thrive in the wilderness. In
return, the French gave the Natives textiles, iron tools, and
European weapons such as muskets. The onset of war between
the British and French pulled Charles Langlade out of his life as a
fur trader and into the life of a soldier. Because of his knowledge
of the land and the many friendships he had with Natives
throughout the Great Lakes region, Charles Langlade was
appointed to lead a band of Frenchmen and Natives in battle
against the British at Fort Duquesne. Charles Langlade told his
wartime experiences to his grandson, who wrote down the stories
so that they could be preserved for future historians like us.
“… I [do not] know how large a band my grandfather led from the northwest;
but I remember his saying that when they assembled at [the fort] the total
number of French and their Indian allies amounted to not far from fifteen
hundred; … nearly all the Indian force was composed of the bands led … by
my grandfather… Upon their arrival at Fort Du Quesne, spies were sent out
to discover the enemy’s approach and they soon returned reporting that
Braddock’s army was within a half a day’s march of the Monongahela [River],
cutting a load as they advanced. It was determined that … with what French
could be spared, the Indian force and my grandfather … should go out and
meet the enemy at the Monongahela [River] and attack them while crossing
that stream. The English got to the south bank of the Monongahela about
noon, halted and prepared for dinner; while the French and Indians were
secreted on the other shore. [My grandfather] went to [the commander] and
told him no time should be lost but that the attack should be at once [begun].
[The commander] made no reply. [My grandfather] then called the chiefs
together and [asked] them to go to [the commander] and demand orders to
[begin]the battle. No reply was made to this demand. Then [my grandfather]
went himself and urged the necessity of at once attacking the English. [He
said] to [the commander] that if he did not intend to fight at all then it was
well to act as he did. But if fighting was to be done then it was the time to do
it while the English were eating.” Source: Wisconsin Historical Society, ID
whcvIII0000. Date of Augustin Grignon’s memoir: 1857. Date of battle: 1755.
Edited by Ms. Ellison.