field in the Midlands. A memorial to Boudicca, showing
her in a chariot leading her followers into battle, stands
beside Westminster Bridge in London.
Although her rebellion against the Romans oc-
curred nearly 2,000 years ago, Boudicca is still remem-
bered as Britain’s warrior queen who led her troops into
battle against a foreign invader.
References: Francis John Haverfield, “Boadicea,” in En-
cyclopaedia Britannica, 14th ed., 24 vols. (London: En-
cyclopaedia Britannica Co., Ltd., 1929), III:759–760;
Rankov, N. Bins, “Boudicca,” in The Oxford Companion
to Military History, edited by Richard Holmes (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2001), 143; Webster, Graham,
Boudicca: The British Revolt against Rome a.d. 60, rev. ed.
(London: Batsford, 1993); Matthews, John, Boadicea:
Warrior Queen of the Celts (Poole, U.K.: Firebird, 1988);
Collingridge, Vanessa, Boudica (London: Ebury Press),
2005.
Braddock, Edward (1695–1755) British general
Edward Braddock was born in Perthshire, Scotland, in
1695, the son of Major General Edward Braddock, an
English military officer. The younger Braddock entered
the British army in 1710, joining his father’s old regi-
ment, the Coldstream Guards, and rising to the rank of
lieutenant by 1716. Although he served in this regiment
for many years, he did not see action until he was sent
to the Netherlands as a lieutenant colonel in 1747 and
fought at the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom under William,
Prince of Orange. In 1753, he was transferred to the
14th Regiment of Foot and promoted to colonel.
On 29 March 1754, Braddock was promoted to
major general and given the command of British troops
in North America, fighting the French and their Native
American allies. His official appointment proclaimed
that he was to be the “general and commander-in-chief
of all our troops and forces yt [yet] are in North America
or yt shall be sent or rais’d [sic] there to vindicate our
rights and possessions.” However, Braddock was in fact
commanding an army confused in its mission and woe-
fully lacking in resources to fight the skillful French and
Indian forces. Historian Henry Chichester writes in the
Dictionary of National Biography that when Braddock
arrived in the colonies, “He found everything in the
utmost confusion. The colonies were at variance; every-
where the pettiest jealousies were rife; no magazines had
been collected, the promised provincial troops had not
even been raised, and the few regulars already there were
of the worst description.”
Despite these handicaps, after convening a coun-
cil and spending some months training new soldiers (a
young Virginian named George Washington, acted
as aide-de-camp) and gathering more supplies, Brad-
dock set out to attack and hold Fort Duquesne (now
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Moving westward from
Cumberland, Maryland, he and his force of 2,100 men,
including some 1,400 British troops, were ambushed
on the march on 9 July 1755 at Monongahela, about
eight miles from Fort Duquesne. A combined French
and Indian force of only 800 men attacked the English
in a wooded ravine, and surrounding the British col-
umn and slaughtering them. In total, nearly 900 English
were killed, including 63 officers; the French lost only
16 men. In the melee, Braddock, who had several horses
shot out from under him, was mortally wounded by a
bullet that hit his arm and went through his body. Car-
ried from the field, he lingered for four days until he
died from his wounds on 13 July 1755. One of his last
requests was that his horse and his manservant be given
to his chief aide, Washington. Braddock’s men, anxious
that the French not find his body, buried him in an un-
marked grave and rolled vehicles over it to disguise it.
Some years later, some bones from the site were dug up
and removed; the remainder were lost. In 1913, histo-
rian Andrew Stewart wrote an article for The New York
Times entitled “Was General Braddock Shot Down By
One of His Own Army?” which theorized that Brad-
dock was the victim of a friendly-fire accident.
No painting or drawing of Braddock exists; a crude
drawing of his alleged burial circulated for many years.
Because his sole military command ended so badly,
he has been largely forgotten, except for the fact that
his protégé, George Washington, later commanded
the American army against British forces in North
America.References: Chichester, Henry Manners, “Braddock, Ed-
ward,” in The Dictionary of National Biography, 22 vols.
8 supps., edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney
Lee, et al. (London: Oxford University Press, 1921–22),
II:1061–1063; McCardell, Lee, Ill-Starred General: Brad-
dock of the Coldstream Guards (Pittsburgh: University of
Pittsburgh Press, 1958); Kopperman, Paul E., Braddock
at the Monongahela (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh bRADDock, eDwARD