The defeat marked the end of the Braddock Expedition, by which the British had hoped to capture Fort Duquesne and gain control of the strategic Ohio Country.

General Edward Braddock was dispatched to the Thirteen Colonies in the new position of Commander-in-Chief, North America, bringing with him two British Army regiments (the 44th and 48th) from Ireland.

[7] He added to this by recruiting provincial troops in British America, swelling his forces to roughly 2,200 by the time he set out from Fort Cumberland, Maryland on 29 May.

Despite being very tired after weeks of crossing extremely hard terrain, many of the British regulars and provincial troops anticipated a relatively easy victory — or even for the French to abandon the fort upon their approach.

They were fighting on traditional hunting grounds, with numerous trees and shrubbery separated by wide open spaces that enabled them to easily move about in concealment.

The Indians, which included warriors from the Ottawa, Ojibwa and Potawatomi tribes, used psychological warfare against the British by nailing the scalps of their dead comrades to trees.

In the narrow confines of the road, they collided with the main body of Braddock's force, which had advanced rapidly when the shots were heard.

Most of the regulars were not accustomed to fighting in forest terrain; instead of scattering, they maintained tight formations that the Indians and French could easily target.

[14] The entire column dissolved in disorder as the French and Indians enveloped them and continued to snipe at the British flanks from the woods on the sides of the road.

Efforts were made to counterattack, but the inability of Braddock's troops to adapt the tactics of the French and Indians continued to interfere.

Finally, after three hours of intense combat, Braddock was shot in the lung, possibly by one of his own men, and effective resistance collapsed.

[16] Washington, although he had no official position in the chain of command, was able to impose and maintain some order, and formed a rear guard, which allowed the remnants of the British force to disengage.

The Indians did not pursue the fleeing British, but instead set about scalping and looting the corpses of the wounded and dead, and drinking two hundred gallons of captured rum.

[18] Daniel Boone, a famous American pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman — and one of the first folk heroes of the United States — was among the soldiers involved in the battle.

[20][page needed] While on the campaign, Boone met John Finley, a packer who worked for George Croghan in the trans-Appalachian fur trade.

Although Braddock had posted a company of flankers on each side, these troops were untrained to do anything but stand in line and fire platoon volleys, which were unsuited to such conditions.

Because of the speed with which the French and Indians launched their attack and enveloped the British column, the battle is often erroneously reported as an ambush by many who took part.

The French remained dominant in the Ohio Country for the next three years, and persuaded many previously neutral Indian tribes to enter the war on their side.

The debate on how Braddock, with professional soldiers, superior numbers, and artillery, could fail so miserably began soon after the battle and continues to this day.

Braddock's failure, according to proponents of this theory, was caused by not adequately applying traditional military doctrine (particularly by not using distance), not his lack of use of frontier tactics.

[29] Russell, in his study, shows that on several occasions before the battle, Braddock had successfully adhered to standard European tactics to counter ambushes and so had become nearly immune to earlier French and Canadian attacks.