Braddock Road improved by Alexander Finnie needs paid 9 Nov 1759
This story about Alexander Finnie refurbishing the Braddock Road was posted first in July 2023, since we are covering 1759. But we repeat this story again because although this story occurred in July 1759, the principals of the story didn't get paid until Nov 1759. By November 9, 1759 Burgess George Washington is tasked in a committee to reimburse Finnie for his services. Finnie is paid £100 by the House of Burgesses for that job.
On 20 July 1759, Alexander Finnie arrived at Fort Cumberland. He had a mission. But he needed approval and help. He went to Fort Lyttleton to see General John Stanwix who became the leader after General Forbes died in March 1759.
He asked Stanwix for approval and supplies to refurbish and rebuild and clear the overgrown Braddock Road.
Stanwix approved of the idea.
Stanwix gave Finnie authorization to order supplies from the Quarter Master. You'll find out who the Quarter Master was.
But for now let us ponder the condition of Braddock's Road four years after it was built.
Condition of the Braddock Road in 1759?
Only 16 days it took. That must mean the Braddock Road had been fairly sturdy but just overgrown.
Finnie and his men started work 4 Aug 1759 and finished 20 Aug 1759 and arrived at Pittsburg (not yet called Fort Pitt -- they were building it).
Finnie paid the cost of raising 30 men to accomplish this.
He didn't just arrive at Fort Pitt with his men. He came with "60 Provision Waggons, 500 Sheep, and 70 Head of Cattle”
If only 30 men were hired to work on the road, did some of them also pilot the sheep and cattle? Or were there additonal men assigned to just the sheep and cattle and wagons?
So if only 16 days and moving a heavy load of provision and sheep and cattle, then perhaps Braddock Road was still solid but overgrown.
Compare this time of 16 days taken to refurbishing the Braddock Road with a bridge taking 25 days, built in late 1759 near Fort Bedford (formerly known as Raystown or Reas town) long after the Forbes Expedition. Although this comparison might not be fair since I cannot find the number of men utilized on building this bridge. For source on that bridge, the "Ourry-Bridge", scroll to end of Page 257 in this link. Or page 75, The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania 1758, a Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne by Douglas R Cubbison.
Assistant Quarter Master was who?
And who was that Quarter Master? Founders Online states, "When the 2d Virginia Regiment was disbanded in December 1758, its lieutenant colonel, George Mercer, continued with the Virginia forces at Winchester as a volunteer until Maj. Gen. John Stanwix made him assistant deputy quarter master general for Virginia and Maryland."
By 19 Aug 1759 George Mercer became assistant deputy Quarter Master of VA and MD. It was usually the assistant who had to do the work.
George Mercer is important to this website since he was one of the orginal companies who helped build Fort Loudoun in Winchester Va and who was Colonel George Washington's aid de camp at that time of 1755 to 1757 before he went to Charleston SC and came back a year later as Lt Col in the 2nd Va Regiment headed by Col Byrd III.
Finnie compensated for his costs
By November 1759 Burgess George Washington is tasked in a committee to reimburse Finnie for his services. Finnie is compensated £100 by the House of Burgesses for that job.
Who is Alexander Finnie?
David Preston, in his book, Braddock's Defeat on page 317, notes that Finnie was a "former Keeper of Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, where Braddock's bay horse had been stolen four years earlier."
Founders Online footnote states, '9. Alexander Finnie bought the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg in 1749 and sold it in 1752 but continued, at least intermittently, to be a tavern keeper in the town until his death in 1769." Founders That Founders Online footnote is to a cash account where George Washington writes 28 April 1763 " By Club at Finnie's 6/—Mendg my Watch 12/6"
And Alexander Finnie was in the militia, not the Virginia Regiment, so he had some rank of Adjutant and Major.
He was here in Winchester VA with Edmond Atkin, Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Southern Dept.
Alexander Finnie assisted Atkin here in Winchester Va in 1757. While those two were here, Atkin was accused of causing a big mistake with the Cherokee.
On 20 July 1757 Edmond Atkin ordered 10 Indians to be jailed here in Winchester VA. Atkin doesn't trust that 2 of the 10 jailed Indians claim to be Cherokee allies. He is worried what the other Cherokees in the area will think and do. He is worried most especially of those Cherokee who went out with a company of the Virginia Regiment to scour the woods for enemy. There were Cherokee runners going everywhere to inform their brothers about this insult to their nation.
See that story here.
The Braddock name lives on not just in traces of the orginal road still remaining but also the name remains on a street in Winchester VA and in Alexandria Virginia and in names of communties in the Pittsburgh PA area.
That's it.
That our lead story.
See sources below for our claims in this story.
There's always more.
Skip around.
Read bits and pieces.
Table of Contents
Compiled by Jim Moyer 7/31/2023, updated 8/4/2023, 8/7/2023
George Mercer Sources
George Mercer wikipedia bio
Time line on George Mercer
Reenactors for the George Mercer Co of the Va Regiment
Disambiguation on George Mercer vs Hugh Mercer
Both were on the Forbes Expediton.
Just to differentiate the many different “Mercers”, Colonel Hugh Mercer is put in charge of Fort Pitt, not Colonel George Mercer who is instead Quartermaster General for MD and VA. See source.
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This is the pathname: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/1picts/frontierforts/ff26.html
1759.
Mercer’s Career Changes
From Founders Online link: “When the 2d Virginia Regiment was disbanded in December 1758, its lieutenant colonel, George Mercer, continued with the Virginia forces at Winchester as a volunteer until Maj. Gen. John Stanwix made him assistant deputy quarter master general for Virginia and Maryland. Stanwix succeeded Forbes after Forbes’s death in March 1759 as commander of the British forces in Pennsylvania and the southern colonies.”
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George Mercer Quartermaster General for MD and VA
19 August 1759
The warrant appointing Mercer assistant deputy quartermaster general of the army for Maryland and Virginia is dated 19 Aug. 1759 and printed in Stevens, Bouquet Papers description begins Donald H. Kent et al., eds. The Papers of Henry Bouquet. 6 vols. Harrisburg, Pa., 1951-94. description ends , 3:583–84
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Just to differentiate the many different “Mercers”, Colonel Hugh Mercer is put in charge of Fort Pitt, not Colonel George Mercer who is instead Quartermaster General for MD and VA. See source.
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This is the pathname: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/1picts/frontierforts/ff26.html
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Reenactors for the George Mercer Co of the Va Regiment
Alexander Finnie references
Finnie's request to rebuild the Braddock Road
Finnie went on to say that he had immediately gone to Fort Lyttleton to see Gen. John Stanwix who gave him “Leave to undertake this Work, and gave him an Order to the Quarter-Master General for Tools, Ammunition and Provision, and ordered a Number of Men to cover the working Party.” Finnie then hired at his own expense “thirty Workmen on the South Branch,” and began the “Work the fourth Day of August, and finished on the twentieth, when he arrived at Pittsburg with 60 Provision Waggons, 500 Sheep, and 70 Head of Cattle”
Source
Footnote 7 to a Sept letter between GW and Robt Stewart
This proves Stanwix was in the area when Finnie offered to refurbish the Braddock Road
3. Maj. Gen. John Stanwix arrived at Pittsburgh at the end of August 1759, and on 3 Sept. his engineer Capt. Harry Gordon initiated work on the permanent fort, Fort Pitt. Stewart probably left Fort Ligonier in Pennsylvania with Lt. Col. Adam Stephen on 18 Sept., arriving at Pittsburgh with supplies and about one hundred and fifty men and officers on 23 Sept. 1759. Stewart’s sketch of the proposed fort has not been identified.
House of Burgesses Compensation
By November 9, 1759 Burgess George Washington is tasked in a committee to reimburse Finnie for his services. Finnie is paid £100 by the House of Burgesses for that job.
Helping Edmond Atkin
3. Alexander Finnie (d. 1769), of Williamsburg, adjutant of the Virginia militia in the middle district, came up to Winchester with Edmond Atkin in late May 1757 to help Atkin deal with the Indians there (Atkin to GW, 19 June 1757, n.3), and he had “a great inclination to make this Campaign” in 1758 (Blair to St. Clair, 16 May 1758, ViU: Forbes Papers).
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Founders Online Footnote 3
3. Alexander Finnie (d. 1769) of Williamsburg, adjutant of the middle district for the Virginia militia, came up with Atkin from Williamsburg. In the account of his expenses in traveling between Williamsburg and Winchester which Atkin presented to the Virginia council on 14 Oct. 1757, Atkin included as an extra charge the “Expence of Major Finnie, his Servt & 2 Horses who was Directed by the Govr to Accompany me, from 28 May to 27. June inclusive” (P.R.O., W.O. 34/47, f. 164).
Founders Online Footnote 3
Alexander Finnie assisted Atkin here in Winchester Va in Spring of 1757. While those two were here, Atkin was accussed of causing a big mistake with the Cherokee.
On 20 July 1757 is that Edmond Atkin ordered 10 Indians to be jailed here in Winchester VA. Atkin doesn't trust that 2 of the 10 jailed Indians claim to be Cherokee allies. He is worried what the other Cherokees will think and do.He is worried most especially of those Cherokee who went out with a company of the Virginia Regiment to scour the woods for enemy. There were Cherokee runners going everywhere to inform their brothers about this insult to their nation.
See that story here.
Tavern Keeper
David Preston, in his book, Braddock's Defeat on page 317, notes that Finnie was a "former Keeper of Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, where Braddock's bay horse had been stolen four years earlier."
Founders Online footnote states, '9. Alexander Finnie bought the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg in 1749 and sold it in 1752 but continued, at least intermittently, to be a tavern keeper in the town until his death in 1769." That Founders Online footnote is to a cash account where George Washington writes 28 April 1763 " By Club at Finnie s 6/—Mendg my Watch 12/6"
House of Burgesses Compensation of Finnie
#165 (p. 139)- 1 matching term
...Ordered, That the faid Refolutions be engroffed, and that M' Landon Carter do carry them to the Council for their Concurrence. A Petition of Alexander Finnie; was prefented to the Houfe and read, fetting forth, That when he arrived at Fort Cumberland, on the twentieth of July, he found that the Virginia Regiment had marched for Pittfburg by the Pennfylvania Road, and that there had been no Attempt made to clear the Road opened by General Braddock: That the Petitioner went immediately to Rays Town, and from thence to Fort Lyttleton, where he met with General Stanwix, and having convinced him of the great Advantages that would arife to the Publick by opening the faid Road, as by that Means the Forces and Garifons over the Alligheny Mountains would, with the greateft Eafe, be plentifully fupplied with Provifions and Neceffaries, which by Experience he had found could not be done from Pennfylvania, on Account of the great Diftance and bad Roads that the Pennfylvanians have to encounter with ; he gave the Petitioner Leave to undertake this Work, and gave him an Order to the Quarter-Mafter General for Tools, Ammunition and Provifion, and ordered a Number of Men to cover the working Party: That the Peti- tioner hired, at his own Expence, thirty Workmen on the South Branch, at the Prices mentioned in a Schedule to his Petition annexed, and was at other Expences as appears by the fame Schedule....
#169 (p. 143)- 4 matching terms
...[ M3] M' Attorney reported, That the Committee to whom the Petition of Alexander Finnie; was referred had had the fame under their Confideration, and examined divers Witneffes as to the Fa(5ls in the faid Petition alledged, and had agreed upon a Report, and come to a Refolution thereupon, which he read in his Place, and afterwards dehvered in at the Table, where they were again twice read, and agreed to by the Houfe, as follow : It appears to this Committee that the faid Alexander Finnie; obtained Leave from General Stanwix to clear the Road in the faid Petitioned mentioned , which he performed in fuch a Manner as to admit of the Paffage of a confiderable Number of Waggons in the publick Service ; and that by an Account, with an Affidavit at the Foot of it, to the faid Petition annexed, it appears he expended the Sum of ;� 169. 13 in that Service. It further appears that the faid Alexander Finnie; opened a Subfcription, in Order to obtain Money to defray the Expence of that Work, which, with his own Subfcription of �,j,o, amounted to about �to, but how much of the faid Subfcription hath been col- lecfted doth not appear. Refolved, That the faid Alexander Finnie; ought to be allowed the Sum of �100 cun-ent Money, to be paid by the Publick, as a full SatiffaAion for his Services aforefaid. Mf Ckrifiian prefented to the Houfe, according to Order, a Bill, For altering the Court Day of the County of Augufta ; and the fame was read the firft Time, and ordered to be -read a fecond Time....
Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg
This tavern was named after Sir Walter Raleigh, who was named as a hero in stopping the Spanish Armada and who had explored Virginia, which was named after the Virgin Queen, who was Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth became celebrated for her virginity. A cult of personality grew around her which was celebrated in the portraits, pageants, and literature of the day.
Elizabeth's reign became known as the Elizabethan era. The period is famous for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, the prowess of English maritime adventurers, such as Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh, and for the defeat of the Spanish Armada. . . . .
After the short, disastrous reigns of Edward VI and Mary I, her 44 years on the throne provided welcome stability for the kingdom and helped to forge a sense of national identity.
This article says a new owner bought the tavern in 1767
Fort Loudoun construction
Who's in Pittsburgh now in Aug Sept 1759?
3. Maj. Gen. John Stanwix arrived at Pittsburgh at the end of August 1759, and on 3 Sept. his engineer Capt. Harry Gordon initiated work on the permanent fort, Fort Pitt. Stewart probably left Fort Ligonier in Pennsylvania with Lt. Col. Adam Stephen on 18 Sept., arriving at Pittsburgh with supplies and about one hundred and fifty men and officers on 23 Sept. 1759. Stewart’s sketch of the proposed fort has not been identified.
Founders Online Footnote 3
Who stayed after Fort Duquesne was reduced
Population Growth
David Preston's book, Braddock's Defeat, page 318
1760 - 146 men, women, children living at Pittsburgh
1761 - increased to 332
1769 - 200 settlers between Carlisle and Ligonier
Norman Baker author of Braddock Road atlas
Facebook page post 8/6/2023 Sunday
Sunday Word 1
Alexander Finnie was here in Winchester VA in July 1757 when war almost broke out with our Cherokee allies in town. He was here helping Edmond Atkin, Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the Southern Dept. His boss was great on theory on paper, not in practice. He wrote a thesis to create this job back in 1755. Johnson up north ended up getting the job first for the northern department. ... . Anyway, fast forward to 1759 the year we are covering in 2023. Alexander Finnie is back in the area. He wants to refurbish the overgrown Braddock Road. He gets that done in 16 days with 30 men at his own expense plus deliver much needed sheep and cattle and wagon supplies to starving Pittsburgh in 16 days !! . . . That's quick. And it tells you the Braddock Road wasn't in too bad of shape in August 1759.
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BTW he got his supplies approved by former Colonel Stanwix, now General Stanwix, taking over from General Forbes since Forbes died in March. But who handled those supplies? Former Lt Col George Mercer. George Mercer lost his job when the 2nd VA Regiment disbanded Dec 1758. George Mercer became assistant Quarter Master of Virginia and Maryland and then by 19 Aug 1759 became head Quarter Master of Virginia and Maryland. In both capacities he was helping Alexander Finnie procure some of those supplies, because that's the job of a Quarter Master.
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George Mercer is significant to this Facebook page and website because there is a local group that reenacts as the Captain George Mercer company of the Virginia Regiment, who along with aid de camp to Colonel George Washington was one of the companies who helped build Fort Loudoun during May 1756 to April 1757. After that Mercer along with Adam Stephen were ordered to help Charleston SC.
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Compiled by Jim Moyer 7/31/2023, update 8/4/2023, 8/6/2023, 8/9/2023, 12/31/2023
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