Note 1136 — Chapter VIII

Braddock’s remains are said to have been discovered about 1823 by workmen engaged in constructing the National Road, at a spot pointed out by an old man named Fossit, Fausett, or Faucit, who had been in the provincial ranks in 1755. He claimed to have seen Braddock buried, and to have fired the bullet which killed him. The story is not credited by Sargent, who gives (p. 244) a long examination of the testimony. (Cf. also Hist. Mag., xi. p. 141.) Lowdermilk (p. 187) says that it was locally believed; so does De Hass in his West. Virginia, p. 128. Remains of a body with bits of military trappings were found, however, on digging. A story of Braddock’s sash is told by De Hass, in his W. Virginia, p. 129. In July, 1841, a large quantity of shot and shell, buried by the retreating army, was unearthed near by. Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc., iii. 231, etc. A picture of his grave was painted in 1854 by Weber, and is now in the gallery of the Penna. Hist. Soc. (Cf. its Catal. of Paintings, no. 66.) It is engraved in Sargent, p. 280. Cf. Day, Hist. Coll. Penna., p. 334. Lowdermilk (pp. 188, 200) gives views of the grave in 1850 and 1877, with some account of its mutations. Cf. Scharf and Westcott’s Philadelphia, ii. p. 1002. A story obtained some currency that Braddock’s remains were finally removed to England. De Hass, p. 112.