Many years ago, while attending
teachers college in Canada,
I was forced to take a class in North American history. Early in the class, the
instructor began talking about the initial stages of the
Since the earliest European
settlements in North America, the English and the French
had banged into each other as they battled for control of the continent. In
1755, British General, Edward Braddock mounted a major offensive against the
French at Fort Duquesne
in the Ohio River valley. At Braddock's request, a young
American officer named George Washington joined Braddock’s offensive. That
offensive was the beginning of a conflict that would forever determine the
future of the group of colonies that would in a few years become the United
States.
In the middle of June, with twelve
hundred men, and officers, the British army began its march into the contested
region. In European-style formation, their scarlet uniforms glowing in the
summer sunshine, Braddock and his men moved against the French Fort. Washington
tried to persuade Braddock to set up security, but Braddock, suffering from
what turned out to be terminal arrogance, ignored Washington’s
advice.
Their route led along two concealed
ravines covered with trees. What Braddock didn’t know was that the ravines
concealed 600 Native American warriors and 250 French soldiers. As soon as the
British reached the ravines, the woods erupted with musket fire. Stunned by the
attack, the British struggled to fight back as their legendary discipline
disintegrated.
The first discharge of musket fire
targeted the officers. Panic-stricken, the British regulars huddled together in
small groups, firing ineffectively into the surrounding trees and bushes.
Protected by the trees, the French and Indians continued to target the
officers. At six-foot-four and on horseback, Washington
was the most conspicuous target in the entire expedition. Witnesses describe
him as riding from group to group, attempting to rally the men. Four musket
balls tore through his coat and two horses were shot out from under him.
Inexplicably, nothing touched him.
Finally, Braddock was shot through
the lung and carried from the field. He later died of his wound.
Washington
was able to enforce enough discipline to form a rear guard and allow what was
left of the British expedition to retreat. According to most records, only one
mounted officer survived the engagement that would become known as the
“Monongahela Massacre”. That officer was George Washington.
He should have died, one more
unknown, low ranking colonial officer. Had he died that day the America
we know would not exist and the entire history of North America,
perhaps the world, would have been different. And that college instructor completely
missed the point. What surprised me was how much time he spent discussing the
poor British planning. I tuned out of his lesson because I was fascinated by
the incredible realization that an event 200 years ago had changed my life and
the lives of everyone on the planet. What if George Washington had never been
there to lead America
to victory in the Revolution? What if he wasn’t there to become America’s
first president? American history aside, without realizing what he had done,
that instructor had given me the key to teaching history. Make it relevant.
Make it obvious that even an event a thousand years earlier could have a
profound impact on everyone living today. Many years later I also realized that
he had given me an idea for a book that I would call “Moments That Made
America”.
About the Author
Geoff Armstrong began his teaching career in 1965 after
receiving a teaching diploma from McGill
University’s Macdonald
College. He earned a Bachelor of
Arts degree from Montreal’s Concordia
University in 1967 where his major
field of study was history. Armstrong credits writers such as Bruce Catton, and
Thomas B. Costain, as well as the encouragement of his father who had little
formal education, but a deep love of reading and of history, as the inspiration
for his own life-long interest.
Throughout a 25-year teaching career he taught history at
several grade levels and learned quickly that to reach the hearts of his
students, history had to be made immediately and deeply relevant and
accessible: that some event that took place centuries before those students
were born had a direct and profound influence on every aspect their lives. He
also learned that talking down or writing down to his students was a recipe for
defeat. It is this awareness, shaped by a quarter century of teaching and
countless questions by thousands of intelligent young people that has informed
and shaped his writing.
His latest book is Moments
That Made America: From the Ice Age to the Alamo.
You can visit his website at www.MomentsThatMadeAmerica.com.
About the Book:
From its geological birth during the breakup of the Pangaea
supercontinent millions of years ago, through the nation-shaping key events
that led to its political independence from the British superpower, and other
crucial, sometimes miraculous events that worked to create the nation, Moments That Made America: From the Ice Age
to the Alamo explores those defining moments, both tragic and inspirational
that profoundly shaped the nation and its people - crucial turning points that
worked inexorably to mold and make America. These pivotal "tipping"
events formed America's geographical, sociological,
political and historical landscape. Part 1 culminates with the discovery of
gold in California and the role it played in fulfilling America’s dream of Manifest Destiny.
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