Fort McIntosh Fort McIntosh at the site of present-day Beaver, Pennsylvania, was built by General Lachlan McIntosh in 1778 as a staging ground for a planned military expedition in the west. Although the expedition was soon abandoned, Fort McIntosh remained occupied until 1785. Fort Pitt Fort Pitt was the Gateway to the West at the forks of the Ohio River Valley. Built in 1759 on the ruins of French Fort Duquesne, it served as an outpost for the British from 1759-1772. Occupied by the Americans, first by Virginian forces in 1773, then by troops of the Continental Army in 1777, Fort Pitt remained the primary western post for colonial forces during the War of American Independence. Logstown Logstown, at present-day Ambridge, Pennsylvania, was an important center for frontier diplomacy with the indigenous peoples living in the Ohio River Valley during the 1740s and 1750s. Occupied from approximately 1738 to 1758, Logstown was at the center of the events that shaped the destinies of the indigenous peoples of the upper Ohio River Valley throughout this period. This edition reprints three short historical sketches Judge Agnew originally published in 1893 and 1894. The first, Fort McIntosh: Its Times and Men, provides a history of Fort McIntosh as well as information related to Fort Pitt during the later years of War of American Independence. The second essay, "Fort Pitt" and Its Times, covers aspects of the history of Fort Pitt not contained in the earlier work. The third work, "Logstown" on the Ohio, is a history of white relations with the Native American inhabitants of the village of Logstown, an important trading center during the 1740s and 1750s. The Honorable Daniel Agnew (1809-1902) was one of the earliest residents of Beaver, Pennsylvania. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, his family moved to Pennsylvania when he was still young. He graduated from Western University in Pittsburgh in 1825 and began to practice law. Agnew moved to Beaver in 1829. He became a member of the Whig Party and was appointed a judge in the 17th Judicial Circuit in 1851. Agnew then served as Chief Justice of Pennsylvania from 1863-1878. After his retirement, he returned to Beaver, where he spent most of the remainder of life in the pursuit of local history.

Major General Edward Braddock (1694-1755) A veteran of the Coldstream Guards and former governor of Gibraltar, Major General Edward Braddock was given command of a small expeditionary force sent to North America to remove the French from the continent. His immediate goal-to dislodge them from Ohio River Valley. His force, consisting of the veterans of two regular regiments of foot plus numerous colonial units, was met on the path seven miles from Fort Duquesne by a small French and Indian army and was soundly defeated. Braddock, severely wounded, died a few days later. George Washington (1732-1799) Faced with the prospect of being demoted to captain, George Washington had resigned his commission in the Virginia forces in October, 1754 and focused his attention on organizing his new estate at Mount Vernon. On March 2, 1755, he received a letter from Braddock's loyal aide-de-camp, Captain Robert Orme inviting him to join the general's "Family" as an aide. Washington jumped at this second chance to pursue his goal of a military career. The young aide, eager to learn, kept his own personal copy of Braddock's daily orders to the army, known as his "Orderly Book." Braddock's Orderly Books Washington's copies of General Braddock's Orderly Books were originally published in 1878 as an appendix to William H. Lowdermilk's History of Cumberland (Maryland). Lowdermilk's edition, however, contained numerous errors, with entire pages of the manuscript inserted in the wrong location. The originals, along with most of George Washington's papers, are held by the Library of Congress and have now been made readily available for viewing on the American Memory pages of their website. This edition reprintsLowdermilk's original. However, a close comparison has been made to the originals and the appropriate corrections have now been made. Selected Correspondence of George Washington Part II of this work contains the correspondence of George Washington related to the Ohio Expedition of 1755. Included are his accounts of the Battle of Monongahela sent to Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie, his mother Mary Ball Washington, and his younger brother John Augustine Washington. Washington's letter book of this time contains memorandums that he inserted later. This edition publishes those memorandums as Washington originally wrote them. Appendices The British casualty list from the Battle of Monongahela as originally published in Lowdermilk. In addition, as with all Normal Warfare Publications, this work contains an extensive appendix with biographical information on all the major participants mentioned within the work.