Before the National Road

Our area was wilderness occupied only by the indigenous peoples for much of the 18th century.  Jonathan Hager had been granted his land in 1739, but did not found “Elizabethtown” (now Hagerstown) until 1762.  That same year in 1762, Shepherdstown was founded across the river and Sharpsburg followed a year after.  Boonsboro would not come until 1791.

Long before those communities arrived, roads were needed.

Local indigenous American tribes often used game trails to travel, and used a network of narrow footpaths for much of their travel between villages for trade and other interaction.

During the 1740’s, the Ohio Company sent Thomas Cresap and others to survey a path through the mountains which could be used by small, narrow fur trading wagons and sleds.  Cresap employed a Delaware Tribe chief named Nemacolin to show their party the indigenous paths through the Potomac valley and into the Pennsylvania territory and Ohio territory beyond.

In 1755, British General Edward Braddock marched over 2,000 men west to lay siege to the French Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburg) during the French & Indian War (aka: the Seven Years’ War).  After meeting with Benjamin Franklin and George Washington in Frederick, Braddock crossed Catoctin Mountain close to the route of present day Alternate 40 and then took Fox’s Gap over South Mountain.  Other troops were marching through Virginia.  All of his men met at Fort Cumberland to prepare for their main march.

Serving as his Aide-de-Camp, a young George Washington was familiar with the terrain.  Braddock tasked his men with the construction of a road which roughly followed parts of the Ohio Company trail through the rugged terrain west of Cumberland.  Much of this however involved blazing a new road wide enough for the troops and their equipment to travel at a pace of, at times, 2 miles per day.

Ultimately, the march ended in an ambush on July 9th with Braddock himself being mortally wounded.  It was considered a significant defeat for the British Army, although George Washington was elevated to hero status for his actions reorganizing troops in the chaos, redeeming himself from a loss the year before at Fort Necessity.  The road that the army constructed became known as Braddock’s Road, although nature immediately began to reclaim it.  Signs and monuments line the routes Braddock’s men followed from Georgetown and Alexandria and to the Monongahela River.  Portions of the original Braddock’s Road can be found preserved at Fort Necessity National Historic Site and at other locations.

A map of Braddock’s Road west of Cumberland (Wikipedia Commons)

Later in his life, among other transportation endeavors, George Washington promoted the idea that a formal and maintained road west over the mountains would be of great benefit to the young nation.  He traveled to communities along the potential route to seek support, however he died in December of 1799 never having seen his idea come to fruition.