NORTH BRADDOCK, PA. Museum planned to commemorate pivotal battle

NORTH BRADDOCK, Pa. (AP) -- A historical society is planning a new museum to commemorate British Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock's defeat at the Battle of Monongahela during the French and Indian War.
Historians say the 1755 battle was important because it showed Colonial troops, who fought alongside the British, that the Redcoats could be defeated if the right tactics were used, sowing a seed of the American Revolution.
The first step toward building the museum was a $300,000 land deal completed recently. The historical society used money from the Richard King Mellon, U.S. Steel, McCune and G.C. Murphy Co. foundations to buy three acres, where former businesses will be razed.
The next step is raising $1 million to build the 8,000-square-foot museum, which the group hopes will open by July 9, 2005 -- the 250th anniversary of the battle.
Braddock's 1,200 troops were routed -- and the general was wounded and died a few days later -- when about 250 French soldiers and 900 Indians defended Fort Duquesne. Located in what is modern-day Pittsburgh, the fort was at the confluence where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers form the Ohio, making it a strategic location on the Colonial frontier.
The French and Indians descended on a British column as it came up a hill, and slaughtered the bunched-up troops, allowing the French to maintain control of the fort until 1758.
A young George Washington survived the onslaught, and Braddock gave Washington his bloodstained sash before he died.