|
|
Post by paranger on May 18, 2022 16:23:56 GMT -7
Keep in mind that Pennsylvania didn't pass and publish a militia law until 25 November, 1755.
There were independent "associated" companies raised before that like my unit, Joseph Armstrong's Company, which formed in August of '55, but no formal structure, commissions, or guidance before that. I suspect things were pretty informal early on, to say the least.
|
|
RyanAK
City-dweller
Once scalped…
Posts: 979
|
Post by RyanAK on May 18, 2022 16:31:59 GMT -7
Keep in mind that Pennsylvania didn't pass and publish a militia law until 25 November, 1755. There were independent "associated" companies raised before that like my unit, Joseph Armstrong's Company, which formed in August of '55, but no formal structure, commissions, or guidance before that. I suspect things were pretty informal early on, to say the least. This is the perfect example! How would Pennsylvania ‘associates’ (‘associators’?) interact with British forces, enlisted and officer? As a province without a militia culture, experience in military customs was likely pretty foreign. |
|
|
|
Post by paranger on May 18, 2022 16:47:32 GMT -7
I agree, but frankly don't think there was much interaction. After Braddock's defeat in July 1755, Colonel Dunbar (in temporary command upon Braddock's death) retreated (with about 1/3 of the force combat effective) to winter quarters in Philadelphia. There wasn't much of a regular presence on the PA frontier until the build-up for the Forbes Expedition in 1758.
There was, on the other hand, the building and manning of PA Provincial forces initially in two battalions - one east (Weiser's) and one west (Armstrong's) of the Susquehanna.
|
|
|
|
Post by artificer on May 18, 2022 17:13:52 GMT -7
Waggoners attached to Braddock’s and Forbes’s expeditions?
Just something I’ve been thinking on since our friend paranger posted his question.
Well, we do have the example of the waggoner Dan Morgan: In the spring of 1756, as Morgan was taking a load of supplies to Fort Chiswell, he somehow irritated a British Lieutenant who struck Morgan with the flat of his sword. Morgan characteristically knocked out the officer with a single blow of his fist. As a result, he was court-martialed and sentenced to 500 lashes. In later years, Morgan delighted in telling that the drummer who was counting the lashes miscounted, and he only received 499. Morgan always maintained that the British owed him one more lash. www.nps.gov/cowp/learn/historyculture/daniel-morgan.htmNow there is some serious doubt Morgan actually received THAT many lashes, even if it was spread out over a number of days. Still, there seems to be no doubt Morgan was lashed. Gus |
|
