peared to be unsurmountable
obstacles. An examination of the terrain over which they had to pass
causes far greater respect for these road builders and drivers than is
usually accorded them. Orme again comes forward with the picture of
their labors. Major Chapman had marched from Wills Creek at daybreak of
May 30,[32] with the advance unit of the army and, says Orme, "it was
night before the whole baggage had got over a mountain about two miles
from the camp. The ascent and descent were almost a perpendicular rock;
three waggons were entirely destroyed, which were replaced from the
camp; and many more were extremely shattered."[33] Braddock went out
from the fort and reconnoitered this section of road. Although 300 men
and the company of miners had been working on the road for several days,
the General "thought it impassable by howitzers," and was about to put
another 300 to work when Lt. Spendelowe of the detachment of seamen
informed him of an easier route he had found.[34] Thus the remainder of
the wagons were spared the trip over the "perpendicular rock."

In addition to these difficulties of baggage movement, there was the
unavoidable peril of losing horses, particularly at night. Orme gives
the following description of the situation:[35]

Most of the horses which brought up the train were either lost, or
carried home by their owners, the nature of the country making it
impossible to avoid this fatal inconvenience, the whole being a
continual forest for several hundred miles without inclosures or
bounds by which horses can be secured: they must be turned into the
woods for their subsistance, and feed upon leaves and young shoots of
trees. Many projects, such as belts, hobles, &c., were tried, but
none of these were a security against the wildness of the country and
the knavery of the people we were obliged to employ: by these means
we lost our horses almost as fast as we could collect them, and those
which remained grew very weak, so we found ourselves every day less
able to undertake the extra-ordinary march we were to perform.

Braddock soon appointed a Wagon Master General, and under him wagon
masters, horse masters, and drovers. By his order, horses were to be
mustered both morning and evening. When the men made camp, the wagons
were to be drawn up in a single line along the road, with an interval
between companies. The horses were then turned into the woods to feed,
surrou