Date: July 9, 1755 This battle was part of the French and Indian War. In it, Edward Braddock's force of 1500 British Regulars and militia was decimated by a group of French-led troops half its size. This is not something we talk about much in Britain. Braddock had been sent to capture Fort Duquesne, at the top of the Ohio River. His officers included a young George Washington - possibly because Washington knew the area, having surrendered at Fort Necessity the year before. The battle is also known as "Braddock's Defeat", but interestingly, no one knows why.