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- The Indian allies of the French returning home after Braddock's Defeat dressed in the
spoils of the British Army.
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- Archaeologists Patrick Riley and William Byrd were hoping for a musket ball or at least an English
coin or two. But after an hour of careful digging and sifting, all they had unearthed was a piece of
glass and a brick, both of modern vintage.
- But Riley, 32, and Byrd, 42, are confident their shovels will eventually uncover remains from the
famous Battle of Braddock fought 240 years ago on July 9, 1755. "We’re going to keep digging
until we find something," said Riley, president of the Legion Ville Historical Society. The Society is
based at a 50- acre site in Harmony which served as a training camp for Gen. "Mad" Anthony
Wayne’s Legion of the United States in 1791 and is considered by scholars to be the birthplace of
the United States Army.
- The area Riley and Byrd are excavating extends from the Lesko Funeral Home at Jones and Dell
avenues in North Braddock, south to the Monongahela River to the Edgar Thompson Steel Works
in Braddock. Historians believe the grassy field may have been the spot where English General
Edward Braddock was mortally wounded during the French and Indian War. In the overgrown
area behind the concrete bleachers of the former Scott High School, Byrd digs a series of holes
about 18 inches deep and 20 inches wide. "This is the tedious part," said Byrd, as he heaved layer
after layer of dirt into Riley’s metal screening table. Byrd said keeping the different layers separate is
important since each represents a different time period. Byrd stops when he reaches a layer of shale
and photographs the hole. Any findings are dated and recorded.
- Since they began digging a few weeks ago, Riley and Byrd, who met through their jobs as
archaeologists, have found a few items that they believe date back to the time of the Battle of
Braddock, or at least the early 1880’s. Byrd removes a delicate shell button from a plastic bag. He
said the button originated from the freshwater mussels that lived in the Monongahela more than 200
years ago. While digging on the lawn of Lesko’s Funeral Home last week, they resurrected part of
a handblown glass bottle neck and a small piece of lettered ceramic, both from the colonial period.
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- "It’s a bit like trying to unravel a very old mystery with very few clues," said Riley.
Another French and Indian War buff, Jerry Platek, treasurer of the Braddock Field Historical
Society, plans to include Riley and Byrd in the 240th anniversary celebration of the battle at the
Braddock Library on July 9. Platek had paved the way with Edgar Thompson officials for the
archaeologists to excavate that day on the site of the old steel works at the Mouth of Turtle Creek,
where Braddock’s troops crossed the river. Local historians will speak on various aspects of the
battle, and a diorama or miniature of it will be on display, along with a series of battle prints by
Pittsburgh artist Robert Griffing. "I personally feel that Braddock and North Braddock have a great
story to tell," said Platek. In the meantime, Riley and Byrd will keep digging in hopes of finding a
Battle of Braddock artifact to put on display by July 9.
- "As a kid," said Riley, "I liked to play in the dirt. And here I am, still playing 30 years later!"
- M.J. Place is a free-lance writer.
