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Chapter 2 –Read pages 16-24
Purpose: To learn why and how George Washington discovered that professional training and European fighting methods failed in roadless America.
Set up: This will require a large space - preferably outdoors on a playground. Choose a hill or create a hill. Wagons and a lot of baggage also can be created. Divide the students into two groups. They may be armed with spitballs and straws to shoot them with. One side is to be led by General Edward Braddock, a British 40 year veteran and hero of European wars with George Washington, as his aide-de-camp. After his defeat at Fort Necessity several months previously, Washington is eager to learn the newest and best fighting techniques from the experienced professional, Gen. Braddock.
The other side is mostly dressed or identified as Indians, led by 2-3 students dressed as French officers. The Indians hide behind bushes and trees while the British troops march in the open while a couple of the students play drums and fifes. When shot with a spitball a soldier will fall down "dead." After the exercise the class will clean up their "ammunition."
Resources:Study pages 16-24 of Book 1 and pictures shown on page 19; also study General Braddock's grave website, and Braddock's Defeat - British battles.
Procedure: Encourage the students to discuss why Braddock's experience and successes in Europe failed in the Battle at the Monongahela River in 1755. What did Washington learn from that defeat that helped him later fight British generals?
Evaluation: Have each student find another example of a guerilla war from either history or current events. Compare in writing the outcomes of both wars. What are the similarities? What are the differences?