British Gen. Edward Braddock had a singular talent to offend.

In the course of an undistinguished 45-year military career, he managed to alienate and appall his fellow officers, Colonial politicians and potential Indian allies alike.

"In short, Brad[dock's] behavior is so excessively bad that everybody shuns him and hates him," one of his subordinates wrote in 1746.

However, Braddock was named commander of the largest army in North America up to that time, then plunged it into the wilderness with barely adequate supplies, inaccurate maps and little up-to-date intelligence on his French and Indian foes.

Although his army far outnumbered the enemy, Braddock lost half his force, either killed or wounded, in a 1755 battle a few miles from what is now Pittsburgh's Point. Bravely, but unsuccessfully, trying to rally his soldiers, he was wounded and died a few days later.

Thomas E. Crocker tells the story of Braddock's ill-starred expedition that failed to drive the enemy from Fort Duquesne and opened the Pennsylvania frontier to three years of terror during the French and Indian War.

Like Braddock, Crocker has a lot of ground to cover, and he keeps his tale moving. Many familiar figures from American history make appearances in the story:

Benjamin Franklin, who provided critical supplies; Daniel Boone, a wagon driver rather than an Indian fighter in this campaign; and soldiers Horatio Gates, Daniel Morgan, Charles Lee and George Washington.

Two decades later, these men would use the knowledge from the disastrous Braddock campaign to battle their former allies during the American Revolution.

Crocker, a lawyer with a Washington, D.C., firm, is more judge than advocate. He does a good job of humanizing Braddock and explaining his decisions. On occasion, perhaps, he may bend too far in an attempt to be fair.

He provides, for example, a sympathetic description of Braddock's efforts to recruit Indian allies during a parley at present-day Cumberland, Md.

Putting himself at odds with most historians, he claims that Braddock failed to recruit many Native-American supporters not because he "looked upon us as dogs," as one Indian chief claimed, but because of long-standing disputes among his potential allies.

As Crocker's title indicates, he is telling the story not just of the Battle of the Monongahela but is describing all of Braddock's epic journey. Combat does not begin until page 210 of the 276-page book.

Although the British lacked Indian allies and were unfamiliar with the terrain, they had superior numbers, good training and even light artillery. It still seems like they should have prevailed.

The enemy's style of rifles, however, may help explain the outcome.

They allowed the French and Indians to pick off British and Colonial officers and panic their soldiers. And on a hot, sunny day in July 1755, that may have made the difference, Crocker writes.

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