A disastrous chain of events in 1755 links Maldon to America's first President, George Washington, and a humiliating defeat in which he helped extricate our own Essex Regiment from annihilation at the hands of French and Indian fighters.

Washington, who is best known for leading the rebellion of the American colonies against the British, was great-great-grandson of Lawrence Washington who moved to Essex in 1632 to be rector at All Saints in Purleigh.

Persecuted as a Royalist in the Civil War, Lawrence moved to the poorer parish of Little Braxted and died in poverty in 1655. His son John sought his fortune as office on a ship trading with America. Shipwrecked in the Potomac River, he decided to stay.

John's grandson George Washington was first employed as an officer of American troops serving alongside British regiments deployed to defend the colonies against the French and their Indian (First Nation) allies. The 44th, later designated as the Essex Regiment, was one of these.

In 1755 hostilities were mounting, and an expedition was launched to capture the French Fort Duquesne, by the Ohio River. It was led by General Edward Braddock – very experienced, but at 60 perhaps not best fitted to campaigning in a wilderness.

Some 2,000 men formed the army, consisting of the 44th and 48th Regiments and some 500 American volunteers. George Washington served as a volunteer aide-de-camp to Braddock. The cumbersome force, complete with artillery and waggons, struggled through the Allegheny Mountains and the woodlands of western Pennsylvania.

The French and Indian force of between 300 and 900 men was initially beaten in a skirmish, but rapidly regrouped and attacked the column. With the troops strung out on narrow paths, panic set in as they were shot down from cover by marksmen, particularly as officers were singled out as targets. Braddock attempted conventional European tactics of rigid formations conducting volley fire into the woods, but this had predictably limited impact.

Braddock was shot down, later to die of his wounds, but just as the army was dissolving into flight Washington stepped up to form a rearguard to cover the retreat. Washington was hailed as 'the hero of the Monongahela' (the river where the battle was fought).

456 men were killed in the disaster, and 422 wounded. 63 out of 86 officers were casualties, and almost all the female camp followers died or were captured.

Had Washington died on that day, the American War of Independence twenty years later might have taken a very different turn. Not only did Washington survive, he also learned at first hand that the British were not invincible. The great-great-grandson of a Maldon parson used his military skills to lead his nation to independence.