 For a man as ambitious as Washington, it must have been galling to see his superior act so dismissively. Even worse, by ignoring their advice, Braddock was exposing his men to unnecessary risks. Now it's July 1755. Imagine about 1,300 British regulars and colonial militia laboring through the woods on a hot summer day near the Monongahela River. They were exhausted after weeks of strenuous marching.