Battle of the Monongahela in the context of "French Canadian"

An ambush is a surprise attack carried out by combatants waiting in a concealed (and typically well-defiladed) position against an approaching enemy individual or group. The concealed position itself or the concealed person(s) may also be called an "ambush", and the chosen area to carry out the ambush is known as the kill zone or the trap.

The term "ambush" is also used in animal behavior studies to describe the predation strategy of some carnivores using stealth and deception (i.e. ambush predators), in sociology to describe aggressive journalistic practices (i.e. ambush journalism), and in economics to describe some marketing strategies (i.e. ambush marketing), all of which involve an element of surprise upon the recipients.

The Virginia Regiment was an infantry unit of the Virginia Provincial Forces raised in 1754 by the Virginia General Assembly and Governor Robert Dinwiddie for service in the French and Indian War. The sole provincial unit raised by the British colony of Virginia during the conflict, it initially consisted of 300 men under the command of Colonel George Washington and fought in the battles of Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity. After the Virginia Regiment's defeat at Fort Necessity, the General Assembly voted to double the size of the unit, which participated in the failed Braddock Expedition to capture Fort Duquesne from the French.

Under orders from General Edward Braddock, the unit was re-organized into two carpenter companies, six ranger companies, and one troop of mounted rangers, fighting at the Battle of the Monongahela in 1755. The Virginia Regiment was subsequently expanded into two regiments for the 1758 Forbes Expedition. As a result of the outbreak of the Anglo-Cherokee War in 1762, the unit remained on the Virginia frontier for longer than expected, but was disbanded by Governor Francis Fauquier in 1762. Although Washington resigned from the regiment in 1758, upset over not being made an officer in the British Army, the experience he gained in the conflict greatly helped him during the American Revolutionary War.

The Braddock Expedition, also known as Braddock's Campaign or Braddock's Defeat, was a British military expedition which attempted to capture Fort Duquesne from the French in 1755 during the French and Indian War. The expedition, named after its commander General Edward Braddock, was defeated at the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9 and forced to retreat; Braddock was killed in action along with more than 500 of his troops. It ultimately proved to be a major setback for the British in the early stages of the war; the historian John Mack Faragher claimed the expedition was one of the most disastrous defeats suffered by British forces during the 18th century.