Monongahela

The Monongahela flows north through the Appalachian plateau to meet the Allegheny and form the Ohio. Its name refers to riverbanks whose earth falls away into the water. The valley contains many sites of the Indigenous culture now named for the river, whose people cultivated maize and lived in carefully arranged villages. Some settlements contained dozens of structures, and their inhabitants exchanged goods with neighbouring peoples.

During the French and Indian War, the lower Monongahela became the scene of a major British defeat. In 1755 General Edward Braddock's expedition advanced toward the French position at the forks of the Ohio, but French forces and their Indigenous allies attacked near the river. Braddock was mortally wounded in the fighting and his army retreated.