The British arrived thinking their professional soldiers were vastly superior to American militia and irregular Native warfare. Braddock dismissed Franklin’s warning because he believed disciplined British regulars could not be seriously harmed by such tactics.

Then those regulars were ambushed, bunched together, had their officers picked off, suffered enormous casualties, panicked, abandoned their equipment, and retreated hundreds of miles.

Franklin says this was among the first moments Americans began realizing that British military superiority wasnt as impressive as they had been taught to believe.

Before the battle, Franklin warned Braddock. Braddock laughed off the suggestion.

Braddock:
“These savages may, indeed, be a formidable enemy to your raw American militia…”

Braddock insisted that against the king’s disciplined regular troops, such an enemy could make no meaningful impression.

Then the exact thing Franklin had warned, happened. The force was attacked from behind trees and bushes.