Note 23 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
As early as 1752, the Ohio Company had built a storehouse, called the “Hangard,” at the mouth of Redstone Creek, and it was described by the French officer who (1754) explored that region and burned the English defenses. After the capture of Fort Duquesne (1758), Bouquet sent Colonel James Burd to build a fort at this place, which was named Fort Burd; but it was long popularly known as Redstone Old Fort, because of the remains of moundbuilding Indians to be seen at this point. The fort was abandoned during Pontiac’s War (1763), but appears to have been garrisoned by the time of Lord Dunmore’s War (1774). It was the rendezvous for Clark’s men in 1778, and in 1791 the assembly place for fomenters of the Whiskey Rebellion. In 1785 the town of Brownsville was incorporated, and for many years continued to be an important starting point for Western emigration. See Thwaites, On the Storied Ohio, for descriptions of this movement, and of the region in general.—Ed.