Colonel Bouquet Defeats Indians by Stratagem at Bushy Run, August 6, 1763

In 1763 the savages, angered by the losses of the French and by finding the English settlers pressing upon them, organized what has been called a conspiracy under Pontiac. It nearly succeeded and many English forts were captured.

In Pennsylvania there were many murders and burnings all around Forts Pitt, Le Boeuf, Presque Isle and Ligonier; many were killed at Bedford and Carlisle, and even Fort Augusta, on the Susquehanna at Sunbury, was seriously threatened.

Colonel Henry Bouquet, an energetic and capable officer, took a battalion of the Royal American Regiment and two companies of Highlanders and English and started from Philadelphia for Fort Pitt.

Upon his arrival he found Carlisle crowded with fugitives, and learned that Presque Isle, Le Boeuf and Venango, now English forts, had fallen. Homes were burning all through the neighboring valleys.

With five hundred men Bouquet pushed over the mountain to Bedford and Fort Ligonier, which he relieved from a siege just in time. At Bedford thirty hunters with rifles joined him. He heard from Fort Pitt that the commander and nine others had been wounded.

Bouquet resolved to leave behind the oxen and wagons, which formed the most cumbersome part of the convoy. Thus relieved, the army resumed its march August 4, taking with them 350 pack horses and a few cattle, and at nightfall encamped at no great distance from Ligonier.

Within less than a day’s march lay the dangerous defiles of Turtle Creek. Fearing that the enemy would lay in ambuscade at this place, Bouquet determined to march on the following day as far as a small stream called Bushy Run, to rest there until night and then, by a forced march, to cross Turtle Creek under cover of the darkness.

On the morning of August 5, the tents were struck at an early hour, and the troops began their march through a rough country, everywhere covered with a tall, dense forest.

By noon they had advanced to within less than a mile of Bushy Run. Suddenly the report of rifles from the front sent a thrill along the ranks. The firing became terrific, while the shouts and whoops showed that the advance guard was hotly engaged. The two foremost companies 538were sent to support it, but far from abating, the fire grew so furious that it revealed the presence of an enemy at once numerous and resolute.

The convoy was halted, the troops formed into line, and a general charge ordered. Bearing down through the forest with fixed bayonets, they drove the yelping savages before them, and swept the ground clear.

At this very moment of success, a fresh burst of whoops and firing was heard from either flank, while noise from the rear showed that the convoy was attacked. The column fell back for its support, drove off the assailants, and formed in a circle around the terrified horses. No man lost his composure, but each displayed implicit confidence in their commander.

Now ensued a combat most discouraging. Again and again, now one side and now on the other, a crowd of Indians rushed up, pouring in a heavy fire, in their effort to break into the circle. A well directed volley met them, followed by a charge of the bayonet. The Indians fled behind trees, few of them were hurt, while the English suffered severely.

Thus the fight went on without intermission for seven hours, until approaching night, when the Indian fire slackened, and the exhausted soldiers found time to rest.

It was impossible to change their ground in the enemy’s presence, and the troops were obliged to encamp where the combat had taken place, though not a drop of water was to be found there.

Bouquet, doubtful of surviving the battle of the morrow, wrote to Sir Jeffrey Amherst, in a few, clear, concise words, an account of the day’s events.

The condition of the troops was deplorable. About sixty soldiers, besides several officers, had been killed or disabled. A space in the center of the camp was prepared for the care of the wounded, and surrounded by a wall built of bags of flour. Here they lay upon the ground, enduring agonies of thirst, as well as of pain.

The situation of those who hitherto escaped was not an enviable one. In event of defeat, a fate inexpressibly horrible waited them, while even victory did not assure their safety, since so many wounded comrades made it difficult to transport them. On the other side the enemy were exulting in the fullest confidence of success.

With the earliest dawn of day there broke out a general burst of those horrid yells which form the prelude of an Indian battle. Instantly from every side the fire poured in with deadly aim.

At each furious rush the savages were repulsed. The English, maddened more by the torments of thirst than the fire of the enemy, fought furiously. But the enemy saw their distress and pressed them closer and more desperately.

The center of the camp was all confusion. The horses broke away a dozen at a time and stampeded through the wounded troops. At ten 539o’clock the circle was yet unbroken, but there had been many killed. If the day was to be saved, the effort must be made at once and Bouquet was equal to the emergency.

In the midst of the confusion he conceived a masterly stratagem. Could the Indians be brought together in a body and made to stand their ground, there could be little doubt of the result. Bouquet instructed the men who were in the most exposed place to give way. The Indians mistook this movement for a retreat. Confident that their victory was sure, they leaped up on all sides and rushed headlong towards the spot.

Here they found themselves between two deadly fires and with the reserve troops blocking their retreat they were utterly routed. The Highlanders, with yells as wild as their own, fell on them with bayonet. The shock was irresistible and they fled before the charging ranks, not a living Indian remained near the spot. Among the dead were found several prominent chiefs.

The battle of Bushy Run was the best contested battle ever fought between white men and Indians. It was the most serious defeat ever inflicted upon the savages down to that time.

With the loss of eight officers and 115 men, Bouquet reached Fort Pitt August 10. It was a joyous moment both to the troops and the garrison, which had been surrounded and hotly pressed by the Indians since July 28.

The next year Bouquet led an expedition beyond the Ohio, but the Indians sued for peace and he compelled them to bring all their captives to Fort Pitt, where their friends could identify them.