General Forbes Invested Fort Duquesne and Named It Pittsburgh, November 25, 1758

After the humiliating defeat of Major Grant, September 14, 1758, when he disobeyed his orders and attacked the French and Indians at Fort Duquesne and was himself taken prisoner, the French, exulting over their unlooked-for victory, believed that a successful attack could now be made upon the main army of General John Forbes in camp at Loyalhanna. By this bold stroke, in which they would use their entire force, they could, in the discomfiture of the English, end all hostilities, as they had done in the fateful defeat of Braddock.

General Forbes was wiser than his predecessor, and better appreciated the talents and experience of Colonel George Washington, and did not fail to seek his counsel.

General Forbes had joined Colonel Henry Bouquet at Loyalhanna and determined to advance upon Fort Duquesne. Washington drew up the plan, illustrating the proper disposition of the troops in the line of march, so the English would not again be overwhelmed by a surprise attack.

At this moment the forces of the French and their Indian allies rushed through the woods toward Loyalhanna, dragging some light cannon with them. They reached their objective before the British army had moved. An attack was made and long sustained, but the English, under General Forbes, repulsed the French, who returned to Fort Duquesne.

The battle of Loyalhanna has never been given its proper place in history for it was a noteworthy affair, important in its consequences.

The French had beaten Braddock by the aid of their Indian allies, and they hoped to defeat Forbes in the same way, but Colonel Bouquet had adopted the provincial practice of fighting Indians, which was the means of bringing them to a realization of their inability to conquer the English, and they abandoned hopes of success and quit the French.

The strength of the French garrison in Fort Duquesne in September, 1758, was 4000 troops, but by October this number was reduced to less than 2000, including the Indians. On September 22, Christian Frederic Post, the noted Moravian missionary and friend of the English, who had visited the garrison, reported its strength as 1400, but added he believed “there would be full 3000 French and Indians, almost all Canadians, who would be ready to meet the army under Forbes.”

The militia of Louisiana and Illinois left the fort early in November 828and went home. The Indians of Detroit and the Wabash country would remain no longer, and, what was even worse, the supplies destined for Port Duquesne had been destroyed by Bradstreet at Fort Frontenac. Hence M. de Ligneris, the commandant, was compelled by prospective starvation to dismiss the greater part of his force, and await the approach of the English with those that remained.

The French had always depended on the aid of the Indians to hold this fort. But it was the custom of the Indians after a battle, whether successful or not, to go home.

Colonel James Smith, at that time a prisoner who had been adopted into one of the tribes, in his very valuable narrative, says that after the defeat of Major Grant the Indians held a council, in which their opinions were divided. Some believed General Forbes would now turn back and go home the way he came, as Dunbar had done after the Braddock defeat; others supposed he would press forward and make the attack. The French urged the Indians to remain, but many returned to their squaws, children and hunting.

These things were unknown to the English. But when the actual condition of affairs in Fort Duquesne reached General Forbes, he concluded, late as it was, to advance.

On November 13 Colonel John Armstrong with one thousand men was sent forward to assist Colonel Washington in opening the road, and four days later General Forbes pressed forward. He met with no opposition, but the extremely disagreeable weather impeded his progress. The wagons and all the artillery, except a few light pieces, were left behind.

The force consisted of 2500 picked men, who marched without shelter or baggage and burdened only with knapsack and blankets. There were in addition the pioneers, wagoners and provincials engaged to work on the roads. Friendly Indians were kept out as scouts, and the greatest vigilance was exercised to avoid surprise. Washington and Armstrong opened the way to within a day’s march of the fort.

On the evening of November 24, the army encamped among the hills of Turtle Creek. That night they were informed by an Indian scout that he had discovered a cloud of smoke above the fort and soon after another scout came with the certain intelligence that the fort was burned and abandoned by the enemy. A troop of horse was sent forward immediately to extinguish the fire. At midnight the men on guard heard a dull and heavy booming over the western woods.

In the morning the march was resumed, the strong advance guard leading the column. Forbes came next, carried in his litter, as he was quite ill. The troops followed in three parallel columns, the Highlanders, under Montgomery, in the center, the Royal Americans on the right and the provincials on the left under Colonels Bouquet and Washington. It was dusk when they emerged upon the open plain and saw 829Fort Duquesne before them, with the background of wintry hills beyond the Monongahela and Allegheny.

When the fort was invested on November 25 it presented a sorry appearance. It had consisted of two fortifications, about 200 yards apart. One, built with immense labor, was small but strong; the other stood on the bank of the Allegheny, in form of a parallelogram, but weaker than the other. There were about thirty chimneys standing, the houses being destroyed by fire.

The French had also blown up one of the magazines, but in the other was found sixteen barrels of ammunition, a large quantity of iron, gun barrels, guns and a cartload of scalping knives. It has never been made known if they buried their cannon in the river or carried them away in their hasty retreat.

A boy twelve years old who had been an Indian prisoner two years escaped during the retreat and told General Forbes that the French had carried a large quantity of wood into the fort and that they burned five of the prisoners they took at Major Grant’s defeat on the parade and delivered the others to the Indians, who tomahawked the men on the spot.

There were many dead bodies found within a short distance of the fort, and many evidences of French inhumanity.

The Indians remaining about the fort were only too eager to treat with General Forbes.

Bancroft says: “Armstrong’s own hand raised the British flag on the ruined bastions of the fortress. As the banner of England floated over the waters the place, at the suggestion of Forbes, was with one voice called Pittsburgh.”