this great Event, of having totally expelled the French from this prodigious tract of Country, and of having reconciled the various tribes of Indians inhabiting it to His Majesty's Government.

VIII

As a place of urgent shelter the English proceeded to build a new fort about two hundred yards from the site of Fort Duquesne, which is traditionally known as the first Fort Pitt, and was probably so called by the garrison, although the letters written from there during the next few months refer to it as "the camp at Pittsburgh." This stronghold cut off French transportation to the Mississippi by way of the Ohio River, and the only remaining route, by way of the Great Lakes, was soon afterward closed by the fall of Fort Niagara. The fall of Quebec, with the death of the two opposing generals, Montcalm and Wolfe, and the capture of Montreal, ended the claims of France to sovereignty in the new world.

Plan of Fort Pitt

The new fort being found too small, General Stanwix built a second Fort Pitt, much larger and stronger, designed for a garrison of one thousand men. The Indians viewed the new-comers with suspicion, but Colonel Henry Bouquet assured them, with diplomatic tergiversation, that, "We have not come here to take possession of your country in a hostile manner, as the French did when they came among you, but to open a large and extensive trade with you and all other nations of Indians to the westward." A redoubt (the "Blockhouse"), built by Colonel Bouquet in 1764, still stands, in a very good state of preservation, being cared for by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The protection of the garrison naturally attracted a few traders, merchants, and pioneers to Pittsburgh, and a permanent population began to grow.

Henry Bouquet

Block House of Fort Pitt. Built in 1764

But the indigenous race continued to resent the extension of white encroachment; and they formed a secret confederacy under Pontiac, the renowned Ottawa chief, who planned a simultaneous attack on all the white frontier posts. This uprising was attended by atrocious cruelties at many of the points attacked, but we may take note here of the movement only as it affected Pittsburgh. At the grand council held by the tribes, a bundle of sticks had been given to every tribe, each bundle containing as many sticks as there were days intervening before the deadly assault should begin. One stick was to be drawn from the bundle every day until but one remained, which was to signal the outbreak for that day. This was the best calendar the barbarian mind could devise. At Pittsburgh, a Delaware squaw who was friendly to the whites had stealthily taken out three of the sticks, thus precipitating the attack on Fort Pitt three days in advance of the time appointed.

The last stick was reached on June 22, 1763, and the Delawares and Shawanese began the assault in the afternoon, under Simon Ecuyer. The people of Pittsburgh took shelter in the fort, and held out while waiting for reinforcements. Colonel Bouquet hurried forward a force of five hundred men, but they were intercepted at Bushy Run, where a bloody battle was fought. Bouquet had fifty men killed and sixty wounded, but inflicted a much greater loss on his savage foes and gained the fort, relieving the siege. As soon as Bouquet could recruit his command, he moved down the Ohio, attacked the Indians, liberated some of their prisoners, and taught the red men to respect the power that controlled at Pittsburgh.

In 1768 the Indians ceded their lands about Pittsburgh to the Colonies, and civilization was then free to spread over them. In 1774 a land office was opened in Pittsburgh by Governor Dunmore, and land warrants were granted on payment of two shillings and six pence purchase money, at the rate of ten pounds per one hundred acres.

IX

Washington made his last visit to Pittsburgh in October, 1770, when, on his way to the Kanawha River, he stopped here for several days, and lodged with Samuel Semple, the first innkeeper, whose hostelry stood, and still stands, at the corner of Water and Ferry Streets. This house was later known as the Virginian Hotel, and for many years furnished entertainment to those early travelers. The building, erected in 1764 by Colonel George Morgan, is now nearly one hundred and forty years old, and is still devoted to public hospitality, but the character of its patronage has changed from George Washington to the deck roysterers who lodge there between their trips on the river packets. At the time of Washington's visit the lower story of the house was divided into three rooms, two facing on Ferry Street, and the third, a large room, on Water Street, and in this latter room was placed, in the year of Washington's stop there, the first billiard table ever brought to Pittsburgh. The mahogany steps from the first to the second floors, which were once the pride of the place, are still in the house.[B] According to Washington's journal, there were in Pittsburgh in 1770 twenty houses situated on Water Street, facing the Monongahela River. These were occupied by traders and their families. The population at that time is estimated at one hundred and twenty-six men, women, and children, besides a garrison consisting of two companies of British troops.

In October, 1772, Fort Pitt was ordered abandoned. The works about Pittsburgh, from first to last, had cost the British Crown some three hundred thousand dollars, but the salvage on the stone, brick, and iron of the existing redoubts amounted to only two hundred and fifty dollars. The Blockhouse was repaired and occupied for a time by Dr. John Connelly; and during the Revolution it was constantly used by our Colonial troops.

X

With the French out of the country,