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Photo Diary: Fort Ligonier, Pennsylvania [1]

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Date: 2022-06-30

A visit to the reconstructed Fort Ligonier, from the French and Indian War in Pennsylvania.

For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and travel around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I visit. I am currently in Pennsylvania.

By 1758, the French and Indian War had been raging in North America for several years, and Native Americans had been launching raids all along the northeast, attacking British-American settlements that were intruding into their territory.

In London, it was assumed that the French were behind all the Native unrest, and the decision was made to remove Fort Duquesne (at present-day Pittsburgh), the last remaining French stronghold in the area, once and for all. The task was assigned to General John Forbes, a veteran who had fought in the War of Austrian Succession.

He was given 2,000 British Regulars (mostly Highlanders) and 2,000 colonial militia from Pennsylvania and Virginia (including the 1st Virginia regiment, commanded by Colonel George Washington). Like the other British Generals, Forbes did not speak highly of the American militiamen, noting in one report, “A few of their principal officers excepted, all the rest are an extremely bad collection of broken innkeepers, horse jockeys, and Indian traders, and that the men under them, are a direct copy of their officers”. This was compounded by some political infighting among the militia officers from Pennsylvania and Virginia, who were each still clinging to their own land claims in the area of the Ohio Valley.

Forbes spelled out a strategy that was similar to the two previous failures by Washington and Braddock: he would march directly through Pennsylvania, building a military road ahead of him as he went along. But the Forbes Campaign was meticulously well-planned. Beginning at Carlisle PA, the Forbes Road would take the shortest route straight west to Fort Duquesne. It passed right through some of Pennsylvania’s best farmland, which made resupplying easier. The troops built strong palisade forts at regular intervals, which gave good protection. The road made an intentional effort to avoid river crossings which were vulnerable to ambush, and there were Native American scouts to give advance warning of any potential dangers ahead. (Forbes originally had a force of several hundred Cherokee and Catawba warriors with him, under the war leader Attakullakulla, but they grew impatient with road-building, and most of them deserted.)

During the campaign, Forbes was struck by severe dysentery and abdominal pain, and had to be carried along in a litter. But by September, his road had reached Loyalhanna Creek, about 50 miles from the French, and his troops stopped to construct Fort Ligonier as a base. Colonel Grant of the 77th Highland Regiment (who would later go on to fight the Cherokee uprising in the Carolinas) was ordered to take 200 men and scout the area around Fort Duquesne. Against his orders, Grant instead attempted to attack the fort and was routed by the French. In turn, the French sent a force to attack Fort Ligonier in October, and were similarly repulsed.

The British were running out of options, as winter closed in around them. At a council of war held on November 11, Forbes decided that he did not now have enough time for what he presumed would be a long siege at Fort Duquesne. Instead, he would halt his advance and remain here at Fort Ligonier for the winter, and attack the French in the spring.

But the next day, word arrived from scouts that the French were abandoning their Fort. The French commander, Captain Francois-Marie le Marchand de Lignery, saw that the advancing British outnumbered him and, lacking food and other supplies, he decided to withdraw, blowing up his powder magazine, spiking all his cannons and burning the palisades, rather than attempting to withstand a siege. When Forbes and his men, hearing of the French retreat, arrived at Fort Duquesne on November 25, they found nothing but smoking ruins.

Forbes died of his illness in March 1759. His troops built a British fort of their own next to the ruins of Fort Duquesne, which they named Fort Pitt. It became the core of the city of Pittsburgh. And with the loss of Fort Duquesne, the last French stronghold in the Ohio Valley disappeared. The British now controlled everything within what is now the territory of the United States.

Some photos from a visit to Fort Ligonier.

Visitor Center and Museum

What the Fort would have looked like

Recovered artifacts

Guided tour

A British supply wagon. The “GR” stands for “George Rex”.

These spikey things were called an “abatis”. They were the 18th century equivalent of barbed wire.

The reconstructed fort

Trenches surround the fort

Gate house

Ovens for baking bread

Cannons covered every wall

Gun position protected by bundles of sticks

Looking up at a cannon position

Inside the fort

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/6/30/2106738/-Photo-Diary-Fort-Ligonier-Pennsylvania

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