Source:Fleming-washington
George T. Fleming. "Washington in Pittsburgh history: Father of his country earns commemoration in three expeditions: Serves with Forbes." Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Mar. 28, 1915, sec. 5, p. 2. Newspapers.com 85418810.
IT WILL have been noted that the founding of Pittsburgh marked an epoch in history. The campaign of 1758 expelled the French forever from the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny, and established, in perpetuity the possession of the Anglo-Saxon race in the great West.
At least that race is still dominant. There are some other races that are intermingling their blood with the Anglo-Saxon of the twentieth century—the American race, one may say—and what race will be in the twenty-first century does not concern us.
In the founding of Pittsburgh we read of a distinct and notable triumph—to characterize further one may say, a remarkable triumph.
There are other items of history concerning this epoch and crisis in the history of our region. They follow the events already recorded or were contemporaneous.
Several streets not referred to will suffice to call up this history and then we have Washington, resplendent through all our history—for in commemoration we have Washington avenue on the North Side, Washington place, formerly Washington street, one of the original streets, and the boundary on the east of Wood's and Vickroy's original plan of Pittsburgh.
It needs no argument to sustain the contention that this street name should never have been changed. The change was a break in the commemorating line of history that emphasizes great events.
Name Is Retained.
To be sure we have Washington yet designating a "place," when any person with ordinary vision can see that the thoroughfare once known as Washington street is yet a street, and no words will be wasted to show that "street" is a correct term and "place" an abstract. A place can consist of an area of a few inches or be indefinite.
While the custom of naming small thoroughfares places has been growing and may be tolerated, the application of the term to a lengthy street can not be approved by any logical process. It is purely a misnomer.
We have Washington yet sufficiently conspicuous in local nomenclature—Mt. Washington and Washington county and county seat. Admitted, but we have reopened the ancient landmark our fathers set up in the naming of the original Washington street. The original should always be maintained.
Permitting the name Washington to remain on the North Side avenue may be considered a sop to the former Allegheny people who at the time of the consolidation were none too well pleased to lose their autonomy by act of Assembly.
It is not intended to reflect on the authorities who renamed the street after consolidation. They had a formidable task. Nearly a thousand names required changing, from mere duplicates to a dozen like named.
The naming committee was also hurried in the work. It was indispensable that the names be forthcoming as speedily as possible. The fault was not with the committee, but lay in the apathy of the public.
Committee's Hard Task.
Surely if ever the Shakespearean line was taken literally this was one time—a rose by any name retains its odor. The postman will find you just as quick at 40 Oriana street as at the same number in Fifth avenue.
The poor, tired committee members could not avail themselves of the alleged plan adopted by the original hander-down of the names to mankind, who, after days of toil, looking with troubled brow over the yet-unnamed and increasing crowd, said disgustedly:
"Oh, call all the rest Smith"
Our street names of recent manufacture must of necessity have been and remain distinctive and single in application—no two names alike.
One wonders, when going over the lengthy list of these names, how some originated and why so many are meaningless; some names mere euphony, others the reverse. The following are samples taken at random from the directory:
Medder, Fontella, Kilkenbeck, Pancras, Hankla, Hike, Flotilla, Hiona, Warlo, Neffle, Phineas, Mero, Pinerue, Audae and Blanco.
It seems good to get back to such names as Forbes, Grant, Boquet, Washington, Gist, Wood, Smithfield, Penn, Stanwix et al that mean something and stand for noble deeds—all but one—James Grant.
Still the committee must be thanked for reviving old names—and giving some slight recognition to our pioneers and the makers of our history. We have been furnished Stanwix Graeme, Weiser, Barbeau and others.
We have Post street from Main to Forty-fourth, and once had Post alley on the North Side. Whether in commemoration of the sublime heroism of that wonderful man, Christian Frederick Post, or from a post in a nearby fence or a surveyor's stake, we are not informed.
Works of Past [sic].
Washington speaks of the defection of the Indian allies of the French. This was the work of Christian Frederick Post, and it had much to do with the evacuation and destruction of Fort Duquesne, and it is a story in itself reserved for future comment and in line with our history as evolved from street designations.
We have seen how Gen. John Forbes triumphed in feebleness and suffering, how he named the place Pittsburgh. It might have been in stern justice, Forbesburg, and the world would have applauded.
But the heroic soul was modest. He honored the great commoner and the master mind of William Pitt, and we are content.
Francis Parkman has told the story of our founding in his inimitable style. It is worthy of more than passing notice, for in the Schenley Farms district we have Parkman avenue.
Around the wondrous story of Forbes' expedition Parkman has thrown all the force of his genius—one is tempted to say imagery. But he has dealt with facts only and clothed them with the charm of entrancing words.
At times he thrills. The story of the founding of Pittsburgh in the wilderness is unique in the history of the world. This has been said before. It is repeated now to impress the memory that the fact may be retained.
So we have Parkman street in the Schenley Farms district of Bellefield among the streets named for distinguished literati; one can say also among distinguished aliens, Lytton, Tennyson, Schenley.
Name Likely to Stick.
The latter is not so literary, but every bit as alien, and his name seems to be fastened upon Pittsburgh for all time, whereas it is only designed to commemorate his wife—Mary Croghan of Pittsburgh, an heiress and only child with whom he eloped, a regular December and May affair. Hence he never had to "soldier" any more.
The names of Mary Croghan's parents and grandfather, James O'Hara, are relegated to closet in the attic. Schenley is "quite English, you know," and we love the English now, you know also, especially when they bump into our ships and make new laws regarding blockades.
Then, too, O'Hara and Croghan—pronounced Krawn—are unmistakably Irish and not euphonious. So we bow the knee to Schenley and forget the pioneers O'Hara and Croghan.
O'Hara Park would never, never do, and Croghan Park is fully as repugnant.
It is a real old Pittsburgh native and grouch that has "whispered" the above. While it is treason, it awakens thought. It is given here without prejudice to the memory of the late Capt. Edwn [sic] W. H. Schenley, once of his majesty's service, alleged to have fought at Waterloo.
To be sure O'Hara fought in the Revolution that gave us our freedom, but then he was so plebeian.
Oh, yes! We have O'Hara street or did have from Lothrop street to Grant boulevard. Guess it's there yet.
The name Grant in the boulevard is a marked instance of recently commemorating an unworthy name. We should allow it to stand in the street as it has stood for over a century and a half, but the boulevard is modern and should be all Pitt; opinion merely—not history.
Washington was present with Forbes and Bouquet at the taking of the site of Fort Duquesne, November 25, 1758. Of the fort but some smoking ruins of the stockade remained.
Washington's Report.
In a letter to Gov. Fauquier of Virginia, dated "Camp at Fort Duquesne, 28 November, 1758," Washington writes:
Sir:—I have the pleasure to inform you that Fort Du Quesne, or the ground rather on which it stood was possessed by his Majesty's troops on the 25th instant. The enemy after letting us get within a day's march of the place, burned the Fort, and ran away by the light of it, at night, going down the Ohio by water to the number of about five hundred men, according to our best information. This possession of the fort has been a matter of suprise [sic] to the whole army, and we cannot attribute it to more probable causes than the weakness of the enemy, want of provisions, and the defection of their Indians.
Of these circumstances we were luckily informed by three prisoners, who providentially fell into our hands at Loyal Hanna, where we despaired of proceeding further.
A council of war determined that it was not advisable to advance this season beyond that place but the above information caused us to march on without tents of [sic] baggage, and with only a light train of artillery. We have thus happily succeeded. It would be tedious, and I think unnecessary to releate [sic] every trivial circumstance that has happended [sic] since my last. To do this, if needful, shall be the emplayment of a leisure hour when I shall have the please [sic] to pay my respect to Your Honor.
Waiting at Fort Du Quesne.
The general intends to wait here a few days to settle matters with the Indians, and then all the troops except a sufficient garrison to secure the place, will march to their respective governments.
Note that Pittsburgh was founded at the time by mere chance; the capture of the prisoners who gave the information that pushed the tired and hungry troops the 50 miles that lay between them and the fort. Of the fatiguing character of the expedition Washington reminds the governor in these words:
I can not help reminding you, in this place, of the hardships they (the Virginia troops) have undergone, and of their naked condition that you may judge if it is not essential for them to have some little recess from fatigue and time to provide themselves with necessaries. At present they are destitute of every comfort of life. If I do not get your orders to the contrary, I shall march the troops under my command directly to Winchester. They may then be disposed of as you shall afterwards direct.
Washington is hopeful of lasting results. He urges the maintenance of a strong garrison here, and states Virginia should not neglect any means in her power to hold the place.
This was Washington's second visit to the forks of the Ohio. The first in 1753 with Gist coming down the Monongahela from Frazer's cabin at Turtle Creek.
Washington started with Braddock—and did not get here. He did get to the place we call Braddock. That borough hence has its Washington street and justly in commemoration of the man and the soldier, and not from fancy or a desire to honor Washington for his greatness.
Garrison Kept Busy.
The little garrison left by Gen. Forbes to hold the now historic forks of the Ohio had much to do.
Their first duties were sad in the extreme. The bodies of those who had fallen in the fatal engagement on Grants Hill yet lay scattered on the field, scalped and mutilated. These were gathered and given Christian interment. Then burial parties went to Braddock's battleground and gathered the whitened bones of those sacrificed there, and these were also committed to soldiers' graves.
The capture of Fort Duquesne was hailed everywhere throughout the colonies as a harbinger of better days. The ambitious views of the French in extending their settlements to the Mississippi had been frustrated; the friendship of the Indians had been regained. They were no longer the allies of the French.
Conferences were immediately held at the site of Duquesne and the Delawares were the first to sue for peace. This conference was held by Col. Bouquet, with George Croghan, deputy under Sir William Johnson, commissioner of Indian affairs, present, and Col. John Armstrong and other officers also, with Capt. Henry Montour interpreter.
Subsequent conferences were held at the new Fort Pitt, participated in by Col. Mercer, Croghan, Trent and Thomas McKees, assistants to Croghan, with Montour "Joe" Hickman and others interpreters.
All the tribes that ranged the region seem to have participated and every thing went along nicely until Pontiac decreed otherwise. This leads to the story of Bouquet and Bushy Run given last week.
The French had occupied their stronghold here and the key to the West, but a short time comparatively. Four years and eight months in all, but in that time an immense amount of suffering and bloodshed had fallen upon the English.
Period of Suffering.
It was a period memorable for the terrors and cruelties of unsparing warfare since Ensign Edward Ward had fled at the approach of the formidable and motley-manned flotilla of Contracoeur, leaving his unfinished fortification upon which rose Fort Duquesne, and happy indeed was the day when the proud flag of England floated in triumph from its fire-scathed walls.
Two magazines were in the fort. One was blown up by springing a mine of powder. This was the explosion heard by Forbes at Turtle Creek. The other magazine was not destroyed. In it were found 16 barrels of ammunition, many gun barrels, a large quantity of carriage iron, and a wagonload of scalping knives—nice spoils of war—but very necessary.
There were no cannon; whether they had been removed or sunk in the river was unknown.
About 500 French retreated, part going down the Ohio, and some overland with the French commander, De Lignery, to Presque Isle and Venango. The fort at the latter place was called by the French Machault.
Bancroft's description is pertinent. He says:
As Armstrong's own hand raised the British flag over the ruined bastions of the fortress, as the banners of England floated over the waters, the place at the suggestion of Forbes was with one voice called Pittsburgh.
It is the most enduring monument to William Pitt. America raised to his name statues that have been wrongfully broken and piles of granite of which not one pile remains upon another, but as long as the Allegheny shall flow to form the Ohio, as long as the English tongue shall be the language of freedom, in the boundless valley which their waters traverse, his name shall stand inscribed on the gateway of the West.
Verily Pitt always sounds good.
Another Remembered.
One other street name commemorates an actor in these stirring events. West street, a very short one running from Water to Liberty street, named for Capt. West, the elder brother of the celebrated American painter, Benjamin West.
Capt. West had charge of the interment of the derelict dead on Braddock's field.
We have still another name prominent in those years—John Frazer, or Frazier, an Indian trader from Paxtang near Harrisburg, a trader there as early as 1737, licensed by the province of Pennsylvania in 1747, settled at Venango in 1753, where Washington found him. He had also a cabin and other quarters at the mouth of Turtle Creek in 1752–53 and '54. With the defeat of Braddock he, of course, could not remain.
He was a guide to Bouquet in 1758. He was one of the messengers sent to warn off the settlers at Redstone, a few years later. Redstone subsequently became Brownsville. Frequent mention is made of John Frazier and we rightly commemorate him in a street; if not a commemoration, the name at least recalls him.
John Hazlet, a captain in Forbes' army, wrote a letter to a certain clergyman—the Rev. Dr. Allison. It is dated "Fort Duquesne, November 26, 1758."
Neville B. Craig has incorporated it in his magazine, "The Olden Time," and Hazzard's Register of Pennsylvania also contains it (Vol. VI, p. 301). Isaac D. Rupp records it also in the appendix to his "History of Western Pennsylvania and the West.'
On the opposite page in this history will be found Gen. Forbes' letter to Gov. Denny of Pennsylvania, of the same date, telling of events here.
Hazlet's letter in full is:
Rev'd Sir:—I have now the pleasure to write you from the ruins of the fort. On the 24th, at night we were informed by one of our Indian scouts that he had discovered a cloud of smoke about the place, and soon after another came in with certain intelligence that it was burnt and abandoned by the enemy.
Story of Capture.
We were then about 15 miles from it; a troop of horse was sent forward immediately to extinguish the burning, and the whole army followed. We arrived at 6 o'clock last night, and found it in a great measure destroyed. There are two forts about 200 yards distant, the one built with immense labor, small but a great deal of very strong works collected into a little room, and stands on the point of a narrow neck of land at the confluence of the two rivers. It is square and has two ravelins, gabions at each corner.
The other fort stands on the bank of the Allegheny in the form of a parallelogram, but not so strong as the other. Several of the outworks are lately begun and still unfinished.
There are I think 30 stacks of chimneys standing—the houses all burnt down. They sprung one mine which ruined one of their magazines. In the other we found a prodigious quantity of old carriage iron, barrels of guns and a cartload of scalping knives.
They went off in such haste they could not destroy their works as they intended. We are told by the Indians that they lay the night before at Beaver Creek 40 miles down the Ohio from here. Whether they buried their dead or carried them down in their batteaux, we have not yet learned.
A boy 12 years old who had been their prisoner two years, who escaped on the 2d inst., tells us they had carried a prodigious quantity of wood into the fort; that they had burnt five of the prisoners that they took at Major Grant's defeat, on the parade, and delivered others to the Indians, who were tomahawked on the spot.
We have found numbers of dead bodies within a mile of the fort unburied, as so many monuments of French inhumanity. A great many Indians, mostly Delawares gathered on the Island last night and this morning to treat with the General, and we are making rafts to bring them over.
Thanksgiving Service.
Whether the General will think of repairing the ruins or leaving any of the troops here, I have not heard. Mr. Beatty is appointed to preach a thanksgiving sermon, for the remarkable superiority of his Majesty's arms. We left all our tents at Loyalhanna, and every convenience except a blanket and a knapsack.
You will excuse the errors of haste and believe me to be
Rev'd Sir, Your Most Obedient Servant,
JOHN HASLET.
To Rev. Allison.
This is a sure enough succinct account. The island mentioned was Smoky Island in the Allegheny long since washed away. The minister was the Rev. Charles Beatty, a pioneer missionary, a chaplain under Forbes.
Nice bloody history is the early history of our region—almost bloody enough for the Twentieth century of a retail character, however. Wholesale slaughter had not been invented.