The theatres of War in June 1760 . . . the South, the North, the West and "Pittsburg"

We've been tracking the Cherokee wars down south, where 2 expeditions are bound.

Byrd expedition

June 11, 1760

". . . . a Letter from Colo . Byrd [ William Byrd III ] dated Winchester May the 29th - requesting that he may be excused from taking the Command of the Troops raised for the Cherokee Expedition , and to desire the Opinion and Advice of the Council thereupon .

The Council were of Opinion that Colo . Byrd was indispensably obliged , while in the Government to pay obedience to the Governours Commands ; and advised his Honour to give him peremptory Orders to return , if he has not joined the Regulars , and in case he has , that his Honour [Lt Gov Fauquier] would write to General Moncton [Robert Monckton] , acquainting him how necessary Mr. Byrd's [ William Byrd III ] presence here will be at this juncture , and desiring he would order him back ;

they further advised his Honour [Lt Gov Fauquier] to signify to Colo . Byrd that this Board was surprised and concern'd to learn that the three hundred Men appointed for the Protection of the Southern Frontiers were not yet compleated according to the directions of the Act of Assembly .

The Governour acquainting the Council that having great reason to believe the whole body of Men to be rais'd for the Cherokee expedition was already compleat , he proposed , with their Approbation , to issue a Proclamation directing the Gentlemen on the recruiting Service not to proceed to inlist more Men , until the returns of those at present inlisted are made to him ; and requiring them to make such returns immediately , and to march their Men . . . ."

#180 (p.162)

Executive Journals , Council of Colonial Virginia

". . . with all speed to the places of Rendezvous : And that he intended , if there should be a surplus of Recruits , to transfer Sixty to the Virginia Regiment to supply the deficiences of that Corps if the Men should be willing to serve in it , for the time they inlisted ."

Source

Executive Journals , Council of Colonial Virginia volume 6

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015004161017&seq=179&q=

The Virginia Regiment is heading toward south towards Cherokee country. Colonel Byrd tries to get out of this assignment in his letter datelined Winchester VA 29 May 1760 which the Virginia Council denies his request 11 June 1760. Robert Monckton, commander of Fort Pitt wants Colnel Byrd to join him at Fort Pitt and regrets that 300 of the Virginia Regiment are going south to protect the southern Virginia border and help Fort Loudoun in today's Tennessee.The Virginia Regiment is going to be too late to help. See timeline on the Byrd expedition.

The Montgomery expedition

destroyed the Lower Towns 1 June 1760 and Etchoe of the Middle Towns on 27 June 1760 of the Cherokee confederation, and are now deciding they are in too much danger to continue. The Montgomery expedition heads back to white civilization end of June 1760. But soon Grant will start a new and final expedition to destroy all the Cherokees.

Up north there's still war with the French.

Fort Niagara surrendered in July 1759 and Fort Carrillion in August 1759. The fortress in Quebec fell to a long siege and by May 1760 the French gave up trying to retake it back. Amherst will be threatening Montreal. On 7 Sept 1760 Pierre Regaud de Vaudreil Governor of New France gives up Canada.

Out west there's a growing threat of a big Indian war.

The Indians see the size of the ongoing building of a fort on the 3 rivers area of "Pittsburg." This does not look to be temporary. They were told the British were only kicking out the French.

Amherst, General of all North American forces needs to consolidate control of this region. He orders the famous Robert Rogers to inform the French in Detroit of their Governor surrendering Canada 7 Sept 1760. Rogers takes along George Croghan and Alexander McKee who have knowledge of the western Indians and their languages.

Rogers heads to "Pittsburg" first. By 10 October 1760 leave Pittsburg towards Detroit. He heads north to Lake Erie.

He arrives at Detroit 11 Nov 1760.

On 7 Dec 1760 Rogers urged Bouquet to send to Detroit all the Pittsburg white traders to do trade with the Indians aroind the Great Lakes. Rogers wrote this, "will be the very way to Prevent them Indians in that fort (Detroit) from Joining the Cherokees the French had already called."

Also on 7 Dec 1760 Rogers orders Alexander McKee to retrieve several French officers and soldiers who were being held at the Lower Shawnee towns, located at the Pickaway Plains, near today's Circleville Ohio, sixty miles north of the confluence of Scioto and Ohio Rivers which was their original home being abandoned in the spring of 1758 when the Ohio flooded 50 feet above its normal depth. McKee travelled to the village with Pierre Antoine, Chevalier de Hertal, the commander of the French garrison at Detroit. McKee was to acquire the prisoners, acquaint the Shawnees with the French surrender, and give the "Oath of Fidelitie" to any French traders he might meet along the way. Hertel and the other French soldiers were then to be delivered to the Crown authorities at Fort Pitt. Although Hertel became ill along the way and 12 of the 18 French prisoners either deserted or were too sick to make the journey, McKee, the French commander, and 6 French soldiers arrived safely in Fort Pitt on 12 Feb 1761.

Page 34,

A Man of Distinction Among: Alexander McKee and British-Indian Affairs Along the Ohio Country Frontier, 1754-1799 Paperback – May 31, 1995

Croghan and Mckee''s importance

George Croghan

is a trader and he means to make a living from it. He's been in this business for quite some time. "In 1746 he was appointed to the Onondaga Council, the governing body of the Iroquois, and remained so until he was banished from the frontier in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War. Croghan was appointed in 1756 as Deputy Indian Agent with chief responsibility for the Ohio region tribes. He assisted Sir William Johnson, British Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern District, who was based in New York and had strong alliances with the Iroquois." -wikipedia.

Earlier in 6 April 1760 to 12 April 1760 George Croghan held meetings in "Pittsburg" with large bands of Shawnees, Delawares and Miamis from the Ohio Country.

Alexander McKee

refused Bouquet's request in Jan 1759 to remain with the Army. McKee's father, Thomas Mckee was hired by Croghan in 1755, so Alexander Mckee decided to join up with them sometime after Jan 1759 and not continue to submit "to the drudgery of it [the Army]."

These men willl be important sources of information for a brewing western war that would later be known variously as "Pontiac's War or Guyasuta's War in 1763.

Page 31-34,

A Man of Distinction Among: Alexander McKee and British-Indian Affairs Along the Ohio Country Frontier, 1754-1799 Paperback – May 31, 1995

And the building of the giant Fort Pitt continues.

The size of this fort shows the Indians out west that the British intend to stay, that their promises to leave that area were all lies. Amherst orders Rogers to take Detroit to inform the French of their Governor surrendering.

John Stanwix is the one who names this new big fortress, "Fort Pitt" on 20 Nov 1759. Prior to this date most letters contain the dateline of Pittsburg, not Fort Pitt. When the "h" was added to Pittsburgh is discussed in this story.

Progress of fort building:

Robert Stewart's letter of 29 September 1759 states this forcast: 3 Bastions on the landside and all the barracks are to be finished by this year of 1759, meaning by the end of 1759? The rest will be stockaded in the Spring of 1760. Founders Online footnote 3. Maj. Gen. John Stanwix arrived at Pittsburgh at the end of August 1759, and on 3 Sept. his engineer Capt. Harry Gordon initiated work on the permanent fort, Fort Pitt. Stewart probably left Fort Ligonier in Pennsylvania with Lt. Col. Adam Stephen on 18 Sept., arriving at Pittsburgh with supplies and about one hundred and fifty men and officers on 23 Sept. 1759. Stewart’s sketch of the proposed fort has not been identified..