Reas town & Loyalhanna (later as Forts Bedford & Ligonier)
Flight 93 went down near the Forbes Road on 9/11/2001. During the Forbes Expedition of September 1758, you will see that United Airlines Flight 93 crashed roughtly between these two places. It went down due to an extreme selfless heroism united with anger and principle -- all motivated by assured death no matter what they did..
It went down roughly halfway between these two places, Ligonier and Bedford.
What was happening near that spot back in 1758?
Does this spot hold more trying times in its future?
A letter datelined:
Rays Town Camp Septr 12th 1758
The Enemy has scalp’d one Highlander & Captivated one Virginian & one Shamokin, about five Miles from Loyal Hannan [Loyalhannon later known as Fort Ligonier]
Major Grant with 1000 Virgs. Highlanders and Royal Americans are gon to Fort Du Quesne.
You will see these two places constantly mentioned in the letters
That's it.
That's our lead story.
There's a lot more as always.
Skip around.
Read bits and pieces.
Compiled and authored by Jim Moyer 9/4/2022 still in progress, updating more today, 9/5/22, 9/6/22, 9/11/2022, 10/4/22, 12/2/2022, 12/4/2022, 9/24/2024
Table of Contents
Reas town or Raystown -- later named Fort Bedford
Former SC Gov James Glenn, cousin to Forbes
called the place Bouquetsville,
but it never stuck with anyone else.
Later
it becomes Fort Bedford.
It was called the "Grand Central Station" of the Forbes Expedition by later historians.
The area utilized was large.
Construction of fortification and storehouses began 24 June 1758.
By 24 July 1758, the Reverend Barton describes,
" . . . a fine Fort & Store Houses - with two encampments surrounded by breastworks"
Full description can be found on page 77-78:
The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania, 1758: A Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne: by Douglas R. Cubbison. More on this author here. And a review here.
Loyalhanna or Loyalhannon -- later named Fort Ligonier
At one point Forbes called the place Pittsburgh.
But after Fort Duquesne fell he changed that place to Pittsburgh.
So Loyalhannon became Fort Ligonier.
A quote from Cubbison's book on the Forbes Expedition:
On December 1 [1758],
Forbes issued those orders that remain today as his most enduring legacy in North America. Specifically, he named the posts upon which he had expended so much labor and effort:
"General Forbes is please to name the different Posts as follows & all Officers serving in the Army are desired to give them their several appelations either in Writing or otherwise;
Late Fort Duquesne = Pittsburgh
Loyal Hannon = Fort Ligonier
Ray's Town = Fort Bedford "
Source:
Page 179, The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania, 1758: A Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne: by Douglas R. Cubbison. More on this author here. And a review here.
The letters by all the top officers --
all refer to Reastown (Raystown) and to Loyalhanna -- not Fort Bedford, not Fort Ligonier until after the French abandoned Fort Duquesne
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But why were Ligonier and Bedford's names picked by Forbes?
Forbes relations to Ligonier
Forbes was deputy quartermaster and a Lt Colonel for Ligonier's cavalry in the previous war. Then he was Adjustant General for Lord Loudoun in NYC.
Who was Ligonier?
Ligonier was top dog in this war. He was the Commander in Chief of all worldwide forces. He took over that title from the Duke of Cumberland after he was shamed by his father, King George II. the Duke of Cumberland who still adorns the name of Cumberland and its fort in Maryland. Ligonier's name was used for a slave ship too, made famous by Alex Haley's Roots novel 1976 and series 1977.
"Forbes had been one of Ligonier's staff officers and an intimate of his in Europe during the War of the Austrian Succession. As a Lieutenant Colonel, Forbes had played an active role, and had ridden with Ligonier at the head of the renowned charges of the British Cavalry at the Battle of Laffeldt on July 2, 1747. At that engagement Ligonier had led tow glorious cavalry charges, the first consisting of an assault of sixty squadrons of British cavalry against over twice the number of French cavalry squadrons, absolutely routing them. Later in the day, these same cavalry squadrons, still under Ligonier's command, successfully covered the withdrawal of the British army at great sacrifice. Ligonier felt comfortable appointing a fellow officer who had demonstrated such great courage on that battlefield under his own eye, and with whom he had served closely with under such adverse conditions. On March 14, 1758, General Abercomby formally informed Forbes of his appointment, promoted him to the ran of brigadier general while on service in North America . . . " Those orders were decided at the end of December 1757 by William Pitt in consultation with Ligonier. It took a few month to cross the Atlantic and then be carried out.
Page 8
Forbes was involved in the Battle of Dettingen 16 June 1743.
"This engagement was notable because it was the last field of battle in English history in which the army was personally led by monarch, King George II. " King George II is still living through this Forbes Expedtion in 1758. King George II dies two years later 25 October 1760.
Page 9
The British Defeat of the French in Pennsylvania, 1758: A Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne: by Douglas R. Cubbison. More on this author here. And a review here.
Forbes relation to Bedford?
We don't know what Forbes' personal connection was to Bedford.
Who was Bedford?
He was an ally of Lord Bute who helped Lord Bute forge the Paris Treaty of 1763 ending this worldwide war.
John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, was a powerful man, high up in the top leadership.
Was Forbes connected personally to one of these men of the Bedford Whigs?
"Notable members included John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich; Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower; Richard Rigby, who served as principal Commons manager for the group; Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth; Edward Thurlow; and George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough."
THE PITTSBURGH NAME
Before Forbes decree of 1 Dec 1758
of changing the names of
Loyalhanna,
Raystown,
Forbes changed his reference to
Fort Duquesne
to honor William Pitt.
Actually, the name of Pitt
was first applied to the fort and camp at Loyalhanna.
But then after the fall of the French Fort Duquesne,
Forbes and other officers
start referring to the ruins of Fort Duquesne
as Pittsburgh,
with various spellings,
before the 1 Dec 1758 decree.
Washington's letters
Colonel George Washington writes a letter datelined Pittsburgh 28 Nov 1758. Forbes Just the day before GW datelines his letter [Camp at Fort Duquesne, 28 November 1758]
TIMETABLE
(still under construction)
Reas Town or Raystown
Colonel Henry Bouquet datelined his 27 June 1758 letter Reas Town.
Founders Online notes:
Bouquet arrived at Raystown from the camp at Juniata on 24 May [1758] with a regiment of Pennsylvanians and the six companies under Lt. Col. Adam Stephen of the 1st Virginia Regiment.
For a description of the camp that Bouquet built at Raystown, see James Glen to GW, 19 July 1758. See Source.
So was there a fort at Reas Town?
See former SC Governor James Glenn's 19 July 1758 letter describing what he called Rea Town or Bouquetsburgh !!!
The beauty, regularity, and cleanliness of this camp will charm you. It is slightly fortified with a parapet of wicker work, extreamly neat, rammed full of earth taken out of a Small ditch on the outside and (which is surprizing) it was begun and finished in one day, altho’ it be near 400 feet square, with small bastions in the middle of each side, and no interruption of the other Camp duty; There are at present 1500 Men in it, but it is capable of containing 4000 by placing the Tents nearer, which are all so disposed, that in case of an alarm every man who stepps out of his Tent finds himself at his post. There are also Forts, Redouts, Raselins, Magazines &c. &c. and all this without one farthing expence (except about nine pence per day to the best house Carpenters) such wonders does the admirable Bouquet work in the Wilderness.
Ligonier was named Commander in Chief of all British Empire forces after Lord Cumberland fell to disgrace. See Cumberland's story of disgrace here.
Bouquet's travel dates:
Conococheague 13 June 1758 letter
Carlisle 13 June 1758 letter
Reas Town 27 June 1758 letter
Raystown 3 August 1758
This is the first letter Bouquet changed his spelling from Reas Town to Raystown
Camp near Reas Town 4 August 1758
Other References to names
Big Fort Loudoun letter from Lt Charles Smith
Fort Loudoun Septr 7th 1758
Adam Stephen problem with St John Clair, Quartermaster
Camp on Loyal Hannon [Pa.] Septr 9th 1758
. . . as Likewise for his particular regard for having us at Work rather [than] any other troop. His fondness in this respect, with his daring to Call us Mutineers; occasiond a difference betwixt us which at present lies under the determination of Genl Forbes, Upon Whom Sr John Waits, all the Way from Lawrel hill, to give his reasons for his behaviour1
1. For an account of the conflict between Stephen and St. Clair, see William Ramsay to GW, 3 Sept., n.2.
Fort Pearsall the 9. of Setber 1758
Sergeant Wilper’s “A Return of the Invallits under My Comd at Fort Pearsall, September the ⟨mutilated⟩ 1758” reports at Pearsal’s one sergeant and fourteen men from the two Virginia regiments. Wilper noted that the return “In Cludet me Selfs and one Corpl of Capt. [John] McNiel’s Compy” (DLC:GW).
Sept 12
GW could not have received this letter before Chew’s brother Colby Chew was killed in Maj. James Grant’s engagement near Fort Duquesne on 14 September.
Rays Town Camp Septr 12th 1758
The Enemy has scalp’d one Highlander & Captivated one Virginian & one Shamokin, about five Miles from Lowal Hannan Major Grant with 1000 Virgs. Highlanders and Royal Americans are gon to Fort Du Quesne.
he General I beleive yet at Loudoun very ill & Weak, some say worse than ever, tho. Capt. Cameron who kindly call’d just now to say how do you, says, he is expected tomorrow. This Gentn with the rest, has the highest Idea of your kind entertainment & manner of living.
Founders Online Footnote on that letter:
The Pennsylvania chaplain Andrew Bey wrote in his diary on Monday, 11 Sept.: “Having spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday very agreeably at this place [GW’s camp near Fort Cumberland], I preached at 7 o’clock on Sunday morning by desire of Colo. Washington, from Nehemiah 4:14, and about 9 o’clock set out for Raystown with my worthy friend Capt. [Allan] Cameron, where we arrived about 7 that evening” (Walkinshaw, Annals of Southwestern Pennsylvania, 1:224). Cameron commanded one of the three Additional Companies of Lt. Col. Archibald Montgomery’s 1st Highland Battalion (77th Regiment of Foot). See GW to John Stanwix, 10 April 1758, n.3.
Camp on Loyal Hannon Sepr 14th 1758
Adam Stephen thinks Fort Michault (what the British call Venango) and Fort LeBoeuf have been deserted. But that won't happen until after Fort Niagara falls.
14 Sept 1758 Forbes left Juniata Crossing to arrive at Raystown
General Forbes arrived Yesterday at Juniata Crossing, and is looked for here by twelve OClock; It is but this minute I understood he had left Fort Loudoun; Juniata Crossing was one of the stopping places between Fort Loudoun, Pa., and Raystown on Bouquet’s road.
Forbes finally made it to Raystown on the night of 15 Sept., and GW was there the next night.
Camp at the East Side of Lawrell Hill, 1 Nov 1758
GW to Bouquet Camp West of bushy Run 17 9ber [November]
Upon his arrival at Loyalhanna in early November, Forbes gave the post the name Pittsburgh but renamed it Fort Ligonier after Fort Duquesne fell.
Compiled and authored by Jim Moyer 9/4/2022 still in progress, updating more today, 9/5/22, 9/6/22. 11/8/23
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Research Links:
1758: A Military History of the Forbes Campaign Against Fort Duquesne: by Douglas R. Cubbison. More on this author here.
See review of this book here:
Source of map picture:
Scroll thru pictures at bottom of link.
At Reas Town 24 May 1758
HISTORIC HIGHWAYS OF AMERICA, VOLUME 5, The Old Glade (Forbes’s) Road, (PENNSYLVANIA STATE ROAD) by Archer Butler Hulbert With Maps and Illustrations, THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY CLEVELAND, OHIO 1903, [Pg 4] COPYRIGHT, 1903 BY The Arthur H. Clark Company
Cumberland
King George II
Former SC Gov James Glen, cousin to Forbes
ORDERLY BOOK I OF COLONEL HENRY BOUQUET'S EXPEDITION AGAINST THE OHIO INDIANS, 1764 (CARLISLE TO FORT PITT) Edited byEdward G.Williams Part Three
General Forbes' route on the march against Fort Du Quesne, 1758 : this map is a copy of the original map, "General Forbes' marching jurnal [sic] to the Ohio J. Potts" in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
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Letters of General John Forbes relating to the expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1758 - Penn State Press Metalmark Books - Penn State University Libraries' Digital Collections
Forbes expedition Archives - Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine
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Letters
To George Washington from Henry Bouquet, 4 September 1758
From Henry Bouquet Reas Town Camp 4th September 1758 Dear Sir
I detained your Express1 in Expectation of receiving a Letter from the General which is just come to hand, he Sets out to day, and orders me to go to our advanced Post, where there is Some appearance of an attack, and as Soon as their Intrenchm⟨ts⟩ are raised, and the necessary dispositions made for the Communication I am to return here: It Seems by his Intelligences that the French expects a large body of Indians from beyond the Lakes, and as it is not in their Power to Keep them long, he judges that they could be prevailed upon to make a Push at our Head. He desires me to inform you that the Militia of Maryland and Governor Sharpe himself will be the 10th at Cumberland, where you will leave no Body who is able to go upon the Expedition⟨.⟩2 That Militia is to be victualled, and to have Some Liquor. As we have no accomodation here for your Sick, You will leave them in the Fort, where I Shall Send a Surgeon and Medecines wth furnitures of the General Hospital, Please to let me Know their Number: and to order a Sufficient number of Women to attend them as Nurses, they will be paid. I can not fix the day of your march as it depends on two things out of my Power, The arrival of the General and a Sufficient Number of Waggons, to Send you from here Provisions, Tools Liquor &ca. I am Sensible that your March would be more Expeditious had you only carrying Horses, but we have no Keggs for Pork nor Boxes for the Tools, therefore you must have at least 28 Waggons which will be choosen among the best, They will not make a long line. Your march will be covered by our advanced Post and 300 of the best Woodsmen, and the Indians who are marched to day under Comand of Lt Col. Dagworthy, and are to be advanced nearer to the fort, Keeping continually Spyes and little Party’s about it to give Intelligence of the Ennemys motions; When you are upon your March, I will propose to the General to ⟨S⟩end 500 men from our Deposite to take Post at the Salt Like, and help you to fortify your Camp.3 I hear that the most dangerous Place for an attack upon you Would be from Read Stone Creek, as the Ennemy has boats and could go up Mononghehela, It would therefore not be improper to have that Side reconnoitred before you march by, and as it is at a great distance of the Roads you would have time to make the necessary dispositions, and prevent a Surprise the only thing I am in fear of with our new Soldiers.4 Here is the Calculation I make for your Ammunition, and Provisions. 20 Rounds carried by Each man, and 80 in Reserve will require 24 Barrills of Powder in2Waggons53 Boxes of Muskett Balls [and] Flints4doTools2doLiquor and Salt2do20,000 lbs. Pork for 4 Weeks16doRice1do42,000 lbs. of flour210horses50 Heads of CattleI make the Computation for 1000 Effective, including the Waggoners, Drivers, &ca, and I ⟨propose⟩ 4 Weeks of Pork, as I think live Cattle a very precarious5 thing. If I have omitted any article I beg you will let me know it We are entirely Stopped for Want of Waggons, and if it is possible to get any in Virga and Maryland, they would be of infinite Service; We have a considerable quantity of forrage on the so. Branches which they could carry to Cumberd. I am very Sorry of Col. Byrd’s Indisposition, I hope he will be able to march wth his Regt. My best Wishes attends him. I desired Col. Mercer who will have the Comand here to inform you of the General’s arrival.6 I am wth a Sincere Regard Dear Sir Your most Obedient hble Servant Henry Bouquet ALS, DLC:GW; copy in Bouquet’s hand and signed by him, British Museum, Add. MSS 21641 (Bouquet Papers). 1. GW’s express took GW’s letter of 2 Sept. to Bouquet, to which this letter from Bouquet is a response. 2. Forbes’s letter to Bouquet, dated 2 Sept., includes the injunction: “Be so good as write to Coll Washington & Byrd and acquaint them of my project for bringing all they can from Fort Cumberland of their troops” (Stevens, Bouquet Papers, 2:460–63). Two days later, after receiving Bouquet’s letter of 31 Aug. suggesting that it was “time to Strike, before a Reinforcemt can join them,” Forbes wrote Bouquet again, saying: “I agree with you that a Disposition ought to be made for marching forward. But still that must be consider’d, as likewise the march of the Virginians as I am affraid our Army will not admitt of Divisions least one half meet with a Cheque. therefore would consult C: Washington, altho perhaps not follow his advice, as his Behaviour about the roads, was no ways like a Soldier” (ibid., 449–52, 477–78). Bouquet left Raystown for Loyalhanna on the next day, 5 September. 3. At this time Bouquet still expected GW to advance along the Braddock Road to the salt lick and from there make a conjunction with the rest of the army as it opened up a road beyond Loyalhanna. GW and William Byrd did not leave their camp at Fort Cumberland, for Raystown, until 21 Sept. (see Bouquet to GW, 30 Aug., n.2). John Dagworthy and his party built a camp across Chestnut Ridge, about nine miles beyond Loyalhanna, but it was abandoned after Maj. James Grant’s defeat near Fort Duquesne on 14 September. 4. At a camp at the salt lick GW would have been about ten miles from Youghiogheny River at its nearest point, and the Monongahela River runs about five miles west of that. 5. The copy in the British Museum has “Pernicious.” 6. Hugh Mercer (d. 1777) was colonel commandant of the 3d Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment. See GW to Mercer, 9 September.
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Orderly Book, 21 September 1758
Orderly Book [21 September 1758] Camp at Reas Town Thursday Septr 21st 1758 G. O. Parole Cork B. O.1 Each Regimt to mount its own Qr Guard.2 1 C[apt.] 2 S[ubalterns] 3 S[gts.] 1 C[orporal] & 50 Rank & file, to Mount it. as a Picquet to be composed by detachmts in proportion to the Strength of the 2 Regimts an Officer of each Company of both Regimts to see their rolls call’d every morning at Reveille beating. A Return of each Regimt signed by the Commanding Officer to be given in every morning Precisly at 10 O’Clock, this order to be punctually Complied with. The Qr mastr of each Regimt tomorrow morning to have Houses of Office’s errected at proper places & any who will be discovered easing themselves any where else shall be severely punished, They are also to see the whole Incampmt sweept very clean & constantly kept so, after tonight no Horses will be suffered to be picquited within the breast Work. D, DLC:GW. 1. GW’s brigade orders (B. O.), which immediately follow Forbes’s general order (G. O.) naming the parole for the day, were directed to the Virginia troops newly arrived at Raystown. These included eight companies of Col. William Byrd’s 2d Virginia Regiment and four of GW’s 1st Virginia Regiment. Two companies of artificers in the 2d Virginia Regiment and six companies of GW’s regiment (see Adam Stephen to GW, 9 Sept. 1758, n.3) were with Bouquet at Loyalhanna. On 16 Sept. a return of GW’s four companies at Fort Cumberland, commanded by captains Thomas Waggener, John McNeill, Henry Woodward, and Robert McKenzie, reported a total of 295 soldiers, of whom 155 were fit for duty and 100 were “On Comm[an]d” (DLC:GW). Besides the 4 captains and 295 soldiers, there were in the four companies 4 lieutenants, 4 ensigns, 13 sergeants, and 7 drummers, as well as four staff men: a chaplain, an adjutant, a quartermaster, and a surgeon. The return of the men of Byrd’s regiment of the same date (ibid.) reports that out of a total of 657 soldiers 367 were present and fit for duty. The eight companies were commanded by Colonel Byrd, Lt. Col. George Mercer, Maj. William Peachey, and captains Thomas Cocke, Hancock Eustace, Thomas Fleming, John Rootes, and Samuel Meredith. Eleven of the fit soldiers and 13 of the total were from either Capt. John Field’s or John Posey’s company of artificers, both of which were with Adam Stephen at Loyalhanna. 2. The quarter guard was supposed to be stationed eighty paces in front of the center of each regiment’s encampment.
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Blanket Coats
capote
To George Washington from Adam Stephen, 13 September 1758
From Adam Stephen Camp on Loyal Hannon Sepr 13th 1758 Sir, We have fortifyd this place, & taken post ten miles to the westward on Kishiminatos, about forty miles from Fort du Quesne1—In obedience to Col. Bouquets Commands I wrote you by serjt Poynes to send up the mens Cloathing, but humbly Conceive, that Blanket Coats would suit Better than any that can be got for your Regement.2 You will be so good as to excuse me for not being Particular about our Situation & designs, as I cannot depend on your geting Letters that I write—Some of great importance wrote by others, have fallen into the hands of the Enemy. I offer my Compliments to the Gentlemen with You and am with respect Sir Your most Obt hube St Adam Stephen ALS, DLC:GW. 1. Loyalhanna Creek joins the Conemaugh River to form Kiskiminetas River which in turn flows into the Allegheny River. 2. See Stephen to GW, 9 September. Sergeant Poynes, or Poyne, may have been GW’s clerk. See editorial note to Orderly Book, 21 Sept. 1758.
Forbes
General Forbes' Letter to William Pitt
Pittsbourgh. 27th Novemr. 1758. Sir,
I do myself the Honour of acquainting you that it has pleased God to crown His Majesty's Arms with Success over all His Enemies upon the Ohio, by my having obliged the Enemy to burn and abandon Fort Du Quesne, which they effectuated on the 25th:, and of which I took possession next day, the Enemy having made their Escape down the River towards the Mississippi in their Boats, being abandoned by their Indians, whom I had previously engaged to leave them, and who now seem all willing and ready to implore His Majesty's most Gracious Protection. So give me leave to congratulate you upon 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.
It would be too tedious for a Letter to enter into the detail how this Affair has been brought to a conclusion, I have therefore thought it proper and necessary to send over to you Brigade Major Halkett whose serving with me all this Campaign, and knowing from whence Events arose will be able to give you a true & succinct Account of the whole Affair from the beginning. I beg to recommend that Gentleman to your Protection, whose Zeal and abilities in the Service have been particularly distinguished, not only in this but in every preceding Campaign from the beginning of the war in this Country, and whose Father Sr. Peter Halkett, lost his life at the Monongahela under Genl. Braddock.
I should have carried the troops up the River to the Lake Erie, and destroyed the French posts at Venango and Presque Isle, but the Season of the year, and the Scarcity of my Provisions, does by no Means admitt of it, this last inconveniance (being obliged to carry every bit of my Provisions for Man and horse for betwixt 3 & 400 Miles thro' almost impracticable roads and Mountains) renders it extreamly difficult for me to leave a sufficient Garrison here for the Protection of this Country, as all Manner of Communication with the inhabited parts of the provinces will be cut off during the Winter for at least four Months, notwithstanding that I have built Forts, and erected Posts at proper distances, to have kept the Communication open if possible.
Altho' that I have made frequent Applications not only to the Commander in Chief of His Majesty's Forces for his Orders, and instructions but likewise to the Governours of the adjacent colonies and Provinces for the Advice and Councill how I was to behave myself in case that I was so fortunate as to render myself Master of Fort Du Quesne, and the Country of the Ohio, yet I have never been favoured with any of the Sentiments upon that Subject, except in one letter from the Lieut Governr. of Virginia, wherein he tells me that his Assembly and Councill would not venture to give any opinion, but at the same time acquaints me that they had addressed him to recall their troops by the firs day of decemr., therefore having been left to act intirely from my own judgement hitherto, I must beg His Majesties Indulgence that He would be graciously pleased to attribute my faults or omissions that I may have made, to my want of greater abilities and not want of Zeal for His Majesty's Service, which I shall ever think my duty to exert to the utmost of my power. As thus you see Sir., that I am without advice or Orders, and that I very soon run a risque of being without troops if Pennsilvania recalled theirs as well as Virginia, I shall soon be greatly difficulted how to maintain our new conquest should the Enemy return, as I will have only 4 Companies of the Royal Americans and Colo. Montgomery's young Battalion to depend upon, both greatly impaired as to Numbers by their frequent skirmishes with the Enemy during the Campaign.
This far I had wrote at Fort Du Quesne upon the 27th: Novemr. since which time I have never, either been able to write, or capable to dictate a letter; but as General Amherst acquainted me that he had sent to you my letter with the Accounts of my taking the place, I was the less anxious of sending Major Halkett, but now dreading my silence may have some wrong construction put upon it when the true cause is unknown it will very well bear, I now send you the Major who must give you the best Accounts he can, untill I am able to write more circumstantially, which I hope will be by the first Packett, altho' my Physicians and all our Hospital People unanimously agree that I must go directly for England for to save my life, I must therefore beg it as the greatest favour that you will be so good as to move His Majesty to be graciously pleased to give me His leave of returning home as soon as I possibly can in order to re-establish my health, which at present renders me incapable of any service, or doing any duty whatever.
I must likewise take the boldness, to beg your Countenance & Protection with His Majesty of having me restored to my Rank which is one day antecedent to Genl: Amherst as Lieut. Colo..--Had I ever committed any fault, or been guilty of any misdeamenor in the Service, I should be now ashamed of making this Application to you, but the having so many people put over my head, without my being sensible of any faux pas committed, has made and still makes the deepest impression on my mind. If Lord Ligonier pleases to let you know the hardness of my case, I flatter myself with the protection and Service of Mr. Pitt, to restore me to Peace of mind.
I have used the freedom of giving your name to Fort Du Quesne, as I hope it was in some measure the being actuated by your spirits that now makes us Masters of the place. Nor could I help using the same freedom in the naming of two other Forts that I built (Plans of which I send you) the one Fort Ligonier & the other Bedford. I hope the name Fathers will take them under their Protection, In which case these dreary deserts will soon be the richest and most fertile of any possest by the British in No. America. I have the honour to be with great regard and Esteem Sir, Your most obedt.. & most humble. servt.
Jo: Forbes. Philadelphia. 21st. January 1759.
From Letters of General John Forbes relating to the Expedition Against Fort Duquesne in 1758, Compiled by Irene Stewart for the Allegheny County Committee of the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Pittsburgh: Allegheny County Committee, 1927.
"The other burgs don't have that." -- Overheard at Penn Brewery, North Side, 16 March 1998.Pittsburgh has been spelled with an h officially and historically since its founding in 1758--except for the period between 1890 and 1911. General John Forbes named the city in honor of William Pitt, the Elder. The letter to Pitt states in part: "Pittsbourgh. 27th Novemr. 1758. ...I have used the freedom of giving your name to Fort Du Quesne, as I hope it was in some measure the being actuated by your spirits that now makes us Masters of the place..." burgh and bourgh, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, are variants of "borough" -- obsolete in ordinary English use since the 17th Century but continued in Scotland. (For example, Edinburgh.) General Forbes was a Scot and would have used this form, probably pronouncing it "Pitts-burro," just as Edinburgh is pronounced "Edin-burro." Acts of the Legislature, 22 April 1794, incorporating Pittsburgh as a town, and 5 March 1804, incorporating Pittsburgh as a borough, used the h. Pittsburgh was incorporated as a city by an Act of 18 March 1816. Through a printer's error, the h was omitted from the printed copy, but the original charter included it. (This original was burned in the Court House fire of 1882.) Through the 19th century, in directories and newspapers, an occasional use of Pittsburg will be found, but the predominant usage was Pittsburgh. Municipal documents always used the latter spelling. In 1890, the United States Board on Geographic Names decided that the final h was to be dropped in the names of all cities and towns ending in burgh. (Throughout the period 1890-1911 city ordinances and council minutes retained the h.) In 1911, after protest from citizens who wished to preserve the historic spelling, the United States Board on Geographic Names reversed its decision and restored the h to Pittsburgh. Compiled by the Pennsylvania Department.
Documentation &tc. Letter of General John Forbes to William Pitt, 27 November 1758 An ACT to erect the town of Pittsburgh... An ACT to alter an act, entitled "An act to erect the town of Pittsburgh..." An ACT to incorporate the city of Pittsburg. "How to Spell Pittsburgh" -- The Chamber of Commerce of Pittsburgh "Policy of the Board", United States Board on Geographic Names (Excerpt) Letter to Senator George T. Oliver from the United States Geographic Board "I Have Called the Place Pittsburgh" -- George T. Fleming Pittsburgh / Diondega -- George P. Donehoo "All May Assist Nation-Wide Campaign" -- How to Spell Pittsburgh The Other Pittsburgs For Further Reading
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