ON THIS DAY: August 3, 1797, U.S. Army decommissions Fort Pitt
ByMatt Simmons, WPXI.com
ByMatt Simmons, WPXI.com
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Built by British forces during the French and Indian War, Fort Pitt was named by General John Forbes after William Pitt the Elder, a British statesman. It was an association that would eventually give the city both its name and coat of arms. The fort was abandoned in 1792 and officially decommissioned by the U.S. Army on August 3, 1797.
The confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers held great strategic importance from the moment it was discovered. Fort Prince George was the first attempt to militarize the point when construction began in January 1754. It was the brainchild of a young officer in the Virginia militia, George Washington, who had previously surveyed the area and nearly drowned crossing the Allegheny River. Construction of the British fort was interrupted when French forces seized the site and captured the force constructing it.
To bolster their claims to the Ohio Valley, French forces constructed a even larger fort at the point. They called it Fort Duquesne in honor of the Marquis de Duquesne, the new governor of New France. Fort Duquesne’s purported footprint remains marked in the lawn of Point State Park.
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Fort Pitt Block House Detroit Publishing Co., Copyright Claimant, and Publisher Detroit Publishing Co. Old block house, Pittsburgh, Pa. Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Pittsburgh. United States, ca. 1901. [?] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016808899/. (Library of Congress)
Fort Pitt Block House Old Fort Pitt. Pennsylvania Pittsburgh, ca. 1902. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2012645651/. (Library of Congress)
Fort Pitt Block House Keystone View Company. Block House of Fort Pitt, Pittsburgh, Penn'a. , ca. 1905. Sept 29. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018652490/. (Library of Congress)
Fort Pitt Block House Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Daughters Of The American Revolution, Henry Bouquet, John D Milner, and F Perez Canto H, Boucher, Jack E, photographer. Fort Pitt Blockhouse, 25 Penn Avenue, Point State Historic Park, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA. Allegheny County Pennsylvania Pittsburgh, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/pa0050/. (Library of Congress)
Fort Pitt Block House Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, Daughters Of The American Revolution, Henry Bouquet, John D Milner, and F Perez Canto H, Boucher, Jack E, photographer. Fort Pitt Blockhouse, 25 Penn Avenue, Point State Historic Park, Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA. Allegheny County Pennsylvania Pittsburgh, 1933. Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/pa0050/. (Library of Congress)
Fort Pitt Block House A view of the old Block House at the line of the Fort Pitt excavation. The Blockhouse, built in 1764, is a five-sided, two-story strong house built outside the walls of Fort Pitt. It is all that remains of the fort that protected the Ohio Valley from the British Crown. Located in Point State Park, it stands as the city’s oldest structure. Picture taken on January 14, 1942. (Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System)
Fort Pitt Block House Color post card from the 1950s showing both the interior and the exterior of the Fort Pitt Blockhouse, the last surviving building of the original fort and Pittsburgh's earliest building. It is also the oldest authenticated structure west of the Allegheny Mountains. Dating to 1764, it was used for many other purposes during its long history. Today, the restored blockhouse, which is administered by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), serves as a final link to the 18 acres that formed the first site of the city of Pittsburgh. Allegheny Mountains. Dating to 1764, it was used for many other purposes during its long history. Today, the restored blockhouse, which is administered by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), serves as a final link to the 18 acres that formed the first site of the city of Pittsburgh. (Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System)
Fort Pitt Block House Color post card from the 1950s showing both the interior and the exterior of the Fort Pitt Blockhouse, the last surviving building of the original fort and Pittsburgh's earliest building. It is also the oldest authenticated structure west of the Allegheny Mountains. Dating to 1764, it was used for many other purposes during its long history. Today, the restored blockhouse, which is administered by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), serves as a final link to the 18 acres that formed the first site of the city of Pittsburgh. Allegheny Mountains. Dating to 1764, it was used for many other purposes during its long history. Today, the restored blockhouse, which is administered by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), serves as a final link to the 18 acres that formed the first site of the city of Pittsburgh. (Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System)
Fort Pitt Model of Fort Pitt located in the Fort Pitt Museum.
Fort Pitt Model of Fort Pitt located in the Fort Pitt Museum.
Fort Pitt Model of Fort Pitt located in the Fort Pitt Museum.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Historical marker at site of Fort Pitt.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Following extensive archaeological excavations of the Point during construction of the park, the Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt Built in 1764, the five-sided two-story Fort Pitt Block House is the oldest building in Pittsburgh and sole original structure of Fort Pitt.
Fort Pitt Built in 1764, the five-sided two-story Fort Pitt Block House is the oldest building in Pittsburgh and sole original structure of Fort Pitt.
Fort Pitt, Fort Duquesne and Point State Park The Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park. The Block House, built in 1764, is the oldest building in Pittsburgh and sole original structure of Fort Pitt. It sits near the entrance to the museum. Fort Duquesne’s purported footprint can also be found marked in the large lawn of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt, Fort Duquesne and Point State Park The Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park. The Block House, built in 1764, is the oldest building in Pittsburgh and sole original structure of Fort Pitt. It sits near the entrance to the museum. Fort Duquesne’s purported footprint can also be found marked in the large lawn of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt, Fort Duquesne and Point State Park The Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park. The Block House, built in 1764, is the oldest building in Pittsburgh and sole original structure of Fort Pitt. It sits near the entrance to the museum. Fort Duquesne’s purported footprint can also be found marked in the large lawn of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt, Fort Duquesne and Point State Park The Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park. The Block House, built in 1764, is the oldest building in Pittsburgh and sole original structure of Fort Pitt. It sits near the entrance to the museum. Fort Duquesne’s purported footprint can also be found marked in the large lawn of Point State Park.
Fort Pitt, Fort Duquesne and Point State Park The Fort Pitt Museum opened in June 1969. The museum was built on the exact footprint of the Monongahela Bastion, part of the original foundations of Fort Pitt, to give visitors a sense of the size of the fort. Other bastions of the fort were filled in or traced with stone in the lawns of Point State Park. The Block House, built in 1764, is the oldest building in Pittsburgh and sole original structure of Fort Pitt. It sits near the entrance to the museum. Fort Duquesne’s purported footprint can also be found marked in the large lawn of Point State Park.
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham Hodges, C. H. , Engraver, and William Owen. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left / painted by W. Owen ; engraved by H.S. Goed. , 1799. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/99404582/. (Library of Congress)
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham Hoare, William, Ca. 1799, Artist, Publisher Detroit Publishing Co. William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. , None. [Cbetween 1900 and 1920] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016817217/. (Library of Congress)
William Pitt, Earl of Chatham The Right Hon.ble William Pitt, Earl of Chatham &c,&c,&c. , . [No Date Recorded on Shelflist Card] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2003674446/. (Library of Congress)
Today is 310th birthday of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham & Britain's Prime Minister. Also served as MP for Bath region alongside John Ligonier (who became Commander-in-Chief of the Forces under Pitt’s government). Pitt's coat-of-arms as Earl, from Fort Pitt Museum. #Pittsburghpic.twitter.com/Bg4SOraBs2
Over in England, William Pitt was serving as Secretary of State as the Seven Years’ War consumed five continents. Known as the French and Indian War in the American colonies, the conflict between England and France had spread from Washington’s first battle to consume the globe as the first worldwide war.
General John Forbes was dispatched to cut a road across Pennsylvania with Fort Duquesne as his prize. Washington again found himself commanding the Virginia militia, in his final service for the British Army, as they advanced the Forbes Expedition in the campaign westward. Despite his complaints about Forbes’ strategy, Washington was later credited with saving their forces from what could have been a devastating friendly-fire battle by riding his horse down the line and hitting the muskets of his men with his sword.
With the confluence of the rivers in their possession, the British immediately began construction of a new fort nearby. Determined to never lose control of the Point again, Forbes ordered a large and virtually impregnable fort to be built as a permanent installation. In the meantime, the troops garrisoned in a smaller shelter over the winter called Mercer’s Fort, named for their commander.
Did U know the British flag (Union Jack) is flown over the Fort Pitt Blockhouse on the 3rd of July every year? Brits built the place, 1764. pic.twitter.com/ZVVbg52JGF
The fort was tested in battle for the first time in 1763 during Pontiac’s Rebellion. Native Americans surrounded the fort in May and lay siege to the settlers and army within for three months. Though the details are disputed, many historians believe blankets from the fort’s smallpox hospital were deliberately traded to the besieging Native Americans in an attempted biological attack.
Colonel Henry Bouquet, a Swiss mercenary and veteran of the Forbes Expedition, was sent to break the siege. His forces defeated the Native Americans in the Battle of Bushy Run on August 5, 1763.
5 Aug 1763. Colonel Bouquet's column fights off an ambush, en route to relieve fort Pitt, during Pontiac's War. pic.twitter.com/eqtKcgPcCN
Before moving his army deep into Ohio, Bouquet ordered a number of redoubts constructed around the outer walls of Fort Pitt to reinforce it. Of these, only one remains, known as the Fort Pitt Block House. Built in 1764, the five-sided two-story structure is the oldest building in Pittsburgh and sole original structure of Fort Pitt.
The British abandoned Fort Pitt in 1772 in a move that, even at the time, seemed unusual given all that it took to build and secure it and the continuing threat of hostilities from nearby Native American tribes. Nonetheless, it was sold to two colonists for 50 pounds.
The Virginia militia, alerted to the newly vacated fort, arrived and claimed it for Virginia’s Governor Lord Dunmore. They renamed it Fort Dunmore and it became a staging ground for Dunmore’s War against the Native Americans.
Fort Pitt was soon again on the world stage as the Revolutionary War broke out. The loss of their Canadian colonies and international prestige following the Treaty of Paris in 1763, ending the French and Indian War, had not sat well with the French and they sought their revenge by siding with American patriots fighting for independence from England. For their part, the British rallied Native American tribes enraged by the encroaching colonists and episodes like Dunmore’s War and pushed them to instigate attacks on the western border, where Fort Pitt became the western headquarters for the American Continental Army.
The Treaty of Fort Pitt was signed at the fort in 1778, which allowed American troops to travel through the Delaware Nation’s tribal lands in their war against the British. It was the first written treaty between the new United States of America and any Native Americans and like many that came after, its terms were not honored by the new federal government.
After declaring independence, the U.S. signed its 1st formal treaty with an Indian tribe, the Delaware, at Fort Pitt on Sep. 17, 1778. The reverse design of this 2013 coin features a turkey, howling wolf and #turtle, all symbols of the clans of the Delaware Tribe. #WorldTurtleDaypic.twitter.com/wdVmOtH36d
After the war, Fort Pitt fell into disrepair and was abandoned. Pittsburghers scrounged the grounds for materials to build their homes. On August 3, 1797, the U.S. Army decommissioned the site and held an auction for area residents to salvage its remains.