Improvement Era, Vol. 11

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Excerpt from Improvement Era, Vol. 11: Organ of the Seventies and the Young Mens Mutual Improvement Associations, February, 1908 It was during the great Indian uprising, planned by Pontiac, the noted chief of the Ottawas, that Colonel Bouquet, marching under orders from General Amherst, reached Fort Pitt and relieved it from the five days attack made upon it by a large force of In dians. The attack upon the little garrison - numbering but three hundred and thirty men -was most determined. The Indians ap proached the fort on the night of the 27th of July, 1764, crawling under the banks of the two rivers, the Monongahela and Allegheny, digging holes with their knives, in which they were completely sheltered from the fire of the fort. On one side, says a reli able description of the circumstance, the entire bank was lined with these burrows, from which the Indians shot volleys of bullets, arrows and fire-arrows into the fort. The yelling was terrific, and the women and children in the crowded barracks clung to each other in abject terror. This attack lasted five days. On the lst of August the Indians heard the rumor of Colonel Bouquet's ap proach, which caused them to move on, and so the tired garrison was relieved. On the 6th of August, Bouquet encountered the Indians at Bushy Run, about twenty-five miles east of Fort Pitt. The battle raged for two days, but the English ofiicer won a complete victory: though he lost eight officers and one hundred and fifteen men. On the l0th of August he arrived at Fort Pitt, but his force was not sufficient to warrant his pursuit of the savages further into the west at that time. It was during his stay at Fort Pitt, after his rescue of it, that he erected the Block House in question. The Colonel observed that the moat which surrounded the fortifications was perfectly dry when the rivers were low, so that the Indians could crawl up the ditch and shoot any guard or soldier who might show his head above the parapet. It was to prevent this that Colonel Bouquet ordered the Block House erected. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.