Westmoreland County: Welcome to the Western Frontier

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Westmoreland County: Welcome to the Western Frontier Westmoreland County, estab­lished by the Provincial As­sembly with an act signed on February 26, 1773, by Lieut. Gov. Richard Penn, was the eleventh – and last – county created by the proprietary government. Taken from part of Bedford County and named for a remote county in En­gland, it has played many significant roles in the origin and development of both the Commonwealth and the...
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Forts at the Forks: Frontier History Comes to Life at the Fort Pitt Museum

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Forts at the Forks: Frontier History Comes to Life at the Fort Pitt Museum As the French moved south from Canada in the mid-eighteenth century, seeking new settlements in the vast Ohio Valley, Great Britain began to resist encroachment into regions its leaders long claimed. Taking action in 1753, Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie placed a letter into the hands of his young surveyor, George Washington, telling him to deliver it to the commander of Fort LeBoeuf (in...
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Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: North America’s Forgotten Conflict at Bushy Run Battlefield

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: North America’s Forgotten Conflict at Bushy Run Battlefield It was small enough – a piece of land in the Allegheny Mountain range, enfolded by dense woods of large oaks and chestnuts, rolling hills, swamps, and small creek beds. There, on Chestnut Ridge near an outpost called Bushy Run, Colonel Henry Bouquet, leading a relief expedition to the British stronghold at Fort Pitt, was attacked by Delaware, Mingoe, Shawnee, and Wyandot Indians on August...
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