A Visit to Fort Ligonier, Ligonier PA

 Fort Ligonier is a British fortification from the French and Indian War located in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, United States. The fort served as a staging area for the Forbes Expedition of 1758. During the eight years of its existence as a garrison, Fort Ligonier was never taken by an enemy. It served as a post of passage to the new Fort Pitt, and during Pontiac's War of 1763, was a vital link in the British communication and supply lines. It was attacked twice and besieged by the Native Americans, prior to the decisive victory at Bushy Run in August of that year. The fort was decommissioned from active service in 1766. Today, there is a museum next to the reconstructed fort. Inside the museum there are artifacts from the battle. An individual can take a guided tour of the fort, and on Fort Ligonier Days, the fort's cannons are fired.

The Prussians

 On November 11, 1758, Brigadier General John Forbes convened a council of war at his headquarters in Fort Ligonier, about 40 miles east of the French stronghold of Fort Duquesne. His staff represented a distinguished collection of experienced and battle-hardened colonels. Sir John St. Clair, his deputy quartermaster general, was a veteran of Major General Edward Braddock’s ill-starred expedition to take Fort Duquesne in 1755. Swiss-born Henry Bouquet of the 60th Regiment of Foot (the Royal Americans) served as his second-in-command. Also present were Archibald Montgomery of the 77th Highland Regiment of Foot (Montgomery’s Highlanders); George Washington and William Byrd, commanding the two Virginia Regiments; and John Armstrong (the ‘Hero of Kittanning’), James Burd and Hugh Mercer of the Pennsylvania Regiment. With what was left of his 6,000-man army poised to strike at Fort Duquesne, and with winter about to trap his army in the Allegheny Mountains, Forbes had to decide whether to advance on the French fortress or to settle into winter quarters until the spring.

Rationally, the decision was an easy one. His troops, having struggled through the wilderness of central Pennsylvania, were poorly fed, sick and deserting in alarming numbers. Provisions were difficult to transport by way of the crude road cut through virgin forests and over the four wall-like ridges of the Alleghenies that lay between Ligonier and Forbes’ supply base in Carlisle; in winter they would be impossible to obtain. The number of hostile Indians encamped at Fort Duquesne was difficult to determine. Unclear, too, was the precise size of the French garrison. Moreover, even if the British and Americans reduced the fort, they were uncertain of holding it throughout the winter. In the laconic conclusion of Lt. Col. Bouquet, ‘The risks being so obviously greater than the advantages, there is no doubt as to the sole course that prudence dictates.’ Forbes and his officers agreed to delay the attack on Fort Duquesne until early the following year.

Within two weeks, however, the circumstances besetting Forbes’ army underwent so dramatic a change that his expedition would stand out, in the words of historian Lewis C. Walkinshaw, as ‘one of the greatest in American history.’ Appreciating this paradox may be counted among the essential challenges confronting scholars of the French and Indian War.

The Saddle Pistols come to Fort Ligonier with a very special pedigree, owned by three of the most significant figures in American history. The young Marquis de Lafayette purchased the pair in Europe and brought them to America when he volunteered to fight for the United States. During the American Revolution, Lafayette presented the pair to General George Washington, who all but adopted him as a son. Washington is believed to have carried them at Valley Forge, Monmouth, Yorktown, and during the Whiskey Rebellion when he was president. He cherished the pistols until his death in 1799. Later, the weapons were given to General Andrew Jackson, who called them “sacred and holy relics” and prized them throughout his presidency and bequeathed them back to the Lafayette family.

The guns were purchased at an auction by the Richard King Mellon Foundation, in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the French and Indian War and the critical role that Washington played in the history of the region and the nation.

French salute British Cannon Crews