hope it was in some measure the being actuated by your spirits that
now makes us Masters of the place.... 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 obed't. & most hum'le. serv't.

JO: FORBES.

[Footnote A: Local controversialists should note that the man who named
the city spelt it with the final h.]

VIII

As a place of urgent shelter the English proceeded to build a new fort
about two hundred yards from the site of Fort Duquesne, which is
traditionally known as the first Fort Pitt, and was probably so called
by the garrison, although the letters written from there during the next
few months refer to it as "the camp at Pittsburgh." This stronghold cut
off French transportation to the Mississippi by way of the Ohio River,
and the only remaining route, by way of the Great Lakes, was soon
afterward closed by the fall of Fort Niagara. The fall of Quebec, with
the death of the two opposing generals, Montcalm and Wolfe, and the
capture of Montreal, ended the claims of France to sovereignty in the
new world.

[Illustration: Plan of Fort Pitt]

The new fort being found too small, General Stanwix built a second Fort
Pitt, much larger and stronger, designed for a garrison of one thousand
men. The Indians viewed the new-comers with suspicion, but Colonel
Henry Bouquet assured them, with diplomatic tergiversation, that, "We
have not come here to take possession of your country in a hostile
manner, as the French did when they came among you, but to open a
large and extensive trade with you and all other nations of Indians to
the westward." A redoubt (the "Blockhouse"), built by Colonel Bouquet in
1764, still stands, in a very good state of preservation, being cared
for by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The protection of the
garrison naturally attracted a few traders, merchants, and pioneers to
Pittsburgh, and a permanent population began to grow.

[Illustration: Henry Bouquet]

[Illustration: Block House of Fort Pitt. Built in 1764]

But the indigenous race continued to resent the extension of white
encroachment; and they formed a secret confederacy under Pontiac, the
renowned Ottawa chief, who planned a simultaneous attack on all the
white frontier posts. This uprising was attended by atrocious cruelties
at many of the points attacked,