but we may take note here of the
movement only as it affected Pittsburgh. At the grand council held by
the tribes, a bundle of sticks had been given to every tribe, each
bundle containing as many sticks as there were days intervening before
the deadly assault should begin. One stick was to be drawn from the
bundle every day until but one remained, which was to signal the
outbreak for that day. This was the best calendar the barbarian mind
could devise. At Pittsburgh, a Delaware squaw who was friendly to the
whites had stealthily taken out three of the sticks, thus precipitating
the attack on Fort Pitt three days in advance of the time appointed.

The last stick was reached on June 22, 1763, and the Delawares and
Shawanese began the assault in the afternoon, under Simon Ecuyer. The
people of Pittsburgh took shelter in the fort, and held out while
waiting for reinforcements. Colonel Bouquet hurried forward a force of
five hundred men, but they were intercepted at Bushy Run, where a bloody
battle was fought. Bouquet had fifty men killed and sixty wounded, but
inflicted a much greater loss on his savage foes and gained the fort,
relieving the siege. As soon as Bouquet could recruit his command, he
moved down the Ohio, attacked the Indians, liberated some of their
prisoners, and taught the red men to respect the power that controlled
at Pittsburgh.

In 1768 the Indians ceded their lands about Pittsburgh to the Colonies,
and civilization was then free to spread over them. In 1774 a land
office was opened in Pittsburgh by Governor Dunmore, and land warrants
were granted on payment of two shillings and six pence purchase money,
at the rate of ten pounds per one hundred acres.

IX

Washington made his last visit to Pittsburgh in October, 1770, when, on
his way to the Kanawha River, he stopped here for several days, and
lodged with Samuel Semple, the first innkeeper, whose hostelry stood,
and still stands, at the corner of Water and Ferry Streets. This house
was later known as the Virginian Hotel, and for many years furnished
entertainment to those early travelers. The building, erected in 1764 by
Colonel George Morgan, is now nearly one hundred and forty years old,
and is still devoted to public hospitality, but the character of its
patronage has changed from George Washington to the deck roysterers who
lodge there between their trips on the river packets. At the time of
Washington's visit the lower story of the house was