History of Colonel Henry Bouquet and the Western Frontiers of Pennsylvania 1747-1764

Pittsburgh: Privately Printed [Mary Carson Darlington], 1920. Limited Edition (one of only 600 printed). Hardcover. [18], 224 pages. Frontispiece. Illustrations. Maps. Index. Cover worn, soiled and stained. Fore edge stained. Top edge gilt. Of this book six hundred copies had been printed from time and the type distributed. Several years after the publication of "Fort Pitt and Letters from the Fronties"--1984--by Mrs. Mary C. Darlington this book was prepared but for various reasons was not published until 1920. Mrs. Darlington died June 18th, 1915. Henry Bouquet (born Henri Louis Bouquet; 1719 – 2 September 1765) was a Swiss mercenary who rose to prominence in British service during the French and Indian War and Pontiac's War. He is best known for his victory over a Native American force at the Battle of Bushy Run, lifting the siege of Fort Pitt during Pontiac's War. Historians have praised Bouquet for leading British forces in several demanding campaigns on the Western Frontier in which they "protected and rescued" settlers from increasingly frequent attacks. He entered the British Army in 1754 as a lieutenant colonel in the 60th Regiment of Foot (The Royal American Regiment), a unit made up largely of members of Pennsylvania's German immigrant community. After leading the Royal Americans to Charleston, South Carolina to bolster that city's defenses, the regiment was recalled to Philadelphia to take part in General John Forbes' expedition against Fort Duquesne in 1758. While Bouquet traveled down the road from Fort Bedford, his troops were attacked by French and Indians at Loyalhanna, near present Ligonier, Pennsylvania, but the attack was repulsed and they continued on to Fort Duquesne, only to find it razed by the fleeing French. In 1763, bands of Native Americans joined forces to remove the British from their territory in what is most often called Pontiac's War. Pontiac, an Ottawa war leader, began urging the Indian tribes that had been allied to the French during the French and Indian War to join together to continue the fight to remove the British from the territory. Pontiac initiated attacks on the westernmost frontier forts and settlements, believing the defeated French would rally and come to their aid. The start of the conflict is usually described as the siege of Fort Detroit on 10 May 1763. Fort Sandusky, Fort Michilimackinac, Fort Presque Isle, and numerous other frontier outposts were quickly overrun. Bouquet, who was in Philadelphia, threw together a hastily organized force of 500 men, mostly Scots Highlanders, to relieve the forts. On 5 August 1763, Bouquet and the relief column were attacked by warriors from the Delaware, Mingo, Shawnee, and Wyandot tribes near a small outpost called Bushy Run, in what is now Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. In a two-day battle, Bouquet defeated the tribes and Fort Pitt was relieved. The battle marked a turning point in the war. By the autumn of 1764, Bouquet had become the commander of Fort Pitt. To subdue the ongoing Indian uprising, he led a force of nearly 1,500 militiamen and regular British soldiers from the fort into the Ohio Country. On 13 October 1764, Bouquet's men reached the Tuscarawas River. Shortly thereafter, representatives from the Shawnees, Senecas, and Delawares came to Bouquet to sue for peace. Bouquet then moved his men from the Tuscarawas River to the Muskingum River at modern-day Coshocton, Ohio. This placed him in the heart of tribal lands and would allow him to quickly strike the natives' villages if they refused to cooperate. As part of the peace treaty, Bouquet demanded the return of all white captives in exchange for a promise not to destroy the Indian villages or seize any of their land. The return of the captives caused much bitterness among the tribesmen, because many of them had been forcibly adopted into Indian families as small children, and living among the Native Americans had been the only life they remembered. Some 'white Indians' such as Rhoda Boyd managed to escape back into the native villages; many others were never exchanged. Bouquet was responsible for the return more than 200 white captives to the settlements back east. In 1765, Bouquet was promoted to brigadier general and placed in command of all British forces in the southern colonies. Condition: Fair / No DJ present.

Keywords: Henry Bouquet, Fort Du Quesne, Fort Duquesne, George Croghan, Thomas Pownall, Edward Braddock, Fort Pitt, Loyalists, Logstown, Fort Ligonier, Edward Ward, William Shirley

[Book #84858]

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