Appendix H - Historical Archaeological and ... - CBP.gov

in 1759 (Waddell and Bomberger, 1996:1-9; Smith, 2008; Tooker, 1978:432-434; Davis,
1986:206).
Frontier
The focus of attention of the French and Indian War was the Ohio Valley. While British land
speculators were promoting the Ohio Valley, settlers in western Pennsylvania were subject to
attacks from native allies of the French. In 1754, Major George Washington was sent to meet
the French at Fort Le Boeuf to inform them of Virginia’s interest in this land, and was rebuffed,
resulting in an exchange of gunfire, and the erection of the short-lived Fort Necessity (Tindall,
1988:167-168). After a long march from Philadelphia, British troops under the command of
General John Forbes frightened the French into deserting and burning Fort Duquesne. After a
siege, British troops captured Fort Niagara in July 1759 and the French abandoned their outposts
in western Pennsylvania. The British erected Fort Pitt on the ruins of Fort Duquesne (Tindall,
1988:172; Tooker, 1978:433; Department of General Services, 2009:1-13).
After the French defeat and their loss of North American colonies, some of the western Seneca,
remaining loyal to the French, joined Pontiac's Rebellion (1763-1764), harrying English-
American settlers in the upper Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley. Pontiac’s forces attacked and
took British-occupied Fort Venago, Fort Le Boeuf, and Fort Presqu’isle. In an attempt to quell
the rebellion, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which created a line along
the crest of the Appalachian Mountains beyond which settlement was forbidden (Waddell and
Bomberger, 1996:57-60; Tindall, 1988:182-184). In the first Treaty of Stanwix in 1768, the
Haudenosaunee relinquished their land in central Pennsylvania to the British.
Northern Border Activities H-87 July 2012