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The preceding plan is a reduced copy of the draught made by the engineer Rutzer, in 1761, afterwards given to George III, and by George IV presented to the British Museum. From the original a copy was made for the Hon. Richard Biddle, of Pittsburg, during his visit to London in 1830. In the southeast bastion Mr. Rutzer places two magazines, marked d d. Within a few years past, a single stone magazine stood in that place, erected, it is said, by Major Isaac Craig, in 1781.

In 1764, Col. Bouquet built a redoubt outside the fort, on the spot marked *. This redoubt is still standing. Annexed is a view of it, as it

[graphic][subsumed][merged small]

now appears. In looking at the drawing, the reader should understand that the redoubt is merely the square building in front. It is situated north of Penn-street, about 46 feet west of Point-street, a few feet back from Brewery alley.

In the winter of 1783-4, before the town of Pittsburg was laid off, the agent of the Penns sold to Isaac Craig and Stephen Bayard, the piece of ground extending from the ditch of Fort Pitt to the Allegheny, supposed to be about three acres. This redoubt being on the outside of the ditch of the fort, passed to Craig and Bayard, and when the subsequent firm of Turnbull, Marmie & Co. was formed, it became partnership property. By this firm the addition to the old redoubt was built, in 1785, thus constituting a dwelling-house, which was occupied one year by Mr. Turnbull, and subsequently three years by the father of the writer of this, who, in 1787, was born in that building. * Another redoubt, precisely similar, had previously been erected by Col. Wm. Grant, on the bank of the Monongahela river, just opposite to the mouth of Redoubt alley.-Neville B. Craig, in the American Pioneer.

The following extracts from the introduction to Harris's Directory, bring the history of Pittsburg down to the commencement of the present century.

In 1763 an arrangement was made between the Shawanese and other tribes of Indians, along the lakes, and on the Ohio and its tributary streams, to attack, simultaneously, all the English posts and frontier settlements. In the execution of this plan, they captured Le Boeuf, Venango, Presqu'isle, Michilimackinac, and various other posts, which were feebly garrisoned, and mur.

dered all the prisoners. As a part of this great scheme of operations, Fort Pitt was completely surrounded by the Indians, who cut off all communication with the interior of the country, and greatly annoyed the garrison by an incessant discharge of musketry and arrows. The commanding officer, Capt. Ecuyer, and the garrison, (which was increased by the Indian traders, who had escaped massacre and taken refuge in the fort,) made a gallant defence.

Col. Henry Bouquet was detached from Carlisle to relieve the beleaguered posts, and after a Bevere conflict with the Indians, at Bushy run, he arrived at Fort Pitt on the 9th of Aug. 1763. In the action of the 5th Aug. 1763, the Indians were severely handled, several of their principal chiefs were killed, and they were so much dispirited that they immediately abandoned their operations against Fort Pitt, and retired to their towns on the Muskingum and further west. In Oct. 1764, Col. Bouquet marched on an expedition against the Indian towns on the Muskingum. He reached the Indian towns near the forks of that river, without opposition, and there dictated terms of peace to them.

[Col. Bouquet was subsequently promoted to be a Brigadier-general, and in 1766 died at Pensacola.]

It was during this year, 1764, probably after the treaty had removed all fear of the Indians, that the old military plan, being that portion of the city lying between Water-street and Second. street, and between Market and Ferry streets, was laid out. During this year also, was erected the brick redoubt still standing.

In our early day, the ditch that ran from the Allegheny river through Marbury, down Liberty and Short streets, to the Monongahela and the Mound, and several old brick and log houses, that composed a part of old "Fort Pitt," were standing conspicuous. Several of our first houses were built of old brick, especially the large three-story brick house at the corner of the Diamond and the Market-house, where the late Mr. Irwin kept tavern, and the first court in Allegheny county was held.

From this time until the close of the revolutionary war, but little improvement was made at Pittsburg. The fear of Indian hostilities, or the actual existence of Indian warfare prevented emigration. In 1775, the number of dwelling-houses within the limits of our present city did not, according to the most authentic accounts, exceed twenty-five or thirty.

During the revolutionary war, a garrison was maintained in the fort at Pittsburg, which served not only to guard the settlement, but was also used as a central post, from which offensive expeditions could be sent out to attack the Indians northwest of the Ohio.

In the spring of the year 1778, Gen. McIntosh, with the regulars and militia from Fort Pitt, descended the Ohio about thirty miles, and built Fort McIntosh on the site of the present town of Beaver. In the fall of the same year, Gen. McIntosh received an order from government to make a campaign against the Sandusky towns.

In 1780, Gen. Broadhead was charged with the defence of this part of the frontier, and made Fort Pitt his head-quarters. He was distinguished as a daring partisan officer, well adapted to command a party of forest rangers in ravaging Indian towns and cutting off their war parties. One of his principal aids in this species of warfare was Capt. Samuel Brady, whose fame as an "Indian killer" has been sounded far and wide throughout the frontier. (See Armstrong, Beaver, and Northumberland counties.) Gen. Broadhead made an excursion to the Indian towns on the Allegheny above and below the Conewango, burnt their cabins, and destroyed their corn. Broadhead was a brave officer, but a poor disciplinarian: while his soldiers were idle, they were on the point of mutiny. When Gen. Irvine superseded him in the command in Nov. 1781, he at once called the malcontents to a drumhead court-martial, hung one or two of them, and had no further trouble in preserving order.

Gen. Irvine continued in command here until the peace of 1783, and succeeded by his firmness and prudence in maintaining quiet on the frontier. He enjoyed in a very high degree the confidence of Gen. Washington. It was about this time that the first projects were entertained for colonizing the region now forming the state of Ohio-projects that could

not be successfully executed until after Wayne's treaty in 1795. Gen. Irvine seems to have entertained strong apprehensions that something more than mere colonization was intended, but his apprehensions were groundless; and after the date of the intended meeting no further allusion is made to the subject in his official correspondence.* The following is an extract from one of his letters to Gen. Washington:

"FORT PITT, April 20th, 1782. "SIR-I arrived [returned] here the 25th March: at that time things were in greater confusion than can well be conceived. The country people were to all appearance in a fit of phrenzy: about 300 had just returned from the Moravian towns, where they found about 90 men, women, and children, all of whom they put to death, 'tis said after cool deliberation and considering the matter for three days. The whole were collected into their church, and tied when singing hymns. On their return, a party came and attacked a few Delaware Indians who have yet remained with us on a small island close by this garrison; killed two who had captains' commissions in our service, and several others-the remainder effected their escape into the fort, except two who ran into the woods and have not since been heard of. There was an officers' guard on the island at the same time; but he either did not do his duty, or his men connived at the thing, -which, I am not yet able to ascertain. This last outrage was committed the day before I arrived. Nothing of this nature has been attempted since. A number of wrong-headed men had conceived an opinion that Col. Gibson was a friend to Indians, and that he must be killed also. These transactions, added to the then mutinous disposition of the regular troops, had nearly brought on the loss of the whole country. I am confident, if this post was evacuated, the bounds of Canada would be extended to the Laurel hill in a few weeks. I have the pleasure, however, to inform your excellency that things now wear a more favorable aspect. The troops are again reduced to obedience; and I have had a meeting, or convention, of the county lieutenants and several field-officers, with whom I have made arrangements for defending their frontiers, and who promise to exert themselves in drawing out the militia, agreeable to law, on my requisitions. "Civil authority is by no means properly established in this country-which I doubt [not] proceeds in some degree from inattention, in the executives of Virginia and Pennsylvania not running the boundary line-which is at present an excuse for neglect of duty of all kinds for at least twenty miles on each side the line. More evils will arise from this than people are aware of. Emigrations and new states are much talked of. Advertisements are set up announcing a day to assemble at Wheeling, for all who wish to become members of a new state on Muskingham. A certain J is at the head of this party: he is ambitious, restless, and some say disaffected; most people, however, agree, he is open to corruption. He has been in England since the beginning of the present war. Should these people actually emigrate, they must be either entirely cut off, or immediately take protection from the British,-which I fear is the real design of some of the party, though I think a great majority have no other views than to acquire lands. As I apprehended taking cognizance of these matters would come best from the civil depart. ments, I have written to the governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania on the subject,-which I should not have done till I had first acquainted your excellency thereof, but for this consideration, viz: that the 20th of May is the day appointed for the emigrants to rendezvous; consequently a representation from you would be too late, in case the states should think proper to take measures to prevent them."

During the Revolution, the Penn family were adherents of the British government, and in 1779, the legislature of this state confiscated all their property, except certain manors, &c., of which surveys had been actually made and returned into the land office, prior to the 4th of July, 1776, and also, except any estates which the said Penns held in their private capacities, by devise, purchase, or descent. Pittsburg, and the country eastward of it, and south of the Monongahela, containing about 5,800 acres, composed one of these manors, and, of course, remained as the property of the Penns:

In the spring of 1784, arrangements were made by Mr. Tench Francis, the agent of the Penns, to lay out the manor of Pittsburg in town lots and out lots, and to sell them without delay. For this purpose he engaged Mr. George Woods, of Bedford, an experienced surveyor, to execute this work. In May, 1784, Mr. Woods arrived here, bringing with him, as an operative surveyor, Mr. Thomas Vickroy, of Bedford co., who was then a very young man, and who still survives and enjoys vigorous health, at a good old age.

Gen. Irvine's correspondence with the general government, and with all the neighboring county lieutenants, while at Fort Pitt, with many other interesting documents relating to his military and civil career, are in possession of his grandson, Dr. Wm. A. Irvine, who resides at the mouth of Brokenstraw in Warren county. The compiler is much indebted to him for the loan of these documents.

[At that time there were no buildings outside the fort, except a few huts on the bank of the Monongahela. Mr. Vickroy, at the time of his survey, purchased a piece of property there which he sold some time afterwards for £30. It is now worth $500,000.-D.]

Mechanics and traders composed a greater proportion of the population. In 1784, Arthur Lee, a conspicuous diplomatist during our Revolution, passed through Pittsburg. In his journal we find the following notice of this place: "Pittsburg is inhabited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in paltry log houses, and are as dirty as in the north of Ireland, or even Scotland. There is a great deal of small trade carried on; the goods being brought, at the vast expense of forty-five shillings per cwt., from Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take, in the shops, money, wheat, flour, and skins. There are in the town four attorneys, two doctors, and not a priest of any persuasion, nor church, nor chapel. The rivers encroach fast on the town, and to such a degree, that, as a gentleman told me, the Allegheny had within thirty years of his memory, carried away one hundred yards. The place, I believe, will never be very considerable." If Mr. Lee could now visit the valley of the head of the Ohio, he would find here a free white population exceeding that of the six largest cities and towns in the Old Dominion. The appearance of Pittsburg at that time was not such as would excite extravagant expectations. A small town, composed of two or three brick redoubts, converted into dwelling-houses, and some forty or fifty round or hewn log buildings, inhabited principally by poor mechanics and laborers, would have a very discouraging aspect to the eye of a Virginia gentleman, who had visited London, Paris, and Madrid. But these mechanics and laborers were free, had the direction of their own exertions, were industrious, were striving for the advantages of themselves and their offspring, and the possession and enjoyment of the produce of their own labor were secured to them by equal laws.

Discouraging as were the appearances of things in 1784, yet in 1786, John Scull and Joseph Hall, two poor, but enterprising young men, boldly determined to risk their little all in a printing establishment here, and on the 29th of July, of that year, issued the first number of the Pittsburg Gazette. The publication of a paper, by disseminating information, and attracting attention to the place, contributed to the growth of the town.

Pittsburg was then in Westmoreland co., and the inhabitants had to travel to Greensburg, about thirty miles, to attend court. Allegheny co. was erected 24th Sept. 1788.

Mr. Brison, on Sept. 14, 1786, returned from New York with orders to establish a post from this place to Pittsburg, and one from Virginia to Bedford. The two met at Bedford. Prior to that time there was no regular mail to this place, and the then printers of the Gazette and other inhabitants had to depend upon casual travellers.-Harris's Directory.

About this time emigration began to increase from Virginia to Kentucky; the Indian wars, too, and the expedition to quell the Whiskey insurrection,* in 1794, brought many young men here as soldiers, who afterwards became settlers. In 1786 Judge H. H. Brackenridge, then a young attorney, estimated the number of houses here at. 100, which at the rate of five persons to each house, would give 500 inhabitants. In Jan. 1796, the population amounted to 1,395, according to a census by the assessors. In Aug. 1789, it appears from the Pittsburg Gazette,

That there was then settled in the town, one clergyman of the Calvinistic church, Samuel Barr, and one of the German Calvinistic church occasionally preached here.

Also, that "a church of squared timber and moderate dimensions is on the way to be built." This church stood within the ground now covered by the First Presbyterian church.

Two medical gentlemen were then here. One, we know, was Dr. Bedford. Also two lawyers, probably the late Judge Brackenridge and John Woods.

Carriage from Philadelphia was then six pence for each pound weight. The writer makes the following prediction: "However improved the conveyance may be, and by whatever channel, the importation of heavy articles will still be expensive. The manufacturing them, therefore, will become more an object here than elsewhere."

In 1776-87, an academy, or public school, was established here, by act of the legislature, and the First Presbyterian church was incorporated. The borough of Pittsburg was incorporated 22d of April, 1794, the city on the 18th March, 1816. The borough of Allegheny was incorporated 14th April, 1828, and was made a city some time between the years 1837 and 1840.

* An account of the Whiskey insurrection will be found under the head of Washington co.

From 1790 to 1800, the business of Pittsburg and the West was small, but gradually im proving; the fur trade of the West was very important, and Messrs. Peter Maynard and William Morrison were engaged largely in it, and from 1790 to 1796 received considerable supplies of goods, through Mr. Guy Bryan, a wealthy merchant in Philadelphia, and the goods were taken to Kaskaskia in a barge, which annually returned to Pittsburg, laden with bear, buffalo, and deer skins, and furs and peltries of all kinds, which were sent to Mr. Bryan, and the barge returned, laden with goods. At that period there was no regular drayman in Pittsburg, and the goods were generally hauled from the boats with a three horse wagon,-until (in 1797) a Mr. James Rattle, an Englishman, settled in this city, and was encouraged to take up the business, and drayed and stored goods, until a box of drygoods was stolen from his yard, and shed, (for then we had no warehouse, nor regular commission merchant, in Pittsburg,)—and this broke the poor man up, and he died broken-hearted and unhappy.

A French gentleman, Louis Anastasius Tarasçon, emigrated in 1794 from France, and established himself in Philadelphia, as a merchant. He was a large importer of silks, and all kinds of French and German goods. Being very wealthy and enterprising, in 1799 he sent two of his clerks, Charles Brugiere and James Berthoud, to examine the course of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, from Pittsburg to New Orleans, and ascertain the practicability of sending ships and clearing them from this port, ready rigged, to the West Indies and Europe. Those two gentlemen returned to Philadelphia, reported favorably, and Mr. Tarasçon associated them and his brother, John Anthony, with himself, under the firm of "John A. Tarasçon, brothers, James Berthoud, & Co.," and immediately established, in Pittsburg, a large wholesale and retail store and warehouse, a shipyard, a rigging and sail loft, an anchor smith shop, a block manufactory, and in short every thing necessary to complete vessels for sea. The first year, 1801, they built the schooner Amity, of 120 tons, and the ship Pittsburg, of 250 tons,-and sent the former, loaded with flour, to St. Thomas, and the other, also with flour, to Philadelphia,-from whence they sent them to Bordeaux, and brought back a cargo of wine, brandy, and other French goods, part of which they sent here in wagons at a carriage of from six to eight cents per pound. In 1802, they built the brig Nanino, of 250 tons; in 1803, the ship Louisiana, of 300 tons; and in 1804, the ship Western Trader, of 400 tons.

[A curious incident connected with this subject, was mentioned by Mr. Clay on the floor of Congress. "To illustrate the commercial habits and enterprise of the American people, (he said) he would relate an anecdote of a vessel, built and cleared out at Pittsburg for Leghorn. When she arrived at her place of destination, the master presented his papers to the custom-house officer-who could not credit him, and said to him, 'Sir, your papers are forged; there is no such port as Pittsburg in the world: your vessel must be confiscated.' The trembling captain laid before the officer the map of the United States, directed him to the Gulf of Mexico, pointed out the mouth of the Mississippi, led him a thousand miles up it to the mouth of the Ohio, and thence another thousand up it to Pittsburg: 'There, sir, is the port from whence my vessel cleared out.' The astonished officer, before he had seen the map, would as readily have believed this vessel had been navigated from the moon."]

In or about the year 1796, three of the royal princes of Orleans came to Pittsburg, and stopped at a hotel situated on the bank of the Monongahela, where Jno. D. Davis's warehouse now stands. They were very affable and conversant, and remained for some time in the city: at length they procured a large skiff, part of which was covered with tow linen, laid in a supply of provisions, and (having procured two men to row the skiff) proceeded on to New Orleans. One of these princes was Louis Phillippe, the present king of France-who, in his exile, visited our city, and spent his time very agreeably with Gen. Neville, Gen. James O'Hara, and several other respectable families who then lived on the bank of the Monongahela river.

We remember well during the Embargo times and last war, when the internal trade and commerce of Pittsburg, by the Ohio, Western, and Southern rivers, brought us comparatively nigh to Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, St. Louis, Natchez, and New Orleans, but the slow process of keel-boats and barges was such that it consumed almost a whole summer for a trip down and up-when all was done by the hardy boatmen, with the pole or by warping; and when a barge arrived, with furs from St. Louis, cotton from Natchez, hemp, tobacco, and saltpetre from Maysville, or sugar and cotton from New Orleans and Natchez, it was a wonder to the many, and drew vast crowds to see and rejoice over it. And the internal commerce during the war allied us closely with Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York,-these cities getting much of their sugar, saltpetre, &c., by boats and wagons, through Pittsburg-which then did an immense carrying trade for the United States.—Harris's Directory.

The following graphic sketch of early times in Pittsburg is from Hon. H. M. Breckenridge's "Recollections":

Pittsburg, when first I knew it, was but a village. Two plains, partly short commons, depastured by the town cows, embraced the foot of Grant's hill, one extending a short distance up the

* These facts have been furnished by Anthony Beelen, Esq., an early merchant

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