French Indian War

We live in a very historic place here in the northwest corner of PA. Saw another interesting PBS special last night. (I really should send in a donation. PBS is about the only lifeblood to intelligent TV I have, not being even a basic package cable subscriber. Actually, I just got done watching The Office, which along with Desperate Housewives are the only two network shows I enjoy. Just started with The Office, after hearing an incredible number of recommendations for it. Also, Maggie watches both shows, which adds an interpersonal social aspect to TV viewing, which is an important element to a positive experience. Whatever. I just mean that shared experience, or simply being able to enjoy and talk about a show with someone else is half the fun of watching it. Right. I once read this book by Joseph Heller - the Penn State prof and Catch 22 author - that was written half in parentheses. It was a very strange book. Something Happened it was called, and it was about some average Joe with psychological problems. It was interesting but paled in comparison to Heller's masterpiece - Catch 22. Of course, as Heller said later in his life, how many people even get to write one great book.)

Okay, back to history. This PBS show was called The War That Made America. It's supposed to be a tricky title - you're supposed to think it's about the Revolutionary War. The premise, however, is that the French and Indian War led to the Revolution. It starts out with Washington's famous trip to the Ft. LeBeouf area, when he's working for the English, and he's to tell the French to vacate the area because it belongs to his king. Well, Washington is like 21 and these grizzled French vets laugh at him and tell him to pound salt - but in an eloquent French way. Earlier in the trip, I believe, Washington had mistakenly ordered an attack on a French encampment of diplomats, and then his Indian allies, led by Half King, killed the wounded Frenchmen. The PBS show blames this event for the start of the French and Indian War.

So, what was the strategic importance of Ft. LeBeouf? Apparently, its position on French Creek was key for shipping. Here's the way I understand it: The French had another fort, Fort Presque Isle, down on the waterfront on the East side of present-day Erie, that would receive goods being shipped over the Great Lakes. There was a road that went from Ft. Presque Isle to Ft. LeBeouf, where the goods were loaded onto French Creek and floated downstream toward Fort Duquense and Pittsburgh's waterways.

This area of Western PA was a huge bone of contention during the mid-1700s, as the French controlled Canada and the English, the Eastern U.S. We lay in between, and Indians, of course, needed someplace to live too.

After Ft. Presque Isle fell to the English, it was burned to the ground. The English then built their own fort at the same site. It was invaded by Indians and burned. Here's a Brig Niagra site where I got some of this info.

Well, at some point a few years later, the Americans constructed an encampment on that site, complete with a blockhouse - a model of which stands today on 2nd and Ash, I think, next to he Soldiers and Sailors home. This was the site where Mad Anthony Wayne was first buried, before being dug up 13 years, or so, later. He was then, of course, chopped up and his body was boiled so that his son could transport his bones back to Chester, PA, to bury them in a family plot. I guess his ghost roams Route 322 every New Year's Day (Wayne's birthday) to find some bones that were lost during the bumpy ride to Chester.

So, aside from this area playing a key role in America's growth toward Independence, we've also got some freaky macabre, bone boiling stories from close to the same period. I guess this never has been a boring place.

Cheers, beers, leers, and fears.

Ralph