Bushy Run
Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Four miles to the north, at Bushy Run, an army under Col. Henry Bouquet defeated the Indians Aug. 5-6, 1763. This raised the siege of Fort Pitt and opened the gateway for settlement of the West. It is now a State Park.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Four miles north, on the wooded ground at Bushy Run, Colonel Henry Bouquet's column won a hard two-day fight against Native warriors on August 5 and 6, 1763. The victory broke the siege of Fort Pitt during Pontiac's War, the sweeping Indigenous uprising against British rule in the aftermath of the French and Indian War. Bouquet's success reopened the frontier passage west, and the battlefield is preserved today as a state park.
Why it matters
Bushy Run was a decisive moment in the struggle for the trans-Appalachian West, a turning point that determined whether European or Native power would command the gateway to the Ohio country.
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Related people
- · Henry Bouquet
Related events
- · Battle of Bushy Run
- · Siege of Fort Pitt
- · Pontiac's War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Bushy Run
Delmont, PA · est. 1946
Three miles south of this marker lies Bushy Run, where Colonel Henry Bouquet's soldiers defeated Native warriors in a grueling battle on August 5 and 6, 1763. Fought during Pontiac's War in the wake of the French and Indian War, the clash lifted the siege of Fort Pitt and cleared the road for settlers pushing into the Ohio country. The ground is now protected as a state park.
Queen Aliquippa
McKeesport, PA · est. 2003
In the years before the French & Indian War, the forks of the Ohio were contested ground where the Seneca and other nations navigated the rivalry between Britain and France. Queen Aliquippa was a respected leader whose favor the British colonies actively courted — so much so that a young George Washington detoured to pay his respects to her in 1753 during his mission to the Ohio Country. Her death the following year came just as the frontier war she had aligned with was erupting.
Fort Allen - PLAQUE
Hempfield Township, PA · est. 1929
Fort Allen, also known as Truby's Blockhouse, was built and commanded by Col. Christopher Truby to shelter the scattered settlers of Westmoreland County on the exposed western frontier. It stood through the turmoil of Dunmore's War in 1774, later Indian conflicts, and the Revolution, when frontier families lived under constant threat of raid. From here in 1774, eighty inhabitants led by Wendel Oury petitioned Governor John Penn for aid against a feared uprising.
Bushy Run Battlefield
Penn Township, PA · est. 1964
In August 1763, as Pontiac's War swept the frontier and Native forces besieged Fort Pitt, Colonel Henry Bouquet led a relief column that was ambushed here at Bushy Run. After a desperate two-day fight, Bouquet's troops broke the encirclement and pushed on to relieve the fort, one of the few clear British victories of that uprising.