Forbes Road, 1758, Fort Bedford to Fort Duquesne - Tomahawk Encampment (PLAQUE)
Jenner Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
At foot of Laurel Hill the Forbes Road leads northwestward to Fort Ligonier 35.5 miles from Fort Bedford.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Part of the 1758 Forbes Road built during the French and Indian War, this point at the foot of Laurel Hill marks the Tomahawk Encampment on the army's push toward Fort Duquesne. Each such camp was a measured stage in General John Forbes's methodical advance, guarded and provisioned as the troops climbed the Alleghenies. The marker fixes the spot along the road running toward Fort Ligonier.
Why it matters
These waypoints trace the grueling logistics of a wilderness campaign that ultimately expelled the French from the Ohio Country and reshaped the map of colonial America.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In 1758, the war for control of North America reached deep into the Pennsylvania mountains. The British aim was the French stronghold at Fort Duquesne, far to the west at the forks of the Ohio, and the obstacle between them and that goal was the Allegheny high country — steep, forested, and crossed by ridges that ran the wrong way for an army in a hurry.
Laurel Hill was one of those ridges. To armies of the period, a long wooded mountain like this was not scenery but a barrier: a place where roads had to be cut, wagons dragged, and men and horses pushed to their limits. The foot of Laurel Hill was therefore a natural place to pause, gather strength, and prepare for the climb.
The Forbes Road threaded through this landscape as the spine of the whole campaign — a road built westward in stages, each anchored by an encampment or supply post. The Tomahawk Encampment, at the foot of Laurel Hill, was one of those measured stops on the long march toward the Ohio.
People & events
The expedition was led by British General John Forbes, whose name the road still carries. His method was deliberate to the point of stubbornness: build the road forward step by step, fortify and provision each stage, and never let the advancing army lose its link to the supplies behind it. In mountain country, that patience was not timidity — it was survival.
The encampments along the way were the working joints of that strategy. A camp like this one gave the army a guarded, provisioned place to rest before tackling the next stretch of hard ground. The marker fixes its role with a simple measure — the road running northwestward from here toward Fort Ligonier, thirty-five and a half miles out from Fort Bedford.
Those distances are the quiet drama of the campaign. Each mile of finished road, each secured camp, brought the army closer to Fort Duquesne without exposing it to being cut off in the wilderness. The Tomahawk Encampment was one link in that chain: unremarkable on its own, essential as part of the whole.
Its place in the American story
The Forbes Road led to the forks of the Ohio and the future site of Pittsburgh, and the collapse of the French position there marked a decisive shift in the contest for the continent. A campaign built on roads, camps, and supply lines helped settle the question of whether Britain or France would command the North American interior.
Waypoints like the Tomahawk Encampment are a reminder that wilderness wars are won by logistics. Behind every celebrated result lay the grinding labor of moving an army over mountains — cutting road, hauling provisions, and holding each stage long enough to reach the next. This spot at the foot of Laurel Hill is a monument to that unglamorous work.
The road also had a second life. Corridors carved through the mountains for military reasons tend to become the routes of later travel and settlement, and the way Forbes forced through this country helped shape how people crossed these ridges long after the war was over.
If you visit
Look up at Laurel Hill and you'll understand the marker instantly. This was the foot of a climb, a place to steady an army before the mountain — and even today the ridge gives you a physical sense of why a camp belonged right here.
Don't expect a preserved fort; expect a sense of place. The value of this stop is standing at a spot the army actually used and feeling the terrain that dictated their pace. The distances on the plaque — the miles to Fort Ligonier, the miles back to Fort Bedford — turn the surrounding country into a map of a campaign.
The Forbes Road markers are made to be followed in order, so treat the Tomahawk Encampment as one stage of a longer drive through Somerset County and beyond. Move from camp to camp the way the army did, and a scattered set of plaques becomes a single, continuous story of 1758.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John Forbes
Related events
- · Forbes Expedition of 1758
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Forbes Road - The Clear Fields
Jenner Township, PA · est. 1952
When General Forbes weighed how to reach Fort Duquesne in 1758, open meadows like the Clear Fields along the Raystown Path tipped the balance. Ample forage for cavalry and draft animals led him to favor this northern route over Braddock's older road to the south — a logistical choice that shaped the whole campaign. Fort Dudgeon, known as Tomahawk Camp, stood a short way to the north.
Forbes Road, 1758, Fort Bedford to Fort Duquesne - Fort Ligonier (PLAQUE)
Ligonier, PA · est. 1930
Fort Ligonier was raised in 1758 by order of General John Forbes as the last major stronghold on the road to Fort Duquesne during the French and Indian War. Officers including Colonel Henry Bouquet and Colonel John Armstrong distinguished themselves here, and young Colonel George Washington, Colonel James Burd, and Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Mercer all served in the campaign that passed this way. The fort anchored the British advance through the Pennsylvania wilderness.
Forbes Road - Stony Creek Encampment
Quemahoning Township, PA · est. 1951
During the French and Indian War, British General John Forbes cut a military road across Pennsylvania toward Fort Duquesne, and along it his army built fortified supply depots to feed the advance. The Stony Creek encampment stood just north of here, a stockaded storehouse on the route that then climbed toward Laurel Hill and the site of Tomahawk Camp. These depots kept Forbes's 1758 campaign supplied through the rugged Alleghenies.
Forbes Road, 1758, Fort Bedford to Fort Duquesne- Stony Creek Encampment (PLAQUE)
Quemahoning Township, PA · est. 1930
On the 1758 Forbes Road, the Stony Creek Encampment served as a fortified supply headquarters — its "Ovens" baking bread for the army — during the French and Indian War campaign against Fort Duquesne. Fortifications rose just north of this site as General John Forbes staged men and provisions for the mountainous advance. The marker records its distance along the road from Fort Bedford.