Forbes Road - Fort Dewart
Allegheny Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
"The fort on the top of Allegheny Hill" was erected in 1758 during the Gen. Forbes expedition against Fort Duquesne. The site is marked half a mile northeast of here, near the head of Breastwork Run.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Perched atop Allegheny Hill, this fortification was thrown up in 1758 as part of General Forbes's methodical advance against the French at Fort Duquesne. Small forts and redoubts like this one secured the army's long supply line as it pushed west through the mountains, each a link in a chain of defended camps. The site of the works lies near the head of Breastwork Run.
Why it matters
Way-stations of the Forbes campaign, forts like this made possible the British capture of the Ohio forks, a turning point in the French and Indian War and in the opening of the trans-Allegheny frontier.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the middle of the eighteenth century, the ridges and hollows of what is now Somerset County were not a place people passed through so much as a wall they had to climb. This was the western edge of British America, a tangle of mountains and dense forest where the empires of Britain and France collided over the great prize beyond — the forks of the Ohio, where the rivers met and the interior of the continent opened up.
The French and Indian War, the American theater of a much larger struggle between Britain and France, turned much of this backcountry into contested ground. Whoever controlled the routes over the Alleghenies controlled the flow of soldiers, supplies, and trade toward the Ohio Valley. In 1758 the British mounted a major effort to seize the French stronghold at the forks, Fort Duquesne, and the road they cut ran straight through these hills.
Allegheny Hill sat squarely on that line of advance. To an army, high ground beside the road was not scenery — it was a place to plant men and guns and keep the route open behind you as you pushed the fight forward.
People & events
The expedition took its name from General John Forbes, the British commander charged with taking Fort Duquesne. Forbes was a careful, deliberate soldier — by 1758 he was gravely ill and often carried on a litter — and his campaign is remembered less for a single dramatic battle than for the methodical way it was built, mile by defended mile, across the mountains.
A small fort thrown up on the top of Allegheny Hill in 1758 was one link in that chain. Works like this one guarded the army's long and vulnerable supply line as it crept west. Each fortified camp let the next stretch of road be opened with the previous one held secure behind it — a way of advancing that traded speed for safety in dangerous country.
The actual site of the works lies a short distance from the marker, near the head of a stream. What stood here was not a grand stone fortress but a rough field fortification of earth and timber, built quickly by soldiers who needed shelter and a strong point more than they needed permanence.
Its place in the American story
The Forbes campaign of 1758 was one of the turning points of the war in North America. When the British finally reached the forks of the Ohio, the French abandoned and destroyed Fort Duquesne rather than defend it, and the British built a new post there. That single shift of control helped tip the long contest for the continent.
Small, half-forgotten forts like the one on Allegheny Hill are the reason such a campaign was even possible. Frontier warfare in these mountains was decided as much by logistics — roads, supplies, and defended way-stations — as by musket fire. Without the humble links in the chain, the army at the front of the column could never have been fed or reinforced.
The road Forbes cut also outlasted the war. Routes hacked through the wilderness for armies became the paths that settlers, wagons, and later highways would follow west, opening the trans-Allegheny country to a wave of migration in the decades that followed.
If you visit
This is a place for the imagination as much as the eye. There is no towering ruin here; the fort was an earthwork of its moment, and time has largely reclaimed it. What remains is the terrain itself — the hill, the surrounding ridges, and the sense of just how formidable this country would have felt to an army dragging cannon and supplies over it.
Stand and look at the lay of the land. Notice how the high ground commands the route below, and you begin to understand why soldiers chose this spot. The marker points toward the site of the works a short distance off; let it orient you to the ground rather than expecting a building.
If you're tracing the Forbes route as a road trip, this stop pairs naturally with the other markers strung along the old line of march. Together they tell a story of movement — an army inching west through the mountains — that a single site can only hint at. Come for the history, and stay for the mountain air and the long views that made this ridge matter.
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
- · General John Forbes
Related events
- · Forbes Expedition of 1758
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Forbes Road, 1758, Fort Bedford to Fort Duquesne - Fort Dewart McLeans' Encampment (PLAQUE)
Juniata Township, PA · est. 1930
This plaque marks Fort Dewart, one of the small fortifications built along the Forbes Road during the French and Indian War and garrisoned for several years. Constructed under Colonel Henry Bouquet, it guarded the army's line of march as it pressed westward toward Edmond's Swamp and, beyond, Fort Duquesne. Such posts protected supply trains crossing the rugged Allegheny highlands.
Forbes Road - Edmunds Swamp
Shade Township, PA · est. 1952
In 1758, during the French and Indian War, General John Forbes cut a new military road west toward the French stronghold at Fort Duquesne. This spot along the old Raystown Path — named for Indian trader Edmund Cartlidge — offered good grass to feed the army's horses, a vital consideration for a force hauling supplies through the Alleghenies. A nearby redoubt guarded the encampment.
Forbes Road, 1758, Fort Bedford to Fort Duquesne - Edmond's Swamp (PLAQUE)
Shade Township, PA · est. 1930
During the French and Indian War in 1758, British General John Forbes cut a road westward across the Pennsylvania mountains to strike the French at Fort Duquesne. This marker records the chain of encampments and supply forts strung along that route, positioning Edmond's Swamp relative to Stony Creek and Fort Bedford. The Forbes Road became a lifeline for one of the war's decisive campaigns.
Forbes Camp
Schellsburg, PA · est. 1947
In 1758 General John Forbes cut a new military road across the Pennsylvania mountains to strike the French at Fort Duquesne, where Pittsburgh now stands. His army halted at the Shawnee Cabins camp near this spot, one link in the chain of fortified camps that made the slow, methodical advance possible. The campaign ended with the French abandoning and burning the fort, opening the Ohio country to British control.