Forbes Road - Raystown Path
Carlisle, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
To capture Fort Duquesne, General Forbes marched an army, in 1758, from his main base at Carlisle to the Forks of the Ohio. He followed, as closely as he could with army wagons, the Raystown Indian and Traders Path, widened by axemen under Colonel Henry Bouquet.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In 1758, during the French and Indian War, General John Forbes set out from his base at Carlisle to seize Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio. Rather than follow Braddock's ill-fated earlier route, Forbes drove a new road westward, keeping as close as army wagons allowed to the old Raystown Indian and Traders Path. Axemen under Colonel Henry Bouquet widened the trail into a military road that ended with the French abandoning and burning the fort.
Why it matters
The Forbes Road opened southwestern Pennsylvania to settlement and helped decide the contest for the Ohio Valley, a turning point in Britain's victory over France in North America.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Appalachian Trail Museum12.7 mi away
- Ye Olde Sulphur Spa Historical Society14.0 mi away
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
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Related people
- · John Forbes
- · Henry Bouquet
Related events
- · French and Indian War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Forbes Road - Raystown Path
Southampton Township, PA · est. 1952
At Shippensburg the old Raystown Path split, and in 1758 General John Forbes had to choose his army's line of march west. One branch climbed directly over three steep mountains toward Burnt Cabins; Forbes instead took the southern fork around Parnells Knob to Fort Loudon, crossing the Tuscarora Mountain at Cowan Gap to avoid the punishing grades. The choice shaped where his military road—and later settlement—would run.
Green Tree Inn
Carlisle, PA · est. 1949
In the mid-18th century Carlisle sat at the edge of the Pennsylvania frontier, a gateway where colonial officials met with Native nations to negotiate land and trade. An inn on this site hosted Benjamin Franklin in 1753 while he and fellow commissioners treated with Indians, and four decades later it lodged Alexander Hamilton and Henry Knox as Washington's cabinet passed through during the Whiskey Rebellion. A single roadside tavern thus touched both the colonial diplomacy of the 1750s and the young republic's first test of federal authority.
Fort Robinson
Northeast Madison Township, PA · est. 1947
In 1755, as the French and Indian War set the Pennsylvania frontier ablaze, settlers in the Sherman's Valley threw up a fortified stronghold on George Robinson's land. Fort Robinson was one of a chain of rough private and provincial forts where scattered farm families could shelter when war parties swept through. For several harrowing years it served as a place of refuge on an exposed and dangerous frontier.
Braddock Expedition
Shippensburg, PA · est. 1961
In 1755, as General Edward Braddock's army marched toward the French at Fort Duquesne, supplies for the expedition were stockpiled in Edward Shippen's stout stone house at Shippensburg. His son-in-law James Burd cut a road westward to move those provisions toward the front. After Braddock's crushing defeat, the goods that remained were handed out to settlers fleeing Indian raids along the exposed Pennsylvania frontier.