Forbes Road - Raystown Path
Dublin Township, Fulton County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Just east of here is the junction of the two branches of the Raystown Path: a mountain shortcut by way of Fannettsburg, and Gen. Forbes road through Cowan Gap. From here Forbes route is marked by towns named for his forts: Littleton, Bedford, Ligonier, Pittsburgh.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
The Raystown Path was one of the great Indian trails threading the Allegheny ridges of central Pennsylvania, and in 1758 it became a corridor of war. During the French and Indian War, General John Forbes cut a military road westward toward the French stronghold at the forks of the Ohio, throwing up a chain of forts to guard his slow, methodical advance. The towns strung along his line of march — Littleton, Bedford, Ligonier, and finally Pittsburgh — still carry the names of those wilderness garrisons.
Why it matters
Forbes Road opened a durable route across the mountains that helped decide the contest for the Ohio Country and channeled the westward flow of American settlement for generations afterward.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the mid-eighteenth century, central Pennsylvania was a country of forested ridges running in long parallel lines, and the only practical way through it followed the ancient Indian paths that generations of Native travelers had traced along the easiest grades and gaps. The Raystown Path was one of these great trails, threading the Allegheny country from east to west.
By 1758 that quiet trail had become a corridor of war. Britain and France were locked in the struggle for the Ohio country, and the French held a strong position at the forks of the Ohio. To reach it, a British and colonial army would have to force its way across these very mountains — turning footpaths meant for hunters and traders into a route for cannon and columns of troops.
At the point this marker describes, the Raystown Path split. One branch was a mountain shortcut by way of Fannettsburg; the other, the route General Forbes would follow, ran through Cowan Gap. The choice of ground here was the choice of how an army would cross the wilderness.
People & events
General John Forbes led the 1758 expedition west, and he did it in a style all his own: slow, deliberate, methodical. Rather than dash for the enemy, he cut a military road westward and built a chain of forts to guard it, advancing only as far as he could reliably supply and defend at each step.
That cautious, fortified march left a signature on the map that survives to this day. The towns strung along Forbes's line of advance are named for the forts he threw up as he went — Littleton, Bedford, Ligonier, and, at the destination, Pittsburgh. Read them west to east and you are reading the itinerary of his campaign, one garrison at a time.
What the marker captures is the meeting of old and new here: a Native trail with its two branches, and a general's road laid over one of them. The Raystown Path had carried travelers for ages; in Forbes's hands, for one decisive season, it carried an army toward the forks of the Ohio.
Its place in the American story
Forbes Road did more than serve a single campaign. By opening a durable route across the mountains, it helped decide the contest for the Ohio country — the great strategic prize whose control shaped the future of the whole American interior.
And unlike a battlefield, a road keeps working after the war is over. The corridor Forbes cut and fortified became a path of travel and settlement, channeling the westward movement of people for generations after the soldiers had gone. The forts became towns; the military track became a way west.
That is the deeper significance of a marker like this. It stands not at the site of a dramatic clash but along a line of movement — and lines of movement, once opened through a barrier as formidable as the Alleghenies, tend to shape where a country grows. The names on the modern map are the quiet proof.
If you visit
The pleasure of this stop is in the reading of the landscape. Just east of here, the marker tells you, the Raystown Path forked — and if you look at how the ridges and gaps lie around you, you can begin to see why. Roads through mountain country are not arbitrary; they follow where the land allows, and the old path chose its branches accordingly.
The best way to appreciate Forbes Road is to travel its line. Trace the route west toward Bedford and Ligonier and on toward Pittsburgh, and you are following the general's chain of forts turned towns. Watching those familiar names arrive in order, one after another, turns an ordinary drive into a march through history.
This is quiet, ridge-and-valley country, and Cowan Gap in particular is worth seeking out for the feel of a natural passage through the mountains. Stand in a gap like that and you understand instantly why armies, traders, and Native travelers alike all funneled through the same few openings the land provided.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · General John Forbes
Related events
- · Forbes Expedition
- · 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.
Forbes Road - Raystown Path
Carlisle, PA · est. 1952
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.
Fort Littleton - PLAQUE
Dublin Township, PA · est. 1924
In 1756, as war between Britain and France spilled across the Pennsylvania frontier, the colony raised a chain of provincial forts to shield its exposed backcountry settlements. Fort Littleton was one of these strongpoints, ordered up under Governor Robert Hunter Morris and planted on this knoll to guard a vital road through the mountains. In the fear-filled years of the French and Indian War, such stockades were refuge and rallying point for settlers who lived within reach of raiding parties.
"Shadow of Death"
Cromwell Township, PA · est. 1947
In the mid-18th century, the Frankstown Path was a vital Native American trading route threading through the Pennsylvania wilderness, traveled by colonial agents like Conrad Weiser on missions of diplomacy and commerce. For reasons now lost to history, Weiser and fellow travelers gave this particular spot the ominous name 'Shadow of Death.' The marker candidly admits the local origin of the name is unknown—a rare and honest acknowledgment of history's gaps.