Fort Pitt Blockhouse
Indiana Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
One of Fort Pitt's outworks, this blockhouse or redoubt stood near the western bastions and is the only surviving structure of that fort. Built in 1764 by Col. Henry Bouquet.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
This blockhouse, a small defensive redoubt, was built in 1764 by Colonel Henry Bouquet as one of the outworks guarding Fort Pitt near its western bastions. It rose in the tense years after the French and Indian War, when British control of the forks of the Ohio was still contested during Pontiac's War. Today it is the only surviving structure of the great fort that once commanded this strategic point.
Why it matters
It is the oldest authenticated structure in Western Pennsylvania and the last physical remnant of Fort Pitt, the British stronghold at the gateway to the Ohio Valley.
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Related people
- · Col. Henry Bouquet
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Forbes Road, 1758, Fort Bedford to Fort Duquesne - The Bouquet Encampment (PLAQUE)
Penn Hills, PA · est. 1930
During the French and Indian War in 1758, General John Forbes cut a military road westward across Pennsylvania to seize the French stronghold of Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio. This plaque marks the road's farthest northern point, near an encampment associated with Colonel Henry Bouquet, some 97 miles from Fort Bedford. The methodical Forbes campaign succeeded where earlier expeditions had failed.
Bouquet Camp
Penn Hills, PA · est. 1946
In 1758, British and colonial forces under General John Forbes cut a road across Pennsylvania to strike at French-held Fort Duquesne at the forks of the Ohio. Bouquet Camp served as a supply base along that campaign, named for Colonel Henry Bouquet, Forbes's able second-in-command and the builder of the Forbes Road. The French abandoned and burned Fort Duquesne rather than face the advancing army, opening the gateway to the Ohio Country.
Forbes Road - Bouquet's Breastworks
Plum, PA · est. 1952
In the autumn of 1758, during the French and Indian War, General John Forbes led a British and provincial army west across the Pennsylvania mountains to seize the French stronghold of Fort Duquesne. This site marked the army's final staging point—breastworks thrown up by Colonel Henry Bouquet after nearly two hundred miles of cutting through wild country. On November 25, the French having abandoned and burned their fort, Forbes's men marched in unopposed.
Pittsburgh
Forest Hills, PA · est. 1946
The forks of the Ohio, where the Allegheny and Monongahela join, were among the most fought-over ground in colonial America. After General John Forbes forced the French to abandon Fort Duquesne in 1758, the point was renamed for William Pitt, laid out as a town in 1764, and chartered as a city in 1816. From that frontier outpost grew the steelmaking colossus that supplied the nation's rails, bridges, and armaments.