Fort LaBoeuf and Colonial Western PA

Written and researched by Rachael Wilson

Transcript:

The landscape of rural northwestern Pennsylvania is quite the beautiful place. There are rolling hills, stretching fields full of crops and wildflowers, and the historic French Creek rolls throughout Mercer, Erie and Crawford counties of Pennsylvania. 

For almost two thousand years, the Iroquois people lived in western New York and Pennsylvania, as well as southern Ontario and Quebec. They stayed within the areas of the Great Lakes, specifically lakes Ontario, Huron, and Erie and lived utilizing the land.[1] Those who lived in what is what is modernly known as Waterford, Pennsylvania – about twenty minutes south of Erie – relied on the resources in and around the French Creek watershed, including the nearby Lake LeBoeuf.

The Iroquois knew how to take advantage of the landscape that they had been given. The Pennsylvania woods were too thick to hunt and grow food, so they were able to create spanning meadows to grow food and hunt the game of the area.[2]

In the mid-1700s, settlers from England began to come to the New World and settle in the area. The French followed right behind. Both British and French forces began to build forts like Fort Duquesne, Presque Isle, and Venango. Tensions began to build between the two nations in their colonies. 

Fort de la Rivière au Bœuf, Fort LeBoeuf as it is commonly referred to as now, was second out of four forts that was operated by the French forces who had come to Western Pennsylvania. The fort sat on the bank of LeBoeuf Creek, after which the fort was named. Along with Forts Presque Isle, Machault, and Duquesne, these forts built the line of French bases across western Pennsylvania. Presque Isle was built along the banks of Lake Erie in Pennsylvania, Machault in modern day Franklin, Pennsylvania, and Fort Duquesne in what is now Pittsburgh. These forts, LeBoeuf in particular, was used to trade throughout French territory from Fort Presque Isle and Canada and to protect Presque Isle from any sort of raid.[3]

Great Britain did not that all too much. As a result, in 1753, Governor Robert Dinwiddie assigned 21-year old major George Washington – yes, that George Washington – on a mission up to the forts to demand that the French leave the territory ASAP because the British had claimed it. As marked by the journal that Washington had written throughout his trek up north, the journey took him about ten weeks and one thousand miles “by horse, foot, canoe, and raft.”[4] Young Major Washington left Williamsburg on October 31st of 1753 and was accompanied by a team made up  of a surveyor, a French translator, four traders, and eventually met up with various members of native tribes, including a man referred to as the “Half-King.” George’s journal details every single thing he did and saw on his journey. His training as a surveyor came quite in handy when it came to writing his observations down.

Once they reached Logtown, a town in what is currently Beaver County, Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh, they were directed towards Fort LeBoeuf, about 110 miles north. With Washington was a letter a for Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, a French military commander who was the man in charge at Fort LeBoeuf.[5] The letter was the ultimatum posed towards the French from the British. While Washington was generally received pretty well by those who were in Waterford, Legardeur de Saint-Pierre was not a big fan of the message that George brought him. The French king thought that the letter from Dinwiddie and England was ridiculous and his claim to the area was “incontestable.”[6]

At the same time as Washington’s trek to the French forts, the French and the natives begin to engage in trade in an unprecedented change in way of life for the natives. Their survival began to depend on it. Frenchmen learned to fight the “Indian Way,” engaging in guerilla warfare, “which was by stealth, surprise, ambush, and frightening terror.”[7] This greatly helped the French as tensions between the British were beginning to come to the surface. When the Seven Years War began in 1756, their new way of fighting was key to their survival while British soldiers were killed, tortured, disfigured, or scalped by the natives.

Six years into the war, in 1759, the French were defeated by the British, at least in the colonies and North America as a whole. Forts Duquesne, Machault, LeBoeuf, and Presque Isle were all burned to the ground. The next year, the forts were rebuilt, and named Pitt, Venango, LeBoeuf, and Presque Isle, respectively. Pitt, formerly Duquesne, was built to be a strong fortress and Presque Isle was also built to be tough. But LeBoeuf and Venango? Not so much.

In 1766, General Jeffery Amherst called for an attack on all British garrisons in order to ensure that the Natives would stop getting any more of the European guns and weapons that had receiving in trade. This attack backfired on the British, causing the causalities of 450 British soldiers and citizens, with little to damage for the Natives. 

After the final fort was demolished, the Judson family built their house and settled on what is believed to be the placement of the original fort. Patriarch Amos was a powerful man in Waterford, working odd jobs until he opened his store in 1823. Judson also was the owner of the Eagle Hotel, which sat across the street from his house.[8]

While the fort has not been standing for hundreds of years, Waterford’s Fort LeBoeuf Historical Society is very active in making sure that the area knows about its rich history and the people behind it all. The buildings in the district covered by the historical society display buildings ranging from the time of Judson up until the cusp of World War II.[9] The Judson house still stands, as does the store that he ran until his death. The Eagle Hotel still operates as well, but no one stays here anymore. Nowadays it’s a restaurant that serves Amish style food throughout the summer and autumn months. Part of the land originally taken up by the fort is covered by the post office, but some of that space is dedicated to a museum that displays Waterford’s part in the Seven Years War on the front of the New World. Waterford looks like a sleepy town, but the locals are proud of our crown jewel: our statue on the outskirts of historic downtown.  

In 1922, locals in Waterford commissioned a statue of our nation’s first president in a way that no other. After a hefty price of $13,000, a statue of George Washington was placed in what would come to be known as Washington Park. George was quickly used as a part of the culture of Waterford with students from the local high school dressing him as a prank. The local members of the Daughters of the American Revolution had set aside parts of land, some structures were restored, and the statue was placed on that property. This statue, the only statue of President Washington as a young man, proudly stands in Waterford in the spot where it was moved by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission in 1945.

[1] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Iroquois.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., January 24, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Iroquois-people.

[2] “Rich Cultural History.” French Creek Valley Conservancy, July 18, 2019. https://www.frenchcreekconservancy.org/rich-cultural-history/.

[3] “Fort LeBoeuf Museum.” Fort LeBoeuf Historical Society, n.d. http://fortleboeufhistory.com/campus/museum/.

[4] Washington, George. The Journal of George Washington: an Account of His First Official Mission. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1959.

[5] “Ten Facts About George Washington and the French & Indian War.” George Washington's Mount Vernon. https://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/french-indian-war/ten-facts-about-george-washington-and-the-french-indian-war/. 

[6]“Ten Facts About George Washington and the French & Indian War.”

[7] “Fort LeBoeuf Museum”

[8] “Amos Judson House.” Erie's Historic Buildings, n.d. http://www.eriebuildings.info/buildings.php?buildingID=46009058000100.

[9] “Historic District.” Fort LeBoeuf Historical Society, n.d. http://fortleboeufhistory.com/around-town/historic-district/.