On July 3, 1763, a courier from Fort Bedford rode into Carlisle, and as he stopped to water his horse, he was surrounded by an anxious crowd, to whom he told a sad tale of woe, and as he hurriedly mounted his horse to ride to Colonel Bouquet’s tent, he shouted, “The Indians will soon be here.”
Terror and excitement spread everywhere, messengers were dispatched in every direction to give the alarm, and the reports, harrowing as they had been, were confirmed by the fugitives who were met on every road and by-path hurrying to Carlisle for refuge.
A party armed themselves and went out to warn the living and bury the dead. They found death and destruction everywhere, and sickened with horror at seeing groups of hogs tearing and devouring the bodies of the dead.
After a delay of eighteen days, Bouquet secured enough wagons, horses and oxen, and began his perilous march towards Fort Pitt. His force was much smaller than General Braddock’s and he had to encounter a foe much more formidable. But Bouquet, the man of iron will and iron hand, had served seven years in American forests and, unlike the unfortunate Braddock, understood his work.
On July 25 Bouquet reached Fort Bedford, where he was fortunate in securing thirty backwoodsmen to accompany him. This little army toiled through the blazing heat of July over the Allegheny Mountains, and reached Fort Ligonier August 2.
The Indians who had besieged that fort for two months disappeared at the approach of the troops. Here Bouquet left his oxen and wagons and resumed his march two days later. At noon on the 5th he encountered the enemy at Bushy Run. A terrible battle raged for two days when the Indians were put to rout. The loss of the British was one hundred and fifteen men and eight officers. The little army was then twenty-five miles distant from Fort Pitt, which place was reached August 10.
The enemy had abandoned the siege[siege] on this fort and marched their forces to unite with those engaged in combat with Colonel Bouquet at Bushy Run, so when they were compelled to retreat after that battle, they had not sufficient time, or lacked the courage to attack Fort Pitt with Colonel Bouquet in hot pursuit.
It was at this time that Colonel Bouquet built the little redoubt which is at the present all that remains of Fort Pitt, in fact is the only existing monument of British occupancy in the vicinity of Pittsburgh.
The Indians abandoned all their former settlements, and retreated to the Muskingum; here they formed new settlements, and in the spring of 1764 again began to ravage the frontier. To put an end to these depredations, General Gage planned a campaign into the western wilderness from two points. General Bradstreet was ordered to advance by way of the lakes, and Colonel Bouquet was to go forward from Fort Pitt.
After the usual delays and disappointments in securing troops from Pennsylvania and Virginia to aid in this expedition Colonel Bouquet again arrived at Fort Pitt, September 17, where he was detained until October 3. He led his troops from Fort Pitt following the north bank of the Ohio until he reached the Beaver, where he turned towards central Ohio.