Colonel James Smith, at that time a prisoner who had been adopted into one of the tribes, in his very valuable narrative, says that after the defeat of Major Grant the Indians held a council, in which their opinions were divided. Some believed General Forbes would now turn back and go home the way he came, as Dunbar had done after the Braddock defeat; others supposed he would press forward and make the attack. The French urged the Indians to remain, but many returned to their squaws, children and hunting.
These things were unknown to the English. But when the actual condition of affairs in Fort Duquesne reached General Forbes, he concluded, late as it was, to advance.
On November 13 Colonel John Armstrong with one thousand men was sent forward to assist Colonel Washington in opening the road, and four days later General Forbes pressed forward. He met with no opposition, but the extremely disagreeable weather impeded his progress. The wagons and all the artillery, except a few light pieces, were left behind.
The force consisted of 2500 picked men, who marched without shelter or baggage and burdened only with knapsack and blankets. There were in addition the pioneers, wagoners and provincials engaged to work on the roads. Friendly Indians were kept out as scouts, and the greatest vigilance was exercised to avoid surprise. Washington and Armstrong opened the way to within a day’s march of the fort.
On the evening of November 24, the army encamped among the hills of Turtle Creek. That night they were informed by an Indian scout that he had discovered a cloud of smoke above the fort and soon after another scout came with the certain intelligence that the fort was burned and abandoned by the enemy. A troop of horse was sent forward immediately to extinguish the fire. At midnight the men on guard heard a dull and heavy booming over the western woods.
In the morning the march was resumed, the strong advance guard leading the column. Forbes came next, carried in his litter, as he was quite ill. The troops followed in three parallel columns, the Highlanders, under Montgomery, in the center, the Royal Americans on the right and the provincials on the left under Colonels Bouquet and Washington. It was dusk when they emerged upon the open plain and saw Fort Duquesne before them, with the background of wintry hills beyond the Monongahela and Allegheny.
When the fort was invested on November 25 it presented a sorry appearance. It had consisted of two fortifications, about 200 yards apart. One, built with immense labor, was small but strong; the other stood on the bank of the Allegheny, in form of a parallelogram, but weaker than the other. There were about thirty chimneys standing, the houses being destroyed by fire.
The French had also blown up one of the magazines, but in the other was found sixteen barrels of ammunition, a large quantity of iron, gun barrels, guns and a cartload of scalping knives. It has never been made known if they buried their cannon in the river or carried them away in their hasty retreat.
A boy twelve years old who had been an Indian prisoner two years escaped during the retreat and told General Forbes that the French had carried a large quantity of wood into the fort and that they burned five of the prisoners they took at Major Grant’s defeat on the parade and delivered the others to the Indians, who tomahawked the men on the spot.
There were many dead bodies found within a short distance of the fort, and many evidences of French inhumanity.