Overview:
Few places in America can rival the Point, a small area at the forks of the Ohio River, for historical significance. The long contest (1755-1763) between France and Great Britain that started here would develop into an epic struggle between the two imperial powers--what many regard as the first truly world war. On the fate of the Point would hinge that of half of the North American continent, as well as the destiny of the republic that would come into existence in 1776.

During the mid-1700s, the French and the British erected fortifications that protected their claims to the early West and served as bases for their trade with the Native Americans. Even after the departure of the French in 1758, the area retained significant strategic value as Americans, the British, and Native Americans wrestled for ultimate control. Meanwhile, the city of Pittsburgh took root and flourished, growing into a major industrial and commercial center that engulfed the Point. Redevelopment of the area during the mid-20th century included creation of a new state park that enables visitors to experience what the Point was like during its early years.

The Fort Pitt Museum is located in a re-created 18th century bastion of the fort that Great Britain built in 1759, after it captured the Point from the French; the outline of the French Fort Duquesne, built in 1754, is nearby. The Museum's exhibits focus on the struggle that exploded into the French and Indian War (sometimes referred to as The Seven Year War or the War for Empire) but also addresses such topics as the American Revolution, the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, and the founding of the city of Pittsburgh.

A Contest for Control:
For the French, the Ohio River and other waterways represented the best way to connect their well-established colonies in New France (in present-day Canada) and the Great Lakes to their many outposts, which extended as far south as Louisiana. Conversely, by expanding their settlements and trade activities beyond the Allegheny Mountains into the fertile Ohio River Valley, the British would be asserting their own control of this area while blocking French expansion.

By the mid-1700s, the two powers recognized that the Forks of the Ohio--where the French line of communication was most vulnerable--was the major strategic prize in this epic struggle and resolved to challenge one another for its control by building a fortification there. France and Great Britain would risk many lives and spend enormous sums to control this piece of land. Caught between two of Europe's most powerful nations, Native Americans in the region strove to preserve their culture and lands.

The contest began in late 1753, when the governor of Virginia dispatched a young militia officer to the French outposts in what is now southwestern Pennsylvania in order to warn them that they were encroaching on land that Virginia claimed as its own. This young officer, George Washington, observed firsthand the importance of the Forks of the Ohio and recommended that Virginia put a fortification there. The governor concurred and sent a small detachment of soldiers to build a fort, to be named Fort Prince George, on the Point. As the soldiers were constructing this fort, in April 1754, a force of 500 French troops and Native Americans overwhelmed them without firing a shot and subsequently began constructing Fort Duquesne in its place. On May 28, 1754, reinforcements from Virginia led by Washington clashed with a group of French soldiers 50 miles south of the Point in what became known as the Jumonville Affair. In retaliation, 900 French and Indian soldiers attacked Fort Necessity, which Washington had hurriedly built, and forced him to surrender late on the night of July 3, 1754.

The British government, having decided that the Point must be taken, in 1755 sent General Edward Braddock and 1,500 regular troops to accomplish this task. Braddock built a road out of Virginia, across Maryland, and into southern Pennsylvania, but he was surprised and defeated by the smaller force of French and Native Americans at Turtle Creek on July 9, 1755, in what is known as the Battle of the Monongahela. Two-thirds of those in Braddock's force were killed or wounded in devastating defeat. The battle's aftermath was a wave of attacks by Native Americans all along the colonial frontier and, in time, conflict between France and England around the world: the final colonial war between the two powers, which would extend until 1763, had begun in southwestern Pennsylvania.

It was not until three years later, on November 25, 1758, that another army--6,000 British and Colonial soldiers led by General John Forbes--reclaimed the Point for the British Empire. Forbes's army, having cut another road across most of Pennsylvania in order to reach the Point, arrived to find it in ruins; the French, again outnumbered and now poorly supplied, had abandoned Fort Duquesne to the British. Subsequent defeats of the French elsewhere, culminating in the capture of Quebec in September 1759, brought an end to France's long-lived empire in North America.

The Beginnings of Pittsburgh:
Once General Forbes secured the Point for Great Britain, he commissioned a temporary fort (sometimes called Fort Mercer, after its commander) to replace the one the French had left in ashes and ordered that a new, permanent fortification be built of earth, stone, timber, and brick on a site just east of the ruins of Fort Duquesne. Forbes named the area "Pittsbourgh" in honor of William Pitt, the British Prime Minister who had led the successful war against France.

Almost immediately the official name of Pittsbourgh evolved into "Pittsburgh" and the fort itself gradually became known as "Fort Pitt". One of the largest British strongholds in North America (17 1/2 acres in all, 2 1/2 acres within the walls), it became the center of British military and trading activities west of the Allegheny Mountains. Though it was never attacked by the French, Fort Pitt (along with nearby Fort Ligonier and a handful of smaller outposts) was among the few British forts that successfully withstood a Native American siege during the conflict known as Pontiac's War. During the siege, which lasted from May 27 to August 9, 1763, hundreds of people took refuge inside Fort Pitt. Only when Colonel Henry Bouquet led British troops to a victory over Native American forces in the battle of Bushy Run was the siege lifted.

Fort Pitt and the American Revolution:
With the French threat gone, Great Britain could reduce its military presence on the frontier and evacuate Fort Pitt, which was proving difficult and expensive to maintain. In October of 1772 they sold the fort and its buildings to William Thompson and Alexander Ross for £50 New York currency. Which civil authority would now govern the area was unclear, though, for Pennsylvania and Virginia both believed that is today the southwest corner of Pennsylvania fell within their territory. In 1774, Virginia began to enforce its claim to be the region "west of Laurel Hill": John Connolly took over the fort, rebuilt it, and named it Fort Dunmore after the governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore. (This name did not catch on.) Supporters of Virginia and those of Pennsylvania clashed repeatedly through May of 1775.

When word of the battles at Lexington and Concord reached Pittsburgh that month, the Virginia and Pennsylvania factions were able to work together to support the American Revolution. Conferences with Native Americans, held at fort Pitt, achieved a tenuous neutrality between the new Continental government and the Native American nations in the region. Fort Pitt was maintained by Virginia's revolutionary government until 1777, when an increase in attacks by Native Americans allied with the British and American Loyalists prompted the Continental Congress to appoint General Edward Hand to take control of Fort Pitt, which under Hand and his successors served as the Western District headquarters of the Continental Army.

Troops and supplies were gathered at Fort Pitt for the defense of the new nation's western frontier, and a series of military campaigns would venture west from the fort at the Forks of the Ohio. In addition, negotiations with Native American nations in the region continued to be held at Fort Pitt. The first peace treaty the United States ever signed with Native Americans was negotiated and signed at Fort Pitt on September 17, 1778.

Fort Pitt's Final Years:
When the American Revolution ended, Fort Pitt and West Point were the only military fortifications that the United States Army maintained. Fort Pitt would continue as a supply depot and base of operations until 1792, when its condition had deteriorated so much that a new fort, called Fort Fayette, was built to replace it. (This fort was located near Ninth Street and Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh). The old fort was finally dismantled and salvaged, its remnants used by Pittsburghers in their construction of more permanent housing for themselves. Soon the site of Fort Pitt was being used for other purposes.

The Emergence of Pittsburgh:
For years, the settlements that grew up around Fort Pitt had been little more than a garrison town servicing the fort. By the 1790s, however, Pittsburgh began to develop on its own. With expansion westward beginning to boom, and much of the migration westward passing through Pittsburgh and down the Ohio River, the town was ideally located to serve as the "Gateway to the West". Here travelers stocked up before heading further west. Here, too, products from the East and the West were exchanged.

Pittsburgh's unparalleled strategic location was key to its success in another way: besides being well situated physically it was surrounded by valuable natural resources vital to industrial development. Pittsburgh's industry and commerce blossomed throughout the 19th century. Gristmills, printing shops, manufacturing establishments, shipbuilders, glassworks (Pittsburgh made most of America's glass during this time), and the iron industry took root and grew vigorously in the Pittsburgh area. With its heavy river traffic and diverse commerce and industry, Pittsburgh truly was "The Workshop of the World". At its peak, Pittsburgh produced more than one quarter of all the steel made in the entire world.

By the mid-20th century, Pittsburgh took stock of itself. The first priority was to clean up its air and then its physical appearance, undertaking a bold urban redevelopment that gained world attention. Part of that immense project involved replacing the substandard housing and industrial buildings of the historic Point with a scenic area, Point State Park. The city also built new strengths in such areas as robotics, computer science, and medicine. As a result of all these steps, Pittsburgh gained attention as an example of a "renaissance city"--but one that still values its past, a past that began here at the Point.

The Fort Pitt Museum

This structure, dedicated in 1969 and subsequently enlarged, is a site of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Housed in the recreated Monongahela Bastion, its exterior construction shows visitors how Fort Pitt used earthworks and masonry facing for its defense. Inside, 27,000 square feet containing dioramas and exhibits depicting the region's history from the early French expeditions to the beginning of Pittsburgh's industrial age before 1800.

A visit begins in William Pitt Memorial Hall, whose 16-foot wide well houses a scale model of Fort Pitt and the Point as they looked in 1765; a recorded narration highlights key features of both. Also on the first floor are replicas of a fur trader's cabin, a barracks room, and an artillery casemate--all reminders of what life at this colonial outpost was like.

Upstairs, a newly installed exhibit portrays the causes, events, and consequences of the long contest between France and Great Britain, with special emphasis on the role that the Point and Fort Pitt itself played. Many original documents and artifacts are displayed. Visitors should allow one to three hours, depending on individual interest, to see the entire Museum, which also houses the Bastion Gift Shop.

The Blockhouse

The small structure popularly known as "the blockhouse" (in actuality a strong defensive structure outside Fort Pitt itself that provided covering fire in any attack) is not only the last surviving building of the original fort and Pittsburgh's earliest building, but the oldest authenticated structure west of the Allegheny Mountains. Dating to 1764, it was used for many other purposes during its long history. Today, the restored blockhouse, which is administered by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), serves as a final link to the 18 acres that formed the first site of the city of Pittsburgh. There is no admission charge to the blockhouse.