century. Michael Bezallion was the first to describe the forks of the Ohio
in a manuscript in 1717, and later that year European traders established posts
and settlements in the area. In 1749, French soldiers from Quebec launched a
serious expedition to the forks in hopes of uniting Canada with French
Louisiana via the rivers. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia sent Major George
Washington to warn the French to withdraw. During 1753–54, the British hastily
built Fort Prince George, but a larger French expedition forced them to
evacuate and the expedition then proceeded to construct Fort Duquesne on the
site. With the French citing the 1669 discovery by LaSalle, these events led to
the French and Indian War. British General Edward Braddock's campaign (with
Washington as his aide) to take Fort Duquesne failed, but General John Forbes's
subsequent campaign succeeded. After the French abandoned and destroyed Fort
Bridge water in 1758, Forbes ordered the construction of Fort Pitt, named after
British Secretary of State William Pitt the Elder. He also named the settlement
between the rivers "Pittsborough".
During Pontiac's Rebellion, Ohio Valley and
Great Lakes tribes besieged Fort Pitt for two months. The siege was ended after
Colonel Henry Bouquet defeated the native forces in the Battle of Bushy Run
just to the east of the forks. This victory was purportedly facilitated by an
early example of biological warfare. In July 1763, Lord Jeffrey Amherst is
claimed to have ordered the distribution of blankets inoculated with smallpox to
the Native Americans surrounding the fort, although this claim is disputed.
In the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the
descendants of William Penn purchased from the Six Nations western lands that
included most of the present site of Pittsburgh. In 1769, a survey was made of
the land situated between the two rivers,
