As he waits in Pittsburgh for the military barge to be completed, Lewis leaves little record of his day-to-day activities. Contemporary travelers François André Michaux and Thaddeus Harris describe the ruins of Fort Duquesne.
Fort Pitt, 1776
Unknown artist. Originally from the Pennsylvania State Archives.
Michaux’s Fort Duquesne
On the summit of the angle the French built Fort Duquesne, which is now entirely destroyed, and nothing more is seen than the vestige of the ditches that surrounded it. This spot affords the most pleasing view, produced by the perspective of the rivers, overshadowed with forests, and especially the Ohio, which flows in a strait line, and, to appearance, loses itself in space.
—François André Michaux[1]François André Michaux, Travels to the West of the Alleghany Mountains (1805 reprint from London edition), p. 59 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. … Continue reading
Harris’s 1803 Description
Immediately on the point was erected the old French garrison Du Quesne, built by M. de la Jonquier at the command of the Marquis du Quesne, Governor of Canada, in 1754. General Forbes, who took it Nov. 25, 1758, built a new fort, which he called “Fort Pitt,” in honor of the Earl of Chatham; adjacent to the former, but higher up the Monongahela. It was formerly a place of some consequence in the annals of frontier settlements; but fell into decay upon its being given up by its founders. Being included in one of the manors of the Penn family, it was sold by the proprietaries, and is now laid out in house-lots as a part of the town of Pittsburg, which was built in the year 1765.
—Thaddeus Harris[2]Thaddeus Harris, The Journal of a Tour into the Territory Northwest of the Alleghany Mountains Made in the Spring of the Year 1803, p. 40 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies … Continue reading
Notes
| ↑1 | François André Michaux, Travels to the West of the Alleghany Mountains (1805 reprint from London edition), p. 59 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1904), p. 156–7. |
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| ↑2 | Thaddeus Harris, The Journal of a Tour into the Territory Northwest of the Alleghany Mountains Made in the Spring of the Year 1803, p. 40 in Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1904), p. 342. |
| ↑3 | Reuben G. Thwaites, Travels West of the Alleghanies (Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1904), p. 156n20; “Fort Duquesne,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Duquesne accessed 7 December 2022. |
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The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Discover More
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
- The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.
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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).