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In commemoration of the American Revolution's Semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary, this blog is dedicated to the associated events that transpired in Western Pennsylvania and the surrounding region.  The War for Independence was principally fought in the eastern portion of the American colonies, however, the area west of the Allegheny mountains also played a significant role. While no major battles were fought there, defense of the frontier was critical in order to prevent British forces at Detroit and their Native American allies from disrupting the American war effort in the east.

The economic and military hub of the region was Fort Pitt, located at the “Forks of the Ohio” where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio River (present day Pittsburgh, PA). This region was encompassed by present day Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia and extended along the Ohio River valley into the Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois countries. At the time, Western Pennsylvania also was claimed by Virginia and was known as the West Augusta District.

The Patriots residing west of the Allegheny Mountains included immigrants of Scotch-Irish, Irish, and German heritage. They not only confronted the British threat from Detroit on the frontier, but many were recruited to serve in companies and regiments (most notable the 8^th Pennsylvania and 13^th Virginia) who marched over the mountains to reinforce Washington’s main army in the east. There they fought in many skirmishes and major engagements, including the American victory at Saratoga, a turning point in the war where frontier riflemen from Westmoreland and Bedford counties played a pivotal role while serving under Colonel Daniel Morgan.

The western patriots also included many women who often fought alongside the men, committing incredible acts of bravery. One such heroine was Betty Zane, who as a young woman in 1782 reportedly made a frantic dash carrying gunpowder to the besieged Fort Henry (present day Wheeling, WV) while under fire from British rangers and Shawnee and Wyandot warriors. Numerous women also accompanied the army as “camp followers,” working critical jobs such as nurses, laundresses, and cooks. Mary Geyer from Westmoreland County was one such woman, employed as a laundress for the Pennsylvania State Regiment in which her husband Peter served as a private and her son John as a drummer.

While Native Americans in the Ohio country primarily allied themselves with the British, others supported the patriot cause, including Koquechagachton (also known as White Eyes), a chief of the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) nation, which inhabited the eastern Ohio country. He traveled to Philadelphia in April 1776 to address the Continental Congress and along with Hokoleskwa (also known as Cornstalk), a chief of the Shawnee nation, endeavored to keep peace in the west during the early years of the conflict by maintaining Delaware and Shawnee neutrality.  Koquechagachton also was one of the signatories on the first treaty made by the United States with an Indian nation, the 1778 Treaty of Fort Pitt, which included a proposal that the Delaware nation be considered for admission as the fourteenth state.  Another important Native American ally was the Shawnee chieftess Nonhelema, sister of Hokoleskwa. Known as the Grenadier Squaw due to her imposing height, she also worked to maintain peace and warned American frontier forts on several occasions of impending attacks by British and Native American allies, saving numerous lives.

African Americans on the western frontier, both free and enslaved, also played important roles in the patriot cause. Henry Dorton, a free person of color who as a small child was pressed into indentured servitude by Maryland law because he was of mixed race, moved west after being freed at the age of twenty. He settled in the Redstone area of the Monongahela valley (present day Brownsville, PA) and was drafted into the local militia on two occasions to serve at Fort Pitt. On his second tour he was a member of General Lachlan McIntosh’s expedition into the Ohio country and helped to build Fort Laurens, the only fort constructed by the United States during the American Revolution in what would become the state of Ohio. Richard “Dick” Pointer, an enslaved man in the Virginia Greenbrier settlement, bravely defended Fort Donnally during a Shawnee attack, helping to prevent the initial assault of warriors from forcing open the fort’s door.

These extraordinary accounts illustrate the roles this diverse collection of people living throughout the region west of the Allegheny mountains played in America’s fight for independence. Letters, journals, and other primary sources from the participants are used where available to expand on these narratives, with the stories being placed in context to familiar historical events of the day. 

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