Text Box: Before and After the Naming of Pittsburgh — 1758 Text Box: The city of Pittsburgh will observe in 2008 the 250th anniversary of the naming of Ft. Pitt by Gen. John Forbes. This seminal event came at the conclusion of the French (British) and Indian War, 1758, when Gen. Forbes, Col. Henry Bouquet and the British army found the French Ft. Duquesne in ashes between the three rivers. This year is also the anniversary of the first worship offered from the new Ft. Pitt. What were some of the steps that led up to and immediately following this dramatic event? If King Charles II had not been in debt to William Penn’s father, Admiral Penn, and his son William had not been a rebellious youth, Pennsylvania would not be as it is today. William Penn joined the Society of Friends, the “Quakers,” and their dissenting ideals about faith and the English society. King Charles agreed in 1681 to give the 37 year old dissenter a tract of land in the American colony, to be called Pennsylvania, perhaps as one way to get him out of England. Quakers in England persistently and courageously held core values which included equality, simplictly and tolerance, and primarily, pacificism, all of which William Penn professed in and for his new Pennsylvania. In a short time, the conflict between the spiritual doctrines they held and the necessary functions of government surfaced. To lessen the conflict, the governor and legislators were largely not Quakers. This strategy sufficed until 1755 when the question of military preparedness had to be addressed. With the French forces on the north and Spanish forces on the south of the keystone colony, with Indians everywhere, the threat of military invasion and Indian attacks confronted the government. Should Pennsylvania have a militia ready to fight, or not, and should there be forts built in the colony (which at first really meant east of the Allegheny Mountains), or not? Benjamin Franklin stepped forward by stating that a function of government was to protect the populace, but not to cater to the religious convictions of one portion of the population. Thus ended the predominant Quaker pacifist influence in Pennsylvania government, a foretaste of the separation of church and state that Thomas Jefferson would eventually bring to pass. The British Parliament took action in 1755 by sending the army, led by Maj. Gen. Edward Braddock, to evict the French from Ft. Duquesne and from western Pennsylvania. The French (British) and Indian War had begun. The Governor and Council declared war on the Delaware and Shawnee Indians, which shocked the pacifist Quakers who felt peace could be held with the Indians by friendly and charitable outreach. The Text Box: few Quakers still in colonial government resigned, and Franklin replaced them with Anglicans. In 1758, Maj. Gen. John Forbes led another British army to destroy Ft. Duquesne, and they were successful. It was Forbes’ privilege to name the new British fort Ft. Pitt, and the point of three rivers to be named Pittsburgh. One keen observer who witnessed and reported on the way the American Indian conducted daily life and engaged in warfare around Pittsburgh was the Rev. Joseph Doddridge. Doddridge was born in Bedford County, Pa., in 1769, and the family soon moved into the wilderness of Washington County. Doddridge was ordained an Episcopal deacon in 1792 and priest in 1800. (Francis Reno was ordained in 1791 and he served (Old) St. Luke’s Church as resident vicar.) Doddridge also studied medicine to be a resource for his ministry. We believe he came to (Old) St. Luke’s for a convention in 1804 and perhaps at other times. Until his death in 1826, Doddridge ceaselessly traveled around the Ohio valley as an itinerant missionary. He truly knew frontier life. In his Memoir he wrote accounts of the seemingly unending conflict with Indians, who were often egged on by the French, attacking almost defenseless Ohio valley settlers. Doddridge wrote that the Indians “struck out of the silence of the backwoods.” Such threats forced a community of families to huddle together in a nearby military garrison, block house or a private residence. John DeMay’s monograph “The Settler’s Forts of Western Pennsylvania” identifies 30 nearby garrisons, near the western boundary of Washington County. Doddridge’s fort was in today’s Independence Township, on state route 884, near West Middletown, and big enough to shelter 12 families. Could Maj. William Lea’s home, where (Old) St. Luke’s sits today, have been a family refuge and near a British military garrison? Doddridge described the use of these forts. “... During the long continued Indian wars, backwoodsmen enjoyed no peace excepting in the winter season, which was hailed as a jubilee by the early inhabitants, who throughout the spring and early fall had been cooped up in uncomfortable forts. At the approach of winter, the farmers moved to their own cabins with joyful feelings. It sometimes happened that the weather became warm and lasted for a considerable number of days. This was the Indian Summer, because it afforded the Indians another opportunity of visiting the settlements with destructive warfare. The apprehension of another visit, and of being driven back to the detested forts, was distressing.....” References: John A. DeMay, “The Settlers Forts of Western Pennsylvania” Closson Press, 1997 Daniel J. Boorstin, “The Americans: The Colonial Experience” Vintage, Books, 1958.