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Old Fort Duquesne, or, Captain Jack, the scout. McKnight, Charles, (1826–1881).
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BRADDOCK'S SCOUTS OVERLOOKING FORT DUQUESNE AND THE SITE OF PITTSBURG. Frontispiece.

OLD FORT DUQUESNE: OR, CAPTAIN JACK, THE SCOUT. AN HISTORICAL NOVEL, WITH COPIOUS NOTES.

BY

CHARLES McKNIGHT.

A poor humor of mine, sir, to take that, that no man else will. "As You Like it." BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED.

PITTSBURGH: PEOPLES MONTHLY PUBLISHING CO.

1873.
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by CHARLES MCKNIGHT, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

BETWEEN the two rivers which enclose the great and growing city of Pittsburgh, stood the old French fort which gives name to our story. Within a brief distance lies the scene of Braddock's bloody battle, and disastrous defeat; which, together with the remarkable expedition that terminated there, form, as it were, the central points of this historical novel. It seems most appropriate, therefore, as it certainly is most agreeable to the Author, that to the PEOPLE OF PITTSBURGH, among whom he has passed his whole life, and whose sturdy virtues and contempt for shams he has ever respected, this attempt to weave into a readable romance some of the stirring events connected with the struggle for their old fort, and to introduce a few of the more notable characters, white and red, who lived or fought along their three rivers, should be, as it now is, respectfully DEDICATED.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

  • BRADDOCK'S SCOUTS OVERLOOKING FORT DUQUESNE AND THE SITE OF PITTSBURGH. Frontispiece.
  • A STRANGE SCENE ON "FOUR-MILE RUN." 54
  • CAPTAIN JACK'S PANTHER LEAP ON THE BIG SHAWNEE. 105
  • LORD TALBOT'S SCALP SAVED BY HIS WIG. 112
  • EXCITING CANOE RACE BETWEEN INDIAN GIRLS. 149
  • SERGEANT MACPHERSON PLEADING FOR ANOTHER SHOT. 335
  • LORD TALBOT ADOPTED INTO THE SHAWNEE TRIBE. 377
  • MAJOR HALKET FINDS THE SKELETONS OF FATHER AND BROTHER. 468

PREFACE.

IT is rather an odd coincidence, that part of the title of this book bears precisely the same name as that of the now famous Modoc Chieftain, whose late exploits are familiar to the whole nation. We need only say in explanation that our Captain Jack was a veritable character in Colonial annals, known as a famous border-ranger along the whole Pennsylvania frontier, and that the historical novel, in which he is made to figure as the hero, was not only written but was in print, before the author even so much as heard there was another Captain Jack, of a deeper color, whose bloody and desperate deeds give him a rather bad pre-eminence. A brief biographical notice of the Pennsylvania Jack will be found in the Appendix at the end of this volume.

The object of the present book may be expressed in few words. The spot where now stands the great and prosperous city of Pittsburgh, was once a place not only of national, but of world-wide importance. Great Britain, France, Great Britain again, Virginia, the United States, and, lastly, Pennsylvania, have each, in turn, exercised sovereignty over it. In 1774 it was the field of controversy between neighboring States, and in 1794 was, with the circumjacent territory, the scene of a formidable insurrection.

"Old Fort Duquesne" existed but about five years, yet during that brief time was a place of great importance and over-shadowing interest. It was the first point of struggle between the French and English for the possession of all the vast domain watered by the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and their tributaries. If not the cause, it formed the occasion of the celebrated "Seven Years War," which involved almost page: 6-7 (Table of Contents) [View Page 6-7 (Table of Contents) ] most all Europe in desperate conflict. It was the object of Braddock's far-famed though ill-fated expedition, terminating in one of the most disastrous defeats ever known to history, and, by consequence, the ruthless scourging of the Pennsylvania border by savages, from the Potomac to the Juniata.

Then ensued the memorable defeat of Grant and his Highlanders at a point in the very centre of the present city of Pittsburgh; the advance of General Forbes' British American army; the evacuation and destruction of Fort Duquesne by the French, and the subsequent construction of the costly and formidable Fort Pitt, which endured even to the present century.

It is fitting, therefore, that some "Old Mortality" should essay—with what success the kind reader must determine—to re-grave the almost effaced and perishing lines of a long-distant past; should seek to weave together in a readable form the more memorable and interesting events of that very exciting period; to revive some of the more striking historic associations which cluster about the old French fort; to fight over again the disastrous battle of Braddock's Fields, and, finally, to introduce the most notable persons engaged—Indian chiefs, white scouts, and prominent officers, the more important of whom were Braddock and Washington.

It is, therefore, to such a distant and almost forgotten past that we have the temerity to invite the reader's attention, and it is in the fortunes of the old French fort which stood at the head of the Ohio that we seek to engage his interest and occupy his fancies.

CONTENTS.

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