Mount Washington

Mount Washington. Native Americans in the Upper Ohio Valley. , The first prehistoric peoples arrived in the upper Ohio Valley over 16,000 years ago, living as a hunting and gathering society. As the climate warmed and glaciers receded, experiments with agriculture became possible, and native peoples began to domesticate crops and develop a more settled way of life. In this area, the Monongahela People, as they became known to modern day anthropologists, lived in circular villages, cultivating corn, beans and squash, and supplementing their livelihoods with hunting, gathering, fishing, and trading., EUROPEAN EXPANSION THROUGH PITTSBURGH , In the French and Indian War, both the British and the French claimed rights to the forks of the Ohio River, a gateway to the West. Most native groups fought with the French, believing them more likely to act favorably regarding land rights. Native fears were well founded, and as the British gained control of large land areas, a royal proclamation acknowledging Native American land rights west of the Allegheny Mountains went largely ignored., A NEW WORLD ORDER , By 1635 the Monongahela People had disappeared, either falling victim to the onslaught of European disease or to intertribal warfare. By 1700 they were replaced by groups of Shawnee from the south, Iroquois from the north, and Lenape who had been displaced from their eastern homes by European settlement. As European traders and explorers pressed west, illnesses and broken treaties, coupled with a growing native dependency upon European goods and trade relations, dramatically changed Native American economic and social relations., (Sidebar):, February 1754 , The British rush to establish Fort Prince George at the point where the three rivers meet., April 1754 , French forces, floating down the Allegheny, easily overwhelm Fort Prince George and proceed to build Fort Duquesne on the site., May - July 1754 , An attempt to retake the area by the British, with a column led by George Washington, is quashed; Washington surrenders at Fort Necessity, south of Pittsburgh., July 1755 , Another British force under General Edward Braddock advances to within miles of Fort Duquesne, but is routed by an Indian ambush and is forced to retreat., September 1758 , General John Forbes leads one more campaign to capture Fort Duquesne, but an advance column is again soundly defeated., November 1758 , Forbes receives word that the French are faring poorly on other fronts and decides to launch an immediate attack rather than wait until spring. This time, he is successful in driving the French from the fort. Pittsborough is named., 1759-1761 , Fort Pitt is constructed at the confluence of the rivers. Today, the fort's remaining blockhouse is the oldest authenticated structure still standing west of the Appalachian Mountains and contains a museum of Pittsburgh's early history.