The Kittanning Expedition, also known as the Armstrong Expedition or the Battle of Kittanning, was a raid during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

that led to the destruction of the American Indian village of Kittanning, which had served as a staging point for attacks by

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

warriors against colonists in the British

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...

. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel

John Armstrong Sr. John Armstrong (October 13, 1717March 9, 1795) was an American civil engineer and soldier who served as a brigadier general in the Continental Army and as a major general in the Pennsylvania Militia during the Revolutionary War. He was also ...

, this raid deep into hostile territory was the only major expedition carried out by Pennsylvanian provincial troops during a brutal backcountry war. Early on September 8, 1756, they launched a surprise attack on the Indian village.

Background

Although it eventually became a worldwide conflict known as the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

, the

began on the Pennsylvania frontier as a struggle for control of the Ohio Country. With the

surrender Surrender may refer to: * Surrender (law), the early relinquishment of a tenancy * Surrender (military), the relinquishment of territory, combatants, facilities, or armaments to another power Film and television * ''Surrender'' (1927 film), an ...

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

Fort Necessity Fort Necessity National Battlefield is a National Battlefield in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, which preserves the site of the Battle of Fort Necessity. The battle, which took place on July 3, 1754, was an early battle of the ...

in 1754 and Braddock's defeat in 1755, the settlers on the Pennsylvania frontier were without professional military protection, and scrambled to organize a defense. The French-allied Indians who had defeated General

Edward Braddock Major-General Edward Braddock (January 1695 – 13 July 1755) was a British officer and commander-in-chief for the Thirteen Colonies during the start of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), the North American front of what is known in Europe ...

at the Monongahela were primarily from the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...

to the north. The local Indians, mostly

and

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

who had migrated to the area after white colonists had settled their lands to the east, had waited to see who would win the contest—they could not risk siding with the loser. With

Fort Duquesne Fort Duquesne (, ; originally called ''Fort Du Quesne'') was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was later taken over by the British, and later the Americans, and developed a ...

now secured, the victorious French encouraged the Lenape and Shawnee to "take up the hatchet" against those who had taken their land. Beginning about October 1755, Lenape and Shawnee war parties, often with French cooperation, began raiding settlements in Pennsylvania. Although European-Americans also waged war with cruelty, they found Indian warfare particularly brutal and frightening. Notable among the Indian raiders were the Lenape chiefs

Shingas Shingas ( fl. 17401763), was a Lenape chief and warrior who participated in military activities in Ohio Country during the French and Indian War. Allied with the French, Shingas led numerous raids on Anglo-American settlements during the war, for ...

and

Captain Jacobs Tewea, better known by his English name Captain Jacobs, (d. September 8, 1756) was a Lenape chief during the French and Indian War. Jacobs received his English name from a Pennsylvanian settler named Arthur Buchanan, who thought the chief resembled ...

, both of whom lived at Kittanning. The colonial governments of Pennsylvania and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

offered rewards for their scalps.William Albert Hunter, "Victory at Kittanning," ''Pennsylvania History,'' vol. 23, no. 3, July 1956; pp 376-407
/ref> Captain Jacobs was on an expedition led by

François Coulon de Villiers François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters" * Francis II of France, King o ...

Gilbert C. Din, "François Coulon de Villiers: More Light on an Illusive Historical Figure," ''Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association,'' vol. 23, no. 3, 2000; pp 354-355
/ref> that descended on

Fort Granville Fort Granville was a militia stockade located in the colonial Province of Pennsylvania. Its site was about a mile from Lewistown, in what is now Granville Township, Mifflin County. Active from 1755 until 1756, the stockade briefly sheltered pi ...

(near present-day Lewistown) on the morning of August 2, 1756. The attackers were held off, but the garrison commander was killed, and his second in command surrendered the garrison, including the women and children, the next morning.O'Meara, p. 174 Armstrong, the commander's brother, immediately organized an expedition against Kittanning in response.

Expedition

Armstrong led 300 Pennsylvania provincial soldiers from

Fort Shirley Fort Shirley was a fort erected by the Province of Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War. History Before the construction of Fort Shirley, a small trading post built by George Croghan was located at the site.Waddell and Bomberger, p. 88 ...

on August 31. By September 7, the column had reached the vicinity of Kittanning. Signs of a small Indian camp prompted Colonel Armstrong to detach a dozen men under Lieutenant James Hogg to monitor it while the column moved on toward the village. The next morning Armstrong launched a surprise attack on the village. Many of the Kittanning residents fled, but Captain Jacobs put up a defense, holing up with his wife and family inside their home. When he refused to surrender, his house and others were set on fire, touching off gunpowder that had been stored inside. Some buildings exploded, and pieces of Indian bodies flew high into the air and landed in a nearby cornfield. Captain Jacobs was killed and scalped after jumping from his home in an attempt to escape the flames. The battle ended when the entire village was engulfed in flames.Fischer, p. 12 Prisoners informed Armstrong that a party of 24 men had left the day before in advance of another planned raid. This news caused Armstrong some concern over the fate of Lieutenant Hogg, so he precipitately ordered a withdrawal. They were met after several miles by a mortally wounded Hogg, who reported that his force had been attacked by a larger Indian force. Some of his men had immediately fled, and most of the rest had been killed. By September 13, Armstrong and his remaining force had returned to Fort Loudon.Fisher, p. 13 According to Armstrong's report, he took 11 scalps and freed 11 prisoners, mostly women and children. He estimated that his men killed between 30 and 40 Indians. Many of the white captives who were not rescued were ferried across the

Allegheny River The Allegheny River ( ) is a long headwater stream of the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania and New York (state), New York. The Allegheny River runs from its headwaters just below the middle of Pennsylvania's northern border northwesterly into ...

in canoes, then taken by foot over trails into Ohio, where they were assimilated into the tribes. Many were not rescued until

Henry Bouquet Henry Bouquet (born Henri Louis Bouquet; 1719 – 2 September 1765) was a Swiss mercenary who rose to prominence in British service during the French and Indian War and Pontiac's War. He is best known for his victory over a Native American ...

brought them back from Ohio to Pennsylvania in 1764.

Aftermath

After the destruction of the town, many of its inhabitants returned and erected their

wigwam A wigwam, wickiup, wetu (Wampanoag), or wiigiwaam (Ojibwe, in syllabics: ) is a semi-permanent domed dwelling formerly used by certain Native American tribes and First Nations people and still used for ceremonial events. The term ''wickiup'' ...

s on the ashes of their former homes.Chester Hale Sipe, "The Principal Indian Towns of Western Pennsylvania," ''Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine,'' v. 13, no. 2; April 1, 1930; pp. 104-122
/ref> The town was reoccupied briefly and two of the English prisoners who had attempted to escape with Armstrong's men were tortured to death. The Indians then harvested their corn and moved to

, where they requested permission from the French to resettle further to the west, away from the English. According to Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger, many of Kittanning's inhabitants moved to Saucunk,

Kuskusky "at the falls, by the falls or rapids" unm, kwësh-kwëshelxus-kee "hogs" + -kee (suffix used in place names) "Hogs Town" , settlement_type = Historic Native American village , image_skyline = , imagesize = , ima ...

or Muskingum. Historian Fred Anderson notes that equivalent raids by Indians on Pennsylvania villages were usually labeled "

massacres A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

", and that the Indians considered the expedition to be one. The destruction of Kittanning was hailed as a victory in Pennsylvania, and Armstrong was known afterwards as the "Hero of Kittanning". He and his men collected the "scalp bounty" that had been placed on Captain Jacobs.Anderson, ''Crucible of War'', p. 164 However, the victory had limitations: the attackers suffered more casualties than they inflicted, and most of the villagers escaped, taking with them almost all of the prisoners that had been held in the village.Hunter, ''Pennsylvania Frontier'', p. 405–410 The expedition also probably aggravated the frontier war; subsequent Indian raids that autumn were fiercer than ever. The Kittanning Expedition revealed to the village's inhabitants their vulnerability, and many moved to more secure areas. A peace faction led by Shingas's brother Tamaqua soon came to the forefront.McConnell, p. 126 Tamaqua eventually made peace with Pennsylvania in the

Treaty of Easton The Treaty of Easton was a colonial agreement in North America signed in October 1758 during the French and Indian War (Seven Years' War) between British colonials and the chiefs of 13 Native American nations, representing tribes of the Iroquois, ...

, which enabled the British under General John Forbes to successfully mount an expedition in 1758 that drove the French from Fort Duquesne.

Notes

References

* * Crytzer, Brady J. ''War in the Peaceable Kingdom: The Kittanning Raid of 1756.'' Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2016. * * Hunter, William A. ''Forts on the Pennsylvania Frontier, 1753–1758''. Originally published 1960; Wennawoods reprint, 1999. * McConnell, Michael N. ''A Country Between: The Upper Ohio Valley and Its Peoples, 1724–1774.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
Myers, James P. "Pennsylvania's Awakening: the Kittanning Raid of 1756." ''Pennsylvania History'' 66 (Summer 1999), pp 399—420
*

External links

Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission's article on the expedition
{{coord missing, Pennsylvania 1756 in the Thirteen Colonies Conflicts in 1756 Battles of the French and Indian War Pre-statehood history of Pennsylvania Lenape Battles in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania state historical marker significations 1756 in Pennsylvania