Fort Le Bœuf (often referred to as Fort de la Rivière au Bœuf) was a fort established by the French during 1753 on a fork of French Creek (in the drainage area of the River Ohio), in present-day Waterford, in northwest Pennsylvania. The fort was part of a line that included Fort Presque Isle, Fort Machault, and Fort Duquesne. Today, the site of the fort is occupied by the Fort LeBoeuf Museum, operated by the Fort LeBoeuf Historical Society.
SITE FEATURES
On this site...
Captain Paul Marin de la Malgue began construction on 11 July 1753; Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre began command of the fort on 3 December 1753. This fort was the second of a series of posts that the French built between spring 1753 and summer 1754 to assert their possession of the Ohio Country. Fort LeBoeuf guarded the southern end of the portage road, known as the Venango Path, between Lake Erie and French Creek, which flowed to the Allegheny River and ultimately to the River Ohio. It served as a French trading post and garrison until 1759, when the capture of Fort Niagara forced the French to abandon the Ohio Country.
FORT
EST. 1753
FORTIFICATION
Robert Dinwiddie, the governor of Virginia, sent the 21-year-old George Washington, a major in the Virginia militia, to Fort Le Boeuf with seven escorts, in order to deliver a message to the French demanding that they leave the Ohio Country. Dinwiddie was responding to news of the French building forts in the Ohio Country. Washington took explorer Christopher Gist along as his guide; during the trip, Gist saved the young Washington's life on two occasions. Washington and Gist arrived at Fort Le Boeuf on 11 December 1753. Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, commandant at Fort Le Boeuf, a tough veteran of the west, received Washington politely, but contemptuously rejected his blustering ultimatum.
During his stay, Washington noted that the fort had one hundred men, numerous officers, and birch canoes and 70 pine canoes, many unfinished. He described the fort as on a south or west fork of French Creek, near the water, and almost surrounded by it. Four houses composed the sides. The bastions were made of piles driven into the ground, standing more than 12 feet high, and sharpened at the top. Port holes for cannon and loop-holes for small-arms were cut into the bastions. Each bastion mounted eight six-pound cannon and one four-pound cannon guarded the gate. Inside the bastions stood a guard-house, chapel, doctor's lodging and the commander's private stores. Outside the fort were several log barracks, some covered with bark, others with boards. In addition, there were stables, a smithy and other buildings.
HISTORIC PEOPLE
George Washington
Commander-in-Chief
Historic PLACES
Historic PEOPLE
Historic ROUTES
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