10/07/2026
At the outpost at Raes Town, Brigadier General John Forbes lay suffering from a sickness that befell him like a "newborn infant." It was early October of 1758 and the ailing general welcomed any news that would counter his army's recent setback. About a week before, an unfortunate express dated September 17 arrived from Colonel Henry Bouquet at the "Loyalhannon." The alarming letter told of the misfortune of Major James Grant and his detachment, who when trying to reconnoiter the roads and the forces of the enemy, were defeated by a sortie of French and Indians near Fort Duquesne. Worse yet, there was still no update as to Grant's whereabouts or the status of his captured men.
Yet, what could have been another doomed expedition in future western Pennsylvania, suddenly changed with the arrival of a familar rider wearing a brown broadcloth coat and a beaver hat with "dressing lace." Captain William Trent dismounted and gave the sickly Forbes his intelligence, the same detailed report he had given Colonel James Burd at the "Loyalhannon" on the 29th of September. Trent and a party of Cherokee and Catawba had engaged a party of Lenape and French soldiers, killing some and wounding a few others just a mile from Fort Duquesne. His Native counterparts had even "gifted" a French scalp to Colonel Burd.
However it was the latter of his report that Forbes found enlightening. Trent had found a "good road from the Breastwork to Turtle Creek." Despite the road's uncertainty closer to the French fort, he trusted Trent's experience and whose "frame of words" with the Natives had already saved the expedition earlier that summer at Fort Loudoun. It also gave Forbes the validation he needed to advance the rest of his army to the "Loyalhannon" to join Colonel Burd and eventually recapture the Forks of the Ohio.
So, if you wish to learn more of Trent's courageous exploits, come join the rest of Captain William Trent's Company at Fort Ligonier's French and Indian War Encampment this upcoming weekend October 10th and October 11th.
