If I were to ask you to name famous battles, what might you say? Thermopylae… Milvian Bridge…Waterloo… If I asked you to narrow down your famous battles to American history, I imagine you would think of Christmas in Trenton, Yorktown, or Gettysburg.
Would you have ever named Bushy Run?
No one in our family (and only one of our surveyed friends) had ever heard of Bushy Run Battlefield before our local public library offered a free pass to visit it. It is Pennsylvania’s only registered Native American battlefield. Our family climbed into the car and headed to Harrison City in Westmoreland County to walk the site and learn more.
In 1763, Native Americans were less than pleased about threats to their way of life and territory since the Europeans had arrived; despite treaty promises to the contrary, British settlers had continued to move west to claim more and more land. Odawa leader Pontiac was said to have promoted a rebellion for the Native Americans to exterminate the British from their lands, resulting in the capture of nine British forts across the Midwest and the siege of Fort Pitt at the mouth of the Ohio River.
Dispatch riders were sent east with updates and requests for help, riding with little hope of making it through the Native American-occupied passes. After months of siege, Colonel Henry Bouquet was dispatched from Carlisle on July 18, 1763 with 500 soldiers, some frontiersmen, and pack animals.
As the relief party moved west, Col. Bouquet surveyed the situation ahead. The most dangerous part of his trip would likely be the march through Turtle Creek, where the road was surrounded by steep cliffs and afforded a perfect spot for an ambush. The colonel made plans to rest his troops near Bushy Run Creek and then march through Turtle Creek overnight when the likelihood of a Native American attack was lowest.
Having been alerted by their scouts of the approaching soldiers, the allied Native American forces instead ambushed Col. Bouquet on the afternoon of August 5 at Bushy Run and a battle began that is still studied today by the United States military. When you visit the site, the informative displays will provide you great insight into the attack and Col. Bouquet’s strategy, which included having two companies feign a retreat on the second morning after the soldiers had huddled overnight in a makeshift hilltop redoubt. In obedience to Bouquet’s commands, those two companies moved behind a hill and later reemerged to attack the Native American flank, pursuing them and procuring a decisive British victory that also broke the siege at Fort Pitt.
If you are raising little ones who enjoy reading about or reenacting battles, if you are raising teenagers who are contemplating military service, or if you just enjoy walking where history happened, you might like a trip to Bushy Run Battlefield. The visitor’s center has excellent displays and allows you to wear reproduction clothing and touch anything that is not behind glass. There are several easy trails accessible from the visitor’s center to take you to different sites of the battle including the location of Bouquet’s redoubt. When you try to envision the battle, note that the landscape has changed since the battle itself; the dense forest in which the battle occurred was eventually cut down for farming before the site was procured by the state. Although we did not visit on an event day, they do have reenactments and special events throughout the year at Bushy Run Battlefield.
The most fascinating part of this “unknown” battle might be its significance: the Battle of Bushy Run may seem to be overlooked and forgotten by most, but its impacts on American history were profound. This “obscure” battle inspired the colonists, freed more settlers to venture into the frontier, marked the last time that Fort Pitt was ever seriously threatened…and further disenfranchised the native peoples. For those of us of immigrant descent in western Pennsylvania, that battle is the reason that we are living here, worshipping here, and homeschooling here at all—yet I think there is something even more that we can take away from Col. Bouquet’s experience.
This overlooked battle is a reminder that sometimes at the end of a hard day, you have to huddle together and hope for new mercies in the morning. This “unknown” battle is a reminder that obedience to commands (that perhaps make little sense in the moment) can procure decisive victories for His kingdom. And this small battle is a reminder that God can use little things to make big impacts on his world—your little children (and you!) are doing and will continue to do amazing things for the Author of history.
Nicole Hoover is a homeschooling mom in western Pennsylvania raising little ones who love battles—but only on sunny days.
