1763, June.] ATTACK OF FORT LIGONIER. 21 



This done, they burned the place to the ground, 

 and departed.^ 



While Le Boeuf and Venango were thus assailed, 

 Fort Ligonier was also attacked by a large body of 

 Indians, who fired upon it with great fury and per- 

 tinacity, but were beaten off after a hard day's 

 fighting. Fort Augusta, on the Susquehanna, was 

 at the same time menaced ; but the garrison being 

 strengthened by a timely re-enforcement, the Indi- 

 ans abandoned their purpose. Carlisle, Bedford, 

 and the small intermediate posts, all experienced 

 some effects of savage hostility ; ^ while among the 

 settlers, whose houses were scattered throughout 

 the adjacent valleys, outrages were perpetrated. 



1 MS. Johnson Papers. Not many years since, some traces of Fort 

 Venango were yet visible. The following description of them is from the 

 Historical Collections of Pennsylvania : — 



" Its ruins plainly indicate its destruction by fire. Burnt stone, melted 

 glass and iron, leave no doubt of this. All through the groundworks are 

 to be found great quantities of mouldering bones. Amongst the ruins, 

 knives, gun-barrels, locks, and musket-balls have been frequently found, 

 and still continue to be found. About the centre of the area are seen the 

 ruins of the magazine, in which, with what truth I cannot vouch, is said 

 to be a well. The same tradition also adds, ' And in that well there is a 

 cannon ; ' but no examination has been made for it." 



'^ Extract from a Letter — Fort Bedford, June 30, 1763 (Peim. Gaz. No. 

 1802). 



" This Morning a Party of the Enemy attacked fifteen Persons, who 

 were mowing in Mr. Croghan's Field, within a Mile of the Garrison; 

 and News is brought in of two Men being killed. — Eight o'clock. Two 

 Men are brought in, alive, tomahawked and scalped more than Half the 

 Head over — Our Parade just now presents a Scene of bloody and savage 

 Cruelty ; three Men, two of which are in the Bloom of Life, the other an 

 old man, lying scalped (two of them still alive) thereon: Any thing 

 feigned in the most fabulous Romance, cannot parallel the horrid Sight 

 now before me ; the Gashes the poor People bear are most terrifying. — 

 Ten o'clock. They are just expired — One of them, after being toma- 

 hawked and scalped, ran a little way, and got on a Loft in Mr. Croghan's 

 House, where he lay till found by a Party of the Garrison." 



