58 THE BATTLE OF BUSHY RUN. [1763, July. 



Far on their right stretched the green ridges of 

 the Tuscarora ; and, in front, mountain beyond 

 mountain was piled against the sky. Over rocky 

 heights and through deep valleys, they reached at 

 length Fort Littleton, a provincial post, in which, 

 with incredible perversity, the government of Penn- 

 sylvania had refused to place a garrison.-^ Not far 

 distant was the feeble little post of the Juniata, 

 empty like the other ; for the two or three men 

 who held it had been withdrawn by Ourry.^ On the 

 twenty-fifth of July, they reached Bedford, hemmed 

 in by encircling mountains. It was the frontier 

 village and the centre of a scattered border popu- 

 lation, the whole of which was now clustered in 

 terror in and around the fort ; for the neighbor- 

 ing woods were full of prowling savages. Ourry 

 reported that for several weeks nothing had been 

 heard from the westward, every messenger having 

 been killed and the communication completely cut 

 off. By the last intelligence Fort Pitt had been 

 surrounded by Indians, and daily threatened with 

 a general attack. 



At Bedford, Bouquet had the good fortune to 

 engage thirty backwoodsmen to accompany him.^ 



1 " The government of Pennsylvania having repeatedly refused to gar- 

 rison Fort Lyttleton (a provincial fort), even with the kind of troops they 

 have raised, I have stationed some inhabitants of the neighborhood in it, 

 with some provisions and ammunition, to prevent the savages burning it." 

 — MS. J^etter — Bouquet to Amherst, 26 July, 1763. 



2 MS. Letter — Ourry to Bouquet, 20 June, 1763. 



3 Extract from a Letter of Bouquet to Amherst, Bedford, July 26th, 1768 : 

 " The troops & Convoy arrived here yesterday. . . . Three men have 



been massacred near Shippensburg since we left, but we have not per- 

 ceived yet any of the Villains. . . . Having observed in our march that 

 the Higlilanders lose themselves in the woods as soon as they go out of 



