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118-589: Fort Duquesne, built at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers which forms the Ohio River , was considered strategically important for controlling the Ohio Country , both for settlement and for trade. The English merchant William Trent had established a highly successful trading post at the forks as early as the 1740s, to do business with a number of nearby Native American villages. Both

236-541: A 500% increase in mercury discharges between 2007 and 2013. For several decades beginning in the 1950s, the Ohio River was polluted with hundreds of thousands of pounds of PFOA , a fluoride-based chemical used in making teflon , among other things, by the DuPont chemical company from an outflow pipe at its Parkersburg, West Virginia , facility. The Ohio was listed among America's Most Endangered Rivers of 2023 on

354-526: A Cultural Resource Management firm based in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania , discovered a stone and brick drain on the Fort Duquesne site. It is thought to have drained one of the fort's many buildings. Due to its depth in the ground, this drain may be all of the fort that has survived. The entire northern half of the former fort site was disrupted and destroyed by the heavy industrial development of

472-776: A French architect and surveyor whose survey was the first mapping of the Ohio River, led an expedition of French troops from Fort Niagara down the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers as far as the mouth of the Great Miami River near Big Bone Lick and possibly the Falls of the Ohio (present-day Louisville ). Chaussegros de Lery mapped the Great Lakes in 1725, and engineered the Niagara fortifications in 1726. I am indebted for

590-795: A May 28 skirmish known as the Battle of Jumonville Glen , was the first military combat experience for George Washington , who was later selected as commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia . The Battle of Fort Necessity began the French and Indian War , which later spiraled into the global conflict known as

708-476: A map—controlling the confluence of three rivers—the reality was rather different. The site was low, swampy, and prone to flooding. In addition, the position was dominated by highlands across the Monongahela River, which would allow an enemy to bombard the fort with ease. Pécaudy de Contrecœur was preparing to abandon the fort in the face of Braddock's advance in 1755. He was able to retain it due to

826-497: A much larger French force of five hundred under the command of Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur arrived at the forks, forcing the small British garrison to surrender. The French knocked down the tiny British fort and built Fort Duquesne, named in honor of Marquis Duquesne , the governor-general of New France . The fort was built on the same model as the French Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario . Washington, who

944-592: A point south of the Ohio River and north of the Falls: "Place where one found the ivory of Elephant in 1729" ( French : endroit ou on à trouvé des os d'Elephant en 1729 ). De Lery's men found teeth weighing ten pounds (4.5 kg) with a diameter of five to seven inches (130 to 180 mm), tusks 11 feet (3.4 m) long and 6–7 inches (150–180 mm) in diameter, and thigh bones 5 feet (1.5 m) long. The bones were collected and shipped to Paris, where they were identified as mastodon remains; they are on display at

1062-662: A small force capable of moving quickly through the wilderness and virgin forest that lie between Williamsburg and the Forks. Once there, they were to immediately begin construction of a fortification on the Ohio . Dinwiddie issued these instructions on his own authority without even asking for funding from the Virginia House of Burgesses until after the fact. Trent's company arrived on site in February 1754 and began construction of

1180-678: A southern route to his home in Augusta County, Virginia , in May 1745. John Howard was extradited to France to stand trial. His ship was intercepted by the English and, as a free man, he reported his adventures after landing in London; however, his account has been lost. Salling's detailed account of Virginia's adjacent lands was used in Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson's 1751 map. In 1749,

1298-584: A storehouse and stockade with the assistance of Tanacharison and the Mingos. In response, the French Canadians sent a force of about 500 men, Canadian, French, and Indians under Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur (rumors reaching Trent's men put its size at 1,000). On April 16, they arrived at the forks; the next day, Trent's force of 36 men, led by Ensign Edward Ward in Trent's absence, agreed to leave

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1416-497: A summons to order Washington's troops to leave; this summons was similar in nature to the one Washington had delivered to them four months previous. Sources disagree on the exact composition of Jumonville's force, which may have included French troupes de la marine , Canadian militia, and Indians. During the march through the forests of the frontier, Washington received a few more men from another regiment that they met at Winchester . At this point Captain Trent arrived with news of

1534-464: A white flag to negotiate. Washington did not allow the Canadian officer into or near the fort, but sent two of his own men, including his translator Jacob Van Braam , to negotiate. The French had no desire to disturb the peace between the two kingdoms but wished only to “avenge the murder of one of our officers, bearer of a summons, and of his escort, and also to prevent any establishment being made on

1652-910: A whole is ranked as the most polluted river in the United States, based on 2009 and 2010 data. The more industrial and regional West Virginia/Pennsylvania tributary, the Monongahela River , ranked 17th for water pollution , behind 16 other American rivers. The Ohio again ranked as the most polluted in 2013, and has been the most polluted river since at least 2001, according to the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO). The Commission found that 92% of toxic discharges were nitrates , including farm runoff and waste water from industrial processes such as steel production. The Commission also noted mercury pollution as an ongoing concern, citing

1770-538: Is 1,310 miles (2,110 km) long and carries the largest volume of water of any tributary of the Mississippi. The Indians and early European explorers and settlers of the region often considered the Allegheny to be part of the Ohio. The forks (the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at what is now Pittsburgh) were considered a strategic military location by colonial French and British, and later independent American military authorities. The Ohio River

1888-553: Is credited with being the first European to travel and explore western Pennsylvania and the upper Ohio Valley. Viele made contact with Native American nations as far west as the Wabash River , in present-day Indiana. He and his company left Albany , traveling southbound and crossing portions of present-day New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. They apparently followed the west branch of the Susquehanna River into

2006-552: Is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at what is now Point State Park in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . From there, it flows northwest through Allegheny and Beaver counties, before making an abrupt turn to the south-southwest at the West Virginia –Ohio–Pennsylvania triple-state line (near East Liverpool, Ohio ; Chester, West Virginia ; and Ohioville, Pennsylvania ). From there, it forms

2124-407: Is the most beautiful river on earth. Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted." After the French and Indian War , Britain's trans-Appalachian Indian Reserve was divided by the river into colonial lands to the south and Native American lands to the north. In the late 18th century, the river became the southern boundary of

2242-552: Is the subject of, or referenced, in: 40°26′29.9″N 80°00′39.4″W  /  40.441639°N 80.010944°W  / 40.441639; -80.010944 Ohio River The Ohio River is a 981-mile-long (1,579 km) river in the United States . It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States , flowing in a southwesterly direction from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on

2360-617: The 1763 Treaty of Paris . The 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix with several tribes opened Kentucky to colonial settlement and established the Ohio River as a southern boundary for American Indian territory. In 1774 the Quebec Act restored the land east of the Mississippi River and north of the Ohio River to Quebec , in effect making the Ohio the southern boundary of Canada . This appeased French Canadians in Quebec but angered

2478-467: The American Civil War . One antebellum slave trader reported that they kept slaves chained two-by-two while navigating the Ohio, only when they reached the Mississippi could the slaves be unchained for a time, because "there was slavery on both sides of the boat." The expression "sold down the river" originated as a lament of Upper South slaves, especially from Kentucky, who were shipped via

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2596-648: The Batts and Fallam expedition of 1671, and the Needham and Arthur expedition of 1673–74. In early autumn 1692, loyal English-speaking Dutchman Arnout Viele and a party of eleven companions from Esopus —Europeans, Shawnee , and a few loyal Delaware guides—were sent by the governor of New York to trade with the Shawnee and bring them into the English sphere of influence. Viele understood several Native American languages, which made him valuable as an interpreter. He

2714-639: The French National Natural History Museum . Charles III Le Moyne , second Baron de Longueuil (later the governor of Montreal and interim governor of New France ), commanded Fort Niagara from 1726 to 1733. He led an expedition of 442 men, including Native Americans, from Montreal to war against the Chickasaw who occupied territory on the lower part of the Mississippi River in the area claimed as La Louisiane . According to Gaston Pierre de Lévis , Duke de Mirepoix,

2832-781: The Kanawha River , they entered the Ohio River 444 miles (715 km) above the falls. The Virginia pioneers traced the northern boundary of Kentucky for five hundred miles (800 km), reaching the Mississippi River on June 7. They descended just below the mouth of the Arkansas River , where they were ambushed by a large company of Native Americans, Blacks and Frenchmen on July 2, 1742; one or two of Howard's men were killed. The rest were brought to New Orleans and imprisoned as spies. After two years in prison, Salling escaped on October 25, 1744, and returned on

2950-645: The Lenape and Iroquois , considered the Ohio and Allegheny rivers as the same, as is suggested by a New York State road sign on Interstate 86 that refers to the Allegheny River also as Ohi:yo' . Similarly, the Geographic Names Information System lists O-hee-yo and O-hi-o as variant names for the Allegheny. An earlier Miami-Illinois language name was also applied to the Ohio River, Mosopeleacipi ("river of

3068-628: The Midwestern Great Lakes states from the Upper South states, which were historically border states in the Civil War. The Ohio River is a left (east) and the largest tributary by volume of the Mississippi River in the United States . At the confluence , the Ohio is considerably bigger than the Mississippi, measured by long-term mean discharge. The Ohio River at Cairo is 281,500 cu ft/s (7,960 m /s); and

3186-550: The Mississippi River at the city of Cairo, Illinois . Where the Ohio joins the Mississippi is the lowest elevation in the state of Illinois, at 315 feet (96 m). The Mississippi River flows to the Gulf of Mexico on the Atlantic Ocean . Among rivers wholly or mostly in the United States, the Ohio is the second largest by discharge volume and the tenth longest and has the eighth largest drainage basin. It serves to separate

3304-545: The Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois . It is the third largest river by discharge volume in the United States and the largest tributary by volume of the north-south flowing Mississippi River, which divides the eastern from western United States. It is also the sixth oldest river on the North American continent. The river flows through or along the border of six states , and its drainage basin includes parts of 14 states. Through its largest tributary,

3422-546: The Mosopelea " tribe). Shortened in the Shawnee language to pelewa thiipi , spelewathiipi or peleewa thiipiiki , the name evolved through variant forms such as "Polesipi", "Peleson", "Pele Sipi" and "Pere Sipi", and eventually stabilized to the variant spellings "Pelisipi", "Pelisippi" and "Pellissippi". Originally applied just to the Ohio River, the "Pelisipi" name later was variously applied back and forth between

3540-529: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's Ohio River Forecast Center. The water depth predictions are relative to each local flood plain based upon predicted rainfall in the Ohio River basin in five reports as follows: The water levels for the Ohio River from Smithland Lock and Dam to Cairo, Illinois, are predicted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 's Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center. The largest tributaries of

3658-673: The Northwest Territory . The river is sometimes considered as the western extension of the Mason–Dixon line that divided Pennsylvania from Maryland , and thus part of the border between free and slave territory, and between the Northern and Southern United States or Upper South . Where the river was narrow, it was crossed by thousands of slaves escaping to the North for freedom; many were helped by free blacks and whites of

Fort Duquesne - Misplaced Pages Continue

3776-739: The Ohio Company by surveying for his brothers as a young man. After a long trek and several near-death experiences, Washington and his party (which included the Mingo sachem, Tanacharison , and the explorer Christopher Gist ) arrived at Fort Le Boeuf and met with the regional commander, Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre . Saint-Pierre politely informed Washington that he was there pursuant to orders and that Washington's letter should have been addressed to his commanding officer in Canada . Washington returned to Williamsburg and informed Dinwiddie that

3894-643: The Ohio Company was established in Virginia Colony to settle and trade in the Ohio River region. Exploration of the territory and trade with the Indians in the region near the Forks brought white colonists from both Pennsylvania and Virginia across the mountains, and both colonies claimed the territory. The movement across the Allegheny Mountains of Anglo-American settlers and the claims of

4012-601: The Ohio River , became increasingly important to the French throughout the 18th century. As more settlers moved from Montreal, Quebec, and other established French settlements along the St. Lawrence to the newer Louisiana colony, the Ohio Country became an important connection between New France and Louisiana. British settlers were also expanding into the Ohio Country at this time. The British colonies were far more populated than

4130-473: The Potomac River to the Ohio River. The Wheeling Suspension Bridge was built over the river at Wheeling from 1847 to 1849, making the trip west easier. For a brief time, until 1851, it was the world's largest suspension bridge. The bridge survived the American Civil War , after having been improved in 1859. It was renovated again in 1872, and remains in use as the oldest vehicular suspension bridge in

4248-733: The Seven Years' War . Washington built Fort Necessity on an alpine meadow west of the summit of a pass through the Laurel Highlands of the Allegheny Mountains . Another pass nearby leads to Confluence, Pennsylvania ; to the west, Nemacolin's Trail begins its descent to Uniontown, Pennsylvania , and other parts of Fayette County along the relatively low altitudes of the Allegheny Plateau . The French Empire , despite having colonized North America in

4366-599: The Tennessee River , the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. It is the source of drinking water for five million people. The river became a primary transportation route for pioneers during the westward expansion of the early U.S. The lower Ohio River just below Louisville was obstructed by rapids known as the Falls of the Ohio where the elevation falls 26 feet (7.9 m) in 2 miles (3.2 km) restricting larger commercial navigation, although in

4484-532: The Underground Railroad resistance movement. The Ohio River is a climatic transition area, as its water runs along the periphery of the humid subtropical and humid continental climate areas. It is inhabited by fauna and flora of both climates. Today, the Ohio River is one of the most polluted rivers in the United States. In winter, it regularly freezes over at Pittsburgh but rarely farther south towards Cincinnati and Louisville . Further down

4602-512: The keelboats used for commerce in the early days of American settlement. The Ohio River boatmen inspired performer Dan Emmett , who in 1843 wrote the song " The Boatman's Dance ". Trading boats and ships traveled south on the Mississippi to New Orleans , and sometimes beyond to the Gulf of Mexico and other ports in the Americas and Europe. This provided a much-needed export route for goods from

4720-505: The "canalization" of the river in 1929, the Ohio has not been a natural free-flowing river; today, it is divided into 21 discrete pools or reservoirs by 20 locks and dams for navigation and power generation. The name "Ohio" comes from the Seneca , Ohi:yo' , lit.  "Good River". In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson stated: "The Ohio

4838-815: The 16th century, had between only 75,000 and 90,000 colonists living in New France in the mid-1700s. However, France was able to control the large colonies of New France (modern-day Canada), Acadia , and the French Louisiana with relatively few people by controlling waterways (especially the Saint Lawrence River , the Great Lakes , the Ohio River , and the Mississippi River ) and cultivating strong political and economic relationships with powerful Native American nations. The Ohio Country , an area located roughly between Lake Erie and

Fort Duquesne - Misplaced Pages Continue

4956-669: The 1755 Battle of the Monongahela . George Washington served as one of General Braddock's aides. A smaller attack by James Grant in September 1758 was repulsed with heavy losses. Two months later, on November 25, 1758, the Forbes Expedition under the Scotsman General John Forbes took possession Fort Duquesne after the French destroyed and abandoned the site. Fort Duquesne was built at

5074-407: The 18th and early 19th century its three deepest channels could be traversed by a wide variety of craft then in use. In 1830, the Louisville and Portland Canal (now the McAlpine Locks and Dam ) bypassed the rapids, allowing even larger commercial and modern navigation from the Forks of the Ohio at Pittsburgh to the Port of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi on the Gulf of Mexico. Since

5192-406: The 21-year-old Virginia Lieutenant Colonel George Washington to travel from Williamsburg to Fort Le Boeuf in the Ohio Territory (a territory claimed by several of the British colonies, including Virginia) as an emissary in December 1753, to deliver a letter. Washington's older brothers Lawrence and Augustine had been instrumental in organizing the Ohio Company, and George had become familiar with

5310-408: The Allegheny River in Venango County in present-day Franklin, Pennsylvania . Robert Dinwiddie , Lieutenant Governor of the Virginia Colony , thought these forts threatened extensive claims to the land area by Virginians (including himself) of the Ohio Company. In late autumn 1753, Dinwiddie dispatched a young Virginia militia officer named George Washington to the area to deliver a letter to

5428-445: The Atlantic coast every year, the Ohio Country was unsettled, uncharted, and therefore unclaimed land that should be open to all traders. The French had no interest in trying to compete with the British for trade in the Ohio Country. Due to their high population and large colonial cities, British traders could offer Native Americans cheaper, higher quality goods than could their French counterparts. The French therefore set about keeping

5546-405: The British as far away from the Ohio Country as possible. Authorities in New France became more aggressive in their efforts to expel British traders and colonists from this area, and in 1753 began construction of a series of fortifications in the area. In previous wars, the Québecois had more than held their own against the English colonials. The French action drew the attention of not just

5664-436: The British occupation of the site as the Fort Duquesne blockhouse burns in the background. Colonel Washington is depicted on horseback in the center, while General Forbes, who was debilitated by intestinal disease, is shown lying on a stretcher. The stamp also depicts Colonel Henry Bouquet , who was second in command to the ailing Forbes, and other figures who represent the Virginia militia and provincial army. Fort Duquesne

5782-463: The British, but also the Indian tribes of the area. Despite good Franco-Indian relations, British traders became successful in convincing the Indians to trade with them in preference to the French Canadians , and the planned large-scale advance was not well received by all. The reason was that they had to provide them with the goods that the Anglo-American traders had previously supplied and at similar prices, which proved to be singularly difficult. With

5900-468: The French (there were about 1.5 million British subjects living in North America in 1754, meaning that the British outnumbered the French almost twenty to one), and settlers were eager to move over the Appalachian Mountains and into the Ohio Country and other western lands. Most British traders declared that, despite the facts that the French had been trading in the Ohio Country for years and that more and more displaced Native Americans were moving west from

6018-404: The French Canadians, killing 10 in the early morning hours, and took 21 prisoners, of whom many were ritually killed by the Native American allies of the British. On May 31, Washington replaced Colonel Joshua Fry as commander of the Virginia Regiment after Colonel Fry died en route to Wills Creek. The Battle of Jumonville Glen is widely considered the formal start of the French and Indian War ,

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6136-605: The French and the British were keen to gain advantage in the area. As the area was within the drainage basin of the Mississippi River , the French had claimed it as theirs. They controlled New France (Quebec), the Illinois Country along the Mississippi, and La Louisiane , the ports of New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama . In the early 1750s, the French began construction of a line of forts, starting with Fort Presque Isle on Lake Erie in present-day Erie, Pennsylvania , followed by Fort Le Boeuf , about 15 miles south in present-day Waterford, Pennsylvania , and Fort Machault , on

6254-417: The French commander at Fort Le Boeuf, asking them to leave. Washington was also to assess French strength and intentions. After reaching Fort Le Boeuf in December, Washington was politely rebuffed by the French. Following Washington 's return to Mount Vernon in January 1754, Dinwiddie sent Virginians to build Fort Prince George at the Forks of the Ohio . Work began on the fort on February 17. By April 18,

6372-409: The French had come to kill Tanacharison, and the Indians also left to pursue the French. That evening, Washington received a message from Tanacharison, who said he had found the French encampment. Washington decided to attack himself and brought 40 soldiers with him towards Tanacharison's camp. That morning, they met with Tanacharison's 12 Indian warriors, and Washington and Tanacharison agreed to attack

6490-467: The French refused to leave. Dinwiddie ordered Washington to begin raising a militia regiment to hold the Forks of the Ohio in what is now Pittsburgh , a site Washington had identified as a fine location for a fortress. However, unlike the French, Washington and his Virginia regiment could not easily reach the Forks by river. The governor therefore also issued a captain's commission to an Ohio Company employee, William Trent , with instructions to raise

6608-404: The Half King while the summons was being read. After retiring from Jumonville, Washington expected to be attacked. Tanacharison attempted to convince the Lenape , Shawnee and the Mingo Indians to join the Virginians at Great Meadows. With about 150 Virginians at Great Meadows, they began to construct a fort, which Washington named Fort Necessity. The fort was completed on June 3. By June 9,

6726-464: The Mississippi River at Thebes, Illinois , which is upstream of the confluence, is 208,200 cu ft/s (5,897 m /s). The Ohio River flow is greater than that of the Mississippi River, so hydrologically the Ohio River is the main stream of the river system. The Ohio River is a naturally shallow river that was artificially deepened by a series of dams . The natural depth of the river varied from about 3 to 20 feet (1 to 6 m). The dams raise

6844-408: The Natural Bridge), crossing Greenbrier River and landing at the New River . At New River, the Virginia explorers built a large bull boat frame and covered it with five buffalo skins. The first Englishmen to explore the region then followed the New River for 250 miles (400 km), until it became too dangerous to navigate. At a large waterfall, they traveled overland to the Coal River . Following

6962-403: The North American front of the Seven Years' War . Washington ordered construction of Fort Necessity at a large clearing known as the Great Meadows . On 3 July 1754, the counterattacking French and Canadians forced Washington to surrender Fort Necessity . After disarming them, they released Washington and his men to return home. Although Fort Duquesne's location at the forks looked strong on

7080-515: The Ohio River and the Clinch River in Virginia and Tennessee . In his original draft of the Land Ordinance of 1784 , Thomas Jefferson proposed a new state called "Pelisipia", to the south of the Ohio River, which would have included parts of present-day Eastern Kentucky , Virginia and West Virginia . The river had great significance in the history of the Native Americans , as numerous prehistoric and historic civilizations formed along its valley. For thousands of years, Native Americans used

7198-514: The Ohio River opened about the same time. Although such boats cruised on the Ohio River in an oval pattern up and down, the state of Kentucky soon protested. Other states had to limit their cruises to going forward, then reversing and going backward on the Indiana shore only. Both Illinois and Indiana have long since changed their laws to allow riverboat casinos to be permanently docked, with Illinois changing in 1999 and Indiana in 2002. The Silver Bridge at Point Pleasant, West Virginia , collapsed into

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7316-406: The Ohio River was called the " River Jordan " by slaves crossing it to escape to freedom in the North via the Underground Railroad . More escaping slaves, estimated in the thousands, made their perilous journey north to freedom across the Ohio River than anywhere else across the north-south frontier. Harriet Beecher Stowe 's Uncle Tom's Cabin , the bestselling novel that fueled abolitionist work,

7434-461: The Ohio River's rapids and tributaries in that area. However, the 1783 Treaty of Paris gave the entire Ohio Valley to the United States , and numerous white settlers entered the region. The economic connection of the Ohio Country to the East was significantly increased in 1818 when the National Road being built westward from Cumberland, Maryland , reached Wheeling, Virginia , (now West Virginia ), providing an easier overland connection from

7552-401: The Ohio and Mississippi to cotton and sugar plantations in the Deep South . Changes in crops cultivated in the Upper South resulted in slaves available to be sold to the South, where the expansion of cotton plantations was doing very well. Invention of the cotton gin made cultivation of short-staple cotton profitable throughout the Black Belt of this region. Before and during the Civil War,

7670-510: The Ohio by discharge volume are: By drainage basin area, the largest tributaries are: The largest tributaries by length are: Major tributaries, in order from the headwaters, include: Battle of the Great Meadows [REDACTED]   France [REDACTED]   Great Britain The Battle of Fort Necessity , also known as the Battle of the Great Meadows , took place on July 3, 1754, in present-day Farmington in Fayette County, Pennsylvania . The engagement, along with

7788-429: The U.S. Louisville was founded in 1778 as a military encampment on Corn Island (now submerged) by General George Rogers Clark at the only major natural navigational barrier on the river, the Falls of the Ohio . The Falls were a series of rapids where the river dropped 26 feet (7.9 m) in a stretch of about 2 miles (3.2 km). In this area, the river flowed over hard, fossil-rich beds of limestone . The outpost

7906-460: The Virginia mountains to the Mississippi River. The elder Howard had a promised reward of 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) of land for a successful expedition from the Virginia Royal Governor's Council to reinforce British claims in the west. Howard offered equal shares of the 10,000 acres to the four other members of his expedition. The party of five left John Peter Salling's house in August County on March 16, 1742, and traveled west to Cedar Creek (near

8024-428: The Virginians were digging a trench in the mud. The pickets fired their muskets and fell back to the fort, whereupon three columns of Canadian soldiers and Indians advanced downhill towards the fort. However, Coulon had miscalculated the location of the fort and had advanced with the fort at his right. As Coulon halted and then redeployed his troops, Washington began to prepare for an attack. Coulon moved his troops into

8142-476: The advance of the French force under Jumonville. Trent was accompanied by Tanacharison, who promised warriors to assist the British. To keep Tanacharison's support, Washington decided not to turn back, choosing instead to build a fortification 37 miles (60 km) south of the forks and await further instructions. The men of the Virginia Regiment built a road through the wilderness as they went, "broad enough to pass with all our Artillery and our Baggage." This road

8260-427: The advancing British force being annihilated (see below). When the Forbes expedition approached in 1758, the French had initial success in the Battle of Fort Duquesne against the English vanguard, but were forced to abandon the fort in the face of the much superior size of Forbes' main force. The French held the fort successfully early in the war, turning back the expedition led by General Edward Braddock during

8378-402: The area during the 19th century. On November 25, 1958, the 200th anniversary of the capture of Fort Duquesne, the U.S. Post Office issued a 4-cent Fort Duquesne bicentennial commemorative stamp . It was first released for sale at the post office in Pittsburgh. The design was reproduced from a composite drawing, using various figures taken from an etching by T.B. Smith and a painting portraying

8496-474: The area near modern-day Pittsburgh led to conflict with the French, who had forts in the Ohio River Valley . This conflict was called the French and Indian War , and would merge into the global Anglo-French struggle, the Seven Years' War . In 1763, following its defeat in the war, France ceded its area east of the Mississippi River to Britain and its area west of the Mississippi River to Spain in

8614-401: The border between West Virginia and Ohio, upstream of Wheeling, West Virginia . The river follows a roughly southwest and then west-northwest course until Cincinnati, before bending to a west-southwest course for most of the remainder of its length. The course forms the northern borders of West Virginia and Kentucky ; and the southern borders of Ohio , Indiana and Illinois , until it joins

8732-600: The colonists of the Thirteen Colonies . Lord Dunmore's War south of the Ohio river also contributed to cession of land north to Quebec to prevent colonial expansion onto Native American territory. During the Revolutionary War . in 1776 the British military engineer John Montrésor created a map of the river showing the strategic location of Fort Pitt , including specific navigational information about

8850-535: The defense, Washington ordered his men to cut trees down and to make them into makeshift breastworks . As the British worked, Coulon approached Fort Necessity using the road the Virginians had built. He arrived at Jumonville's Glen early on the morning of July 3. Horrified to find several scalped French bodies, he immediately ordered them to be buried. By 11:00 am on the 3rd of July 1754, Louis Coulon de Villiers came within sight of Fort Necessity. At this time,

8968-440: The document it said that Jumonville had been "assassinated". Both Washington and Mackay signed the surrender document. On July 4, Washington and his troops abandoned Fort Necessity. The garrison marched away with drums beating and flags flying , but the Indians and the French began to loot the garrison's baggage on their way out. Washington, who feared a bloodbath, did not try to stop the looting. The Indians continued to plunder

9086-471: The encampment. Washington ambushed the French, killing 10 to 12, wounding 2 and capturing 21. Among the dead was Jumonville; the exact manner of his death is uncertain, but by several accounts Tanacharison executed Jumonville in cold blood, crushing his head with a tomahawk and washing his hands in Jumonville's brains. One account, reported by an Indian to Contrecœur, claimed that Jumonville was killed by

9204-539: The exception of one or two Montreal merchant traders, the Canadians showed a great reluctance to venture into the Ohio country. In particular, Tanacharison , a Mingo chief also known as the "Half King," became anti-French as a consequence. In a meeting with Paul Marin de la Malgue , commander of the Canadian construction force, de la Malgue reportedly lost his temper and shouted at the Indian chief, "I tell you, down

9322-412: The expedition used the Ohio River as a corridor to the Mississippi. Among the officers who accompanied this party were Major de Lignery; Lieutenants, de Vassan, Aubert de Gaspe, Du Vivier, de Verrier, Le Gardeur de St. Pierre, Chevalier de Villiers, de Portneuf, de Sabrevious; Father Vernet, chaplain; Cadets, Joncaire de Closonne , Le Gai de Joncaire, Drouet de Richarville the younger, Chaussegros de Lery

9440-519: The first reported eyewitness accounts of Shannoah , a Shawnee town, was by le Moyne III in July 1739. On their journey down the Ohio River toward the Mississippi, they met with local chiefs in a village on the Scioto River . John Howard, a pioneer from Virginia, led a party of five— John Peter Salling (a Pennsylvania German), Josiah Howard (John's son), Charles Sinclair, and John Poteet (Vizt)—from

9558-484: The fort. Word of the British military plans leaked to France well before Braddock's departure for North America, and King Louis XV dispatched a much larger body of troops to Canada in 1755. Although they arrived too late to participate in Braddock's defeat, the French troop presence led to a string of French victories in the following years. In a second British act of aggression, Admiral Edward Boscawen fired on

9676-596: The fur trade from the Iroquois nations to the northeast, they migrated west of the Mississippi River in the 17th century to the territory now defined as Missouri , Arkansas , and Oklahoma . Several accounts exist of the discovery and traversal of the Ohio River by Europeans in the latter half of the 17th century: Virginian colonist Abraham Wood 's trans-Appalachian expeditions between 1654 and 1664; Frenchman Robert de La Salle 's putative Ohio expedition of 1669; and two expeditions of Virginians sponsored by Colonel Wood:

9794-412: The heavy rain that started to fall on the 2nd. With the rain, the trenches that Washington had ordered to be dug had turned into streams. Washington realized that he would have to defend against a frontal assault and also realized that it would be difficult because the woods were less than 100 yards away, within musket range, making it possible for a besieging attacker to pick off the defenders. To improve

9912-531: The heels of contamination from a high-profile train derailment , and following years as one of the most polluted watersheds in the United States. The Ohio River is extensively industrialized and populated. Regular barge traffic carries cargoes of oil, steel and other industrial goods produced in the region. Major cities located along the northern and southern banks of the river include Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; Louisville, Kentucky ; Evansville, Indiana ; and Cincinnati, Ohio . The combined Allegheny-Ohio river

10030-473: The increasing size of steamships and barges on the river meant that the outdated locks could serve only the smallest vessels until well after the Civil War when improvements were made. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers improvements were expanded again in the 1960s, forming the present-day McAlpine Locks and Dam . During the nineteenth century, emigrants from Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky traveled by

10148-505: The knowledge or direction of the British government in London, as "an invitation to start a war". Washington was ordered to gather as many supplies and paid volunteers as he could along the way. By the time he left for the frontier on April 2, he had gathered 186 men. Contrecœur operated under orders that forbade attacks by his force unless they were provoked. On May 23, he sent Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville with 35 men to see if Washington had entered French territory, and with

10266-698: The lands of my King.” As negotiations began, the Virginians, against Washington's orders, broke into the fort's liquor supply and got drunk. Coulon told Van Braam that all he wanted was the surrender of the garrison, and the Virginians could go back to Virginia. He warned, however, that if they did not surrender now, the Indians might storm the fort and scalp the entire garrison. Van Braam brought this message to Washington, who agreed to these basic terms. One of Louis Coulon de Villiers' aides then wrote down Coulon's surrender terms and then gave them to Van Braam, who in turn gave them to Washington. Washington, who could not read French, had Van Braam translate it for him, and in

10384-658: The largest inhabited island in the Ohio River, belongs to West Virginia, although it is closer to the Ohio shore than to the West Virginia shore. Kentucky sued the state of Indiana in the early 1980s because of their construction of the never-completed Marble Hill Nuclear Power Plant in Indiana, which would have discharged its waste water into the river. This would have adversely affected Kentucky's water supplies. The U.S. Supreme Court held that Kentucky's jurisdiction (and, implicitly, that of West Virginia) extended only to

10502-523: The low-water mark of 1793 (important because the river has been extensively dammed for navigation so that the present river bank is north of the old low-water mark). Similarly, in the 1990s, Kentucky challenged Illinois's right to collect taxes on a riverboat casino docked in Metropolis , citing its own control of the entire river. A private casino riverboat that docked in Evansville, Indiana , on

10620-682: The mountains, traversing the Tioga River and reaching a tributary of the Allegheny River before floating down to the Shawnee towns along the Ohio River. Viele and his expedition spent most of 1693 exploring the Ohio River and its tributaries in northern Kentucky with their Shawnee hosts. Gerit Luykasse, two of Viele's Dutch traders, and two Shawnee reappeared in Albany in February 1694 "to fetch powder for Arnout [Viele] and his Company"; their party had been gone for fifteen months, but Viele

10738-546: The mouth of the Ohio, settlers would travel north on the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri . There, some continued on up the Missouri River , some up the Mississippi, and some farther west over land routes. In the early 19th century, river pirates such as Samuel Mason , operating out of Cave-In-Rock, Illinois , waylaid travelers on their way down the river. They killed travelers, stealing their goods and scuttling their boats. The folktales about Mike Fink recall

10856-481: The oldest in the British colonies, gave them claim to the Ohio Country despite competing claims from Native Americans, the French, and other British colonies. In 1748, wealthy Virginians formed the Ohio Company with the aim of solidifying Virginia's claim and profiting off the speculation of western lands. Governor Robert Dinwiddie , the royal governor of Virginia and founding investor in the Ohio Company, sent

10974-414: The oncoming Indians. The Virginians, however, fled back to the fort, leaving Washington and the British regulars greatly outnumbered. Washington ordered a retreat back to the fort. Coulon reformed his troops in the woods. The Canadians spread out around the clearing and kept up heavy fire on Fort Necessity. Washington ordered his troops to return fire, but they aimed too high, inflicting few casualties, and

11092-404: The point of land of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, where they form the Ohio River . Since the late 20th century, this area of Downtown Pittsburgh has been preserved as Point State Park . The park includes a brick outline of the fort's walls, as well as outlines to mark the later Fort Pitt. In May 2007, Thomas Kutys, an archaeologist with A.D. Marble & Company,

11210-537: The rest of the Virginia Regiment arrived at Great Meadows, excluding Colonel Joshua Fry , who had fallen from his horse, broken his neck and died. Washington took his place as colonel. A few days later, 100 British regulars under the command of James Mackay arrived, but, instead of making camp with the Virginians, they camped separately outside the fort. Washington had heard that there were 500 poorly supplied French troops at Fort Duquesne, and thus he led

11328-426: The river I will go. If the river is blocked up, I have the forces to burst it open and tread under my feet all that oppose me. I despise all the stupid things you have said." He then threw down some wampum that Tanacharison had offered as a goodwill gesture. Marin died not long after, when command of the operations was turned over to Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre . Virginians felt that their colonial charter,

11446-493: The river and settled along its northern bank. Known as butternuts , they formed the dominant culture in the southern portions of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois with a society that was primarily Southern in culture. Largely devoted to agricultural pursuits, they shipped much of their produce along the river to ports such as Cincinnati. Because the Ohio River flowed westward, it became a convenient means of westward movement by pioneers traveling from western Pennsylvania. After reaching

11564-741: The river as a major transportation and trading route. In the five centuries before European colonization, the Mississippian culture built numerous regional chiefdoms and major earthwork mounds in the Ohio Valley like the Angel Mounds near Evansville, Indiana as well as in the Mississippi Valley and the Southeast. The historic Osage , Omaha , Ponca , and Kaw peoples lived in the Ohio Valley. Under pressure over

11682-526: The river in places like Paducah and Owensboro , Kentucky, closer to its confluence with the Mississippi, the Ohio is ice-free year-round. The name "Ohio" comes from the Seneca language (an Iroquoian language ), Ohi:yo' (roughly pronounced oh-hee-yoh, with the vowel in "hee" held longer ), a proper name derived from ohiːyoːh ("good river"), therefore literally translating to "Good River". "Great river" and "large creek" have also been given as translations. Native Americans , including

11800-624: The river on December 15, 1967. The collapse killed 46 people who had been crossing when the bridge failed. The bridge had been built in 1929, and by 1967 was carrying too heavy a load for its design. The bridge was rebuilt about one mile downstream and in service as the Silver Memorial Bridge in 1969. In the early 1980s, the Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area was established at Clarksville, Indiana . The Ohio River as

11918-483: The river. The colonial charter for Virginia defined its territory as extending to the north shore of the Ohio, so that the riverbed was "owned" by Virginia. Where the river serves as a boundary between states today, Congress designated the entire river to belong to the states on the east and south, i.e., West Virginia and Kentucky at the time of admission to the Union, that were divided from Virginia. Thus Wheeling Island ,

12036-419: The roughly 300 Virginians out of Great Meadows on June 16 to widen the road, for he had been unable to convince the other chiefs to assist. They had said that they would also be unable to help the Virginians. Although he had lost Indian support, which made his troops more vulnerable to attack, Washington continued to widen the road towards Red Stone Creek . On June 28, after a council of war, Washington ordered

12154-656: The site. The Canadians tore down the British works and began construction of the fort that they called Fort Duquesne . In March 1754, Governor Dinwiddie sent Washington back to the frontier with orders to "act on the [defensive], but in Case any Attempts are made to obstruct the Works or interrupt our [settlements] by any Persons whatsoever, You are to restrain all such Offenders, & in Case of resistance to make Prisoners of or kill & destroy them". Historian Fred Anderson describes Dinwiddie's instructions, which were issued without

12272-462: The soldiers until July 5. Washington and his troops arrived back in eastern Virginia in mid-July. On the 17th, Washington delivered his report of the battles to Governor Dinwiddie, expecting a rebuke, but Washington instead received a vote of thanks from the House of Burgesses and Dinwiddie blamed the defeat not on Washington but on poor supply and the refusal of aid by the other colonies. When news of

12390-402: The swivel cannon fared no better. To add to the garrison's troubles, heavy rain began to fall that afternoon, and Washington's troops were unable to continue the firefight because their gunpowder was wet. Louis Coulon de Villiers, with his men exhausted, powder and ball were running low, and reason to fear that American reinforcements were approaching, decided to parley. Sending an officer under

12508-516: The topographical details of the course of this River to M. de Lery, Engineer, who surveyed it with the compass at the time that he descended it with a detachment of French troops in 1729. A map of the Ohio River valley, drawn by Bellin from observations by de Lery, is in Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix 's History of New France . The 1744 Bellin map, "Map of Louisiana" ( French : Carte de La Louisiane ), has an inscription at

12626-549: The two battles reached England in August, the government of the Duke of Newcastle , after several months of negotiations, decided to send an army the following year to dislodge the French. Major General Edward Braddock was chosen to lead the expedition. His expedition ended in disaster , and the French remained in control of Fort Duquesne until November 1758, when an expedition under General John Forbes finally succeeded in taking

12744-466: The water level and have turned the river largely into a series of reservoirs , eliminating shallow stretches and allowing for commercial navigation. From its origin to Cincinnati, the average depth is approximately 15 feet (5 m). The largest immediate drop in water level is below the McAlpine Locks and Dam at the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville, Kentucky , where flood stage is reached when

12862-443: The water reaches 23 feet (7 m) on the lower gauge. However, the river's deepest point is 168 feet (51 m) on the western side of Louisville, Kentucky. From Louisville, the river loses depth very gradually until its confluence with the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois , where it has an approximate depth of 19 feet (6 m). Water levels for the Ohio River from Smithland Lock and Dam upstream to Pittsburgh are predicted daily by

12980-476: The west since the trek east over the Appalachian Mountains was long and arduous. The need for access to the port of New Orleans by settlers in the Ohio Valley is one of the factors that led to the United States' Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Because the river is the southern border of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, it was part of the border between free states and slave states in the years before

13098-465: The withdrawal to Great Meadows. That same day 600 French and 100 Indians left Fort Duquesne led by the slain Jumonville's older brother, Louis Coulon de Villiers . In order to keep ahead of the French/Canadian force, the Virginians had to abandon most of their supplies. On July 1, they reached Fort Necessity. At Fort Necessity, the provision hut was depleted, and there was little shelter from

13216-503: The woods, within easy musket range of the fort. Washington knew he had to dislodge the Canadians and Indians from that position, so he ordered an assault with his entire force across the open field. Seeing the assault coming, Coulon ordered his soldiers, led by Indians, to charge directly at Washington's line. Washington ordered the men to hold their ground and fire a volley. Mackay's regulars obeyed Washington's command, and supported by two swivel cannons , they inflicted several casualties on

13334-574: The younger, de Gannes, Chev. Benoist, de Morville, de Selles, and seventeen others. The rank and file consisted of three sergeants, six corporals, six lance corporals, twenty-four soldiers, forty-five habitants , one hundred and eighty-six Iroquois from the Sault, forty-one from the Lake of Two Mountains , thirty-two Algonquin and Nipissing , fifty Abenaqui from St. Francois and Bécancour, Quebec; Father La Bretonnier, Jesuit; Queret, missionary. One of

13452-550: Was away for about two years. He and his companions returned from the Pennsylvania wilderness in August 1694, accompanied by diplomats from "seven Nations of Indians" who sought trade with the English (or peace with the powerful Iroquois nations of New York and Pennsylvania), and hundreds of Shawnee who intended to relocate in the Minisink country on the upper Delaware River . In 1729, Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry ,

13570-814: Was essential, not just to allow Washington and his men to move quickly to Fort Duquesne, but to open up the Ohio country to Virginia troops and settlers in the future. Washington and the Ohio Company had originally hoped to use the Potomac River to travel between the tidewater and the Ohio country; however, the Great Falls made such a journey impossible until the completion of the Patowmack Canal in 1803. Washington sent out Captain Hog with 75 men to pursue French troops who had threatened to destroy his house and property. However, shortly after Hog left, Washington called together some young Indians and told them that

13688-444: Was lieutenant colonel in the newly created Virginia Regiment , set out on April 2, 1754, with a small force to build a road to, and then defend, Fort Prince George. Washington was at Wills Creek in north central Maryland when he received news of the fort's surrender. On May 28, Washington encountered a Canadian scouting party near a place now known as Jumonville Glen (several miles east of present-day Uniontown ). Washington attacked

13806-536: Was moved that same year to the south shore where Fort-on-Shore was constructed. It proved insufficient within 3 years, and the mighty Fort Nelson was constructed upriver. The town of Louisville was chartered in 1780, in honor of King Louis XVI of France. The first locks on the river – the Louisville and Portland Canal – were built between 1825 and 1830 to circumnavigate the falls. Fears that Louisville's transshipment industry would collapse proved ill-founded: but

13924-486: Was the best known of the anti-slavery novels that portrayed such escapes across the Ohio. The times have been expressed by 20th-century novelists as well, such as the Nobel Prize -winning Toni Morrison , whose novel Beloved was adapted as a film of the same name. She also composed the libretto for the opera Margaret Garner (2005), based on the life and trial of an enslaved woman who escaped with her family across

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