Topic: Fort Duquesne

Fort Duquesne , at the junction of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, on the site of Pittsburgh, SW Pa. Because of its strategic location, it was a major objective in the last of the French and Indian Wars . The fort was begun by a group of Virginians in 1754 at the insistence of Gov. Robert Dinwiddie. The French drove the Virginians away on Apr. 17, 1754, and completed the fort; they named it after the Marquis de Duquesne, governor-general of New France. George Washington's Virginia militia had failed to reach the fort before the arrival of the French (see Fort Necessity ). Fort Duq... Read more