Bouquet's Expedition of 1764

BOUQUET'S EXPEDITION OF 1764. After relieving Fort Pitt in 1763 during Pontiac's War, Henry Bouquet's force of regulars was too small to subjugate the tribes in the Ohio Valley and to free their numerous white prisoners. Not until 1764 did the Pennsylvania Assembly vote an adequate force of provincials for the expedition. Virginia and Maryland flatly refused to contribute. On 5 August Bouquet reached Carlisle with the 1,000 Pennsylvania troops and a detachment of regulars from the Forty-third and Sixtieth Regiments. Within a week 200 provincials had deserted. On 17 September he reached Fort Pitt, having lost another 100 Pennsylvania troops, but Virginia had responded to his appeal and sent a body of woodsmen. After many delays, in early October he was able to leave Pittsburgh with 1,500 men. His cautious advance west some 100 miles to the Muskingum River, the heart of the Delaware and Shawnee country, was unopposed, and he was met by chiefs bringing eighteen white captives and suing for peace. Demanding that all prisoners be surrendered, he took hostages and moved south to the forks of the Muskingum and waited until another 200 prisoners were brought in. Making peace, he directed the Indians to go to Sir William Johnson to conclude treaty arrangements and returned to Pittsburgh with additional hostages to assure that the Indians delivered another 100 Shawnee captives and that they honored their obligation to make treaties with Johnson. The Indians did both, and their threat to the frontier was temporarily ended. Bouquet's well-managed and successful campaign was in marked contrast to the failure of Bradstreet's Expedition of 1764.

SEE ALSO Bouquet, Henry; Bradstreet's Expedition of 1764; Pontiac's War.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. New York: Knopf, 2000.

Fortescue, Sir John W. A History of the British Army. Vol. 3: 1763–1793. London: Macmillan, 1911.

Gipson, Lawrence H. The British Empire before the American Revolution. Vol. 9: The Triumphant Empire: New Responsibilities within the Enlarged Empire, 1763–1766. New York: Knopf, 1956.

                               revised by Harold E. Selesky