is still called Grant's Hill, on
which the court-house now stands, where he rashly permitted himself to
be surrounded and attacked by the French and Indians, half his force
being killed or wounded, and himself slain. Washington followed soon
after, and opened a road for the advance of the main body under Forbes.
Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario, had just been taken by General
Amherst, with the result that supplies for Fort Duquesne were cut off.
When, therefore, Captain Ligneris, the French commandant, learned of the
advance of a superior force, having no hope of reinforcements, he blew
up the fort, set fire to the adjacent buildings, and drew his garrison
away.

On Saturday, November 25, 1758, amidst a fierce snowstorm, the English
took possession of the place, and Colonel Armstrong, in the presence of
Forbes and Washington, hauled up the puissant banner of Great Britain,
while cannons boomed and the exulting victors cheered. On the next day,
General Forbes wrote to Governor Denny from "Fort Duquesne, now
Pittsburgh,[A] the 26th of November, 1758," and this was the first use
of that name. On this same Sunday the Rev. Mr. Beatty, a Presbyterian
chaplain, preached a sermon in thanksgiving for the superiority of
British arms,--the first Protestant service in Pittsburgh. The French
had had a Roman Catholic chaplain, Father Baron, during their occupancy.
On the next day Forbes wrote to Pitt with a vision of prophecy as
follows:

PITTSBOURGH, 27th Novem'r, 1758.

_Sir_,

I do myself the Honour of acquainting you that it has pleased God
to crown His Majesty's Arms with Success over all His Enemies upon
the Ohio, by my having obliged the enemy to burn and abandon Fort
Du Quesne, which they effectuated on the 25th:, and of which I
took possession next day, the Enemy having made their Escape down
the River towards the Missisippi in their Boats, being abandoned
by their Indians, whom I had previously engaged to leave them, and
who now seem all willing and ready to implore His Majesty's most
Gracious Protection. So give me leave to congratulate you upon this
great Event, of having totally expelled the French from this
prodigious tract of Country, and of having reconciled the various
tribes of Indians inhabiting it to His Majesty's Government.

* * * * *

I have used the freedom of giving your name to Fort Du Quesne, as I