130 HISTORY OF FORT LIGONIER Some idea of the sufferings of the troops that kept open the line of communication from Fort Pitt to the eastern side of the Alleghenies at the time of which we are writing, is gotten from the following letter of Colo- nel John Armstrong, sent from Fort Ligonier to Governor Denny, on October 19, 1759: "I thought it might not be amiss to acquaint you with the state of your regiment. The old battallions were last winter greatly distressed on the communica- tion for want of pay, cloathing and provisions. Num- bers of them paid the debt of nature in the way of scalping, and many more died of the diseases necessarily arising from cold and hunger ...... The extravagant price exacted for cloathing and other necessaries through the winter has left them in general not a six pence of their pay to the first of August now received." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 688.)

Attack on Fort Ligonier in July, 1759 As has already been stated, when the French aban- doned Fort Duquesne, their commandant, De Lignery, retired with two hundred troops to Fort Machault where Franklin, Venango County, now stands. Fort Machault was enlarged and strengthened, as the French still entertained hopes of recovering Fort Du- quesne. At Fort Machault assembled Indians from the region of the Great Lakes, still under French domination and all the French troops that could be spared from Fort Leboeuf, Fort Presqu' Isle and even from the far western posts of Kaskaskia and the Miss- issippi; from Kaskaskia, M. de Aubrey, commandant at the Illinois, brought to Fort Machault not only four hundred troops, but also two hundred thousand pounds of flour. The abandonment of Fort Duquesne had cut off the direct Ohio route to the Illinois country,