SAMUEL VAUGHAN'S JOURNAL or "Minutes Made by S.V., from Stage to Stage, on a Tour to Fort Pitt" Edited by Edward G. Williams PART II FROM CARLISLE TO PITTSBURGH Introduction Carlisle the early road ran southward through the Cumber- land Valley via Shippensburg to the Conococheague Settlements FromA (Chambersburg), thence crossed the Potomac at the mouth of Conococheague Creek (Williamsport, Maryland) to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia (present U.S. Route 11). Although only a rough wagon road, it was commonly called the "Great Road to Virginia." This wagon road already had been extended to McDowell's Mill,or Fort McDowell (present Markes, Pennsylvania) upon the West Fork of Conococheague, when, in 1755, Colonel James Burd was sent to cut a road from that point over the mountains to meet General Braddock's road near the Great Crossing of the Youghiogheny. 1 Over the Great Road, in 1758, marched Forbes' army from Carlisle to Fort Loudoun, which had recently supplanted Fort Mc- Dowell,2 three miles below the present village of Fort Loudon, Frank- lin County. Thence, the road bent around the promontory of Par- nell's Knob (North Mountain), passing in a northerly direction up Path Valley and over Tuscarora Mountain by Cowan Gap. It then slid down the narrow, declining trough between Tuscarora and Cove Mountain to the Little Aughwick Creek at Burnt Cabins. 3 It was here that the Pennsylvania Road of later years again In the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress is the only known copy of the Journal of Samuel Vaughan. 1 Burd's efforts came to naught with Braddock's defeat on July 9, 1755. His road had been cut as far as the top of Allegheny Mountain not far from Roxbury, Somerset County, where he buried his tools, later to be dug up by Forbes' scouts and used by his road builders. See Papers of Colonel Henry Bouquet (Harrisburg, 1951), 235-236. 2 For the construction of Fort Loudoun, see Colonel John Armstrong's letter to Governor William Denny, November 19, 1756, Pennsylvania Archives, 1st ser., Ill,58. 3 J. Potts' "Marching Journal," Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia, MS. Collection; also William Scull's Map, 1770. 160 EDWARD G. WILLIAMS JUNE came into the Forbes Route. 4 Authorized by Act of Assembly, September 21, 1785, 5 and 'begun that year, this road was still under construction when Vaughan passed over it in 1787, and during the following year.6 The new road diverged from the Great Road (Forbes Route) at Shippensburg and ran, by present State Route 533, to Upper Strasburg, thence by a township road across Blue Mountain, Horse Valley, Kittatinny Mountain, Path Valley, and Tuscarora Mountain, to meet the old Forbes Road at Burnt Cabins. 7 From this point, we shall follow, with our journalist, the com- bined routes through Fort Littleton, to Bedford and the Forks of the Road, whence the Burd Road took the left-hand fork to the south, which became the Glade Road. 8 At this point the Forbes Road began entirely on its own, and this the Pennsylvania State Road traversed, with variations, to Pittsburgh. These variations from the Forbes Road form the intriguing, sometimes baffling elements, in the story of retracing our traveler's itinerary. An intimate knowledge of the terrain, mountain roads and bypaths, is necessary for an understanding of all of these several routes; and such understanding is essential for tracing any one of them separately. Once again, in the words of Francis Park- man, is history written "as much in the open air as at the library table/ 1 Some of the problems in identifying at this late day the route of Forbes* army and the many factors related thereto should be here mentioned. The military pioneers had not time to shelve into the sides of mountains for easier side-hill grades. The peacetime roadbuilders who followed effected these refinements. A selection of the actual routes of the army is rendered difficult by the fact that Bouquet, Forbes* advance commander, often led the troops by a direct line of march, while the wagons and artillery followed an- other for better grades and firmer ground, days later. Complications occur in differentiating the proper course westward from Fort Ligonier, where Forbes divided his army into three brigades, which 4 "Colonel Israel Shreve's Journal," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biog- raphy, LII,197 (hereinafter noted as PMHB). 5 James T. Mitchell and Henry Flanders, Pennsylvania Statutes at Large, XII (Harrisburg, 1906), 105-107. 6 "Col Israel Shreve's Journal (1798)," op. cit., 198: "... ascended Sideling Hill up a good new road made by said Skinner ...Skinner's men at work making a new road down." 7 See "Journal'of Arthur Lee," R. H. Lee, IIThe Life of Arthur Lee (Boston, 1829), 378; "Col. John May's Journal," PMHB, XLV, 111; "Col. Israel Shreve's Journal," op. cit.. 196-P7. 8 "John Heckewelder's Journal," PMHB, X, 131. " a , f.,.. -* 4 •n . V B M«Ge*s * < Be*m r .^- ! \^Ostew? A Now l. Fort A<-n irnsidf !»'&p«ij JT&*> r~ 2?T" Explanation li •».,«..,».^^^j-- /^»?^^«^,''° I'niz ma delineates Samuel Vaughan's itinerary from Carlisle to Pittsburgh and Cari; i 17, Fort Pitt "t\f" vStf'-^"-' /^' / \ /\ rtf J Start s e — \u25a0• from IPittsburgh Cumberland, in 1787. is a composite of information from I, 18. |T Xy-, V^^^'-F^'v,,^ , >».« \, */T K \u25a0\rJ'" -"a\<?ch \ /'"' to It Big Spring Cochran's General Neville's tNJffe&i i'•* Free^ /T h^J" /'"""' isources 2. Shippensburg 19. Colonel Cannon's ' 'M $""'• the cited in the text and from actual observation on the ground. In a r«i,1«mu» / ~dm\ V cG -J*dfr Horse Valley— 20. Washington w Skinner's \u25a0 < tl3^ places exact variable, 3. 7I<'^V^3^.''''< *"\ Jf fi |CX« P" XriVS \s few: the location of the roads is but identification of all 21, (.«><m.> '' I SerVCd tO "''""' d tO '^ 1 6116 11y SeC maP f ? 2s^J,3 "^ r, p t Foot "tSdfafan '7° 1% 0 —"^"-^ r°S ''7 T! Koad,ft \ -"\u25a0'A~"^S BW!H?tCS/ IB) Forbes Road given with Miles Andersons Ihe General Chooses a ,, funiata Crossing Martin's 23. Uniontown—Beesontown \u25a0" \ Xn - feB^Ne^ensington'^lR?^^S( ..,,/ \ ['';"'\u25a0\u25a0'\u25a0 ,."> WEST!Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, XI^II(1959), 116, for strategic 7, Bedford 24. Fossict's— Fossett's ( ' •» jte"/J,'- y»» previous route in 8. Ryan's 25. Inks'—Askren's fc WS I, points on the Forbes expedition. (Yaughan deviated from the f Imim^BI^K^\ W "«iii^\J* 26. Ohmpyle .v, "- V.^-ji, A 57 to meet again.) 9. Sta tier's Falls «/- fl^^N^ensingtonU:;T"\ ; -. V ' \j. visiting Ohiopyle Falls and doubling back the road A '' Hall '*V* ,S"'4lfe !-^— w>.^"°!>^U>« 10. Stony Creek 27. s (M . t i'^J^I""--t^^V " r r- « Mill! /»j\ »'^'» CF o ;^W Pennsylvania H. Willis's or Wells' 28. Simkiu " :jl-W Braddock Road H V'f^JV'fV* r J^^Si.-l 5X2: l, /-" •Samuel Yaughan's route over the State Road and Z r>v %' \u25a0\u25a0<jr-'"«\u25a0 L—^fcvJf \u25a0I'^TVTi A i u 12. Fort Ligonier—Bridges 29. Tomhnson s (fiir-a-«A*/^ . ' ''" ' IS Shown thus: or Aj I ,«s^^'U^^ -\u25a0\u25a0 \u25a0""'\u25a0 13. Nine Mile Run 30. Tickles' Tittle's _^l ir 1 "V "'/ "' a ra d k Wh?fe tliev deviate iron. VaUgha S route. New tW* *V&^U bM"^ - SFo^Cumberland Bloomtield/%.1 jS V ... i°lI^oa^. S'^ M^ic^-PoweU'. t MOSb' '' '^S^^VX^.' * ale4oln°thus- *" BUll°Ck ' nt to °' f° °n to superimpose i ' !1 n de & C PermiSSi ar uuncannon \i%Jy'j I > F&v£ >i ~^» A^^^^^TVJ I theXutS on their ma SSf S^S^ a /A W»Wsbo^^ /v Js?H'«V' TTT'' W"/ G>>- 01 *C<,m „ .^JMEWPIS /''*/ Coorr.^1br«o~i «'N««>. Bon,. li*o,rop|«7 m 5 A 1961 SAMUEL VAUGHAN'S JOURNAL 161 moved in leapfrog mode tillthe final thrust to gain Fort Duquesne. Immediately following conquest of the French fort and elimi- nation of the danger of French and Indian ambuscades, it became possible to use the shorter route through the "defiles of Turtle Creek." At least part of the returning army used that road, and it was used, with little interruption thereafter, to supply the rising Fort Pitt. We shall see that this Turtle Creek Valley route soon became the high road upon which were taken up the first land warrants, a tavern located, and the line of the Pennsylvania Road established. 9 After the original Forbes Road had been laid out, several short- cuts were made. The Bushy Run cutoff, which Bouquet was follow- ing at the time of his memorable two-day battle in 1763, had been opened in the spring (1759) following Forbes* winter march to Fort Duquesne. 10 We have evidence that General Monckton changed the road on the western side of Sideling Hillto improve the grade. 11 Itwillreadily be seen that, should scars of all of these roads exist at the present time, a fine sense of discrimination and intimate knowl- edge of the ground would be necessary to identify each correctly. Extremely interesting to read are the journals of men who traveled this way, some soon after Forbes* army, others during the years after the Revolution, all of which give a running account of changes and condition of the road over a long period of years in the development of the young nation. Samuel Vaughan's notes are among the most informative.