Forbes Road: Difference between revisions

Forbes Road (view source)

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 ''[[United States|United States&nbsp;]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] &nbsp;[[United States Migration Internal|Migration&nbsp;]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] &nbsp;[[US Migration Trails and Roads|Trails and Roads&nbsp;]] [[Image:Gotoarrow.png]] &nbsp;[[Forbes_Road|Forbes Road]]'' [[Image:Forbes Road Map.png|620px]] <br><br>{{Adoption PARoots}}
+'''Forbes Road''' was also called the '''Raystown Path''', or '''Old Trading Path'''.<ref name="HBG">''Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed.'' (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 853. ({{FHL|1049485|item}} 973 D27e 2002). [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50140092 WorldCat entry].</ref> '''Forbes Road''' was a widening and improvement of an older trading path&nbsp;to make&nbsp;a military road under the leadership of British Brigadier General John Forbes during the French and Indian War. His goal was to cross the Appalachian (Allegheny) Mountains with heavy artillery and an army large enough to repel French forces at Fort Duquesne in what is now Pittsburgh on the Ohio River. General Forbes' men constructed the road in 1758 from Carlisle, Pennsylvania to Fort Duquesne, connecting Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. The road from Carlisle to Fort Duquesne was about 200 miles (322 km).<ref>"Forbes Road" [general road marker at Bedford] as explained at ExplorePAhistory.com at http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=134 (accessed 20 December 2010).</ref>
 === Historical Background  ===
-'''Forbes Road''' was also called the '''Raystown Path''', or '''Old Trading Path'''.<ref name="HBG">''Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed.'' (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), 853. ({{FHL|1049485|item}} 973 D27e 2002). [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50140092 WorldCat entry].</ref> '''Forbes Road''' was a widening and improvement of an older trading path&nbsp;to make&nbsp;a military road under the leadership of British Brigadier General John Forbes during the French and Indian War. His goal was to cross the Appalachian (Allegheny) Mountains with heavy artillery and an army large enough to repel French forces at Fort Duquesne in what is now Pittsburgh on the Ohio River. General Forbes' men constructed the road in 1758 from Carlisle, Pennsylvania to Fort Duquesne, connecting Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. The road from Carlisle to Fort Duquesne was about 200 miles (322 km).<ref>"Forbes Road" [general road marker at Bedford] as explained at ExplorePAhistory.com at http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=134 (accessed 20 December 2010).</ref>
 Forbes Road followed the "Raystown Traders Path," a Delaware-Shawnee Indian and fur trader pack trail connecting the Susquehanna (Harrisburg) and Ohio rivers via Raystown (modern Bedford).<ref>"Forbes Road (Raystown Path) #1" [road marker SW of Carlisle] as explained at ExplorePAhistory.com at http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=135 (accessed 20 December 2010).</ref> The construction part of the way from Harrisburg to Raystown (Bedford) was relatively easy because of the unfinished [[Burd's Road]] (1755) originally intended as a military supply route to connect to [[Braddock's Road]].<ref>"Col. James Burd" [road marker in Highspire] as explained at ExplorePAhistory.com at http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=130 (accessed 20 December 2010).</ref> At Raystown General Forbes had a choice of heading south to Fort Cumberland, Maryland,&nbsp;where he could follow Braddock's Road toward Fort Duquesne. Instead he picked the the more direct route, choosing to widen the older Raystown Traders Path even though it involved building switchbacks on several steep grades. It took six months to finish the Forbes military road west to Fort Duquesne.