American Advance: Westward from the French & Indian War

By Rock DiLisio

The French and Indian War is said to be the first true world war, where world powers, Britain and France, collided over the tempting prosperity of North America. Much of the war was fought over the control of an extremely sought after, strategic piece of ground, known as the Forks, where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers meet to form the mighty Ohio. Now the City of Pittsburgh, this location was the portal to the west, and control of it would garner possibilities and riches beyond imagination. No other piece of ground on American soil has ever been so coveted. Britain was the ultimate victor, and with it came the opportunities for their American colonists to move westward, and establish communities. Virginia colonists were the first to take advantage. The westward movement began with the construction of a settlers fort, named Fort Vance, which was established ten miles down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, in what is today Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. This is where the west began.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Oct 17, 2008
• ISBN: 9780595625390

Rock DiLisio

Rock DiLisio’s other books in this archaeology adventure series include: Three Kings of Casablanca, Stone of the Sahara and Palace of the Pharaoh

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American Advance

Westward from the French & Indian War

Copyright © 2008 by Rocco DiLiso

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN:978-0-595-52486-0 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-0-595-62539-0 (ebk)

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

CHAPTER TWO

ROBERT VANCE

CHAPTER THREE

THE FIRST WESTWARD MOVEMENT

CHAPTER FOUR

FORT VANCE

CHAPTER FIVE

SETTLERS FORTS AND THE OHIO VALLEY INDIANS

CHAPTER SIX

THE FORT VANCE ERA

CHAPTER SEVEN

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

CHAPTER EIGHT

RETURN TO FORT VANCE

CHAPTER NINE

THE VANCE FAMILY

CHAPTER TEN

Synopsis: THE FIRST WESTWARD MOVEMENT

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CORAOPOLIS, PENNSYLVANIA

CHAPTER TWELVE

HISTORIC PITTSBURGH

Bibliography:

Accolades for Pittsburgh:

America’s Most Livable City – Places Rated Almanac 2007

(Pittsburgh is the only city to rank in the Top 15 in every issue, and has won twice)

10 Most Beautiful Places in America – (Nighttime View) – USAToday

Top 3 Cities of the Future – Foreign Direct Land Investment Magazine

World’s Top 20 Skylines – Deserio.com

Top Ten World’s Cleanest Cities – Forbes Magazine

Top 100 Places to Live – Relocate America

Smartest Places to Live – Kiplinger Magazine

America’s Best Urban Adventure City – National Geographic Magazine

Best Metro Area for Relocation – Worldwide ERC and Primary Relocation

Top 13 Travel Destinations – Frommer’s

Best Mid-Size City Arts Destination – American Style Magazine

Top 50 Hottest Cities for Business Relocation/Expansion – Expansion Management

Pittsburgh International Airport – Top 5 World’s Best Airports – OAG Worldwide

Pittsburgh International Airport – Top 5 best Airports and among Best in the World – J.D. Power and Conde Nast Traveler Magazine

PNC Park – Best Baseball Park in the U.S.A. – ESPN

Kennywood Park - #2 Theme Park in U.S. – Theme Park Magazine

Kennywood Park – Best Amusement Parks – Travel Channel

Carnegie Museum of Natural History – Top 5 Museums for Dinosaur Sightings

The three most beautiful cities in the world are Paris; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Pittsburgh. If Pittsburgh were situated somewhere in the heart of Europe, tourists would eagerly journey hundreds of miles out of their way to visit.

New Yorker Magazine

In commemoration of the 250th year of the City of Pittsburgh, and to the past and present residents of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania

As long as the Monongahela and Allegheny shall flow to form the Ohio; as long as the English tongue shall be the language of freedom in the boundless valleys which these waters traverse, Pittsburgh shall stand as the gateway of the West.

CHAPTER ONE 

THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

As a kid, walking the streets of First and Second Avenues in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania was always an interesting experience since there were so many things to find. Certainly, you would find the normal nickels and dimes and other items that inadvertently strayed from the pockets of their owners, but it was the unusual objects that kept your head down and your eyes scanning the pavement.

The occasional coins could translate into a pack of baseball cards or comic book by weeks-end, but we had a more interesting quarry in mind. Arrowheads. Real arrowheads. Real Indian artifacts were a great novelty for boys about nine years of age, but little did we know the historical significance of the pointed, hard, chiseled objects that we spotted and picked-up through the years. We didn’t realize their importance until my father told us that there once was a small fort on our block.

The mere mention of the word fort stirred and expanded the cowboy/Indian interest in every boy in the neighborhood. We didn’t need to fantasize about being in the wild west through television programs such as Wild, Wild West, Gun Smoke or our favorite, reruns of The Lone Ranger. We walked the hallowed ground of cowboy/Indian encounters in our backyards, and we had the Indian artifacts to prove it.

In subsequent years, my interest in history and in the fort increased. I had to learn more about it since our house basically sat on a piece of historical ground. I soon learned that very little was known of the fort and even less was recorded in history. Many residents of Coraopolis never knew that a fort ever existed in their borough. I set out to accumulate as much information as possible, knowing that forts played a major role in the frontier era of the United States and thus end the unknown history. What I found, by scouring the limited documentation from every historical society in the area, was a history that had intriguing aspects and seemingly conflicting information.

The fort carried the name of Fort Vance and was most definitely the first structure ever built in what is now the Borough of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania (Coraopolis is located in western Pennsylvania and is a suburb of Pittsburgh). It stood in the form of a blockhouse and/or stockade during the late, to post-French and Indian war era. Since the French and Indian War plays a major role in the construction of Fort Vance, it would be very fitting, at this juncture, to give a brief synopsis of the war in order to better understand how and why Fort Vance came into being. Its underlying historical significance may turn out to be great for it may have been the first, community settlement in what was then the west. The right to do so had caused the world powers to fight in what was the French and Indian War.

The following synopsis of the French and Indian War, primarily as it pertains to western Pennsylvania, is essential to understanding ‘Where the West began.’

The French and Indian War –

(As it pertains to western Pennsylvania) –

A MUST READ

The French and Indian War can be said to be the first true world war. The British and their American colonies fought a long battle against the French and their Native American Indian allies. The entire war was primarily fought over the control of one piece of land at the forks of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers, in what is now the City of Pittsburgh in the State of Pennsylvania.

Let it be said that there is no other single piece of ground that has been so sought after and coveted than that triangular passage way to the west. The powers of the world, namely Britain and France, fought ferociously for from 1755 until 1763