Battle of Fort Pitt
Last Updated
Aug 2009
This entry from the McCall website
illustrates the early Scotch immigrant
By 1638 thousands of border Scots, many of them younger sons of prominent families, had accepted the offer of James
I of Scotland and occupied great bodies of land in Ulster which had been forfeited by the crown in consequence
of the ill-fated rebellion of Tyrone which began in 1594 and collapsed in 1603. Many McCall households appeared
among the transplanted Scots. The Scotch of Ireland, or the Scotch-Irish, were industrious and prospered in their
new home. The British Parliament, seeing this unexpected success commenced to burden them with high taxes and to
persecute them for their religion. In a century of abuse their patience was exhausted, and they yearned to escape
the oppressive burden.
Family after family the Scotch-Irish began to sail for the American colonies. Scarcely a ship sailed for America
from about 1730 that did not carry emigrants from the nine counties of Ulster. Members of the McCall family sailed
with other persecuted covenanters to New Jersey where a Scotch colony had been obtained from the Duke of York.
On landing in America they found that their assigned land was claimed by the Dutch and the colony was broken up.
Legendarily three McCall brothers were among the emigrants. Legendarily one brother, James McCall elected to go
to Massachusetts; one chose Pennsylvania and one removed to Virginia.
During the next 50 years thousands of the Scotch-Irish landed at Philadelphia and then spread southward into Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, according to "History of the Scotch-Irish in America" by
A. J. McKelway.
Francis McCall, James McCall and Thomas McCall in 1758 served in the North Carolina militia, perhaps participating
in the battle for Ft. Duquesne. Ironically the same men, less than 20 years later, would fight against their former
comrades in the Revolutionary War.
By the 1750’s, both Britain and France began fighting over land. British colonists began moving into lands the
French claimed. This caused great conflict . When the British started looking at the land across the Appalachians,
tension rose. The French felt that the British were moving onto lands claimed by them. In 1752, Marquis Duquesne
(governor-general of New France) was instructed to take possession of the Ohio River Valley. During the same period
of time, Robert Dinwiddie was giving land in the Ohio Valley to British citizens. To protect themselves and
their interests, the French began building forts.
When Dinwiddie heard about the forts, he sent a young officer named George Washington to the area with a letter.
This letter demanded that the French leave immediately. They didn't. While George Washington was in that area,
he noticed it would be a good place to build a fort. The British started building a fort there in the early months
of 1754, calling it Fort Prince George. Upon discovering this fort, the French descended upon it, threw the
British out and completed the fort themselves. They renamed the fort Fort Duquesne . (Fort Duquesne was built where
the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania stands today.)
Begining with the ambush by George Washington of French officer Jumonville and his party, which vaulted Washington
onto the world stage. In the ensuing battle of Fort Necessity, Jumonville’s brother avenges the killing by forcing
the surrender of Washington and his army of militia.
Braddock's goal is the "Forks of the Ohio," site of present-day Pittsburgh. Seven miles from Ft. Duquesne,
French and British armies fight the Battle of the Monongahela, a brutal forest encounter in which Braddock’s army
is overwhelmed by a bold French-Indian allied force. George Washington rallies the troops after the battle and
personally tends to the mortally wounded Gen. Braddock.
The Forks of the Ohio (present-day Pittsburgh), the prized parcel of land sought by both France and England and
site of the French Fort Duquesne (1754-58).