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Episode 11 - The Battle of Kittanning
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Learn about the British colonial response to the ongoing devastating Indian raids along the Pennsylvania frontier. Colonel John Armstrong, Sr will lead 300 men into the heart of hostile territory with the goal of eliminating the threat of the Delaware village of Kittanning. You'll see the Indians and the French aren't the only ones who can perform long-distance military strikes!
Intro & outro music - "Drums and Guns" by Village Volunteers Fife & Drum Corps
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Transcript
New Year Reflections and Podcast Resolutions
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome back to Tales from the French and Indian War. I'm your host, Jackson. Alongside me is Matt, as always. Good evening, Matt. Hey, Jackson. How's it going?
00:00:21
Speaker
Going pretty well. Happy New Year. Yeah, Happy New Year. First recording in 2026. That's right. We are now officially a multi-year podcast. Wow, we've just been around for ages.
00:00:32
Speaker
Yep. Yep. Next thing you know, it'll be a decade or something. We'll look back you' be like, ah, remember when we, remember when we started talking about the French and Indian War in 2025 and just now finishing in 2035? Oh gosh. Just kidding, listener. we I guess I hope it doesn't take a decade for us to get through this. I mean, wow. Okay. Should we have any new year's resolutions for the podcast?
00:00:55
Speaker
I haven't thought of any yet, but the thought just occurred to me. That's a good question. um Maybe more frequent recordings and uploads. Although I feel like we've been semi, we've been semi decent. I feel like you've been filling the gap here and there with some of your, the shorter
Indian Raids and Colonial Responses in 1755-1756
00:01:11
Speaker
episodes. um But yeah, I think as as long as like a month, a whole month doesn't go by without an episode. I think that's pretty good. Although two a month, of course, would be a little bit nicer for us and certainly for the listeners.
00:01:25
Speaker
For sure. Yeah. And I'm sure that I know every history podcast I've listened to, I've always started listening to it years after it was made. So maybe the listener, if they're just going through the episodes, they don't know a difference between when we were releasing these, but for all of our live listeners, we will certainly make an effort in 2026 to get more frequent recordings.
00:01:46
Speaker
Yes, that would be nice. That would be nice. All right. Well, let's dive into it. So this episode is going to be pretty much a direct follow-up, for the most part, of our last full episode, where we talked in more detail about a couple of the Indian raids that occurred.
00:02:05
Speaker
We focus specifically in Pennsylvania along the frontier, but these raids at this time, 1755 and 6, are occurring all the way from New England, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, even down to like southwestern Virginia.
00:02:20
Speaker
So it's pretty much the entire British colonial frontier up in flames, constant raids. Settlers are on edge. They're gathering in blockhouses and forts. There's a lot of commotion and chaos. People are fleeing back east.
00:02:34
Speaker
And we are going to talk about one of the next stages in that overall, that more the specific picture in the broader scheme of the war. So we are going to talk about the Battle of Catanning, also I think referred to as the Armstrong Expedition or the Catanning Expedition, I believe.
00:02:53
Speaker
But yes, this is going to take place in the fall or late summer of 1756, partially as a response to all of these raids that continue to come into the British colonial frontier.
00:03:10
Speaker
So before we get into the details of the raid itself, what happened, who was there, how did it play out, there'll be a couple of background things that we'll need to cover first to get a sense of the situation of what's going on in Pennsylvania, the decisions that lead to this expedition being sent out ah and the like.
Pennsylvania's Political and Military Struggles
00:03:34
Speaker
Matt, I was going to talk about a little bit about the political situation in Pennsylvania and the final, like what led to the funding and dispatching of this expedition. Is there anything you wanted to say before I just jump into that topic?
00:03:49
Speaker
No, I think that's a good topic to start off with. And then we can, after I'm going through that, we can talk about Fort Granville, which will be the event that immediately precedes the Battle Catanning. So, no, I that's a good start.
00:04:03
Speaker
Okay, great. Yeah. So an important thing to understand that especially explains why Pennsylvania, among other colonies, is one of the weaker and has less of a an effective defense against the beginning of this French and Indian War is because for so long of that colony's history, up until right about the beginning of this war, the political sphere has been dominated by the Quakers. And they are pacifists.
00:04:32
Speaker
They did not want to take up arms against anyone, and especially not the Native Americans. You know, the founder of the colony, he William Penn, he had a kind of a specific vision in mind of like people of all different backgrounds living together. It's very idealistic, or at least for that time, it certainly was idealistic.
00:04:55
Speaker
um That has kind of changed as the ah proprietorship, the you basically the ownership of the colony has moved throughout the Penn family. Now it is, I think, his sons or maybe grandsons at this point who are technically like the the leaders or the owners. the It's somewhat of like a feudal structure almost. They're the proprietors of the colony of Pennsylvania.
00:05:19
Speaker
But up until the beginning of this war, Quakers have dominated the assembly. it was founded with some Quaker principles. So it's been pacifistic. They've had no like regular official military.
00:05:30
Speaker
Any defense has been much more spontaneous or, you know, just like settlers defending their homes. There has not been much of a coordinated military effort in Pennsylvania up to this point. Not a large port.
00:05:43
Speaker
Reason for that was because of the hefty Quaker influence. However, now that the war is raging and Pennsylvania is really feeling it, Quaker influence is starting to recede. But there's two other political powers in play in Pennsylvania in the 1750s that are still kind of halting the gears of its self-defense machine.
00:06:05
Speaker
And that is the party of the proprietors. So that's the Penn family and their representatives like Governor Morris at the time, who's governing Pennsylvania because the Pens are living out and still in England. They're not, you know, in the colony. They're not in the day day affairs. They're leaving that to their representatives.
00:06:23
Speaker
So the one side is the proprietors, those representing the Penn family. And the other side is the anti-proprietors, which you can assume who they don't like. Yes. So this these are people, i think Benjamin Franklin, I believe, was among that party. i would have to confirm that, but I believe he was. But these are people who kind of view this colony structure as given to tyranny, you know, It's the Penn family trying to seize power. their The Penns own vast amounts of land. A lot of times they're like renting it out to people, to settlers.
00:06:57
Speaker
They're not paying taxes, or at least they're paying very few taxes. I think they're just in general not, because that's going to play into the story here. So the anti-proprietors are trying to chip away at the power of the Penn family and the governor and kind of more power to the the assembly to make decisions for Pennsylvania and provide for its defense.
00:07:17
Speaker
Well, the proprietors like and the representative, Governor Morris, his job is just to represent the Penn family interest. And the Penn family interest is basically do not, under under any circumstances, let our lands be taxed by the assembly. Like,
00:07:33
Speaker
We're not, no, out of the option. You must do whatever you can, Governor Boris, to prevent that. ah So there's this deadlock between these two parties. They're each working against each other.
00:07:45
Speaker
They're not being able to coordinate a defense, like who's going to pay, if we're going make a militia, like a regular, more official militia, who's going to pay for it? Who's going to arrange for all of the supplies and everything like that?
00:07:58
Speaker
The anti-proprietors want the proprietors to pay for it. The proprietors are like, you're not tech. You're not, you can't tax any of our holdings to pay for this. No way. Eventually,
00:08:09
Speaker
An understanding is made between the two parties around this time where the Penn family would give a large donation to help and of kickstart Pennsylvania's defense, but it was specified under no circumstances could that ever be considered a tax on the Penn family estates.
00:08:31
Speaker
So that was enough for the anti-proprietors. They, yeah you know, they get the money, they get the funding. That was an okay deal for the proprietors. You know, they didn't, they, Governor Moore still didn't allow the Penn family estates to be taxed, but the money is now raised. And finally, more forts, more troops and official militia and, and different Military units can now be raised in the colony at a critical time when its entire frontier is aflame.
00:09:01
Speaker
Jackson, I don't mean to cut you off, and apologize if your you already said this, but do you know how much Pennsylvania the Penn family owned at this time? Oh, that's a great question. i had read it at some point, but I don't have the specific. i think you I think it was a large portion. It was a large portion of what Pennsylvania was. I was reading an essay all about the proprietor conflict, um but I don't think I can quickly scan through it now to find that. But they had they had a ah large portion of Pennsylvania. If you grew up in the U.S., listener, you probably have heard that Pennsylvania means Penns Woods. It's literal. It was actually their property. i Absolutely owned by them.
00:09:52
Speaker
Yeah, I'll see it real quick if I can just. Yeah, you're fine. If you can't find it, that's fine. i was just curious because of, I mean, we had talked about this before. This was kind of a piece of Pennsylvania history. I had never ah knew about these two parties being formed solely based on the fact that the Penn family had so much sway through land ownership. It was interesting.
00:10:17
Speaker
Okay. So yeah, I can't find the specific amount, but in the essay i was reading, mentioned a bill that the Assembly had been trying to pass before that included a tax on the estate owned by the proprietors, not only the executives of Pennsylvania, but also the principal landowners. So But yeah, and the Penns still own the majority of the land in the colony, renting it out to various tenants. So at least the majority of the land. I don't know what the exact percentage or acreage was.
00:10:44
Speaker
This is coming from an essay called The Jaws of Proprietary Slavery. The Pennsylvania Assembly's Conflict with the Penns, 1754 1768.
00:10:55
Speaker
I don't know if this is accurate or not, but from a quick Google search on my end, um in 1685, the Penn family, so this would have been about 70-ish years prior, they owned about 700,000 acres.
00:11:10
Speaker
in Pennsylvania. Now, how many football fields is that? That's the only measurement I understand. exactly yeah Yeah, well, I'll get back to you on that one. Yeah, 700,000 acres is sounds like a lot of land, but I don't know how many acres the entire state of Pennsylvania is. I really don't have a conception of that.
00:11:27
Speaker
um Yeah, so listener, 700,000 acres. if If that means something to you. But
Siege and Battle of Fort Granville
00:11:36
Speaker
no, you jumped in on a great time because I had just finished my little summary of this complicated political conflict. So that was a great great time to jump in. um I'm ready to move on to... so that's some of the background, the more longer term background.
00:11:50
Speaker
We can jump into the Battle of Fort Granville, which is much more of an an immediate cause, immediate reason for the Catanning expedition. I don't know if you had any notes of that. I have something I can go through here, but I didn't know if you wanted to say anything since I've been speaking for so long.
00:12:09
Speaker
i Just to give some some context on the battle of Fort Granville. So Fort Granville was one of numerous British forts along the, I believe, the Allegheny and then the Jackson, you'll have to correct me if I'm pronouncing this wrong, but is it the Juniata River?
00:12:27
Speaker
I think that's how it's pronounced, but I'm not a native to that area. Uh, so the Juniata, we'll just say Juniata now, listener from Brooklyn, please correct us. Um, so Juniata and then the Allegheny river, there was a, a string of British forts around this area. Fort Granville was one of those.
00:12:42
Speaker
And it was part of a chain of these stockades that were the British had developed in the area following some of the Indian raids we had mentioned before and earlier. 1756 and late 1755. So these were almost this chain of forts is kind of developed as a bastion against French and Indian attacks on British settlements. So just like, so this is going to be on the very edge of the frontier of, of the British settlements in Pennsylvania. And for current days where it would be located, it would be just a little bit Southeast of state college, Pennsylvania for anyone familiar there.
00:13:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And so it's really not too far north from one of the locations we talked about in the last episode, the Great Cove. So it's you know it's a very much in the warpath. It's ah at a critical area where some of these attacks are very much taking place.
00:13:35
Speaker
Yeah, so this happened on the Battle of Fort Granville itself happened on, I believe, was it July 30th of 17? I think. Or actually, no, it was like a second August 2nd. August 2nd. So on July 30th is Wednesday's weekend state. of the fort occurred yes yeah so up in whose name was edward ward he had left on july 30th with most of the garrison to protect some nearby settlements from raids i don't know if they actually happened or if it was just a threat of raids but
00:14:08
Speaker
A good chunk of the garrison and the commander had just left. And then just what two or three days later, that is when the attack by the Indians and many French are along for the ride on this one on August second And when ah when Captain Ward left, I believe about 24 to 25 men, women and children were left in the fort. So that's a pretty pretty small portion of what originally was stationed there was left. And Indian scouting parties relate this to the French, which is why this attack occurred.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yes, it was a great, a great moment to strike. And I bet it is very much due to local Indian intelligence and scouting for sure. little It's a little bit too much of a coincidence for, you know, right after the garrison leaves, that's when they attack it. It's a little too much for just, oh, we just happened to come across this fort.
00:15:03
Speaker
So yeah you happen to know, i have it here. I can't remember what we had tried for our listeners. We had tried to restart recording this episode a week or two ago, and then we had a bunch of audio and connection issues. So we got to about this point before we realized this is not going to work. There's like a four second delay between when one of us was speaking and the other heard it. So yeah.
00:15:23
Speaker
It was not good. But so I can't remember if I already asked you this and you know this, but do you know who the French commander was? There's about 50 French and about 100 mostly Delaware Indians. But do you know who was leading the French contingent?
00:15:35
Speaker
You know, you did ask me this last time, and I think I might have gotten it right last time. And now I forget. So, good listener, i I knew something at one point in the past, if you trust me on that.
00:15:48
Speaker
So the leader of the French ah division of this force is François Coulomb de Villiers. Now, does that last name or the title, does that sound similar or familiar to you at all?
00:16:00
Speaker
um Yeah, they all start to run together at some point, but that one does sound familiar. So this is one of Joumanville's brothers. So if you remember, at Fort Necessity, the only...
00:16:13
Speaker
The only a leader who forced George Washington in his career to surrender was another de Villiers. That was, I think it was Joseph Coulon. No, that might be Joumanville's actual name. It was another Coulon de Villiers.
00:16:26
Speaker
So this is one of Joumanville's other brothers. ah So it's like a very well-known family in French military, French Canadian military society, kind of similar to the how the Howes, there's like two or three of them on the British side during this war. On the French-Canadian side, there's three Davidiers, one of whom was Joumonville, who also kind of pop in and out throughout the conflict.
00:16:53
Speaker
So this is Joumonville's brother, who is leading the French. Also on the Indian side, as far as notable chiefs, Gaiusuta is there, as well as Captain Jacobs, who will be a more prominent figure for this episode. Mm-hmm.
00:17:10
Speaker
Now, did you, before we talk about, i just have a brief summary of the battle itself, but ah did drew were you able to find any background info on Captain Jacobs?
00:17:22
Speaker
I was. Thank you for asking that, Jackson. Actually, so Captain Jacobs, despite his colorful name, there's not a lot of information about him out there. And he does play a big role in the Battle of Catanning and the Battle of Fort Granville, as we'll see. um But so Captain Jacobs at this time was a like the leader of the Lenape Indians, which is we had covered before, which were Delaware. And I think, Jackson, you might have mentioned this too. I think, are there some current Delaware tribes that would, that still go by Lenape some other form of that word?
00:17:57
Speaker
So, yeah, that's just the example of what they call themselves versus what other people call them. So they call themselves the Lenape or Lenny Lenape.
00:18:08
Speaker
Most other people refer to them as the Delaware, just like, oh, yeah. we call Germany, Germany, but they call it Deutschland, you know, like different names depending on who's speaking. And the Lenny Lenape,
Lenape Identity and Captain Jacobs' Role
00:18:20
Speaker
that's, ah I've heard that's like kind of a misnomer in a way, right? Because isn't that, I read this somewhere where the Lenny, where Lenape means like,
00:18:30
Speaker
great people. No, I have to look this up now. so i think it i think I think I know what you're referring to. It might mean the original people or the real people. Yeah, that's right. and Because then if you say Lenny Lenape, it's like original original people. so they like Somewhere that like all around the world in the numerous languages, like the etymology for what different groups of people call themselves, it's often like real people or the, the, uh, like the great people or the good people or the original people. So it's like every group around the world, like thought of themselves as like, we are the the true people the old people or the ancient people and everybody else is like the barbarians, the outsiders. So it's that interesting to see that in this case, in the northeastern woodlands of North America, that that trend is still very much proven with the Lenny Lenape.
00:19:26
Speaker
In one of the books I was reading, that the name Lenny Lenape was... So, like, Lenape, as you said, what they call themselves internally. And then Lenny Lenape supposedly was, like ah like, a North American colonist, ah not, like...
00:19:43
Speaker
I guess maybe a translation or something of that. That's kind of like made fun of now because of it's like a, it like repeats itself. I don't know. It's interesting regardless. So, um, and anyone out there is a Delaware slash. Yes.
00:19:58
Speaker
Yes. Um, all right. Yeah. So he is called captain Jacobs. Cause that doesn't sound very, uh, native American to me. Well, actually, I'll get into his his actual name first. His actual name was, ah to I think it's pronounced Tawaya or Tawiya. I'm not 100% on that, but it's spelled T-E-W-E-A. So that was his his given name the Lenape tribe. So his given name was not Captain Jacobs, even if that would have been very cool. um His English nickname became Captain Jacobs. Have and just right out of the womb, just be like, this is Captain Jacobs. Yeah. It would have been yeah even more hilarious for a native tribe to do that. um But no yeah, so his English nickname was Captain Jacob. So this is more like what the the colonists would have called him. I'm i'm not not entirely sure if he actually referred to himself as that or if anybody within the the tribe would have called him that, but... um That name originated from a Pennsylvania settler by the name of Arthur Buchanan, who had ah transacted with Captain Jacobs a bit in the in the trade of furs and and land. Sometimes Arthur Buchanan's name is recorded as Robert Buchanan's, and this was in 1754.
00:21:13
Speaker
I'll just call him Buchanan for now. He had negotiated land purchases in the Juniata Valley. um And he noted that Tawea had physically resembled a burly German settler whose name was Jacobs from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. ah So he's like, you know, this guy looks like some like another colonist I know. going to call him Captain Jacobs and not the most ah a story of a name. But basically, yeah, so basically he know looked like a looked like another settler and Buchanan gave him the name just to refer to him as that. So it's kind of interesting. But yeah
00:21:53
Speaker
Yeah. As I talked about, he did some trade with Buchanan, who was a ah British colonist. He initially began having pretty amicable relations with the British colonists. He openly professed friendship with them and sold land to settlers like Buchanan. He also like gave them gifts. so They give him gifts of rum, tobacco, stuff like that. Growing British encroachment over the years eventually kind of flipped that.
00:22:21
Speaker
And we'll see that. I mean, this is the same story as a lot of Delaware Indians living in the area that you know British encroachment kind of made them lean more towards the French side. And the same thing happened with Captain Jacobs. And this he had a lot of issues with the 1737 walking purchase as well. And his grievances with that were the same as what we talked about previous episodes, the other Lenape tribes where I believe ah the Iroquois Confederacy was kind of speaking for them. if the listener remembers that.
00:22:51
Speaker
Discussed that and Jacobs like the rest of them did not have that font of a of an idea of having this Iroquois league speak for them. ah so When that happened, you know, he he like I said, he was friends with the British, starts leaning more towards the French. And then following the defeat of Braddock's field, he fully aligned with the French again, more of a political move. The French were winning at the time. So he he started to ally the French. So his base of operations was Catanning, which made this strike that he participates Fort Granville even more opportunistic for him. And Fort, or I guess the town of Catanning, I'm kind of getting this mixed a little bit because we already did talk about this in our last episode, didn't it publish, but the town of Catanning itself sits right on the Allegheny River. I'm not sure if it was called Allegheny back then, but since right in the Allegheny River and it has access to all these forts that we talked about, the chain of blockades that the British had developed in the frontier. So having Catani as a base of operation for French Indian raids made sense. And that's kind where Captain Jacobs was based out of. So Yeah, he's an interesting guy. I wish there was more on his background. I do he had participated in one of the raids we talked about in the last episode. It might have been the Great Cove one. I think it was Great Cove. Around the same time as Great Cove. But I know he was at one of those raids that we talked about. No, I think you're right. His name, along with Shingis, became very feared among the colonists for their participation in all of these devastating raids.
00:24:34
Speaker
Yeah, when I was reading about him, i found there was a ah nickname that was given to Shingus. Shingus the Terrible, think. Shingus the Terrible, correct. So you get Captain Jacobs and Shingus the Terrible, which is ah that's a scary deal. What do we got to do to get that nickname attached to us? Yeah, exactly. We just have to stop doing any research for the rest of the the podcast, and then we'll be referred to as Jackson and Matt the Terrible. because we won't know what we're talking about. The unknowledged. yeah
00:25:07
Speaker
All right. So thank you for that background on Captain Jacobs. Yes, he's ah operating out of Catanning, one of the main chiefs there. um So this attack on Fort Granville happening August 2nd, led by Villiers, Captain Jacobs, Gaiusuta is there as well.
00:25:24
Speaker
The attackers are able to get very close to the fort, much closer than most forts ought to be built for that. like If we remember from Fort Necessity, the tree line was a little bit too close. It was about 60 yards away, and that's just within effective musket fire. So the attackers here are able to get very close to the fort because of a ravine next to the Juniata River.
00:25:49
Speaker
So they can get within about 30 or 40 feet of the fort. So that is well within effective range. Also, since they're up close against the stockade, they start bringing bundles of flammable material, throw them against the walls of the fort and start setting it on fire.
00:26:05
Speaker
And the defenders did not have much to put it out with. Speaking of the defenders, since the commander... who was Ward, Edward Ward, since he's out, he's gone of doing something else with most of the garrison. The command now falls to Edward Armstrong. That last name will come back again very soon.
00:26:28
Speaker
So Edward Armstrong. He's given a couple of calls to surrender by the French and Indians as they're lighting the fires, as they're shooting in at the defenders across the wall. He refuses those calls to surrender. He's going to go out fighting. I think that's a similar response to the commander of Fort Bole, which we had talked about recently as well.
00:26:50
Speaker
um but he refuses calls to surrender. Then he ends up dying in the middle of the action. I think he gets he ends up getting shot. And the next one up in line, he ends up, I think it's John Turner, next in command. Another call for surrender ends up coming up, and he accepts it.
00:27:08
Speaker
So the fort is handed over to the French and Indians, and they will burn it to the ground and, i believe, take some prisoners along. Well, so yeah, the French had I was reading about this well, just kind of the aftermath of the battle, but the French honored the original terms of surrender.
00:27:26
Speaker
that and that john turner had agreed to uh but then once they entered the fort native warriors it killed and scalped most of the defenders and then took about 27 to 30 prisoners which were mostly women and children um and marks them to katanning so it was again like the same old story where you know we see the european powers agreed to parlay and then ah the natives kind of gets a little messy at the end yeah And that's not the last time we'll see
John Armstrong's Expedition Against Catanning
00:27:56
Speaker
that. Not at all.
00:27:58
Speaker
All right. so notably, Edward Armstrong, that original second in command of the fort, has died. He has a brother, John Armstrong, senior.
00:28:10
Speaker
He lives over in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, which isn't too far away. so the news of this attack would have been swiftly carried to Carlisle. Maybe i would have to look at a map.
00:28:22
Speaker
Maybe they could even see like smoke burning in the distance. I'm not sure. But it's in the same area of Pennsylvania generally. um John Armstrong Sr. He's originally from Ireland, like a lot of colonists at this time coming from ah are coming from Ireland, like William Johnson. He came from Ireland. He was born there. John Armstrong Sr. is also from Ireland. He's a civil engineer, and he is one of like the leading men of the frontier town of Carlisle. So he helps design and like lay the the streets and everything. He's one of the prominent citizens.
00:28:55
Speaker
He's very personally invested in how the French and Indian War is going to go because You know, that's what I mentioned before. Carlisle is like the last stop before the middle of nowhere. You know, it's a small town on the frontier, but it's like the last notable town before you get into really, really small settlements and wilderness.
00:29:13
Speaker
So he, his his business, his family are all threatened by these Indian raids that keep coming in that are originating in Catanning. And now his own brother, who was at that fort, Fort Granville, he has died. So,
00:29:30
Speaker
He's got personal, professional, you know, his whole life is wrapped up in the conflict that is developing now. So he is going to end up leading an expedition of British colonials, of militiamen, out in revenge to attack Catanning, the source, the base, the staging area of so many of these attacks, including the one that just killed his brother on August 1756.
00:29:56
Speaker
seventeen fifty six um jackson not to put you on the spot i don't know if you know this but in the expedition and i read there was about 300 pennsylvania provincial soldiers that went with armstrong did any natives join that expedition oh that's a good question i not i don't recall reading about that and there's possible there was like one or two but there's definitely not a sizable contingent that's for sure okay i just wanted to clarify that yeah yeah that's a that's a good question it's a i think it's important too because we you know like the i think
00:30:38
Speaker
Armstrong's expedition is more of a military operation than a raid. And we're going to the battle for Granville was more of a raid. And I think you see that with the the larger native population on that force versus the the British marching out yeah provincial soldiers to attack. This was viewed more as a battle than it was like they were going to go raid the the city. of Yeah. There was a very specific objective in mind. Like... the very So what they want to do is basically destroy Katanning or disrupt it. you know And they also want to rescue some many many of the British prisoners who have been taken there from all of these raids that keep piling up. So they know there's prisoners held there and they also know this is the source of so many attacks. So they want to rescue prisoners and they want to cause Katanning to no longer be a threat and destroy it essentially.
00:31:30
Speaker
So a couple more things before Armstrong, before we get into this battle. He later on participated in the Forbes expedition, which we'll have probably a couple episodes about later on. And that's 1758, I believe.
00:31:45
Speaker
He ends up befriending George Washington during that time, and he goes on to serve in the American War of Independence along. i think his son also served. I think his son was more more famous for Revolutionary War contributions than he was, but he also participated. So I guess that spoils, you know, he's not going to die during this battle, but...
00:32:04
Speaker
yeah Interesting little tidbits about John Armstrong. Also, if you live in Katana now, you probably are like, oh, wait, I'm also in Armstrong County. Yes. That might give you a little bit of a tidbit of what happens at this battle. Who's the victor? i just That was something we talked about when we tried to record this last time, and I was looking up geography, and I was like, oh, wait, this county's named after him. So pretty neat.
00:32:30
Speaker
yeah all right so what i have here matt is a newspaper article coming from the new hampshire gazette in 1756 shortly after this uh battle happened so what i was thinking is i can just read through it you know we have a nice period source here and then you can chime in or i can chime in whenever you feel like it but it traces the story of the raid pretty good um I'm assuming this is a, I, you might've already said this, a British newspaper.
00:32:59
Speaker
Yes. New Hampshire Gazette. So I tried to find like the Pennsylvania Gazette I forget what the Pennsylvania newspaper at this time that Ben Franklin had was specifically called, but I couldn't find any copy like digitized copies or archived copies. So,
00:33:14
Speaker
But I did find a description from the New Hampshire Gazette. So it's still just like a few weeks after this raid happens. So we get kind of an immediate aftermath, like summary of it.
00:33:27
Speaker
So I'll go ahead and get into it. So this is as of September 23rd, coming from news coming from Philadelphia to New Hampshire.
00:33:39
Speaker
So Saturday last arrived an express from Colonel Armstrong of Cumberland County with advice that he marched from Fort Shirley. And for listeners, Fort Shirley is pretty close to Fort Granville, I believe. It's one of those mid-Appalachian and Pennsylvania forts that have popped up in the last year or two.
00:33:56
Speaker
But he leaves from Fort Shirley on the 30th past. So I think this would have been August 30th. He was leaving with about 300 of our provincial forces on an expedition against Kitanning, a town of our Indian enemies on the Ohio, about 25 miles above Fort DeCaine. So at this time, the Allegheny and Ohio River were often referred to as just the same river.
00:34:18
Speaker
They weren't like separate rivers. So that's why it says it's on the Ohio because the Allegheny was just considered part of the Ohio here. About 25 miles above Fort Duquesne. On the third, he joined the advance party at the Beaver Dams near Frankstown. And on the seventh in the evening, being within six miles of Quintanning, the scout discovered a fire in the road and reported that there were but three or at most four Indians at it.
00:34:42
Speaker
So kind of skips over this in the article, but this is a pretty long trek. you know It takes several days, and they're going through wilderness and like along Indian paths to the waves, because of course there's no roads going this way. No ah nope mean kind of paved, no level roads. It's going to be along Indian paths through the woods and the mountains that these 300 men are traveling, hoping not to be discovered before they get there.
00:35:10
Speaker
So they they find a fire in the road that they think it's pretty small, so there's maybe three or four Indians at it. It was not thought proper to attempt surprising those Indians at the time, lest if one should escape, the town might be alarmed. So Lieutenant Hogg, with 12 men, was left to watch them with orders not to fall upon them until daybreak.
00:35:29
Speaker
Daur forces turned out of the path and passed by without disturbing them. About three in the morning, having been guided by the whooping of the Indian warriors at a dance in the town, they reached the river, one hundred perches below the body of the town and near a cornfield in which a number of the enemy lodged as it was a warm night.
00:35:49
Speaker
Another note for the listeners, I've been watching a video on YouTube and I believe Catanning, the the village at this time, it was more like several clusters of villages on both sides of the river.
00:36:01
Speaker
So it's kind of a ah spread out. It's not just all like in one small central location. It's a little bit spread out in clusters on both sides of the river. There are some ah imagery there.
Battle of Catanning: Events and Aftermath
00:36:12
Speaker
As soon as day appeared and the town could be seen, the attack began in the cornfield through which our people charged, killing several of the enemy and entered the town. Captain Jacobs, chief of the Indians, gave the war whoop and defended his house bravely.
00:36:27
Speaker
through loopholes in the logs and the indians generally refusing quarters which we offer which were offered them declaring they were men and would not be prisoners colonel armstrong who received a wound in his shoulder ordered their houses to be set on fire which was immediately done When the Indians were told they would be burnt if they did not surrender, one of them replied he did not care, as he could kill four or five before he died.
00:36:52
Speaker
And as the heat approached, some began to sing. Some, however, burst out of the houses and attempted to reach the river, but were shot down. Captain Jacobs, in getting out of a window, was shot and scalped, as also his squaw and a lad called the King's Son.
00:37:10
Speaker
The Indians had a number of spare arms in their houses loaded, which went off as the fire came to them, and quantities of gunpowder, which had been stored in every house, blew up from time to time, throwing some of their bodies a great height into the air.
00:37:25
Speaker
A body of the enemy on the opposite side of the river fired on our people, and having seen to cross the river at a distance as if to surround our men, they collected some Indian horses that were near the town to carry off the wounded, and then retreated without going back to the cornfield to pick up the scalps of those killed there in the beginning of the action.
00:37:44
Speaker
Several of the enemy were also killed in the river as they were attempting to escape. And it was computed that in all between 30 and 40 were destroyed, though we bought ah brought off but 12 scalps.
00:37:56
Speaker
Eleven English prisoners were released and brought away who informed the colonel that besides the powder, of which Indians boasted, they had enough for 10 years war with the English. There was a great quantity of goods burnt.
00:38:07
Speaker
The French had made them a present of but 10 days before. Prisoners also informed that that very day bateau, that's a particular kind of boat used to transport goods on the on the rivers at this time of French men with a large party of Delaware and French Indians were to join Captain Jacobs to march and take Fort scherer fort Shirley.
00:38:31
Speaker
and that 25 warriors had set out before them the preceding evening, which proved to be the party that had kindled the fire the night before. For our people returning found Lieutenant Hogg wounded in three places, and learnt he had in the morning attacked the supposed party of three or four at the fire, according to orders.
00:38:49
Speaker
but found them too numerous for him. He killed three of them, however, at the first fire and fought them for an hour when having lost three of his best men, the rest, as he lay wounded, abandoned him and fled the enemy pursuing them.
00:39:02
Speaker
Lieutenant Hogg died soon after of his wounds. Captain Mercer being wounded in the action was carried off by his enzyme and 11 men who left the main body in their return to take another road and were not come in when the express came away.
00:39:15
Speaker
He had four of the recovered prisoners with him and some of the scalps. On the whole, it is allowed to be the greatest blow the enemy have received since the war began, and it well follows. There's just like one more, two more paragraphs here. No, you're fine. I was just reacting to the greatest blow, and we'll get into may soon make them weary of continuing it the conduct of colonel armstrong in marching so large a body through the enemy's country without being discovered is deservedly admired and applauded as well as the bravery of both officers and men in the action and we hope their example may have all the good effects that are naturally to be expected from it
00:39:55
Speaker
In the whole, we had 17 killed, 13 wounded, and 19 missing. Since receiving the above returned from Fort Littleton, we are informed Captain Mercer and 23 persons are returned safe, which makes up the number of the missing and the four released prisoners.
00:40:10
Speaker
And that is the end. Oh, they don't get into the... the killed numbers or the wounded numbers on the French slash. So he they had assumed like a paragraph before that they had killed like 30 or 40. Oh, okay. i missney She said they only had like 11 scalps or something like 12 scalps to, for proof.
00:40:34
Speaker
and so At this time, for listeners who might be surprised, like, why are the British colonials, why are they taking scalps? That practice had kind of bleeded into colonial life as well, and it just became a just kind of a way to prove how many people you had killed that that had been absorbed from native culture. And then eventually both the English and French would put scout bounties out for some of their enemies or to to give to the friendly Indian tribes to go and get scalps of the other side.
00:41:05
Speaker
So that practice had kind of been absorbed a bit by those living in the colonies. So that is that answers one of the questions I was going to bring up. because That's why I had initially asked if there were any natives involved, because i know that the uh the british force here and engaged in some scalp taking so i i didn't know for sure whether or not they had fully adopted that practice or if that might have been some natives of the party with them that's interesting though yeah i think both french and british are documented scalping and or giving bounties for scalps at this time there's i think a good amount of that happening um
00:41:43
Speaker
But yeah, so I guess it's good to talk about the impact, the aftermath of this battle. We see what this, ah in this British newspaper, the New Hampshire Gazette, how they ah look back at this account, at this adventure, this expedition. They say it's the greatest blow the enemy has yet received since the war began.
00:42:06
Speaker
Is that the case? Or what what kind of effects do we have? What's the aftermath of this raid from what you were able to look up Well, the the aftermath of it, if anything, it probably more aggravated the frontier war ah between the French and the British.
00:42:23
Speaker
In all reality, I mean, this is labeled a British victory just because you they they took ground. Supposedly, they could they took Catanning. um But the killed on the French side and the the native side, from what I have read, is around nine.
00:42:40
Speaker
um which is interesting in that newspaper. I found that in like the Pennsylvania historical archives I was reading and they said like some most sources like agree that nine were killed. So it's really interesting that the newspaper talks about 12 scallops.
00:42:54
Speaker
Well, and it mentions how the reports were that up to 30 or 40 were killed. that That reminds me, if it was actually closer to nine, that reminds me of when George Washington at Fort Necessity said, like, I think we i think we killed like 100 of them. They actually killed like three French and wounded like 10 or something like that. Yes. Something very minuscule like that, like less than 25 casualties on the French side for sure.
00:43:23
Speaker
uh dead and wounded but way overestimated the damage that he thought he did so perhaps the same thing here which i think is pretty common generally overestimating the damage you do and underestimating the damage you take yeah um so you have that so one the the british took a lot more casualties than what the the natives and the french did um and then two most of the captives that this british expedition had went out to rescue that were originally taken from fort granville as we had mentioned around like 24 to 30 captives most of them were taken by lenape or the navis back over the allegheny river And they escaped the village and weren't returned to British hands. I think some captives were, but the majority of them were not rescued. So from a strategic standpoint, I think it was a victory in that they, you know, one, show that Catani was touchable. And two, they did destroy a large portion of the settlement. But on the other hand, it didn't have the, you know, the militaristic effect of ah really destroying that native encampment of of soldiers or rescuing the hostages is what they wanted to do. So I think it's kind of a mixed result. And then like like going forward. I don't think it really has too much of a a cooling effect on the the native raids in the area. I think, like I said, I think it more aggravates it than anything.
00:44:56
Speaker
But that's just what I had read. I'm interested to hear what you found, Jackson. Yeah. ah What I had read also accorded with that pretty well. I'm comfortable calling it, you know, fair and square British victory, but it's definitely not as clean or as overwhelming a victory as some other battles. Like we might say, like,
00:45:15
Speaker
Fort Bowl, for example, that's pretty much clear cut French victory. You know, very minuscule casualties. They achieved their objective of destroying one of those forts, you know, minimal losses, but with great benefit.
00:45:30
Speaker
um But this one obviously, they achieved the they destroyed the settlement or at least most of it. They rescued some prisoners, like you said. So they got their objectives, but they did take quite a few killed and wounded.
00:45:45
Speaker
ah And especially if they only ended up killing about nine or 11 or 12, then they received over double the amount of killed and wounded as they dealt out.
00:45:57
Speaker
So, and there's the whole story about captain hog and his the men there that were monitoring that campfire and then attacking how they got, you know, messed up.
00:46:08
Speaker
Yeah, that's actually ah that's a bigger deal, I think, than what a lot of the sources we were reading makes of it. If you go to where Captain Hawk was, there's like a historical marker there in Pennsylvania, and it's called Blanket Hill, because that's where they the British force that was left there, they laid their blankets out on it at night to sleep. And then in the morning, I believe they attacked that what they believed was a very small native force that turned out to be a much larger force.
00:46:38
Speaker
so that's like a like they have the battle con containing monument and everything there in the city containing but there are like markers out where um where this blanket hill was located and stuff and i think had that not happened the battle katani would have been a much bigger victory for the the british so um yeah it was kind of like an attack in the rear guard scenario yeah i i would agree with that And it does also have the effect, the battle. ah Some of these Delaware Indians are going to move further west, more into like the modern state of Ohio to get further out of the range. of Now that they know the British are able to strike this far, they want to get they want to move further away.
Cultural and Strategic Impacts of Catanning
00:47:18
Speaker
That has the double effect of moving the prisoners that remained further away, but it also means there's going to be fewer natives that are in such close proximity to all these British settlements.
00:47:29
Speaker
ah So both they're both harder to get and harder to get hit, essentially. So i think that's like a mixed result there as well. Sure. Sorry cut you off. i i think we might have talked about this book before on the show, The Crucible of War by Fred Anderson. i don't Is that one you've read, Jackson? Yeah, like two years ago, I read that one. That was a really good one for us, like diving into the the entire conflict.
00:47:55
Speaker
I found a note from that book. So I haven't personally read that book, but i did find a note from that book where where Fred Anderson was reading or was talking about the Battle of Catanning. And he mentioned that these attacks or equivalent attacks on like Fort Granville and stuff are usually labeled as massacres and the British media and the papers and stuff like that.
00:48:16
Speaker
And that the Lenape Indians considered this to be a massacre. But as we see from what Jackson had read from the British sources, it was a great victory. But this the same thing would have been considered, you know, a raid on a settlement a massacre of British colonists had it been the other way around. So it's interesting, the framing. Yeah, it shows the messy nature of the war in general, but i suppose also especially in these like frontier areas where, like yeah, it is just a village, a civilian village, but it's also where a lot of Indian warriors reside and where they gather from different areas and where they launch attacks. So it's like, how do you neutralize that while also not not endangering civilian life more than necessary?
00:49:08
Speaker
like i i don't I don't know. That's just like an outlier question. But yeah, I can see how... just the framing of these and these raids, these battles, these expeditions, how they can be framed very differently depending on who is talking and how that can affect perception of the event. I think for the for the British side, the framing was very intentional because as you've listened throughout this podcast, so far, mostly the British have been taking a beating.
00:49:43
Speaker
They've had a couple of victories here and there, but not a lot of good positive news in 1755 and 1756. So to have this strike deep in the heart of enemy territory and have it come off overall pretty well, this is something that the British newspapers, the colonial newspapers really want to promote and kind of raise morale by highlighting this harrowing story. Armstrong is going to be revered as a hero. i think...
00:50:12
Speaker
I read he got like the first, yeah, the first medal issued for bravery that was made in America. it' Like, uh, he, he got that special award for that. So I think it's, uh, it's definitely trying to be framed as a morale boosting, like great victory for the British because they've had such a hard time the last couple of years.
00:50:34
Speaker
His nickname after this too was, uh, the hero of containing. Oh yeah. There you go. Yeah. Definitely got a big, uh, prominence boosts from this battle and then eventually as we mentioned he gets a county named after him so yep and he goes on to serve in the revolutionary war but he will come back up in the french indian war once probably i don't know eight ten episodes from now but uh yeah so that is the story of the battle of katanning Yeah, that was, ah I like the story because it it shows both sides of these frontier raids that were occurring. And one thing I wanted to mention too, we had talked about a lot of the captives about, I i think, so from our sources that we discussed, you know, where i also read in Armstrong's personal journal, he had noted they had killed 30 to
Future Podcast Topics and Gaming Connections
00:51:28
Speaker
40 natives. And in that same journal, he also noted that I believe they took
00:51:33
Speaker
uh or they got back 11 of the captives assuming that number is a little bit high we can guess maybe about 24 captives did not get rescued those captives that were not rescued the majority them did not get back into british hands until 1764 um which was when henry yeah it was a like the break of the the siege of fort pitt which uh we'll get into and So yeah, it's yeah kind of crazy. And as Jackson said too, they were in Ohio after this. So they fled to the Ohio country and then. Yeah. were Very inaccessible territory for the British for many, many years to come. Yeah. So those, the captives that were not rescued here still face another eight years of captivity, which is sad.
00:52:17
Speaker
Yes. But ah yeah, no, I think it's a very interesting story to talk about and sets the stage for a lot of A lot of future events that we'll discuss. And then one thing that I think we need to touch on that was a past event technically is, Jackson, was there a certain declaration made prior to this to this battle in the same year? Oh, yeah. Declaration of War. So, yeah, we haven't officially talked about it yet. But finally, at this by the point that this raid, this attack, this battle happens, at whatever you call it,
00:52:50
Speaker
uh france and england are now officially at war so that drinking game of the podcast can come to a neat and tidy end yeah we'll talk a little bit more about that i think in a couple episodes but next episode we will be going back to new york to discuss the battle of oswego some huge key characters for the french are now arriving on the scene And there is a large scale battle. I don't know the total numbers, but its it might end up being the biggest we've talked about so far in in the war. Yeah, it should be. i think the second would be Braddock's defeat. so Yeah, think that was the biggest.
00:53:31
Speaker
Yeah. um But yeah, I think this is going to top Braddock's defeat in terms of size and scale. So that'll be a really good one to dive into. And then we're going to take a little bit of a break from North America and do an episode looking at what's going on in Europe.
00:53:49
Speaker
Because 1756 is a huge year for the war in Europe. That's when they talk about the Seven Years' War, it's starting in 1756, even though we've been talking about the fighting that's already going on in America. 1756 is when all hell breaks loose in Europe.
00:54:07
Speaker
So we'll we'll do at least an overview of that. And then we're also going to take a look at what's going on in India, because that is also the site of renewed hostilities between France and England's global empires at this time. So we're going to bounce around a bit in the next few episodes as we start to approach 1757.
00:54:31
Speaker
Yep. No, sounds good. And as the listeners probably know, our show is not sponsored by anybody, but I did want to give a shout out to a game that Jackson and I have both been playing in the last few months that recently came out. So if you like computer games or anything, there is a a new game out called Master of Command. that we have both played a bit and it's set in the seven years war it it focuses on the european side but it's made by the ah the armchair historian if you're familiar with this youtube channel um he does a great job on there and they created this game called master command which highlights his period so if you're into computer games at all and want to learn more about uh the european side of the seven years war i would highly recommend that um there's really not a whole lot of games in this space uh so i think it's it's cool that it's starting to get some attention so i just wanted to call that out since uh it's pretty yeah relatively new i've sunk quite a quite a few hours in that with some of my run-throughs there You know, that reminds me, we you should really do, if we want to do an episode where it doesn't take a lot of prep beforehand, we should do an episode talking about games representing the French and Indian War that we played and kind of review and discuss and ah maybe talk about what our ideal French and Indian War board or video game would be and how it would play out. I think that would be a good podcast episode to do in the next ah few weeks or a couple or a month.
00:55:55
Speaker
That would be cool. Creative Assembly, if you're listening to this, we would love to have a French or Total War game. Make it happen. ah But anyways, um yeah, no. Thanks again for listening. and But yeah, no. I'm looking forward to another year of this podcast. and Yeah.
00:56:12
Speaker
Huzzah. Yeah, we'll catch you guys in the next episode, hopefully within a few weeks here. Well, yeah, thanks for listening, and we'll catch you soon. See ya.