Battle of Bushy Run

Among the stops made with Dad and Jamie this weekend was the 247th anniversary of the Battle of Bushy Run. This particular battle is believed to mark the turning point of the French and Indian War and resulted in a treaty being signed at Fort Pitt just a few months afterward. The Native confederacy was led by a man named Pontiac who was an Ottawa. He and his intertribal group had started their uprising in detroit, and had pushed settlements as far east as Bedford, PA. He is considered one of the great Native leaders in history, and his idea of an Indian confederacy was revisited a few years later by a leader from my own tribe, Tecumseh.

I found out about the event through following the twitter account of Pittsburgh City Council member, Bill Peduto, and I had hoped that the event would afford me a bit of a walk down memory lane. Usually these events have a large array of primitive artisans and craftspeople, and I thought it could be a cool way to share a little bit of my own culture with Jamie as well as remember other occasions where I would share old tribal songs with re-enactors and others at similar events.

By the time we arrived, the events of the day were mostly over, but we were still able to see a plethora of people dressed in the period attire of eighteenth century british, colonial, or native people. There's a really unique community that surrounds these living history events, and it can be like a large reunion for the participants. While I did not personally reunite with any of my kinsmen or any re-enactors, I enjoyed seeing and hearing the passion this community had for preserving the nuances of the early history of the United States as they gathered on the site of the Bushy Run Battlefield.

I wonder what these passionate people will conspire to organize for the 250th anniversary of the battle?