pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is a unique city in many ways. It has a wide variety of culture for a medium sized city; from opera to ethnic festivals, the ballet to nightclubs, sports to the theater. The people are also special. They are a diverse ethnic group that came to America to work in the steel mills and coal mines. These people left us with a treasure of old world culture to celebrate. Today there are 350 people that live in the city and 2.1 million in the outskirts. They include 250,000 Italian-Americans, 45,000 Jews, 100,000 African-Americans in the city, Poles, Croats, Ukrainian, Syrians, Germans, and Irish. Pittsburgh is truly a beautiful city. Its natural beauty of the three rivers that cut through the mountains at times is breathtaking. It also has the majestic beauty of the skyscrapers reaching to touch the clouds. There is no other sight like the view from Mt. Washington. Pittsburgh being situated in the mountains, boasts many engineering feats: bridges, skyscrapers, tunnels, etc. It is a city of bridges and feats of engineering. We should also recognize that Pittsburgh has a long and important history in the America but only a short history with the world, as it is only 250 years old. Even though the history of Pittsburgh is short, it has had an immense impact on our nation and the world.

Tensions were high between the French and the English in America during the mid eighteenth century. Each nation laid claim to the interior of North America. America was not like it is today. It was a vast wilderness with relatively nothing beyond the Appalachian Mountains to the west. There were not many outposts in the interior of America. Both sides were looking for and claiming its riches. George Washington was dispatched by a Virginia trading company in the early 1750's to survey the Ohio valley at what is today Pittsburgh. In his report, he recognized the bounty of the land. More importantly, he recognized the strategic importance of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, which forms the Ohio River, called the Point. The Ohio then flows into the Mississippi River and on to the Gulf of Mexico. He urged the English to build a fort at the Point, but they did not act fast enough. The French came to the same conclusion as Washington but unlike the English, they acted quickly. The French founded Pittsburgh in 1754 when they built Fort Duquesne at the Point. The French and the English knew whomever controlled the Point, controlled the interior of the continent and thus the riches of North America. The seeds of war were soon sown when each side claimed this strategic location.

George Washington would unwittingly play a pivotal role in the shaping of our country even before the American Revolution was contemplated, started a world war in Pittsburgh between England and France. This was before the American Revolution when George Washington was an officer in the Virginia Militia. He was on a diplomatic mission to Fort Duquesne in 1754 when a fight broke out between his forces and the French and Indians. He won the battle but the Indian leader of his Indian guides killed the French officer that they had taken prisoner. This was the spark that ignited the powder keg. It provoked a world war that we know as the French and Indian War and the Europeans call the Seven Years War. During the French and Indian War, the English, under General Braddock led a disastrous campaign to take Fort Duquesne. After hacking their way through the forest and trekking over mountains from Virginia to just outside of Pittsburgh, General Braddock was mortally wounded, and the English and colonial force was decimated. After this, George Washington led a small number of troops to campaign against the French and Indians near Pittsburgh. They were surrounded and hastily built a fort called Fort Necessity almost exactly where Braddock died in the last battle. They lost the battle and were captured. The French were about to hang George Washington but decided otherwise, fortunately for us.

The English wanted final victory. They devised a three-pronged attack to defeat the French in North America. They would advance on the three most strategic points occupied by the French; Quebec, Albany, NY, and Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh). General John Forbes led campaign to Pittsburgh through the forest and over the mountains from Philadelphia. As always, the English learned from the mistake that General Braddock made neglecting his supply lines. They built forts along the road they cut from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, including fort Ligonier, an hour's drive west of Pittsburgh. They wintered there to resupply and prepare for the assault on Fort Duquesne. With their troops fresh and their supply lines intact, they successfully defeated the French and Indians at a battle in McKeesport, which is a suburb of Pittsburgh. After they lost the battle, the French retreated and burned Fort Duquesne along with its stores. They then fled leaving the point to the English and American colonists. The Brits then built a massive fort at the Point, what is today Point State Park. It was named Fort Pitt after William Pitt, the Prime Minister of England at the time. He was instrumental in the war effort and the final victory. The Block House of Fort Pitt still stands to this day and is the oldest building in America west of the Appalachian Mountains. The English, the colonials, and their Indian allies were successful on all three fronts and won the war. North America was theirs. Ten years later, another war would be fought in America to found a new nation.

A few years after the French and Indian War in 1763, an Indian chief, Pontiac led a coalition of Indian tribes to rebel against the English and American settlers. They overran twelve forts killing all the soldiers and settlers. They could not take the two remaining forts on the frontier, Fort Detroit and Fort Pitt, so they laid siege to them. After a few weeks, the situation became desperate for the Forts. Both supplies and time were running out. The English, realizing that the safety of the western frontier was at stake, sent a force of Scottish Highlander, British soldiers, and colonials to relieve Fort Pitt. The Indians met them at Bushy Run in present day Greensburg, which is a suburb of Pittsburgh. A fierce battle ensued. The Indians decimated the relief force the first day by refusing to come out into the open and fight like European gentlemen. They instead hid behind trees and cover while firing at the British and colonials. The fate of Fort Pitt and the entire western frontier rested on the relief force, and the relief force knew it. They devised a plan for the next day. A small force was sent to clash with the Indians as though they were the main force. They would feign defeat after a few minutes and run away. This was done hoping that the Indians would give chase drawing the Indians from their cover. Then the main body of soldiers would be able to fire on the Indians. The plan worked perfectly. The Indians suffered many casualties and withdrew. Fort Pitt (present day Pittsburgh) and Fort Detroit (present day Detroit) were relieved. Pontiac's Rebellion, as it is known today, came to an end, and the western frontier of the English colonies in North America was secured.

After the colonial period, Pittsburgh became a giant in the steel, coal, and manufacturing industries. Its population quickly grew as more and more settlers arrived from the east coast. While once being the frontier in America, it became known as the Gateway to the West (long before St. Louis stole this moniker when we traded it in as the Steel City). The city was thriving by trading to all of the settlers of the west and outfitting those that came from the east for frontier life. Industry and trade in America did not have access to a good road system. They relied on river barges to transport large quantities of goods. Pittsburgh was ideal for this. It connects the north and south of America with access to the ocean from the rivers flowing through the heartland to New Orleans. The importance of Pittsburgh as a giant in Steel production, coal mining, and manufacturing grew rapidly until it was the leader by the mid nineteenth century. Andrew Carnegie led the age of the Robber Barons, with the likes of Henry Clay Frick and J.P. Morgan. Carnegie was a self-made steel magnet and poor immigrant himself became the richest man in the world in the 1800's. With the growth of the steel and coal industries came the influx of new immigrants from Europe. This gave Pittsburgh its unique culture. Pittsburgh thrived. Then there was the great decline. Much of the steel that built the modern world, as we know it and won two world wars was created in the coke ovens of Pittsburgh steel mills. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, the steel industry collapsed leaving many jobless. The city was devastated. The entire region was depressed. I remember bringing to school canned goods for the families of out-of-work steel workers. It was a dark period for Pittsburgh. However, a strong mayor, Richard Caligiuri, turned the city around in a few years from a blue-collar town to a white-collar town. Pittsburgh is now a leader in the medical industry. It has a thriving technology industry. Mayor Caligiuri died of a rare disease and the progress stopped. The next two mayors have done nothing to capitalize on the good economy like any other cities have. Things have started to pick up a bit with Mayor Murphy's second term. Let's hope progress comes as rapidly as when Caligiuri was mayor. Pittsburgh still has its wonderful neighborhoods that make it special. Moreover, it maintains its working class ethic. Although I have outgrown the city, I still love it and will always call it home. If you are interested to learn more, use the links above to explore Pittsburgh.